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MEMORIAL    HISTORY 


OF 


AUGUSTA,  GEORGIA 


o  r 


FROM  ITS  SETTLEMENT  IN  1735    TO  THE  CLOSE  OF 
THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTUR  V  BY 


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


FROM  THE  CLOSE  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  TO 
THE  PRESENT  TIME  BY 


SALEM    BUTCHER 


S^  RACUSE,    N.  Y. 

D.  MASON  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 
1890 


H 


Wi?' 


PREFACE 


THIS  is  the  first  time  that  the  history  of  that  old  and  soHd  city — Augusta, 
Ga. — has  ever  been  written.  It  has  been  said  that  Americans  have  been 
too  busy  making  history  to  write  it,  and  the  observation  is  true.  The  forma- 
tive period  always  precedes  the  preservative  period  ;  first  comes  the  pioneer, 
and  long  afterward  the  annalist.  Romulus  lived  many  centuries  before  Livy. 
Accordingly  it  is  that  American  history  has  been  late  in  writing.  The  annals 
of  the  States  and  of  the  general  government  have,  it  is  true,  been  fairly  well 
recorded — though  this  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  historian  had  the  ar- 
chives of  older  nations,  connected  by  discovery  and  conquest  with  the  New 
World  to  resort  to,  but  the  story  of  American  cities  has  been,  until  of  recent 
years,  almost  a  blank.  Even  the  great  metropolis  of  the  country,  New  York, 
is  better  known,  as  to  its  early  days,  by  the  sweetly-flowing  Knickerbocker  his- 
tory of  Washington  Irving  than  by  any  actual  and  prosaic  account.  New  Am- 
sterdam and  its  old  Dutch  burghers  in  bulbous  hose  and  long  stemmed  pipe  ; 
the  choleric  Governor  Stuyvesant  and  his  placid  excellency  Wouter  Von  Twil- 
ler,  all  rise  before  us  at  the  very  mention  of  the  early  history  of  the  great 
American  city,  and  yet  all  this  is  mere  fancy,  not  fact. 

Municipal  history  was,  until  of  late  years,  an  untrodden  field.  The  harvest 
was  plenteous,  but  the  laborers  few,  if  any.  Into  this  field  the  publishing  house 
of  D.  Mason  &  Co.  entered  not  so  many  years  since,  and  of  the  many  local  his- 
tories since  then  published  by  them,  it  may  well  be  doubted  if  any  have  ex- 
celled, or,  perhaps  equalled  in  scope,  completeness  and  interest  the  work  it  is 
the  office  of  this  preface  to  introduce. 

Various  causes  have  conspired  somewhat  to  delay  the  production  of  this 
history,  and  yet  there  has  been  less  a  delay  than  a  growth.  In  the  additional 
time  afforded  them,  the  publishers  have  been  enabled  to  amplify  and  enrich 
their  theme.  Opportunity  has  been  afforded  to  explore  new  treasure-houses 
and  thence  extract  fresh  riches.  The  work  has  been  amplified,  adorned,  and 
polished  until  it  is  confidently  presented  as  a  model  municipal  history.  The 
whole  career  of  an  American  city  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  old — older  than 
the  old  French  War,  older  than  the  rising  of  the  Jacobites  under  Bonnie  Prince 


History  of  Augusta. 


Charlie  in  the  '45  ;   older  than   Blackstone's  famous  Commentaries — has  been 
thoroughly  and  carefully  explored. 

In  early  days  Georgia  was  but  a  strip  of  population  on  the  west  bank  of 
the  Savannah  River,  with  one  city,  Savannah,  at  the  southern,  and  another, 
Augusta,  at  its  northern  extremity.  The  growth  of  the  commonwealth  being 
for  several  generations  in  a  northerly  and  northwesterly  direction,  made  the 
upper  metropolis  a  great  center;  and  hence  it  is  that  for  years  the  history  of 
Augusta  epitomizes  that  of  the  State.  Here  were  held  the  great  councils  with 
the  chieftains  of  the  forest  in  the  days  of  Indian  supremacy  ;  here  was  the  State 
capital  during  the  next  great  Epoch,  that  of  the  Revolution  ;  and  here  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  was  ratified  when  American  government.  State 
and  Federal,  assumed  permanent  form. 

He  who  reads  this  history  will,  therefore,  read  more  than  the  annals  of  a 
mere  municipality.  He  can  see,  traced  from  its  first  foundation,  the  legal,  edu- 
cational, financial,  and  industrial  history  of  the  State  itself  Rising  from  the 
perusal  of  the  work,  the  reader  will  have  acquired  information  for  which  he  will 
in  vain  consult  all  the  histories  of  Georgia  that  have  heretofore  been  written. 
True,  the  magnificent  work  of  Colonel  C.  C.  Jones  on  the  colonial  period  of  the 
State,  leaves  little,  if  anything,  to  be  desired  as  to  that  special  epoch,  but  from 
that  time  forward  the  history  of  Georgia  may  be  best  seen  in  all  matters  non- 
political,  in  these  pages.  The  history  of  the  judicial  establishment  of  the  State 
has  never  been  written  as  it  is  here  written.  To  instance  its  completeness,  it 
may  be  remarked  that  even  so  well  informed  a  jurist  as  Mr.  Justice  Story  in  his 
great  work  on  Equity  Jurisprudence  says:  "In  America  Equity  Jurisprudence 
had  its  origin  at  a  far  later  period  than  the  jurisdiction  properly  pertaining  to 
the  Courts  of  Common  Law.  In  many  of  the  colonies,  during  their  connection 
with  Great  Britain,  it  had  cither  no  existence  at  all,  or  a  very  imperfect  and 
irregular  administration."  The  reader  interested  in  this  particular  subject,  may 
therefore  be  surprised  to  find  in  this  work  a  complete  account  of  the  Colonial 
Court  of  Chancery  in  Georgia,  showing  that  Equity  Jurisprudence  existed  here 
in  full  vigor  years  before  the  Revolution.  The  very  details  of  the  then  prac- 
tice are  set  out  and  even  the  forms  of  precedents  and  items  of  the  chancery  fee 
bills  are  preserved  and  reproduced. 

In  the  all-important  field  of  railroading  will  be  found  the  history  of  two  of 
the  oldest  railroads  in  the  United  States,  the  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
centering  in  Augusta.  The  progress  of  the  latter,  in  particular,  is  given  year 
by  year  from  the  time  the  first  meeting  to  organize  a  company  was  held,  and 
in  all  the  varying  phases  of  railroad  development,  from  the  first  passenger  car, 
then  called  "coach,"  looking  much  like  an  old-fashioned  stage  coach,  and  pro- 
pelled by  sails,  down  to  the  steel  track,  parlor  car,  and  ponderous  "Mogul" 
engine  of  the  present  day. 

The  growth  of  manufactures  is  also  traced   from  the  time  Whitney  op- 


Preface.  5 

erated  his  first  cotton-gin  on  a  mill  pond  near  the  city  to  the  present  huge 
factories  which  line  a  canal  inferior  only  in  length  to  the  great  Erie  Canal.  In 
connection  with  the  rise  of  the  cotton  industry  is  told  the  story  of  the  old  in- 
digo field  and  tobacco  plantations. 

In  the  educational  world  the  reader  begins  with  an  ancient  institution  of 
learning,  only  excelled  in  its  antiquity  by  Yale  and  Harvard;  and  is  thence 
brought  up  to  the  systems  of  the  present  day.  Statistics  never  before  gathered 
and  grouped  together  on  this  subject  in  Georgia  are  to  be  found  in  this  work. 

The  physician,  the  divine,  the  banker,  will  find  the  history  of  medicine, 
religion,  and  finance  in  this  city  exhaustively  treated.  Particularly  in  the  latter 
field  will  the  work  be  found  of  more  than  local  interest,  since  the  theme  has 
broadened  into  a  sketch  of  banking  in  Georgia  from  the  earliest  days. 

The  history  proper  of  the  city  as  a  municipal  organization,  has,  of  course, 
received  special  attention.  The  original  limits  of  the  city  are  for  the  first  time 
definitely  located  and  described,  and  from  that  day  up  the  extension  of  the 
corporate  limits  is  carefully  and  accurately  traced.  Biographical  sketches  of 
the  chief  magistrates  of  the  city  from  the  earliest  days  are  given,  as  also  a  com- 
plete list  of  their  names  and  terms  of  office.  Beside  these  sketches  there  are 
also  numerous  biographies  of  eminent  judges,  lawyers,  physicians,  divines, 
bankers,  and  citizens  generally  of  the  past.  Still  furtlier  there  are  sketches  of 
many  of  the  living  leaders  of  the  city,  this  part  of  the  work  being  embellished 
with  steel  engravings  of  the  highest  order  of  artistic  elegance. 

In  one  word,  this  work  is,  as  we  have  stated,  a  model  municipal  history. 
It  has  been  prepared  with  care,  diligence,  research  and  skill,  and  while  valuable 
now,  will,  as  the  years  go  on,  become  a  priceless  repository  of  information  on 
the  topics  of  which  it  treats.  All  the  first  portion  of  the  work,  up  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  municipal  history  proper,  is  from  the  pen  of  Colonel  C.  C.  Jones,  jr., 
a  distinguished  citizen  of  Augusta,  author  of  many  elaborate  and  valuable 
works  on  Georgia  history,  and  beyond  all  question,  the  leading  antiquarian  and 
archaeologist  of  the  State,  if  not  indeed  of  the  entire  South,  or  of  this  country. 
The  residue  of  the  work  is  from  the  pen  of  Salem  Dutcher,  esq.,  a  member  of 
the  Augusta  bar.     The  biographical  sketches  are  by  various  hands. 

The  mechanical  execution  of  the  volume  speaks  for  itself  The  skill  of  the 
typographer  and  binder  has  been  successfully  laid  under  tribute,  and  with  a 
just  pride  in  their  work  in  all  its  parts,  this  History  of  Augusta  is  confidently 
submitted  to  the  popular  judgment  by 

The  Publishers. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


Physical  and  Social  Characteristics,  Customs,  Manufactures,  Occupations  and  Monuments 

of  the  Georgia  Tribe  of  Indians.    17 

CHAPTER  n. 

Savannah  Town  —  Settlement  of  Augusta  —  Earliest  Descriptions  of  the  Place  —  A  Trad- 
ing Post  —  Names  of  the  First  Traders 24 

CHAPTER  in. 

General  Oglethorpe's  Visit  to  Augusta — His  Conference  with  the  Creeks  at  Coweta 
Town  —  Colonel  Stephens's  Account  of  the  Progress  of  the  Plantation  —  Oglethorpe's 
Fairness  in  Dealing  with  the  Indians —  Introduction  of  Slave  Labor — Rev.  Jonathan 
Copp  —  Distribution  of  Presents  for  the  Indians  —  Fort  at  Augusta  —  Early  Legisla- 
tion—  Governor  Reynolds's  "Representation" — Parishes  Established  —  Represen- 
tation and  Petition  from  Augusta 31 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Condition  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  1760  — Congress  at  Augusta  in  November,  1763  — 
Treaty  with  the  Indians  then  Solemnized  —  Instructions  to  Indian  Traders  —  Strength 
of  Adjacent  Indian  Nations  in  1768  —  Augusta's  Representation  in  the  Provincial 
Congress  —  Congress  at  Augusta  in  June,  1773  —  The  Ceded  Lands  —  Adjustment 
of  the  Claims  of  the  Indian  Traders  —  Trouble  with  the  Indians  —  Silver  Bluff 43 

CHAPTER   V. 

Bartram's  Description  of  Augusta  in  1773  —  Convention  of  1774 — Protest  from  the 
Parish  of  Saint  Paul  —  Division  of  Sentiment  —  Conduct  of  Governor  Wright  —  Dr. 
Lyman  Hall —  Action  of  St.  John's  Parish  —  Progress  of  the  Revolution 56 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Revolutionary  Movements  in  Savannah  —  Thomas  Brown  Tarred  and  Feathered  in  Au- 
gusta—  Provincial  Congress  of  July  4,  1775  —  Articles  of  Association  —  Organization 
of  the  Militia  and  of  the  Courts  —  Independence  of  Georgia  Proclaimed — Military 
Operations 65 


History  of  Augusta. 


CHAPTER  VH. 

Colonel  Campbell's  Advance  upon  and  Capture  of  Augusta  —  Republican  Operations  in 

Upper  Georgia  —  Battle  of  Kettle  Creek  —  Augusta  Evacuated  by  the  King's  Forces,     72 

CHAPTER  VHI. 

Military  Operations — Affair  near  Fulsom's  Fort  —  Augusta  Designated  as  the  Seat  of 
Government  —  An  Oligarchical  Form  of  Government  Inagurated  —  Political  History 
of  the  Period  Communication  to  General  Lincoln  —  Governor  Wright's  Report  on 
the  Situation 81 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Posture  of  Affairs  in  the  Fall  of  1779  —  Legislation  of  the  Commons  House  of  Assembly 

—  Proclamation  of  Governor  Wereat,  Governor  Walton,  General  Mcintosh  and  Mr. 
Glascock  —  Political  Affairs — Movements  of  the  Executive  Council  —  Unseemly 
Dissentions^ —  Reorganization  of  the  State  Government  at  Augusta. .  .    90 

CHAPTER   X.  . 

Augusta  Evacuated  by  Williamson,  and  Occupied  by  Brown  and  Grierson  —  Barbarous 
Cruelties  Perpetrated  by  Them — Colonel  Clarke's  Attempt  to  Retake  Augusta  — 
Narrative  of  the  Incidents  Connected  with  the  Affair — Governor  Wright's  Dispatches 

—  Sad  Plight  of  the  Revolutionists  —  Colonel  Brown loi 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Colonel  Williamson  Invests  Augusta  —  Arrival  of  Colonel  Clarke  —  Pickens  and  Lee  Or- 
dered to  Assist  in  the  Reduction  of  Augusta  —  Capture  of  Fort  Galpin  —  The  Siege 
and  Capitulation  of  Augusta — Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Jackson  Assigned  to  the 
Command  —  Burnet's  Rascality  —  Governor  Wright  Calls  Lustily  for  Aid iii 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Military  Operations  Culminating  in  the  Surrender  of  Savannah  —  Plot  to  Murder  Colonel 
Jackson  —  Celebration  in  Augusta  upon  the  Acknowledgment  of  the  Independence  of 
the  United  States  —  Charge  of  Chief  Justice  Walton  —  Early  Legislation  Aftecting 
Augusta  —  The  City  of  Augusta  Incorporated  in  1798  —  Trustees,  Intendants,  and 
Mayors  of  Augusta 1 27 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Legislative  Proceedings  —  Newspapers  —  Ratification  in  Augusta  by  the  State  of  Georgia, 
of  the  Federal  Constitution  —  Constitutional  Convention  of  1789 — Georgia  Divided 
into  Congressional  Districts  —  President  Washington's  Visit  to  Augusta  —  Military 
Conven'ion  of  Augusta,  1793    137 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Cultivation  of  the  Tobacco  Plant  in  Georgia  —  Rapid  Improvement  in  the  Trade  and 
Prosperity  of  Augusta  —  Introduction  of  Cotton  —  Letter  of  Mr.  Joseph  Eve  — Will- 
iam Longstreet  and  His  Steamboat  —  Population  of  Richmond  County  upon  the 
Close  of  the  Last  Century —  Sibbald's  Description  of  Augusta  in  1799  — Concluding 
Remarks '44 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Original  Plan  of  the  City  — The  Old  Town  — Limits  Enlarged  in  1780 —  Government  by 
Commissioners  — Augusta's  Loyal  Element  —  The  Captured  Cannon  —  Augusta  the 
State  Capital  —  Trustees  of  Augusta  — Limits  Enlarged  in  1786  — Charter  of  1789 

—  Popular  Discontent—  Charter  Withdrawn  —  The  Yazoo  Freshet M9 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Augusta  Incorporated —Charter  of  1798  — Thomas  Gumming,  First  Intendant  — City 
Limits  —  Rise  of  the  Cotton  Interest  —  Whitney  and  His  Gin  —  Price  Current  of  1 802 

—  Intendant  Murray— Intendant  Hobby  —  Intendant  Flournoy  — Intendant  Catlett 

—  Assize  of  Bread  — The  Steamboat  of  1808  — Intendant  Hutchinson—  Intendants 
Walker  and  Jones— Governor  Matthews  —  Beards  President  Adams  — Intendant 
Leigh  — Panic  of  18 14  — Intendant  Called  Mayor  — Mayor  Freeman  Walker  Be- 
comes United  States  Senator  —  Mayor  Ware  Becomes  United  States  Senator  — 
Mayors  Reid  and' Holt— La  Fayette's  Visit  — Mayor  Hale— Rise  of  the  Railway 
System  —  Mayors  Phinizy,  Hook  and  Dye  — The  Algerine  Law— Augusta  Canal  — 
Mexican  War  —  Mayor  Ford '6' 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Mayors  Garvin,  Miller  and  Dearing  —  Central  Railroad  Comes  in  — Mayor  Conley  — 
Mayor  Blodgett  —  Augusta  Water-works  —  The  War  Opens  —  Capture  of  Augusta 
Arsenal  —  Georgia's  Wonderful  Prosperity  in  i860— First  Regiment —  Augusta's 
Volunteers  —  Her  Dead  —  Confederate  Monuments  —  Ladies'  Memorial  Association 

—  The  Salt  Famine  —  Speculation  —  Gun-powder  Works  —  Fury  and  Suffering  of 
the  War  —  Confederate  Money  — Lee's  Surrender  — Riot  of  1865  — Mayor  May  — 
Military  Rule  — Mayor  Gardiner— Military  Mayor— Reconstruction  —  Mayor  Rus- 
sell—Mayor Allen  — Mayor  Estes  — Enlargement  of  the  Canal  — Mayor  Meyer - 
Mayor  May  —  Vast  Extension  of  Corporate  Limits  — Freshet  of  1888  — Exposition 

—  Augusta's  Double  Tax  —  Retrospect  —  Proud  Record  of  a  Century  and  a  Half.    .    175 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Bench  and  Bar  — Judicial  Establishment  of  Georgia  under  the  Trustees  -  Judicature 
Court  — The  Rum  Law  — Law  Against  Fine  Clothes  — Free  Labor  Law  — Tenure 
by  Tail  Mail  —  Surrender  of  the  Charter  — Judicial  Establishment  under  the  King's 
Colonial  Government -The  Royal  Governor,  the  Chancellor -Court  of  Chancery 
Fee  Bill —  " Thirteen  Chancellors  " '92 


lo  History  of  Augusta. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Bench  and  Bar  Continued  —  Common  Law  Courts  —  The  Chief  Justice  of  Georgia  — 
Grover,  Simpson  and  Stokes,  Chief  Justices  —  Commission  —  Fees  —  The  General 
Court  —  Origin  of  Superior  Court  —  Judges  —  Attorney-General  —  Provost-Marshal 
—  Clerk  of  the  Crown  —  Court  of  Ordinary  —  Court  of  Conscience  — Justices  of  the 
Peace  —  Early  J.  P.'s  in  Augusta  —  Oyer  and  Terminer — Court  of  Admiralty  —  Ap- 
peals—  Court  of  Errors  —  Writ  of  Error  —  Appeal  lo  the  King — The  Colonial  Bar 

—  Pomp,  Form  and  Circumstances  —  Robes,  Seals  and  Precedence 200 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Bench  and  Bar  Continued  —  The  Judicial  Establishment  of  1776  —  Constitution  of  1777 

—  The  Superior  Court  —  Judiciary  Act  of  1778  —  Reopening  of  the  Courts  in  1782  — 
Judiciary  Act  of  1789 — Two  Circuits — Chief  Justice  Glen  —  Judge  Few  —  Chief 
Justices  Glen,  Stephens  and  Wereat  —  Chief  Justice  George  Walton  —  Chief  Justice 
Osborne  —  Richmond   Superior  Court  in  1787  —  Benefit  of  Clergy  —  Branding  and 

the  Pillory  —  Grand  Jury  Presentments  —  Chief  Justice  Pendleton 213 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

Bench  and  Bar  Continued  —  Augusta's  Early  Bar  —  Abraham  Baldwin  —  Governor  John 
Milledge  —  Governor  Telfair  —  William  H.  Crawford  —  Robert  Watkins  —  T.  P.  and 
P.  J.  Carnes  —  Silken  Robes  —  Robert  Raymond  Reid  —  Pathos  and  Humor — His 
Bar  Dinner  —  Freeman  Walker^  John  P.  King  —  Nicholas  Ware  —  John  Forsyth. .   224 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

Bench  and  Bar  Concluded—  Eminent  Lawyers  of  Augusta  Continued  —  Richard  Henry 
Wilde — "  My  Life  is  Like  the  Summer  Rose" — George  W.  Crawford  —  Charles  J. 
Jenkins  —  Ebenezer  Starnes  —  Andrew  J.  Miller  —  William  T.  Gould  —  Henry  H. 
Gumming  —  Governor  William  Schley  — Judge  John  Shly  —  Judge  Holt  —  Herschel 
V.  Johnson  —  Court  Roll  of  Judges  from  1776  —  Solicitors-General  from  1796 — City 
Court  of  Augusta  —  Origin  and  History  —  Court  Roll 237 

CHAPTER   XXIII. 

The  Medical  Profession  —  Augusta  Physicians  of  1760-1785  —  First  Sanitation  Act  — 
Medical  Association  of  1808  —  Medical  Society  of  Augusta  Incorporated  in  1822  — 
Medical  Academy  of  Georgia  —  Bachelor  of  Medicine  Degree  —  State  Board  of 
Physicians  —  Medical  Institute  of  Georgia  —  Doctor  of  Medicine  Degree —The 
Medical  College  Organized  —  Roll  of  Graduates  —  Yellow  Fever  of  1839 — Cele- 
brated Report  Thereon  —  Non-contagiousness  Demonstrated 251 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  Medical  Profession  Concluded — The  Yellow  Fever  Epidemic  of  1854  —  Portability 
of  Fever  Germ  —  Dr.  Campbell's  Theory  of  Quarantine  —  Board  of  Health  —  The 
Sewer  System  —  Decrease  in  Death  Rate  —  Southern  Medical  and  Surgical 
Journal —  Eminent  Physicians  —  Milton  Antony  —  Fendall  —  Cunningham  —  Wat- 
kins  —  Carter —  Garvin  —  Newton  —  Dugas  —  Ford  —  Eve  —  Augusta's  Present 
Faculty 262 


Contents.  h 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Press  —  The  Augusta  C/irom'cle  —  Established  in  1785  —  Its  Editors  for  a  Century  — 
Smith  (1785)  —  Driscoll  (1807)  —  Bevan  (1821)  — A  Semi-Weekly— Harmon  (1822) 

—  A  Tn-Weekly  —  Hobby  (1824)  —  Pemberton  (1825)  —  Jones  (1837)  —  A  Daily  — 
Colonel  James  M.  Smythe  (1846)  —  Dr.  Jones  (1847J  —  Morse  (1861)  —  General  A. 
R.  Wright  and  Hon.  Patrick  Walsh  (i866j  — H.  Gregg  Wright  (1877)  —  James  R. 
Randall  (1883)  —  Pleasant  A.  Stovall  (1887)  —  The  Chronicle  of  1790 —  Its  Appear- 
ance, News,  Advertisements,  Etc. — Chronicles  Centennial  —  Honorable  Record  — 
The  Augusta  Herald — The  Cotisiitiitionalist — Colonel  Gardner  —  Southern  Field 
and  Fireside  —  State's  Rights  Sentinal — The  Mirror  —  The  Republic  —  The 
Evening  News  —  The  Progress  —  The  Free  Press  —  The  Baiiner  of  the  South  — 
The  Pacificator  —  The  Souther 7i  Medical  and  Surgical  Joicrnal — Veteran  News- 
paper Attaches 278 

CHAPTER  XXVL 

Social,  Secret,  Literary  and  Benevolent  Societies  —  The  Drama  —  Commercial  Club  — 
St.  Valentine  Club  —  Scheutzen  —  Gun  Club  —  Irish  Organizations  —  Jockey  Club  — 
Tournaments  —  Bicycle  Club  —  Athletic  Association  —  Poultry  and  Pet  Stock  Asso- 
ciations—  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  —  Origin  and  Good  Work 

—  Widow's  Home  —  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union  —  Ministerial  Associa- 
tion —  Orphan  Asylum  —  Library  —  Sheltering  Arms  —  Hayne  Circle  —  Confederate 
Survivors  —  Drummers  —  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  —  Catholic  Knights  —  Masons 

—  Odd  Fellows  —  Knights  of  Pythias — Good  Templars  —  Miscellaneous  Organiza- 
tions —  Colored  Organizations 291 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Educational  —  Early  Educational  System  of  Georgia  —  The  University  —  The  Academy 

—  The  Poor  School — Early  Appropriations  —  School  Population — Academies  and 
Schools  of  1828  —  Course  of  Instruction  —  The  Educational  Commission  of  1836  — 
Common  School  System  of  1837  —  School  Fund  from  1823  to  1838  —  Common 
School  System  Abolished  in  1840 — Poor  School  Fund  of  1843 --Large  Increase  of 
Fund  in  1852  and  1858  —  The  Perfected  Poor  School  System  —Outbreak  of  War 
Prevents  Fair  Trial  —  The  Academies  —  Their  Number  and  Curious  Names  —  "The 
Turn  Out" — Codification  of  the  Laws  in  i860  —  Educational  Benefactions  in  Au- 
gusta —  Old  Schools  —  The  Houghton  Institute  —  Augusta  Free  School  —  Richmond 
Academy  —  Educational  Clauses  in  State  Constitutions  of  1861  and  1865  —  Educa- 
tion During  the  War  —  Constitutional  Provisions  of  1868  —  System  of  1870  —  The 
Richmond  County  System 301 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

Banks  and  Banking  —  Two  Eras,  18 10  to  1865,  and  1865  to  Date  — The  Old  Bank  of 
Augusta  —  Its  Incorporators  —  Voting  on  a  Sliding  Scale  —  Old  Bank  Rules  —  Death 
to  Counterfeit  its  Notes  —  Germs  of  Bank  Examinations  —  The  Old  Bank's  Good 
Showings  —  A  Surplus  Fund  a  Novelty  —  Balance  Sheet  of  1835  —  List  of  Stock- 
holders—  Other  Old  Banks  —  First  Savings  Bank  in  1827  —  Its  Expenses  $4.55  per 


12  History  of  Augusta. 


Annum  — The  Old  Augusta  Savings  Institution  —  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking 
Company — Almost  Ruined  by  the  Fire  of  1829 — President  Bennoch's  Tart  Report 
to  the  Governor —  Report  of  1833  —  List  of  Stockholders  —  Merchants'  and  Planters' 
Bank — Its  Failure  in   1833  —  Legislative  Report  Thereon  —  The  Mechanics'  Bank 

—  Report  of  1833  —  List  of  Stockholders  —  The  Union  Bank  —  The  City  Bank  — 
The  Georgia  Railroad  Given  Banking  Franchise  —  Its  Capital  Stock  and  Dividends 
from  1836  to  1847  —  Its  Banking  Business  from  1847  ta  1864 — Discounts,  Deposits 
and  Circulation  for.  Same  Period  —  Early  Banking  —  Banking  at  Will  —  Prohibition 
of  Change  Bills  —  Suppression  of  Private  Banks  —  Severe  Penalties  —  No  Notes 
under  Five  Dollars  —  Forfeiture  of  Charter  on  Suspension  of  Specie  Payments  —  Free 
Banking  Law  of  1838  —  Analagous  to  National  Bank  Act  —  Land  and  Negroes  a 
Basis  of  Issue  —  Panic  of  (837— Panic  of  1857  —  "The  War  of  the  Banks"  — 
Banking  Capital  in  1835,  in  1838,  in  i860 — Dividends,  1829  to  1838  —  Great  Pros- 
perity Just  Before  the  War  —  Increase  of  $133,000,000  in  Two  Years  —  Wealth  of 
Richmond  County  in  i860  —  Outside  of  Slaves  $20,000,000  —  War  Bonds,  Specie 
Suspension  —  The  Banks  Exhaust  Themselves  Helping  the  Confederacy  —  Banking 
During  the  War — Demise  of  the  Old  Banks  —  Banks  Since  the  War — National 
Bank  —  National  Exchange  Bank  —  The  State  Banks  —  Renewal  of  Banking  Fran- 
chise to  the  Georgia  Railroad  —  Dividends  from  1836  to  1861,  under  First  Franchise 

—  Dividends,  1861  to  1881  —  The  Commercial  Bank  —  The  Augusta  Savings  Insti- 
tution—  Planters'  Loan  and  Savings  Bank  —  Banks  Chartered  Since  the  War,  but 
not  Organized  —  City  Loan  Association  and  Savings  Bank  —  Mechanics'  Savings 
Bank — City  Loan  and  Savings  Bank  —  Manufacturers'  Bank  —  Citizens'  Bank  — 
City  Bank  —  Savings   Bank  of  Augusta — Name  Changed  to  Bank  of  Augusta  — 

Its  Failure 328 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Churches — -Early  Religious  Discrimination  in  Georgia  —  Establishment  of  Religious 
Freedom  —  The  Colony  Divided  into  Parishes  —  Church  of  England  Established  — 
Parish  of  St.  Paul  —  Augusta's  First  Clergyman  —  Rectors  of  St.  Paul's  Church  — 
Worshipers  Required  to  Carry  Fire-arms  to  Church  —  St.  Paul's  Burned  in  the  Revo- 
lution—  A  New  Church  Built  —  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Society  Incorporated  — 
St.  Paul's  Rebuilt  —  St.  Paul's  Ancient  Tombs—  Church  of  the  Atonement  —  The 
Presbyterian  Churches  —  History  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  —  Originally 
Called  Christ  Church —  Incorporated  in  1808  —  List  of  Pastors  —  The  Telfair  Build- 
ing—  A  Model  Sunday  School- -  Changes  in  Charter — The  Pew  Law  —  Who  is  a 
Worshiper — Baptist  Churches — The  Old  Kioka  Church  — Daniel  Marshall's  Grave 

—  First  Baptist  Church  Incorporated  in  1809  —  Reincorporated  in  1817  —  Building 
Completed  in  1819 — List  of  Pastors  —  Second  Baptist  Church  Incorporated  in  i860 

—  The  Baptist  Convention  —  Methodist  Church  —  Early  Difficulties  —  "The  Weep- 
ing Prophet  " — St.  John's  Established  in  iSoi  —  Rev.  John  Garvin,  its  First  Pastor  — 
His  Distinguished  Successors  —  St.  James' Built  in  1855  —  Other  Methodist  Churches 

—  Early  Catholics  —  Catholic  Society  Incorporated  in  1811 — The  First  Church  — 
Diocese  of  Georgia  Created  in  1850  —  List  of  Bishops  —  St.  Mary's  Convent  Estab- 
lished in  1833  —  Consecration  of  St.  Patrick's  Chnrch  in  1862  —  Father  Duggan  and 
Other  Pastors  —  Sacred  Heart  Church  Built  in  1874  —  Sacred  Heart  Academy  in  1876 

—  The  Franciscan  Sisters  —  The  Christian  Church  —  The  Lutheran  Church  —  The 
Synagogue  —  The  Unitarian  Society  —  Colored  Churches  —  Quaint  Observances  — 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  —  Ministerial  Association  —  Liberal  Religious 
Sentiment 367 


Contents.  U 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Manufactures  — Eli  Whitney  and  His  Cotton  Gin  —  Cotton  Forthwith  Becomes  a  Staple 
The  Inventor's  Troubles  —  Law  Suits.  Infringements  and  Hostile  Legislation  —  Pro- 
test Against  Extension  of  the  Patent  —  Whitney's  Later  Invention  — His  Death  in 
1825  — Rapid  Increase  in  Cotton  Exports— Price  Current  in  1802  — The  Embargo 
Blunder  — British  Cotton  —  Heavy  Customs  Duties  — Georgia  Long  Staple  — Total 
Cotton  Export  in  1810— A  Cotton  Factory  Chartered  in  1798  — Europe  and  the 
North  Manufacture,  while  the  South  only  Produces  — Deterrent  Causes  -  Another 
Factory  Chartered  in  1810  — The  Pioneer  Southern  Mill  — Judge  Shly's  Factory  — 
"The  Live  Spindle  "—Bagging  and  Yarn  the  First  Products— "  The  Dead  Spindle" 

—  Osnaburgs  — The  Mill  Removed  to  Richmond  County  and  Named  Bellville  — 
"Georgia  Plains  "—Checks  and  Denims  Made-- Bellville  Factory  Twice  Burned  — 
Impetus's  Given  Southern  Manufactures  — Richmond  Factory  -  Profuse  and  Omni- 
present Water  Power  of  Richmond  County --Early  Factories,  Mills  and  Gms  — 
McBean  Factory— The  Georgia  Silk  Manufacturing  Company— The  Augusta  Sugar 
Manufacturing  Company -The  Savannah  River  Utilized- Augusta  Canal  Projected 

—  Early   History  of    this   Great    Work  — The    Original   Ordinance— The   Origmal 
Route  Named -Ratifying  Act  of  the  Legislature  -  How  the  Money  was  Raised - 
The  Engineer's  Report- Anti-Canal  Litigation  -  The  Canal  Wins  -  The  Enlarge- 
ment in  1872-5- Dimensions  and  Cost  -  Relative  Cotton  Manufacturing  Advant- 
ages of  North  and  South  — Expert  Testimony -The  Augusta  Manufacturmg  Com- 
pany-The   McBean    Factory  Charter -The    Augusta  Factory -Its  Phenomenal 
Success- The    Enterprise    Factory  — The    Sibley  Manufacturing   Company  — The 
John  P   King  Manufacturing  Company -The  Riverside  Mills -The  Warwick  Mills 
The  Algernon  Mills -The  Globe  Mills  — Work  of  the  Augusta  Factory  from  1873 
to  1878  — The  Adjacent  South  Carolina  Mills  at  Graniteville  and  Vancluse  — The 
Southern  and  Western  Manufacturers  Association  -  The  Lock  Out  of  1886- Other 
Manufacturing  Interests- Georgia  Chemical  Works -The  Guano  Interests -The 
Augusta  Ice  Company  of  1832-The  Jackson  Street  Ice  Company  of  1837-The 
Ice  Factory  of  1864-The  Augusta  Ice  Company-The  Polar  Ice  Company  -The 
Augusta  Machine  Works -Pendleton  Machine  Works- Augusta  Flounng  Mills - 
Excelsior  Flouring  Mills -The    Lumber   Interest -Brick   Yards  -  Augusta   as   a 
Cotton  Town -The  Best  Inland  Center  in  the  United  States -Cotton  Futures.. . .   3«7 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Transportation -Early  Epoch -Pack  Animals- Peltry  Trade- Indigo -Tobacco- 
Inspection  System -Tobacco  Gives  Way  to  Cotton -Wagon  Trade-"  The  Georgie 
Cracker  "-Chief  Justice  Stokes's  Account- Wagon  Yards -The  River  Trade- 
Hammond's  Sketch  of  the  Savannah -Neglect  of  this  Great  Waterway  -  Disputes 
as  to  Boundary -South  Carolina  vs.  Georgia  in  the  Continental  Congress- A  Fed- 
eral Court  Ordered -Convention  of  Beaufort -First  Improvement  Act  m  1786- 
The  Savannah  Navigation  Company  Incorporated  in  1799 -Concert  with  South 
Carolina  Solicited -Navigation  Act  of  1802,  1809  and  1812  -  Another  Appeal  for 
South  Carolina  Co-operation -River  Commissioners- Appropriation  oi  $30,000  m 
1818 -The  River  Improved -South  Carolina  Co-operation  -  The  Convention  of 
182V2; -Congressional  Assent  not  Obtained  -  Co-operation  Fails -Operations 
from  1815  to  ,826.-South  Carolina  Prefers  to  Relv  on  Railroad  Transportation- 


14  History  of  Augusta. 


Collapse  of  the  Inter-State  Convention  —  Fisheries  Acts — Sketch  of  South  Carolina 
Legislation  on  Savannah  River  —  Federal  Appropriation  from  1826  to  1838  —  The 
Anti-Internal  Improvement  School  of  Politics  —  The  Savannah  Valley  Convention  — 
Its  History,  Personnel  and  Action  —  The  Augusta  Chronicle  Suggests  such  a  Con- 
vention—  Memorial  to  Congress  —  Hammond's  Topographical  Sketch  —  A  Trip 
Down  the  River —  Picturesque  Scenes — Danger  Points  on  the  River  —  Regulations 
of  the  Pole  Boat  Trade  —  The  Steamboat  —  William  Longstreet,  its  Inventor  —  The 
First  Crude  Model  —  Steamboat  Act  of  1814  —  The  Steamboat  Company  of  Georgia 
Chartered  in  181 7  —  History  of  the  Company  —  Complaint  of  its  Monopoly  —  South 
Carolina  Competition  —  Legislative  Investigation  and  Report — Hamburg  vs.  Au- 
gusta—  The  Steamboat  Company  Given  Canal  and  Railroad  Franchises  in  1833  — 
Charter  Extended  in  1834 — The  Iron  Steamboat  Company  —  The  Savannah  and 
Augusta  Steamboat  Company — Union  Steamboat  Company  —  Augusta,  Petersburg 
and  Savannah  Steam  and  Pole  Boat  Navigation  Company  —  Augusta  Steamboat 
Company  of  1887  —  Phases  of  Steamboat  Navigation  Development  —  Roll  Call  of 
Steamboats  for  Seventy  Years  —  List  of  Casualities  —  Burnt,  Blown  Up  and  Sunk.  .   436 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Page 

Baker,  Alfred Part  i,  facing  358 

Calvin,  Hon.  Martin  V Part  i,  facing  318 

Campbell,  Henry  Fraser. .  .Part  2,  facing       4 

Estes,  Charles Part  i,  facing  414 

Jones,  Chas.  C,  Jr.,  LL.D.Part  i,  facing  148 
King,  John  P Part  i,  facing  234 


Page 

McCoy,  William  E Part  i,  facing  422 

Mitchell,  Robert  M Part  i,  facing  506 

Phinizy,  Charles  H Part  i,  facing  500 

Sibley.  Josiah Part  2.  facing     26 

Thompson,  Jesse Part  i,  facing  430 

Walsh,  Hon.  Patrick Part  i,  facing  278 


Young,  William  B Part  2,  facing  Page  40 


BIOGRAPHIES 


PART   II. 


Page 


Baker,  Alfred 

Calvin,  Hon.  Martin  V 

Campbell,  Henry  Fraser 

Estes,  Charles 

Jones,  Charles  C,  Jr.,  LL.D 19 

King,  John  P 3^ 

Young,  William  B Page  40 


3 
16 

4 
I 


Page 

McCoy,  William  E 24 

Mitchell,  Robert  M     46 

Phinizy,  Charles  H 25 

Sibley,  Josiah 26 

Thompson,  Jesse 29 

Walsh,  Hon.  Patrick       42 


MEMORIAL    HISTORY 


OF 


AUGUSTA,    GEORGIA, 


PART    I. 


CHAPTER  T. 

Physical  and  Social  Characteristics,  Customs.  Manufactures,  Occupations  and  Monuments 
ol  the  Georgia.Tribes  of  Indians. 

BEFORE  entering  upon  our  contemplated  sketch  of  the  .settlement  and 
early  history  of  Augusta,  a  brief  account  of  the  physical  and  social  char- 
acteristics, the  customs,  manufactures,  monuments  and  occupations  of  the  In- 
dians resident  in  this  region  at  the  time  of  the  advent  of  the  European,  may 
be  deemed  neither  inappropriate  nor  uninteresting. 

When  Oglethorpe  planted  the  colony  of  Georgia  at  Yamacraw  Bluff,  he 
was  welcomed  by  a  small  tribe  of  Indians,  who  had  there  fixed  their  homes, 
led  by  a  venerable  and  noted  chief,  Tomo-chi-chi  by  name.  The  ceded  lands 
lying  between  the  Savannah  and  the  Alatamaha  Rivers  and  extending  from 
their  head  waters  indefinitely  toward  the  west,  were  then  occupied  by  an  Ab- 
original population  the  principal  settlements  of  which  were  established  in  the 
vicinity  of  rivers,  in  rich  valleys,  and  upon  the  sea  islands.  The  middle  and 
lower  portions  of  this  and  the  adjacent  territory  were  claimed  and  occupied 
by  the  Muskhogees  or  Creeks,  consisting  of  many  tribes,  and  associated  to- 
gether in  a  strong  confederacy.  The  lands  possessed  by  the  Muskhogees  com- 
prehended the  seats  of  the  Seminoles  in  Florida,  and  were  bounded  on  the 
west  by  Mobile  River  and  by  the  ridge  which  separates  the  waters  of  the 
Tombigbee  from  those  of  the  Alabama,  on  the  north  by  the  Cherokee  coun- 
try, on  the  north  and  east  by  the  Savannah  River,  and  otherwise  by  the  At- 
lantic Ocean  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.      The  Hitchittees,  residing  on  the  Flint 

3 


i8  History  of  Augusta. 


and  Cliattahoochee  Rivers,  althouL^h  originally  a  distinct  people,  spoke  the 
Muskhogee  dialect  and  formed  a  component  tribe  of  the  Creek  confederation. 
The  Seminoles  or  Isty  Seminoles  (wild  men)  were  pure  Muskhogees,  and  re- 
ceived that  name  because  they  subsisted  chiefly  by  hunting  and  were  little 
giv^en  to  agricultural  pursuits.  They  inhabited  the  peninsula  of  Florida.  Both 
the. Muskhogees  and  the  Hitchittees  claimed  to  be  autochthonous;  the  former 
asserting  that  their  nation,  in  the  beginning,  issued  out  of  a  cave  near  the  Ala- 
bama River,  and  the  latter  boasting  that  their  ancestors  had  fallen  from  the 
sky.  The  Uchees  and  the  Natchez  yielded  obedience  to  the  Muskhogee  con- 
federacy. Of  the  former,  the  original  seats  are  supposed  to  have  been  east  of 
the  Coosa.  They  declared  themselves  to  be  the  most  ancient  inhabitants  of 
the  territory ;  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  they  were  the  people  called  Ap- 
palaches  by  the  historians  of  De  Soto's  expedition.  Early  in  the  eighteenth 
century  they  dwelt  upon  the  western  bank  of  the  Savannah  River;  and,  as 
late  as  1736,  possessed  the  country  above  and  below  the  town  of  Augusta. 
The  name  of  a  creek  in  Columbia  county  perpetuates  their  memory  to  the 
present  day,  and  reminds  us  of  their  former  occupancy  of  this  region.  For- 
saking their  old  habitat  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  and  journeying 
eastward,  the  Natchez  associated  themselves  with  the  Creeks  not  many  years 
prior  to  the  advent  of  Oglethorpe.  The  division  into  Upper,  Middle,  and 
Lower  Creeks  was  wholly  artificial,  and  was  adopted  by  the  English  for  geo- 
graphical purposes.  Cussetah,  Cowetah,  Tukawbatchie  and  Oscoochee  may 
be  mentioned  among  the  principal  towns  of  the  Creeks.  The  Muskhogee,  the 
Hitchittee,  the  Uchee,  the  Natchez,  and  the  Alibamon  or  Coosada,  were  the 
languages  generally  spoken  by  the  various  tribes  composing  the  Creek  confed- 
eracy. Besides  the  nations  we  have  enumerated  as  yielding  obedience  to.  and 
forming  part  of  the  Muskhogee  confederation,  remnants  of  the  Cawittas,  Tale- 
poosas,  Coosas,  Apalachias,  Conshacs  or  Coosades,  Oakmulgis,  Oconis,  Ok- 
choys,  Kiokees,  Alibamons,  Weetumkas,  Pakanas,  Taensas,  Chachsihoomas 
and  Abekas  should  not  be  forgotten. 

North  of  Muskhogees  dwelt  the  Cherokees,  a  brave  and  comely  race.  They 
inhabited  thp  hilly  and  mountainous  parts  of  the  country,  and  exercised  do- 
minion even  beyond  the  Tennessee  River  where  they  were  confronted  by  the 
Shawnees.  The  entire  region  permeated  by  the  sources  of  the  Coosa,  the 
Chattahooche,  the  Savannah,  the  Santee  and  the  Yadkin,  was  held  by  them. 
Between  the  Cherokees  and  the  Muskhogees  the  division  line  followed  Broad 
River,  and,  generally,  the  thirt}'- fourth  parallel  of  north  latitude. 

Of  the  number  of  red  men  dwelling,  at  the  date  of  English  colonization, 
within  the  geographical  limits  accorded  to  the  modern  State  of  Georgia,  we 
may  not  speak  with  certainty.  No  census  was 'taken,  and  all  estimates  then 
formed  were  mere  approximations.  We  question  whether  the  total  popula- 
tion e.xceeded  fifty  thousand.      These  Southern  tribes,  at  the  period  of  our  first 


The  Indian  Occupation.  19 


acquaintance  with  them,  were  well  organized,  occupied  permanent  homes,  and 
were  large  y  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  maize,  beans,  pumpkins,  melons,  and 
fruits  of  several  sorts.  Of  native  nuts  they  were  fond.  From  them  was  ex- 
tracted an  oil,  "clear  as  butter,  and  of  a  good  taste,"  says  the  gentleman  of 
Elvas.  V^'ith  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  blowgun.  the  spear,  and  the  club,  were 
wild  animals  and  birds  killed  for  food.  Fishes  were  captured  with  nets  'and 
harpoons,  in  wears,  and  by  other  ingenuous  mechanical  contrivances. 

Their  plantations  were  located  in  rich  valleys  where  a  generous  soil  yielded, 
with  least  labor,  the  most  remunerative  harvest — upon  islands  and  headlands, 
and  in  the  vicinity  of  streams  where  the  products  of  the  fields  were  readily 
supplemented  by  the  fishes  of  neighboring  waters  and  the  game  of  adjacent 
forests.  The  grooved  stone  ax  was  employed  in  girdling  trees.  The  circula- 
tion being  thus  interrupted,  the  trees  perished,  and  were  then  either  consumed 
by  fire,  or  suffered  to  fall  down  and  rot  piecemeal. 

While  to  tribes,  nations,  and  confederacies  were  accorded  recognized  terri- 
torial limits,  and  while  in  such  public  domain,  with  its  rivers,  lakes  and  woods, 
each  member  exercised  equal  rights  for  the  purposes  of  travel,  hunting  and 
fishing,  a  special  or  temporary  ownership  was  admitted  in  lands  cleared  and 
cultivated  by  individual  labor.      If  at  first  denuded  of  its  forest  by  the  united 
efforts  of  the  villagers,   the  town   plantation  was    subsequently  parceled  out 
among  the  adult  inhabitants,  who  were  thereafter  entitled  to  reap  the  fruits  of 
their  personal  industry.      Each  year,  at  an  appointed  season,  under  the  super- 
intendence of  overseers,   the  inhabitants  of  the  village  prepared   the  ground 
and  sowed  the  seed.      Upon  the  ingathering  of  the  harvest,  each  Indian  depos- 
ited in  his  crib  the  yield  of  his  particular  lot;   contributing,  however,  a  certain 
portion  to  the  public  granary,  or  King's  storehouse.     These  public  granaries 
served  also  as  depositories  for  dried  fishes,  alligators,  dogs,  deer,  bear  and  other 
jerked  meats.      From  them  were  the  chiefs  supplied,  and  their  contents  were 
utilized  in  entertainment  of  strangers,  for  the  relief  of  members  of  the  commu- 
nity who  might  be  overtaken  by  want,  and  in  furnishing  rations  to  warriors 
when  setting  out  upon  an  expedition. 

Besides  his  lot  in  the  general  plantation,  each  villager  cultivated  a  garden 
spot  near  his  habitation,  where  maize,  melons,  beans  and  other  vegetables  were 
produced.  Various  were  the  ceremonies  and  festivals  observed  by  these  prim- 
itive peoples  when  planting  and  harvesting  the  maize,  and  very  general  was 
its  adoption  as  an  article  of  food.  Perhaps  nothing  tended  more  surely  to  de- 
velop and  consolidate  the  Southern  tribes,  and  to  render  permanent  their  habi- 
tations, than  the  extensive  cultivation  of  this  important  American  plant. 

Their  towns  were  usually  small,  and  circular  in  outline.  Not  infrequently 
they  were  defended  by  stockades,  enclosing  spaces  varying  from  two  to  fifty 
acres.  The  central  position  in  the  village  was  occupied  by  the  dwelling  of  the 
mico,  chief,  or  king.      Around  it.  in  the  order  of  rank,  were  congregated  the 


20  History  of  Augusta. 


houses  of  the  head  men.  The  cabins  of  the  common  people  were  ciicuh^r  or 
parallelogrammic  in  plan.  Their  walls  were  made  of  upright  poles,  and  their 
roofs  were  covered  with  swamp-cane,  palmetto  leaves,  moss,  or  earth.  Each 
village  had  its  council-house  where  public  deliberations  were  held.  Some 
times,  as  at  Talomcco,  there  was  a  mausoleum  wherein  were  preserved  the 
skeletons  of  distinguished  kings  and  priests.  Occasionally,  too,  was  erected 
an  armory  for  the  conservation  of  weapons  and  treasures.  If  located  at  a  re- 
move from  river,  lake,  or  natural  spring,  an  artificial  pond  was  excavated  to 
furnish  the  town  with  the  requisite  supply  of  fresh  water. 

Ephemeral  in  their  character,  these  primitive  structures  were  liable  to 
early  decay,  and  had  to  be  constantly  renewed.  At  certain  seasons  these  vil- 
lages were  almost  deserted  of  their  inhabitants,  who  repaired  in  large  numbers 
to  favorite  streams  and  to  the  coast  to  fish  and  hunt. 

At  the  period  of  our  earliest  acquaintance  w'ith'  them,  these  people  were 
dix'idcd  into  fomilics,  tribes,  and  confederacies.  Over  the  confederacy  or  na- 
tion ruled  a  king,  counseled  and  supported  by  chiefs  of  component  tribes. 
The  office  was  elective,  and  the  advancement  to  the  highest  gratle  was  usually 
accorded  to  him  most  worthy  of  the  responsible  position.  As  chief  magistrate, 
he  presided  over  the  grand  council,  commanded  the  entire  labor  and  obedi- 
ence of  his  subjects,  directed  public  afitairs  both  civil  and  military,  and,  with 
powers  well  nigh  despotic,  exercised  the  functions  of  king,  judge,  adviser, 
master,  and  leader.  To  subordinate  chiefs  was  conceded  rank  according  to 
their  age,  wisdom,  valor,  and  the  strength  of  their  following.  Head  warriors, 
high  priests,  and  conjurers  were  important  personages  in  this  primitive  soci- 
ety. The  latter  often  united  the  callings  of  priest,  physician,  and  fortune  teller. 
Presumed  to  be  in  constant  coniniunication  with  spirits  both  good  and  evil, 
addicted  to  numerous  and  extraxagant  incantations,  possessing  charms  myste- 
rious, and  to  the  common  mind  inexplicable,  indulging  in  prolonged  and  vio- 
lent contortions  while  practicing  tlieir  deceptions,  exhibiting  no  inconsiderable 
knowledge  of  simples,  philters  antl  medicinal  herbs,  administering  fumigations, 
inhalations,  baths,  blood-lettings,  scarifications,  local  applications  and  emetics, 
these  medicine  men  imposed  largeh'  upon  the  credulitx-  of  the  community, 
and  exacted  liberal  rewards  from  tlieir  patients,  who,  in  pain  and  superstition, 
regarded  the  ravings  of  these  quacks  as  the  utterances  of  a  divine  tongue,  be- 
held the  behavior  of  these  cunning  impostors  with  awe,  and  submitted  without 
hesitation  to  the  remedies  they  prescribed.  Beyond  doubt,  however,  these 
medicine  men  excelled  in  the  treatment  of  many  distempers,  and  remarkable 
were  the  cures  which  they  effected. 

Both  the  Muskhogees  and  the  Cherokees  were,  at  the  time  of  our  first 
acquaintance  with  them,  and  had  been  for  a  long  time,  engaged  in  the  erection 
of  tumuli  of  earth,  stone,  and  shells.  Some  of  no  mean  dimensions  were  con- 
structed within  the  historic  period,  while  most  of  them  have  withstood  the  dis- 


The  Indian  Occupation.  21 

integrating  influences  of  many  centuries.  Animal,  bird-shaped,  and  em- 
blematic structures  are  rarely  seen.  Space  does  not  permit  us  to  attempt  a 
classification  or  description  of  these  prominent  indications  of  early  occupancy 
and  primitive  labor,  and  yet  we  cannot  refrain  from  alluding  to  the  existence 
of  truncated  pyramids,  constructed  of  earth,  rising  from  ten  to  seventy- five 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  valleys  and  plains  upon  which  they  are  located,  con- 
stituting elevations  for  temples  for  sun  worship,  and  at  other  times  foundations 
for  the  residences  of  kings,  chiefs,  and  priests  ;  of  conical  mounds  truncated, 
and  placed  upon  commanding  bluffs  and  hilltops,  which  served  as  signal  sta- 
tions in  this  densely  wooded  region;  fires  kindled  upon  their  summits  with 
their  glare  by  night  and  their  smoke  by  day  giving  tokens  which,  repeated 
from  kindred  mounds  along  the  reaches  of  rivers  or  on  answering  eminences, 
within  a  period  much  shorter  than  that  allotted  to  the  swiftest  runner,  warned 
tribe  and  nation  of  impending  danger  ;  of  artificial  elevations,  springing  from 
the  depths  of  extensive  swamps  liable  to  inundation,  which  served  either  as 
retreats  during  seasons  of  sudden  overflow,  or  as  foundations  for  the  dwellings 
of  those  who  there  hunted  and  fished  ;  of  grave-mounds,  sometimes  containing 
a  single  skeleton  and  denoting  the  last  resting  place  of  king  or  priest,  and  at 
other  times  covering  the  many  dead  of  family  or  tribe  ;  and  of  stone-piles  des- 
ignating the  spots  where  warriors  of  note  had  fallen  in  battle. 

Cremation  and  urn- burial  in  some  localities  were  in  vogue.  Were  we  not 
precluded  by  the  general  character  of  this  sketch,  it  would  be  interesting  to 
note  the  funeral  customs  observed  by  these  Georgia  tribes,  and  to  describe  the 
-various  modes  of  sepulture  adopted  by  them.  Nor  are  we  now  permitted,  in 
enumerating  the  proofs  of  early  possession  and  combined  labor,  to  do  more 
than  refer  to  the  presence  of  circumvallations  of  earth  and  stone  by  which  hill- 
tops and  eminences  were  fortified  ;  to  the  existence  of  embankments  of  earth 
and  ditches  isolating  considerable  areas  and  protecting  villages,  temple-mounds 
and  playgrounds;  to  the  traces  of  fish-preserves,  of  chunky-yards,  of  pottery 
kilns,  of  pits  whence  clay  was  dug  for  the  manufacture  of  fictile  ware,  of  exca- 
vations where  pot-stone  was  quarried,  and  of  open  air  workshops.  Among 
these  indicia  of  primitive  occupancy  may  also  be  mentioned  extensive  refuse 
piles  and  shell-heaps  composed  of  marine,  fluviatile,  and  lacustrine  shells,  upon 
the  animals  of  which  the  natives  fed,  and  from  which  they  extracted  pearls  in 
large  quantities. 

Aside  from  the  profuse  and  fanciful  ornamentation  of  their  bodies  with 
pigments  of  red,  white,  blue,  yellow,  and  black,  these  Indians  displaj^ed  no 
inconsiderable  taste  in  depicting  signs,  marks,  images,  and  symbols  on  pre- 
pared skins,  and  on  wood,  bone  and  stone.  The  smooth  bark  of  a  growing 
tree,  or  the  face  of  a  rock  was  incised  in  commemoration  of  some  feat  of  arms, 
in  explanation  of  the  strength  or  direction  of  a  military  expedition,  or  in  sol- 
emnization of  a  treaty  of  peace.      Upon  precipitous  slopes,  and  at  points  al- 


22  History  op^  Augusta. 


most  inaccessible  have  been  noted  carved  and  colored  representations  of  the 
sun,  accompanied  by  rude  characters  the  significance  of  which  is  in  the  main 
unintelligible  to  the  modern  observer.  Roughly  cut  intaglios  in  imitation  of 
the  human  form,  of  the  hands  and  feet  of  men,  of  the  tracks  of  buffalo,  deer, 
and  other  animals,  of  bows  and  arrows,  canoes,  circles,  and  other  devices  are 
still  e.Ktant.  Ignorant  of  alphabet,  phonetic  sign,  or  digit,  these  people  by 
means  of  this  primitive  system  of  picture  writing  and  intaglios  sought  to  per- 
petuate the  recollection  of  prominent  events,  and,  by  such  visible  shapes,  to 
communicate  intelligence.  This  effort  was  supplemented  by  the  use  of  wam- 
pum. Their  boldest  attempts  at  sculpture  are  represented  by  stone  images 
which  encourage  the  impression  that  while  they  acknowledged  the  existence  of 
a  Great  Spirit,  venerated  the  sun  as  the  source  of  life  and  heat  and  light,  and 
entertained  some  notions  of  a  future  state,  ihese  Indians  were  -iven  to  some- 
thing nearly  akin  to  idol  or  hero  worship. 

Ignorant  of  the  use  of  iron  and  bronze,  and  treating  it  as  a  malleable  stone 
the  Southern  Indians  hammered  copper  into  various  forms  of  utility  and  orna- 
ment. Among  these  may  be  enumerated  ceremonial  axes,  gouges,  chisels, 
knives,  spearheads,  ;irrovv- points,  wristbands,  armlets,  anklets,  gorgets,  span- 
gles, beads,  pendants,  rods,  and  spindles  for  perforating  pearls. 

Famous  were  the  arrowmakers  of  this  region.  Party-colored  jaspers, 
smoky,  milky,  and  sweet  water  quartz,  crystal,  chalcedony,  and  varieties  of 
flint  and  chert  were  the  favorite  materials  from  which  spearpoints  and  arrow- 
heads were  chipped.  Every  known  variety  here  finds  expression,  and  speci- 
mens of  unusual  beauty  and  symmetry  abound.  Their  bows  were  as  thick  as 
a  man's  arm,  eleven  or  twelve  spans  in  length,  of  a  single  curve,  and  were 
capable  of  projecting  arrows  a  long  distance  and  with  remarkable  power.  Bow- 
strings were  made  of  stag's  gut.  or  of  deer-skin  thongs,  well  twisted.  A  sup- 
ply of  arrows  was  carried  in  a  fawn-skin  quiver  whi(ili  depended  from  the  right 
hip.  The  light,  tough  river  cane  formed  the  customary  arrow  shaft,  and  to  it 
the  stone,  bone,  or  wooden  tip  was  fastened  by  means  of  moistened  sinews,  a 
glue  made  of  the  velvet  horns  of  the  deer,  and  a  resinous  preparation.  With 
such  artillery  did  these  people  wage  wars  and  provide  themselves  with  buffalo, 
deer,  wild  turkeys,  game  of  various  sorts,  and  large  fishes. 

Of  grooved  axes,  celts,  perforated  hatchets,  and  ceremonial  axes,  the  varieties 
were  abundant  and  the  manufacture  was  most  admirable.  Stone  hoes,  adzes, 
picks,  scrapers,  gouges,  awls,  knives,  cutting  implements,  saws,  leaf-shaped  im- 
plements, smoothing  and  crushing  stones,  hammer  stones,  spades,  mortars, 
pestles,  nut  stones,  and  various  objects  of  bone,  shell  and  stone  declare  the  oc- 
cupation, industries  and  mechanical  labors  of  these  nations.  Discoidal  stones 
still  remind  us  of  the  famous  Chungke  game,  and  many  forms  of  pipes  revive 
the  memories  of  the  native  tobacco  plant,  and  of  the  esteem  in  which  it  was 
held  by  the  natives. 


The  Indian  Occupation.  23 


To  the  pottery  of  this  region  the  knight  of  Elvas  paid  high  compliment 
when  he  described  it  as  "  Httle  dififering  from  that  of  Estremoz  or  Monte- 
mor."  Although  unacquainted  with  the  use  of  the  potter's  wheel,  these  sav- 
ages excelled  in  the  ceramic  art,  bestowing  special  care  upon  the  selection  of 
their  clays  and  their  admixture  with  powdered  shells,  gravel,  and  pulverized 
mica,  and  upon  the  forms  and  the  ornamentation  of  their  vessels.  Surviving 
the  changes  of  more  than  a  century  and  a  half,  and  affording  glimpses  of  an- 
cient tastes  and  customs,  these  fictile  articles  are  among  the  most  interesting 
remains  which  have  come  down  to  us. 

Pearls  and  shell  ornaments  were  extensively  worn  by  the  members  of  the 
Georgia  tribes,  both  male  and  female.  The  oysters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and 
the  pearl-bearing  unios  of  the  Southern  rivers  and  lakes  supplied,  in  great 
abundance,  these  coveted  ornaments.  Through  the  intervention  of  primitive 
merchants,  and  by  means  of  extensive  trade  relations,  they  were  carried  far 
into  the  interior.  He  who  traded  in  them  was  welcomed  everywhere.  From 
marine,  fluviatile,  and  lacustrine  shells  were  manufactured  beads,  gorgets,  pen^ 
dants.  arm-guards,  masks,  pins,  drinking  cups,  spoons  and  money.  Margari- 
tiferous  shells  were  diligently  collected.  They  were  opened  by  fire.  The 
animals  they  contained  were  eaten,  and  the  pearls  found  within  them  were  per- 
forated and  worn  as  beads  about  the  neck,  wrists,  waist,  and  ankles. 

Tall,  erect,  copper- colored,  with  long,  straight,  black  hair,  with  prominent 
noses  and  cheek  bones,  with  regular  features,  arched  brows,  and  eyes  rather 
small  but  active  and  full  of  fire  ;  usually  grave  in  deportment,  reserved  in  con- 
versation, tenacious  of  natural  rights,  hospitable  to  strangers,  kind  to  members  of 
their  own  tribe,  honest,  haughty  and  cruel  to  an  enemy,  crafty,  valiant,  capable 
of  great  endurance,  indifferent  to  pain,  and  often  engaged  in  war,  expert  in  hunt- 
ing and  fishing,  fond  of  music  and  dancing,  observant  of  festivals,  nimble  of 
foot,  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  club,  the  stone  ax,  the  cane 
harpoon  and  the  blowgun  ;  patient  of  fatigue  and  hunger,  yet  given  to  idle- 
ness and  frequent  meals;  addicted  to  smoking;  acknowledging  the  existence 
of  a  Supreme  Being ;  adoring  the  sun  as  the  symbol  of  life  and  heat ;  enter- 
taining some  notions  of  an  existence  beyond  the  grave,  plagued  with  visions, 
dreams,  trances,  and  the  influences  of  malign  and  lesser  divinities — worshiping 
the  devil  and  offering  human  sacrifices  in  propitiation  of  the  spirit  of  evil — in- 
dulging to  some  extent  in  image  worship,  and  perpetuating  the  memory  of 
their  distinguished  dead  by  mounds  and  figures  of  wood  and  stone — excelling 
in  the  manufacture  of  fictile  ware,  boats  of  single  trees,  shawls,  coverings, 
mantles  beautifully  woven  and  adorned  with  feathers,  articles  of  dress  made  of 
the  skins  of  buft'alo,  bear  and  deer,  carefully  prepared,  dyed  and  colored — fish- 
ing lines  and  nets  of  the  inner  bark  of  trees,  mats  and  baskets  of  split  cane, 
reeds  and  rushes,  and  laboriously  constructed  wears  for  the  capture  of  fishes — 
extensively  engaged  in  the  fabrication,  use  and  interchange  of  various  articles 


24  History  of  Augusta. 


and  implements  of  wood,  bone,  shell,  copper  and  stone  ;  frequently  monogam- 
ous— the  contubernal  relationship  being  dissoluble  at  the  will  of  the  male — the 
chiefs  and  principal  men  claiming  and  appropriating  as  many  wives  as  fancy 
and  station  dictated;  ornament-loving,  jealous  of  their  possessions;  given  to 
agriculture;  obedient  to  kings  ;  thus  runs  a  general  description  of  these  prim- 
itive inhabitants  prior  to  the  advent  of  the  Europeans.  Certain  it  is  that  the 
inroads  of  these  foreigners  violently  shocked  this  aboriginal  population,  im- 
parting new  ideas,  introducing  contagions  formerly  unknown,  interrupting  cus- 
toms long  established,  overturning  acknowledged  forms  of  government,  impov- 
erishing whole  districts,  engendering  a  sense  of  insecurity  until  that  time  nnfelt, 
instigating  intertribal  wars,  causing  marked  changes,  and  entailing  losses  and 
demoralizations  far  more  potent  than  we  are  inclined,  at  first  thought,  to  im- 
agine. The  operation  of  that  inexorable  law  which  subordinates  the  feebler  to 
the  will  of  the  stronger  has  compassed  the  utter  expatriation  of  the  red  race 
from  the  limits  of  Georgia.  Nevertheless,  Indian  memories  linger  among  our 
hills,  cling  to  our  mountains,  and  are  intimately  associated  with  our  noblest 
rivers.  Tumuli  still  dot  our  valleys,  and  the  plowshare  upturns  physical  tokens 
of  a  former  and  an  almost  forgotten  occupancy. 


CHAPTER  n. 

Savannah  Town — Settlement  of  Augusta— Earliest  Descriptions  of  the  Place — A  Trading 
Post — Names  of  the  First  Traders. 

AS  early  as  17 16  Savannah  Town,  subsequently  better  known  as  Fort 
Moore,  was  located  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Savannah  River,  only  a  few 
miles  below  the  site  at  present  occupied  by  the  village  of  Hamburg.  Its  es- 
tablishment and  maintenance  were  favored  by  the  Carolina  authorities  in  order 
that  a  profitable  trade  with  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees  might  be  facilitated.' 
To  this  point  goods  were  transported  from  Charles  Town,  both  by  land  and 
water.  The  first  agent  in  charge  of  the  storehouse  erected  at  this  place  was 
Captain  Theophilus  Hastings.  He  was  assisted  by  John  Sharp  and  Samuel 
Muckleroy.  This  settlement  derived  its  name  from  the  Sawannos,  or  Savan- 
nahs, a  native  tribe  dwelling  upon  its  banks  and  giving  name  to  the  river 
which  flowed  by. 

So  rapidly  did  the  traffic  with  the  Aborigines  increase,  that  before  the 
close  of  the  year'^Hastings  applied  for  three  additional  assistants  to  aid  him  in 
its  conduct.  At  Savannah  Town  a  laced  hat  then  readily  commanded  eight 
buckskins;   a  calico   petticoat  could  not   be   purchased  for   less  than  twelve  ; 


Settlement  at  Savannah  Town.  25 

and  so  great  was  the  demand  for  salt,  gunpowder,  lead,  kettles,  rum,  looking- 
glasses,  ornaments,  and  other  articles  of  European  manufacture,  that  the  trad- 
ers were  allowed  by  the  commissioners  to  exact  as  much  as  the  natives  could 
be  persuaded  to  give  in  exchange  for  them. 

Upon  the  settlement  of  Augusta  and  the  opening  of  storehouses  at  that 
place,  Savannah  Town  lost  ground  as  a  trading  post  and  eventually  fell  into 
decay.  Fort  Moore,  however,  built  of  six-inch  plank  nailed  to  posts  of  light- 
Avood,  with  four  towers  at  the  angles  on  which  small  field- pieces  were  mounted, 
with  curtains  loopholed  for  small  arms,  and  with  wooden  barracks  capable  of 
accommodating  a  garrison  of  one  hundred  men,  was,  for  many  years  after- 
wards, preserved  as  a  military  establishment. 

Having  confirmed  the  settlements  at  Savannah,  Darien,  and  Frederica, 
Avith  a  view  to  extending  the  limits  of  the  colonization  to  the  northward,  and 
with  the  intention  of  influencing  in  behalf  of  the  Province  of  Georgia  the  ex- 
tensive Indian  trade  which  had  been  monopolized  by  South  Carolina,  Mr. 
Oglethorpe,  toward  the  close  of  1735,  ordered  that  a  town  should  be  marked 
out  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Savannah  River  at  the  head  of  navigation  and 
just  below  the  falls.  In  honor  of  a  royal  princess  he  called  it  Augusta;  and, 
during  the  following  year,  gave  instructions  for  its  population  and  defense. 
Warehouses  were  constructed,  and  these  were  supplied  with  such  goods  as  the 
natives  coveted.  Regulations  were  promulgated  and  enforced  looking  to  fair 
•dealing  between  seller  and  purchaser.  It  was  the  purpose  of  the  founder  of 
the  colony  of  Georgia,  in  all  his  dealings  with  the  savages,  to  do  equity,  and 
to  permit  no  commercial  intercourse  save  by  licensed  traders  who  were  held  to 
strict  accountability.  The  Indians  soon  perceived  the  advantages  accorded  to 
them  by  the  Georgia  agents,  and  quickly  transferred  to  Augusta  the  traffic 
which  hitherto  had  been  conducted  at  Savannah  Town. 

At  the  outset  the  only  communication  with  the  town  was  by  means  of  the 
Savannah  River,  which  was  utilized  alike  by  traders  ascending  in  boats  from 
Charles  Tow^n  and  Savannah,  and  by  Indians  traversing  the  upper  portions  of 
the  stream  in  canoes.  Soon,  however,  a  road  was  opened  between  Augusta 
and  Savannah,  by  way  of  Ebenezer,  which  materially  contributed  to  the  con- 
venience of  the  dwellers  in  those,  at  that  time,  distant  localities. 

The  earliest  account  we  have  of  Augusta  is  contained  in  "  A  State  of  the 
Province  of  Georgia,  attested  upon  oath  in  the  court  of  Savannah,  November 
10,  1740."  1  It  runs  as  follows  :  "Seven  miles  above  New  Windsor,  on  the 
Georgia  side,  lies  the  town  of  Augusta,  just  below  the  Falls  ;  this  was  laid  out 
by  the  Trustees'  Orders,  in  the  Year  1735.  which  has  thriven  prodigiously; 
there  are  several  Warehouses  thoroughly  well  furnished  with  Goods  for  the 
Indiaji  Trade,  and  five  large  Boats  belonging  to  the  different  Inhabitants  of 
the  Town,  which  can  carry  about  nine  or  ten  thousand  Weight  of  Deer- Skins 

^  pp.  6  and  7.     London,  mdccxlii. 


26  History  of  Augusta. 

each,  making  four  or  five  Voyages  at  least  in  a  Year  to  CJiatles-Toivn  for  ex- 
porting to  England ;  and  the  Value  of  each  Cargo  is  computed  to  be  from  \2 
to  1, 500 i,"  Sterling.  Hither  all  the  English  Traders,  with  their  Servants,  resort 
in  the  Spring;  and  'tis  computed  above  two  thousand  Horses  come  hither  at 
that  Season;  and  the  Traders,  Pack- horsemen.  Servants,  Townsmen,  and  oth- 
ers depending  upon  that  Business,  are  moderately  computed  to  be  six  hun- 
dred white  Men  who  live  b\-  their  Trade,  carrying  upon  Pack-horses  all  kinds 
of  proper  EnglisJi  Goods;  for  which  the  Indians  pay  in  Deer-Skins,  Bever, 
and  other  Furs  ;  each  Indian  Hunter  is  reckoned  to  get  three  hundred  Weight 
of  Deer-Skins  in  a  Year.  This  is  a  very  advantageous  Trade  to  England, 
since  it  is  mostly  paid  for  in  Woollen  and  Iron. 

"  Above  this  Town  to  the  North  West  and  on  the  Georgia  Side  of  the  River, 
the  C/ierokecs  live  in  the  Valley  of  the  Applachin  Mountains;  they  were  about 
five  thousand  Warriors  ;  but  last  year  it  is  computed  they  lost  a  thousand, 
partly  by  the  Small-Pox,  and  partly  (as  they  themselves  say)  by  too  much 
Rum  brought  from  Carolina.  The  French  are  striving  to  get  this  Nation  from 
us  ;  which,  if  they  do,  Carolina  must  be  supported  by  a  vast  Number  of 
Troops,  or  lost :  But  as  long  as  we  keep  the  Town  of  Angnsta,  our  Party  in 
the  Cherokees  can  be  so  easily  furnished  with  Arms,  Ammunition  and  Neces- 
saries, that  the  Fteneh  will  not  be  able  to  gain  any  Ground  there. 

"The  Creek  Indians  hve  to  the  Westward  of  the  Town.  Their  chief  Town 
is  the  Coivetas,  two  hundred  Miles  from  Augusla,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty 
Miles  from  the  nearest  French  Fort.  The  Loiver  Creeks  consist  of  about  a 
thousand,  and  the  Upper  Creeks  of  about  seven  hundred  Warriors,  upon  the 
Edge  of  whose  Country  the  French  Fort  oi  Albamahs  lies  :  They  are  esteemed 
to  be  sincerely  attached  to  his  Majesty's  interest. 

"  Beyond  the  Creeks  lie  the  brave  Chickesas,  who  inhabit  near  the  Jlissis- 
ipi  River,  and  possess  the  Banks  of  it ;  these  have  resisted  both  the  Bribes  and 
Arms  of  the  French,  and  Traders  sent  by  us  live  amongst  them. 

"At  Augusta  there  is  a  handsome  Fort,  where  there  is  a  small  garrison  of 
about  twelve  or  fifteen  Men,  besides  Officers ;  and  one  Reason  that  drew  the 
Traders  to  settle  the  Town  of  Augusta  was  the  Safety  they  received  from  this 
Fort  which  stands  upon  high  Ground^  on  the  side  of  the  River  Savannah, 
which  is  there  one  hundred  and  forty  Yards  wide,  and  very  deep  ;  another  Rea- 
son was  the  Richness  and  Fertility  of  the  Land.  The  great  Value  of  this  Town 
of  Augusta  occasioned  the  General  to  have  a  Path  marked  out,  through  the 
Woods,  from  thence  to  Old  Ebenezer ;  and  the  Cherokee  Indians  have  marked 
out  one  from  thence  to  their  Nation,  so  that  Horsemen  can  now  ride  from  the 
Town  of  Savannah  to  the  Nation  of  Cherokees  and  any  other  of  the  Indian 
Nations  all  on  the  Georgia  Side  of  the  River  ;  but  there  are  some  bad  places 
which  ought  to  be  causewayed  and   made  good,  and  which   the  General  says 

1  Now  occupied  by  St.  Paul's  Church  and  cemeter)-. 


Names  of  First  Traders.  27 

he  has  not  yet  Capacity  to  do.  This  Road  begins  to  be  frequented,  and  will 
every  day  be  more  and  more  so,  and  by  it  the  Cherokee  Indians  can  at  any 
time  come  down  to  our  Assistance." 

From  another  contemporaneous  account  we  learn  that  in  1739  above  six 
thousand  bushels  of  Indian  corn,  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  wheat,  were 
harvested  by  the  citizens  of  Augusta  for  home  consumption  ;  and  that  during 
the  same  year  "  about  one  hundred  thousand  Weight  of  Skins  was  brought 
■from  thence.  "1 

The  two  tracts  from  which  we  have  quoted,  pubHshed  under  the  sanction 
of  the  trustees  and  designed  to  convey  a  most  favorable  impression  of  the 
progress  of  the  colony  of  Georgia,  evoked  counter  statements  from  the  dis- 
affected. In  one'-^  of  these  we  find  the  following  statements  and  affidavits  re- 
lating to  the  then  condition  of  Augusta. 

"A  List  of  such  Traders,  Men,  and  Horses,  as  come  from  other  Parts  and 
only  pass  through  or  by  Augusta  in  their  Way  to  the  Creek  Nation. 

Mess  Wood  and  Brown,  from  S.  Carolina 8  men.  60  horses. 

Daniel  Clark,  from   Ditto   4  "  20       '^ 

Archibald  McGilvray,  from  Ditto 3  "  '^ 

George  Cossons,  from  Ditto 4  "  3° 

Jeremiah  Knott,  from  Ditto 4  "  3° 

,,            3  Spencer,  from  Mount-pleasant 3  "  '^ 

Messrs.  -j  Qii^Q^g^  from  Ditto 4  "  20       " 

,,             \  Barnett,  from  Ditto , 3  "  20 

^^^^^'^- ■(  Ladson,  from  Ditto 3  ^j  20       '^• 

James  Cossons,  from  South  Carolina 5  "  3° 

George  Golphin,  from  Ditto 4  "  25 

William  Sleuthers,  from  Ditto 4  "  25 

49  314 

"  A  list  of  the  whole  Inhabitants  of  the  Township  of  Augusta  in  Georgia. 

Mr  Kennedy  O  Brien 5  men.  3  women.        o  children. 

Thomas  Smith   i  "  i  ''  o 

Messrs  Mackenzie  and  Frazer 5  "  ^  "  ° 

John  Miller 2  ''  i  ''  i 

Thomas  Goodale 2  "  I  "  2 

Samuel  Brown 2  "  i  "  i         ^ 

Sanders  Ross 2  "  o  "  o 

A.Sadler i  "  ^  "  ' 

A.  Taylor   I  "  i  "  °       " 

William  Clark i  ''^  i  ''  °       'I 

Henry  Overstreet i  "  '  "  4 

Locklan  McBean 2  "  2  "  i 

William  Gray 4  "  o  "  o       " 

William  Calabern o  "  2  "  2       " 

29  16  12 

1  An  Impartial  Enquiry  into  the  State  and  Utility  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,  p.  49.  Lon- 
don.     MDCCXLI. 

^  A  Brief  Account  of  the  Causes  that  have  retarded  the  Progress  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia 
an  America,  <S^»t^,  Q^c,  pp.  37  to  41.     London,  MDCCXLlll. 


28  History  of  Augusta. 


"  A  List  of  Traders,  Men,  and  Horses  employed  from  Augusta  in  the 
Chickasaw  and  Creek  Trade. 

George  Mackay 4  men.  20  horses. 

Henry  Elsey 3  "  20 

Messrs  Facey  and  Macqueen 6  "  40 

John  Wright 4  "  20 

John  Gardner   3  "  20 

William  Calabern 3  "  15 

Tho  :  Andrews,  in  Creek  and  Chickasaw  Nations 8  "  70 

Thomas  Daval 3  "  20 

John  Cammell 3  "  20 

Paul  Rundall 3  "  20 

Nicholas  Chinery 3  "  20 

William  Newberr)' 3  "  20 

46  305 

"Savannah,  July  14,  1741.  •  John  Gardner." 

"  The  Day  above  written  Jo  Jin  Gardner  of  Augusta,  Indian  Trader,  person- 
ally came  and  appeared  before  me,  John  Fallowfield,  one  of  the  Bailiffs  of  the 
Town  of  Savannah,  and  made  oath  that  the  said  several  Accounts  of  Traders^ 
Horses,  and  Men  employed  in  the  Creek  and  Chickasaiv  Nations  :  and  also- 
the  List  of  the  white  Persons,  Men,  Women,  and  Children  now  living  in  the 
Township  oi  Aiignsta  are,  to  the  best  of  the  said  Deponent's  Knowledge, /«.?/' 
and  true  ;  and  that  the  Persons  residing  in,  and  belonging  to,  the  Fort  of  Au- 
gusta  are  not  contained  in  the  said  Lists  above,  and  on  the  other  Side  of  this- 
Paper  Written.  John  Gardner, 

"  Sworn  the  Day  and  Year 

above-written,  at  Savannah  aforesaid. 

"John  P^allowfield." 

"  The  Deposition  of  Kennedy  O'Brien,  of  Atigusta,  in  the  Colony  of  Geor- 
gia, Merchant,  one  of  the  first  Inhabitants  of  the  said  Township  and  a  con- 
stant Resident  therein  ever  since  the  first  Settlement  thereof,  who,  being  duly- 
sworn  on  the  Holy  Evangelists  of  Almighty  God,  saith  :  That,  whereas,  he 
hath  been  informed  that  a  Representation  hath  lately  been  made  and  trans- 
mitted to  the  Honourable  the  Trustees  for  establishing  the  said  Colony  oi  Geor- 
gia, setting  forth  the  flourishing  State  and  Condition  of  the  said  Colony  ia- 
general,  and  of  the  said  Township  oi  Augusta  in  particular,  and  the  said  depo- 
nent being  willing  to  undeceive  any  or  all  who  may  be  thereby  induced  to 
give  credit  to  the  said  Representation,  doth  voluntarily,  and  of  his  own  accord,, 
declare  and  maintain  the  following  Truths  to  be  strictly  just. 

"  I :  That  there  are  not  more  t}i\zxv  forty  White  Men,  Inhabitants  and  Resi- 
dents of  the  said  Township  of  Augusta,  save  only  the  Soldiers  in  Garrison' 
there,  which  are  about  fifteen  or  twenty  more. 

"  2 :  That  all,  or  most  of  the  Corti  that  hath  been  7nade  and  raised  there,, 
hath  been  wrought  and  matiufactured  by  Negroes  belonging  to  the  said  Inhab- 
itants, and  those  opposite  to  them  on  the  North  Side  of  the  River  in  South 
Carolina. 

"  3:  That  at  least  one  third  Part  of  the  Corn  reported  to  be  raised  in  Au- 
gusta is  raised  in  South  Carolina,  hard  by  the  said  Township. 

"  4:  That  there  are  not  more  thdin  five  hundred  Horses  employed  in  the  In- 
dian Trade,  that  resort  to  Augusta,  altho'  it  is  esteemed  the  Key  to  the  Creek,. 


Trading  Post  at  Augusta.  29 

the  Chickasaw,  and  the  Cherokee  Nations,  and  that  the  most  of  those  Horses^ 
and  Persons  employed  about  them  and  interested  and  concerned  in  them,  do 
as  often  go  to  New  Windsor,  in  South  Carolina  to  trade,  as  to  Angiista. 

"  5  :  That  there  are  now  in  Augusta  but  three  trading  Houses,  and  those  ia 
a  State  of  Decay  and  languishing  Condition  ;  and  that  through  the  ill  Regula- 
tion of  the  Indian  Trade 

"  And  this  Deponent  further  saith  that  no  Ojl,  Wine,  nor  Olives,  hath  ever 
been  produced  at  Augusta,  or  hath  ever  been  attempted  to  be  raised  or  culti- 
vated there  to  the  best  of  this  Deponent's  Knowledge.  And  further  this  De- 
ponent saith  not.  KENNEDY  O'Brien. 

"  Subscribed  and  Sworn  to  before 
me,  this  9th  day  of  July,  1741, 

"John  Pye,  Recorder."  1 

Deeming  it  very  important  to  obtain  the  consent  of  the  natives  to  the  set- 
tlement of  Europeans  within  the  territory  claimed  by  them,  and  regarding  the 
good  will  of  the  Indians  as  essential  to  the  secure  and  peaceable  residence  of  the 
colonists,  Mr.  Oglethorpe  directed  his  earliest  attention  to  making  treaties  of 
alliance  with  the  red  men.  That  these  treaties  should  include  agreements  for 
mutual  intercourse  and  trade  seemed  not  only  prudent,  but  indispensable,  par- 
ticularly as  Tomo-chi-chi,  and  the  micos  of  the  Creeks  who  accompanied  him 
to  England,  had  requested  that  stipulations  should  be  entered  mto  regarding- 
the  quantity,  quality,  and  prices  of  goods,  and  the  accuracy  of  the  weights  and 
measures  used  in  determining  the  value  of  the  articles  offered  in  exchange  for 
buffalo  hides,  deer-skins,  peltry,  etc.  The  trustees  therefore  established  cer- 
tain regulations  designed  to  prevent  in  future  the  impositions  of  which  the  In- 
dians complained.  To  carry  these  into  effect  it  was  thought  proper  that  none 
should  be  permitted  to  trade  with  the  Indians  except  such  as  should  apply  for 
and  receive  special,  license,  and  agree  to  conduct  the  traffic  according  to  pre- 
scribed rules,  and  upon  fair  and  equitable  principles.  It  was,  doubtless,  of 
these  regulations,  intended  to  protect  the  natives,  that  the  affiant,  O'Brien, 
complained,  when  he  alluded  to  the  "  ill  regulation  of  the  Indian  trade."  The 
introduction  of  rum  and  the  employment  of  slave  labor  within  the  confines  of 
Georgia  were  then  strictly  forbidden. 

While  the  accounts  furnished  by  the  trustees,  and  those  submitted  by  cer- 
tain of  the  colonists  who  were  not  in  accord  with  their  purposes  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  important  trust,  touching  the  early  prosperity  of  Augusta,  are 
not  harmonious,  it  may  not  be  questioned  that  this  town,  as  a  trading  post, 
rapidly  assumed  an  importance  far  beyond  that  which  could  be  fairly  claimed 
by  any  other  settlement  within  the  confines  of  the  province.  Multitudes  of 
Indians  flocked  hither  at  certain  seasons  of  the   year.       Hence  the  traders  de- 

'  Compare  "  A  True  and  Historical  Narrative  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia  in  America,"  etc. 
by  Tailfer,  Anderson.  Douglas  and  Others,  pp.  113,  114.  Charles-Town,  South  Carolina,  MD- 
CCXLI. 


30  History  of  Augusta. 


parted  to  exchange  their  goods  for  the  peltry  of  the  natives  dweUing  far  in  the 
interior,  and  here  were  deposited  both  the  merchandise  intended  for  barter 
and  the  skins  obtained  in  traffic.  Boats  were  constantly  ascending  and  de- 
scending the  Savannah  River.  It  was  a  busy  scene  in  the  midst  of  wild  woods, 
this  constant  arrival  and  departure  of  a  picturesque  trading  population,  this  re- 
curring receipt  and  shipment  of  goods,  this  ceaseless  exchange  of  commodi- 
ties. So  advantageous  was  its  situation  that  Augusta  was,  for  many  years, 
reckoned  the  most  important  mart  for  Indian  traffic  within  the  limits  both  of 
Georgia  and  of  South  Carolina. 

O'Brien  began  the  settlement  of  the  town  largely  at  his  individual  charge, 
and  by  him  was  the  first  commodious  storehouse  there  erected.  As  a  reward 
for  his  energy  and  enterprise,  General  Oglethorpe,  on  the  8th  of  March,  1739, 
recommended  the  trustees  to  grant  "  him  and  the  heirs  male  of  his  body  "  five 
hundred  acres  of  land.  Roger  de  Lacey,  a  noted  Indian  trader,  was  another 
prominent  pioneer  who  materially  assisted  in  the  development  of  the  little 
town.  At  an  early  period  of  its  existence,  a  detachment  of  ten  men,  under  the 
■command  of  Captain  Kent,  was  sent  up  and  supported  by  the  trust  for  the  pro- 
^  tection  of  the  inhabitants  of  Augusta.  A  small  fort,  with  wooden  walls,  mus- 
ket proof,  and  arm'ed  with  a  few  small  iron  field  pieces,  was  erected  upon  the 
river  bank  where  St.  Paul's  Church  now  stands.  Within  were  quarters  for  the 
garrison,  and  the  structure  was  mainly  intended  as  a  place  of  retreat  in  seasons 
of  danger.  The  dwellings  of  the  early  inhabitants  were  limited  in  their  capac- 
ity, and  builded  of  wood.  They  were  distributed  along  the  river  front.  The 
land  stretching  away  to  the  south  was  marish,  covered  by  a  dense  growth  of 
forest  trees,  and  permeated  here  and  there  by  sluggish  lagoons.  The  Savan- 
nah River  was  then  limpid,  and  abounded  in  animal  life.  The  woods  were 
filled  with  deer,  wild  turkeys,  squirrels,  raccoons,  opossums,  ducks,  woodcock 
and  rabbits  ;  while,  at  certain  seasons  and  at  no  great  remove,  herds  of  buffalo 
roamed  through  the  interior.  The  soil  was  fertile  to  the  last  degree,  and  agri- 
•culture  was  not  long  neglected.  Contrary  to  the  wish  and  the  injunction  of  the 
trustees,  negro  slaves  were  hired  from  their  Carolina  owners  and  employed  in 
■clearing  lands  and  in  cultivating  the  cereals,  among  which  Indian  corn  pre- 
■dominated.  Trade,  however,  engrossed  the  general  attention,  and  complaint 
was  made  of  the  sharp  practice  of  some  of  the  settlers  who,  in  their  anxiety  to 
drive  the  earliest  bargains  with  both  incoming  natives  and  returning  pack- 
horsemen,  removed  from  the  village,  and,  recking  neither  the  isolation  nor  the 
■dangers  of  their  exposed  situations,  located  their  dwellings  and  little  store- 
houses along  the  paths  leading  into  the  Indian  country.  Of  schools  and  school- 
masters, of  churches  and  parsons,  of  doctors  and  lawyers,  there  were  none. 
The  wants  of  these  early  inhabitants  were  few,  and  of  intellectual  life,  for  more 
than  a  decade,  there  seems  to  have  been  little.  The  business  of  the  inhabi- 
tants was  the  procurement  and  exchange  of  duffel,  salt,  gunpowder,  lead,  ket- 


General  Oglethorpe.  31 

ties,  beads,  rum,  looking-glasses,  trinkets,  and  other  articles  of  European  man- 
ufacture, for  peltry,  venison,  and  ponies,  offered  by  the  Indians.  As  Savannah 
long  continued  to  be  the  capital  and  commercial  metropolis  of  the  colony,  and 
as  Frederica,  before  the  middle  of  the  century,  became  the  Thermopylae  of  the 
Southern  Anglo-American  provinces,  so  did  Augusta,  for  many  years,  main- 
tain her  supremacy  as  the  chief  trading  post  within  the  confines  of  Georgia — 
the  point  through  which  flowed  the  main  current  of  commerce  between  the 
English  and  the  native  population. 


CHAPTER  III. 


General  Oglethorpe's  Visit  to  Augusta  — His  Conference  with  the  Creeks  at  Coweta  Town 
—  Colonel  Stephens's  Account  of  the  Progress  of  the  Plantation  — Oglethorpe's  Fairness  in 
Dealing  with  the  Indians—  Introduction  of  Slave  Labor—  Rev.  Jonathan  Copp  —  Distribution 
of  Presents  for  the  Indians  — Fort  at  Augusta  —  Early  Legislation  —  Governor  Reynolds's 
"  Representation  "  — Parishes  Established  —Representation  and  Petition  from  Augusta. 

ONLY  once  did  General  Oglethorpe  visit  Augusta.  This  was  in'  Septem- 
ber, 1739.  He  was  then  returning  to  Savannah  from  his  perilous  and  im- 
portant journey  to  Coweta  Town,  where  he  had  met  in  convention  seven  thou- 
sand red  warriors  and  brought  about  a  pacification  of  the  Indian  nations.  The 
exposure  and  anxieties  encountered  on  the  expedition  and  while  in  attendance 
upon  that  coftference,  so  wrought  upon  his  iron  constitution  that  he  was  pros^ 
trated  by  a  slow  fever.  In  this  enfeebled  condition  he  sought  repose  for  a  few 
days  at  Augusta.      From  this  place  he  wrote  the  following  letter : 

"  Fort  Augusta  in  Georgia. 
"  5th  September,  1739 
"Sr:  I  am  just  arrived  at  this  Place  from  the  Assembled  Estates  of  the 
Creek  Nation.  They  have  very  fully  declared  their  rights  to  and  possession 
of  all  the  Land  as  far  as  the  River  Saint  Johns,  and  their  Concession  of  the  Sea 
Coast,  Islands,  and  other  Lands  to  the  Trustees,  of  which  they  have  made  a 
regular  Act.  If  I  had  not  gone  up,  the  misunderstandings  between  them  and 
the  Carolina  Traders,  fomented  by  our  two  neighboring  Nations,  would  prob- 
ably have  occasioned  their  beginning  a  war  which  I  believe  might  have  been 
the  result  of  this  general  meeting;  but  as  their  complaints  were  reasonable,  I 
gave  them  satisfaction  in  all  of  them,  and  everything  is  entirely  settled  m 
peace.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  joy  they  expressed  at  my  arrival ;  they 
met  me  forty  miles  in  the  woods,  and  layd  Provisions  on  the  roads  in  the  woods. 
The  Express  being  just  going  to  Charles-Town,  I  can  say  no  more,  but  I  have 


32  History  of  Augusta. 


had  a  burning  fever  of  which  I  am  perfectly  well  recovered.      I  hope  the  Trus- 
tees will  accept  of  this  as  a  letter  to  them. 

"  I  am,  S'",  your  very  humble  Serv' 

"James  Oglethorpe. 
"To  Mr.  Harman  Verelst."^ 

Commenting  upon  this  remarkable  mission  of  General  Oglethorpe,  Mr. 
Spalding,  with  equal  truth  and  fervor,  remarks  :  "  When  we  call  into  remem- 
brance the  then  force  of  these  tribes — for  they  could  have  brought  into  the 
■  field  twenty  thousand  fighting  men — when  we  call  to  remembrance  the  influ- 
ence the  French  had  everywhere  else  obtained  over  the  Indians — when  we  call 
to  remembrance  the  distance  he  had  to  travel  through  solitary  pathways,  .  .  . 
exposed  to  summer  suns,  night  dews,  and  to  the  treachery  of  any  single  Indian 
who  knew — and  every  Indian  knew — the  rich  reward  that  would  have  awaited 
him  for  the  act  from  the  Spaniards  in  St.  Augustine,  or  the  French  in  Mobile, 
surely  we  may  proudly  ask  what  soldier  ever  gave  higher  proof  of  courage? 
What  gentleman  ever  gave  greater  evidence  of  magnanimity  ?  What  English 
governor  of  an  American  province  ever  gave  such  assurance  of  deep  devotion 
to  public  duty  ?  "^ 

But  for  this  manly  conference  with  the  red  men  in  the  heart  of  their  own 
■country,  and  the  admiration  with  which  his  presence,  courage  and  bearing  in- 
spired the  assembled  chiefs,  Oglethorpe  could  not  have  compassed  this  pacifi- 
cation and  secured  this  treaty  of  amity  so  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the 
■colony  now  on  the  eve  of  most  serious  complications  with  the  Spaniards  in 
Florida. 

The  garrison  detailed  and  supported  by  the  Trust  for  the  protection  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Augusta,  and  consisting  of  a  commissioned  officer  and  from  ten 
to  twenty  men,  was  regularly  maintained  until  1767,  when,  in  the  language  of 
Sir  James  Wright,  Georgia's  third  and  last  royal  governor,  "  the  Rangers  in 
this  province  were  broke." 

Under  date  of  Tuesday,  September  19,  1738,  Colonel  William  Stephens, 
writing  at  Savanah,  enters  this  memorandum  in  his  journal,  kept  for  the  infor- 
mation of  the  trustees:^  "Mr.  Samuel  Browti,  one  of  our  principal  Traders  in 
the  Indian  Nations,  came  to  Town  by  way  of  Attgnsta,  in  a  weak  state  of 
health ;  and  as  he  was  a  Settler  also  at  that  Place,  where  he  had  built  a  House 
upon  a  Lot  granted  him,  he  had  some  Stay  in  his  Way.  I  was  sorry  to  hear 
by  him  that  they  were  grown  extream  sickly  thereabouts  ;  that  it  came  through 
Carolina  by  Degrees  to  their  Settlement  at  New  Windsor,  and  thence  soon 
crossed  to  Augusta ;  that  a  great  many  were  down  in   Fevers  at  his  coming 

^  P.  R.  O.,  Georgia,  B.  T.,  vol.  21,  p.  162. 

'  Collections  of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  vol.  i,  p.  263.     Savannah,  mdcccxl. 

^  A  Journal  of  the  proceedings  ill  Georgia  October  10,  1737,  etc.,  vol.  i,  p.  290.      London. 
MDCCXLII. 


General  Oglethorpe.  33 


away  ;  and  that  Lieutenant  Kent  was  so  ill  that  it  was  feared  he  could  not  live. 
At  the  same  Time  I  received  a  Letter  from  one  John  Miller,  who  keeps  Stores 
at  Augusta  to  serve  the  Indian  Traders,  acquainting  me  that  the  Inhabitants 
were  settling  in  a  very  irregular  Manner  by  building  Stores  on  five  hundred 
Acre  Lots  some  Miles  distant  from  each  other  up  the  Path  towards  the  Creeks: 
The  Reason  for  which  is  that  the  Out- Parts  have  the  Advantage  and  chance  of 
intercepting  the  Customers  of  those  who  live  in  or  near  the  Town  o^  Augusta  ; 
but  consequently  He  under  greater  Danger  of  being  cut  off  by  Enemies  of  any 
Sort :  Whereas  a  collected  Body  of  People  would  be  better  able  to  defend 
themselves,  or  retire  and  take  the  Benefit  of  the  Fort:  Moreover  it  will  be  in 
the  Power  of  such  Indian  Traders  as  run  in  Debt  with  the  settled  Storekeepers 
to  go  to  one  of  those  out-lying  Stores  and  be  supplied,  and  then  return  to  the 
Indian  Nation,  thereby  defrauding  their  former  Creditors  who  cannot  bring 
them  to  regular  Justice.  Mr.  Brown  confirming  this,  I  thought  it  worth  Notice, 
and  conceive  it  mav  be  worth  the  Consideration  of  such  as  have  Power  to  regu- 
late it  better." 

That  in  the  autumn  this  malarial  region,  badly  drained,  the  atmosphere 
impregnated  with  noxious  exhalations  from  a  soil  recently  denuded  of  forest 
trees  and  subjected  by  the  plow  to  the  direct  rays  of  a  semi-tropical  sun,  should 
have  been  visited  by  fevers  of  a  severe  type  excites  no  wonder.  Exposure,  in- 
difference to  hygenic  precautions,  and  sometimes  insufficient  food,  tended  still 
further  to  render  constitutions,  not  yet  fairly  acclimated,  liable  to  their  per- 
nicious influences. 

At  a  remove  from  the  cdurts  established  in  Savanah,  and  with  no  one  save 
a  magistrate,  holding  a  verbal  commission,  to  decide  in  claim  cases  or  to  pun- 
ish where  breaches  of  the  peace  occurred,  the  citizens  of  Augusta  were,  for  a 
number  of  years,  largely  a  law  unto  themselves,  managing  their  affairs  and  set- 
tling their  disputes  in  their  own  way. 

We  marvel  too  that  this  feeble  plantation  did  not,  at  the  outset,  encounter 
violent  shocks  at  the  hands  of  the  natives,  who,  in  the  neighborhood,  far  out- 
numbered the  Europeans.  The  truth  is  the  Uchees,  the  Kiokees,  the  Savan- 
nahs and  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees  generally,  were  kind  and  forbearing  in 
their  intercourse  with  the  English.  Whenever  difficulties  occurred  between 
the  races,  the  provocation,  in  most  instances,  could  be  fairly  laid  at  the  door  of 
the  white  man.  With  the  natives  Oglethorpe's  influence  was  overshadowing, 
and  his  reputation  for  fair  dealing  and  generosity  unquestioned. 

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  treat- 
ment of  the  Indians.  The  ascendency  he  acquired  over  them,  the  respect  they 
entertained  for  him,  and  the  manly,  generous  and  just  policy  he  ever  main- 
tained in  his  intercourse  with  the  native  tribes  of  the  region  are  remarkable. 
Their  favor,  at  the  outset,  was  essential  to  the  repose  of  the  settlement ;   their 


5 


34  History  of  Augusta. 


friendship  necessary  to  its  existence.  In  the  beginning,  few  in  numbers  and 
isolated  in  position,  a  hostile  breath  would  have  blown  it.  into  nothingness. 
As  claimants  of  the  soil  by  virtue  of  prior  occupancy,  it  was  important  that  the 
title  they  asserted  to  these  their  hunting-grounds  should,  at-an  early  moment, 
be  peaceably  and  formally  extinguished.  A  resort  to  the  sword  in  assertion 
of  England's  dominion  over  this  territory  would  haveled  at  once  to  ambush, 
alarm,  and  bloodshed.  Tlie  adoption  of  a  violent  and  coercive  course  toward 
tlie  aborigines  would  h.ive  aroused  their  hostility  and  imperiled  the  success  of 
the  plantation.  Far  better  the  plan  of  conciliation.  This  Oglethorpe  fully 
recognized,  and  shaped  his  policy  accordingly. 

In  the  spring  of  1739  the  German  Jesuit,  Christian  Priber,  endeavored,  in 
the  interest  of  the  French,  to  prejudice  the  minds  of  the  Cherokees  against  the 
English.  A  conference,  however,  held  at  Augusta  in  April  of  that  year,  re- 
sulted in  an  interchange  of  good  will  and  a  confirmation  of  the  amicable  rela- 
tions subsisting  between  the  colonists  and  the  dwellers  among  the  mountains 
of  Appalatcy.i 

While  General  Oglethorpe  was  in  Augusta,  in  September  of  this  year,  he 
was  visited  by  chiefs  from  the  Chickesas  and  Cherokees.  Those  from  the  latter 
nation  complained  that  some  of  their  people  had  been  poisoned  by  rum  sold 
to  them  by  the  traders.  They  were  much  incensed  and  threatened  revenge. 
Upon  inquiring  into  the  matter  the  general  ascertained  that  some  unlicensed 
traders  from  Carolina  had  communicated  the  smallpox  to  the  Indians,  who, 
ignorant  of  the  method  of  treating  the  disease,  had  fallen  victims  to  that  loath- 
some distemper.  He  found  it  difficult  to  convince  the  chiefs  of  the  true  cause 
of  the  calamity.  They  were  at  length  appeased,  and  departed  with  the  assur- 
ance that  they  might  apprehend  no  trouble  in  dealing  with  the  licensed  traders 
from  Georgia,  as  permits  were  never  granted  to  those  unworthy  of  confidence.  ^ 

In  March,  1740,  a  complaint  was  lodged  with  the  authorities  in  Savannah 
that  in  consequence  of  the  introduction  of  negro  slaves  from  Carolina,  who 
performed  all  the  manual  labor,  an  ordinary  workman  could  find  but  little 
employment  at  Augusta.  In  exercising  the  garrison  of  Fort  Augusta,  one  of 
the  iron  guns  burst  and  b^•^\'  off  the  head  of  a  soldier.  On  the  30th  of  the  fol- 
lowing June,  Lieutenant  Kent,  newly  arrived  from  Augusta,  informed  Colonel 
Stephens  that  he  experienced  considerable  difficulty  in  conducting  the  civil 
affairs  of  the  settlement.  There  was  so  much  "jangling  among  the  traders," 
and  so  prone  were  they  "  to  decide  their  controversies  by  force,"  that  the 
local  magistrate  was  greatly  embarrassed  in  the  administration  of  justice. 
>\^  In  April,  1 741,  the  garrison  of  Fort  Augusta  was  "augmented  from  twelve 
to  twenty  men." 

Until  the  removal  of  the  prohibition  respecting  the  introduction,  employ- 

'  See  blephens    'Joia-nal  of  Proceediitgs,  vol.  i,  pp.  455,456.      London,  MDCCXLII. 
"See  Wright's  Memoir  of  Oglethorpe,  p.  219.     London.      1867. 


Introduction  of  Slave  Labor.  35 


ment,  and  ownership  of  slaves  in  Georgia,  and  until  the  enlargement  of  the 
tenure  by  which  lands  were  holden  of  the  crown,  but  slow  progress  was  made 
in  develoii  ig  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  district  of  St.  Paul.  So  soon 
however,  <is  the  trustees  saw  fit  to  modify  their  restrictions  in  these  respects, 
the  colon)  "  had  a  better  appearance  of  thriving"  than  at  any  former  period 
of  its  existence.  No  two  individuals  were  so  instrumental  in  prevailing  upon 
the  Trustees  to  permit  Georgia  the  right,  long  enjoyed  by  her  sister  English 
colonies  in  America,  of  owning  and  using  negro  slaves,  as  the  Rev.  George 
Whitefield  and  the  Hon.  James  Habersham.  The  former  boldly  asserted  that 
the  transportation  of  the  African  from  his  home  of  barbarism  to  a  Christian 
land,  where  he  would  be  humanly  tre.ited  and  required  to  perform  his  share  of 
toil  common  to  the  lot  of  humanity,  was  advantageous  ;  while  the  latter  af- 
firmed that  the  colony  could  not  prosper  without  the  intervention  of  slave 
labor. 

In  the  Provincial  Assembly  which  convened  in  Savannah  on  the  15th  of 
January,  175  i,  to  concert  measures  and  submit  recommendations  for  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  the  province,  Augusta  was  represented  by  George  Cadogan  and 
David  Douglass. 

As  early  as  1750  the  gentlemen  of  Augusta  built  "a  handsome  and  con- 
venient church,"  opposite  one  of  the  curtains  of  the  fort,  and  so  near  that  its 
guns  afforded  ample  protection.  This  little  wooden  temple  indicated  the  fur- 
thest advance  the  Church  of  England  had  thus  far  made  into  the  Indian  ter- 
ritory. 

In  order  to  attract  a  minister  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  promised  to 
erect  a  parsonage,  cultivate  the  glebe  lands,  and  contribute  ;^20  a  year  toward 
his  maintenance.  The  Rev.  Jonathan  Copp,  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  a  grad- 
uate of  Yale  College,  having  in  December,  1750,  been  ordained  in  England  as  a 
deacon  and  priest  by  Dr.  Sherlock,  bishop  of  London,  came  to  Augusta  the  fol- 
lowing year  and  there  entered  upon'his  ministry.  His  congregation  numbered 
nearly  one  hundred.  Among  them  were  eight  communicants.  The  parson- 
age, however,  had  not  been  erected,  the  glebe  lands  were  uncultivated,  and  the 
hope  of  receiving  prompt  payment  of  the  stipend  of  ^20  appeared  uncertain. 
"Separated  from  any  brother  clergyman  by  one  hundred  and  thirty  miles  of 
wilderness,"  on  the  frontier  of  civilization,  in  pro.ximity  to  the  Indian  territory, 
and  daily  liable  to  the  merciless  attacks  of  savages,  "with  but  little  to  cheer  and 
much  to  discourage,  with  small  emolument  and  arduous  labor,"  he  here  con- 
tinued as  a  missionary  until  1 756,  .wto,  jlfi  f),e£-e^ted  a  call  to  the  rectorship  of 
St.  John's  parish  in  South  CaroHna.^ 


'  He  was  succeeded  in  1764  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Trink.  who,  for  three  years,  discharged 
the  duties  of  rector  of  the  parish.  Removing-  in  1767  to  Savannah,  his  station  for  the  ensuing 
three  years  was  filled  by  the  Rev.  Edward  Ellington.  When  he  resigned  the  pastorate  there 
were  forty  communicants  in  St.  Paul's  Church,  and  during  his  ministry  he  baptized  four  hun- 


36  History  of  Augusta. 


The  Trustees  for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America  having  sur- 
rendered their  charter  and  relieved  themselves  from  the  further  execution  of  a 
trust  which  had  grown  quite  beyond  their  management,  his  Majesty,  King 
George,  II,  was  pleased,  on  the  6th  of  August,  1754,  to  appoint  Captain  John 
Reynolds  governor  of  the  Province  of  Georgia.  One  of  his  earliest  official 
acts,  after  his  arrival  in  Savannah  on  the  29th  of  October,  was  to  cause  a  liberal 
supply  of  presents  to  be  distributed  at  Augusta  to  the  Chickasaws,  Creeks, 
Uchees  and  Cherokees  whom,  as  he  was  advised  by  Indian  traders  of  repute, 
the  French  were  endeavoring  to  excite  to  hostilities  against  the  upper  settle- 
ments of  Georgia  and  Carolina.  A  justice  was  commissioned  for  the  district 
of  Saint  Paul.  He  was  authorized  to  hear  and  determine  causes  where  the 
amount  involved  did  not  exceed  forty  shillings.  For  punishing  slaves  commit- 
ting capital  crimes,  a  commission  of  oyer  and  terminer  might,  upon  an  emer- 
gency, be  issued  to  the  justice  of  the  district  in  which  the  offence  was  commit- 
ted to  try  the  accused  without  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  encourage- 
ment to  the  people  to  discover  the  villainies  of  their  slaves."  Causes  of  special 
moment  in  law  and  equity,  in  admiralty,  and  of  a  criminal  nature,  were  to  be 
tried  by  the  courts  which  were  established  in  Savannah. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  the  Indian  presents  in  December,  1755,  Governor  Rey- 
nolds proceeded  to  Augusta  that  he  might  superintend  their  distribution  and 
utilize  the  occasion  in  confirming  the  amicable  relations  existing  between  the 
colonists  and  their  red  neighbors.  While  there  awaiting  the  assembling  of  the 
chiefs,  he  was  summoned  to  Savannah  by  a  matter  claiming  his  immediate  and 
personal  attention.  He  was  therefore  constrained  to  leave  the  presents,  and 
the  addresses  he  had  prepared,  with  Mr.  William  Little,  commissioner  and 
agent  for  Indian  affairs,  who,  a  week  after  the  departure  of  the  governor,  read 
those  speeches  and  distributed  the  presents  to  some  three  himdred  chiefs  and 
head  warriors.  The  convocation  was  peaceful  and  amicable.  Well  pleased 
with  the  royal  gifts,  the  aborigines  renewed  their  pledges  of  friendship. 

dred  and  twenty-eight  persons,  and  married  sixty-two  couples.  During  the  war  St.  Paul's 
Church,  which  was  a  small  wooden  structure,  perished,  there  being  no  clergymen  in  charge, 
and  no  worshippers  within  its  frail  walls.  In  1786  a  second  sacred  edifice  was  erected  on  the 
site  of  the  first,  and  it,  in  turn,  gave  away  to  the  present  structure,  the  foundations  of  which 
were  laid  in  181 8.  In  1789  the  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer  was  in  charge  of  the  church,  and  he  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  Rev.  Adam  Boyd,  whose  pastorate  endured  until  1798.  Between  this  date  and 
the  year  1818,  there  appear  to  have  been  no  divine  ministrations  under  the  exclusive  auspices 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  denomination  within  the  porciies  of  St.  Paul's  Church.  The 
glebe  lands,  consisting  of  fifteen  acres,  to  which  the  parish  church  was  originally  entitled,  have 
been  lost,  or  absorbed  within  the  control  and  possession  of  the  trustees  ot  the  Richmond 
county  Academy.  During  the  last  two  years  of  the  past  century,  and  the  first  eighteen  years 
of  the  present,  St.  Paul's  Church,  under  the  supervision  of  the  trustees  ot  the  Richmond  Acad- 
emy, appears  to  have  been  used  as  a  place  of  worshij)  by  all  denominations  of  Christians. 


Early  Defenses  of  Augusta.  37 

While  in  Augusta,  Governor  Reynolds,  who,  true  to  his  mihtary  profes- 
sion and  instincts,  was  devoting,  perhaps,  more  attention  to  the  defenses  of  the 
province  than  to  any  other  matter  connected  with  its  administration  and  de- 
velopment, made  a  personal  inspection  of  the  fort  located  at  that  place.  Built 
■of  wood,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  square,  he  found  it  so  rotten  that  a 
large  portion  of  it  was  propped  up  to  prevent  its  walls  from  faUing.  Its  eight 
small  iron  guns  were  honeycombed,  and  their  carriages  in  an  unserviceable 
condition.      Of  ordnance  stores  there  was  but  a  very  scant  supply. 

The  population  of  Georgia,  sadly  dispersed,  did  not  then  aggregate  more 
than  sixty-four  hundred  souls.  Of  these,  seven  hundred  and  fifty-six,  capable 
of  bearing  arms,  were  enrolled  .in  the  militia  and  officered.  Poorly  equipped, 
and  organized  into  eight  companies,  they  were  drilled  six  times  each  year. 
Widely  separated,  their  concentration  on  an  emergency  was  very  difficult. 
There  was,  in  truth,  not  a  fortification  within  the  limits  of  the  province  in  even 
tolerable  condition. 

In  the  elaborate  "representation  of  the  forts  and  garrisons  necessary  for  the 
defense  of  Georgia,"  which,  with  the  assistance  of  John  Gerar,  William,  De- 
Brahm,  one  of  the  royal  surveyors  and  a  captain  of  engineers  of  high  repute, 
the  governor  matured,  and,  on  the  5th  of  January,  1756,  submitted  for  the  ap- 
proval of  the  home  government,  he  urged  that  a  fort  should  be  constructed 
for  the  protection  of  Augusta,  square  in  outline,  "/.  e.  four  Poligons  each  448 
feet,  with  four  Bastions  altogether  on  one  Horizon."      For  its   armament  he 

suggested : 

■'12,    12 Pounders/^ 

,^    ,     „     „    o    „  r>         1         -  Cannon. 

10,    I,   2,   3.   6,   9 Pounders  ( 

2,   10 ■ Pounders     Haubices. 

24" 

The  garrison  was  to  consist  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  regulars,  with  a  re- 
inforcement of  three  hundred  men,  viz.,  one  hundred  and  fifty  militia,  and  one 
hundred  and  fifty  Indians.  In  addition,  a  captain,  a  sergeant,  and  twenty- 
nine  men  were  to  be  kept  on  duty  at  this  point  to  serve  in  the  capacity  of 
"Rangers."  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  this  extravagant  scheme  did 
not  commend  itself  to  the  approval  of  the  board  of  trade;  and,  peace  then 
reigning  within  the  borders  of  the  province,  but  little  expenditure  was  made  in 
behalf  of  its  fortifications. 

It  was  during  Governor  Ellis's  administration  that  the  act  was  passed  by  the 
Colonial  Legislature  dividing  the  several  districts  of  the  province  into  parishes, 
providing  for  the  establishment  of  religious  worship  according  to  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  of*the  Church  of  England,  and  empowering  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. 


38  History  of  Augusta. 


For  the  purpose  of  keeping  church  edifices  in  repair,  for  the  care  of  the  re- 
spective cemeteries,  sacred  utensils,  and  ornaments,  to  provide  bread  and  wine 
for  tlie  Holy  Eucharist,  to  pay  the  salaries  of  clerk  and  sexton,  and  to  make 
provision  for  the  poor  and  impotent  of  the  several  parishes,  the  rector,  church- 
wardens, and  vestrymen  were  authorized  to  levy  a  tax  on  the  estate,  real  and 
personal,  of  all  the  inhabitants  within  the  respective  parishes,  sufficient  to  yield 
in  the  parishes  of  Christ  Church  and  of  St.  Paul  ;^30each,  and  in  the  parishes 
where  no  churches  had  as  yet  been  erected  ^  lo  each.  The  method  of  assess- 
ing and  collecting  this  ta.x  was  pointed  out. 

With  the  rector,  churchwardens,  and  vestr\'men  rested  the  power  of  ap- 
pointing se.xtons,  and  of  fixing  their  salaries  and  fees.  The  rector  was  to  be 
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  paxhment  book 
wherein  the  vestry-clerk  of  the  parish  was  to  register  the  "births,  christenings^ 
marriages,  and  burials  of  all  and  every  person  and  persons  that  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  receive,  as  a  fee,  one  shilling  sterling.  These  reg- 
isters were  to  be  adjudged  and  accepted  in  all  courts  of  record  in  the  province 
as  furnishing  sufficient  proof  of  the  births,  marriages,  christenings,  and  burials 
therein  mentioned;  and  if  any  party  was  convicted  of  willfully  making  or  caus- 
ing to  be  made  any  false  entry  therein,  or  of  maliciously  erasing,  altering,  or 
defacing  an  entry,  ^jr  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  custodian  of  its  books  and  pai)ers. 
No  authority  was  conferred  upon  rectors  to  exercise  any  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion, or  to  administer  ecclesiastical  law. 

Such  are  the  leading  provisions  of  the  act  dividing  Georgia  into  parishes, 
and  erecting  churches  in  sympathy  with  the  tenets  of  the  Established  Church 
of  England.  While  the  patronage  of  the  Crown  and  of  the  Colonial  Assembly 
was  extended  in  this  special  manner  in  aid  of  churches  professing  the  Episco- 
pal faith,  it  was  not  designed  to  favor  them  by  an  exclusive  recognition.  The 
idea  appeared  to  be  to  accord  to  that  denomination  within  the  limits  of  Geor- 
gia a  prestige  akin  to  that  which  the  Church  of  England  enjoyed  within  the 
realm,  to  create  certain  offices  for  the  encouragment  of  that  religious  per- 
suasion and  the  extension  of  the  gospel  in  accordance  with  its  forms  of  wor- 
ship and  mode  of  government,  and  to  provide  a  method  by  which  faithful  reg- 
isters of  births,  marriages,  christenings,  and  deaths  might  be  kept  and  perpet- 
uated. Numerous  were  the  Dissenters  then  in  the  province.  They  were  rep- 
resented by  Presbyterians,  Lutherans,  Congregationalists,  Methodists,  a  few 
Baptists,  and  some   Hebrews.      To  all  sects,  save  Papists,  was  free  toleration 


French  Jealousy.  39 


accorded,  and  whenever  a  Dissenting  congregation  organized  and  applied  for  a 
grant  of  land  whereon  to  build  a  church  the  petition  did  not  pass  unheeded. 
There  can  be  no  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  limits,  to  advance  its  prosperity  and  insure  its 
permanency.  At  the  same  time  an  adherence  to  its  rubrics  was  in  no  wise 
made  a  condition  precedent  to  political  preferment. 

As  a  salutary  precaution  against  domestic  insurrections  and  other  sudden 
dangers,  each  white  male  inhabitant  of  the  province  "from  the  ages  of  sixteen 
years  aud  upwards"  was,  by  an  act  assented  to  on  the  28th  of  July,  1757,  re- 
quired to  carry  with  him  "on  Sabbath  days,  fasts  and  festivals,"  to  the  place 
of  public  worship  within  the  town  or  district  where  he  resided,  "one  good  gun, 
or  pair  of  pistols,  with  at  least  six  charges  of  gunpowder  and  ball." 

The  French  observed,  with  jealous  eye,  the  expansion  of  the  English  set- 
tlements along  the  line  of  the  Savannah  River,  and  the  increasing  influence 
which  the  colonists  were  gaining  over  the  affections  and  the  trade  of  the  In- 
dian nations.  They  hesitated  at  nothing  which  might  tend  to  interrupt  this 
advancing  prosperity  and  alienate  the  good  will  of  the  natives.  Emissaries, 
equipped  with  presents  and  malignant  tongues,  were  sent  among  them  to  poi- 
son their  minds  against  the  English,  to  disturb  existing  friendly  relations,  and, 
if  possible,  to  incite  the  savages  to  acts  of  open  hostility.  The  effect  of  these 
efforts  became  perceptible  in  the  changed  temper  and  morose  conduct  of  the 
Indians.  At  no  point  was  this  modification  of  amicable  word  and  act  so  appar- 
ent as  at  Augusta.  Sharing  in  the  apprehension  of  impending  danger,  and 
alarmed  at  the  defenseless  state  of  the  town,  the  inhabitants  of  Augusta  ad- 
dressed the  following  communication  to  Governor  Reynolds  : 

"  Augusta,  30th  of  August,  1756.  To  his  excellency,  John  Reynolds,  esq., 
captain-general  and  commander-in-chief  in  and  over  his  majesty's  Province  of 
Georgia,  and  vice-admiral  of  the  same. 

"  The  humble  representation  and  petition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Augusta  and 
the  places  adjacent,  showeth  : 

"  That  your  petitioners  by  their  vicinity  to,  and  connection  with  Indians 
and  Indian  affairs,  have  had  the  opportunity  to  behold  with  concern  the  great 
progress  the  French  have  made  for  some  time  past  in  seducing  the  Creek  In- 
dians and  drawing  them  over  to  their  interest.  These  people  are  indefatiga- 
ble in  persuading  and  spurring  on  the  Indians  to  a  rupture  with  us,  and  had, 
within  these  few  months,  according  to  the  best  intelligence  we  could  get,  and 
from  the  behavior  of  the  Indians  in  general,  very  nearly  succeeded,  and  even 
with  the  concurrence  of  a  part  of  the  Cherokees. 

"That  although  we  believe  they  have  miscarried  just  at  this  present  junct- 
ure, yet  we  have  good  reason  to  think,  if  some  effectual  methods  are  not  taken 
to  prevent  it,  they  will  very  soon  bring  their  designs  to  bear.       That  Augusta 


40  History  of  Augusta. 


and  the  places  adjacent  being  not  only  frontiers,  but  places  where  the  stores 
and  trading  goods  for  all  the  Chickasaws,  Creeks,  and  a  part  of  the  Cherokees 
are  kept,  are  of  the  greatest  consequence,  for  in  all  probability  tliey  would,  for 
the  sake  of  the  stores,  be  the  first  that  would  be  attacked,  as  they,  the  Indians, 
would  thereby  be  enabled,  with  a  little  assistance  from  the  French,  to  carry  on 
a  war  with  the  English  for  a  considerable  time. 

"  That  in  our  present  helpless,  defenseless  condition,  these  places  and  stores, 
we  are  morally  certain,  would  fall  too  easy  a  prey  to  them.  That  it  is  well 
known  that  Fort  Augusta  was  erected  here  for  the  sake  of  the  Indian  trade, 
and  the  protection  of  those  who  should  carry  it  on,  and  might  also  be  a  pro- 
tection to  the  inhabitants  that  might  afterwards  come  and  settle  in  the  north- 
west division  of  the  province,  by  being  an  asylum  for  the  women  and  children, 
and  a  place  of  security  for  their  effects  in  case  of  danger.  That  that  fort,  at 
present,  cannot  answer  any  of  those  wise  and  salutary  ends,  being  in  every 
part  of  it  in  a  ruinous  condition,  for  the  truth  ©f  which  we  can  appeal  to  your 
excellency,  who  had  occular  demonstration  thereof  when  your  excellency  was 
up  here  ;  but  ever  since  that  time  it  is  much  decayed,  and  would  have  fallen  to 
the  ground  had  it  not  been  supported  by  the  care  of  the  commanding  officer. 
That  was  the  fort  in  proper  repair,  it  would  not  answer  the  ends  proposed  ; 
the  few  soldiers  that  had  been  for  a  long  time  at  that  station,  which,  by  re- 
peated detachments  to  South  Carolina  and  elsewhere  are  now  rendered  fewer, 
being  insufficient  for  its  defense  in  case  of  an  attack. 

"  That  if  this  place  was  destroyed,  the  destruction  of  the  whole  province 
would,  in  all  probability,  soon  follow  ;  for,  as  we  hinted  before,  the  Indians 
would  get  arms  and  ammunition  and  other  necessaries  here,  enough  to  enable 
them  to  carry  on  the  war  when  and  how  long  they  pleased. 

"That  although  we  have  been  informed  that  )-our  excellency  hath  before 
now  laid  before  his  majesty  the  defenceless  state  of  this  province,  and  the  ruin- 
ous condition  of  the  fortifications  in  it,  and  we  are  sensible  no  person  could 
take  more  pains  to  know  it  than  your  excellency,  yet  we  hope  this  representa- 
tion of  our  particular  situation,  especially  in  time  of  war  with  France,  and,  as 
we  have  good  reason  to  think,  of  immediate  danger,  will  not   be  taken  amiss. 

"  That  we  also,  with  submission,  beg  leave  to  observe  to  your  excellency 
that  we  sincerely  wish  there  had  been  no  settlement  made  on  Ogeechee  as  yet, 
for  if  ever  the  Creeks  should  break  out  in  war  with  us,  whatever  reasons  they 
in  their  own  minds  might  have  for  it,  we  are  assured  they  will  make  that  set- 
tlement one  pretense,  for  they  are  continually  exclaiming  against  it,  and  more 
so  this  summer  than  ever.  We  wish  there  could  be  a  method  taken  of  with- 
drawing the  settlement  by  degrees,  so  it  might  not  look  like  a  public  conces- 
sion of  these  lands.  The  Indians  would  then,  at  least,  want  that  pretense  of 
quarrelling. 

"We  therefore  hope   your  excellency  will  take  this  our  representation  and 


An  Indian  War  Averted.  41 

petition  into  your  serious  consideration,  and  we  cannot  doubt  your  excellency 
will  do  everything  in  your  power  to  remedy  these  evils,  and  to  render  our 
safety  and  protection  more  effectual ;  but  if  nothing  can  be  done  here  for  the 
public  security  of  these  parts,  we  humbly  beseech  your  excellency  to  repre- 
sent our  situation  to  his  majesty,  from  whose  fatherly  care  we  may  yet,  before 
it  is  too  late,  receive  the  assistance  necessarily  required. 

"  And  your  excellency's  petitioners,  as  in  duty  bound,  will  ever  pray,  etc." 

This  petition  was  signed  by  Patrick  Clarke,  John  Rae,  Isaac  Barksdale, 
William  Bonar,  Daniel  Clark,  Edward  Barnard,  William  Clement,  Richard 
Johnson,  Da  Douglass,  Martin  Campbell,  Lachlan  McGillivray,  John  Williams, 
John  Spencer,  William  Little,  James  McHenry,  George  Galphin,  Robert  Dixon, 
and  Moses  Nunes. 

David  Douglass,  who  was  charged  with  the  transmission  of  the  foregoing 
representation  and  petition,  in  forwarding  the  documeat  deemed  it  proper  to 
supplement  its  statements  and  requests  with  this  communication  : 

"  We  have  sent  you  the  inclosed  representation  that  your  excellency  may 
see  the  sentiments  of  the  people  of  this  place  before  this  unlucky  affair  hap- 
pened. 

"  I  have,  as  in  duty  bound,  sent  you  the  enclosed  information,  by  which, 
in  all  appearances,  an  Indian  war  is  inevitable.  There  is  nothing,  in  all  human 
probability,  can  prevent  it  but  having  those  people  who  did  the  injury  to  make 
a  retaliation  for  the  murdered  Indians,  and  we  have  accordingly  issued  htie 
.and  cry,  and  sent  out  parties  to  apprehend  them,  and  we  have  alarmed  all  the 
country,  both  on  the  Carolina  and  Georgia  side.  The  head  men  of  the  Chick- 
asaws  are  now  with  me.  They  declare  they  will  live  and  die  with  the  white 
people,  provided  we  will  give  them  a  place  for  their  wives  and  children.  The 
fort  is  too  small,  neither  is  it  in  a  condition  to  hold  the  people  of  this  place,  so 
I  think  it  will  be  better  to  have  one  or  two  fortifications  or  intrenchments  as 
near  the  fort  as  possible,  where  the  women  and  children  may  be  secured,  while 
we  scout  out  and  fight  the  enemy. 

"  I  am  afraid  we  cannot  keep  this  place  without  assistance,  and  the  loss  of 
this  will  be  an  immense  destruction  to  both  provinces,  as  there  is  no  people  in 
this  province  to  spare  to  send  to  our  assistance.  I  hope  your  excellency  will 
immediately  apply  to  the  government  of  South  Carolina,  who  are  equally  con- 
cerned, to  send  an  immediate  supply  of  men,  or  otherwise  as  you  think  most 
proper,  as  I  only  hint  my  hasty  thoughts,  which,  if  not  right,  I  beg  your  ex- 
cellency would  excuse.  I  hope  your  excellency  will,  by  this  express,  give  me 
what  power  and  instructions  you  think  needful.  If  possible,  we  will  immedi- 
ately send  to  the  Creek  nation  to  assure  the  Indians  that  those  people  who  did 
the  injury  will  be  taken  and  secured  for  their  satisfaction.  We  are  afraid  the 
blow  will  be  struck  in  the  nation." 

Matters  still  maintaining  a  threatening  attitude,  ana  all  efforts  to  apprehend 

6 


42  History  of  Augusta. 


tbe  fugitive  whites  who,  by  their  violence,  had  offended  and  outraged  the 
Indians,  having  thus  far  proved  fruitless,  Governor  Reynolds  laid  before  his 
council  the  following  communication  which  had  just  been  received: 

"  Augusta,  Saturday  lo  of  the  Clock  in 
"the  Morning,  I2th  September  1756. 
"  May  it  please  your  Excellency  : 

"  We  have,  as  in  duty  bound,  sent  this  express  on  purpose,  with  the  in- 
closed informations  by  which  you  will  understand  that  Indian  blood  has  been 
spilt,  and  consequently  an  Indian  War  is  almost  inevitable.  The  only  thing 
in  all  probability  that  can  prevent  it  is  the  having  of  the  murderers  secured  for 
to  make  him  satisfection  :  for  which  reason  we  issued  /me  ajid  crys  everywhere 
to  apprehend  them  :  and  in  case  they  come  by  the  way  of  Savannah,  we  hope 
care  will  be  taken  to  secure  them.  We  are  afraid  we  cannot  hold  this  place 
long  without  speedy  assistance,  which  we  hope  your  Excellency  will  take 
into  serious  consideration.  All  the  settlements  on  the  Ogeechee  are  aban- 
doned. The  fort  cannot  contain  all  the  inhabitants,  so  that  we  shall  be  obliged 
to  fortify  some  other  places.  Wc  beg  your  Excellency  would  send  us  instruc- 
tions how  to  act  as  you  shall  think  proper.  There  are  some  head-men  of  the 
Creeks  in  Charles  Town,  or  on  their  way  thither — on  whom  we  have  had  great 
dependence,  as  we  designed  to  assure  them  that  we  will  take  and  do  justice  on 
the  murderers,  and  give  them  all  the  satisfaction  they  required.  We  wish  we 
could  hear  from  your  Excellency  before  they  go  from  this  place,  for  which 
reason  we  hope  your  Excellency  will  dispatch  the  express  with  all  haste  pos- 
sible.     There  is  no  match  in  the  fort.      Mr.  begs,  if  there  is  any  such 

thing  in  Savannah,  that  you  will  send  him  some.      And  we  are,  with  the  great- 
est respect, 

"  Your  Excellency's  most  humble,  most  obedient  Servants, 

"  D.  A.  Douglass, 

"John  Rae, 

"  Martin  Campbell." 

The  guilty  whites  having  been  finally  apprehended  and  brought  to  justice^ 
the  wrath  of  the  Indians  having  thus  been  appeased,  and  their  head  men  hav- 
ing been  placated  by  a  liberal  supply  of  such  articles  as  they  coveted,  a  paci- 
fication ensued  to  the  joy  and  relief  of  the  inhabitants  of  Augusta  who  had 
been  sorely  exercised  by  the  late  hostile  temper  and  the  recent  threats  of  their 
red  neighbors.  Although  anxious  to  respond  to  the  requisition,  Governor 
Reynolds  found  himself  powerless  to  supply  the  needs  and  enlarge  the  protec- 
tive abilities  of  Fort  Augusta. 


Condition  of  the  Colony  in  1760.  43 


CHAPTE.R  IV. 

Condition  of  tlie  Colony  of  Georgia  in  1760  —  Congress  at  Augusta  in  November,  1763  — 
Treaty  with  the  Indians  then  Solemnized  —  Instructions  to  Indian  Traders  —  Strength  of  Ad- 
jacent Indian  Nations  in  1768  —  Augusta's  Representation  in  the  Provincial  Congress —  Con- 
gress at  Augusta  in  June,  1773  —  The  Ceded  Lands  —  Adjustment  of  the  Claims  of  the  Indian 
Traders  —  Trouble  with  the  Indians  —  Silver  Bluff. 

UPON  the  inauguration  of  Governor  Wright,  in  1760,  the  population  of 
Georgia  amounted  to  barely  six  thousand  inhabitants.  The  returns 
showed  that  there  were  then  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  com- 
panies, of  two  troops  of  rangers,  each  numbering  five  officers  and  seventy  pri- 
vates, and  of  the  militia,  organized  as  infantry  and  aggregating  one  thousand 
and  twenty-  five.  But  thirty-four  hundred  pounds  of  rice  were  exported  in  that 
year,  and  the  entire  commerce  of  the  colony  was  conducted  by  forty-two  ves- 
sels, most  of  them  of  light  burthen.  Scarcely  anything  was  manufactured  at 
home ;  all  needed  supplies  coming  from  abroad,  and  especially  from  Great 
Britain.  Some  of  the  poorer  and  more  industrious  class  wove  a  coarse,  home- 
spun cloth,  and  knit  cotton  and  yarn  stockings  for  domestic  use.  Here  and 
there  a  tanner  or  a  shoemaker  plied  his  trade,  and  there  was  no  lack  of  black- 
smiths. Occasionally  a  ship,  a  snow,  a  brigantine,  or  a  schooner  was  built  for 
the  coasting  trade.  The  "whole  time  and  strength"  of  the  colonists,  as  Sir 
James  Wright  reports  to  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Trade  and  Plantations, 
are  "applied  in  planting  rice,  corn,  peas,  and  a  small  quantity  of  wheat  and 
rye,  and  in  making  pitch,  tar  and  turpentine,  and  in  making  shingles  and  staves, 
and  sawing  lumber  and  scantling  and  boards  of  every  kind,  and  in  raising 
stocks  of  cattle,  mules,  horses  and  hogs." 

By  royal  proclamation,  dated  at  St.  James,  October  7,  1763,  his  majesty, 
George  III.,  from  the  extensive  and  valuable  acquisitions  in  America  secured  to 
his  crown  by  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace  concluded  at  Paris  on  the  loth  of 
February  in  the  same  year  annexed  to  the  Province  of  Georgia  all  lands  lying 
between  the  rivers  Alatamaha  and  St.  Mary.  The  separate  governments  of 
East  and  West  Florida  were  then  organized,  and  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
two  Floridas  constituted  the  southern  boundary  of  Georgia  as  far  as  the  Mis- 
sissippi River. 

Thus  did  Georgia  cease  to  be  a  frontier  colony.  Relieved  from  those  anx- 
ieties so  long  entertained  by  reason  of  her  proximity  to  Spanish  rule  at  St. 
Augustine  and  Pensacola,  and  no  more  exposed  to  the  annoyances  of  French 
intrigue  and  jealousies  emanating  from  Mobile  and  the  Alabama  fort,  the  pro- 
vince entered  upon  a  career  of  security  and  assured  prosperity.      Her  southern 


44  History  of  Augusta. 


and  western  boundaries,  formerly  threatened  by  enemies,  were  now  but  divid- 
ing lines  separating  plantations  with  kindred  interests  and  acknowledging  a 
common  allegiance.  The  change  was  pleasing  and  restful,  and  the  effect  upon 
the  colony  most  salutary.  , 

The  native  population,  however,  remained,  and  it  became  necessary  to  ac- 
quaint the  Indians  with  the  change  which  had  occurred,  and  to  adopt  measures 
for  the  perpetuation  of  the  amicable  relations  existing  between  them  and  the 
British  crown.  To  that  end  the  Earl  of  Egremont,  the  principal  secretary  of 
State  for  the  Southern  Department,  at  the  instance  of  the  king,  addressed  com- 
munications to  the  governors  of  the  Provinces  of  Virginia,  North  and  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  directing  them,  in  association  with  Captain  Stuart,  the 
superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  to  convene  a  congress  of  the  Creeks,  Chero- 
kees,  Catawbas,  Chickasaws  and  Choctaws  at  Augusta,  or  in  such  other  central 
point  as  might  be  deemed  most  convenient. 

After  some  discussion,  and  upon  the  suggestion  of  Governor  Wright  in- 
dorsed by  Mr.  Stuart,  Augusta  was  selected  as  the  locality  most  suitable  for  the 
convocation.  The  congress  was  opened  with  due  formality  at  the  King's  Fort, 
in  that  town,  on  Saturday,  November  5,  1763.  There  were  present  on  the 
part  of  the  English,  Governor  James  Wright,  of  Georgia,  Governor  Thomas 
Boone,  of  South  Carolina,  Governor  Arthur  Dobbs,  of  North  Carolina,  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Francis  Fauquier,  of  Virginia,  and  John  Stuart,  esq.,  superin- 
tendent of  India-n  affairs  in  the  Southern  Department.  Seven  hundred  Indians 
were  in  attendance.  James  Colbert  acted  as  interpreter  for  the  Chickasaws  and 
Choctaws.  John  Butler,  James  Beamor  and  John  Watts  interpreted  for  the 
Cherokees,  and  Stephen  Forest  and  John  Proctor  for  the  Creeks.  Colonel 
Ayers.  the  Catawba  chief,  interpreted  for  his  nation. 

The  Upper  and  Lower  Chickasaws  were  represented  by  the  following  chiefs: 
Hopayamatahah,  Poucherimatahah,  Houpastubah,  Pianiatah,  Hopayamingo, 
Houratimatahah,  Hopayamingo  (Jockey's  son),  and  twenty  warriors.  The 
chiefs,  Red- Shoes  and  Chappahomah,  represented  the  Choctaws. 

The  Upper  and  Lower  Creeks  were  present  in  the  persons  of  their  chiefs,. 
Captain  Aleck,  Sympoyaffee.  Bohotcher,  Sausechaw.  Boysonecka,  Hillibeesun- 
aga,  Firmicho,  Poyhucher,  Poyhuchee,  and  their  followers. 

Of  the  Cherokees,  fifteen  chiefs  appeared,  representing  the  Settlements  over 
the  Hills,  the  Middle  Settlements,  and  the  Lower  Towns.  The  Over  Hill  chiefs 
were  AttakullakuUa,  Ousteneka,  Prince  of  Chotih,  Willanawah,  Onatoi,  Ski- 
agusta  of  Chotih,  and  Moitoi.  Those  from  the  Lower  Towns  were  Tiftowih  of 
Keehowee,  the  Wolf,  Houkonata,  Man  Killer  of  Keehowee,  Good  Warrior  of 
Estatowih,  Young  Warrior  of  the  same  place,  and  the  Warrior  of  Tuscoweh. 
Will,  the  head  man  of  Whatogah,  led  the  delegation  from  the  Middle  Settle- 
ment. The  Catawbas  were  represented  by  their  chief.  Colonel  Ayers,  and 
some  followers. 


Treaty  with  the  Indians.  45, 

The  conference  occurring  within  the  limits  of  Georgia  was  opened  by  Gov- 
ernor Wright.  Observing  that  the  day  was  fair,  and  indulging  in  the  hope  that 
all  the  talks  would  not  prove  otherwise,  he  invited  the  Indians  to  heed  the  ut- 
terances of  Mr.  Stuart,  as  he  had  been  selected  by  the  governors  present  to 
give  expression  to  their  united  sentiments. 

Thus  commended,  Mr.  Stuart,  addressing  the  assembled  Indians  as  friends 
and  brothers,  assured  them  that  he  spake  by  command  of  the  great  King 
George,  who,  under  God,  the  Master  and  Giver  of  breath,  was  the  common 
father  and  protector  both  of  the  English  and  of  the  red  men;  that  no  conference 
was  ever  intended  to  be  more  general  or  more  friendly;  that,  provoked  at  the 
repeated  cruelties,  insults,  and  falsehoods  of  the  French  and  Spaniards,  the  king 
of  England  had  put  forth  his  strength  and  defeated  both  his  perfidious  enemies; 
that  in  order  to  prevent  a  recurrence  of  former  disturbances,  his  majesty  in- 
sisted upon  the  removal  of  tlie  French  and  Spaniards  beyond  the  Mississippi  ; 
that  all  cause  of  trouble  being  now  at  an  end,  he  hoped  the  Indians  and  Eng- 
lish would  dwell  together  in  peace  and  brotherly  friendship  ;  "  that  all  past 
offenses  should  be  buried  in  oblivion  and  forgiveness  ;"  that  the  English  were 
prepared  to  deal  fairly,  and  to  supply  the  Indian  nations  with  everything  they 
might  require  ;  and  that  the  forts  recently  surrendered  by  the  French  would  be 
used  for  the  assistance  and  protection  of  the  natives,  and  for  the  convenience 
of  a  trade,  which,  it  was  believed,  would  prove  mutually  beneficial.  "The  white 
people,"  he  said  in  conclusion,  "  value  themselves  on  speaking  truth  ;  but  to 
give  still  greater  weight  to  what  we  say,  the  great  king  has  thought  proper 
that  his  four  governors  and  the  superintendent  from  a  great  distance  should 
utter  the  same  words  at  the  same  time  ;  and,  to  remove  every  umbrage  or  jeal- 
ousy, that  you  should  all  hear  them  in  presence  of  one  another,  and  bear  testi- 
mony for  one  another  in  case  we  should  ever  act  contrary  to  our  declarations." 

The  responses  of  the  chiefs  and  various  rejoinders  occupied  the  attention  of 
the  congress  until  the  loth  of  November,  when  the  following  treaty  was  form- 
ally ratified  by  all  parties  present: 

"  Article  I.  That  a  perfect  and  perpetual  peace  and  sincere  friendship  shall 
be  continued  between  his  majesty.  King  George  the  Third,  and  all  his  subjects, 
and  the  several  nations  and  tribes  of  Indians  herein  mentioned,  that  is  to  say, 
the  Chicasahs,  Upper  and  Lower  Creeks,  Chactahs,  Cherokees,  and  Catawbas; 
and  each  nation  of  Indians  hereby  respectively  engages  to  give  the  utmost  at- 
tention to  preserve  and  maintain  peace  and  friendship  between  their  people 
and  the  king  of  Great  Britain  and  his  subjects  and  shall  not  commit  or  permit 
any  kind  of  hostilities,  injury,  or  damage  whatever,  against  them  from  hence- 
forth, and  for  any  cause,  or  under  any  pretense  whatever.  And  for  laying  the 
strongest  and  purest  foundation  for  a  perfect  and  perpetual  peace  and  friend- 
ship, his  most  sacred  majesty  has  been  graciously  pleased  to  pardon  and  for- 
give all  past  offenses  and  injuries,  and  hereby  declares  there  shall  be  a  general 


46  History  of  Augusta. 


oblivion  of  all  crimes,  ofifenses  and  injuries  that  may  have  been  heretofore  com- 
mitted or  done  by  any  of  the  said  Indian  parties. 

"  Article  II.  The  subjects  of  the  great  King  George  and  the  aforesaid  sev- 
eral nations  of  Indians  shall,  forever  hereafter,  be  looked  upon  as  one  people. 
And  the  several  governors  and  superintendent  engage  that  they  will  encourage 
persons  to  furnish  and  supply  the  several  nations  and  tribes  of  Indians  afore- 
said with  all  sorts  of  goods  usually  carried  amongst  them,  in  the  manner  which 
they  now  are.  and  which  will  be  sufficient  to  answer  all  their  wants.  In  con- 
sideration whereof,  the  Indian  parties  on  their  part,  severally  engage  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  that  the  traders  and  others  who  may  go  amongst  them 
shall  be  perfectly  safe  and  secure  in  their  several  persons  and  effects,  and  shall 
not  on  any  account,  or  pretense  whatever,  be  molested  or  disturbed  whilst  in 
any  of  the  Indian  towns  or  nations,  or  on  their  journey  to  or  from  the  nations. 

"  Article  III.  The  English  governors  and  superintendent  engage  for  them  - 
selves  and  their  successors,  as  far  as  they  can,  that  they  will  always  give 
due  attention  to  the  interest  of  the  Indians,  and  will  be  ready  on  all  occasions 
to  do  them  full  and  ample  justice.  And  the  several  Indian  parties  do  ex- 
pressly promise  and  engage  for  themselves  severally,  and  for  their  several  na- 
tions and  tribes,  pursuant  to  the  full  right  and  power  which  they  have  so  to  do, 
that  they  will  in  all  cases,  and  upon  all  occasions,  do  full  and  ample  justice  to 
the  English;  and  will  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  prevent  any  of  their  people 
from  giving  any  disturbance,  or  doing  any  damage  to  them  in  the  settlements 
or  elsewhere  as  aforesaid,  either  by  stealing  their  horses,  killing  their  cattle,  or 
otherwise,  or  by  doing  them  any  personal  hurt  or  injury;  and  that  if  any  dam- 
age be  done,  as  aforesaid,  satisfaction  shall  be  made  to  the  party  injured  ;  and 
that  if  any  Indian,  or  Indians,  whatever,  shall  hereafter  murder  or  kill  a  white 
man,  the  offender  or  offenders,  shall,  without  any  delay,  excuse,  or  pretense 
whatever,  be  immediately  put  to  death  in  a  public  manner  in  the  presence  of 
at  least  two  of  the  English  who  may  be  in  the  neighborhood  where  the  offense 
is  committed. 

"  And  if  any  white  man  shall  kill  or  murder  an  Indian,  such  white  man 
shall  be  tried  for  the  offense  in  the  same  manner  as  if  he  had  murdered  a  white 
man,  and,  if  found  guilty,  shall  be  executed  accordingly  in  the  presence  of 
some  of  the  relations  of  the  Indian  who  may  be  murdered,  if  they  choose  to 
be  present. 

"  Article  IV.  Whereas  doubts  and  disputes  have  frequently  happened  on 
account  of  encroachments,  or  supposed  encroachments  committed  by  the  Eng- 
lish inhabitants  of  Georgia  on  the  lands  or  hunting  grounds  reserved  and 
claimed  by  the  Creek  Indians  for  their  own  use:  Wherefore,  to  prevent  any 
mistakes,  doubts,  or  disputes  for  the  future,  and  in  consideration  of  the  great 
marks  of  clemency  and  friendship  extended  to  us  the  said  Creek  Indian,  we, 
the  kings.  Head  Men  and  Warriors  of  the  several  nations  and  towns  of  both  Up- 


Treaty  with  the  Indians.  47 


per  and  Lower  Creeks,  by  virtue  and  in  pursuance  of  the  full  right  and  power 
which  we  now  have  and  are  possessed  of,  have  consented  and  agreed  that,  for 
the  future,  the  boundary  between  the  Enghsh  settlements  and  our  lands  and 
hunting  grounds  shall  be  known  and  settled  by  a  line  extending  up  Savannah 
River  to  Little  River  and  back  to  the  fork  of  Little  River,  and  from  the  fork 
of  Little  River  to  the  ends  of  the  south  branch  of  Briar  Creek,  and  down  that 
branch  to  the  Lower  Creek  path,  and  along  the  Lower  Creek  path  to  the  main 
stream  of  Ogeechie  River,  and  down  the  main  stream  of  that  river  just  below 
the  path  leading  from  Mount  Pleasant,  and  from  thence  in  a  straight  line  cross 
to  Sancta  Sevilla  on  the  Alatamaha  River,  and  from  thence  to  the  southward 
as  far  as  Georgia  extends,  or  may  be  extended,  to  remain  to  be  regulated 
agreeable  to  former  treaties  and  his  majesty's  royal  instruction,  a  copy  of  which 
was  lately  sent  to  you. 

"  And  we,  the  Catawba  Head  Men  and  Warriors,  in  confirmation  of  an 
agreement  heretofore  entered  into  with  the  white  people,  declare  that  we  will 
remain  satisfied  with  the  tract  of  land  of  fifteen  miles  square,  a  survey  of 
which,  by  our  consent,  and  at  our  request,  has  been  already  begun;  and  the 
respective  Governors  and  Superintendent,  on  their  parts,  promise  and  engage 
that  the  aforesaid  survey  shall  be  completed,  and  that  the  Catawbas  shall  not, 
in  any  respect,  be  molested  by  any  of  the  King's  subjects,  within  the  said  lines, 
but  shall  be  indulged  in  the  usual  manner  of  hunting  elsewhere. 

"  And  we  do  by  these  presents  give,  grant,  and  confirm  unto  his  most 
sacred  majesty.  King  George  the  Third,  all  such  lands  whatsoever  as  we,  the 
said  Creek  Indians,  have  at  any  time  heretofore  been  possessed  of,  or  claimed 
as  our  hunting  grounds,  which  lye  between  the  sea,  the  River  Savannah,  and 
the  lines  hereinbefore  mentioned  and  described,  to  hold  the  same  unto  the 
great  King  George  and  his  successors  forever.  And  we  do  fully  and  absolutely 
agree  that  from  henceforth  the  above  lines  and  boundary  shall  be  the  mark  of 
division  of  lands  between  the  English  and  the  Creek  Indians,  notwithstanding 
any  former  agreement  or  boundary  to  the  contrary  ;  and  that  we  will  not  dis- 
turb  the  English   in  their  settlements  or  otherwise  within  the  lines  aforesaid. 

"  In  consideration  whereof  it  is  agreed  on  the  part  of  his  majesty.  King 
George,  that  none  of  his  subjects  shall  settle  upon  or  disturb  the  Indians  in  the 
grounds  or  lands  to  the  westward  of  the  lines  hereinbefore  described;  and 
that  if  any  shall  presume  to  do  so,  then,  on  complaint  made  by  the  Indians, 
the  party  shall  be  proceeded  against  for  the  same,  and  punished  according  to 
the  laws  of  the  English."  ^ 

The  following  day  liberal  presents  were  distributed  by  Mr.  Stuart  to  all  the 
assembled  Indians.     The  four  governors  united  in  an  explanatory  letter  to  the 

^  See  Journal  of  the  Congress  of  the  four  SoutherJt  Governors  and  the  Superitttendent  of 
that  District  with  the  five  Nations  of  Indians  at  Augusta,  1763,  pp.  1-45.  South  Carolina, 
Charles-Town.     Printed  by  Peter  Timothy.     MDCCLXiv.    • 


48  History  of  Augusta. 

Earl  of  Egremont,  advising  him  of  the  satisfactory  manner  in  which  the  king's 
commands,  as  signified  in  his  lordship's  communication  of  the  i6th  of  March, 
had  been  obeyed,  and  suggesting  the  estabUshment  of  commercial  relations 
with  the  Indians  upon  a  general,  safe,  and  equitable  footing. 

In  transmitting  a  copy  of  this  treaty  to  the  board  of  trade.  Governor 
Wright,  on  the  23d  of  December,  assures  the  Lords  Commissioners  that  this 
accession  of  territory  from  the  Indians  will  encourage  the  incoming  of  many  set- 
tlers and  promote  the  prosperity  of  Georgia.  In  this  expectation  he  was  not 
disappointed. 

In  order  that  the  promises  contained  in  this  treaty  respecting  fair  dealing 
with  the  Indian  nations  might  be  duly  observed  by  the  licensed  traders,  Gov- 
ernor Wright  deemed  it  proper  to  promulgate  and  enforce  certain  stringent 
regulations.  As  they  specially  affected  the  population  of  Augusta,  which 
-was  still  largely  engaged  in  traffic  with  the  natives,  a  synopsis  of  them  will  be 
regarded  as  pertinent. 

Every  trader  was  so  to  conduct  himself  that  "  no  offense  be  given  to  the 
Christian  religion."  All  horses,  hogs,  and  cattle,  accompanying  the  trader 
were  to  be  carefully  guarded,  in  order  that  no  damage  should  be  done  by  them 
to  the  growing  crops  of  the  natives.  It  was  expressly  forbidden  to  compel  an 
Indian,  either  by  threats  or  force,  to  perform  any  labor,  to  carry  any  pack  or 
burthen,  or  to  buy  or  sell  contrary  to  his  will  or  inclination. 

The  trader  was  not  allowed  to  receive  any  present,  gift,  fee  or  reward  from 
an  Indian,  or  to  credit  any  member  of  the  community  to  a  greater  extent 
than  one  pound  of  powder  and  four  pounds  of  bullets.  The  savages  were  to 
be  informed  that  they  were  relieved  from  all  obligation  to  pay  debts  previously 
-contracted.  No  arms,  ammunition,  or  goods  were  to  be  sold  to  Indians  ac- 
knowledging allegiance  to  the  crowns  of  France  and  Spain.  Traffic  in  swan- 
shot  was  prohibited.  Any  information  acquired  touching  the  movements  or 
designs  of  the  French  and  Spaniards  was  to  be  promptly  and  faithfully  com- 
municated- It  was  not  permitted  to  a  trader,  without  special  permission  from 
the  governor,  to  bring  an  Indian  within  the  limits  of  the  white  settlements. 
Persons  found  trading  with  the  natives  without  license  were  to  be  immediately 
reported  .  Matters  relating  to  the  affairs  and  government  of  the  province  could 
not  form  subjects  of  conversation  with  the  natives,  and  the  servants  of  traders 
were  forbidden  to  traffic  with  the  Indians.  No  servant  could  remain  in  the 
Indian  Territory;  and  if  any  person  in  the  employment  of  the  trader  com- 
mitted a  capital  offense,  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  trader  to  take  him  before 
a  magistrate  for  trial  and  punishment.  Upon  the  renewal  of  his  license  each 
trader  was  required  to  submit  a  statement  of  all  skins  and  effects  purchased 
from  the  Indians,  and  of  all  goods  sold  or  left  at  his  trading-post.  It  was  also 
incumbent  upon  him  to  hand  in  a  journal  of  all  proceedings  during  his  sojourn 
in  the  Indian  country.     No  free  Indian,  negro,  or  slave  could,  without  special 


Strength  of  Adjacent  Indian  Nations  in  1768.  49 

leave,  be  employed  to  assist  the  irader  in  the  prosecution  of  his  calling,  or  in 
rowing  his  boats  from  any  garrison  into  the  red  man's  territory.  Rawhides 
could  not  be  accepted  in  exchange  for  goods.  The  sale  of  rum,  spirituous 
liquors,  and  "  rifled  barrelled  guns,"  was  absolutely  prohibited. 

With  the  exception  of  an  occasional  murder,  resulting  from  som^  personal 
quarrel,  or  committed  under  the  influence  of  strong  drink,  the  intercourse' be- 
tween the  colonists  and  the  Indians  was  for  many  years  amicable  and  satisfac- 
tory. This  happy  state  of  affairs  was  largely  due  to  the  watchfulness,  wisdom, 
and  liberality  of  Governor  Wright,  who  held  the  traders  to  strict  accountability 
and,  by  apt  interviews  with  the  influential  chiefs  of  the  Creeks  and  the 
Cherokees,  and  by  generous  presents,  inculcated  and  maintained  friendly 
relations. 

In  pursuance  of  writs  of  election,  issued  by  Governor  Wright  in  1 76 1,  the 
town  of  Augusta  and  parish  of  St.  Paul  sent  up  the  following  representatives  : 

Edward    Barnard,  John  Graham,  Williams,  and    L.  McGillivray.      No 

longer  subjected  to  menaces  at  the  hands  of  Spaniards  and  French,  at  peace 
with  the  Indian  nations,  permitted  to  purchase  and  employ  slaves  in  the  culti- 
vation of  the  soil,  enjoying  a  fee  simple  title  to  lands,  encouraged  by  the  ex- 
ample and  experience  of  a  wise  and  energetic  governor,  the  inhabitants  of 
Georgia  took  fresh  courage  in  the  development  of  the  plantation  ;  and,  from 
this  time  forward,  the  progress  of  the  colonization  was  satisfactory  and  unin- 
terrupted. 

In  the  excitement  which  violently  agitated  Savannah  when  the  authorities 
attempted,  within  her  limits,  to  enforce  the  provisions  of  the  stamp  act  of  1765, 
the  citizens  of  Augusta  did  not  share  except  to  a  limited  extent.  They  were 
too  far  removed  from  the  scene  of  operations,  and  had  but  small  practical  in- 
terest in  the  question  and  the  rights  involved. 

In  1767  depredations  were  committed  by  a  party  of  Creek  Indians,  who 
had  lately  formed  a  settlement  on  the  Oconee  River,  upon  the  plantations  on 
Little  River.  Some  horses  were  captured.  Pursued  by  five  of  the  inhabitants, 
the  Indians  fled  until  they  regained  their  homes  where,  reinforced  by  their 
companions,  they  turned  upon  their  assailants  and  compelled  them  to  beat  a 
hasty  retreat.  This  was  not  the  first  time  the  Creeks  had  invaded  this  region 
and  plundered  its  plantations.  Responding  to  the  emergency,  Governor 
Wright,  on  the  24th  of  August,  prepared  a  talk  to  the  (^reek  nation  in  which 
he  demanded  the  return  of  the  stolen  animals,  insisted  upon  a  recall  of  the 
marauding  bands,  and  cautioned  an  observance  of  the  boundary- line  stipula- 
tions as  agreed  upon  by  the  Augusta  Congress.  The  town  of  Augusta  now 
contained  some  eighty  houses,  a  church,  and  two  wooden  forts. ^  Plantations 
were  multiplying  to  the  north  as  far  as  Little  River. 

Of  the  warlike  strength  of  the  Indian  n.itions  lying  adjacent  to,  and  hold- 


'  See  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  1767,  p;  167. 


50  History  of  Augusta. 


ing  commerce  with  Georgia,  the  following  estimate  was  submitted  by  Gov- 
ernor Wright  to  the  Earl  of  Hillsborough,  on  the  5tli  of  October,  1768: 

Gun  Men. 

Upper  and  Lower  Creeks 3.400 

Chactaws 2,200 

Chickesas 400 

Cherokees 2,000 

Catavvbas 40 

Total 8,040 

In  this  number  are  not  included  those  whose  trade  relations  were  carried 
on  with  South  Carolina  and  with  East  and  West  Florida.  When  we  remem- 
ber the  defenseless  condition  of  the  province,  and  its  unguarded  frontier,  and 
when  we  recall  the  fact  that  the  Indian  Territory  was  frequented  by  traders-^ 
some  of  whom  were  supercilious,  dishonest  and  tyrannical — we  are  astonished 
that  these  primitive  peoples  exhibited  such  tolerance  towards  a  race  which  was 
surely  supplanting  them  in  the  occupancy  of  their  native  wilds. 

In  the  recalcitrant  Assembly  which  was  finally  dissolved  by  Governor 
Habersham  in  1772,  Augusta  was  represented  by  Edward  Barnard,  Alexan- 
der Inglis,  and  Thomas  Shruder.  While  the  governor  was  loyally  seeking  to 
carry  out  the  instructions  of  the  king  and  to  enforce  the  acts  of  Parliament, 
the  Provincial  Assembly,  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  Noble  Wymberley  Jones, 
who  has  been  appropriately  styled  the  "  morning  star  "  of  the  revolution  in 
Georgia,  was  in  active  sympathy  with  all  who  esteemed  taxation  without  rep- 
resentation as  unauthorized,  and  jealously  maintained  what  they  regarded  as 
the  reserved  rights  of  the  colonists  and  the  privileges  of  provincial  legislatures. 

For  some  time  the  Cherokees  had  been  increasing  their  indebtedness  to  the 
traders.  Each  year  they  became  less  able  to  discharge  their  accumulating 
obligations.  The  Creeks  were  in  a  similar  situation.  The  traders  clamored  for 
payment,  and  the  Indians  offered  to  make  a  cession  of  lands  in  settlement  of 
their  debts.  Various  negotiations  and  talks  ensued  in  regard  to  the  matter, 
which  was  finally  adjusted  at  a  congress  held  in  Augusta  on  the  1st  of  June, 
1773.  Georgia  was  represented  by  her  governor.  Sir  James  Wright,  and  the 
Cherokees  and  Creeks  appeared  in  the  persons  of  several  chiefs  who  were 
empowered  to  bind  their  respective  nations.  The  Hon.  John  Stuart,  his 
majesty's  sole  agent  and  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  in  the  southern  dis- 
trict of  North  America,  was  also  present. 

By  the  cession  then  made  Georgia  acquired  additional  territory  embracing 
over  two  millions  of  acres  of  land,  most  of  it  well  watered,  and  adapted  to  the 
cultivation  of  indigo,  cotton,  tobacco,  corn,  wheat,  etc.  Wilkes,  Lincoln,  Tal- 
iaferro, Greene,  Oglethorpe,  Elbert,  and  other  counties  were  subsequently 
carved  out  of  it.  Goodly  was  the  region  and  offering  inany  attractions  to 
immigrants.     The  aggregate  indebtedness  existing  on   the  part  of  the  Indians 


Cession  of  Indian  Lands.  51 

to  the  tra  ers  was  estimated  at  from  ^^"40,000  to  ;^50,ooo.  Simultaneously 
with  the  fo  mal  execution  of  this  cession  and  treaty,  the  Indian  traders  hold- 
ing claims  against  the  Indians  submitted  releases  by  which,  in  consideration 
of  the  surrender  of  this  territory  to  his  majesty,  and  in  anticipation  of  receiving 
partial  or  entire  payment  of  the  debts  due  to  them  by  the  Creeks  and  Cher- 
okees  from  the  moneys  to  be  realized  upon  the  sale  of  these  lands,  they  ab- 
solutely acquitted  and  discharged  the  Indians  from  all  demands.  Prominent 
among  those  signing  these  releases  were  George  Galpin,  James  Jackson  &  Co.,' 
Martin  Campbell  &  S^n,  Woodgion,  Rae.  Whitefield  &  Co.,  Edward  Barnard, 
Waters,  James  Grierson,  James  Spalding  &  Co  ,  and  Edward  Keating. 

In  order  to  engage  the  attention  of  the  public  and  to  attract  settlers  for 
this  newly  acquired  and  fertile  domain,  his  excellency,  on  the  iith  of  June, 
1773,  issued  a  proclamation  in  which,  after  describing  the  cession  and  making 
known  the  fact  that  surveyors  were  actually  engaged  in  running  out  and  mark- 
ing the  boundaries,  he  states  that  the  territory  would  "  be  parceled  out  in 
tracts  varying  from  100  to  1,000  acres  the  better  to  accommodate  the  buyers  "; 
that  in  conformity  to  his  majesty's  instructions  "  one  hundred  acres  would  be 
sold  to  the  master  or  head  of  a  family,  fifty  acres  additional  for  the  wife  and 
each  child,  and  the  same  number  of  acres  for  each  slave  owned  and  brought  in 
by  the  purchaser  ";  that  in  "further  encouragement  of  the  settling  of  the  said 
lands  the  masters  or  heads  of  families  will  be  allowed  to  purchase  50  acres  for 
each  able  bodied  white  servant  man  they  shall  bring  in  to  settle  thereon,"  and 
also  "25  acres  for  every  woman  servant  from  the  age  of  15  years  to  40  years  "; 
that  all  persons  were  at  liberty  to  come  into  the  province  and  view  these  lands^ 
and,  as  soon  as  they  were  surveyed,  to  make  choice  of  such  of  them  as  they 
desired  to  purchase  and  settle  upon  ;  that  grants  would  be  executed  on  the 
most  moderate  terms,  and  that  for  a  period  of  ten  years  the  parcels  purchased 
would  be  exempt  from  the  payment  of  quit  rents  ;  that  the  lands  offered  were 
"in  general  of  the  most  fertile  quality  and  fit  for  the  production  of  wheat,  indico, 
Indian  corn,  tobacco,  hemp,  flax,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. ;"  that  they  comprised  "a  pleas- 
ant and  very  healthy  part  of  the  province";  that  they  were  "extremely  well  wat- 
ered by  Savannah  River,  Ogechee  River,  Little  River,  and  Broad  River,  and  by 
a  great  number  of  creeks  and  branches  which  ran  throughout  the  whole  country 
and  emptied  themselves  into  the  aforesaid  rivers  ;  that  there  was  an  abundance 
of  springs,  and  that  the  water  was  very  fine  ;  that  Little  River,  where  the 
ceded  lands  began,  was  but  t\venty-two  miles  above  the  town  of  Augusta  ; 
that  at  this  place  ready  market  would  always  be  found  for  all  produce  and 
stock  ;  that  if  Savannah  was  preferred  as  a  point  for  trade  there  was  easy  trans- 
portation down  the  Savannah  River,  while  a  good  wagon  road  led  from  Little 
River  to  that  commercial  metropolis  of  the  province ;  that  a  fort  would  speed- 
ily be  built  and  garrisoned  within  the  ceded  lands  for  the  protection  of  the 
immigrants,  and  that  all  vagrants  and  disorderly  persons  would  be  promptly 


52  History  of  Augusta. 


and  severely  dealt  with  ;  and  finally,  that  these  lands  adjoined  a  well-settled 
part  of  the  province,  where  law,  justice,  and  good  government  obtained. 

A  plan  of  settlement  was  carefully  arranged,  and  Colonel  Bartlett  and 
Messrs.  Young,  Holland,  and  Maddox  were  appointed  commissioners  and 
vested  with  ample  powers  to  negotiate  sales.  They  were  authorized  to  place 
a  valuation  upon  each  tract  according  to  its  quality.  Not  more  than  five  shil- 
lings per  acre  were  to  be  charged  in  any  event,  and  five  pounds  sterling  were 
to  be  paid  as  entrance  money  for  every  hundred  acres.  To  facilitate  the  busi- 
ness, land  courts  were  opened  in  Savannah,  in  Augusta,  and  at  the  confluence 
of  Broad  and  Savannah  rivers.  At  this  last  named  locality  Captain  Waters  and 
his  company  were  stationed.  Here  Fort  James  was  builded.  Its  stockade  was 
an  acre  in  extent.  Within  this  inclosure  were  officers'  quarters  and  barracks  for 
the  garrison,  consisting  of  fifty  rangers,  well  mounted,  and  armed  each  with 
a  rifle,  two  dragoon  pistols,  a  hanger,  a  powder-horn,  a  shot-pouch,  and  a  toma- 
hawk. ^  In  each  angle  of  this  square  stockade  was  erected  a  block-house  in 
which  swivel  guns  were  posted.  These  structures  rose  one  story  ;;bove  the  cur- 
tains, which  were  pierced  for  small  arms.  The  stockade  crowned  a  gentle  emi- 
nence in  the  fork  of  the  Savannah  and  Broad,  equi-distant  from  those  rivers  and 
from  the  extreme  point  of  land  formed  by  their  junction.  On  the  peninsula 
above  the  tort  was  located  the  town  called  Dartmouth  in  honor  of  the  earl 
whose  influence  had  been  exerted  in  persuading  his  majesty  to  favor  the  cession 
of  this  recently  acquired  territory.  After  a  short  and  by  no  means  robust 
existence  Dartmouth  gave  place  to  Petersburg,  which,  during  the  tobacco  cul- 
ture in  Georgia,  attracted  to  itself  a  considerable  population,  and  was  re- 
garded as  a  place  of  no  little  commercial  importance.'' 

Settlements  were  rapidly  formed  on  the  Ogeechee  and  north  of  Little  River, 
and  the  ceded  lands  were  eagerly  sought  after.  The  Quakers  who,  through 
fear  of  the  Indians,  had  abandoned  their  homes  in  the  southern  portion  of  what 
is  now  Columbia  county,  returned  and  diligently  resumed  their  agricultural 
operations.  The  outlook  for  the  speedy  population  of  this  new  domain  was 
most  encouraging  when  the  pleasing  prospect  wa>i  suddenly  enveloped  in  doubt 
and  disister  by  the  unexpected  hostility  of  the  Creeks. 

In  January,  1774,  a  party  of  Lower  Creek  Indians  wantonly  attacked  Sher- 
rall's  fortified  settlement,  in  which  were  five  white  and  three  negro  men  and 
twelve  women  and  children.  Approaching  stealthily,  the  Indians  fired  upon 
the  men  who  were  at  work  Upon  the  fort.  Sherrall  and  two  others  fell.  The 
rest  retreated  into  the  houses  where,  encouraged  by  the  valor  of  a  negro  who 
rushed  upon  an  Indian  and  shot  him  through  the  head,  they  entered  upon  a 
vigorous  defense.      Thrice  did  the  savages  set  fire  to  the  structures,  and   as 


'  Bartrani's    Fravdls  through   North  and  South  Carolina.   Georgia,  etc.,  pp.  321,  322. 
London.     1792. 

"^  Dead  lowns  of  Georgia,  pp.  233.  234.     Charles  C.  Jones,  jr.     Savannah.      1878. 


Trouble  with  the  Indians.  53 

•often  were  the  flames  extinguished.  Two  of  the  neighbors,  attracted  by  the 
firing,  approached.  Discovered  by  the  Indians  they  were  pursued.  Succeed- 
ing, however,  in  making  their  escape,  they  notified  Captain  Barnard  of  the 
afifair.  Hastily  collecting  about  forty  men,  he  advanced  to  the  relief  of  the 
besieged  and,  attacking  the  Indians  in  the  rear,  drove  them  into  the  swamp. 
Seven  persons  had  been  killed  and  five  wounded  within  the  fort.  Of  the  In- 
dians it  is  known  that  five  were  slain.  Their  wounded  was  carried  ofT  by  their 
companions. 

A  few  days  afterwards  a  skirmish  occurred  between  twenty-five  white  set- 
tlers and  one  hundred  and  fifty  Indians.  Grant,  Weatherford,  Hammond, 
and  Ayres  were  killed,  and  a  fifth  white  man  was  wounded  who  died  the  next 
day  at  Wrightsboro.  Several  private  forts  and  dwellings,  which  had  been  pre- 
cipitately abandoned  by  their  owners,  were  reduced  to  ashes  by  the  savacjes. 
Collecting  some  men.  Captain  Few  and  Lieutenants  Williams  and  Bishop 
buried  the  bodies  of  those  who  had  fallen  in  the  recent  action.  Lieutenant 
Samuel  Alexander,  with  a  few  militia,  attacked  and  dispersed  a  party  of  In- 
dians who  had  become  separated  from  the  main  body.  Two  of  the  Creeks 
were  killed.  For  having  thus,  without  authority,  punished  these  Indians, 
Alexander  was  rebuked  by  Colonel  Rae,  an  agent  of  Indian  affairs.  Apprised 
of  the  circumstances,  however,  Rae  justified  Alexander's  conduct,  and  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  that  when  the  chiefs  of  the  nation  should  be  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  entire  transaction  they  would  note  the  provocation  and 
acquiesce  in  the  propriety  of  the  retaliation. 

This  sudden  and  disastrous  invasion  of  the  recently  settled  district  caused 
general  alarm  and  distrust.  Many  letreated  to  places  of  security.  Forts  were 
constructed  on  Savannah  and  Little  Rivers,  and  in  them  were  deposited  women 
and  children,  and  personal  property  of  special  value.  In  cultivating  their  farms 
the  husbandmen  banded  together  for  mutual  protection. 

By  a  messenger  dispatched  by  Mr.  George  Galphin,  a  principal  agent  for 
Indian  affairs  and  a  trader  high  in  the  confidence  both  of  the  colonists  and  of 
the  savages,  to  ascert  lin  from  the  chiefs  of  the  Lower  Creeks  whether  they 
were  inclined  to  peace  or  war,  and  to  demand  an  explanation  of  the  recent 
outrages,  answer  was  returned  that  the  incursion  was  unauthorized  and  that 
the  disposition  of  the  Creeks  toward    the  inhabitants  of  Georgia  was  pacific. 

Big  Elk,  the  leader  of  the  Creeks  who  attacked  Sherrall's  fort,  finding  that 
his  nation  was  averse  to  entering  upon  a  war  with  the  English,  invited  the 
Cherokees  to  join  him  in  an  invasion  of  Georgia.  This  the  Cherokees  declined 
to  do.  On  his  way  home  that  chief  and  his  party  killed  and  scalped  three 
white  men. 

About  the  last  of  March,  Head  Turkey,  ^  a  leading  mico  of  the  Upper 
Creeks,  accompanied  by  two  chiefs  and  an  Indian   trader,  visited  the   Lower 

'  Called  also  Mad  Turkey. 


54  History  of  Augusta. 


Creek  towns  to  prevail  upon  the  inhabitants  to  make  peace  with  the  Georgians. 
It  was  consented  that  he  should  wait  upon  Governor  Wright  and  submit  over- 
tures. On  his  way  to  Savannah  he  was  murdered  in  Augusta  by  Thomas 
Fee,  who  sought  revenge  for  a  kinsman  of  his  who,  on  the  northern  frontier, 
had  been  butchered  by  the  Indians.  This  lawless  act  produced  a  profound 
sensation  and  stirred  the  hearts  of  the  savages  to  wrath  and  vengeance.  Fee 
fled  into  South  Carolina  and  there  sought  protection.  A  reward  of  ;^  lOO  ster- 
ling was  offered  by  Sir  James  Wright  for  his  apprehension.  He  was  arrested 
and  lodged  in  the  prison-house  at  Ninety-Six.  While  there  detained,  an  armed 
pa'rty  came  in  the  night-time,  forced  the  jail,  and  set  him  at  liberty. 

Learning  that  Fee  had  been  apprehended,  and  that  he  was  in  confinement, 
several  of  the  Creek  chiefs  came  to  Savannah  to  witness  his  execution.  Griev- 
ous was  their  displeasure  when  they  ascertained  that  he  had  been  forcibly 
released.  When  assured  that  Governor  Wright's  proclamation  was  still  oper- 
ative, that  the  governor  of  South  Carolina  had  offered  a  further  reward  of  ;^200 
for  bis  arrest,  and  that  there  was  good  reason  to  believe  he  would  yet  be 
brought  to  punishment  for  his  crime,  their  wrath  was  measurably  appeased. 
The  governor  then  stated  to  the  chiefs  that  within  four  months  fifteen  of  his 
people  had,  without  any  provocation,  been  slain  by  the  Creeks,  and  that  eleven 
of  the  South  Carolinians  had,  in  like  manner,  been  slaughtered  on  Long  Cane. 
He  thereupon  demanded  of  them  the  blood  of  the  Indians  who  had  murdered 
these  innocent  colonists,  and  questioned  the  propriety  of  their  asking  that  jus- 
tice which  they  failed  to  accord.  He  assured  them  that  the  king  of  England, 
if  he  made  a  requisition  for  it,  would  send  him  a  military  force  capable  of 
exterminating  the  whole  Indian  nation,  and  that  his  amicable  disposition  and 
forbearance  were  proof  positive  that  he  did  not  desire  war.  He  insisted,  how- 
ever, that  the  blood  of  his  innocent  people  should  no  more  be  shed,  and  warned 
them  that  if  hereafter  the  Indians  either  murdered  or  robbed  his  people,  he 
would  exact  atonement  for  every  offense.  On  the  other  hand  he  stood 
pledged  to  make  proper  reparation  for  every  injury  of  which  they  might  justly 
complain.  In  the  future  the  chiefs  promised  that  their  nation  should  maintain 
peace  with  the  English.  When  about  to  depart,  the  governor  ordered  Captain 
Samuel  Elbert,  with  his  company  of  grenadiers,  to  escort  them  through  the 
white  settlements  that  no  harm  might  befall  them  at  the  hands  of  the  inhabi- 
tants. 

During  the  absence  of  these  chiefs  from  their  nation  several  war  parties 
crossed  the  frontiers  of  Georgia  and  committed  theft  and  murder.  In  a  little 
while  commissioners  from  the  Upper  Creek  towns  visited  the  governor  and 
reported  that  their  warriors  had  killed  the  leader  and  two  of  the  men  who  had 
been  guilty  of  these  recent  depredations.  ^ 

^  McCall's  His/ory  of  Georgia,  \o\.\\,\)\).  g-12,.     Savannah.     1816. 


Silver  Bluff.  55 


These  difficulties  were  all  happily  terminated,  and  peace  was  restored  at  a 
■congress  held  in  Savannah  on  the  20th  of  October,  1774. 

It  excites  no  surprise  that  these  incursions  of  the  savages,  and  the  insecu- 
rity of  the  New  Purchase,  as  it  was  called,  materially  retarded  for  a  time  the 
tide  of  immigration  which  was  turning  rapidly  towards  Augusta  and  these 
desirable  lands.  Confidence,  however,  was  restored  by  the  covenants  and  the 
conclusions  of  the  Savannah  Congress.  Applicants  for  purchase  soon  reap- 
peared in  pleasing  numbers,  and  those  who  had  been  driven  from  their  par- 
tially settled  homes  returned  and  resumed  their  labors  with  renewed  hope  of 
safety  and  success. 

Of  all  the  Indian  traders  and  merchants  prominently  associated  with  the 
commerce  and  development  of  Augusta,  no  one  was  more  influential  or  enter- 
prising than  George  Galphin.  Although  his  home  and  his  depot  of  supplies 
•were  for  many  years  located  at  Silver  Bluff,  on  the  Carolina  side  of  the  Savan- 
nah River,  his  affiliations  were  chiefly  with  Georgia,  and  his  intercourse  was 
principally  with  her  people  and  with  the  Indian  tribes  dwelling  within  and 
upon  her  borders.  His  relations  with  Augusta  were  constant,  and  materially 
conduced  to  enhance  the  business  of  the  town.  By  William  Bartram.  who 
visited  him  in  1774,  he  is  described  as  "  a  gentleman  of  very  distinguished  tal- 
ents and  great  liberality,  who  possessed  the  most  extensive  trade,  connections, 
and  influence  among  the  South  and  Southwest  Indian  tribes." 

Long  was  Silver  Bluff  a  place  of  general  resort  and  of  much  commercial 
importance.  Hence  were  the  annual  royal  presents  for  the  Indians  frequently 
distributed.  Hither  did  the  Indians,  from  an  extensive  territory,  repair  to 
exchange  their  peltry  and  animals  for  articles  of  European  manufacture. 
From  this  point  did  traders  depart  amply  supplied  for  distant  expeditions  and 
long  sojourns  among  the  red  men.  Here  were  storehouses,  cattle  pens,  and 
structures  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  the  rude  visitors.  Barges  plied 
regularly  between  Silver  Bluff  and  Charlestown  and  Savannah,  and  the  landing 
place  was  the  resort  of  multitudes  of  Indian  canoes,  many  of  them  coming 
from  remote  points.  It  was  a  busy  settlement  by  the  swiftly  moving  waters 
of  the  tawny- hued  Savannah.  Over  all  watched  the  observant  eye  of  the  pro- 
prietor. So  just  was  he  in  his  dealings  with  the  sons  of  the  forest,  and  so 
extensive  were  his  transactions  with  them,  that  he  acquired  an  influence  at 
once  potent  and  far-reaching. 

The  years  roll  on,  and  an  increasing  population,  overleaping  stream  and 
mountain  barrier,  fills  the  hills  and  valleys  of  a  distant  interior.  Before  its 
inexorable  advance  the  red  race  retires,  and  upon  its  departure  the  occupation 
of  the  Indian  trader  here  becomes  obsolete.  Bereft  of  its  importance  this  post 
lapses  into  decay,  and  the  locality  becomes  the  home  of  departed  memories, 
the  abode  of  traditions,  and  the  dweUing-place  of  the  phantoms  of  things 
that   were.       The   same   bold    river   with    restless   tide   hastening   onward   to 


56  History  of  Augusta. 

mingles  it  waters  with  the  billows  of  the  Atlantic,  the  same  overarching  skies^ 
the  same  potent  sun,  kindred  forests  and  voices  of  nature,  but  all  else  how 
changed  ! 


CHAPTER  V. 


Bartram's  Description  of  Augusta  in  1773  —  Convention  of  1774 — Protest  from  the  Parish 
of  St.  Paul  —  Division  of  Sentiment  —  Conduct  of  Governor  Wright  —  Dr.  Lyman  Hall  — 
Action  of  St.  John's  Parish  —  Progress  of  the  Revolution. 

IN  the  spring  of  1773  the  English  naturalist  and  botanist,  William  Rartram, 
visited  Augusta.  He  has  left  the  following  impression  of  the  little  town  : 
"  The  village  of  Augusta  is  situated  on  a  rich  and  fertile  plain  on  the  Savanna 
River  ;  the  buildings  are  near  its  banks,  and  extend  nearly  two  miles  up  to 
the  cataracts  or  falls  which  are  formed  by  the  first  chain  of  rocky  hills  through 
which  this  famous  river  forces  itself  as  if  impatient  to  repose  on  the  extensive 
plain  before  it  invades  the  ocean.  When  the  river  is  low,  which  is  during  the 
summer  months,  the  cataracts  are  four  or  five  feet  in  height  across  the  river^ 
and  the  waters  continue  rapid  and  broken,  rushing  over  rocks  five  miles  higher 

up 

"  It  was  now  about  the  middle  of  the  month  of  May  ;  vegetation  in  perfec- 
tion appeared  with  all  her  attractive  charms,  breathing  fragrance  everywhere  ; 
the  atmosphere  was  now  animated  with  the  efficient  principle  of  vegetative 
life.  .  .  .  Upon  the  rich,  rocky  hills  at  the  cataracts  of  Augusta  I  first 
observed  the  perfumed  rhododendron  ferrugineum,  white  robed  philadelphus 
inodorus,  and  cerulean  malva;  but  nothing  in  vegetable  nature  was  more  pleas- 
ing than  the  oderiferous  pancratium  fluitans,  which  almost  alone  possesses  the 
little  rocky  islets  which  just  appear  above  the  water." 

Upon  a  second  visit  to  this  town  he  writes :  "  The  site  of  Augusta  is  per- 
haps the  m.ost  delightful  and  eligible  of  any  in  Georgia  for  a  city.  An  exten- 
sive level  plain  on  the  banks  of  a  fine  navigable  river,  which  has  its  numerous 
sources  in  the  Cherokee  mountains — a  fruitful  and  temperate  region — whence, 
after  roving  and  winding  about  those  fertile  heights,  they  meander  through  a 
fertile,  hilly  country,  and,  one  after  another,  combine  in  forming  the  Tugilo 
and  Broad  rivers,  and  then  the  famous  Savanna  River;  thence  they  continue 
near  a  hundred  miles  more,  following  its  meanders,  and  falls  over  the  cataracts 
at  Augusta,  which  cross  the  river  at  the  upper  end  of  the  town.  These  falls 
are  four  or  five  feet  perpendicular  height  in  the  summer  season,  when  the  river 
is  low.  From  these  cataracts  upwards,  this  river,  with  all  its  tributaries  as. 
Broad  River,  Little  River,  Tugilo,  etc.,  is  one  continued  rapid,  with  some  short 


Convention  of  1774.  57 


intervals  of  still  water,  navigable  for  canoes.  But  from  Augusta  downwards 
to  the  ocean,  a  distance  of  near  three  hundred  miles  by  water,  the  Savannah 
uninterruptedly  flows  with  a  gentle  meandering  course,  and  is  navigable  for 
vessels  of  twenty  or  thirty  tons  burthen  to  Savannah,  where  ships  of  three 
hundred  tons  lie  in  a  capacious  and  secure  harbor. 

"Augusta,  thus  seated  at  the  head  of  navigation,  and  just  below  the  con- 
flux of  several  of  its  most  considerable  branches,  without  a  competitor,  com- 
mands the  trade  and  commerce  of  vast  fruitful  regions  above  it,  and  from  every 
side  to  a  great  distance;  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce,  as  my  opinion, 
that  it  will  very  soon  become  the  metropolis  of  Georgia.  "^ 

This  prediction  was  verified  by  the  removal,  not  many  years  afterwards,  of 
the  seat  of  government  from  Savannah  to  Augusta. 

The  passage  of  Lord  North's  bill  for  closing  the  port  of  Boston  and  occlud- 
ing the  commerce  of  a  town  of  prime  importance  in  the  English  dominions  in 
America,  and  subsequent  acts  of  oppression  passed  in  quick  succession  by  the 
British  Parliament,  despite  the  protestations  of  Burke,  Barre,  and  other  liberal 
statesmen  who  bravely  raised  their  warning  voices  against  these  measures  of 
insult  and  injustice,  produced  a  profound  impression  upon  the  minds  of  the 
patriots  in  Georgia,  and  induced  them  to  give  early  and  decided  expression  to 
their  sentiments  of  condemnation. 

Responding  to  a  call,  issued  on  the  20th  of  July,  1774,  by  Noble  W.  Jones, 
Archibald  Bullock,  John  Houstoun  and  John  Walton,  a  number  of  the  free- 
holders and  inhabitants  of  the  province  assembled  a  week  afterwards  at  the 
watch-house  in  Savannah,  and,  after  appointing  a  committee  on  resolutions  and 
of  correspondence,  adjourned  to  convene  again  on  the  lOth  of  August  The 
chairman,  Mr.  John  Glen,  was  requested  to  communicate  with  the  respective 
districts  and  parishes  composing  the  province,  with  a  view  to  securing  delegates 
from  all  of  them  who  should  attend  at  the  adjourned  convention  and  thus  give 
general  sanction  to  the  patriotic  resolutions  which  it  was  hoped  would  then 
be  adopted. 

Although  Governor  Wright  issued  his  proclamation  declaring  the  purposed 
assemblage  to  be  "unconstitutional,  illegal,  and  punishable  by  law,"  in  direct 
disregard  of  this  manifesto,  and  in  opposition  to  the  expressed  will  of  his  ex- 
cellency, a  general  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  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  that  pur- 
pose at  the  former  convocation,  were  adopted  and  given  to  the  public  as  an 
expression  of  the  sentiments  of  Georgia  with  repect  to  the  important  questions 
which  were  then  agitating  the  minds  of  the  American  colonists : 

''Resolved,  nemine  contfadicente,  That  his  majesty's  subjects  in   America 


'  Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  etc.,  etc.,  pp.  32-35,  314-3' 5- 
London,  1792. 


jg  History  of  Augusta. 


owe  the  same  allegiance,  ard  are  entitled  to  the  same  rights,  privileges,  and 
immunities  with  their  fellow  subjects  in  Great  Kritain. 

''Resolved,  iieminc  contradicenie.  That,  as  protection  and  allegiance  are  re- 
ciprocal, and  under  the  British  constitution  correlative  terms,  his  majesty's 
subjects  in  Ameiica  have  a  clear  and  indisputable  right,  as  well  from  the  gen- 
eral laws  of  mankind  as  from  the  ancient  and  established  customs  of  the  land, 
so  often  recognized,  to  petition  the  throne  upon  every  emergency. 

''Resolved,  nemine  contradicente,  That  an  act  of  parliament,  lately  passed 
for  blockading  the  port  and  harbor  cf  Eoslon,  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  iheir  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  executive  power  of  Boston  have  made  sufficient  pro- 
vision for  the  punishment  of  all  offenders  against  persons  and  property. 

"  Resolved,  neviine  eoittradicente.  That  the  act  for  abolishing  the  charter  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  apprehend  the  said  Charter  cannot  be 
dissolved  but  by  a  voluntary  surrender  of  the  people,  representatively  declared. 

"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  constitution  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  contradicente.  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  deprived  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,  netnine  contradicente,  That  we  concur  with  our  sister  colonies 
in  every  constitutional  measure  to  obtain  redress  of  American  grievances,  and 
will,  by  every  lawful  means  in  our  power,  maintain  those  inestimable  blessings 
for  which  we  are  indebted  to  God  and  the  constitution  of  our  country — a  con- 
stitution 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 


Protest  Against  the  Convention.  59 

■dififerent  parishes,  bs  a  general  ominittee  to  act,  a;id  that  any  eleven  or  more 
•of  them  shall  have  full  p^vver  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  Cor- 
respondence 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  for- 
ward 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. 

While  this  meeting  was  most  respectably  constituted,  and  while  its  deliber- 
.ations  and  conclusions  were  harmonious,  it  must  not  ]be  supposed  that  there 
was  no  division  of  sentiment  in  Georgia  upon  the  p  )litical  questions  of  the  d  ly. 
On  the  contrary,  the  royal  party  was  strong  and  active,  and  it  required  no  lit- 
tle effort  on  the  part  of  the  "Liberty  Boys "  to  acquire  the  mastery  and  place  the 
province  fairly  within  the  lists  of  the  Revolutionists.  The  line  of  demarcation 
was  sometimes  so  sharply  drawn  that  father  was  arrayed  against  son,  and  brother 
against  brother.  Thus,  not  to  multiply  instances,  the  Hon.  James  Habersham 
and  Colonel  Noble  Jones  maintained  their  allegiance  to  the  crowa,  while  their 
sons  were  amongst  the  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  pro- 
gress of  the  Revolution,  were  projected,  not  infrequently,  even  be/ond  the  final 
establishment  of  the  republic.  No  cause  of  quarrel  can  be  more  dangerous 
than  that  involving  a  conflict  of  opinion  touching  the  relative  rights  of  the 
governing  and  the  governed.  No  calamities  are  so  appalling  as  those  engen- 
dered in  a  strife  between  peoples  of  the  same  race,  and  claiming  privileges  em- 
anating 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  in  the  colony  at  this  time  was  the  Georgia  Ga:;- 
ette.  It  was  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  appeared  a  card  signed  by  James  Habersham,  Lachlan  McGiUivray, 
Josiah  Tattnall,  James  Hume,  Anthony  Stokes,  Edward  Langworthy,  Henry 
Yonge,  Robert  Bolton,  Noble  Jones,  David  iVIontaigut  and  some  ninety-three 
•others,  inhabitants  and  freeholders  chiefly  of  the  tov/n  and  district  of  Savannah, 
•criticising  the  meeting  of  the  1 0th  of  August,  and  protesting  that  the  resolu- 
tions then  adopted  should  not  be  accepted  as  reflecting  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  of  Georgia.      "The  important  meeting  of  the  lOth  of  August  in  the  de- 

'  No.   570. 


6o  History  of  Augusta. 


fense  of  the  constitutional  rights  and  liberties  of  the  American  subjects,"  these 
gentlemen  affirmed,  "  was  held  at  a  tavern,  with  the  doors  shut  for  a  consider- 
able time  ;  and  it  is  said  twenty-six  persons  answered  for  the  whole  province, 
and  undertook  to  bind  them  by  resolutions;  and  when  several  gentlemen  at- 
tempted 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  prevent  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  from  giv- 
ing 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  ©r  decency,  be  called  a  general  meeting 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Georgia."  Such  is  the  other  side  of  the  story  as  told  by  a 
pen  dipped  in  the  king's  ink. 

The  following  is  the  protest  from  certain  inhabitants  of  the  parish  of  St.  Paul. 
It  will  be  found  in  number  575  of  TJie  Georgia  Gazette,  under  date  of  Wednes- 
day, October  12.  1774: 

"  Georgia,  Parish  of  St.  Paul. — We,  inhabitants  of  the  town  and  district 
of  Augusta,  think  it  incumbent  upon  us  in  this  public  manner  to  declare 
our  dissent  from,  and  disapprobation  of  certain  resolutions  published  in  this 
Gazette,  entered  into  on  Wednesday,  the  loth  day  of  August,  as  it  is  there 
said,  at  a  general  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  province,  though  we  are 
credibly  informed  that  the  said  meeting,  so  far  from  being  general,  was  not  even 
numerous,  and  that  one  of  our  representatives,  whom  we  had  provided  with  a 
protest,  and  our  reasons-at-large  why  we  could  not  agree  to  any  resolutions 
expressive  of  disaffection  or  disrespect  to  our  most  gracious  king,  or  the  Lords 
and  Commons  of  Great  Britain,  thought  it  improper  to  deliver  said  protest  to 
a  few  people,  met  privately  in  a  tavern,  having  also  been  told  by  some  gentle- 
men coming  from  the  place  of  meeting,  that  they  had  been  refused  admittance. 
"We  entirely  dissent  from  the  aforesaid  resolutions.  First,  because  we  ap- 
prehend that  this  mode  of  assembly,  and  entering  into  resolutions  that  arraign 
the  conduct  of  the  king  and  parliament  is  illegal,  and  tends  only  to  alienate 
the  affection,  and  forfeit  the  favor  and  protection  of  a  most  gracious  sovereign, 
and  to  draw  upon  this  colony  the  displeasure  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  of 
Great  Britain.  Secondly,  because,  if  we  have  real  grievances  to  complain  of,, 
the  only  legal  and  constitutional  method  of  seeking  redress  is,  we  apprehend, 
to  instruct  our  representatives  in  Assembly  to  move  for  and  promote  a  decent 


Division  of  Sentiment.  6i 

and  proper  application  to  his  majesty  and  the  Parliament  for  relief.  Thirdly, 
because,  if  we  should  be  silent  upon  this  occasion,  our  silence  would  be  con- 
strued into  consent,  and  a  partial  act  of,  and  resolutions  entered  into  by,  some 
individuals  might  be  considered  as  the  general  sense  of  the  province. 

"  "We  therefore,  in  duty  to  our  king,  our  country,  and  ourselves,  do  hereby 
solemnly  protest  against  the  proceedings  of  the  aforesaid  meeting,  and  declare 
our  entire  dissent  from  the  resolutions  entered  into  at  the  same. 

"As  witness  our  hands  at  Augusta  this  30th  day  of  August,  1 774."  Signed 
by  Robert  Mackay,  Andrew  Johnston,  Edward  Barnard,  William  Goodgion, 
James  Gordon,  James  Grierson,  John  Daniel  Hammerer,  Francis  Begbie, 
Thomas  Graham,  Francis  Pringle,  Donald  Cameron,  John  Frances,  Daniel 
Waiscoat,  George  Barnard,  Charles  Walker,  John  Pratt,  William  Matthews, 
Robert  Bonner,  Benjamin  Webster,  Martin  Weatherford,  Abraham  Spear,  John 
Lamar,  John  Francis  Williams,  Peter  Paris,  John  Bacon,  Sherwood  Bugg,  Will- 
iam Bugg,  Daniel  Wolecon,  William  Johnson,  Charles  Clark,  Moody  Butt,^ 
Samuel  Clark,  John  Howell,  John  Dooly,  Thomas  Grierson,  Robert  Grierson, 
Spencer  Kelly  and  Joseph  Leslie. 

In  the  same  number  of  the  Gazette  appear  two  more  numerously  signed 
protests  from  the  parish  of  St.  Paul,  one  from  the  "  Inhabitants  of  the  town 
and  township  of  Wrightsborough  and  places  adjacent,"  and  the  other  from  the 
"  Inhabitants  of  the  Kyoka  and  Broad  River  settlements." 

In  the  absence  of  accurate  information,  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that,  at 
the  inception  of  these  disagreements  between  the  mother  country  and  her 
American  colonies,  the  citizens  of  the  parish  of  St.  Paul,  while  divided  in  sen- 
timent upon  the  grave  questions  then  agitating  the  public  mind,  were  largely 
in  sympathy  with  the  crown,  and  averse  to  allying  themselves  with  the  Revo- 
lutionists. As  a  rule  the  office  holders,  the  men  of  means,  and  the  older  in- 
habitants hesitated,  by  word  or  act,  to  do  anything  which  would  tend  to  anger 
the  king  and  Parliament.  The  young  men  and  the  ardent,  on  the  contrary, 
were  inclined  to  be  precipitate,  and  refrained  not  from  enlisting  themselves 
under  the  banner  of  the  "  Sons  of  Liberty." 

It  excites  no  wonder  that  many  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  influential  citi- 
zens of  Georgia  should  have  tenaciously  clung  to  the  fortunes  of  the  crown 
and  sincerely  deprecated  all  idea  of  a  separation  from  the  mother  country.  Of 
all  the  American  colonies  this  province  had  subsisted  most  generously  upon 
royal  bounty,  and  had  been  the  recipient  of  favors  far  beyond  those  extended 
to  sister  plantations. 

To  these  protests  from  the  inhabitants  of  Saint  Paul,  the  committee  of 
Saint  John's  parish,  through  Chairman  Lyman  Hall,  on  the  17th  of  October, 
1774,  submitted  an  elaborate  rejoinder.^  This  evoked  from  a  signer  of  the  Au- 
gusta protest  the   following   humorous  retort,  addressed  to  the   printer  of  the 

•  See  the  Georgia  Gazette,  No.  577,  under  date  October  26,  1774. 


€2  History  of  Augusta. 


Georgia  Gazette  :^  "  Give  me  leave  to  tell  you  a  story.  A  gentleman,  whom 
for  the  present  we  shall  call  Paul,  had  a  very  splenetic  brother  named  John 
who  was  very  apt  to  take  fire  whenever  Paul  took  upon  himself,  in  a  friendly 
way,  to  remonstrate  against  his  conduct.  It  happened  once  that,  while  they 
were  smoking  their  pipes  by  the  fire,  Paul  took  occasion  calmly  to  censure 
some  part  of  John's  behavior,  which  he  thought  reprehensible,  at  which, 
the  choleric  gentleman,  being  touched  in  his  tender  part,  immediately  broke 
out  and  abused  his  well  meaning  brother  (in  much  the  same  strain  as  I  seethe 
St.  John's  committee  have  abused  their  well-meaning  brethren  in  our  parish 
for  daring  to  think  differently  from  themselve.s)  with  a  most  impetuous  torrent 
of  groundless  and  uncharitable  rancor;  to  which,  after  John  had  fully  vented 
his  spleen,  and  taken  a  little  breath,  Paul  made  no  answer,  but  blew  a  mouth- 
ful of  smoke,  which  he  had  very  deliberately  collected  for  the  purpose,  full  in 
John's  face,  and,  upon  John's  vehemently  asking  him  the  meaning  of  such  be- 
havior, replied,  with  great  indifference,  "  Wind  for  wind,  John." 

Then  came  the  answer  of  Miso  Tyrannus,'  presenting  "  smoke  for  smoke  ;" 
and  so  the  battle  of  words  was  waged  in  the  columns  of  the  only  journal  pub- 
lished in  the  colony.  Some  of  these  communications  were  caustic,  and  tended 
to  widen  and  intensify  the  differences  then  existent  in  the  public  mind  with 
regard  to  the  political  situation. 

The  two  parties  in  the  province  were  already  counting  noses,  and  marshal- 
ing their  forces  for  the  impending  contest.  Violent  altercations  were  not  in- 
frequent, and  the  animosity  existing  between  the  professed  adherents  to  the 
crown  and  the  avowed  opponents  to  longer  submission  to  British  rule,  was 
every  day  becoming  more  pronounced.  With  that  political  sagacity  which 
characterized  him,  Governor  Wright  foresaw  the  danger  and  confessed  the  ina- 
bility of  the  colonial  government  to  sustain  itself  In  the  face  of  the  gathering 
storm.  He  frankly  admitted  to  the  home  authorities  that  it  required  the  in- 
terposition of  a  power  greater  than  that  possessed  by  the  executive,  to  rectify 
alleged  abuses,  remedy  existing  evils,  repress  present  lawlessness,  and  subdue 
the  flame  of  independence  which  was  each  year  burning  more  fiercely  in  the 
province.  In  the  convention  of  the  loth  of  August,  the  expediency  of  send- 
ing six  deputies  to  the  proposed  general  Congress  of  the  American  colonies 
was  discussed.  The  suggestion,  however,  did  not  receive  the  sanction  of  that 
assemblage,  and  so  Georgia  was  not  represented  in  that  congress. 

Mortified  at  the  apathy  displayed,  and  the  lack  of  prompt  action  on  the 
part  of  the  other  parishes,  the  inhabitants  of  St.  John's  parish,  with  surprising 
unanimity,  resolved  independently  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 


'  See  the  Georgia  Gazette,  No.  579,  under  date  November  9,  1774. 

''The  Georgia  Gazette,  No.  582,  under  date  Wednesday,  November  30,  1774. 


Dr.  Lyman  Hall. 


6j 


thrift,  courage,  honesty  and  determination.  Having  adopted  certain  resohi- 
tions  by  which  they  obligated  themselves  to  hold  no  commerce  with  Savan- 
nah, or  other  places,  excepc  under  the  supervision  of  a  committee,  and  then 
only  with  a  view  to  procuring  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  having  avowed  their 
entire  sympathy  with  all  the  articles  and  declarations  promulgated  by  the  gen- 
eral Congress,  the  inhabitants  of  St.  John's  parish  elected  Dr.  Lyman  Hall  to 
represent  them  in  the  Continental  Congress.  This  appointment  occurred  on 
the  2ist  of  March,  and  no  more  suitable  selection  could  have  been  made. 
Among  the  prominent  citizens  of  the  parish  none  occupied  a  position  superior 
to  that  accorded  to  Dr.  Hall.  A  native  of  Connecticut,  he  had  long  been 
identified  with  the  region,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Midway  congregation. 
Owning  and  cultivating  a  rice  plantation  on  the  Savannah  and  Darien  road, 
only  a  few  miles  from  Midway  meeting-house,  he  resided  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  suffer- 
ing republicans  in  Massachusetts,  one  hundred  and  sixty  barrels  of  rice  and 
fifty  pounds  sterling.  On  the  13th  of  May,  this  gentleman,  who  had  been 
largely  instrumental  in  persuading  the  parish  of  St.  John  to  this  independent 
course,  presented  his  credentials  in  Philadelphia  and  was  unanimously  ad- 
mitted to  a  seat  in  Congress,  "  as  a  delegate  from  the  parish  of  St.  John,  in  the 
Colony  of  Georgia,  subject  to  such  regulations  as  the  Congress  should  deter- 
mine relative  to  his  voting."  Until  Georgia  was  fully  represented.  Dr.  Hall 
declined  to  vote  upon  questions  which  were  to  be  decided  by  a  vote  of  colon- 
ies. He,  however,  participated  in  the  debates,  recorded  his  opinions  in  all 
cases  where  an  expression  of  sentiment  by  colonies  was  not  required,  and  de- 
clared his  earnest  conviction  "  that  the  example  which  had  been  shown  by  the 
parish  which  he  represented  would  be  speedily  followed,  and  that  the  repre- 
sentation of  Georgia  vv^ould  soon  be  complete." 

The  patriotic  spirit  of  its  inhabitants  and  this  independent  action  of  St 
John's  parish  in  advance  of  the  other  parishes  of  Georgia  were  afterwards 
acknowledged  when  all  the  parishes  were  in  accord  in  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment. 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  con- 
solidated 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  St. 
John's  parish,  and  advised  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  that  the  rebel  measures  there 
inaugurated  were  to  be  mainly  referred  to  the  influence  of  the  "  descendants  of 
New  England  people  of  the  Puritan  Independent  sect."  who,  retaining  "a 
strong  tincture  of  republican  or  Oliverian  principles,  have  entered  into  an 
agreement  among  themselves  to  adopt  both  the  resolutions  and  the  association 
of  the  Continental  Congress."  On  the  altars  erected  within  the  Midway  dis- 
trict were  the  fires  of  resistance  to  the  dominion  of  England  kindled  in  bold- 


^4  History  of  Augusta. 


«st  relief;  and  Lyman  Hall,  of  all  the  dwellers  there,  by  his  counsel,  exhorta- 
tions, and  determined  spirit,  added  stoutest  fuel  to  the  flames.  Between  the 
immis^rants  from  Dorchester  and  the  distressed  Bostonians  existed  not  only 
the  ties  of  a  common  lineage,  but  also  sympathies  born  of  the  same  religious, 
moral,  social  and  political  education.  Hence  we  derive  an  explanation  why 
the  Midway  settlement  avowed,  at  such  an  early  stage  and  so  emphatically, 
entire  sympathy  with  the  revolutionists.  The  Puritan  element,  cherishing  and 
proclaiming  intolerance  of  the  established  church  and  of  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  impatient  of  restraint,  accustomed  to  independent  thought  and  action, 
and  without  associations  which  encouraged  tender  memories  of,  and  love  for 
the  mother  country,  asserted  its  hatreds,  its  affiliations  and  its  hopes  with  no 
uncertain  utterance,  and  appears  to  have  controlled  the  action  of  the  entire 
parish. 

Since  its  settlement  Georgia  had  received,  by  grant  of  Parliament,  nearly 
;{J^200,000,  in  addition  to  generous  bounties  lavished  in  aid  of  silk  culture  and 
various  agricultural  products.  This  fact  weighed  with  no  little  force  upon  the 
minds  of  many,  and  Governor  Wright  sought  every  opportunity  to  inculcate 
gratitude  towards  a  sovereign  whose  paternal  care  had  been  so  kindly  mani- 
fested. 

Other  colonies  had  charters  upon  which  to  base  some  claims  for  redress. 
Georgia  had  none.  Upon  the  surrender  by  the  trustees  of  the  charter  granted 
to  them  by  King  George  the  Second,  all  chartered  privileges  became  extinct. 
Upon  its  erection  into  a  royal  province,  the  commission  of  the  governor,  and 
the  instructions  of  his  majesty  communicated  through  the  Lords  of  Trade  and 
Plantations  and  the  Privy  Council,  constituted  the  supreme  measure  of  privi- 
lege and  the  rules  of  government 

For  fourteen  years  had  Sir  James  Wright  presided  over  the  colony  with 
impartiality,  wisdom  and  firmness.  Through  his  zeal  and  watchfulness  the 
province  had  been  delivered  from  the  horrors  of  Indian  warfare,  and  guided 
into  the  paths  of  peace  and  plenty.  By  his  negotiations  millions  of  acres  had 
been  added  to  the  public  domain.  Diligent  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  du- 
ties, firm  in  his  resolves,  just  in  the  exercise  of  his  powers,  loyal  in  his  opin- 
ions, courteous  in  his  manners,  thrifty  in  the  conduct  of  his  private  affairs,  and 
exhibiting  the  operations  of  a  vigorous  and  well-balanced  judgment,  he  secured 
the  respect  and  affection  of  his  people.  Although  differing  from  many  of  the 
inhabitants  upon  the  political  questions  which  were  now  dividing  the  public 
mind,  he  never  suffered  himself  to  be  betrayed  into  acts  of  violence  or  revenge. 
He  preferred  to  counsel,  to  enlighten,  to  exhort.  Georgia  was  prosperous, 
and  her  development,  year  by  year,  was  marked.  Her  position  therefore  was 
peculiar,  and  it  excites  no  surprise  that  at  the  outset  there  should  have  been  a 
division  of  sentiment  upon  the  momentous  political  issues  presented  for  her 
consideration.     The  period  of  doubt,  however,  was  short  in  its  duration.     Be- 


Revolutionary  Movements  in  Savannah.  65 

fore  Jefferson  framed  his  immortal  declaration  of  independence,  Georgia  cast 
her  lot  with  her  sister  American  colonies  and,  through  her  delegates,  was  par- 
ticipating in  the  adoption  of  those  measures  which  brought  about  the  War  of 
the  Revolution.  Of  all  the  English  provinces  in  America  Georgia  had  least 
cause  to  take  arms  against  the  mother  country. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Revolutionary  Movements  in  Savannah — Thomas  Brown  Tarred  and  Feathered  in  Au- 
gusta--Provincial  Congress  of  July  4,  1775 — Article  of  Association — Organization  of  the  Mili- 
tia and  of  the  Courts— Independence  of  Georgia  Proclaimed— Military  Operations. 

FORWARDED  by  post-riders,  traveling  night  and  day,  came  the  news  of 
the  affairs  at  Lexington  and  Concord.  Reaching  Savannah  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  loth  of  May,  the  report  of  this  shock  of  arms  created  the  profound- 
est  excitement.  Gage's  order,  promulgated  on  that  epochal  occasion  by  the 
haughty  lips  of  Major  Pitcairn — "Disperse  ye  villains!  ye  rebels  disperse!"— - 
was  answered  by  defiant  shouts  from  the  granite  hills  of  New  England  to  the 
echoing  Savannahs  of  the  South.  The  blood  of  yeomen  shed  on  Lexington 
green  cemented  the  union  of  the  colonies.  The  thunders  of  the  19th  of  April 
awoke  the  Georgia  parishes  from  their  lethargy,  incited  to  prompt  action,  and 
turned  the  popular  tide  in  favor  of  resistance  to  Parliamentary  rule. 

At  a  late  hour  on  the  night  of  the  i  ith  of  May,  a  party,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  Dr.  Noble  W.  Jones,  Joseph  Habersham,  Edward  Telfair,  William  Gib- 
bons, Joseph  Clay  and  John  Milledge,  broke  open  the  magazine  in  Savannah, 
and  removed  therefrom  some  six  hundred  pounds  of  gunpowder.  The  tradi- 
tion 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. 

On  the  2 1st  of  June  a  call,  signed  by  Noble  W.  Jones,  Archibald  Bullock, 
John  Houstoun  and  George  Walton  was  published,  requesting  the  inhabitants 
of  the  town  and  district  of  Savannah  to  meet  at  the  liberty  pole  for  the  pur- 
pose of  selecting  a  committee  to  bring  about  a  union  of  Georgia  with  the  other 
colonies  in  the  effort  to  achieve  national  independence.  The  convocation 
occurred  at  the  indicated  tirhe  and  place,  and  a  Council  of  Safety,  consisting  of 
William  Ewen,  president,  William  LeConte,  Joseph  Clay,  Basil  Cooper.  Sam- 
uel Elbert,  William  Young,  Elisha  Butler,  Edward  Telfair,  John  Glenn,  George 
Houstoun,  George  Walton,  Joseph  Habersham,  Francis  H.  Harris,  John  Smith 
and  John  Morell,  members,  and  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  secretary,  was  appointed 
9 


66  History  of  Augusta. 


with  instructions  to  maintain  an  active  correspondence  with  the  Continental 
Congress,  with  the  Councils  of  Safety  in  other  provinces,  and  with  the  com- 
mittees nominated  in  the  other  parishes  in  Georgia.  One  of  the  resolutions 
adopted  at  this  meeting  of  the  22d  of  June  provided  that  Georgia  would  not 
afford  protection  to,  or  become  an  asylum  for,  any  person  who,  from  his  con- 
duct might  be  properly  considered  inimical  to  the  common  cause  of  American 
liberty,  or  who  should  have  drawn  upon  himself  the  disapprobation  or  censure 
of  any  of  the  other  colonies. 

In  disregard  of  the  purport  of  this  resolution,  openly  proclaiming  his  alle- 
giance to  the  Crown,  and  actively  opposing  the  operations  of  the  Council  of 
Safet}'  in  the  parish  of  St.  Paul,  Thomas  Brown,  whom  Sir  James  Wright  calls 
^'a  young  gentleman  of  Augusta,"  attracted  the  notice  and  encountered  the 
enmity  of  the  "Liberty  Boys"  of  that  town.  Refusing  to  hearken  to  their 
warnings,  and  mend  his  ways,  he  was  arrested  by  a  mob  of  Revolutionists,  was 
tarred  and  feathered,  hoisted  into  a  cart  illuniinafed  for  the  occasion,  was  pa- 
raded for  hours  through  the  principal  streets,  and  was  finally  forced  to  seek 
protection  in  South   Carolina.^      Smarting  under  these  indignities,  he  subse- 

1  The  Georgia  Gazette  furnishes  the  tbllowing  account  of  the  affair  :  "  This  day  a  respect- 
able body  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty  marched  from  this  place  (Augusta),  to  New  Richmond,  in 
South  Carolina,  in  order  to  pay  a  visit  to  Thomas  Brown  and  William  Thompson,  esqs,  two 
young  gentlemen,  lately  from  England,  for  their  having  publicly  and  otherwise  expressed 
themselves  enemies  to  the  measures  now  adopted  for  the  support  of  American  liberty,  and 
signing  an  association  to  that  effect,  besides  their  using  their  utmost  endeavors  to  inflame  the 
minds  of  the  people,  and  to  persuade  them  to  associate  and  be  of  their  opinion.  But  upon  their 
arrival  they  found  the  said  Thompson,  like  a  traitor,  had  run  away  ;  and  the  said  Thomas 
Browne,  being  requested  in  civil  terms  to  come  to  Augusta  to  try  to  clear  himself  of  such  accu- 
sations, daringly  repeated  that  he  was  not,  nor  would  he  be  answerable  to  them,  or  any  other 
of  them,  for  his  conduct ;  whereupon  they  politely  escorted  him  into  Augusta,  where  they  pre- 
sented him  with  a  genteel  and  fashionable  suit  of  tar  and  feathers,  and  afterwards  had  him  ex- 
hibited in  a  cart  from  the  head  of  Augusta  to  Mr.  Weatherford's,  where  out  of  humanity  they 
had  him  taken  care  of  for  that  night ;  and  en  the  next  morning  he,  the  said  Thomas  Browne, 
having  publiclvxleclared  upon  his  honor,  and  consented  voluntarily  to  swear  that  he  repented 
for  his  past  conduct,  and  that  he  would,  for  the  future,  at  the  hazard  of  his  life  and  fortune, 
protect  and  su])port  tiie  rights  and  liberties  of  America,  and  saying  that  the  said  Thompson 
had  misled  him,  and  that  therefore  he  would  use  his  utmost  endeavors  to  have  his  name  taken 
from  the  association  he  had  signed  as  aforesaid  ;  and  further,  that  he  would  do  all  in  his  power 
to  discountenance  the  proceedings  of  a  set  of  men  in  the  Ninety-Sixth  District  in  South  Caro- 
lina, called  Fletchell's  Party  ;  upon  which,  the  said  Browne  was  then  discharged,  and  compli- 
mented with  a  horse  and  chair  to  ride  home.  But  the  said  Thomas  Browne,  that  time  having 
publicly  forfeited  his  honor  and  violated  his  oath  voluntarily  taken  as  aforesaid,  is  therefore  not 
to  be  considered  for  the  future  in  the  light  of  a  gentleman,  and  they,  the  said  Thomas  Browne 
and  William  Thompson  are  hereby  publisiied  as  persons  inimical  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of 
America  ;  and  it  is  hoped  all  good  men  will  treat  them  accordingly. 

"  N.  B.  The  said  Thomas  Browne  is  now  a  little  remarkable  ;  he  wears  his  hair  very  short, 
and  a  handkerchief  tiefl  around  his  head,  in  order  that  his  intellects  by  the  cold  weather  may 
not  be  affected." 

In  August,  1775.  William   Davis,  for  publicly  declaring  himself  a  foe  to  the  Sons  of  Lib- 


Provincial  Congress  of  1775.  57 


quently  U  ok  service  with  the  king's  forces,  became  an  active  officer,  and,  with 
hatred  in  liis  heart,  returned  to  Augusta  and  wreaked  vengeance  upon  the  in- 
habitants of  the  town  where  he  had  sufifered  such  outrage  and  humiHation. 

Memorable  in  the  poHtical  annals  of  the  colony  were  the  proceedings  of 
the  Provi.icial  Congress  which  assembled  at  Savannah  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1775.  Every  parish  was  represented,  and  the  delegates  were  fair  exponents  of 
the  intelligence,  the  dominant  hopes,  and  the  material  interests  of  the  commu- 
nities from  which  they  respectively  came.  This  was  Georgia's  first  secession 
convention.  It  placed  the  province  in  active  sympathy  and  confederated  alli- 
ance with  the  other  twelve  American  colonies,  practically  annulled  within  her 
limits  the  operation  of  the  objectionable  acts  of  Parliament,  questioned  the 
supremacy  of  the  realm,  and  inaugurated  measures  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  independence  of  the  plantation  and  its  erection  into  the  dignity  of  a  State. 

The  following  members  from  the  parish  of  St.  Paul  were  present  and  par- 
ticipated in  its  deliberatiens:  John  Walton,  Andrew  Burns.  Robert  Rae.  James 
Rae,  Andrew  Moore,  Andrew  Hurney,  and  Leonard  Marbury.  Joseph  Mad- 
dock  was  also  a  delegate,  but  he  declined  to  take  his  seat. 

Proclaiming  in  terms  most  emphatic  their  conception  of  the  natural  and 
constitutional  rights  which  appertained  to  them  as  citizens  of  Georgia  and  sub- 
jects of  Great  Britain  ;  testifying  their  determined  opposition  to  the  late  objec- 
tionable acts  of  Parliament,  their  admiration  of  the  conduct  of  New  England, 
and  their  resolution  to  share  the  fortunes  of  their  sister  colonies;  manifesting 
their  willingness  to  observe  all  orders  of  the  Continental  Congress,  indicating 
their  loyalty  to  America,  and  suggesting  such  measures  as  they  deemed  ap- 
propriate in  the  present  perplexed  condition  of  public  affairs,  the  members  of 
Congress  'speaking  for  themselves,  their  constituents,  and  for  the  entire  prov- 
ince of  Georgia,  on  the  loth  of  July,  1775,  passed  the  following  preamble  and 
resolutions : 

"  Whereas,  By  the  unrelenting  fury  of  a  despotic  ministry,  with  a  view  to 
enforce  the  most  oppressive  acts  of  a  venal  and  corrupted  Parliament,  an  army 
of  mercenaries,  under  an  unfeeling  commander,  have  actually  begun  a  civil 
war  in  America;  and  whereas,  the  apparent  iniquity  and  cruelty  of  these  ob- 
structive measures  have,  however,  had  this  good  effect,  to  unite  men  of  all 
ranks  in  the  common  cause  ;  and,  whereas,  to  consult  on  means  of  safety  and 
the  method  of  obtaining  redress  the  good  people  of  this  Province  of  Georgia 
have  thought  proper  to  appoint  a  Provincial  Congress;  the  delegates  met  at 
the  said  Congress,   now  assembled  from  every  part  of  the  province,   besides 

erty,  was  drummed  three  times  round  the  Liherty  Tree  in  Augusta,  and  published  as  a  person 
"inimical  to  the  rights  and  liberties  of  America." 

The  Liberty  Boys  were  then  "carrying  things  with  a  high  hand,"  and  would  brook  no  op- 
position. The  flames  of  a  revolution,  once  thoroughly  kindled,  are  resistless  in  their  onward 
sweep,  attracting  to  their  tiery  emhrace'not  only  all  that  stands  within  the  direct  line  of  their 
passage,  but  whatever  trembles  on  the  verge  of  the  heated  vorte.x. 


68  History  of  Augusta. 


adopting  the  resolutions  of  the  late  Continental  Congress,  find  it  prudent  to 
enter  into  such  other  resolutions  as  may  best  express  their  own  sense  and  the 
sense  of  their  constituents  on  the  present  unhappy  situation  of  things,  and 
therefore  think  fit  and  necessary  to  resolve  as  follows,  viz.: 

*^  Resolved,  That  we  were  born  free,  have  all  the  feelings  of  men,  and  are 
entitled  to  all  the  natural  rights  of  mankind. 

"Resolved,  That  by  birth  or  incorporation  we  are  all  Britons,  and  whatever 
Britons  may  claim  as  their  birthright,  is  also  ours. 

''Resolved,  That  in  the  British  Empire,  to  which  we  belong,  the  constitution 
is  superior  to  every  man  or  set  of  men  whatever,  and  that  it  is  a  crime  of  the 
deepest  dye  in  any  instance  to  impair,  or  take  it  away,  or  deprive  the  meanest 
subject  of  its  benefits. 

"  Resolved,  That  that  part  of  the  American  continent  which  we  inhabit  was 
originally  granted  by  the  crown,  and  the  charter  from  Charles  the  Second  ex- 
pressly makes  its  constitutional  dependence  upon  the  crown  only. 

''Resolved,  That  those  who  would  now  subject  all  America,  or  this  province 
to  dependency  upon  the  crown  and  Parliament,  are  guilty  of  a  vtry  dangerous 
innovation,  which  in  time  will  appear  as  injurious  to  the  crown  as  it  is  incon- 
sistent witii  the  liberty  of -the  American  subject. 

"Resolved,  That  by  the  law  of  nature  and  the  British  constitution  no  man 
can  be  legally  deprived  of  his  property  without  his  consent,  given  by  himself 
or  his  representatives. 

"Resolved,  That  the  acts  of  the  British  Parliament  for  raising  a  perpetual 
revenue  on  the  Americans  by  laying  a  tax  on  them  without  their  consent  and 
contrary  to  their  protestations,  are  diametrically  opposite  to  every  idea  of  prop- 
erty, to  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  and  at  one  stroke  deprive  this  vast  con- 
tinent of  all  liberty  and  property,  and,  as  such,  must  be  detested  by  every  well- 
wisher  to  Great  Britain  and  America. 

"Resolved,  That  the  subsequent  laws,  made  with  a  view  to  enforce  tliese 
acts,  viz.:  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  the  Alteration  of  their  Charter,  the  Act  to  carry 
beyond  sea  for  Trial,  and  (what  refines  upon  every  species  of  cruelty)  the  Fish- 
ery Bill,  are  of  such  a  complexion  that  we  can  say  nothing  about  them  for  want 
of  words  to  express  our  abhorrence  and  detestation. 

"Resolved,  That  the  loyalty,  patience,  and  prudence  of  the  inhabitants  of 
New  England  under  their  unparalleled  pressures  having  been  construed  into 
timidity  and  a  dread  of  regular  troops,  a  civil  war  in  support  of  acts  extremely 
oppressive  in  themselves  hath  actually  been  begun,  and  there  is  too  much 
reason  to  believe  that  plans  have  been  in  agitation  big  with  everything  horri- 
ble to  other  Provinces  ;  plans  as  rash,  barbarous  and  destructive  as  the  cause 
which  they  were  intended  to  serve. 

"Resolved,  That  in  these  times  of  extreme  danger,  our  assembly  not  being 
permitted  to  sit,  we  must  either  have   been  a  people  without  all  thought  or 


Resolutions  Passed.  69 


counsel,  or  have  assembled  as  we  now  are  in  Provincial  Congress  to  consult 
upon  measures  which,  under  God,  may  prove  the  means  of  a  perpetual  union 
with  the  Mother  Country,  and  tend  to  the  honor,  freedom,  and  safety  of  both. 

''Resolved,  That  this  Province  bears  all  true  allegiance  to  our  own  rightful 
Sovereign,  King  George  the  Third,  and  always  will  and  ought  to  bear  it  agree- 
able to  the  constitution  of  Great  Britain,  by  virtue  of  which  only  the  King  is 
now  our  Sovereign,  and  which  equally  binds  Majesty  and  subjects. 

''Resolved,  That  we  are  truly  sensible  how  much  our  safety  and  happiness 
depend  on  a  constitutional  connection  with  Great  Britain,  and  that  nothing  but 
the  being  deprived  of  the  privileges  and  natural  rights  of  Britons  could  ever 
make  the  thought  of  a  separation  otherwise  than  intolerable. 

"Resolved,  That  in  case  his  Majesty  or  his  successors  shall  at  any  time 
hereafter  make  any  requisition  on  the  good  people  of  this  Province  by  his  rep- 
resentative, it  will  be  just  and  right  that  such  sums  should  be  granted  as  the  na- 
ture of  the  service  may  require,  and  the  ability  and  situation  of  this  Province 
will  admit  of. 

"Resolved,  That  this  Province  join  with  all  the  Provinces  in  America  now 
met  by  Delegates  in  Continental  Congress,  and  that  John  Houstoun  and  Archi- 
bald Bullock,  esquires,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Zubly,  Lyman  Hall,  and  Noble  Wymberly 
Jones,  esqs.,  be  the  delegates  from  this  Province,  and  that  any  three  constitute 
a  quorum  for  that  purpose. 

"Resolved,  That  a  Committee  be  appointed  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  see 
that  the  resolutions  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  Provincial  Congress  be 
duly  observed,  and  that  every  person  who  shall  act  in  opposition  thereto  have 
his  name  transmitted  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  that  his  misdeeds  be 
published  in  every  American  paper. 

"Resolved,  That  with  all  such  persons,  except  the  indispensable  duties  we 
owe  to  all  mankind  (bad  men  and  enemies  not  excepted)  we  will  have  no  deal- 
ings nor  connection;  and  we  extend  this  our  resolution  also  to  all  such  per- 
sons or  corporations  in  Great  Britain  who  have  shown  themselves  enemies  to 
America. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  will  do  what  in  us  lies  to  preserve  and  promote  the 
peace  and  good  order  of  this  Province ;  and  should  any  person  become  an  in- 
nocent sufferer  on  account  of  these  grievances,  we  will  do  whatever  we  justly 
may  lor  his  relief  and  assistance. 

"Resolved,  That  in  such  calamitous  times  as  the  present,  every  possible  in- 
dulgence ought  to  be  given  to  honest  debtors  ;  that  it  would  be  ungenerous 
(unless  tliere  appear  intention  of  fraud)  in  any  gentleman  of  the  law  to  sue 
without  previous  notice  ;  and  any  person  so  sued  may  apply  to  the  Committee  ; 
and  should  it  appear  to  them  that  the  creditor  is  in  no  danger  of  losing  his 
money,  or  that  he  can  be  properly  secured,  they  shall  interpose  their  friendly 
offices  to  persuade  him  to  drop  the  prosecution  ;  and  every  prosecutor  that 


70  History  of  Augusta. 


shall  appear  to  take  advantage  of  the  confusion   of  the  times  to  distress  his 
debtor,  ought  to  be  publicly  pointed  out  and  held  in  abhorrence. 

''Resolved,  That  notwithstanding  in  a  late  Bill  for  restraining  the  trade  of 
several  Provinces  in  America,  this  Province  is  excepted,  we  declare  that  we 
look  upon  this  exception  rather  as  an  insult  than  a  favor  ;  as  being  meant  to 
break  the  union  of  the  Provinces,  and  as  being  grounded  on  the  supposition 
that  the  inhabitants  of  such  excepted  Province  can  be  base  enough  to  turn  the 
oppression  of  America  into  a  mean  advantage."^ 

Having  memorialized  the  General  Congress,  the  governor,  the  citizens  of 
Georgia,  and  the  king;  having  framed  a  bill  of  rights  and  proclaimed  the  priv- 
ileges for  which  they  were  resolved  to  contend  ;  having  introduced  Georgia 
into  the  fold  of  the  confederated  provinces;  having  enlarged  the  powers  and 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  Council  of  Safety,  and  appointed  committees  of 
conespondence  and  of  intelligence;  having  provided  the  wa}'s  and  means  for 
future  sessions  of  congress;  and,  above  all,  having  demonstrated  the  inability 
of  the  king's  servants  to  control  the  province  in  the  present  crisis,  this  assem- 
bly— perhaps  the  most  important  ever  convened  in  Georgia — adjourned  on  the 
17th  of  July,  subject  to  further  call  up  to  the  20th  of  August. 

On  the  13th  of  July  the  Provincial  Congress  unanimously  adopted  this 
article  of  association  : 

"Georgia.  Being  persuaded  that  the  salvation  of  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  America  depend,  under  God,  on  the  firm  union  of  the  inhabitants  in  its  vig- 
orous prosecution  of  the  measures  necessary  for  its  safety,  and  convinced  of  the 
necessity  of  preventing  the  anarchy  and  confusion  which  attend  the  dissolution 
0}  the  powers  of  government,  we,  the  freemen,  freeholders^  and  inhabitants  of 
the  Province  of  Georgia,  being  greatly  alarmed  at  the  avowed  design  of  the 
Ministry  to  raise  a  revenue  in  America,  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  honor, 
and  love  to  our  country,  to  adopt  and  endeavor  to  carry  into  execution  what- 
ever 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  America,  on  con- 
stitutional 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  property." 

John  Smith,  Basil  Cowper,  George  Houstcjun,  Joseph  Clay,  William  Young, 
Philip  Box,  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  William  O'Bryan,  George  Walton,  William 
LeConte,  William  Gibbons,  Samuel  Elbert,  Edward  Telfair  and  Oliver  Bowen 

'  See  Georgia  Gazette  of  July  12,  1775,  No.  614. 


Article  of  Association.  .  71 


were  designated  as  a  committee  "  to  present  this  association  to  all  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Town  and  District  of  Savannah  to  be  signed."  Expedition  was  en- 
joined, and  these  gentlemen  were  requested  to  furnish  the  General  Committee 
with  the  names  of  all  who  declined  to  affix  their  signatures. 

The  article  of  association  adopted  by  the  Provincial  Congress  was  indus- 
triously circulated  throughout  the  province,  and  an  opportunity  was  afforded 
to  all  citizens  to  sign  it.  Comparatively  few  there  were  who  declined  to  affix 
their  signatures.  The  revolutionists  were  in  earnest,  and  it  required  no  little 
nerve  to  resist  their  appeals,  gainsay  their  arguments,  or  incur  their  displeasure. 
It  was  deemed  essential  to  the  success  of  the  liberty  cause  that  no  officer 
should  be  retained  in  commission  who  refused  or  neglected  to  sign  that  article 
of  association.  Accordingly  the  militia  was  thoroughly  purged  of  the  loyalist 
element.  In  the  organization  of  the  battalion,  raised  under  authority  of  the 
Continental  Congress  at  the  common  charge  of  the  united  provinces  for  the 
protection  of  Georgia,  of  which  Lachlan  Mcintosh  was  colonel,  Samuel  Elbert, 
lieutenant-colonel,  and  Joseph  Habersham,  major,  Augusta  was  credited  with 
one  company  officered  by  Chesley  Bostick  as  captain,  and  John  Martin  as  first 
lieutenant. 

The  last  branch  of  the  government  over  which  the  Provincial  Congress  as- 
sumed control,  was  the  judicial.  All  courts  of  law  were  taken  under  its  super- 
vision, and  a  committee  of  fifteen  was  appointed  to  hold  quarterly  sessions  in 
Savannah  as  a  Court  of  Appeals  "  to  hear  and  determine  between  the  parties, 
and  sanction  or  prohibit  processes  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the  case." 
The  erection  of  Georgia  into  a  body  politic,  apart  from  and  opposed  to  the 
government  hitherto  existing  by  authority  of  the  crown,  was  now  accomplished. 
The  president  of  the  Council  of  Safety  was  virtually  the  governor  of  this  quasi- 
commonwealth.  Such  laws  as  were  requisite  for  the  preservation  of  the  public 
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  competent  for  the  assertion  of  rights  and  the  redress  of  wrongs 
were  in  active  operation.  A  military  force  had  been  organized  for  the  com 
mon  defense,  A  union  with  the  other  American  colonies  had  been  perfected. 
A  royal  governor,  it  is  true,  still  resided  in  Savannah,  but  he  was  little  else  than 
a  prisoner  with  a  barren  sceptre  in  his  grasp.  Members  of  the  king's  council 
there  were,  but  their  advice  was  neither  asked  nor  allowed  in  the  conduct  of 
affairs.  Other  officers,  holding  warrant  from  the  crown,  were  idle  spectators 
of  events.  Within  the  entire  circuit  of  the  province  there  was  none  to  enforce 
the  will  of  his  majesty.  Well  might  Governor  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  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  Revolutionary  War,  there  occurred  but  little  legislation  in  the  proper 


72  History  of  Augusta. 

acceptation  of  that  term.  The  general  assemblies,  which  convened  at  various 
times  during  Governor  Wright's  administration,  had  given  to  the  statute  book 
no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  acts  and  resolutions,  covering  a 
wide  range  of  subjects,  and  providing  for  the  growing  wants  of  a  province 
which  had  already  assumed  the  proportions  of  an  important,  populous,  and 
profitable  dependency.  These  laws,  where  they  did  not  militate  against  the 
newly  erected  government  and  the  changed  condition  of  affairs,  were  allowed 
to  remain  in  active  operation. 

The  arrest  by  Major  Joseph  Habersham,  and  a  party  selected  by  himself,  of 
his  excellency  Sir  James  Wright,  the  flight  of  the  royal  governor,  the  formation 
of  a  temporary  constitution,  the  selection  of  the  Hon.  Archibald  Bulloch  as  the 
first  Republican  president  of  Georgia,  the  first  passage  at  arms  at  Savannah 
wherein  Colonel  Mcintosh  frustrated  the  attempt  of  Captain  Barclay  and  Major 
Grant  to  capture  the  rice-laden  vessels  lying  at  anchor  in  the  Savannah  River^ 
the  gallant  demonstration  against  the  enemy  upon  Tybee  Island,  the  futile  effort 
of  Captain  Baker  to  surprise  Wright's  Fort  on  the  River  St.  Mary,  the  promulga- 
tion of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  in  Savannah,  the  invasion  of  the  Chero- 
kee territory  by  the  column  led  by  Colonel  Jack  assisted  by  Captains  John 
Twiggs,  John  Jones,  Leonard  Marbury,  Samuel  Alexander  and  Thomas  Harris, 
the  adoption  of  the  constitution  of  1777,  the  capture  of  Fort  Mcintosh,  Gov- 
ernor Gwinnett's  ill  conceived  project  for  the  subjugation  of  East  Florida, 
Colonel  Baker's  defeat,  the  bloody  duel  between  Gwinnett  and  Mcintosh,  Day- 
ton's vain  attempt  to  effect  a  consolidation  of  the  States  of  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia,  the  disastrous  expedition  of  Governor  Houstoun  and  General  Howe 
against  East  Florida,  Colonel  Elbert's  gallant  capture  of  the  Hinchinbrooke, 
Colonel  Clark's  brave  assault  upon  the  enemy's  works  at  Alligator  Creek,  the 
transfer  by  the  British  of  the  theater  of  war  from  the  northern  to  the  southern 
provinces,  the  invasion  of  Southern  Georgia  hy  Colonels  Fuser  and  Prevost, 
the  affair  near  Midway  Meeting- House,  the  successful  defense  of  Fort  Morris 
at  Sunbury,  and  the  capture  of  Savannah  by  Colonel  Campbell,  were  some  of 
the  important  events  which  followed  in  rapid  succession. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Colonel  Campbell's  Advance  Upon,  and  Capture  of  Augusta — Republican  Operations  in 
Upper  Georgia  —  Battle  of  Kettle  Creek  —  Augusta  Evacuated  l:)y  the  King's  Forces. 

UPON  the  fall  of  Savannah   in  December,  1778,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the 
remnant  of  General  Howe's  army  into  South   Carolina,  the  entire  coast 
region  of  Georgia,  with  the  exception  of  Sunbury,  was  open  to  the  enemy, 


Col.  Campbell's  Advance  upon  Augusta.  73 


who  issued  very  stringent  proclamations  and  exacted  tribute  most  onerous. 
Never  was  change  more  sudden  or  violent  wrought  in  the  status  of  any  peo- 
ple. Fort  Morris  soon  surrendered  unconditionally  to  General  Prevost,  and 
Ebenezer,  without  a  struggle,  quickly  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  king's 
forces.  Southern  Georgia  was  now  in  a  deplorable  plight.  Unable  to  support 
themselves  amid  the  destitution,  demoralization,  and  restrictions  to  which  the 
subjugated  territory  was  subjected,  many  of  the  inhabitants  set  out  for  Carolina, 
where,  aided  by  the  charity  of  strangers,  they  hoped  to  subsist  until  the  com- 
ing season  afforded  an  opportunity  for  planting  and  harvesting  crops  in  their 
new  homes.  Others,  possessing  the  means  of  subsistence,  were  so  hampered 
by  royal  edicts,  and  were  so  preyed  upon  by  foreign  and  domestic  foes,  that 
they  abandoned  the  country  in  quest  of  peace  and  security. 

Augusta,  alone,  of  all  the  rebel  posts  in  Georgia,  had  not  yet  submitted  to 
the  royal  arms.  It  was  occupied  by  a  provincial  force  under  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Williamson,  and  its  reduction  was  necessary  to  complete  the  subjugation 
of  Georgia.  About  the  middle  of  January,  1779,  Colonel  Campbell  was  de- 
tached with  a  column  about  a  thousand  strong  to  capture  this  town.  The 
Savannah  River  was  now  the  dividing  line  between  the  contending  armies. 
General  Lincoln  was  at  Purrysburg,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  with  a  force 
of  some  five  hundred  continentals  and  two  thousand  provincials.  The  main 
body  of  the  enemy  was  at  Abercora.  In  Savannah  were  one  thousand  Hes- 
sians. At  the  Two  Sisters  there  was  a  detachment  of  six  hundred  men.  Two 
hundred  more  guarded  Zubly's  ferry,  and  at  Ebenezer  a  considerable  force 
was  stationed.^  So  near  were  the  two  armies  that,  in  the  language  of  Gen- 
eral Moultrie,  writing  from  Purrysburg,  "  we  hear  their  drums  beat  every  morn 
from  our  outposts;   nay,  hear  their  sentinels  cough." 

Although  anxious  to  inaugurate  a  movement  for  the  relief  of  Georgia,  the 
American  commander  found  himself  too  weak  to  cross  the  river.  His  troops 
were  in  large  measure  undisciplined,  and  lacked  arms.  The  North  Carolina 
levies,  under  the  command  of  General  Richardson,  were  discontented  and  on 
the  eve  of  returning  home.  From  Georgia  came  no  recruits.  "  Most  of  the 
inhabitants  of  that  State,"  reports  General  Moultrie,  "  have  submitted  quietly 
to  the  British  government,  and  I  believe  they  will  remain  neutral  unless  we  go 
in  with  a  considerable  body  so  as  to  insure  success."  All  that  General  Lincoln 
could  do,  under  the  circumstances,  was  to  act  upon  the  defensive,  encourage 
reinforcements,  and  prevent  the  enemy  from  crossing  over  into  Carolina. 

Advancing  for  the  capture  of  Augusta,  Colonel  Campbell  sent  forward  Col- 
onels Brown  and  McGirth  with  four  hundred  mounted  militiamen  to  make  a 
forced  march  to  the  jail  in  Burke  county,  and  there  form  a  junction  with  Colonel 
Thomas  and  his  party  of  loyalists. 

'  See  Letter  of  General  Moultrie  to  Colonel  C.  C.  Ptnc^ney, 'dated  Purrysburg-,  Januar\-  16, 

1779- 

10 


74  History  of  Augusta. 


Advised  of  this  movement,  Colonels  John  Twiggs  and  Benjamin  and  William 
Few  quickly  concentrated  an  opposing  force  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  mounted 
men.  Attacked  by  Brown  and  McGirth,  they  succeeded  in  repulsing  them, 
inflicting  a  loss  of  five  killed,  several  wounded,  and  nine  captured.  Expecting 
that  Brown  would  speedily  be  supported  by  Colonel  Campbell,  the  Americans 
withdrew ;  maintaining,  however,  a  close  watch  upon  the  enemy.  Rallying 
his  troops,  and  being  reinforced  by  a  party  of  royalists  from  South  Carolina 
under  the  command  of  two  Tory  majors,  and  a  detachment  led  by  Major  Harry 
Sharp,  Brown  determined  to  renew  the  attack.  In  the  second  engagement  he 
and  McGirth  were  defeated,  sustaining  a  loss  greater  than  that  encountered 
two  days  before.  Among  the  wounded  was  the  noted  Tory  leader  of  the  expe- 
dition. In  this  skirmish  Captain  Joshua  Inman,  commanding  a  troop  of  Ameri- 
can horse,  slew  three  of  the  enemy  with  his  own  hand.  ^ 

General  Elbert,  who  had  been  ordered  by  General  Lincoln  to  proceed  to 
the  upper  part  of  Corolina,  crossing  the  Savannah  River  came  to  the  assistance 
of  Twiggs  and  the  Colonels  Few,  Together  they  disputed,  but  were  not  strong 
enough  to  prevent  Colonel  Campbell's  crossing  at  Brier  Creek.  Hoping  to  be 
reinforced  by  Colonel  Andrew  Williamson  from  Carolina,  and  Colonel  Elijah 
Clarke  from  Wilkes  county,  they  retired  slowly,  skirmishing  with  Campbell's 
column  as  it  advanced  upon  Augusta,  Those  officers,  however,  were  other- 
wise engaged  and  could  not  respond  to  the  expectation.  Upon  his  appearance 
before  the  town  the  American  forces  retreated  across  the  river  and  yielded  Au- 
gusta without  a  struggle.  Tarrying  there  but  a  few  days,  and  leaving  Colonel 
Brown  in  command.  Colonel  Campbell,  early  in  February,  marched  some  thirty 
miles  in  the  direction  of  Wilkes  county,  and  detached  Lieutenant-Colonel  Ham- 
ilton, with  two  hundred  mounted  infantry,  to  proceed  to  the  frontiers  of  Geor- 
gia and  there  encourage  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  were  attached  to  the  British 
government.  The  disaffected  were  to  be  summarily  disarmed.  Thus,  for  the 
moment,  was  Georgia  completely  in  the  possession  of  the  king's  forces.  Overt 
opposition  ceased,  and  it  was  believed  by  Colonel  Campbell  that  the  popula- 
tion would  permanently  yield  to  this  enforced  submission.  Wherever  British 
detachments  appeared,  the  severest  penalties  were  meted  out  to  those  who 
refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  For  the  possessions  of  such  as  were 
absent  in  arms,  plunder  and  the  torch  were  always  in  store. 

So  soon  as  it  was  known  in  Wilkes  county  that  Augusta  had  passed  into 
the  possession  of  the  enemy,  the  inhabitants  who  were  able  to  remove,  hastily 
collecting  their  household  effects  and  cattle,  fled  into  Carolina.  Those  who 
remained  betook  themselves  to  forts,  and  associated  together  in  small  bands  for 
mutual  protection.  Many,  having  lodged  their  wives,  children,  and  servants 
in  places  of  security,  assembled  under  Colonel  John  Dooly  on  the  Carolina 
shore  of  the  Savannah  River  about  thirty  miles  above  Augusta.     McGirth, 

1  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii,  p.  191.     Savannah.     1816. 


Military  Operations.  75 


-with  three  hundred  loyalists,  was  occupying  a  position  on  Kiokee  Creek.  Both 
parties  were  watching  the  ferries  and  collecting  all  boats  found  on  the  Savan- 
nah River.  Returning  to  Georgia  with  a  part  of  his  command,  Dooly  was 
quickly  pursued  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hamilton,  who  pressed  him  so  closely 
that  he  fired  upon  his  rear  as  he  recrossed  the  Savannah  just  below  the  mouth 
of  Broad  River. 

Having  driven  the  rebels  from  that  portion  of  the  State,  Hamilton  en- 
camped with  one  hundred  men  on  Water's  plantation,  three  miles  below  Peters- 
burg. Dooly,  with  like  force,  was  just  opposite  in  South  Carolina.  There  he 
was  joined  by  Colonel  Andrew  Pickens,  who  brought  with  him  two  hundred 
and  fifty  men  of  his  regiment.  Although  the  senior  in  rank,  Colonel  Dooly 
yielded  the  command  in  deference  to  the  fact  that  Pickens  had  contributed 
more  than  two-thirds  of  the  troops  constituting  this  little  army.  With  this 
united  force  it  was  resolved  to  attack  Hamilton  without  delay.  Accordingly, 
on  the  night  of  the  loth  of  February  Pickens  and  Dooly  crossed  the  Savannah 
at  Cowen's  ferry,  three  miles  above  Hamilton's  encampment,  and  prepared  to 
charge  the  enemy  early  the  next  morning.  To  their  surprise  and  regret  they 
found  that  the  British  officer,  in  entire  ignorance  of  the  impending  danger,  had 
departed  on  an  excursion  through  the  country  to  visit  its  forts  and  administer 
oaths  of  allegiance  to  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  he  chanced  to  meet.  Conjec- 
turing that  Carr's  Fort  would  be  the  first  point  visited  by  the  enemy,  Captain 
A.  Hamilton  was  directed,  with  a  guide,  to  proceed  rapidly  to  that  point  and 
arrange  for  its  defense  with  such  men  as  he  might  find  there  congregated.  Pick- 
ens and  Dooly,  moving  with  their  command,  intended  to  fall  upon  the  rear  of 
Lieutenant- Colonel  Hamilton  as  he  should  be  engaged  in  an  effort  to  reduce 
the  fort.  Captain  Hamilton  arrived  in  season  to  execute  the  order  with  which 
he  was  charged,  but  found  that  there  were  only  seven  or  eight  aged  and  infirm 
men  in  Carr's  Fort,  who,  dreading  the  consequences,  refused  to  undertake  the 
defense  of  that  post.  The  Americans  were  so  close  upon  the  heels  of  the 
British  as  they  entered  and  took  possession  of  the  fort,  that  they  were  com- 
pelled to  leave  their  horses  and  baggage  outside  the  stockade.  A  brisk  fire 
was  opened  on  both  sides,  but  without  effect.  A  siege  was  determined  on  ; 
and,  in  order  to  cut  the  besieged  off  from  all  access  to  water,  Captain  William 
Freeman,  with  forty  men  of  his  company,  in  gallant  style  dashed  through  an 
open  space  exposed  to  the  guns  of  the  fort,  and  took  possession  of  a  newly 
constructed  log  house  which  effectually  commanded  the  only  source  whence 
the  enemy  could  hope  to  obtain  a  supply  of  water. 

Early  in  the  evening  the  horses  and  baggage  of  the  British  were  brought 
off,  and  every  avenue  of  escape  was  occluded.  The  same  afternoon  the  fort  was 
summoned  to  a  surrender.  While  refusing  to  accede  to  this  summons,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Hamilton  requested  that  the  women  and  children  within  the 
stockade  might  be  allowed  to  depart.     This  application  was  denied.     Without 


jQ  History  of  Augusta. 


food  and  water,  it  was  confidently  believed  that  the  enemy  could  not  hold  out 
more  than  twenty-four  hours.      Moreover,  the  possession  of  the  log  house  near 
the  water  gave  the  assailants  command  of  the  tops  of  the  huts  inside  the  fort, 
whence  the  most  injurious  fire  proceeded.     The  happ)'  anticipations  of  the 
Americans  were  doomed  to  disappointment.      About  ten  o'clock  at  night  Col- 
onel  Pickens  received,  at  the  hands  of  Captain   Ottery,  a  dispatch  from  his 
brother,  Captain  Joseph  Pickens,  informing  him  that  Colonel  Boyd,  with  eight 
hundred  loyalists,  was  moving  through   Ninety-Six  district  toward  Georgia, 
destroying  by  fire  and  sword  whatever  lay  in  his  path.      It  was  deemed  proper, 
without  delay,  to  raise  the  siege  and  move  against  Boyd..     A  proposition  was 
made  by  some  volunteers  to  apply  the  torch  to  the  fort  at  several  points  at  the 
same  time,  and  thus  to  compel  quick  surrender.     In  tender  consideration  of  the 
women  and  children  who  were  within,  the  idea  was  abandoned.      Carrying  off 
their  wounded,  the  Americans  departed  leaving  Lieutenant-Colonel  Hamilton 
in  the  fort  without  horses  or  baggage.    As  soon  as  Pickens  and  Dooly  were  out 
of  hearing,  he  quitted  Carr's  Fort,  retreating  upon  Wrightsborough,  where  he 
occupied  a  small  stockade  for  a  few  days  and  then  rejoined  Colonel  Campbell 
at  Augusta.      In  the  affair  at  Carr's  Fort  the  British  lost  nine  killed  and  three 
wounded.    The  American  casualties  amounted  to  five  killed  and  seven  wounded. 
Retiring  from   Carr's   F'ort  the  Americans  recrossed  the  Savannah   River 
near  Fort  Charlotte,  and  advanced  toward  the  Long  Cane  settlement  to  meet 
Colonel  Boyd.      Hearing  of  his  advance.  Captain  Robert  Anderson,  of  Colonel 
Pickens's  regiment,   summoning  to  his  aid  Captains  Joseph   Pickens,  William 
Baskin  and  John  Miller  with  their  companies,  crossed  the  Savannah  River  with 
a  view  to  annoying  Boyd  when  he  should  attempt  a  passage  of  that  stream. 
He  was  subsequently  joined  by  some  Georgians  under  Captain  James  Little. 
This  accession  increased  his  force  so  that  he  had,  present  for  duty,  nearly  one 
hundred  men.      In  order  to  avoid  Pickens  and  Dooly,  Colonel  Boyd  changed 
his  route  and  approached  the  river  at  the  Cherokee  ford.      Here,  upon  a  com- 
manding elevation,  was  a  block  house  mounting  two  swivel  guns  and  garri- 
soned by  a  lieutenant  and  eight  men.      A  quiet  passage  having  been  demanded 
and  refused,  Boyd  proceeded  up  the  river  about  five  miles  and  there,  placing 
his  men  and  baggage  on   rafts  and  swimming  his  horses,  effected  a  crossing. 
His  instructions  to  his  men  were  to  land  at  different  points  on  the  opposite 
shore.     This  circumstance,  in  connection  with  the  tall  canes  growing  along  the 
river  bank,   so  confused  the  small  force  under  Captain  Anderson  that  it  did 
not  render  an  opposition  as  effectual  as  might  have  been  expected.     That  the 
passage  of  the  river  was  sharply  contested,  however,  will  be  readily  conceded 
when  we  remember  that  the  Americans  lost  sixteen  killed  and  wounded,  and 
an  equal  number  of  prisoners.      Among  the  latter  were  Captains  Baskin  and 
Miller.      Colonel   Boyd  acknowledged  a  loss  of  one  hundred  killed,  wounded^, 
and  mjssing. 


Battle  of  Kettle  Creek.  77 

Retreating  rapidly,  Captain  Anderson  formed  a  junction  with  Colonels  Pick- 
ens and  Dooly,  and  united  in  the  pursuit  of  the  enemy.  On  the  12th  of  Feb- 
ruary, passing  the  Savannah  River  at  the  Cedar  shoal,  the  Americans  advanced 
to  the  Fish-Dam  ford,  on  Broad  River.  The  command  had  now  been  reinforced 
by  Colonel  Clarke  and  one  hundred  dragoons.  Captain  Neal,  with  a  party  of 
observation,  was  detached  to  hang  upon  the  enemy's  rear,  and,  by  frequent 
couriers,  keep  the  main  body  well  advised  of  Boyd's  movements. 

Shaping  his  course  to  the  westward,  and  purposing  a  junction  with  Mc- 
Girth  at  a  point  agreed  upon  on  Little  River,  the  enemy  on  the  morning  of  the 
13th  crossed  Broad  River,  near  the  fork,  at  a  place  subsequently  known  as 
Webb's  Ferry.  Informed  of  this  movement,  the  Americans  passed  over  Broad 
River,  and  encamped  for  the  night  on  Clarke's  Creek  within  four  miles  of  the 
loyalists.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  14th,  the  Americans  advanced  rapidly 
but  cautiously.  Wherever  the  surface  of  the  country  permitted,  their  line  of 
march  was  the  order  of  battle.  A  strong  vanguard  moved  one  hundred  and 
fifty  paces  in  front.  The  right  and  left  wings,  consisting  each  of  one  hundred 
men,  were  commanded  respectively  by  Colonels  Dooly  and  Clarke.  The  cen- 
ter, numbering  two  hundred  men,  was  led  by  Colonel  Pickens  Officers  and 
men  were  eager  for  the  fray,  and  confident  of  victory.  Soon  the  ground  was 
reached  where  the  enemy  had  encamped  during  the  preceding  night. 

Seemingly  unconscious  of  the  approach  of  danger,  the  loyalist  commander 
had  halted  at  a  farm  on  the  north  side  of  Kettle  Creek  and  turned  out  his 
horses  to  forage  among  the  reeds  which  lined  the  edge  of  the  swamp.  His 
men,  who  had  been  on  short  allowance  for  three  day.'^,  were  slaughtering  bul- 
locks and  parching  corn.  Colonel  Boyd's  second  officer  was  Lieutenant- Col- 
onel Moore,  of  North  Carolina,  who  is  said  to  have  been  deficient  both  in  cour- 
age and  military  skill.  The  third  in  command.  Major  Spurgen.  was  brave  and 
competent. 

As  Colonel  Pickens  neared  the  enemy.  Captain  McCall  was  ordered  to  re- 
connoiter  his  position,  and,  unperceived,  to  acquire  the  fullest  possible  infor- 
mation of  the  status  of  affairs.  Having  completed  his  observations,  that  officer 
reported  the  encampment  formed  at  the  edge  of  the  farm  near  the  creek,  on 
an  open  piece  of  ground  flanked  on  two  sides  by  a  cane  swamp,  and  that  the 
enemy  was  apparently  in  utter  ignorance  of  any  hostile  approach.  The  Ameri- 
cans then  advanced  to  the  attack.  As  they  neared  the  camp,  the  pickets  fired 
and  retreated.  Hastily  forming  his  line  in  rear  of  his  encampment,  and  avail- 
ing himself  of  the  shelter  afforded  by  a  fence  and  some  fallen  timber,  Boyd  pre- 
pared to  repel  the  assault.  Colonel  Pickens,  commanding  the  American  center,, 
obliqued  a  little  to  the  right  to  take  advantage  of  more  commanding  ground. 
The  right  and  left  divisions  were  somewhat  embarrassed  in  forcing  their  way 
through  the  cane,  but  soon  came  gallantly  into  position.  Colonel  Boyd  de- 
fended the  fence  with  great  bravery,  but  was  finally  overpowered  and  drivea 


78  History  of  Augusta. 


back  upon  the  main  body.     While  retreating  he  fell  mortally  wounded,  pierced 
with  three  balls,  two  passing  through  his  body  and  the  third  through  his  thigh. 

The  conflict  now  became  close,  warm,  and  general.  Some  of  the  enemy, 
sore  pressed,  fled  into  the  swamp  and  passed  over  the  creek,  leaving  their 
horses,  baggage,  and  arms  behind  them. 

After  a  contest  lasting  an  hour  the  Tories  retreated  through  the  swamp. 
Observing  a  rising  ground  on  the  other  side  of  the  creek  and  in  the  rear  of 
the  enemy's  right  on  which  he  thought  the  loyalists  would  attempt  to  form. 
Colonel  Clarke,  ordering  the  left  wing  to  folhnv  him,  prepared  to  cross  the 
stream.  At  this  moment  his  horse  was  killed  under  him.  Mounting  another, 
he  followed  a  patli  which  led  to  a  ford  and  soon  gained  the  side  of  the  hill  just 
in  time  to  attack  Major  Spurgen  who  was  endeavoring  to  form  his  command 
upon  it.  He  was  then  accompanied  by  not  more  than  a  fourth  of  his  division, 
there  having  been  some  mistake  in  extending  the  order.  The  firing,  however, 
soon  attracted  the  attention  of  the  rest  of  his  men  who  rushed  to  his  support. 
Colonels  Pickens  and  Dooly  also  pressed  through  the  swamp,  and  the  battle 
was  renewed  with  much  vigor  on  the  other  side  of  the  creek.  Bloody  and  ob- 
stinate was  the  conflict.  For  some  time  the  issue  seemed  doubtful.  At  length 
the  Americans  obtained  complete  possession  of  the  hill;  and  the  enemy,  routed 
at  all  points,  fled  from  the  scene  of  action  leaving  seventy  of  their  number  dead 
upon  the  field,  and  seventy-five  wounded  and  captured.  On  the  part  of  the 
Americans,  nine  were  slain  and  twenty-three  wounded.  To  Colonel  Clarke 
great  praise  is  due  for  his  foresight  and  activity  in  comprehending  and  check- 
ing, at  its  earliest  stage,  the  movement  of  the  loyalists  beyond  the  swamp. 
Had  they  succeeded  in  effecting  a  permanent  lodgment  upon  the  hill,  the  for- 
tunes of  the  day  would  have  proved  far  otherwise.  This  engagement  lasted  for 
one  hour  and  forty-five  minutes,  and  during  most  of  that  time  was  hotly  con- 
tested. 

As  the  guard  having  charge  of  the  prisoners  captured  when  Boyd  crossed 
the  Savannah  River  heard  of  tiie  disaster  which  had  overtaken  the  main  body, 
they  voluntarily  surrendered  themselves,  thirty-three  in  number,  to  those 
whom  they  held  in  captivity,  promising,  if  allowed  to  return  in  peace  to  their 
homes,  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  confederated  States. 

The  battle  ended.  Colonel  Pickens  waited  upon  Colonel  Boyd  and  ten- 
dered him  every  relief  in  his  power.  Thanking  him  for  his  civility,  the  loyalist 
chief,  disabled  by  mortal  wounds  and  yet  brave  of  heart,  inquired  particularly 
with  regard  to  the  result  of  the  engagement.  When  told  that  the  victory 
rested  entirely  with  the  Americans,  he  asserted  that  the  issue  would  have  been 
different  had  he  not  fallen.  During  the  conversation  which  ensued,  he  stated 
that  he  had  set  out  upon  this  march  with  eight  hundred  men.  In  crossing  the 
Savannah  River  he  sustained  a  loss  of  one  hundred  in  killed,  wounded,  and 
missing.      In  the  present  action  he  had  seven  hundred  men  under  his  com- 


Royalist  Defeats. 


79 


mand.  His  expectation  was  that  McGirth,  with  five  hundred  men,  would  form 
a  junction  with  him  on  Little  River  either  that  very  afternoon  or  on  the  ensu- 
ing morning.  The  point  named  for  this  union  of  forces  was  not  more  than  six 
miles  distant  from  the  place  where  this  battle  had  been  fought.  Alluding  to 
his  own  condition,  he  remarked  that  he  had  but  a  few  hours  to  live,  and  re- 
quested Colonel  Pickens  to  detail  two  men  to  furnish  him  with  water,  and  to^ 
inter  his  body  after  death.  Delivering  to  that  officer  certain  articles  of  value 
which  he  had  upon  his  person,  he  asked  the  favor  that  they  be  forwarded  to 
his  wife  with  a  letter  acquainting  her  with  the  circumstances  of  his  demise  and 
burial.  These  dying  injunctions  were  carefully  observed.  He  was  a  corpse 
before  morning. 

Dispirited  by  the  loss  of  their  leader,  and  stunned  by  the  heavy  blow  which 
had  fallen  upon  them  in  an  unexpected  moment,  the  followers  of  this  danger- 
ous chieftain  scattered  in  various  directions.  Some  fled- to  Florida;  others 
betook  themselves  to  the  Creek  nation  ;  others  still  sought  refuge  among  the 
Cherokees;  others  returned  to  their  homes  and  craved  mercy  at  the  hands  of 
the  patriots;  while  a  remnant,  under  the  command  of  Colonel  Moore,  number- 
ing some  two  hundred,  retreated  to  Augusta. 

Dismayed  at  the  defeat  which  had  overtaken  Colonel  Boyd,  and  pausing 
not  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  the  day,  McGirth  fled  precipitately  to  Augusta 
and  rejoined  the  forces  under  Colonel  Campbell.  The  prisoners  captured  at 
Kettle  Creek  were  carried  to  South  Carolina,  tried,  found  guilty  of  treason^ 
and  sentenced  to  death.  Only  five  of  the  most  noted  offenders  were  executed. 
The  others  were  pardoned.  Departing  from  the  field  of  action,  the  Americans 
encamped  for  the  night  in  a  locality  near  the  present  town  of  Washington, 
and,  on  the  15th,  recrossed  the  Savannah  River.  In  the  aflair  at  Carr's  Fort^ 
and  in  the  engagement  at  Kettle  Creek,  the  Americans  possessed  themselves 
of  some  six  hundred  horses  and  a  large  quantity  of  arms,  equipments,  and 
clothing.  This  accession  to  the  scanty  stores  of  the  patriots  was  most  oppor- 
tune and  valuable.  In  the  general  gloom  which  was  encompassing  all,  this  vic- 
tory shone  like  a  star  of  substantial  hope,  dissipating  despair,  and  enkindling 
confidence  in  the  hearts  of  the  Revolutionists.  From  the  banks  of  this  insig- 
nificant stream,  rendered  historic  by  the  prowess  of  Pickens,  Dooly,  Clarke  and 
their  valiant  followers,  there  arose  a  martial  shout  which  proclaimed  the  restora- 
tion of  Whig  ascendency  in  Upper  Georgia  and  the  discomfiture  of  the  roy- 
alist cohorts.  With  no  uncertain  sound  did  the  bugle- blasts,  then  blown,  sum- 
mon to  further  feats  of  patriotic  emprise  and  admonish  the  king's  officers  that 
Georgia  was  not  wholly  within  their  grasp. 

This  battle  was  quickly  followed  by  movements  which,  although  partial  in 
their  character,  indicated  that  the  love  of  liberty  and  the  spirit  of  resistance 
were  abroad  in  the  land.  Advancing  with  a  portion  of  his  brigade  and  some 
of  the   Georgia  militia,  General  Andrew  Williamson  encamped  not  far  from 


So  History  of  Augusta. 


Augusta,  on  the  Carolina  side  of  the  S.ivannah  River.  Colonel  Leonard  Mar- 
bury,  with  fifty  draf^oons  and  a  body  of  militiamen,  took  post  near  Browns- 
borough.  Colonel  John  Twiggs,  having  assembled  the  militia  of  Richmond 
county  and  passed  in  rear  of  the  British  occupying  Augusta,  surprised  one  of 
their  outposts  at  Herbert's,  where  seventy  men  were  stationed.  In  the  assault 
several  of  the  assailed  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  the  rest  forced  to  an  un- 
conditional surrender. 

A  reconnoitering  party  of  twenty  of  the  King's  Rangers,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Captain  Whitley  and  Lieutenants  McKenzie  and  Hall,  was  sent  to 
Brownsborough  to  ascertain  if  there  was  an  American  force  assembling  in  that 
quarter.  Through  his  scouts  obtaining  information  of  Whitley's  position  and 
force,  Colonel  Marbury  detached  Captain  Cooper  with  twelve  dragoons  to  gain 
the  enemy's  rear,  while  he  advanced  in  front.  So  rapidly  did  Cooper  execute 
this  order  that  he  surprised  Whitley  and  his  part}'  at  dinner,  and  captured  the 
whole  of  them  before  Colonel  Marbury  came  up.  Hall,  who  was  a  native  of 
South  Carolina,  iiad  formerly  been  in  the  American  service.  While  in  com- 
mand of  a  small  fort  on  the  frontier  of  that  State,  he  treacherously  surrendered 
it  to  the  Cherokee  Indians,  and  permitted,  without  remonstrance,  every  man, 
woman  and  child  within  its  walls  to  be  butchered  by  the  savages.  He  was 
now  sent  to  the  jail  at  Ninety-Six  for  safe  keeping.  In  due  season  he  was  tried, 
found  guilty  of  treason,  and  condemned  to  be  hung.  The  death  penalty  was 
visited  upon  him  on  the  17th  of  April.  He  miserably  perished,  confessing  his 
crimes  and  acknowledging  the  justice  of  his  sentence.^ 

In  the  disturbed  state  of  affairs,  instances  of  personal  daring  and  hair- 
breadth escapes  were  not  infrequent.  Desirous  of  acquiring  a  definite  knowl- 
edge of  the  force  and  position  of  the  enemy  in  Augusta,  General  Elbert  sent 
Lieutenant  Hawkins  to  obtain  the  necessary  information.  While  nearing  an 
outpost,  he  was  overtaken  at  Bear  Swamp  by  three  Tories.  To  avoid  them  was 
impossible.  Advancing  resolutely  towards  them,  he  inquired  who  they  were, 
and  whither  they  were  going.  The  answer  was  that  they  were  on  their  way 
to  join  Colonel  Daniel  McGirth.  Hawkins,  who  was  wearing  an  old  British 
uniform,  responded  that  he  was  McGirth;  that  ho  believed  they  were  rebels, 
and  that  he  should  proceed  to  hand  them  over  to  his  party,  near  at  hand. 
They  protested  to  the  contrary;  and,  to  demonstrate  the  truth  of  their  assertion, 
at  Hawkins's  suggestion,  placed  their  rifles  upon  the  ground  and  held  up  their 
right  hands.  As  they  did  this.  Lieutenant  Hawkins  advanced  upon  them  with 
pistols  cocked  and  presented.  Taking  up  their  rifles,  he  ordered  them  to  march 
in  front  of  him,  threatening  to  shoot  the  first  who  attempted  to  turn.  In  this 
manner  did  he  conduct  them  to  the  American  camp.- 

The  Tories  in   Upper  Georgia    having  been  completely  routed,  and  the 

'See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.  pp.  194,-205.     Savannah.      1816. 
"  See  Stevens's  Hisfory  of  Georgia,  no),  ii.  p.  193.     Philadelphia.      1859. 


I 


Affair  near  Fulsom's  Fort. 


Americans  daily  becoming  more  formidable  in  numbers  and  pronounced  in 
their  demonstrations,  Colonel  Campbell  determined  to  evacuate  his  advanced 
position  at  Augusta.  Accordingly,  late  in  February,  he  commenced  his  re- 
treat, which  did  not  terminate  until  he  reached  Hudson's  ferry  on  the  Savan- 
nah River,  where  Lieutenant- Colonel  Prevost  had  constructed  a  fortified  camp 
and  mounted  some  field  artillery.  In  the  end,  so  suddenly  did  he  quit  Au- 
gusta, that  he  paused  not  to  destroy  a  considerable  quantity  of  provisions 
which  he  had  there  accumulated.  During  this  retrograde  movement  he  was 
much  annoyed  by  the  Americans,  who,  in  small  bodies,  harassed  his  command 
in  flank  and  rear. 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

Affair  near  Fulsom's  Fort  —  Augusta  Designated  as  the  Seat  of  Government  —An  Oli- 
garchical Form  of  Government  Inaugurated  —  Political  History  of  the  Period  —  Communica- 
tion to  General  Lincoln  —  Governor  Wright's  Report  on  the  Situation. 

GENERAL  Benjamin  Lincoln's  plans  for  the  relief  of  Georgia  were  twice 
thwarted,  once  by  the  surprise  and  defeat  of  General  Ash,  in  the  angle 
formed  by  the  confluence  of  Brier  Creek  and  the  Savannah  River,  by  Colonel 
Campbell,  and  a  second  time  by  General  Prevost's  demonstration  against 
Charles-Town.  Upon  his  retreat  from  Augusta  Colonel  Campbell  had  been 
pursued  by  General  Ash  as  far  as  Brier  Creek.  Finding  that  he  could  not 
overtake  the  enemy,  that  officer  halted  and  formed  a  camp  most  injudiciously 
located  and  carelessly  guarded,  from  which,  by  a  rapid  counter-blow  from  his. 
capable  antagonist,  he  was  driven  in  confusion  and  with  great  loss. 

Encouraged  by  the  signal  defeat  of  Boyd  at  Kettle  Creek,  and  the  subse- 
quent evacuation  of  Augusta  by  the  king's  forces,  the  Georgians,  who  had  fled 
from  the  region  to  South  Carolina  for  security,  returned  with  their  families  and 
personal  property  and  reoccupied  their  small  forts  and  plantations.  Scarcely 
had  they  done  so  when  they  were  alarmed  by  the  approach  of  a  body  of  Creek 
Indians,  led  by  Tate  and  McGilHvray,  Indian  agents  in  the  employ  of  the  British. 
Colonel  Pickens,  with  two  hundred  men  of  his  regiment,  quickly  came  to  the 
assistance  of  the  Georgians.  Colonel  Dooly  was  already  in  the  field  with  one 
hundred  mounted  men,  while  Colonel  Elijah  Clarke,  with  his  command,  guarded 
the  frontier.  Every  male  inhabitant  of  sixteen  years  and  upwards  appeared 
with  arms  in  his  hands.  At  Wrightsborough  Colonels  Pickens  and  Dooly  were 
reinforced  by  detachments  from  the  regiments  of  Colonels  Few  and  Leroy 
Hammond,  and  by  two  troops  of  horse  under  Major  Ross.  The  Indians  were 
encamped  near  Fulsom's  fort.  Approaching  under  cover  of  the  night,  Lieuten- 
11 


82  History  of  Augusta. 

ants  Alexander  and  Williamson,  who  had  been  detailed  for  the  purpose,  made 
a  reconnoissance  vvhicii  led  them  to  estimate  the  force  of  the  enemy  at  eight 
hundred.  Upon  receiving  their  report  Colonel  Pickens,  to  whom  the  com- 
mand was  confided,  marched  his  column  rapidly  forward  in  the  hope  of  reach- 
ing the  Indian  camp  and  surprising  it  before  daylight.  Some  treacherous  ras- 
cal advised  the  enemy  of  his  approach.  Unwilling  to  breast  the  attack,  the 
Indians,  breaking  up  into  small  parties,  fled  in  every  direction.  In  the  pursuit 
which  ensued,  some  of  the  savages  were  overtaken  and  slain.  Major  Ross, 
Captain  Newsom  and  Lieutenant  Bentley  were  killed.  Quiet  was  restored, 
and  the  enemy  was  utterly  expelled  from  the  territory. 

Upon  the  capture  of  Savannah,  in  December,  1778,  by  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Campbell,  the  executive  council  designated  Augusta  as  the  seat  of  government. 
So  rapidly,  however,  did  that  officer  push  his  column  up  the  Savannah  River, 
and  so  quickly  did  he  occupy  Augusta  with  his  troops,  that  until  his  evacua- 
tion of  that  place,  late  in  February,  1779,  it  existed  but  in  name  as  the  capital 
of  Georgia.  During  this  period  the  republican  government  of  the  State  was 
peripatetic.  In  such  a  condition  was  it  frequently  found  during  the  continuance 
of  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  The  public  records  had  been  sent  out  of  the 
State  for  safe  keeping.  Until  the  close  of  the  contest  the  proceedings  of  the 
executive  council  consisted  of  little  more  than  insignificant  orders  and  letters,  a 
meager  journal  of  its  convocations,  hasty  deliberations  and  adjournments,  and 
a  scant  memorandum  of  its  principal  acts  touching  the  general  safety.  The 
treasury  was  empty.  There  was  not  even  an  attempt  made  to  levy  and  collect 
taxes.  Paper  bills  of  credit,  issued  upon  the  faith  of  the  State,  had  depreciated 
in  value  to  such  an  extent  that  they  possessed  scarcely  any  purchasing  power. 
All  sorts  of  shifts  were  resorted  to  in  order  that  the  troops  in  the  field  might 
be  supplied  with  food  and  clothing.  Of  payment  in  money  for  military  ser- 
vices rendered  there  was  often  none,  especially  in  the  case  of  the  militia.  The 
currency  employed  in  paying  off"  troops  enlisted  in  the  Continental  service  was 
almost  as  valueless  as  were  the  promises  to  pay  circulated  by  the  State.  Not 
infrequently  the  confiscated  property  of  royalists  was  utilized  in  discharging 
the  obligations  incurred  in  the  purchase  of  necessaries  for  the  soldiers  in  the 
field.^     Simple  in  the  extreme  was  the  machinery  of  government.     The  affairs 

'  In  illustration  of  this,  let  the  following  suffice  : 

"In  Council,  April  30,  1782. 
"Captain  Harris : 

"  Sir  :  As  you  are  appointed  Agent  for  the  County  of  Richmond  to  collect  all  sequestered 
property,  you  will  please  immediately  to  take  in  your  possession  two  negro  wenches,  the  prop- 
erty of  Curtis  Colwell,  in  possession  of  Oreenbury  Lee  and  Simon  Beckum,  and  two  negroes^ 
a  Boy  and  a  Girl,  in  possession  of  Wm.  Few,  Sr.,  the  property  of  Simon  Nichols,  deceased. 

"  You  will  please,  after  taken  the  above  in  possession,  to  deliver  the  said  Negroes  to  Captn 
Ignatius  Few,  they  being  appraised  by  Mr.  Simon  Beckum  ;  the  State  having  purchased  some 
necessarys  from  Captn  Few,  the  said  Negroes  are  to  be  received  in  payment  for  the  articles 
purchased.  Stephen  Heard,  Pres.  Col." 


When  Augusta  again  passed  into  the  hands  of  fhe  r.r.   ki- 
bars  of  council  convened  .here,  at  the  reside,  ce  of  MattZ:  Hob"      .'  ""7' 
a  president  and  transact  such  business  demanded  hvtl  ' 

within  their  power.     They  represented  theTf         J  emergency  as  lay 

■  conduct  sovernmental  affairs  i„  ^  '"^V'  '779-     Too  lew  to  organize  and 

..■on.  and^et  iCess^dtr.  :":  iryTd":  '"^  '""'""r  °'  '"=  ^<^"='""- 
son,e  n,achi„ery'by  which  the  i  ^  t^  of  1  e^t!  ^i^h.'b  "  ""  ''°T"' 
the  administration  of  its  business  fadlitated,  on  theLTh'of  ,uLT""''  '"' 

t::^:^T:::-^-i^-'  ^^  whiranXr:;;:^:— 

..wi,  r        ,  "  ^■^'^■^'^  """^'EORGIA,  Richmond  County 

Whereas,  from  the  invasion  of  the  British  forces  in  thl-  <^t  ^^""''^^-    ., 
have  arisen  and  still  exist  ,o  Hi=f     k  .i       ■  ^'^'^'  S''«^»'  ^vils 

which,  in  a  great  meas  re   ha  'T  2°-".>ment  of  the  said  State,  and 

being  carried    no  such  full  eff    ^  ""  ~"^"""-"  °f  <'-  >and  from 

•herein  pointe  ut  And  w  f::  /•  "/"^^'".'"^  T'°'"  °'  ^°^^™-"* 
necessary  at  this  iuncture  to  adT  t  ",''"""""  '"^'""bent  and  indispensably 
ducive  to  the      elfa  e   ha  '^    ?       '""P°™^^  "°^^  ^=  ""^y  ^'  ™°^t  eon- 

the  good  peon  etr  he  said  S^"'  '""/T'^y  "^  '"=  "2>^'s  and  privileges  of 

and  ^.ecti^e  rutirowl  ;„:t  ^r;  a?f  rt^e'eXr  oTaV^''^'^"^^  " '^^^^ 

:o'r  ::rtVeXr  tt:;- !:--  -r '"  -'— -  -"='= 

prevent,  as  far  al  1;  be  a!    ci;ra"nd'"'f'"™'r  ^"'  be  acknowledged  ;  to 

Sta  e°ar      3' d  ;„  :,::"^  ""^'^'"'l  ^"^  "^'  -  "-  county  of  Richmond,  in  t  le 

Of  the  Sr  andir'  ;p^l7n:rl:r:^r:^  "-  P---  ^■--^ed  situation 

and  havinc  maturelv  aifd         '      ,  P"'*"^"'  """"^  "'"'^'^y  "'e^to, 

the  fol,owh,g  p    sot  b    aolr'H'K  °"r'"''  "^  '^"'^'  '°  ^^~"""-^  "»' 

the  supreme^'uthoTi  y    heTo  o  :,  a,;  Zf  'T  "'  "'  '""  "  ^'^"^'^^^ 

of  their  office,  take  the^followng  oath     if:  I  A^B    rLtT  ""  ''7^^'""°" 

g  uctui,  VIZ. .   1,  A.  ±5.,  elected  one  of  the  supreme 


84  History  of  Augusta. 

executive  council  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  do  solemnly  swear  that  I  will,  during 
the  term  of  my  appointment,  to  the  best  of  my  skill  and  judgment,  execute  the 
said  office  faithfully  and  conscientiously,  without  favor,  affection  or  partiality ; 
that  I  will,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power,  support,  maintain,  and  defend  the  State 
of  Georgia,  and  use  my  utmost  endeavors  to  support  the  people  thereof  in  the 
secure  enjoyment  of  their  just  rights  ^nd  privileges  ;  and  that  I  will,  to  the  best 
of  my  judgment,  execute  justice  and  mercy  in  all  judgments  ;   so  help  me  God. 

"  And  we,  and  each  of  us,  on  our  parts,  as  free  citizens  of  the  State  of 
Georgia  aforesaid,  do  for  ourselves  nominate,  authorize,  empower  and  require 
you,  John  Wereat,  Joseph  Clay,  Joseph  Habersham,  Humphrey  Wells,  William 
Few,  John  Dooly,  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  William  Gibbons,  sr.,  and  Myrick  Davies, 
esqs.,  or  a  majority  of  you,  to  act  as  the  executive  or  supreme  council  of  this 
State;  and  to  execute  from  Tuesday,  the  27th  inst.,  to  the  first  Tuesday  in 
January  next,  unless  sooner  revoked  by  a  majority  of  the  freemen  of  this  State, 
every  such  power  as  you,  the  said  John  Wereat,  Joseph  Clay,  Joseph  Haber- 
sham, Humphrey  Wells,  William  Few,  John  Dooly,  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  Will- 
iam Gibbons,  sr.,  and  Myrick  Davies,  esqs.,  or  a  majority  of  you,  shall  deem 
necessary  for  the  safety  and  defense  of  the  State  and  the  good  citizens  thereof; 
taking  care  in  all  your  proceedings  to  keep  as  near  the  spirit  and  meaning  of 
the  constitution  of  the  said  State  as  may  be. 

"And  you,  the  said  John  Wereat,  Joseph  Clay,  Joseph  Habersham,  Hum- 
phrey Wells,  William  Few,  John  Dooly,  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  William  Gibbons, 
sr.,  and  Myrick  Davies,  esqs.,  or  a  majority  of  you,  hereby  have  full  power  and 
authority,  and  are  authorized,  empowered  and  required  to  elect  fit  and  dis- 
crete persons  to  represent  this  State  in  Congress,  and  to  instruct  the  delegates 
so  chosen  in  such  matters  and  things  as  will  tend  to  the  interest  of  this  State 
in  particular,  and  the  United  States  of  America  in  general :  the  said  delegates 
taking  care  from  time  to  time,  to  transmit  to  you.  the  said  council,  or  other 
authority  of  the  State  for  the  time  being,  an  account  of  their  proceedings  in 
Congress  aforesaid  :  to  regulate  the  public  treasury  of  the  said  State,  to  borrow 
or  otherwise  negotiate  loans  for  the  public  safety:  to  regulate  the  militia,  and 
appoint  an  officer,  if  necessary,  to  command  :  to  appoint,  suspend,  and  dis- 
charge all  civil  officers  if  it  shall  be  found  expedient:  to  demand  an  account 
of  all  expenditures  of  the  public  mone}',  and  to  regulate  the  same,  and,  where 
necessary,  order  payments  of  money  :  to  adopt  some  mode  respecting  the  cur- 
rent money  of  this  State,  and  for  sinking  the  same:  to  direct  and  commission 
the  chief  justice  of  the  State,  or  assistant  justices,  or  other  justices  of  the  peace, 
and  other  officers  of  each  county  :  to  convene  courts  for  the  trial  of  offences 
cognizable  by  the  laws  of  the  land  in  such  place  or  places  as  you  shall  think 
fit :  always  taking  care  that  trial  by  jury  be  preserved  inviolate,  and  that  the 
proceedings  had  before  such  courts  be  in  a  summary  way  so  that  offenders  be 
brought  to  a  speedy  trial  and  justice  be  amply  done  as  well  to  the  State  as  to 
the  individuals. 


The  Executive  Council  Organized.  85 

"  You,  or  a  majority  of  you,  the  said  council,  have  full  power  and  hereby 
.are  requested,  on  conviction  of  ofifenders,  to  order  punishment  to  be  inflicted 
extending  to  death :  and  when  objects  deserving  mercy  shall  be  made  known 
to  you,  to  extend  that  mercy  and  pardon  the  offense,  remit  all  fines,  mitigate 
corporal  punishments,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  as  to  you  or  a  majority  of  you 
shall  seem  fit  and  necessary.  And  you,  the  said  council  or  a  majority  of  you, 
at  all  times  and  places  when  and  where  you  shall  think  fit,  have  hereby  full 
power  and  competent  authority  to  meet,  appoint  your  own  president,  settle 
your  own  rules,  sit,  consult,  deliberate,  advise,  direct,  and  carry  in  execution 
all  and  every  act,  special  and  general,  hereby  delegated  to  you,  and  all  and 
every  such  other  acts,  measures,  and  things  as  you  or  a  majority  of  you  shall 
find  expedient  and  necessary  for  the  welfare,  safety,  and  happiness  of  the  free- 
men of  this  State.       • 

"  And  in  case  any  of  the  persons  herein*  appointed  to  exercise  the  supreme 
authority  as  aforesaid  shall  refuse  to  act,  die,  or  depart  this  State,  or  shall  by 
any  other  means  be  prevented  from  exercising  the  same,  then,  and  in  such 
case,  you,  the  said  council  hereby  chosen,  or  a  majority  of  you,  shall,  and  you 
are  hereby  authorized,  empowered,  and  required  to  fill  up  such  vacancies  by 
choosing  fit  and  discrete  persons  or  person  to  act  in  their  or  his  room  and 
stead,  which  person  or  persons  so  chosen  is  or  are  hereby  invested  with  every 
power  and  authority  in  as  full  and  ample  a  manner  as  if  they  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  this  present  instrument  of  writing. 

"  And  we  do  hereby  declare  all  officers,  civil  and  military,  and  all  persons, 
inhabitants  of  this  State,  subject  to  and  answerable  to  your  authority,  and  will 
ratify  and  confirm  whatever  you  may  do  for  or  concerning  the  public  weal, 
according  to  the  best  of  your  judgment,  knowledge,  and  ability.  And  further, 
we  do  hereby  promise  you  our  support,  protection,  and  countenance. 

"  In  witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands  this  24th  day  of  July, 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1779." 

This  supreme  executive  council  organized  temporarily  the  same  day  by  the 
•choice  of  Seth  John  Cuthbert  as  president  pro  tempore ;  and,  on  the  6th  of 
August,  perfected  a  permanent  organization  by  unanimously  electing  John 
AVereat  president.  All  the  members  then  took  the  oath  of  office  prescribed, 
and  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  their  important  duties.  The  entire  transac- 
tion was  abnormal.  The  choice  lay  between  anarchy  and  this  modified  form 
of  government.  Regular  assemblages  of  the  Legislature  were,  for  the  time 
being,  impracticable  It  was  equally  out  of  the  question  to  evoke  an  expres- 
sion of  the  popular  will,  or  to  expect  a  general  observance  of  the  provisions  of 
the  constitution.  To  the  republicans  only  a  fraction  of  the  State  remained. 
Blood,  turmoil,  disquietude  and  antagonisms  were  everywhere.  The  preser- 
vation of  at  least  the  semblance  of  sovereignty  was  vital  to  the  cause  of  the 
patriots.     Under  the  circumstances  the  delegates  doubtless  acted  for  the  best ; 


86  History  of  Augusta. 


and,  although  in  this  matter  they  exceeded  their  powers  and  proceeded  with- 
out constitutional  warrant,  their  action  grew  out  of  a  condition  of  affairs  most 
peculiar,  and  was  intended  to  meet  an  emergency  beyond  the  ordinary  con- 
templation of  law.  In  their  selection  of  members  of  this  supreme  executive 
council  it  does  not  appear  either  that  their  judgment  was  at  fault  or  that  their 
confidence  was  misplaced.  Nor  did  the  erection  of  this  temporory  government 
fail  to  secure  the  endorsement  of  the  patriots  of  Georgia.  It  was  a  war  meas- 
ure. By  this  oligarchy  was  Georgia  ruled  for  many  months,  and  during  the 
entire  period  there  is  not  even  a  suggestion  that  those  to  whom  were  committed 
powers  so  comprehensive  were  ever  guilty  of  peculation,  injustice,  infidelity,  or 
despotism.  Their  official  conduct  was  a  tribute  at  once  to  the  individual  worth 
of  each  member  of  the  provisional  government,  and  to  the  purity,  the  patriot- 
ism, the  honor,  and  the  virtue  of  the  epoch.  Brigadier- General  Lachlan  Mc- 
intosh was  now  again  in  Georgia  and  in  command  of  the  forces  concentrated 
for  the  protection  of  the  upper  portions  of  the  State.  His  return  was  sanctioned 
by  Congress  in  accordance  with  his  earnest  desire,  approved  by  General  Wash- 
ington, who,  on  the  iith  of  May,  1779,  addressed  the  following  communica- 
tion to  that  august  body  : 

"  Brigadier- General  Mcintosh  will  have  the  honor  of  delivering  you  this. 
The  war  in  Georgia — being  the  State  to  which  he  belongs — makes  him  desi- 
rous of  serving  in  the  Southern  army.  I  know  not  whether  the  arrangements 
Congress  have  in  contemplation  may  make  it  convenient  to  employ  him  there, 
but  I  take  the  liberty  to  recommend  him  as  a  gentleman  whose  knowledge  of 
service  and  of  the  country  promises  to  make  him  useful.  I  beg  leave  to  add 
that  General  Mcintosh's  conduct,  while  he  acted  immediately  under  my  obser- 
vation, was  such  as  to  acquire  my  esteem  and  confidence,  and  I  have  had  no 
reason  since  to  alter  my  good  opinion  of  him."  ^ 

Second  in  command  to  General  Lincoln,  he  was  at  all  times  most  earnest 
in  devising  means  for  the  improvement  of  the  military  condition  of  Georgia 
and  in  concerting  plans  for  restraining  the  British  forces  within  the  narrowest 
limits.  With  the  supreme  council  of  safety  he  conferred  frequently  and  most 
freely.     The  liberation  of  Georgia  from  kingly  rule  lay  nearest  the  hearts  of  all. 

As  indicating  the  intelligent  observation  of  the  members  of  this  supreme 
executive  council,  and  their  anxiety  to  facilitate  the  redemption  of  the  State, 
we  submit  this  extract  from  a  communication  addressed  by  them  to  General 
Lincoln  on  the  i  8th  of  August,  1779  :  "  A  considerable  part  of  the  State  hav- 
ing been  in  the  immediate  possession  of  the  enemy  ever  since  its  invasion  by 
them,  those  counties  which  have  held  out  against  them  have  been  constantly 
subject  to  their  incursions  and  depredations,  and,  of  course,  the  few  militia 
thereof,  much  harassed  with  duty  ;  but  their  spirits  have  been  kept  up  with 
the  idea  of  support   from  the  continent  and  our  sister  State,  otherwise,  we 

'  The  National  Portrait  Gallery,  etc.,  vol.  iii.     Philadelphia.     1836. 


Communication  to  General  Lincoln.  87 

apprehend,  a  total  evacuation  would  long  since  have  taken  place  by  those  who 
have  firmness  enough  to  sacrifice  everything  to  the  cause  of  America,  whilst 
the  wavering  would  have  joined  the  enemy  and  assisted  them  in  their  opera- 
tions against  Carolina. 

"  The  arrival  of  the  advance  of  General  Scott's  army,  under  Colonel  Parker 
and  Major  Jamison,  at  a  very  critical  juncture,  has  had  the  most  salutary  ef- 
fect that  could  be  expected,  for  it  has  infused  new  spirit  into  the  militia,  who 
are  now  all  cheerfully  under  arms  to  oppose  the  concerted  invasions  of  the 
enemy's  irregulars  and  Indians  who  are  at  this  time  making  different  inroads 
upon  us.  General  Mcintosh  has  sent  out  a  part  of  the  Continental  troops  to 
support  our  militia,  and  we  hope  that  for  the  present  we  shall  be  able  to  repel 
the  enemy  and  to  keep  them  from  reaping  any  considerable  advantages  from 
the  the  attempts  of  small  parties.  But  we  presume,  sir,  that  we  need  not 
endeavor  to  impress  your  mind  with  an  idea  of  the  feeble  resistance  we  should 
be  able  to  make  to  any  serious  attempt  of  the  enemy  to  subjugate  the  upper 
parts  of  the  State  even  with  the  assistance  that  General  Mcintosh  can  at  this 
time  afford  us. 

"  We  believe  that  it  is  generally  allowed  that  unless  the  enemy  are  consid- 
erably reinforced,  they  will  not  make  another  attempt  upon  Charlestown  ;  and 
from  a  variety  of  circumstances  we  are  led  to  hope  that  they  will  not  receive 
such  reinforcement.  Should  this  be  the  case,  there  can  scarce  remain  a  doubt 
but  that  they  will  aim  at  a  total  subjugation  of  Georgia  this  fall;  for  we 
cannot  in  reason  suppose  that  they  will  keep  a  considerable  body  of  troops 
immured  in  Savannah,  whilst  the  back  country,  so  necessary  to  their  quiet  sub- 
sistence as  well  as  their  future  designs,  remains  unconquered.  The  large  quan- 
tities of  grain  made  in  the  vicinity  of  this  place,  and  the  numerous  herds  of 
cattle  through  all  the  upper  parts  of  the  country  must  be  very  considerable 
objects  with  them,  particularly  as  we  know  that  they  cannot  even  now  get 
sufficient  supplies  of  cattle  without  coming  upwards  and  then  fighting  for  them. 
The  frequent  skirmishes  of  our  militia  with  their  irregulars,  who  are  employed 
as  drovers,  evince  the  truth  of  this  observation ;  and  should  they  gain  the 
upper  parts  of  this  State,  we  are  bold  to  assert  that  Carolina  would  be  in  a 
very  dangerous  situation.  The  great  defection  of  the  upper  parts  of  that  coun- 
try is  well  known  ;  a  circumstance  on  which  the  enemy  found  the  most  san- 
guine hopes,  and  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  continually  receive 
encouragement  from  these  people  to  invade  the  back  country.  Nor  could  the 
enemy  wish  for  a  more  favorable  situation  to  be  joined  by  them  than  that  by 
Augusta,  or  anywhere  above  it,  where  the  river  is  shallow  and  the  swamps  all 
passable. 

"  Add  to  the  circumstances  already  mentioned,  which  might  induce  the 
enemy  to  progress  upwards  in  force,  that  of  having  no  obstruction  to  their 
intercourse  with  the  Indians,  which  is  a  very  capital  one,  and  which  will  im- 


88  History  of  Augusta. 


mediately  be  the  case  should  they  effect  an  entire  conquest  of  this  country; 
and  unless  they  should  do  this,  their  intercourse  will  be  very  precarious  and 
uncertain,  and  we  shall  always  have  it  in  our  power  to  give  the  most  consider- 
able interruption  to  it.  We  think  this  point  worth  paying  the  most  particular 
attention  to,  as  we  are  now  informed  that  Indian  goods  are  now  imported  at 
Savannah,  and  that  the  Creek  Indians  have  had  no  late  supply  from  the  Flor- 
idas.  Should  the  trade  from  this  country  with  the  Indians  be  once  open  and 
uninterrupted,  the  enemy  will  find  not  the  least  difficulty,  whenever  they  have 
a  mind,  in  bringing  the  savages  from  the  frontiers  of  Carolina. 

"  Besides  our  apprehensions  on  the  above  heads,  we  are  fearful  that  in  case 
the  British  troops  should  move  up  this  way,  the  greatest  part  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, worn  out  with  fruitless  opposition,  and  actuated  by  the  fear  of  losing 
their  all,  would  make  terms  for  themselves ;  and  as  the  human  mind  is  too  apt 
to  be  led  by  a  natural  gradation  from  one  step  of  infamy  to  another,  we  have 
not  the  least  doubt  of  their  joining  the  enemy  against  their  countrymen  in  any 
other  State.  But  even  should  the  British  commander  not  bend  his  force  this 
way,  a  great  many  families,  harassed  and  unsupported,  vv^ould  remove  far 
northwardly  (for  which  they  are  already  thinking  of  preparing),  and  this  dan- 
gerous migration  nothing  but  the  appearance  of  support  can  prevent. 

"  With  minds  forcibly  impressed  by  the  operation  of  such  powerful  reasons, 
we  beg  leave  to  solicit  you,  sir,  in  the  most  serious  manner,  to  order  General 
Scott,  who,  we  understand,  is  on  his  march  southwardly  with  the  rest  of  his 
troops,  immediately  to  this  place.  ^ 

"  We  cannot  think  that  the  lower  parts  of  Carolina  will  be  endangered  by 
such  an  order  ;  for  we  may  reasonably  presume  that  the  enemy  will  never 
penetrate  far  into  that  part  of  the  country  while  a  respectable  force  remains  in 
their  rear,  which  would  be  the  case  if  General  Scott  and  his  troops  were  in 
Georgia." 

The  governor  of  South  Carolina  was  also  memorialized  to  assist  with  men 
and  money  in  the  effort  to  retain  the  possession  of  Upper  Georgia  and  prevent 
the  English  from  accomplishing  the  entire  subjugation  of  the  State.  These 
and  similar  appeals  were  not  in  vain,  and  it  may  not  be  denied  that  the  repre- 
sentations and  efforts  of  the  supreme  executive  council  of  Georgia  had  much 
to  do  with  bringing  about  the  co-operation  between  the  French  army  under 
Count  d'Estaing  and  the  American  forces  under  Lincoln  for  the  recovery  of 
Savannah  in  the  fall  of  1779. 

When,  in  March,  1776,  Sir  James  Wright  fled  from  Savannah  and  took 
refuge  on  board  his  majesty's  ship  Scarborough,  at  Tybee  Roads,  fear  fell  upon 
all  the  king's  servants  holding  office  in  Georgia,  and  one  by  one,  as  opportu- 
nity occurred,  they  quitted  the  province.  A  few  of  them  espoused  the  cause 
of  the  Revolutionists,  but  most  of  them  departed  for  London.      Some  sought 

'  Aujrusta. 


the  republicans  from  southern  cJ.^lLtw^T  '"'  ""=  =^P"'^'°"  °f 
first  erected,  and  this  was  followed  by  he  tab  fshmerf'""';"r '  ""  ^' 
tion  under  Lieutenant-Colonel   ProZsTlhohM  "  administra- 

king'sconrmissioners  as  lieutenant  To trl,  o   Geo::-;^^^  '^7  '"^ 

by  Sir  James  Wright,  who,  reaching  Savannah  o^e  ,4th  ^MT'' 
resumed  the  gubernatorial  office  six  days  afterwa, ds  >  q  f  -^"'y-  '779. 
factory  condition  of  affairs  that  he  felt    onstTain  d  ,0    ,^^\^™^.  "^  ""^^fe- 

would  adhere  to  the  independent  scheme  '  '' '"'  '"  °PP-'"nit3'. 

wretched  situatid^,  t  s  P  ov  n!  s  n  auT'l  "  ""T  '  .^^  ""™"^''  °^  "« 
lost  while  the  army  was  carr^LI  In 'Lr t  ^rLTst  sluTcalL^'d^ 
now,  my  Lord,  the  Rebels  who  went  from  heuce  !n,n  r       1  ,  '       "^ 

Colonel  Campbell,  with  other  Rebels  of  Car"  na  and  h  ^  "^  "''"'  "' 
sessed  of  the  country  at  and  about  Aulus  and  all  aLo"  7'^;  ,""  ""^ 
honor  to  inclose  your  Lordship  the  informat  onlreceived  frl  ;h"    K   7'  "" 

BrTcTe'eVrrett "  ^'^''T  ■""  ^■"■°"  -^^^^^^^^t::::i 

pa    ys     nd  that  tl  e  R  7\°\         '    .T'*''"'^  ^'"'''"»"  ^^°"'  '°  --<^  '"<=  R^be. 

'o    g  to  est  b  i  1    a  '  ?    7  ,?"'''  "P"""^  °f  ^'--^  '-"''-d  --  and  are 
^    ng  to  establish  a  po»t  with  them    somewhere  in  St.  George's  Parish       r 

doubt  not,  my  Lord,  however,  but  this  Province  will  soon  rtise  ts'eTd  and 
become  more  populous  and  opulent  than  ever      T  I,,  j      7 

With  regard  to  the  Indians  he  adds,  "  I  am  sorrv  tn  s,v  H,.^    f.       ,      ■ 
mense  expense  to  government  on  account  of  Se  Inirthe    H       T         """ 
.>e  .0  be  so  hearty  in  the  cause  and  so  warm^Itl^tr reird-^"'  '° 
_J^^:;^^^:^nns^l^^U^^  ,he  gathering  storm,  tlfe  tlunders  of 


1779- 
12 


90  History  of  Augusta. 


which  were  soon  to  shake  the  foundations  of  the  city  of  Oglethorpe,  Governor 
Wright  at  Savannah,  supported  by  the  king's  army,  was  striving  to  recreate 
the  royal  government  and  to  lead  back  the  inhabitants  of  southern  Georgia  to 
a  complete  and  orderly  submission  to  British  rule.  While  at  Augusta  the 
members  of  the  supreme  executive  council,  invested  with  unlimited  powers,  yet 
sadly  deficient  in  all  material  appliances,  were  endeavoring  to  perpetuate  the 
sovereignty  of  a  republican  State  just  born  into  the  sisterhood  of  nations,  and  to 
arm,  feed,  and  clothe  a  patriot  band,  few  in  numbers  yet  brave  of  heart,  fight- 
ing for  home  and  property  and  liberty,  the  odds  were  seemingly  all  in  favor  of 
his  majesty  King  George  III.  In  this  conflict  between  a  Republican  oligarchy 
and  an  English  monarchy  it  did  really  appear  that  there  was  little  hope  for  the 
ultimate  independence  of  the  bleeding,  impoverished,  and  distracted  common- 
wealth. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Posture  of  Affairs  in  the  Fall  of  1779 — Legislation  of  the  Commons  House  of  Assembly — 
Proclamation  of  Governor  Wereat,  Governor  Walton,  General  Mcintosh  and  Mr.  Glascock — 
Political  Affairs — Movements  of  the  Executive  Council — Unseemly  Dissentions — Reorganiza- 
tion of  the  State  Government  at  Augusta. 

THE  bloody  repulse  of  the  allied  army  before  the  lines  around  Savannah  on 
the  memorable  morning  of  October  9,  1779,  was  a  grievous  disappoint- 
ment to  the  Georgia  patriots.  They  had  confidently  anticipated  the  capture 
of  the  town  and  a  complete  restoration  of  Republican  rule.  In  a  few  short 
hours  everything  was  changed  from  joyous  expectation  to  the  deepest  gloom 
of  helpless  despair.  After  the  departure  of  Count  D'Estaing  and  the  retreat  of 
General  Lincoln  the  condition  of  Savannah  and  the  sea  coast  of  Georgia  be- 
came more  pitiable  than  at  any  former  period.  Exasperated  by  the  formida- 
ble demonstration  which,  at  the  outset,  seriously  threatened  the  overthrow  of 
British  dominion  in  Georgia,  and  rendered  more  arrogant  and  exacting,  the 
loyalists  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  effects 
and  money.  Confiscation  of  property  and  incarceration  or  expatriation  were 
the  only  alternatives  presented  to  those  who  clave  to  the  cause  of  the  Revolu- 
tionists. So  poor  were  many  of  the  inhabitants  that  they  could  not  command 
the  means  requisite  to  venture  upon  a  removal.  Even  under  such  circum- 
stances not  a  few,  on  foot,  sought  an  asylum  in  South  Carolina.     Among  the 


State  of  Affairs,  Fall  of  1779. 


91 


pnncpai  sufferers  may  be  mentioned  the  families  of  General  Mcintosh  Colonel 
John  Tw,ggs  and  Colonel  Elijah  Clarke.  Georgia  was  under  ti,e  yoke  and 
she  was  forced  to  pay  the  penalty  of  unsuccessful  rebellion,  rendered  e'nfold 
more  grievous  because  of  this  recent  formidable  attempt  o  expel  fron  t  ' 
borders  the  cv.l  and  military  servants  of  the  king.  The  ribald  lan^ul"  and 
hcent,ous  conduct  of  the  soldiery,  coupled  with  the  insults  of  lawles^s  ,lroes 

especa  ly  by  the  weaker  sex,  almost  beyond  endurance.  Far  and  nea  the 
reg,on  had  experienced  the  desolations  of  war.  "The  rage  between  Wh.a'd 
Tory  ran  so  h,gh.  says  General  Moultrie,  ••  that  what  was  called  a  Georgia 
parole  and  to  be  shot  down,  were  synonymous."  So  stringent,  too  were  t1  e 
restr,c  ,o„s  upon  trade,  such  was  the  depreciation  of  the  pape    cur  ency  a'd 

tl     'd' disr"       '^"?"  '^™"'""'  '"'  '°""""''-'  ^'^'="'--.  "-''pov- 
erty and  distress  were  the  common  heritage.     At  this  time  sixteen  hundred 

and  eighteen  dollars   paper  money,  were  the  equivalent  of  one  dollarin  gold  1 

Fo   active  participation  m  the  disastrous  siege  of  Savannah,  Count  Pulaski  who 

wit    his  legion,  after  General  Prevosfs  retreat  from  South  Carolina,  had      ken' 

post  on  a  ndge  some  fifty  miles  northeast  of  Augusta  that  he  might  the  more 

the  same  time  be  w.thm  supporting  distance  of  either  Charles  Town  or  Savan 
nah  as  occasion  required,  was  ordered  to  join  General  Mcintosh  at  the  latter 
place.     Together  they  moved  thence  upon  Savannah  in  advance  of  the  army 
under  General  Lincoln  approaching  from  the  direction  of  Charles  Town  Tt 

tt  F  e^ch  r"'  "'\^*''  °'"'°''''  '"'  ^^'^"'"^-'^  communication  w^; 
tne  t  rench  troops  on  the  coast. 

the  ^cZ"  ^'°u''  "'""Z  f'""'""^  '"  "'"  possession  of  the  Revolutionists.     In 
te  Commons  House  of  Assembly,  composed  of  members  chosen  under  writ 

May  5,     780,  there  were  no  delegates  from  the  parish  of  St  Paul 

near  S     "'  ^r""^^^.  '"'  ""'  "^'""^  compelling  all  persons  dwelling  in  and 
near  Savannah  and  Augusta  forthwith  to  render  an  account  of  all  male  sla^-es 

ZZflt  f  r"'"^'  ""'  ""^''^  '°°"^>  '°  -o^"^  "P°"  -d  complete 

tne  tortihcations  of  those  towns. 

selv!s"trr''  !"'"'"""'  "■'"^  ""'  °""  ^'^^"  ""<=  ^^'5'"-d  '°  '^-b-'  'hen- 
works'.  "'  °""""  '"  ""'  ^""^"--"o"  °<  'l>e  conten,plated  defensive 

servlTlooir  '"^'f^/J"'  ^""'ority  to  impress  horses,  carts,  and  teams  for 
service  upon  the  pubhc  defenses. 

.iiiiiiip?isg=§i  ■ 

greatfacl.tj.      Me;no^rs  of  tA,  A^uer^cau /;^,vo/uf^on,  vol  ii.  p.  y,.   NewYork.  1802. 


92  History  of  Augusta. 


There  was  a  revision  of  the  mihtia  laws,  rendering  them  more  stringent  in 
their  provisions  and  more  certain  in  their  operation.  An  inquiry  was  ordered 
into  the  expediency  of  organizing  a  corps  of  negro  slaves  and  the  propriety  of 
incorporating  it  into  the  militia  of  the  Province. 

All  attempts  at  royal  legislation  in  Georgia  during  this  stormy  period  were 
spasmodic,  partial,  feeble,  and  in  the  main  futile.  The  hold  of  his  Majesty's 
servants  upon  the  Province  was  sensibly  relaxed.  More  and  more  circum- 
scribed grew  the  limits  of  royal  dominion  until  they  were  finally  obliterated 
upon  the  evacuation  of  Savannah  in  1782.  The  hope  of  returning  Georgia  to 
her  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  al- 
ways fluctuating.  Although  the  governor  retained  his  seat  and  exercised  some 
of  the  functions  of  his  office,  his  letters  show  that  he  was  always  oppressed 
by  a  sense  of  insecurity.  Time  and  again  did  the  republican  forces,  under 
partisan  leaders,  approach  so  closely  that  it  was  deemed  dangerous  for  the 
king's  servants  to  venture  beyond  the  lines  which  environed  Savannah.  Now 
and  then  came  a  loyal  address  from  the  province  assuring  his  majesty  that  his 
sorely  tried,  yet  faithful  office  holders,  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  Al- 
mighty God  that  He  would  pour  down  His  Blessings  upon  his  Majesty,  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  de- 
fenseless condition  of  the  province,  and  by  an  application  for  a  force  of  five 
hundred  mounted  men  with  which  to  scour  the  country  and  repel  the  rebel 
cavalry  who  were  plundering  the  governor's  plantations  on  the  Ogeechee,  and- 
thundering  at  the  very  gates  of  Savannah. 

So  divided  was  Georgia  that  the  difficulty  experienced  by  Sir  James  Wright 
in  securing  the  attendance  of  members  sufficient  to  form  a  Commons  House  of 
Assembly  under  the  royal  government,  was  also  encountered  by  the  members 
of  the  Republican  Executive  Council  in  their  effiDrts  to  convene  a  legislature 
and  elect  a  governor.  Since  his  elevation  to  the  office  of  president,  on  the  6th 
of  August,  1779,  John  Wereat,^  in  association  with  the  Council,  had  been  dis- 
charging the  executive  functions  of  government.  On  the  4th  of  November  in. 
that  year  he  issued  the  following  proclamation  : 

"  Augusta,  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  November  4,  1779. 
"  Whereas,  from  the  invasion  of  the  State  by  the  enemy,  in  December  last, 

'  President  Wereat  was  an  active  patriot,  generous  in  his  sympathies  and  sound  in  his 
financial  views.  He  rendered  important  services  to  Georgia  and  her  impoverished  inhabitants. 
In  January,  1788,  he  was  president  of  the  convention  which,  at  Augusta,  ratified  the  Federal 
Constitution.     Ten  years  afterwards  his  useful  career  was  peacefully  ended  in  Bryan  County. 


Proclamation  of  John  Wereat.  95 

the  absence  of  many  of  the  members  elected  to  represent  the  different  counties 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  the  present  year,  with  unavoidable  causes, 
several  ineffectual  attempts  have  been  made  to  convene  a  Legal  House  of 
Representatives  ;  and  whereas,  it  is  essential  to  the  welfare  and  happiness  of 
the  State  that  a  Legal  and  Constitutional  House  of  Assembly  should  be  con- 
vened :  We,  therefore,  earnestly  recommend  to  such  of  the  citizens  of  this 
State  as  have  preserved  their  fidelity  to  the  cause  of  America,  and  were  inhab- 
itants of  the  counties  of  Chatham,  Liberty,  Glynn,  Camden,  and  Efffngham 
prior  to  the  reduction  of  these  counties  by  the  British  forces,  to  repair  to  such 
place  within  this  State  as  to  them  shall  appear  most  safe  and  convenient,  on 
the  first  Tuesday  in  December  next,  that  being  the  day  appointed  by  the  con- 
stitution for  a  general  election  throughout  the  State,  in  order  to  elect  persons 
to  represent  those  counties  in  the  General  Assembly  for  the  ensuing  year,  that 
a  full,  free,  and  equal  representation  may  be  had  to  proceed  on  business  of  the 
utmost  importance  to  the  community  ;  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Board,  that 
this  town  would  be  the  most  eligible,  in  the  present  situation  of  affairs,  for  the 
meeting  of  the  Assembly,  which  will  be  the  first  Tuesday  in  January  next, 
agreeably  to  the  Constitution  of  the  State. 

"  By  order  of  the  Board.  JOHN  Wereat,  President.'" 

Upon  the  departure  of  the  French  and  American  armies  from  the  lines 
before  Savannah,  many  of  the  leading  citizens  removed  from  Southeastern 
Georgia  and  sought  refuge  in  the  vicinity  of  Augusta.  Influenced  by  the 
persuasions  of  George  Walton,  who,  released  from  captivity,  was  again  at 
home,  of  Richard  Howley,  George  Wells,  and  of  others  opposed  to  the  ex- 
ecutive council,  these  refugees,  in  association  with  the  citizens  of  Richmond 
County,  resolved  themselves  into  a  deliberative  body  claiming  to  be  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  of  Georgia.  William  Glascock,  esq.,  was  chosen  speaker,  and 
George  Walton  was  elected  governor  of  the  State.  It  was  openly  charged, 
but  without  warrant,  that  some  of  the  members  of  council  sympathized  with 
the  Tories,  and  that  all  the  proceedings  of  that  body  were  "  illegal,  unconsti- 
tutional, and  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of  the  State."  This  self-styled  assem- 
bly, which  convened  at  Augusta  in  November,  1779,  also  chose  George  Wal- 
ton as  a  delegate  to  congress,  and  selected  an  executive  council.  Thus,  at  the 
same  time  were  two  executive  councils  actually  organized  and  claiming  to 
exercise  important  functions  within  the  limits  of  Georgia  wasted  by  a  common 
enemy  and  rent  by  internal  feuds.  Violent  were  the  collisions  of  parties,  and 
most  confused  was  the  administration  of  civil  affairs.  Fortunately  there  was 
little  need  for  the  office  either  of  legislator  or  of  governor. 

While  the  enemies  of  the  executive  council,  as  at  first  constituted,  were 
thus  active  in  creating  dissensions  in  the  body  politic  and  in  disturbing  the 
general  sentiment  at  an  epoch  when  unity,  concord,  and  confidence  were  essen- 
tial to  the  hopes  and  the  plans  of  the  Revolutionists,  the  members  of  that  asso 
ciation  endeavored  to  counteract  these  prejudicial  influences  and  to  restore 
public  harmony  by  this  open  declaration  of  their  powers  :  "  Whereas  some 
jealousies,  natural  to  a  people  tenacious  of  their  liberties,  have  arisen  among 


94  History  of  Augusta. 


some  of  the  citizens  of  this  State  respecting  the  power  of  this  Board  ;  and 
whereas  it  behooves  the  rules  of  a  free  country  at  all  times  to  take  every  step 
\v\  their  power  to  give  all  reasonable  satisfaction  to  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and 
to  put  a  stop  to  such  jealousies  and  complaints  as  may  take  place  ;  and  whereas 
the  citizens  of  this  State  above  mentioned  conceive,  by  virtue  of  the  delega- 
tion which  authorizes  this  Board  to  proceed  in  the  executive  department  of 
government,  they  have  power  to  act  in  the  judicial  and  legislative  departments: 
We  do  hereby  declare  and  make  known  to  all  whom  it  may  concern  that  we 
are  not  inyested  with  any  such  judicial  or  legislative  powers,  and  that  it  never 
was  nor  ever  will  be  our  intention  to  assume  to  ourselves  any  such  powers  by 
virtue  of  the  above  mentioned  delegation,  and  that  we  mean  neither  to  contra- 
dict nor  to  destroy  the  constitution  of  this  State  which  we  think  must  have  due 
operation  whenever  a  time  of  less  disquiet  will  admit  of  its  being  adequate  to 
the  exigency  of  Government." 

The  self-constituted  General  Assembly  was  largely  composed  of  malcon- 
tents, men  ambitious  of  power  and  jealous  of  the  honors  accorded  to  others 
who  like  themselves  were  engaged  in  a  lethal  struggle  for  independence.  Sad 
Commentary  upon  human  nature  which,  even  amid  the  throes  of  empire  and 
in  the  agonies  of  extreme  peril,  could  not  forget  its  passions  or  subdue  its 
petty  animosities  ! 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  consequence  of  the  deplorable  want  of  accord 
between  the  civil  and  military  authorities  in  Georgia  General  Lachlan  Mcintosh 
was  induced  to  quit  his  service  at  home  and  seek  military  employment  in  a 
distant  field.  He  had  now,  however,  returned  ;  and,  during  the  bloody  as- 
sault of  the  9th  of  October,  1779,  had  given  fresh  proof  of  his  courage  and  of 
his  devotion  to  State  and  country.  During  his  absence  he  received  a  letter 
from  George  Walton  in  which  he  thus  commented  upon  the  unfortunate  con- 
dition of  affairs  in  Georgia  :  "  The  demon  Discord  yet  presides  in  tliis  Country, 
and  God  only  knows  when  his  reign  will  be  at  an  end.  I  have  strove  so  hard 
to  do  good  with  so  poor  a  return,  that  were  the  liberties  of  America  secure  I 
would  bid  adieu  to  all  public  employment,  to  politics,  and  to  strife;  for  even 
virtue  itself  will  meet  with  enmity." 

It  was  General  Mcintosh's  hope  that  time  had  healed  all  wounds  and  that, 
without  reproach,  he  would  be  permitted  to  devote  his  time  and  military  talents 
to  the  defense  of  Georgia.  In  this  he  was  mistaken.  On  the  30th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1779,  a  letter,  purporting  to  be  signed  by  William  Glascock,  speaker  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  was  transmitted  to  the  president  of  Congress  by 
George  Walton,  governor  of  Georgia.  Congress  was  therein  assured  of  the 
dissatisfaction  of  the  people  of  Georgia  at  the  assignment  of  General  Mcintosh 
to  the  command  of  the  military  in  that  State.  It  was  earnestly  suggested  that 
the  National  Assembly  should,  while  he  remained  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States,  indicate  "some  distant  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  abilities."     So  thor- 


Political  Dissentions.  95 


oughly  did  this  forgery,  backed  by  the  representation  of  General  Mcintosh's 
enemies,  poison  the  minds  of  the  members  of  that  body  that  they  voted,  on  the 
15th  of  February,  1780,  to  "dispense  with  the  services  of  Brigadier- General 
Mcintosh  until  the  further  order  of  Congress." 

When  informed  of  this  communication,  General  Mcintosh  demanded  an 
explanation  from  its  alleged  author.  Mr.  Glascock  promptly  denied  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  document  in  the  following  letter,  dated  Augusta,  Georgia,  May 
12,  1780,  and  addressed  to  the  president  of  Congress: — 

"  Sir, — I  am  now  to  do  myself  the  honor  of  addressing  your  Excellency 
on  a  subject  of  considerable  importance  to  myself  and  to  a  gentleman  whose 
character  both  as  a  citizen  and  an  officer  I  esteem  and  honor.  Indeed  I  take 
up  the  affair  on  a  larger  scale ;  I  may  say  it  is  also  of  importance  to  this  State 
and  the  whole  Confederate  alliance,  as  it  strikes  at  the  very  root  of  reciprocal 
confidence,  and  opens  a  road  to  misrepresentation,  detraction,  and  malice 
which  cannot  be  guarded  against  but  with  the  utmost  circumspection,  and 
which,  if  not  checked,  might  be  productive  of  the  most  serious  consequences 
to  these  States  either  in  a  civil  or  a  military  sense.  Brigadier  General  Mc- 
intosh informs  me  that  he  lately  received  a  letter  from  your  Excellency  enclos- 
ing the  following  extract  of  a  letter  to  Congress  from  me,  as  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly  of  the  State  of  Georgia  : 

"  '  It  is'to  be  wished  that  we  could  advise  Congress  that  the  return  of  Brig- 
adier- General  Mcintosh  gave  satisfaction  to  either  the  Militia  or  the  Confeder- 
ates, but  the  common  dissatisfaction  is  such,  and  founded  on  weighty  reasons, 
that  it  is  highly  necessary  that  Congress  would,  whilst  that  officer  is  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  United  States,  direct  some  distant  field  for  the  exercise  of  his  abili- 
ties.' 

"  I  am  sorry,  Sir,  to  be  informed  by  this  extract  of  the  extreme  malice  and 
rancour  of  General  Mcintosh's  enemies;  but  at  the  same  time  I  enjoy  a  pecu- 
liar happiness  in  having  it  in  my  power  to  defeat  their  nefarious  machinations 
and  intentions.  I  do  hereby  most  solemnly  declare  to  Congress  that  the  above 
extract  is  a  flagrant  forgery,  of  which  I  disclaim  all  knowledge  whatever  either 
directly  or  indirectly.  Neither  did  I  ever  subscribe  in  a  public  or  private 
capacity  any  letter  or  paper  that  could  convey  to  Congress  such  an  idea  of  that 
Officer  with  respect  to  his  Country  which  he  has,  in  my  opinion,  served  with 
reputation,  and  from  which  he  ought  to  receive  the  grateful  acknowledgments 
of  public  approbation  instead  of  the  malicious  insinuations  of  public  slander,  in 
which  class  I  am  under  the  necessity  of  ranking  the  forged  letter  which  is  the 
subject  of  this. 

"  I  am  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  informing  Congress  that  so  far  is  that  for- 
gery from  truth,  that  I  believe  there  is  not  a  respectable  citizen  or  officer  in 
Georgia  who  would  not  be  happy  in  serving  under  General  Mcintosh,  nor  one 
in  either  class  who  would  be  otherwise  except  a  few  who  are  governed  by  de- 
sign or  self  interest." 


g6  History  ov  Augusta. 


Mr.  Glascock  also  furnished  General  Mcintosh  with  a  copy  of  this  commu- 
nication. 

Strange  as  it  may  appear,  an  examination  into  the  matter  disclosed  the 
fact  that  this  letter,  to  which  the  name  of  the  speaker  of  the  House  of  Assem- 
bly was  forged,  was  suggested,  dictated,  and  forwarded  by  Governor  Walton 
and  certain  members  of  his  council  with  a  design  of  impairing  the  influence  of 
General  Mcintosh  and  compassing  his  removal  from  the  military  command  in 
Georgia.  Fortunately  this  malevolent  and  nefarious  scheme  failed  to  accom- 
plish the  unlawful  result  at  which  it  aimed.  So  far  from  injuring  the  popular- 
ity of  the  meritorious  officer  whose  valuable  services  were  called  in  question,  it 
drew  down  upon  its  authors  the  condemnation  of  all  fair-minded  people. 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  the  Revolutionary  War  this  whole  affair  formed  a 
subject  of  review  by  the  legislature  of  Georgia.  On  the  journals  of  the  House 
of  Assembly  the  following  resolutions  are  entered   under  date  of  January  30, 

1783:^ 

"  Resolved  that  they  have  examined  such  papers  and  persons  as  have  been 
offered  by  the  different  parties,  from  which  it  appears  that  the  resolves  of  Coun- 
cil, dated  at  Augusta,  December  12th,  1779,  and  the  letter  from  Governor  Wal- 
ton to  the  President  of  Congress,  dated  December  15th,  1779,  respecting  Gen- 
eral Mcintosh  were  unjust,  illiberal,  and  a  misrepresentation  of  facts  :  that  the 
letter  said  to  be  from  William  Glascock,  speaker  of  the  Assembly,  dated  No- 
vember 30th,  1779,  addressed  to  the  President  of  Congress,  appears  to  be  a 
forgery,  in  violation  of  law  and  truth,  and  highly  injurious  to  the  interest  of 
the  State,  and  dangerous  to  the  rights  of  its  citizens;  and  that  the  Attorney 
General  be  ordered  to  make  the  necessary  inquiries  and  enter  such  prosecu- 
tions as  may  be  consistent  with  his  duty  and  office. 

"  Resolved  that  General  Mcintosh  be  informed  that  this  House  does  enter- 
tain an  abhorrence  of  all  such  injurious  attempts  made  use  of,  as  appears  by 
the  papers  laid  before  them,  to  injure  the  character  of  an  officer  and  citizen  of 
this  State  who  merits  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  for  his  early,  decided, 
and  persevering  efforts  in  the  defense  of  America,  of  which  virtue  this  House 
has  the  highest  sense." 

With  remarkable  inconsistency,  the  Legislature  on  the  day  before  these 
resolutions  were  adopted,  had  elected  George  Walton  chief  justice  of  the  State 
of  Georgia.  If  the  attorney-general  ever  instituted  any  proceedings,  we  are 
not  advised. 

Short  was  Governor  Walton's^  gubernatorial  career  consequent  upon  his 

1  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.  p.  293.     Savannah,  1816. 

*"It  is  an  irrefragable  evidence,"  says  John  Sanderson  in  his  Biography  of  the  Signers  to 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  (vol.  ill.  p.  166,  Philadelphia,  1823),  "  of  the  great  talents  of 
Mr.  Walton  and  of  their  proper  appreciation  by  the  people  of  Georgia  that  during  the  remainder 
of  his  life  he  held,  in  almost  uninterrupted  succession,  the  most  respectable  appointments  that 
the  government  could  confer  upon  him.     There  are  indeed  few  men  in  the  United  States  upon 


Movements  of  the  Executive  Council.  97 

election  in  November,  1779.  By  the  General  Assembly  Richard  Howley  was^ 
on  the  4th  of  January,  1780,  elected  governor,  and  William  Glascock  speaker 
of  the  House.  Edward  Telfair,  George  Walton,  Benjamin  Andrew,  Lyman 
Hall,  and  William  Few  were  appointed  members  of  Congress.  George  Wells,. 
Stephen  Heard,  John  Lindsay,  and  Humphrey  Wells  were  constituted  mem- 
bers of  the  executive  council.  Of  this  body  George  Wells  was  chosen  presi- 
dent. The  office  of  chief  justice  was  filled  by  the  selection  of  William  Stephens, 
and  that  of  attorney-general  by  John  Milledge.  Colonel  John  Stark  and  Cap- 
tain Hardy  were  elected  treasurers.  Edward  Jones  was  made  secretary  of 
State,  and  Joseph  Clay  paymaster- general. 

Composed  largely  of  the  friends  of  Walton  and  Howley,  this  assembly  crit- 
cised  severely  the  former  council,  and  accused  its  members  of  "exercising 
powers  and  authorities  unknown  to  and  subversive  of  the  constitution  and  laws 
of  this  State."  It  even  went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  "said  council  and  the 
powers  they  exercised  were  illegal  and  unconstitutional."  And  yet,  within  a 
month,  this  assembly,  which  had  thus  pronounced  null  and  void  the  action  of 
the  former  council  and  denounced  it  as  lawless  in  conception  and  operation, 
moved  by  the  exigency  of  the  period,  and  anticipating  it  might  happen,  dur- 
ing the  progress  of  the  war,  "  that  the  Ministers  of  government  of  this  State 
might  not  be  able  to  do  or  transact  the  business  of  the  State  within  the  limits 
of  the  same,"  unanimously  re'solved  "that  his  Honor  the  Governor,  or,  in  his- 
absence,  the  President  and  Executive  Council,  may  do  and  transact  all  and 
every  business  of  government  in  as  full,  ample,  and  authoritative  manner  im 
any  other  State  within  the  Confederation,  touching  and  respecting  of  this- 
State,  as  though  it  had  been  done  and.  transacted  within  the  limits  of  this 
State." 

Informed  of  the  arrival  of  large  reinforcements  in  Savannah,  the  ultimate 
destination  of  which  was  not  then  well  ascertained.  Governor  Howley  issued  a 
stirring  proclamation  "commanding  and  requiring  the  people  to  stand  firm  to 
their  duty,  and  exert  themselves  in  support  and  defense  of  the  great  and  glo- 
rious independency  of  the  United  States:  and  also  to  remember  with  gratitude 
to  Heaven  that  the  Almighty  Ruler  of  human  affairs  hath  been  pleased  to  raise 
up  the  spirit  and  might  of  the  two  greatest  powers  in  the  world  [France  and 
Spain]  to  join  with  them  and  oppose  and  destroy  the  persecutor  of  their  liber- 
ties and  immunities." 

General  Lincoln  was  censured  by  the  legislature  for  withdrawing  the  con- 
tinental troops  from  Georgia,  and  was  pronounced  "answerable  for  all  the  con- 

whom  more  extensive  and  solid  proofs  of  public  confidence  have  been  lavished.  He  was  si.x 
times  elected  a  representative  to  Congress,  twice  governor  of  the  State,  once  a  senator  of  the 
United  States,  and  four  times  judge  of  the  Superior  Courts  ;  the  latter  office  he  held  during 
fifteen  years  and  until  the  day  of  his  death.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States  to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  Cherokee  Indians  in  Tennessee,  and  several 
times  a  member  of  the  State  legislature." 

13 


98  History  of  Augusta. 


sequences  which  may  follow  that  unadvised  measure."  The  governor  was  in- 
structed to  concentrate  half  the  militia  of  the  State  at  Augusta,  and  Colonel 
John  Twiggs,  with  his  command  and  as  many  volunteers  as  he  could  secure, 
was  requested  to  take  post  at  that  point. 

Aware  of  the  defenseless  condition  of  this  town,  which  "  might  be  surprised 
by  twenty  men,"  and  deeming  it  "unsafe  and  impolitic  for  the  Governor  and 
Council  to  remain  thus  exposed,"  the  assembly  designated  Heard's  Fort,  in 
Wilkes  County,  as  a  suitable  "place  of  meeting  for  transacting  the  business  of 
the  government  of  this  State  as  soon  after  leaving  Augusta  as  may  be." 

Responding  to  this  suggestion  the  executive  council  did,  on  the  5th  of  Feb- 
ruary, adjourn  to  assemble  at  Heard's  Fort,  which  thereupon  became  the  tem- 
porary capital  of  the  State.  Brief  was  the  gubernatorial  term  of  service  of 
Governor  Howley.  He  left  Georgia  to  take  his  seat  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, and  the  Hon.  George  Wells,  the  president  of  council  and  three  mem- 
bers of  the  board  were  announced  as  fully  competent  for  the  transaction  of  all 
public  business.  "The  value  of  paper  money,"  says  Captain  McCall,^  was  at 
that  time  ?o  much  reduced  that  the  governor  dealt  it  out  by  the  quire  for  a 
night's  lodging  for  his  party;  and,  if  the  fare  was  anything  extraordinary,  the 
landlord  was  compensated  with  two  quires." 

President  Wells  dying,  Stephen  Heard,  of  Wilkes  County  was  elected,  on 
the  1 8th  of  February,  president  of  council.  He  was,  during  the  absence  of 
Governor  Howley,  governor  dc  facto  of  republican  Georgia,  which,  at  that 
time,  could  practically  claim  the  allegiance  of  only  two  counties, — Richmond 
and  Wilkes.  That  portion  of  the  State  lying  south  of  a  line  drawn  from  Hud- 
son's ferry  on  the  Savannah  River  to  the  Ogeechee  River  was  in  the  possess- 
ion of  the  British. 

"Thus  was  Georgia  reduced  to  the  verge  of  political  death.  The  govern- 
ment, such  as  it  was,  was  administered  by  President  Heard,  and  a  few  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  in  Wilkes  County;  and  when  Mr.  Heard  retreated  to  North 
Carolina,  Myrick  Davies  was  chosen  president  in  his  place.  The  condition  of 
the  Republicans  in  Georgia  was  indeed  deplorable.  Driven  from  Savannah 
and  the  seaboard,  compelled  to  evacuate  Augusta,  hemmed  in  by  hostile  In- 
dians on  the  frontier,  and  confined  mostly  to  a  few  settlements  in  and  around 
Wilkes  County,  they  lived  in  daily  peril,  had  almost  daily  skirmishes  with 
Regulars,  Tories,  or  Indians,  were  harrassed  with  alarms,  were  surprised  by 
ambuscades,  were  pinched  with  want,  and  had  one  long  bitter  struggle  for  sim- 
ple existence,  with  scarcely  a  ray  of  hope  to  light  up  the  future." - 

Moreover,  unseemly  dissensions  had  arisen  among  leading  citizens,  and  the 
land  was  a  prey  alike  to  external  and  internal  foes.  Most  difficult  was  it  to 
maintain  even  a  show  of  civil  authority  and  to  support  a  tolerable  administra- 


'■  Ht'sfory  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.   ]).  303.     Savannah.      1816. 

'Stevens's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.  p.  331.     Philadelphia.     1859. 


Reorganization  of  the  State  Government.  99 

tion  of  justice.  Many  good  men  went  into  voluntary  exile,  bewailing  the  ex- 
stence  of  evils  which  they  were  unable  either  to  mitigate  or  to  remove. 

At  this  darkest  epoch,  when  English  arms  had  gained  the  ascendency  not 
only  in  Georgia  but  also  in  Carolina,  when  the  principal  towns  of  those  States 
were  in  the  possession  of  the  enemy,  and  the  territory  on  both  sides  of  the 
Savannah  was  largely  subservient  to  British  rule,  it  was  noised  abroad  that  a 
new  commission  would  soon  issue  from  the  Court  of  St.  James  for  the  purpose 
of  again  sounding  the  temper  of  America  upon  the  subject  of  a  pacification. 
It  was  boldly  hinted  that  Georgia,  and  perhaps  South  Carolina,  in  any  nego- 
tiations would  not  be  recognized  as  a  part  of  the  American  Union,  but  would 
be  excluded  on  the  ground  that  they  had  "been  again  colonized  to  England 
by  new  conquest."  In  Europe  the  "  ?///  possidetis"  was  much  talked  of  as  a 
"probable  basis  for  the  anticipated  peace."  Against  this  doctrine  and  its 
practical  application  George  Walton,  William  F^ew  and  Richard  Howley,  then 
representing  Georgia  in  the  Continental  Congress,  prepared  and  published  a 
manly  and  earnest  protest^  which  was  not  without  influence.  After  represent- 
ing in  their  true  colors  the  excellences  possessed  by  Georgia,  her  natural  re- 
sources, and  the  advantages  which  resulted  from  her  union  with  sister  Ameri- 
can States,  they  insisted  that  she  was  a  material  component  part  of  the  Con- 
federation, and  that  she  could  not  be  abandoned  or  given  up  without  endan- 
gering the  integrity  of  that  union.  The  public  was  reminded  that  all  the  colo- 
nies had  joined  in  one  common  cause,  and  had  sacrificed  their  blood  and  for- 
tunes in  its  support.  Rightly  did  they  contend  that  it  would  be  "unjust  and 
inhuman  for  the  other  parts  of  the  Union  separately  to  embrace  the  result  of 
the  common  efforts  and  leave  them  [Georgia  and  Carolina]  under  the  yoke  of 
a  bankrupt  and  enraged  t}  rant."  The  suggestion  shocked  the  sentiments  of 
the  allied  patriots;  and  the  doctrine  of /////^i'j'/c/^'/'zjr,  if  seriously  entertained, 
was  thoroughly  eliminated  from  all  discussions  and  deliberations  contemplat- 
ing the  establishment  of  amicable  relations  between  England  and  her  revolted 
colonies. 

On  the  i6th  of  August,  1781,  Dr.  Nathan  Brownson  was  elected  governor, 
and  Edward  Telfair,  William  Few,  Dr.  Noble  Wimberley  Jones  and  Samuel 
Stirk  were  appointed  delegates  to  Congress.  The  skies  were  biightening.  Au- 
gusta h.id  been  rescued  from  the  possession  of  the  enemy,  and  renewed  efforts 
were  being  made  for  the  recovery  of  other  portions  of  the  State. 

Eight  days  after  his  induction  into  office.  Governor  Brownson.  with  the  in- 
tention of  strengthening  the  manhood  of  the  State,  issued  a  p'-oclamation  re- 
quiring all  persons  who  considered  themselves  citizens  of  Georgia  to  return 
home  within  specified  periods  under  penalty  of  being  subjected  to  the  pay- 
ment of  a  treble  tax  to  be  levied  upon  all  lands  owned  by  them  within  the  limits 
of  the  State.      Many  wanderers  were  thus  recalled  who,  having  forsaken  their 

1  Obser-vations  upon  the  Effects  of  Certain  Late  Political  Suggestions :  by  the  Delegates 
of  Georgia,     pp.   lo.     Philadelphia.     MDCCCLXXXI. 


loo  History  of  Augusta. 


plantations  in  Georgia,  had  sought  refuge  in  South  and  North  Carolina,  and  in 
Virginia. 

The  machinery  of  State  government  was  further  organized  by  this  legisla- 
ture, assembled  in  Augusta, — of  which  John  Jones  was  the  speaker, — by  the 
election  of  John  Wereat  as  chief  justice,  Samuel  Stirk  as  attorney- general, 
James  Bryan  as  treasurer,  and  John  Milton  as  secretary  of  State.  Provision 
was  made  for  reopening  the  courts  of  justice,  and  assistant  judges  were  elected 
for  each  county.  It  was  then  the  duty  of  the  chief  justice  to  preside  at  the 
superior  courts  of  all  the  several  counties,  and  the  terms  were  so  arranged  as 
to  permit  his  presence.  In  each  county  he  was  aided  by  the  assistant  justices 
selected  for  the  county.  For  the  more  efficient  organization  and  control  of 
the  militia  the  following  officers  were  chosen  : 

For  the  County  of  Wilkes:  Elijah  Clarke,  colonel;  John  Cunningham,  lieu- 
tenant-colonel ;   and  William  Walker,  major. 

For  the  County  of  Richmond  :  Josiah  Dunn,  colonel ;  Isaac  Jackson,  lieu- 
tenant-colonel ;   and  Joshua  Winn,  major. 

For  Lower  Richmond:  James  Martin,  colonel;  James  McNiel,  lieutenant- 
colonel  ;   and  Archibald  Beal,  major. 

For  the  County  of  Burke:  Asa  Emanuel,  colonel;  James  McKay,  lieuten- 
ant-colonel;  and  Francis  Boykin,  major. 

For  the  County  of  Effingham  :  Caleb  Howell,  colonel  ;  Stephen  Johnson, 
lieutenant- colonel  ;  and   Daniel  Howell,  major. 

For  the  County  of  Chatham:  George  Walton,  colonel;  John  Martin,  lieu- 
tenant-colonel;  and  Charles  Odingsell,  major. 

For  the  County  of  Liberty  :  John  Baker,  colonel;  Cooper,  lieutenant- 
colonel  ;   and  James  Maxwell,  major. 

To  the  governor  was  allowed  a  salary  at  the  rate  of  £s^'^  P^^  annum  ;  to 
the  chief  justice,  a  salary  of  i^300  ;  to  the  attorney- general,  a  salary  of  ;{J"200  ; 
to  the  treasurer,  a  salary  of  ^^150  ;  to  the  secretary  of  State,  a  salary  of  ^loo; 
to  the  clerk  of  council  and  assembly,  a  salary  of  ^75  ;  and  to  the  messenger  of 
council,  a  salary  of  ^,"50  The  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress  were 
entitled  to  a  sum  sufficient  to  defray  all  their  expenses  incurred  in  going  to, 
attending  upon,  and  in  returning  from  Congress. 

Governor  Brownson  was  a  leading  physician  of  Southern  Georgia,  public- 
spirited,  wise  in  counsel,  and  an  early  and  earnest  supporter  of  the  plans  of  the 
Revolutionists.  Twice  had  he  served  his  people  as  a  member  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress.  Among  the  purest  patriots  of  Liberty  County  will  he  always 
be  numbered. 

In  the  early  part  of  December,  1781,  the  council  was  called  upon  to  mourn 
the  loss  of  the  Honorable  Myrick  Davies,  recently  its  president,  who  was  in- 
humanly slain  by  the  Royalists.  The  headquarters  of  the  board  had  for  sometime 
been  fixed  at  Howell's  plantation  in  Burke  county.  On  the  i  ith  of  December, 
,1781,  the  following  minute  appears  in  the  journal  of  the  executive  council: 


Governor  Martin  Elected.  ioi 

"Resolved,  that  his  honor  the  governor  be  requested  to  take  measures  for 
conveying  the  body  of  the  late  Myrick  Davies,  Esqr.,  president  of  the  Execu- 
tive Council,  to  this  place, ^  and  that  Mr.  Lewis  be  requested  to  prepare  a  proper 
discourse  for  his  interment,  and  this  Board  will  attend  the  same." 

On  the  2d  of  January,  1782,  Stephen  Heard  was  for  a  second  time  elected 
president  of  council. 

By  the  legislature,  which  convened  in  Augusta  on  the  ist  of  January,  1782, 
was  John  Martin,  an  active  defender  of  the  liberties  of  his  country  and  a  lieu- 
tenant-colonel in  the  continental  line  of  the  Georgia  brigade,  elected  governor. 
William  Gibbons  was  selected  as  speaker.  This  body  remained  in  session  only 
about  ten  days,  and  was  subsequently,  by  proclamation  of  the  governor,  con- 
vened at  Augusta  on  the  17th  of  April. 

Already  were  indications  of  a  successful  issue  to  the  impending  conflict  be- 
coming apparent,  and  the  hearts  of  the  Revolutionists  were  cheered  by  the 
approach  of  a  strong  army  for  the  reclamation  of  Georgia. 

Encouraged  by  the  prospect,  Governor  Martin,  in  his  inaugural  address, 
thus  felicitated  the  members  of  the  legislature  :  "  I  am  extremely  happy  in 
finding  that  the  virtuous  struggles  made  by  the  good  citizens  of  this  State 
against  our  cruel  and  unnatural  enemies  have  at  length  nearly  secured  to  us 
those  blessings  for  which  we  have  so  long  contended,  and,  I  doubt  not,  but  by 
a  continuance  of  those  exertions  and  the  support  we  have  reason  to  expect, 
we  shall  in  a  short  time  reap  the  happy  fruits  of  our  labors." 

It  was  under  his  administration  that  Georgia  was  rescued  from  British  do- 
minion and  the  commonwealth  restored  to  the  full  exercise  of  all  legislative, 
executive,  and  judicial  powers.  He  was  the  governor  whose  good  fortune  it 
was  to  behold  the  successful  termination  of  the  Revolution,  and  to  witness  the 
public  recognition  of  Georgia  as  a  sovereign  State. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Augusta  Evacuated  by  Williamson,  and  Occupied  by  Brown  and  Grierson — Barbarous 
Cruelties  Perpetrated  by  Them — Colonel  Clarke's  Attempt  to  retake  Augusta — Narrative  of  the 
Incidents  Connected  with  the  Affair — Governor  Wright's  Dispatches — Sad!  Plight  of  the  Rev- 
olutionists—Colonel Brown. 

HAVING  in  this  summary  of  the  political  history  of  Georgia  during  this 
period  of  uncertainty,  distraction,  poverty  and  desolation,  anticipated  in 
some  measure  the  progress  of  events,  let  us  turn  to  the  military  affairs  imme- 
diately affecting  the  fortunes  of  the  town  of  Augusta. 

Many  of  the  refugees  from  Southern  and  Middle  Georgia  experienced  great 

*  Augusta, 


102  History  of  Augusta. 


difficulty  in  placing  their  families  and  personal  property  in  localities  exempt 
from  danger.  Some,  foreseeing  the  privations  to  which  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren would  be  subjected,  repented  of  their  patriotic  purpose  and  availed  them- 
selves of  the  protection  offered  by  the  Crown.  Others,  unable  to  defray  the 
charges  incident  upon  a  removal,  and  filled  with  a  heroic  desire  to  consecrate 
their  lives  to  the  military  service  of  the  Confederacy,  bade  farewell  to  their 
homes  and  commended  their  all  to  the  chances  of  war  and  the  God  of  battles. 

Merciless  was  the  conflict  waged  between  Royalists  and  Republicans.  The 
former,  inflamed  with  hatred  and  eager  for  rapine,  spared  neither  age  nor  sex. 
Ruin  marked  their  footsteps,  and  their  presence  was  a  signal  for  theft,  torture, 
murder,  and  crimes  without  a  name.  Revenge  and  retaliation  prompted  the 
Republicans  to  many  bloody  deeds  which  can  scancely  be  excused  even  in  a 
defensive  war, — that  most  justifiable  of  all  conflicts,  where  life,  liberty,  prop- 
erty, and  country  are  at  stake.  Dark  is  the  picture  from  whatever  light  it  may 
be  viewed,  and  not  a  few  of  the  scenes  there  depicted  were,  beyond  controversy, 
inspired  by  Moloch. 

Brigadier- General  Andrew  Williamson,  with  three  hundred  men,  was  now 
encamped  near  Augusta.  Although  composed  of  militia,  this  was,  numerically 
considered,  the  most  formidable  force  then  assembled  at  a  single  point  for  the 
defense  of  republican  Georgia.  While  encouraging  Colonel  Clarke  with  the 
suggestion  that  he  would  accede  to  a  concentration  of  forces  and  unite  in  the 
suppression  of  the  Royalists  in  Upper  Carolina,  he  held  the  king's  protection 
in  his  pocket  and  meditated  an  act  of  infamy.  Unable  either  to  read  or  write, 
he  entrusted  the  details  of  his  command  to  his  aid-de-canip,  Malcolm  Brown, 
who  had  long  given  evidence  of  his  attachment  to  the  royal  cause.  Conceal- 
ing for  some  time  the  information  he  had  received  of  the  fall  of  Charlestown, 
he  subsequently,  upon  the  approach  of  the  British  detachments,  called  his  offi- 
cers together,  expressed  the  opinion  that  further  resistance  would  prove  inef- 
fectual, and  recommended  them  to  return  to  their  homes  and  there  accept  the 
protection  offered  at  the  hands  of  the  king's  servants.  He  thereupon  aban- 
doned his  command.  For  this  traitorous  act  he  was  rewarded  by  a  colonel's 
commission  in  his  majesty's  service  ;  and,  until  the  close  of  the  war.  was  recog- 
nized as  a  warm  advocate  of  the  re-establishment  of  the  royal  government.^ 

Upon  the  disbanding  of  this  force  Augusta  was  occupied  by  Colonels  Brown 
and  Grierson,  two  notorious  partisan  officers  in  the  king's  army  The  former 
had  been  a  resident  of  that  town  prior  to  the  inception  of  the  war.  His  con- 
duct and  language  had  then  been  so  offensive  and  insulting  to  the  friends  of 
liberty  that  he  was  finally  arrested  by  the  parish  committee,  tried,  tarred  and 
feathered,  and  exposed  to  public  ridicule  in  a  cart  drawn  by  three  mules.  This 
ignominous  punishment  ended,  he  made  his  escape  to  the  British,  swearing 
vengeance  against  all  patriots.      Entrusted  now  with  the  command  of  the  town 

'  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.  p.  304.     Savannah.      1816. 


Cruelties  of  Brown  and  Grierson.  103 

in  the  streets  of  which  he  had  sufifered  such  gross  indignities,  he  was  resolved 
to  gratify  a  revenge  sternly  cherished,  and  to  repay,  with  interest,  to  the  citi- 
zens of  Augusta  the  ill-usage  he  had  experienced  at  their  hands.  His  first 
measure  was  the  sequestration  of  the  property  of  the  Republican  inhabitants. 
This  was  speedily  followed  by  an  order  banishing,  beyond  the  limits  of  Georgia, 
all  Whig  families.  Stripped  of  their  possessions  and  driven  from  their  homes, 
exposed  to  insults  and  enduring  numberless  privations,  these  proscribed  Geor- 
gians were  compelled  to  journey  even  to  the  borders  of  North  Carolina,  where 
they  arrived  half  famished,  broken  down  by  the  fatigue  and  hardships  of  travel, 
and  some  of  them  with  constitutions  so  sadly  shattered  that  all  hope  of  health 
and  life  had  fled.^  The  tyrant  rejoiced  in  his  supremacy ;  and,  gloating  over 
the  sorrows  he  had  wrought,  boasted  that  his 

.     .     .     "  great  revenge 
Had  stomach  for  them  all." 

Emissaries  were  dispatched  into  the  adjacent  country  with  authority  to 
grant  protections  and  exact  oaths  of  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown.  A  party 
thus  commissioned,  and  led  by  Captain  Corker,  at  dead  of  night  forced  an  en- 
trance into  the  dwelling-house  of  Colonel  John  Dooly  and,  in  the  most  bar- 
barous manner,  murdered  him  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  and  children.  Thus 
perished  an  officer  who  had  borne  himself  gallantly  in  many  affairs  and  de- 
served well  of  the  republic. 

Soon  after  the  affair  near  Musgrove's  Mill,  in  which  Colonel  Clarke  fought 
with  a  desperation  worthy  of  all  praise  and  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life,  that 
noted  partisan  leader — plucky  and  powerful,  every  inch  a  hero — returned  to 
Georgia  with  his  command.  Lord  Cornwallis  had  recently  addressed  a  cir- 
cular letter  to  his  subalterns,  containing  the  following  severe  injunctions: 

"The  inhabitants  of  the  Provinces  who  have  subscribed  to  and  taken  part 
in  this  revolt  should  be  punished  with  the  utmost  rigour :  and  also  those  who 
will  not  turn  out  shall  be  imprisoned  and  their  whole  property  taken  from  them 
or  destroyed.  I  have  ordered  in  the  most  positive  manner  that  every  militia 
man  who  has  borne  arms  with  us,  and  afterward  joined  the  enemy,  shall  be  im- 
mediately hanged.  I  desire  you  will  take  the  most  rigourous  measures  to 
punish  the  rebels  in  the  district  in  which  you  command,  and  that  you  obey  in 
the  strictest  manner  the  directions  I  have  given  in  this  letter  relative  to  the 
inhabitants  in  this  country." 

Under  color  of  this  authority,  cruelties,  the  most  barbarous,  were  practiced. 
Grievous  punishments  were  inflicted  without  even  the  forms  of  trial.  Condem- 
nations and  executions  occurred,  the  prisoners  being  unacquainted  with  the 
offenses  with  which  they  were  charged.  The  morning  after  this  sanguinary 
order  was  received  in  Augusta  five  victims  were  taken  from  the  jail,  and  by 
order  of  Colonel  Brown  were  publicly  strangled  on  the  gibbet.^     Confiscations 

'  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  320.     Savannah.      18 16. 
"  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.  p.  320.     Savannah.     18 16. 


I04  History  of  Augusta. 

were  multiplied,  and  a  reign  of  terror  overspread  such  portions  of  Georgia  and 
South  Carolina  as  were  under  the  control  of  the  king's  forces.  Hoping  that 
this  inhuman  order  would  rouse  the  manhood  of  the  State  to  determined  resis- 
tance and  concentrate  the  friends  of  American  liberty  in  a  supreme  effort  for 
its  assertion,  Colonel  Clarke,  in  association  with  Lieutenant- Colonel  McCall, 
planned  an  expedition  for  the  capture  of  Augusta.  In  the  success  of  the  en- 
terprise they  were  the  more  inclined  to  repose  confidence  because  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  in  mustering  his  forces  to  oppose  General  Gates  had  materially  depleted 
the  garrison  at  that  point.  It  was  hoped  that  they  might,  within  a  short  time, 
by  their  joint  exertions  raise  an  army  of  one  thousand  men.  With  such  a 
force  it  was  believed  that  Brown  would  be  compelled  to  evacuate  his  post,  and 
that  the  northern  and  Avestern  divisions  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  would 
be  speedily  restored  to  their  Confederate  allegiance.  Soap  Creek  in  Georgia,^ 
forty  miles  northwest  of  Augusta,  was  agreed  upon  as  the  place  of  rendezvous. 

Entering  Wilkes  County  about  the  ist  of  September,  1780,  Colonel  Clarke 
succeeded,  within  less  than  two  weeks,  in  placing  in  the  field  some  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men.  After  the  most  strenuous  efforts  expended  in  the  western 
part  of  Ninety-Six  district,  in  South  Carolina,  Colonel  McCall  persuaded  only 
eighty  men  to  accompany  him  upon  the  expedition.  A  union  of  these  detach- 
ments occurred  at  Soap  Creek  at  the  appointed  time.  Celerity  of  movement 
being  all  important.  Colonel  Clarke  put  his  column  on  the  march  without  de- 
lay and,  on  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  September,  halted  near  Augusta  and 
formed  his  command  for  action.  The  enemy  was  ignorant  of  his  purpose  until 
he  appeared  before  the  town.  One  division,  commanded  by  Lieutenant-Col- 
onel McCall,  was  instructed  to  enter  Augusta  by  the  lower  road.  The  left  di- 
vision, led  by  Major  Samuel  Taylor,  was  ordered  to  approach  by  the  upper 
road,  while  Colonel  Clarke  in  person,  with  the  center  division,  was  to  effect  an 
entrance  by  the  middle  or  southern  road.  Moving  rapidly  and  simultaneously 
these  divisions  advanced  upon  Augusta. 

Near  Hawk's  Creek,  on  the  west.  Major  Taylor  fell  in  with  an  Indian  en- 
campment which  he  at  once  carried.  The  savages  retreated  upon  their  allies, 
keeping  up  a  desultory  fire  as  they  retired.  This  assault  upon  the  Indian  camp 
gave  Colonel  Brown  the  first  intimation  of  the  approach  of  the  Americans. 
Taylor  pressed  on  to  gain  possession  of  McKay's  trading  post,  denominated 
the  White  House,  and  situated  about  a  mile  and  a  half  west  of  Augusta  as  the 
town  then  stood.  This  house  was  occupied  by  a  company  of  the  King's  Ran- 
gers, commanded  by  Captain  Johnston.  Thither  did  the  retreating  Indians 
betake  themselves.  Ordering  Grierson  to  reinforce  Johnston,  Brown  advanced 
with  the  main  body  of  his  troops  to  contest  the  entrance  of  the  Americans. 
Completely  surprised  by  the  center  and  right  divisions,  the  forts  surrendered 
after  scarcely  a  show  of  resistance.  Seventy  prisoners  and  a  large  quantity  of 
Indian  presents  ^  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  captors.  These  being  secured  and 
'  Their  aggregate  value  was  reckoned  at  £4,000. 


Attempt  to  Retake  Augusta.  105 

left  under  the  charge  of  a  suitable  guard,  Colonel  Clarke  hastened  to  the  assis- 
tance of  Major  Taylor. 

Meanwhile,  Brown  and  Grierson  had  joined  Johnston  and  the  Indians  at  the 
White  House  and  entered  upon  its  vigorous  defense.  Taking  possession  of 
several  small  houses  to  the  eastward,  Clarke  endeavored,  under  their  cover,  to 
dislodge  the  enemy.  The  attempt  proved  futile.  From  eleven  o'clock  in  the 
forenoon  until  nightfall  an  irregular  fire  was  maintained  between  the  contend- 
ing parties,  but  without  producing  any  material  impression.  It  was  manifest 
that  the  enemy  could  not  be  driven  from  his  stronghold  without  the  assistance 
of  artillery.  Sheltering  themselves  behind  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  protected 
by  the  trees  which  grew  along  the  margin,  such  of  the  Indians  as  could  not  be 
accommodated  in  the  White  House  found  security  in  that  locality,  and  thence 
delivered  a  careful  and  an  annoying  fire.  Hostilities  ceased  with  the  close  of 
the  day,  and  strong  guards  were  posted  to  prevent  the  escape  of  the  enemy. 

Under  cover  of  the  night  Brown  materially  strengthened  his  position  by 
throwing  up  earthworks  round  the  house.  The  space  between  the  weather 
boarding  and  the  ceiling  was  filled  with  sand  and  clay  so  as  to  render  the 
structure  proof  against  musketry.  The  windows  were  secured  by  boards 
taken  from  the  floors,  and  loop-holes  were  constructed  at  convenient  distances. 
Every  material  at  command  was  utilized  in  enhancing  the  defensive  power  of 
the  building. 

The  next  morning  two  pieces  of  light  artillery,  a  four-pounder  and  a  six- 
pounder  gun,  were  transported  from  Fort  Grierson  and  placed  in  position  so 
as  to  bear  upon  the  White  House.  Their  carriages  not  being  adapted  for  field 
service,  and  their  management  being  unskillful,  these  guns  proved  of  little 
avail.  Captain'^Vfartin,  too,  the  only  artillerist  in  Clarke's  command,  was  un- 
fortunately killed  just  after  the  guns  were  brought  into  action.  A  musketry 
fire  was  directed  during  the  day  against  the  enemy,  who  evinced  no  intention 
either  of  abandoning  the  post,  or  of  surrendering. 

During  the  night  of  the  15th  Brown  was  reinforced  by  fifty  Cherokee  In- 
dians, who,  well  armed,  crossed  the  Savannah  in  canoes  and  participated  in 
the  defense.  Before  daylight  on  the  morning  of  the  i6th  the  Americans  suc- 
ceeded in  driving  the  Indians  from  their  shelter  along  the  river  bank  and  in 
completely  cutting  off  the  garrison  from  its  water  supply.  Thus  was  the  enemy 
greatly  inconvenienced,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  wounded  became  intense. 
Their  cries  for  water  and  medical  aid  were  heartrending.  A  horrid  stench, 
arising  from  the  dead  bodies  of  men  and  horses,  enhanced  the  miseries  of  the 
situation.  Brown,  himself,  shot  through  both  thighs,  was  suffering  terribly, 
but  his  desperate  courage  never  for  a  moment  forsook  him.  Ignoring  the  tor- 
tures of  his  wounds,  he  remained  booted  at  the  head  of  his  gallant  band,  di- 
recting the  defense  and  animating  his  troops  by  his  presence  and  example.  In 
order  to  atone  in  some   degree  for  the  absence  of  water,  he  ordered  all  the 

14 


io6  History  of  Augusta. 

urine  to  be  carefully  preserved  in  earthen  vessels  found  in  the  store.  When 
cold,  this  was  served  out  to  the  men,  he  himself  taking  the  first  draught.^  A 
more  frightful  illustration  of  the  extremity  of  the  situation  cannot  be  imagined. 
Summoned  to  surrender  on  the  17th,  he  promptly  refused  the  demand,  and 
warned  Colonel  Clarke  that  his  present  demonstration  would  eventually  bring 
destruction  and  devastation  upon  the  western  division  of  Georgia.  The  sum- 
mons was  repeated  in  the  afternoon  with  an  avowal  of  a  fixed  determination  on 
the  part  of  the  Americans  to  reduce  the  garrison  at  every  sacrifice.  Brown's 
only  reply  was  that  he  should  defend  himself  to  the  last  extremity.  Never  was 
braver  foe  brought  to  bay.  His  wonderful  resolution  sustained  all  his  follow- 
ers in  their  dire  distress. 

Upon  the  appearance  of  the  Americans,  Colonel  Brown  had  dispatched 
messengers  by  different  routes  to  inform  Colonel  Cruger,  at  Ninety-Six,  of  his 
situation,  and  to  urge  that  reinforcements  should  be  immediately  sent  to  his 
relief  Sir  Patrick  Houstoun,  one  of  these  messengers,  was  the  first  to  reach 
Ninety- Six.  He  communicated  the  perilous  posture  of  affairs.  Cruger  lost 
no  tini'^!  in  repairing  to  the  scene  of  conflict.  During  the  night  of  the  17th 
Colonel  Clarke  was  informed  by  his  scouts  that  Colonel  Cruger,  at  the  head 
of  five  hundred  British  regulars  and  royal  militia,  was  advancing  by  forced 
marches  for  the  succor  of  the  besieged.  In  direct  disobedience  of  orders  many 
of  Colonel  Clarke's  men  had  gone  to  Burke  county  to  see  their  families  and 
friends,  from  whom  they  had  long  been  separated.  Others,  actuated  b\-  the 
love  of  booty,  had  decamped,  carrying  with  them  the  goods  which  Brown  had 
recently  received  to  be  distributed  as  presents  among  the  Indians. 

About  eight  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  i8th  the  British  troops  appeared 
on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Savannah  River.  In  his  enfeebled  condition,  his 
ranks  depleted  by  wounds,  death,  and  desertion.  Colonel  Clarke  was  compelled 
to  raise  the  siege.  The  Americans  retreated  about  ten  o'clock,  having  sus- 
tained a  loss  of  sixty  in  killed  and  wounded.  Among  the  former  were  Cap- 
tains Charles  jourdine  and  William  Martin,  and  William  Luckie,  a  brave  and 
much  respected  }-oung  man  from  South  Carolina,  who  fell  earl\-  in  the  contest 
while  endeavoring  to  gain  possession  of  the  White  House. 

Such  of  the  republicans  as  were  badly  wounded  were  left  in  the  town.  Thus 
did  Captain  Ashby,  an  officer  noted  for  his  bravery  and  humanit)-,  and  twenty- 
eight  soldiers  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  enem\'.  He  and  twelve  of  the  wound- 
ed prisoners  were  forthwith  hung  upon  the  staircase  of  the  White  House,  where 
Brown  was  l}"ing  wounded,  that  he  might  enjoy  the  demoniacal  pleasure  of 
gloating  over  their  expiring  agonies.  Their  bodies  were  then  delivered  to  the 
Indians,  who,  after  scalping  and  mutilating  them,  threw  them  into  the  river. 
Henry  Duke,  John  Burgamy,  Scott  Reeden,  Jordan  Ricketson,   Darling,  and 

1  See  Lee's  Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department,  \  ol.  i.  p.  207.     Philadel- 
phia.    1S12. 


Incidents  Connected  with  the  Affair.  107 

the  two  brothers  Glass,  youths  of  seventeen  and  fifteen  years  of  age,  were 
choked  to  death  under  a  hastily  constructed  gibbet.  Their  fate,  however,  was 
mild  when  contrasted  with  that  reserved  for  other  prisoners  who  were  deliv- 
ered into  the  hands  of  the  Indians  that  they  might  be  avenged  of  the  losses 
which  they  had  sustained  during  the  siege.  Placing  their  victims  in  the  center 
of  a  circle,  they  consigned  them  to  blows,  cuts,  scalping,  burning,  and  deaths 
most  horrible.  Seventy  savages  had  fallen  at  the  hands  of  the  Americans,  and 
thus  did  their  surviving  companions  offer  sacrifices  to  their  names.  The  bru- 
talities inflicted  by  Brown  and  his  followers  on  this  occasion  stagger  all  com- 
prehension and  transcend  civilized  belief 

Major  Carter,  who  accompanied  the  division  assaulting  by  the  upper  road, 
encountered  a  mortal  hurt  at  the  door  of  the  White  House  while  endeavoring 
to  prevent  the  enemy  from  gaining  possession  of  that  structure.  At  great 
hazard  he  was  borne  off  by  his  comrades,  who  conveyed  him  to  the  plantation 
of  Mrs.  Bugg,  where  he  expired  a  few  days  afterwards.  To  him  Colonel  Clarke 
paid  this  tribute  :  '*  A  man  of  more  bravery  than  Major  Carter  never  occu- 
pied a  space  between  heaven  and  earth." 

Among  the  British  slain  were  Captain  Andrew  Johnston  and  Ensign  Sil- 
cox,  of  the  Florida  Rangers.  Brown's  command  on  this  occasion  consisted  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  loyalists, — chiefly  Florida  Rangers, — an  equal  number 
of  Creek  warriors,  and  fifty  Chei.okees. 

Before  retiring.  Colonel  Clarke  paroled  the  officers  and  men  whom  hj  had 
captured.  Among  them  were  Captain  James  Smith  and  forty-  one  of  the 
King's  Rangers,  a  commissioned  officer  and  eleven  men  of  De  Lancey's  corps, 
and  a  surgeon.  In  entire  disregard  of  the  obligations  into  which  they  had  en- 
tered, these  officers  and  soldiers  resumed  their  arms  immediately  upon  the  de- 
parture of  the  Americans. 

No  sooner  had  the  Republican  forces  retreated  than  Colonel  Brown  sent 
out  detachments  in  every  direction  to  arrest  all  persons  who  had  participated 
in  the  siege  or  sympathized  in  the  effort  to  recapture  Augusta.  Captain  Kemp, 
with  a  small  party  of  rangers,  surprised  Colonel  Jones  and  five  companions  in 
a  house  on  Beech  Island.  James  Goldwire  was  killed.  Although  Jones  and 
two  of  his  company  were  wounded,  they  succeeded  in  repelling  the  rangers 
and  in  taking  refuge  in  a  swamp.  While  there  concealed  and  awaiting  recov- 
ery from  his  wounds,  Jones  was  discovered  and  made  prisoner.  The  loyalists 
clamored  for  his  life,  which  was  saved  through  the  personal  exertions  of  Cap- 
tain Wylly,  who  surrounded  him  with  a  guard. 

The  entire  adjacent  country  was  subjected  to  a  rigorous  search.  Repub- 
lican sympathizers  were  dragged  from  their  homes  and  crowded  into  wretched 
prisons.  Those  suspected  of  having  belonged  to  Clarke's  command  were  hung 
without  even  the  mockery  of  a  trial.  Venerable  men,  beyond  the  age  of  bear- 
ing arms  and  standing  aloof  from  thg  contest,  were  consigned  to  filthy  jails  for 


io8  History  of  Augusta. 


no  reason  save  that  they  welcomed  the  return  of  sons  and  grandsons  who  had 
long  been  absent  in  the  armies  of  the  Revolution.  Witness  the  sufferings  of 
the  father  of  Captains  Samuel  and  James  Alexander.  In  the  seventy-eighth 
year  of  his  age  he  was  arrested  by  order  of  Colonel  Grierson,  chained,  and 
dragged  at  the  tail  of  a  cart  forty  miles  in  two  days.  When  attempting  to 
obtain  some  rest  for  his  feeble  limbs  by  leaning  against  the  vehicle,  he  was 
ignominously  scourged  by  the  driver. 

Closely  confined  in  Augusta,  these  old  men  were  held  as  hostages  for  the 
neutrality  of  the  country.  Succumbing  to  the  rigors  of  ill  usage,  the  ravages 
of  smallpox,  and  the  privations  incident  to  their  sad  situation,  few  survived 
to  behold  the  eventual  triumph  of  the  patriots.  Some  twenty- five  prominent 
persons  who  had  been  paroled  in  Augusta  were  sent  to  Charlestown.  Among 
these  may  be  mentioned  Majors  George  Handley  and  Samuel  Stirk,  Captain 
Chesle)^  Bostwick,  Mr.  John  Wereat,  and  several  members  of  the  executive 
council  of  Georgia.^ 

Thus  did  Colonel  Brown,  smarting  under  bodily  pain  and  remembered  in- 
dignities, make  good  his  threat  uttered  in  the  White  House.  Thus  did  he 
satiate  his  revenge.  The  homes  of  the  patriots  were  filled  with  blood,  ashes, 
and  tears.  The  Republicans  were  compelled  to  pass  under  a  yoke  too  heavy 
for  the  stoutest  neck.  Further  sojourn  in  this  region  was  rendered  intolerable, 
and  multitudes  forsook  the  territory  dominated  over  by  the  insatiate  Brown 
and  his  followers. 

Colonels  Clarke  and  McCall  have  been  severely  although  unjustly  criticised 
for  inaugurating  this  movement  against  Augusta.  Had  they  succeeded,  praise 
and  not  censure  would  have  been  the  general  verdict.  By  some  the  expedi- 
tion was  denounced  as  an  "ill-timed  and  a  premature  insurrection."  Such 
language  did  not  emanate  from  patriotic  lips.  The  undertaking  was  well  con- 
ceived and  vigorously  pressed.  But  for  the  lack  of  field  artillery  the  White 
House  would  have  been  carried  prior  to  the  appearance  of  Colonel  Cruger. 
That  the  failure  of  the  eftort  to  retake  Augusta  inflamed  the  Royalists  and  en- 
tailed additional  miseries  upon  the  region  cannot  be  doubted.  The  entire  af- 
fair was  a  warlike  mischance  encountered  by  men  patriotic  in  their  impulses, 
zealous  in  their  action,  and  eager  to  achieve  a  great  good. 

After  raising  the  siege  of  Augusta  Colonel  Clarke  retreated  to  Little  River 
and  there  disbanded  his  force  that  his  men  might  visit  their  homes  preparatory 
to  service  in  distant  fields. 

Three  dispatches-  touching  this  affair  were  sent  by  Governor  Wright  to 
Lord  George  Germain, — his  majesty's  principal  Secretary  of  State.  In  the 
first  he  writes,  under  date  "  Savanah  in  Georgia  i8th  Septr  1780,"  as  fol- 
lows :   "  My   Lord.      Yesterday  I  receiv'd   Advice  from   Augusta  acquainting 

'  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  .vol.  ii.,  pp.  320-330.     Savannah.     1816. 
'  P.  R.  O.     Am  :  and  W.  Ind  :  vol.  237. 


General  Wright's  Dispatch.  109. 

me  that  a  great  Number  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the  Ceded  Lands,  together  with 
some  from  South  Caroh'na,  had  come  to  Augusta  on  the  14th  Inst,  &  attack'd 
Col  Brown,  &  that  they  had  defeated  him  &  He  was  oblig'd  to  retire  into  a 
Small  Stockade  Fort  there — There  was  at  Augusta  about  450  Creek  Indians, 
&  I  believe  Col  Brown  has  about  200  of  his  own  Corps.  It  appears  to  me 
that  the  Attack  was  so  sudden  that  Col  Brown  had  not  time  to  send  off  an 
Express,  &  no  Accounts  are  as  yet  come  from  him — and  it  is  fear'd  and  not 
doubted  that  Augusta  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Rebels.  The  Tempta- 
tion was  certainly  too  great  unless  there  had  been  a  stronger  force  there.  I 
am  well  inform'd  that  the  Goods  intended  as  Presents  to  the  Indians  was  at 
least  of  ^^4000  Sterlg  value — Prime  Cost — which  it  is  suppos'd  must  have  fallen 
into  the  Hands  of  the  Rebels,  &  the  whole,  such  sort  of  Goods  as  the  Back 
Country  People  esteem  most.  It  is  impossible  to  say  as  yet,  what  the  conse- 
quences of  this  unfortunate  Affair  may  be."     .... 

In  the  second,  under  date  of  "  22nd  Septr,"  he  expresses  to  his  lordship- 
the  happiness  he  enjoys  in  having  it  in  his  power  to  say  "that  Col  Brown  at 
Augusta,  with  the  Assistance  of  the  Indians,  (who  behav'd  extremely  well)  held 
out  against  the  Rebels  from  Thursday  Morng  till  Monday  Morng  &  the  last 
two  days  without  any  Water — And  on  Monday  Morng  the  Rebels  hearing 
that  Col.  Cruger  was  marching  to  the  relief  of  Col  Brown,  they  immediately 
made  off.  Many  Rebels  have  been  kill'd,  wounded  &  taken,  &  one  hang'd  & 
I  hope  several  others  will,  as  they  have  now  forfeited  every  kind  of  Claim  to 

favor  &  protection This,  my  Lord,  is  a  very  fortunate  Event,  for 

had  they  succeeded,  I  am  afifraid,  nay  certain,  they  soon  would  have  become 
formidable,  &  I  shall  now  endeavour  that  such  Steps  be  taken  against  them  as 
may  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  do  more  mischief  Some  of  the  Indian  pres- 
ents fell  into  their  hands  during  the  time  they  were  there,  which  were  carried 
off,  but  the  principal  part  we're  deposited  where  Col  Brown  took  shelter." 

From  the  third,  showing  the  temper  of  the  royal  Governor,  we  make  the 
following  extract:  "I  have  now  the  Honor  to  inclose  your  Lordship  a  Copy 
of  my  Last,  giving  an  Account  of  the  Retreat  of  the  Rebels  from  Augusta,  and 
from  the  best  Information  I  have  been  able  to  collect  I  don't  find  that  the 
Rebel  Force  exceeded  from  4  to  450  Men.  I  believe  Clarke,  who  commanded,, 
carried  back  into  Carolina  200  to  250  of  them:  the  rest,  its  said  100  killed,, 
wounded,  &  taken,  and  from  70  to  100  surrendered  themselves  afterwards  to 
Colonel  Cruger  on  the  Ceded  Lands.  13  Indians  were  killed. 
Thirteen  of  the  Prisoners  who  broke  their  Paroles  &  came  against  Augusta 
have  been  hang'd,  which  I  hope  will  have  a  very  good  Effect. 

We  are  doing  everything  possible  to  root  out  Rebellion  in  this  Province  & 

for  our  Defence  here.    Several  Plantations  or  Settlements  on  the  Ceded  Lands, 

belonging  to   those  who  were  at  Augusta,  have  been  burnt  &  laid  waste.      I 

think  about  100,  and  Mr.  Graham  1  is  now  at  Augusta  with   Directions  to  see 

1  Royal  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  Province. 


no  History  of  Augusta. 


the  Disqualifying  Law  carried  into  Execution  in  its  utmost  Extent,  so  that  I 
hope  when  the  Generahty  of  them  are  disarmed  &  have  been  compelled  to 
give  security  for  their  good  Behaviour,  they  must  be  convinced  that  Examples 
will  be  made  both  as  to  Life  &  Property,  &  I  trust  they  will  not  venture  to 
behave  in  the  villainous  manner  they  have  hitherto  done." 

Never  was  the  patriotism  of  any  people  more  sorely  tried  than  was  that  of 
republican  Georgians  during  the  winter  of  1780.  Their  affairs  were  literally 
in  extremis.  Of  commerce  there  was  none  save  an  occasional  introduction, 
at  great  hazard,  of  salt  and  miHtary  supplies.  Agriculture,  for  some  time  on  the 
wane,  was  now  pursued  with  no  expectation  of  profit,  but  simply  as  a  means 
whereby  a  bare  subsistence  might  be  obtained.  Only  such  raiment  was  pro- 
curable as  domestic  industry  evoked  from  the  rude  spinning-wheel  and  the 
cumbersome  hand-loom.  The  temples  of  justice  were  closed,  and  there  were 
no  live  coals  on  the  altars  dedicated  to  Jehovah.  School-houses  were  rotting 
in  silence,  and  no  sound  of  merriment  was  heard  in  the  land.  Confiscations, 
conflagrations,  thefts,  murders,  and  sanguinary  royal  edicts  had  wrought  sad 
havoc  and  engendered  mourning  almost  universal.  Poverty  and  ruin  dwelt 
everywhere,  and  for  months  the  signs  of  patriotic  life  in  Georgia  were  most 
feeble  and  spasmodic.  The  paper  currency,  the  only  circulating  medium 
known  to  the  inhabitants,  had  so  effectually  lost  its  purchasing  power  that  the 
pay  of  a  captain  in  the  rebel  service  for  an  entire  month  was  incapable  of  pro- 
curing for  him  a  pair  of  common  shoes.  The  pecuniary  compensation  of  the 
private  soldier  was  literally  nothing,  and  his  supply  of  food  and  clothing  was 
meager  and  precarious  in  the  extreme. 

That  the  Confederation,  under  such  circumstances,  should  have  been  able 
to  enlist  soldiers  and  to  offer  effectual  resistance  appears  almost  inexplicable  : 
for  history  teaches  that  in  the  maintenance  of  protracted  wars,  no  matter  what 
the  patriotism  and  endurance  of  the  contestants  may  be,  reasonable  pay  and 
sufificient  rations  are  absolutely  requisite  to  insure  ef^cient  service  in  the  field 
and  contentment  at  home.  The  struggles  of  the  American  colonies  in  their 
rugged  march  toward  the  achievement  of  liberty  are  without  parallel  in  the 
record  of  revolutions.  As  we  look  back  upon  this  period  of  privation,  self- 
denial,  desolation,  and  supreme  effort,  we  marvel  at  the  Ireroic  spirit  which 
possessed  this  beleagured  land.  As  we  contrast  the  armies  of  the  republicans 
with  those  of  other  nations  renowned  for  valor  and  patriotism,  we  wonder  at 
the  inspiration  which  sustained  them  and  the  zeal  for  independence  which 
enabled  them  to  suffer  every  want  and  overcome  all  obstacles. 

Of  all  the  inhuman  characters  developed  during  this  abnormal  period  so 
replete  with  murder,  arson,  theft,  brutality,  and  crimes  too  foul  for  utterance, 
none  can  be  named  more  notorious  than  Thomas  Brown,  loyalist  and  colonel 
in  his  majesty's  service.  His  acts  incarnadine  and  encumber  with  barbarities 
the  Revolutionary  pages  in  Georgia  history.      And  yet  this  tyrant,  this  perse- 


Colonel  Williamson  Invests  Augusta.  i  i  r 

cutor  of  defenseless  women  and  children,  this  butcher  of  captives,  this  relent- 
less, merciless  persecutor  of  patriots,  in  a  long  letter  penned  from  Nassau  on 
the  25th  of  December,  1786,  calls  Dr.  Ramsay  to  account  for  the  strictures  in 
which  he  justly  indulges  when  reviewing  his  conduct,  and  enters  upon  a  lengthy 
justification  of  some  of  the  transactions  which  have  rendered  his  reputation 
well-nigh  infamous. 

Bravery  was  his  only  redeeming  trait,  and  that  he  possessed  and  exhibited 
in  a  wonderful  degree.  Loyalty  to  the  king  was  the  cloak  which  covered 
every  excess.  Revenge  was  the  passion  sweeter  than  all  others.  To  his  ears 
the  dying  groans  of  a  republican  were  more  enjoyable  than  strains  of  purest 
melody.  Convicted  in  the  city  of  London  in  18 12  of  a  grand  forgery  upon  the 
government  which  he  served,  he  ended  his  days  in  disgrace  and  ignominy. 

The  shadows  which  had  so  long  enshrouded  the  hopes  of  the  Revolutionists 
in  Georgia  were  now  lifting.  The  absent  were  returning  and  assembling  in 
force  for  the  salvation  of  their  homes.  Firm  in  the  confidence  and  secure  in 
the  affection  of  the  Southern  Department,  General  Greene  was  hailed  as  the 
great  and  good  genius  of  the  hour.  Brave  men  were  projecting  plans  of  deliver- 
ance, and  among  them  was  a  scheme  for  the  repossession  of  Augusta  and  the 
capture  of  the  lawless  men  who  had  so  grievously  afflicted  the  region. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Colonel  Williamson  Invests  Augusta — Arrival  of  Colonel  Clarke — Pickens  and  Lee  Ordered 
to  Assist  in  the  Reduction  of  Augusta — Capture  of  Fort  Galphin — The  Siege  and  Capitulation 
of  Augusta — Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Jackson  Assigned  to  the  Command — Burnet's  Ras- 
cality— Governor  Wright  Calls  Lustily  for  Aid. 

STILL  suffering  from  the  effects  of  the  smallpox,  Colonel  Clarke  was  too 
feeble  to  take  the  saddle  at  the  time  appointed  for  the  reassembling  of  his 
men  at  Dennis'  Mill  on  Little  River.  Consequently,  Lieutenant- Colonel  Micajah 
Williamson  assumed  the  command  and,  on  the  i6th  of  April,  1781,  moved 
with  the  detachment  to  the  vicinity  of  Augusta.  There  he  was  reinforced  by 
Colonel  Baker  with  as  many  militia  as  he  had  been  able  to  collect  in  Southern 
Georgia,  and  by  Captains  Dunn  and  Irwin  who  brought  with  them  some  men 
from  Burke  County.  Soon  after,  Colonel  Hammond  and  Major  Jackson 
arrived  with  such  of  the  Carolina  militia  as  they  had  been  successful  in  recruit- 
ing in  the  neighborhood  of  Augusta. 

With  this  force,  which  was  numerically  a  little  superior  to  that  possessed 
by  the  enemy  but  far  inferior  in  discipline  and  equipment,  Colonel  Williamson, 
occupied  a  position   twelve  hundred  yards  distant  from   the  British  works,,  and 


112  History  of  Augusta. 


there  fortified  his  camp.  It  is  believed  that  the  exaggerated  accounts  of  the 
American  strength  conveyed  to  Colonel  Brown  deferred  him  from  making  an 
attack  which  would  probably  have  eventuated  in  success. 

For  nearly  four  weeks  had  the  republicans  been  sitting  down  before  Au- 
gusta, guarding  all  the  approaches  to  the  town,  confining  its  garrison  within 
their  defenses,  and  eagerly  expecting  reinforcements  from  General  Greene's 
army,  preparatory  to  a  general  assault  upon  the  British  works.  Wearied  with 
the  service,  and  despairing  of  the  anticipated  aid,  the  militia  were  on  the  eve 
of  withdrawing  when  Major  Jackson  —  as  eloquent  of  speech  as  he  was  daring 
in  war — by  a  patriotic  address  inflamed  their  ardor  and  changed  their  pur- 
pose. The  arrival  of  Colonel  Clarke  and  one  hundred  men  on  the  15th  of 
May  restored  confidence  and  confirmed  the  resolution  to  prosecute  the  enter- 
prise to  a  successful  issue. 

Major  Dill  had  collected  a  band  of  loyalists  with  the  intention  of  reinforc- 
ing Brown  and  compelling  the  Americans  to  raise  the  siege.  Without  waiting 
for  his  approach,  Colonel  Clarke  dispatched  Captains  Shelby  and  Carr,  with  a 
strong  party,  who  fell  upon  him  at  Walker's  bridge  on  Brier  Creek,  killing  and 
wounding  a  number  of  his  men  and  dispersing  the  rest. 

Entertaining  no  apprehension  of  an  attack  from  the  enemy.  Colonel  Clarke 
sent  his  cavalry  horses  under  a  guard  of  six  men  to  Beech  Island  that  they 
might  be  plentifully  supplied  with  forage.  Learning  this  fact.  Colonel  Brown 
detailed'a  force  of  regulars,  militia,  and  Indians,  to  proceed  down  the  Savan- 
nah River  in  canoes  to  cut  ofi"  the  guard  and  capture  the  animals.  In  this 
mission  they  succeeded.  Every  man  of  the  guard  was  slain.  While  return- 
ing with  the  horses,  the}'  were  attacked  by  Captains  Shelby  and  Carr,  near 
Mrs.  Bugg's  plantation,  and  entirely  routed.  Not  one  of  the  enemy  falling 
into  the  hands  of  the  Americans  was  permitted  to  live.  Nearly  half  the 
detachment  was  killed.     All  the  horses  were  recovered.^ 

Unfurnished  with  artillery  Colonel  Clarke  picked  up  an  old  four- pounder 
which  had  been  abandoned  by  the  British,  mounted  it,  and  employed  a  black- 
smith to  forge  projectiles  for  it.  This  little  piece  was  placed  in  battery  about 
four  hundred  yards  from  Fort  Grierson.  So  limited  was  the  supply  of  ammu- 
nition that  it  was  fired  only  on  occasions  the  most  favorable. 

General  Pickens  with  four  hundred  men  was  operating  between  Augusta 
and  Ninety-Six  to  cut  ofi" all  communication  between  those  posts.  Eastward 
of  Nmety  Six  Colonels  Branham  and  Hayes  were  recruiting  their  commands 
and  intercepting  supplies  intended  for  the  relief  of  that  station.  While  thus 
engaged  Colonel  Hayes,  who  then  had  with  him  forty-five  men,  was  suddenly 
attacked  by  Major  Cunningham.  Taking  refuge  in  a  house  Hayes  defended 
himself  until  further  resistance  appeared  useless.  He  then  surrendered  upon 
condition  that  his  men  should  be  recognized  and  treated  as  prisoners  of  war. 

'  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol^  ii.  p.  368.     Savannah.      1816. 


Pickens  and  Lee  Ordered  to  Augusta.  113 


No  sooner  had   they  laid  down  their  arms  than  they  were  assaulted  and  mur- 
dered to  a  man.      Behold  the  temper  and  faith  of  the  loyalists! 

The  investing  force  of  the  Americans  was  somewhat  enfeebled  at  Augusta 
by  a  detail  sent  into  the  upper  portion  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  to  drive 
back  some  Indians  and  loyal  refugees  who  were  committing  depredations  upon 
the  frontier. 

Such  was  the  posture  of  affairs,  and  such  were  the  events  which  transpired 
in  the  vicinity  of  Augusta  just  prior  to  the  advent  of  General  Pickens  and  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Lee.  P'ort  Motte  had  fallen.  So  had  Fort  Granby.  Within 
less  than  a  month  General  Greene  compelled  Lord  Rawdon  to  evacuate  Cam- 
den, and  forced  the  submission  of  the  adjacent  British  posts.  He  was  now 
moving  forward  for  the  close  investment  of  Ninety-Six.  The  capture  of  Au- 
gusta was  determined  upon,  so  that  by  one  continuous  and  decisive  campaign 
the  deliverance  of  the  States  of  Carolina  and  Georgia  from  the  domination  of 
the  king's  forces  might  be  thoroughly  compassed,  save  in  the  cases  of  Charles- 
town  and  Savannah  which  could  not,  at  the  time,  be  readily  assailed  because 
the  enemy  ruled  at  sea.  Meanwhile  Colonel  Cruger  was  busily  engaged  in 
strengthening  his  defenses  at  Ninety- Six,  and  was  resolved  to  hold  his  post  to 
the  last  extremity. 

General  Pickens  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Lee  were  ordered  to  repair  with 
their  commands  to  Augusta  and  reduce  that  town.  The  latter  officer,  having 
narrowly  observed  the  operations  of  the  enemy  at  Ninety- Six  and  reported 
fully  the  condition  of  affairs  to  General  Greene,  took  up  his  line  of  march  across 
the  country  for  Augusta.  On  the  third  day  he  arrived  in  its  vicinity.  He  had 
been  preceded  by  Captain  Ferdinand  O'Neale,  who,  with  a  party  of  light  horse, 
was  detached  to  collect  provisions  and  acquire  all  information  which  might 
facilitate  the  consummation  of  the  military  operation  immediately  in  hand.  By 
this  officer  Colonel  Lee  was  advised  of  the  arrival  at  Fort  Galphin  of  the  an- 
nual royal  present  intended  for  the  Indians.  It  consisted  of  powder,  ball,  small 
arms,  liquor,  salt,  blankets,  and  other  articles  which  were  sadly  needed  in  the 
American  camp.  For  the  protection  of  these  valuable  supplies  two  compa- 
nies of  infantry  had  been  detailed  by  Colonel  Brown  from  his  command  at 
Augusta,  and  they  were,  at  the  moment,  garrisoning  Fort  Galphin.  With  a 
view  to  the  possession  of  these  coveted  articles,  and  that  Brown's  force  mi^ht 
be  permanently  weakened  by  the  capture  of  these  two  companies,  Colonel  Lee 
resolved  upon  the  immediate  reduction  of  the  fort  at  Silver  Bluff.  Of  his 
proximity  to  Augusta  the  enemy  seems  not  to  have  been  aware.  His  move- 
ments had  evidently  been  rapid  and  well  concealed.  Quick  action  was  im- 
peratively^demanded.  Leaving  Eaton  with  his  battalion,  the  artillery,  and  the 
exhausted  men  of  the  legion  to  follow  on  more  leisurely,  and  mounting  a  de- 
tachment of  infantry  behind  his  dragoons,  Colonel  Lee  pressed  on  by  a  forced 
march  toward  Fort  Galphin. 

15 


114 


History  of  Augusta. 


This  work,  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Savannah  River  about  fifteen 
miles  below  Augusta,  consisted  of  the  substantial  brick  residence  erected  by- 
George  Galphin,  the  famous  Indian  trader,  surrounded  by  a  stockade.  Dread- 
naught  the  English  called  it,  and  the  bold  bluff  near  which  it  stood  had  long 
been  known  as  Silver  Bluff. 

The  morning  of  the  2ist  of  Mixy,  1781,  was  sultry  beyond  measure.  For 
miles  not  a  drop  of  water  had  been  found  to  quench  the  violent  thirst  of  trooper 
and  horse.  Men  and  animals  were  sorely  oppressed  as  they  halted  beneath 
the  pines  which  skirted  the  field  surrounding  the  fort.  Ignorant  of  the  ap- 
proach of  Colonel  Lee  and  his  command,  the  enemy  was  resting  quietly  within 
the  stockade.  The  fierce  rays  of  the  sun  smote  everything  with  a  blinding  and 
paralyzing  influence  which  forbade  all  exertion  not  imperatively  demanded. 
But  the  prize  was  at  hand  and  moments  were  precious.  Pausing  but  a  little 
while  for  his  command  to  recover  breath.  Colonel  Lee  dismounted  such  mili- 
tiamen as  accompanied  the  expedition  and  ordered  them  to  demonstrate 
against  the  fort  from  a  direction  opposite  to  that  then  occupied  by  him.  Con- 
fidently conjecturing  that  the  garrison,  upon  the  appearance  of  the  militia, 
would  speedily  issue  from  the  stockade  and  resist  the  threatened  attack,  Colo- 
nel Lee  resolved  to  seize  upon  the  instant,  and,  by  a  rapid  assault,  capture  the 
post  when  thus  bereft  of  its  defenders.  To  that  end  Captain  Rudolph  (whom 
an  ill-defined  tradition  identifies  as  the  famous  Marshal  Ney  in  disguise),  with 
such  infantry  as  was  capable  of  quick  action,  was  held  in  readiness  at  the  op- 
portune moment  to  rush  upon  the  fort.  The  remaining  foot- soldiers,  sup- 
ported by  a  troop  of  dragoons,  took  a  position  whence  the  militia  could  be 
surely  and  readily  shielded,  in  th-eir  retreat,  from  any  injury  which  the  pursu- 
ing garrison  might  seek  to  inflict.  Such  was  the  strategy  devised  by  the  ac- 
complished Light  Horse  Harry.      Most  successfully  was  it  consummated. 

As  had  been  anticipated,  at  sight  of  the  demonstrating  militiamen  the  gar- 
rison flew  to  arms,  and,  rushhig  from  the  fort,  advanced  to  repel  the  threatened 
attack.  After  a  show  of  resistance  the  militia  retreat,  drawing  the  garrison 
after  them  in  hot  pursuit.  Just  then  Captain  Rudolph  with  his  detachment 
sweeps  rapidly  across  'the  field  and  envelops  the  stockade.  The  resistance 
offered  by  the  few  defenders  remaining  within  is  feeble  and  is  speedily  crushed. 
The  dragoons,  foot- soldiers  and  rallying  militia  close  in  upon  the  enemy  in  the 
field,  and  quick  surrender  follows.  The  Americans  lost  but  one  man  during 
the  engagement,  and  he  perished  from  excessive  heat.  Only  three  or  four  of 
the  enemy  fell  in  the  aftair.  The  capture  of  the  entire  garrison,  and  the  pos- 
session of  the  valuable  stores  concentrated  within  the  stockade,  proved  a  rich 
reward  for  the  toil  and  suffering  involved  in  the  adventure.  The  entire  affair, 
its  conception,  the  strategy  employed,  and  its  consummation  were  alike  cred- 
itable to  the  young  Virginian  and  his  brave  followers. 

But  a  few  short  hours  did  Colonel  Lee  tarry  with  his  command  at  Fort 


Capture  of  Fort  Galphin.  115 

Galphin.  Suitable  provision  having  been  made  for  securing  the  fruits  of  his 
dashing  triumph,  he  hastened  on  to  join  Pickens  and  Clarke  and  to  participate 
in  those  operations  which  eventuated  in  the  surrender  of  Brown  at  Augusta. 

Compared  with  many  other  engagements  which  occurred  within  the  con- 
fines of  the  Carolinas  and  of  Georgia  during  our  eight  years'  struggle  for  inde- 
pendence, this  capture  of  Fort  Galphin  will  perhaps  be  reckoned  as  the  small 
dust  of  the  balance,  and  yet  it  was  not  devoid  of  significance  or  lacking  in  im- 
portant consequences.  It  supplied  a  needy  army  with  stores  which  it  sadly 
craved.  It  weakened  the  royal  forces  in  Augusta  and  conduced  most  materi- 
ally to  the  capitulation  of  that  town.  It  inspired  the  RevohiticMiists  with  fresh 
courage,  and  nerved  their  arms  for  further  exhibitions  of  valorous  emprise. 

Major  Eaton,  meanwhile,  with  the  rest  of  the  legion  formed  a  junction  with 
General  Pickens  at  the  Cherokee  ponds,  six  miles  from  Au.gusta.  Together 
they  moved  forward  and  united  with  the  forces  engaged  in  the  investment  of 
that  town.  Having  rested  his  infantry,  Colonel  Lee  dispatched  Major  t^ggle- 
stoh  at  the  head  of  his  cavalry  to  cross  the  Savannah  River  at  Wallicon's  ferry, ^ 
three  miles  below  Augusta,  and  to  co-operate  with  Pickens  and  Clarke.  That 
officer's  instructions  were  to  make  himself  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
situation  of  the  enemy,  as  his  commanding  officer  desired  definite  information 
upon  which  he  could  promptly  act  upon  arrival.  He  was  further  enjoined, 
without  delay,  to  send  in  a  flag  conmiunicating  the  fact  of  the  near  approach 
of  a  portion  of  General  Greene's  arm\-,  informing  Colonel  Brown  that  Ninety- 
Six  was  closely  invested  by  the  main  body  led  by  the  commanding  general, 
and  urging  the  propriety  of  an  immediate  surrender.  Brown  had  previously 
refused  to  receive  flags  coming  from,  or  hold  any  communications  with,  militia 
officers.  Eggleston  being  the  senior  continental  officer  there  present,  Colonel 
Lee,  in  view  of  all  the  circumstances,  deemed  it  best  that  he  should  be  deputed 
to  attempt  this  negotiation.  Colonel  Brown  treated  the  flag  with  contempt, 
refused  to  answer  the  dispatch,  and  forbade  a  renewal  of  the  interview."- 

Colonel  Lee  arrived  during  the  evening  of  the  2 1st,  and  took  post  with 
Pickens  and  Clarke  in  the  woods  bordering  Augusta  on  the  west.  This  town 
was  then  small,  containing  only  a  few  hundred  inhabitants.  At  a  short  re- 
move from  the  habitations,  the  valley  in  which  Augusta  was  situated  was  cov- 
ered with  dense  woods,  with  cleared  fields  here  and  there.  Cornwallis,  the 
principal  fort  occupied  by  the  enemy,  was  situated  in  the  northerly  portion  of 
the  central  part  of  the  town,  having  complete  command  of  Savannah  River  and 
the  adjacent  territory. 

In  after  years  the  ground  upon  which  it  stood  was  set  apart  for  holier  uses. 
Here  was  erected  a  temple  dedicated  to  the  worship  of  the  God  of  Peace,  and 

'  Now  known  as  the  Sand-bar  ferry. 

"^  See  Lee's  Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  p.  92.  Phil- 
adelphia.     1812.     y\.cQ.'AX%  History  of  Ge'orgia,  \o\.'\\.  p.   372.     Savannah.      1816. 


ii6  History  of  Augusta. 


St.  Paul's  Churcli,  of  blessed  memory,  now  proclaims  its  message  of  salvation 
where  formerly  thundered  the  malignant  guns  of  this  war-begrimed  fort. 

Half  a  mile  to  the  west  the  plain  was  then  interrupted  by  a  lagoon  or  swamp 
which  connected  Beaver  Dam  Creek  with  the  Savannah  River.^  On  the  nortii- 
western  border  of  this  lagoon,  and  near  its  confluence  with  the  Savannah,  a 
second  fort-  was  located,  called  Grierson  in  honor  of  the  loyalist  colonel  who 
commanded  its  garrison.  British  regulars  were  stationed  in  Fort  Cornwallis, 
while  the  tenure  of  Grierson  was  confided  to  militia. 

Colonel  Lee  confesses  that  he  was  "considerably  ruffled"  at  the  contempt- 
uous treatment  which  Major  Eggleston  received,  and  that  his  determination 
was  to  enter  into  no  ctmiinunication  with  the  British  commander  until  it  was 
solicited  by  himself 

.After  careful  consideration  of  the  situation  it  was  resolved  to  drive  Grier- 
son out  of  his  fort,  and  either  capture  or  destroy  him  in  his  retreat  upon  Corn- 
wallis. To  this  end  arrangements  were  speedily  made.  General  Pickens  and 
Colonel  Clarke,  with  the  militia,  were  to  attack  from  the  north  and  west.  Major 
Eaton,  with  his  battalion,  was  to  approach  the  fort  from  the  south  and  co-op- 
erate with  the  militia,  while  Colonel  Lee,  with  the  infantry  and  artillery,  moving 
southeast  of  the  lagoon  and  parallel  with  Eaton,  was  to  hold  himself  in  readi- 
ness either  to  support  his  attack,  if  required,  or  to  attend  to  the  movements  of 
Brown  should  he  quit  his  defenses  and  interpose  for  the  salvation  of  Grierson. 
Major  Jackson  with  his  Georgia  militia  was  to  accompany  and  act  under  the 
orders  of  Major  Eaton.  The  cavalry  under  Eggleston  were  ordered  to  draw 
near  to  Fort  Cornwallis,  keeping  under  cover  of  the  wood  and  prepared  to  fall 
upon  Brown's  rear  should  he  advance  against  Lee.  Promptly  did  the  com- 
mands respond  to  the  duties  to  which  they  were  respectively  assigned. 

Most  vigorous  were  the  attacks  by  Pickens  and  Eaton.  Lee's  movement 
being  open  to  view,  Brown,  withdrawing  his  garrison  and  leading  out  two  field- 
pieces,  advanced  as  though  he  purposed  delivering  battle  in  aid  of  Grierson. 
Upon  second  thought  d^'cming  it  too  hazardous  to  persevere  in  this  attempt, 
he  checked  his  forward  movement  and  confined  his  interposition  to  a  cannon- 
ade which  was  returned  by  Lee,  little  effect  being  produced  on  either  side. 
Findin*^  his  resistance  fruitless,  Grierson  determined  to  evacuate  his  fort  and 
escape  with  his  command  to  Fort  Cornwallis  Throwing  open  the  gate  the 
garrison  rushed  dinvn  the  lagoon  to  the  river  bank  and  under  its  cover  en- 
deavored to  make  their  wa\-  to  Cornwallis.  In  the  perilous  attempt  thirty  were 
killed  and  forty- five  were  wounded  and  captured.  Comparatively  few  succeeded 
in  escaping.     The  m;ijor  of  the  garrison  was  killed  and  the  lieutenant-colonel 


'  The  trend  of  this  lagoon,  commencing  at  the  Beaver  Dam,  was  generally  along  the  pres- 
ent line  of  Ciimming  Street.  Before  reaching  Broad  Street  it  turned  westwardly  into  what  is 
now  called  Kollock  Street,  and  followed  the  direction  of  that  street  to  the  Savannah  River.  It 
was  known  as  Campbell's  Gut. 

"The  site  of  this  fort  is  now  occu])ied,  or  very  nearly  so,  by  the  Rii'ersule  Mills. 


Siege  of  Augusta.  117 


captured.  After  surrendering,  Colonel  Grierson  himself  was  shot  to  death  by 
a  Georgia  rifleman.  So  cruel  had  been  his  practices,  and  so  odious  was  his 
character,  that  the  troops  could  not  be  restrained  from  inflicting  this  summary 
punishment,  wholly  unjustified  as  it  was  by  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare.  Al- 
though a  reward  was  offered  by  the  American  commanders  for  the  naming  and 
apprehension  of  the  party  by  whom  the  deed  had  been  committed,  no  disclos- 
ure occurred.  Captain  McCalP  intimates  that  he  was  shot  by  one  of  the  sons 
of  the  venerable  Mr.  Alexander  in  revenge  for  the  indignities  heaped  upon 
that  aged  patriot.  Doubtless  it  was  well  known  in  the  army  whose  hand 
pulled  the  fatal  trigger;  but,  as  the  information  was  not  officially  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  commander,  no  notice  was  taken  of  the  affair  beyond  the 
vain  offer  of  the  reward  to  which  allusion  has  been  made.  "The  militia  of 
Georgia  under  Colonel  Clarke,"  says  the  author  of  "  Memoirs  of  the  War  in 
the  Southern  Department  of  the  United  States,"  "were  so  exasperated  by  the 
cruelties  mutually  inflicted  in  the  course  of  the  war  in  this  State  that  they  were 
disposed  to  have  sacrificed  every  man  taken,  and  with  great  difficulty  was  this 
disposition  now  suppressed.  Poor  Grierson  and  several  others  had  been  killed 
after  surrender,  and  although  the  American  commandants  used  every  exertion 
and  offered  a  large  reward  to  detect  the  murderers,  no  discovery  could  be 
made.  In  no  part  of  the  South  was  the  war  conducted  with  such  asperity  as 
in  this  quarter.      It  often  sunk  into  barbarity." 

Alt'hough  the  American  loss  was  trivial,  it  involved  the  death  of  Major 
Eaton  of  North  Carolina,  an  excellent  and  beloved  officer,  who  "fell  gallantly 
at  the  head  of  his  battalion  in  the  moment  of  victory." 

Perceiving  that  he  had  to  deal  with  officers  skilled  in  the  art  of  war,  and 
that  the  investing  force  was  bent  upon  his  capture.  Colonel  Brown  expended 
every  energy  in  adding  to  the  security  of  his  position.  With  fiendish  malig- 
nity he  placed  in  the  bastion  of  his  fort  most  exposed  to  the  fire  of  the  Ameri- 
can rifles,  the  aged  Alexander  and  other  prisoners  who  had  long  pined  in  cap- 
tivity. Among  the  companies  closely  investing  Cornwallis  was  one  com- 
manded by  Captain  Samuel  Alexander.  It  was  a  hellish  deed,  this  subjecting 
a  parent  to  the  chances  of  death  at  the  hand  of  a  devoted  son. 

Nothing  now  remained  for  the  Americans  but,  by  regular  approaches,  to 
compel  a  surrender.  Accordingly  the  troops  were  set  to  work  with  all  the 
tools  which  could  be  collected  from  neighboring  plantations,  and  with  such  as 
had  been  captured  at  Fort  Galphin.  Fort  Cornwallis  being  near  the  Savan- 
nah River,  and  the  bank  of  that  stream  affording  additional  protection  to  the 
enemy,  it  was  lesolved  to  break  ground  in  that  quarter  and  to  extend  the 
works  of  the  besiegers  towards  the  left  and  rear  of  the  fort.  Brigadier-Gen- 
eral Pickens,  with  the  militia,  took  post  in  the  woods  on  the  British  left,  while 
Lieutenant- Colonel   Lee  with  his  corps   established   himself  in  a   large   brick 

'^  H/sfo/y  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.  p.  374.     Savannah.     1816. 


ii8  History  of  Augusta. 


building,  the  mansion  house  of  a  gentleman  ^  vvjio  had  joined  the  enemy,  situ- 
ated just  south  of  the  confluence  of  the  lagoon  with  the  Savannah  River. 

The  condition  of  the  wounded  prisoners  required  medical  stores  and  atten- 
tion which  could  not  be  supplied  in  the  American  camp.  Privilege  was  asked 
to  apply  to  Colonel  Brown  for  this  needed  assistance.  Pickens  and  Lee  an- 
swered "  that  after  the  ungracious  determination  to  stop  all  intercourse  an- 
nounced by  the  commandant  of  Fort  Cornwallis,  disposed  as  they  were  to 
obey  the  dictates  of  humanity,  it  could  not  be  expected  that  any  consideration 
would  prevail  with  them  again  to  expose  the  American  flag  to  contumely." 
To  the  captive  officer  who  preferred  the  request  permission  was  granted  to 
wait  upon  Colonel  Brown,  with  the  pledge  that  he  would  immediately  return 
so  soon  as  his  reply  was  had.  A  letter  was  prepared  expressing  the  regret 
with  which  the  American  commanders  allowed  a  flag  to  pass  from  their  camp, 
though  borne  by  a  British  officer,  after  the  treatment  experienced  on  a  recent 
occasion,  and  assuring  the  commandant  of  Fort  Cornwallis  "  that  no  consider- 
ation atTecting  themselves  or  their  troops  would  ever  have  led  to  such  a  con- 
descension." To  this  letter  Brown  returned  a  polite  response,  offering  excuses 
for  his  former  conduct. 

Although  the  American  works  progressed  with  commendable  rapidity  and 
began  to  assume  formidable  proportions,  so  level  was  the  ground  that  it  was 
found  to  be  a  very  difficult  matter  to  secure  a  platform  sufficiently  elevated  to 
render  the  only  reliable  field- piece  in  camp  effective  in  casting  its  projectiles 
within  the  fort.  Under  the  circumstances  it  was  deemed  proper  to  construct  a 
"  Mayham  tower,"  which  had  proved  so  valuable  in  the  reduction  of  Fort  Wat- 
son.     Orders   were   issued  for  cutting  and   transporting  the  necessary  timber. 

While  Colonel  Brown  had  up  to  this  point  patiently  contemplated  the 
American  approaches,  the  heaps  of  fresh  eartli  seen  day  by  day  within  the  fq^t 
indicated  that  he  had  been  busily  engaged  in  some  counter  operations.  On 
the  28th,  at  midnight,  he  fell  with  great  vigor  upon  the  American  works  in  the 
river  quarter  and  drove  out  the  guard.  It  was  only  after  a  severe  conflict,  in 
which  Captain  Handy,  commanding  the  support,  played  a  conspicuous  part, 
that  the  trenches  were  regained  and  the  enemy  forced  to  seek  shelter  in  the 
fort.  This  vehement  attempt  to  destroy  tlie  approaches  induced  Colonel  Lee 
to  detail  his  infantry  for  their  protection  during  the  night  time.  To  this  spe- 
cial service  were  they  assigned,  being  relieved  from  all  other  dut)-.  "  On  the 
succeeding  night  Brown  renewed  his  attempt  in  the  same  quarter,  and,  for  a 
long  time,  the  struggle  was  coutmucd  v/ith  mutual  pertinacity  till  at  length 
Captain  Rudolph,  by  a  combined  charge,  with  the  bayonet  cleared  the  trenches, 
driving  the  enemy  with  loss  into  his  stronghold." 

During  the  night  of  the  30th,  and  on  the  ensuing  day,  the  tower  was 
raised  nearly  on  a  level  with  the  parapet  of  the  fort.     Its  interior  was  filled 


Probably  Mr.  Kdward   F.  Campbell. 


Siege  of  Augusta.  119 


with  fascines,  earth,  stone,  brick,  and  every  available  material  calculated  to 
impart  strength  and  solidity  to  the  structure.  "  At  the  same  time  the  adjacent 
works  in  rear  of  the  fort  were  vigorously  pushed  to  the  enemy's  left  to  connect 
them  with  the  tower  which  was  the  point  of  their  termination." 

Perceiving  the  danger  which  threatened.  Brown  resolved  to  destroy  this 
tower.  In  anticipation  of  the  execution  of  such  a  purpose  the  lines  in  that 
quarter  were  doubly  manned,  and  Handy's  infantry  was  conveniently  posted 
in  support.  Captains  Handy  and  Rudolph  were  placed  in  charge  of  the  lines, 
and  a  company,  armed  with  muskets,  was  detailed  for  the  protection  of  the 
tower.  Before  midnight,  on  the  31st  of  May,  the  British  commander,  with  the 
strength  of  his  garrison,  made  a  desperate  sortie  against  the  American  works, 
which,  although  it  entailed  considerable  loss,  was  eventually  repulsed.  Foiled 
in  his  efforts,  he  resorted  to  the  construction  of  an  elevated  platform  in  the 
angle  of  his  fort  just  opposite  the  "  Mayham  tower."  Upon  it  two  of  his  heav- 
iest pieces  of  ordnance  were  mounted.  With  these  he  opened  fire  upon  the 
tower.  Regardless  of  this  annoyance,  the  builders  continued  their  labors. 
On  the  1st  of  June  the  tower  was  completed,  an  ambrasure  cut,  and  the  six- 
pounder  gun  lifted  into  position.  From  its  elevated  platform  this  gun  speedily 
dismounted  the  two  pieces  in  the  fort,  raked  its  interior,  and  commanded  it 
entirely,  with  the  exception  of  the  segment  nearest  the  tower  and  a  few  points 
sheltered  by  traverses.  Wishing  to  shun  needless  slaughter,  and  confident  that 
their  operations  would  speedily  eventuate  in  the  reduction  of  Fort  Cornwallis, 
General  Pickens  and  Colonel  Lee,  on  the  31st  of  May,  sent  a  flag  to  Colonel 
Brown  covering  this  communication  : 

"  Sir, — The  usage  of  war  renders  it  necessary  that  we  present  you  with  an 
opportunity  of  avoiding  the  destruction  which  impends  your  garrison. 

"We  have  deferred  our  summons  to  this  late  date  to  preclude  the  necessity 
of  much  correspondence  on  the  occasion.  You  see  the  strength  of  the  invad- 
ing forces,  the  progress  of  our  works  :  and  you  may  inform  yourself  of  the 
situation  of  the  two  armies  by  inquiries  from  Captain  Armstrong  of  the  Legion 
who  has  the  honour  to  bear  this." 

Colonel  Brown's  response  was  characteristic  of  the  man: 

"  Gentlemen, — What  progress  you  have  made  in  your  works  I  am  no 
stranger  to.  It  is  my  duty  and  inclination  to  defend  this  place  to  the  last 
extremity." 

Balked  in  his  attempts  to  destroy  the  "  Mayham  tower  "  by  force  of  arms. 
Brown  resorted  to  the  following  stratagem.  During  the  night  of  the  ist  of 
June  a  wily  Scotchman,  a  sergeant  of  artillery,  made  his  appearance  in  the 
American  camp  in  the  character  of  a  deserter  from  Fort  Cornwallis.  Brought 
before  General  Pickens  and  Colonel  Lee,  and  being  interrogated  with  regard 
to  the  effect  produced  by  the  six-pounder  gun  and  as  to  the  situation  of  the 
€nemy,  he  answered  that  the  erection  of  the  tower  gave  an  advantage  which. 


120  History  of  Augusta. 


if  properly  improved,  would  not  fail  in  forcing  a  surrender,  but  that  the  garri- 
son had  not  suffered  as  much  as  might  have  been  expected.  He  added  that  it 
was  amply  supplied  with  provisiofis  and  that  it  was  in  high  spirits.  "  In  the 
course  of  the  conversation  which  followed,"  says  Colonel  Lee,  "  I  inquired  in 
what  way  could  the  effect  of  the  cannonade  be  increased  ?  Very  readily,  re- 
plied the  crafty  sergeant  :  that  knowing  the  spot  where  all  the  powder  in  the 
fort  was  deposited,  with  red  hot  balls  from  the  six  pounder,  directed  properly, 
the  magazine  might  be  blown  up.  This  intelligence  was  received  with  delight, 
and  the  suggestion  of  the  sergeant  seized  with  avidity,  although  it  would  be 
very  difificult  to  prepare  our  ball  as  we  were  unprovided  with  a  furnace.  It 
was  proposed  to  the  sergeant  that  he  should  be  sent  to  the  officer  command- 
ing our  battery  and  give  his  aid  to  the  execution  of  his  suggestion,  with  assur- 
ances of  liberal  reward  in  case  of  success.  This  proposition  was  heard  with 
much  apparent  reluctance,  although  every  disposition  to  bring  the  garrison  to 
submission  was  exhibited  by  the  sergeant  who  pretended  that  Brown  had  done 
him  many  personal  injuries  in  the  course  of  service.  But,  he  added,  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  put  himself  in  danger  of  capture,  as  he  well  knew  he 
should  be  executed  on  a  gibbet  if  taken. 

"  A  good  supper  was  now  presented  to  him  with  his  grog  :  which,  being 
finished,  and  being  convinced  by  the  arguments  of  Lee  that  his  personal  safety 
could  not  be  endangered  as  it  was  not  desired  or  meant  that  he  should  take 
any  part  in  the  siege,  but  merely  to  attend  at  the  tower  to  direct  the  pointing 
of  the  piece,  he  assented,  declaring  that  he  entered  upon  his  task  with  dire 
apprehensions,  and  reminding  the  lieutenant  colonel  of  his  promised  reward. 
Lee  instantly  put  him  in  care  of  his  adjutant  to  be  delivered  to  Captain  Finley, 
with  the  information  communicated,  for  the  purpose  of  blowing  up  the  enemy's 
magazine. 

"  It  was  midnight,  and  Lieutenant  Colonel  Lee  expecting  on  the  next  day 
to  be  much  engaged — our  preparations  being  nearly  completed,  —  retired  to 
rest.  Reflecting  upon  what  had  passed,  and  recurring  to  the  character  of  his 
adversary,  he  became  much  disquieted  by  the  step  he  had  taken,  and  soon  con- 
cluded to  withdraw  the  sergeant  from  the  tower.  He  had  not  been  many  min- 
utes with  Captain  Finley  before  an  order  remanding  him  was  delivered,  com- 
mitting him  to  the  quarter  guard."  ' 

Fortunate  was  it  that  this  pretended  deserter  was  quickly  placed  in  con- 
finement. It  subsequently  transpired  that  he  had  been  sent  out  by  Colonel 
Brown  for  the  express  purpose  of  destroying  by  fire  the  Mayham  tower.  Col- 
onel Lee  at  first  was  entirely  deceived  by  him,  and  unwittingly  issued  an  order 
which  exactly  coincided  with  the  scheme  of  the  sergeant  and  afforded  him  a 
favorable  opportunity  of  fulfilling  his  mission. 

'  Lee's  Memoirs  of  the  War  in  t/ie  Soitf/iern  Department  of  tJte  United  States,  vol.  ii.  pp. 
105-107.     Philadelphia.     181 2. 


Siege  of  Augusta.  121 


On  the  morning  of  the  2d  of  June  the  besiegers  were  saluted  with  another 
exhibition  of  the  activity  and  strategy  of  the  British  commander  which  came 
very  near  inflicting  frightful  loss.  Between  the  quarters  of  Colonel  Lee  and 
the  fort  stood  four  or  five  deserted  houses,  some  of  them  so  near  the  latter  that 
they  would  afford  convenient  shelter  to  riflemen  delivering  their  fire  from  the 
upper  stories.  They  had  been  suffered  to  remain  because  Pickens  and  Lee 
hoped  to  utilize  them  upon  the  final  assault  for  which  preparations  were  being 
made.  Sallying  out  just  before  the  break  of  day,  Colonel  Brown  burned  all  of 
these  dwellings  save  the  two  nearest  the  fort.  Why  these  were  spared  many 
were  at  a  loss  to  conjecture.  The  reason  became  manifest  at  a  later  stage  of 
operations. 

Still  desirous  of  compassing  a  surrender  without  resorting  to  an  assault, 
General  Pickens  and  Colonel  Lee,  on  the  3d  of  June,  repeated  their  summons 
in  the  following  language  : 

"Sir,  —  It  is  not  our  disposition  to  press  the  unfortunate.  To  prevent  the 
effusion  of  blood,  which  must  follow  perseverance  in  your  fruitless  resistance, 
we  inform  you  we  are  willing,  though  in  the  grasp  of  victory,  to  grant  such 
terms  as  a  comparative  view  of  our  respective  situations  can  warrant. 

"Your  determination  will  be  considered  as  conclusive,  and  will  regulate 
our  conduct." 

Still  unyielding,  and  with  characteristic  boldness  courting  the  chances  of  the 
future,  Brown  responded  : 

"F'ORT  CORNWALLis,  June  3,  1781. 
"Gentlemen, —  I  have  the  honour  to  acknowledge  the   receipt  of  your 
summons  of  this  day,  and  to  assure   you   that,  as  it  is  my  duty,  it  is  likewise 
my  inclination,  to  defend  this  post  to  the  last  extremity." 

The  fire  of  the  six-pounder  gun  was  mainly  directed  against  the  parapet 
of  the  fort  fronting  on  the  river.  Toward  that  quarter  it  was  proposed  that 
the  main  attack  should  be  launched.  Orders  were  issued  for  a  general 
assault  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  4th.  During  the  night  of  the 
3d  the  best  marksmen  from  Pickens'  militia  were  sent  to  the  house  nearest  the 
fort.  The  officer  in  command  was  instructed  to  arrange  his  men  in  the  upper 
story  so  as  to  ascertain  how  many  of  them  could  be  used  to  advantage,  and 
then  to  withdraw  and  report  to  the  commanding  general.  It  was  intended 
that  this  structure  should  be  occupied  by  the  same  officer  with  such  a  force  of 
riflemen  as  he  should  declare  to  be  sufficient.  To  Handy's  Marylanders  and 
the  infantry  of  the  legion  was  the  main  assault  from  the  river  quarter  entrusted. 
Due  preparation  having  been  made,  the  troops  remained  at  their  stations, 
^'pleased  that  the  time  was  near  which  would  close  with  success  their  severe 
toils." 

"About  three  in  the  morning  of  the  4th  of  June,"  says  Colonel  Lee,2  "we 

-'Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii.  p.  109. 
Philadelphia.     181 2.  ig 


122  History  of  Augusta. 


were  aroused  by  a  violent  explosion  which  was  soon  discovered  to  have  shat- 
tered the  very  house  intended  to  be  occupied  by  the  rifle  party  before  day- 
break. It  was  severed  and  thrown  into  the  air  thirty  or  forty  feet  higli  ;  its 
fragments  falling  all  over  the  field.  This  explained  at  once  not  only  the  cause 
of  Brown's  omitting  its  destruction,  but  also  communicated  the  object  of  the 
constant  digging  which  had,  until  lately,  employed  the  besieged. 

"Brown  pushed  a  sap  to  this  house  which  he  presumed  would  be  certainly 
possessed  by  the  besieger  when  ready  to  strike  his  last  blow  ;  and  he  con- 
cluded, from  the  evident  maturity  of  our  works  and  from  the  noise  made  by 
the  militia  when  sent  to  the  house  in  the  first  part  of  the  night  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ascertaining  the  number  competent  to  its  capacity,  that  the  approach- 
ing morning  was  fixed  for  the  general  assault.  Not  doubting  but  the  house 
was  occupied  with  the  body  destined  to  hold  it,  he  determined  to  deprive  his 
adversary  of  every  aid  from  this  quarter :  hoping  too,  by  the  consternation 
which  the  manner  of  destruction  could  not  fail  to  excite,  to  damp  the  ardor 
of  the  troops  charged  with  storming." 

It  was  indeed  a  narrow  escape.  Even  in  his  extremity  Brown  was  fruitful 
in  resources.  His  resolution  never  forsook  him,  and  his  blows  were  vigorous 
to  the  last. 

As  the  army  was  waiting  the  signal  for  the  assault,  the  American  com- 
manders, moved  by  the  perilous  situation  of  the  captives,  who  had  long  been 
held   in    confinement   within    tiie   fort,   made    this   appeal  to  its  commanding 

officer : 

"Headquarters,  June  4,  1781. 

"  Sir, — We  beg  leave  to  propose  that  the  prisoners  in  your  possession  may 
be  sent  out  of  the  fort,  and  that  they  may  be  considered  yours  or  ours  as  the 
siege  may  terminate. 

"Confident  that  you  cannot  refuse  this  dictate  of  humanity  and  custom  of 
war,  we  have  only  to  say  that  any  request  from  you  a  similar  nature  will  meet 
with  our  assent." 

It  was  urged  in  vain,  as  the  following  response  testifies: 

"  Gentlemen,  —  Though  motives  of  humanity,  and  a  feeling  for  the  dis- 
tresses  of  individuals,  incline  me  to  accede  to  what  you    have   proposed  con-  - 
cerning   the   prisoners   with   us,    yet   many    reasons   to  which   you   cannot  be 
strangers  forbid  my  complying  with  this  requisition. 

"Such  attention  as  I  can  show,  consistently  with  good  policy  and  my  duty, 
shall  be  shown  to  them." 

Before  an  advance  was  ordered,  an  officer  with  a  flag  was  seen  approach- 
ing from  Fort  Cornwallis.  He  bore  this  message  from  Colonel  Brown  to  Gen- 
eral Pickens  and  Colonel  Lee  : 

"  Gentlemen, —  In  your  summons  of  the  3d  instant,  no  particular  con- 
ditions were  specified:   I  postponed  the  consideration  of  it  to  this  day. 


Articles  of  Capitulation.  123 


"From  a  desire  to  lessen  the  distresses  of  war  to  individuals,  I  am  inclined 
to  propose  to  you  my  acceptance  of  the  inclosed  terms,  which,  being  pretty 
similar  to  those  granted  to  the  commanding  officers  of  the  American  troops 
and  garrison  in  Charlestown,  I  imagine  will  be  honourable  to  both  parties." 

It  being  now  manifest  that  a  surrender  would  be  compassed  without  a 
final  appeal  to  arms,  operations  were  suspended  for  the  day,  and  the  com- 
manding officers  turned  their  attention  to  negotiations  which  culminated  on 
the  following  morning  in  the  proposal  and  acceptance  of  these  articles  of  capit- 
ulation : 

"Article  I.  That  all  acts  of  hostilities  and  works  shall  cease  between  the 
besiegers  and  besieged  until  the  articles  of  capitulation  shall  be  agreed  on, 
signed,  and  executed,  or  collectively  rejected, 

''Answer.  Hostilities  shall  cease  for  one  hour;  other  operations  to  con- 
tinue. 

"Article  II.  That  the  fort  shall  be  surrendered  to  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  American  troops  such  as  it  now  stands.  That  the  King's  troops, 
three  days  after  signing  the  articles  of  capitulation,  shall  be  conducted  to 
Savannah  with  their  baggage,  where  they  will  remain  prisoners  of  war  until 
they  are  exchanged :  that  proper  conveyances  shall  be  provided  by  the  com- 
manding officer  of  the  American  troops  for  that  purpose,  together  witli  a  suf- 
ficient quantity  of  good  and  wholesome  provisions  till  their  arrival  in  Savan- 
nah. 

''Answer.  Inadmissible.  The  prisoners  to  surrender  field  prisoners  of 
war.  The  officers  to  be  indulged  with  their  paroles :  the  soldiers  to  be  con- 
ducted to  such  place  as  the  commander-in-chief  shall  direct. 

"Article  III.  The  militia  now  in  garrison  shall  be  permitted  to  return 
to  their  respective  homes,  and  be  secured  in  their  persons  and  properties. 

"Answer.  Answered  by  the  second  article,  the  militia  making  part  of  the 
garrison. 

"Article  IV.  The  sick  and  wounded  shall  be  under  the  care  of  their 
own  .surgeons,  and  be  supplied  with  such  medicines  and  necessaries  as  are 
allowed  in  the  British  hospitals. 

"Answer.      Agreed. 

"Article  V.  The  officers  of  the  garrison,  and  citizens  who  have  borne 
arms  during  the  siege,  shall  keep  their  side  arms,  pistols,  and  baggage  which 
shall  not  be  searched,  and  retain  their  servants. 

"Answer.  The  officers  and  citizens  who  have  borne  arms  during  the  siege 
shall  be  permitted  their  side  arms,  private  baggage  and  servants ;  their  side 
arms  not  to  be  worn,  and  the  baggage  to  be  searched  by  a  person  appointed 
for  that  purpose. 

"Article  VI.  The  garrison  at  an  hour  appointed  shall  march  out,  with 
shouldered  arms  and  drums  beating,  to  a  place  to  be  agreed  on  where  they 
-will  pile  their  arms. 


124  History  of  Augusta. 


''Answer.  Agreed.  The  judicious  and  gallant  defence  made  by  the  gar- 
rison entitles  them  to  every  mark  of  military  respect.  The  fort  to  be  delivered 
up  to  Captain  Rudolph  at  twelve  o'clock,  who  will  take  possession  with  a 
detachment  of  the  Legion  infantry. 

"Article  VII.  That  the  citizens  shall  be  protected  in  their  persons  and 
properties. 

"Anszver.      Inadmissible. 

"Article  VIII.  That  twelve  months  shall  be  allowed  to  all  such  as  do 
not  choose  to  reside  in  this  country,  to  dispose  of  their  effects,  real  and  per- 
sonal, in  this  Province,  without  any  molestation  whatever,  or  to  remove  to  any 
part  thereof  as  they  may  choose,  as  well  themselves  as  families. 

"Afiszcer.     Inadmissible. 

"Article  IX.  That  the  Indian  families  now  in  garrison  shall  accompany 
the  King's  troops  to  Savannah,  where  they  will  remain  prisoners  of  war  until 
exchanged  for  an  equal  number  of  prisoners  in  the  Creek  or  Cherokee  nations. 

''Answei'.      Answered  in  the  second  article. 

"Article  X.  That  an  express  be  permitted  to  go  to  Savannah  with  the 
commanding  officer's  dispatches,  which  are  not  to  be  opened. 

"Auszvcr.      Agreed. 

"Article  XI.  (Additional)  The  particular  attention  of  Colonel  Brown 
is  expected  towards  the  just  delivery  of  all  public  stores,  moneys,  &c  ,  and 
that  no  loans  be  permitted  to  defeat  the  spirit  of  this  article. 

"Signed  at  Headquarters,  Augusta,  June  5th,  1781,  by 

Andrew  Pickens,  B.  G.  Mil. 
Henry  Lee,  Jun'",  Lieut.  Col.  coin. 
Thomas  Brown, 
Lieut.  Coi.  eommanding  King  s  troops  at  Augusta.'''^ 

The  postponement  of  the  surrender  until  the  5th  was  very  gratifying  to 
Colonel  Brown,  as  the  4th  was  the  anniversary  of  the  birthday  of  the  king. 

For  some  time  prior  to  this  capitulation,  so  destructive  was  the  fire  main- 
tained by  the  Americans,  especially  from  the  six-pounder  gun  mounted  in  the 
"  Mayham  tower  "  which  searched  almost  every  part  of  the  fort,  that  the  be- 
.sieged  were  compelled  to  dig  holes  in  the  earth  for  their  protection.  Any  ex- 
posure of  the  person  during  the  day  involved  almost  certain  death.'  At  eight 
o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  5th  the  British  garrison,  some  three  hundred 
strong,  marched  out  of  Fort  Cornwallis  and  Major  Randolph  took  possession 
of  it.      Captain  Armstrong  of  the  dragoons,  with  a  safeguard,  was  detailed  to 

1  See  Ramsay's  History  of  the  Revolution  of  South  Carolina,  vol.  ii.  p.  497.  Trenton. 
MDCCLXXXV.  Tarleton's  History  of  the  Campaigns  of  1780  and  1781,  etc.,  p.  493.  London. 
MDCCLXXXVii.  Lee's  Memoirs  of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department  of  the  Utiited 
5/a/«,  vol.  ii.  p.  I  I  5.     Philadelphia.      181 2. 

'See  Ramsay's  History  of  t/ie  Ret'otiition  of  South  Carolina,  vol.  ii.,  p.  239.  Trenton 
MDCCLXXXV. 


Major  James  Jackson  Assigned  Command.  125:. 

protect  Colonel  Brown  from  the  threatened  violence  of  the  militia  who,  justly 
incensed  at  his  mitiy  bloody  deeds  and  acts  of  tyrann}',  eagerly  sought  his 
life.  Young  McKay,  whose  brother  had  been  inhumanly  put  to  death  by 
Brown  at  Wiggin's  Hill,  watched  an  opportunity  to  shoot  the  British  com- 
mander. He  was  conducted  to  Colonel  Lee's  quarters  where  he  remained 
until  the  next  day,  when  he  and  a  few  of  his  officers  were  paroled  and  sent 
down  the  river  to  Savannah  under  the  charge  of  Captain  Armstrong  and  a 
party  of  infantry  instructed  to  guard  him  until  he  was  beyond  the  reach  of 
danger.  At  Silver  Bluff  he  was  recognized  by  Mrs.  McKay  who  accosted  him 
thus:  "  Colonel  Brown,  in  the  late  day  of  your  prosperity  I  visited  your  camp 
and  on  my  knees  supplicated  for  the  life  of  my  son,  but  you  were  deaf  to  my 
entreaties.  You  hanged  him,  though  a  beardless  youth,  before  my  face.  These 
eyes  have  seen  him  scalped  by  the  savages  under  your  immediate  command, 
and  for  no  better  reason  than  that  his  name  was  McKay.  As  you  are  now 
prisoner  to  the  leaders  of  my  country,  for  the  present  I  lay  aside  all  thoughts 
of  revenge  ;  but  when  you  resume  your  sword  I  will  go  five  hundred  miles  to 
demand  satisfaction- at  the  point  of  it  for  the  murder  of  my  son."i 

The  loss  sustained  by  the  British  was  fifty-two  killed  and  three  hundred 
and  thirty  four  wounded  and  captured.  Sixteen  of  the  Americans  were  slain 
and  thirty-five  wounded. 

Shortly  after  the  capitulation  General  Pickens  and  Colonel  Lee,  with  the 
prisoners,  crossed  the  Savannah  River  and  joined  General  Greene,  who  was 
still  conducting  the  investment  of  Ninety-Six.  Heartily  welcomed  were  these 
officers  and  their  commands.  To  them  was  General  Greene  pleased  to  ex- 
press in  general  orders  "the  high  sense  he  entertained  of  their  merit  and  ser-- 
vice."  His  thanks  were  also  publicly  rendered  for  the  "  zeal  and  vigor  exhib- 
ited in  the  execution  of  the  duty  assigned  to  them." 

To  Major  James  Jackson,  whose  early  exertions  paved  the  way  for  the  final 
reduction  of  the  post,  was  the  command  of  Augusta  entrusted.  Here  he  re- 
mained, with  occasional  absences  on  important  enterprises,  until  the  assem- 
bling of  the  Legislature  in  August,  1781,  when  Dr.  Nathan  Brownson  was 
elected  governor,  and  Colonel  John  Twiggs,  in  consideration  of  his  long  and 
meritorious  services,  was  complimented  with  the  commission  of  brigadier-gen- 
eral,2  Meanwhile,  acting  under  authority  conferred  by  General  Greene,  he 
had  raised  a  partisan  legion  in  command  of  which  he  continued  until  the  close 
of  the  war. 

Among  the  stores  in  Fort  Cornwallis,  subject  to  distribution  among  the 
captors,  was  a  quantity  of  Indian  goods.  It  being  found  impracticable  to 
divide  them  out  without  encumbering  too   much  the  troops  still  engaged  in-.. 


1  Ramsay's   History   of  the   Revolution   of  South    Carolina,  vol.  ii.,   p.  240.     Trenton... 
MDCCLXXXV.  ^ 

2  See  Chariton's  Life  of  Jackson,  Part  I.,  p.  34.     Augusta.     1809. 


126  History  of  Augusta. 


active  service,  that  portion  falling  to  the  lot  of  the  Georgians  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  John  Burnet,  with  directions  to  transport  these  goods  to  some  safe 
place  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  where  they  were  to  be  kept  until  a  suit- 
able opportunit)'  arose  for  their  equitable  distribution.  Burnet  always  pro- 
fessed an  ardent  attachment  to  the  American  cause.  Under  pretense  of  har- 
assing the  loyalists  in  the  low  country,  he  had  recently,  with  some  followers, 
visited  some  of  the  wealthy  settlements  south  of  Savannah  and  indiscriminately 
robbed  friends  and  foes  of  their  slaves  and  personal  property.  He  then  held  in 
the  vicinity  of  Augusta  some  sixty  negroes  whom  he  had  thus  captured.  Pro- 
fessing that  he  had  taken  them  from  loyalists,  and  offering  to  throw  them  into 
hotch-pot  with  the  goods  so  that  a  more  generous  dividend  might  be  declared  to 
Georgia  soldiers  who,  during  the  war,  had  borne  heavy  burthens  and  sustained 
grievious  losses,  he  so  won  the  confidence  of  officers  and  men  that  the  booty 
was  delivered  into  his  custody.  Undertaking  to  remove  it  beyond  all  possible 
recaption  by  the  enemy,  he  journeyed  towards  the  mountains  of  Upper  Geor- 
gia. Once  fairly  out  of  reach,  he  disclosed  to  his  companions  his  design  of 
quitting  the  country  and  appropriating  this  spoil.  Sympathizing  in  the  ras- 
cally purpose,  they  assisted  him  in  making  his  way  to  the  Ohio  River  where, 
procuring  boats,  they  passed  down  to  Natchez  and  there  divided  the  stolen 
property.^  Thus  were  the  Georgia  troops  who  participated  in  the  reduction  of 
Augusta  defrauded  out  of  their  share  of  the  booty. 

The  capture  of  Augusta,  while  it  raised  the  spirits  of  the  republicans  to 
a  high  pitch  of  exultation  and  encouraged  the  faint  hearted  to  emerge  from 
their  hiding-places  and  stand  up  like  men  in  the  ranks  of  the  Revolutionists, 
exerted  a  most  depressing  influence  upon  the  minds  and  hopes  of  the  king's 
servants.  Governor  Wright,  at  Savannah,  called  so  lustily  for  aid  that  Lord 
Rawdon,  weak  as  he  was,  was  persuaded  to  part  with  the  king's  American 
regiment  and  send  it  from  Charlestown,  in  small  craft  and  without  convoy,  to 
the  relief  of  that  royal  governor.^  In  this  wise  did  he  give  expression  to  his 
distresses  and  apprehensions:  "It  gives  me  the  greatest  concern  to  acquaint 
you  of  the  loss  of  Augusta  by  Colonel  Brown  being  reduced  to  the  necessity 
of  capitulating,  and  as  you  well  know  the  consequences  that  must  be  attendant 
on  this  I  need  say  little,  but  must  observe  that  if  this  Province  is  not  recovered 
from  the  Rebels  without  the  least  delay  I  conceive  it  may  be  too  late  to  pre- 
vent the  whole  from  being  laid  waste  and  totally  destroyed  and  the  people 
ruined.  We  are  now  in  a  most  wretched  situation.  I  shall  not  reflect  on 
the  causes,  but  the  grand  point  is  to  recover  back  what  we  have  lost,  if  it  be 
possible,  and  to  prevent  further  misfortunes  and  injury  to  his  Majesty's  service. 

"  Our  distresses  are  many,  and  how  to  furnish  the  militia  on  actual  duty 


1  See  McCall's  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.,  p.  380.     Savannah,     1816. 

''Tarieton's  Campaigns  of  1780  and  1781,  etc.,  p.  486.     London.     MDCCLXXXIVII. 


March  to  Savannah.  127 


with  rations  I  can't  tell,  for  there  is  not  a  single  barrel  of  beef  or  pork  to  be 
purchased  here,  even  if  I  had  the  money  to  buy  it.  I  trust  therefore.  Sir,  that 
circumstanced  as  we  are  you  will  think  it  for  his  Majesty's  service  and  really 
necessary  to  order  some  of  the  King's  provisions  here  for  the  support  of  the 
militia  on  actual  service,  the  number  of  which,  I  think,  will  be  at  least  what  is 
mentioned  in  the  Minute  of  Council,  besides  those  in  and  about  town  which,  I 
suppose,  amount  to  300."^ 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Military  Operations  Culminating  in  the  Surrender  of  Savannah  —  Plot  to  Murder  Colonel 
Jackson  — Celebration  in  Augusta  upon  the  Acknowledgment  of  the  Independence  of  the 
United  States  —  Charge  of  Chief-Justice  Walton  —  Early  Legislation  Affecting  Augusta  — 
The  City  of  Augusta  Incorporated  in  1798 —  Trustees,  Intendants,  and  Mayors  of  Augusta. 

THE  capture  of  Augusta  was  a  terrible  blow  to  British  domination  in  Geor- 
gia. It  foreshadowed  the  eventual  triumph  of  Republican  arms.  Sir 
James  Wright  recognized  the  handwriting  on  the  wall,  and  confessed  in  his 
dispatches  that  everything  was  "now  in  a  most  wretched  situation."  He  freely 
confessed  that  unless  his  majesty's  forces  were  capable  of  speedily  recovering 
what  had  been  lost,  further  misfortunes  and  injury  would  ensue. 

The  upper  portion  of  Georgia  being  now  under  full  control  of  the  Repub- 
licans, General  Twiggs  directed  his  attention  to  the  repossession  of  the  South- 
ern division.  To  this  end  he  ordered  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Jackson  to 
move  with  his  Georgia  legion,  consisting  of  three  companies  of  cavalry  and 
two  of  infantry,  in  the  direction  of  Savannah,  and  to  occupy  positions  as  near 
the  enemy  as  becoming  caution  would  suggest.  His  general  instructions  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  the  circumstances  of  the 
case  might  justify. 

Jackson's  legion  was  composed  in  part  of  British  deserters  and  Loyalists, 
who,  professing  a  change  of  political  sentiments,  had  abandoned  the  service  of 
the  king.  Dangerous  and  unreliable  was  this  element.  For  its  efficient  con- 
trol strict  discipline  and  tireless  vigilance  were  required.  Not  long  before  the 
receipt  of  these  orders,  and  while  Colonel  Jackson  was  still  in  command  at 
Augusta,  a  nefarious  plot  was  discovered  which  had  been  formed  by  a  portion 
of  his  legion.  The  scheme  was  to  assassinate  the  commanding  officer  in  an 
unguarded  moment  and,  seizing  the  governor  and  as  many  members  of  the 

''Letter  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  Balfotir,  dated  Savannah,  nth  of  June,  1781.     P.  R.  O.. 
Am.  &  W.  Ind.,  vol.  ccxcvii. 


128  History  of  Augusta. 


executive  council  as  were  present  in  the  town,  to  carry  them  ofif  and  turn  them 
over  to  the  British  authorities  in  Savannah.  This  plan  was  quietly  communi- 
cated to  General  Alured  Clarke,  commanding  at  Savannah.  He  cordially 
sympathized  in  it ;  and,  as  a  substantial  proof  of  his  approval,  ordered  Captain 
Brantley  with  forty-five  men  to  proceed  cautiously  to  the  outskirts  of  Augusta, 
join  the  conspirators  under  cover  of  night,  and  co-operate  with  them  in  the 
consummation  of  the  nefarious  project.  Liberal  rewards  were  also  offered  by 
him  as  a  stimulus  to  the  perpetration  of  the  crime. 

The  manner  in  which  this  iniquitous  design  was  frustrated  is  thus  told  by 
Captain  McCall :  i  "  A  faithful  soldier  named  David  Davis,  who  was  the  Col- 
onel's waiter,  discovered  that  there  was  something  in  agitation  of  an  extraor- 
dinary nature  in  the  camp;  and,  in  order  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  the  secret, 
affected  an  extreme  dislike  to  the  Colonel,  and' united  with  the  conspirators  in 
the  use  of  the  most  unqualified  language  of  abuse  and  disrespect  for  him.  Sup- 
posing that  Davis'  situation  would  enable  him  to  be  of  great  service  to  the 
party,  they  lent  a  favorable  ear  to  his  observations.  This  stratagem  had  the 
desired  effect,  and  drew  from  the  traitors  a  disclosure  of  the  diabolical  pur- 
poses in  contemplation,  which  he  immediately  communicated  to  his  Colonel, 
and  informed  him  that  no  time  was  to  be  lost  in  checking  its  progress,  as  it  was 
ripe  for  execution.  The  dragoons,  who  did  not  appear  to  have  been  engaged 
in  the  conspiracy,  were  ordered  to  mount  their  houses  and  repair  to  Colonel 
Jackson's  quarters,  prepared  for  action.  The  infantry  were  ordered  to  parade 
without  arms,  under  pretence  of  searching  for  some  clothing  which  had  been 
stolen  the  preceding  night.  The  dragoons  were  ordered  in  front  with  drawn 
swords,  and  the  ring  leaders  were  seized  and  confined.  A  general  court  mar- 
tial was  ordered  to  convene,  and  the  culprits  were  brought  up  for  trial.  John 
Goodgame,  William  Simmons,  and  one  Honeycut  were  ascertained  to  be  the 
projectors  and  leaders  in  the  conspiracy.  The  court  found  them  guilty  of 
treason  and  sentenced  them  to  suffer  death  by  being  hanged,  and  they  were 
executed  accordingly.  The  remaining  seventeen  turned  State's  evidence,  con- 
fessed their  guilt,  and  were  pardoned  in  consequence  of  their  apparent  peni- 
tence." 

Thus  narrowly  did  a  gallant  officer  escape  assassination.  Thus,  almost  as 
by  accident,  was  preserved  the  life  of  a  patriot  who  had  already  rendered  sig- 
nal service  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and  who,  in  after  years,  as  soldier, 
citizen,  advocate,  senator,  and  chief  magistrate  of  Georgia,  illustrated  in  a  con- 
spicuous degree  all  the  virtues  which  appertain  to  the  civilian,  the  hero,  and 
the  statesman. 

By  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  was  Davis  complimented  for  his  fidelity  to 
his  commander  and  his  attachment  to  the  cause  of  liberty.      In  token  of  the 

"^  History  of  Georgia,  \o\.  ii.  p.  384.     .Savannah.      1816. 


Close  of  the  Campaign.  129 

general  approval  of  his  conduct  he  was  presented  with  five  hundred  acres  of 
valuable  land,  and  with  a  handsome  horse,  saddle  and  bridle. 

Captain  Brantley  had  reached  Spirit  Creek  in  the  execution  of  his  missiorr 
when  he  learned  that  the  plot  had  been  discovered.  Thereupon  he  hastily  re- 
turned to  Savannah. 

In  equipping  his  legion  Colonel  Jackson  depended  upon  the  skill  and  indus- 
try of  his  own  men.  Upon  the  back  of  a  letter  addressed  to  him  by  Thomas 
Hamilton,  one  of  his  infantry  officers,  appears  this  statement  in  the  handwrit- 
ing of  the  colonel  :  "  I  made  all  my  own  accoutrements,  even  to  swords  for  my 
dragoons,  caps,  leather  jackets,  boots,  and  spurs,  and  in  short  every  article."^ 
What  proof  more  convincing  can  be  offered  of  the  limited  resources  of  this 
war-worn  land,  or  of  the  necessities  and  the  ingenuity  of  its  resolute  defenders? 

The  spring  and  summer  of  1781  were  enlivened  by  several  naval  exploits 
on  the  coast,  in  which  Captains  Towell,  McCleur,  Antony,  and  Braddock,  bore 
conspicuous  parts.  The  end  was  now  approaching.  "  It  is  all  over  !"  ex- 
claimed Lord  North  with  the  deepest  agitation  and  distress  when  the  tidings  of 
the  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis  first  reached  England. 

The  potent  effect  of  this  disaster,  and  the  recent  successes  of  General  Greene 
in  South  Carolina,  enabled  that  officer,  in  January,  1782,  to  turn  his  attention 
to  the  relief  of  Georgia.  Lieutenant-Colonel  James  Jackson  had  been  harass- 
ing the  enemy  on  the  Great  Ogeechee,  while  Pickens  and  Twiggs  had  kept  the 
Indians  at  bay.  All  eyes  were  now  turned  to  circumscribing  the  British  forces 
within  the  narrowest  compass.  The  repossession  of  Savannah  engaged  the 
earnest  attention  of  the  patriots.  General  Wayne  was  detached  by  General 
Greene  "  to  reinstate,  as  far  as  possible,  the  authority  of  the  Union  within  the 
limits  of  Georgia."  On  this  mission  the  hero  of  Stony  Point  was  accompanied 
by  one  hundred  of  Moylan's  dragoons,  commanded  by  Colonel  Anthony  Wal- 
ton White,  and  a  detachment  of  field  artillery.  On  the  12th  of  January,  1782^ 
he  crossed  the  Savannah  River.  He  was  soon  joined  by  Colonel  Hamptoa 
with  three  hundred  mounted  men  of  Sumter's  brigade.  The  infantry  and  cav- 
alry of  Jackson's  legion  then  numbered  only  ninety  men.  McCoy's  volunteers 
did  not  exceed  eighty  men  of  all  arms.  To  these  Governor  Martin  hoped  to 
add  three  hundred  Georgia  militia. 

The  duty  assigned  to  General  Wayne  of  maintaining  a  close  watch  upon 
the  enemy,  and,  if  the  occasion  offered,  of  capturing  Savannah  by  a  nocturnal 
assault,  was  so  efficiently  discharged  that  predatory  bands  of  soldiers  and  loy- 
alists were  seldom  seen  beyond  the  lines  of  that  town.  The  customary  inter- 
course of  the  Indians  with  the  garrison  was  restrained.  That  garrison — in- 
cluding a  reinforcement  recently  sent  by  Lord  Rawdon,  and  a  corps  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  negroes,  armed,  enrolled  as  infantry,  and  commanded  by  the 
notorious  Brown, — consisted  of  thirteen  hundred  regular  troops  and  about  five 

1  See  Chadton's  Life  of  Jackson,  part  i.  p.  37.     Augusta.     1809. 


130  History  of  Aucjusta. 

hundred  loyal  militia.  The  town  was  strongly  fortified.  Its  land  approaches 
were  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  these  defenses,  that  the  gallant 
Jackson  on  more  than  one  occasion  demonstrated  even  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  commaded  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  pro- 
visions they  could  collect,  into  Savannah."  This  order  was  rigidly  executed, 
and  the  circumjacent  country  was  so  thoroughly  devastated  that  General 
Wayne  found  it  necessary  to  draw  his  subsistence  from  South  Carolina. 
In  April  Colonel   Posey  arrived  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  Virginians. 

In  May,  General  Wayne  met  and  routed  Colonel  Brown  at  Little  Ogee- 
chee  Causeway  ;  and,  on  the  23d  of  June,  after  a  severe  encounter,  he  overcame 
the  Indian  chief  Guristersigo,  who,  with  three  hundred  followers,  endeavored, 
at  the  dead  of  night,  to  surprise  him  at  Gibbons'  plantation. 

A  crisis  was  reached  in  the  royal  camp  at  Savannah  upon  the  receipt  of  a 
communication  from  Sir  Guy  Carleton,  dated  New  York,  May  23,  1782,  order- 
ing the  evacuation  both  of  that  town  and  of  the  province  of  Georgia,  and  no- 
tifying the  authorities  that  transports  might  be  speedily  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  in- 
telligence created  a  profound  impression  among  soldiers  and  civilians.  The 
latter  were  most  anxious  to  ascertain  what  their  status  would  be  under  the 
■changed  condition  of  affairs,  and  to  secure  pledges  that  they  would  be  unmo- 
lested in  the  enjoyment  of  personal  liberty  and  private  property.  Various  ne- 
gotiations ensued,  which  resulted  in  the  evacuation  of  Savannah  by  the  king's 
forces  on  the  nth  of  July,  1782.  During  the  afternoon  of  that  day  General 
Wayne  entered  with  his  forces  and  took  formal  possession  of  the  town.  To 
Colonel  Jackson  were  the  keys  delivered  at  the  principal  gate  in  token  of  sur- 
render. He  enjoyed  the  pleasure  and  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  enter  Sa- 
vannah, from  which  the  patriots  had  been  forcibly  expelled  in  December,  1778. 
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  Geor- 
gia soil.  Although  no  treaty  of  peace  had  yet  been  consummated  between 
England  and  America,  this  surrender  of  Georgia  into  the  hands  of  the  Repub- 


Celebrating  the  Return  of  Peace.  131 

licans  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  indepen- 
dence of  the  United  States.      And  so  it  proved. 

By  the  General  Assembly  which  convened  in  Savannah  in  January,  1783, 
that  sterling  patriot  and  worthy  gentleman,  Dr.  Lyman  Hall,  was  elected  gov- 
ernor of  Georgia.  On  the  31st  of  that  month  George  Walton  was  selected  to 
fill  the  position  of  chief  justice ;  Samuel  Stirk,  was  appointed  attorney-gen- 
eral; John  Martin,  treasurer;  John  Milton,  secretary  of  State;  Richard  Call, 
surveyor- general ;  and  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  confiscated  property.  Temples  of 
justice  and  religion  were  again  to  be  opened  in  a  land  full  of  scars  and  desola- 
tion. Provision  was  made  for  public  education,  and  the  entire  machinery  of 
State  government  was  put  in  motion. 

So  sadly  had  Augusta  suffered  by  the  disasters  of  war  that  it  became  nec- 
essary to  provide  quarters  for  the  governor  and  the  heads  of  departments,  and 
a  proper  place  for  the  accommodation  of  the  general  assembly.  This  was  done 
while  the  Legislature  temporarily  convened  at  Savannah.  In  July,  1783,  the 
general  assembly  again  met  in  Augusta,  and  continued  to  hold  its  sessions  in 
that  town  until  Louisville,  in  Jefferson  county,  was  designated  as  the  "  seat  of 
government"  in  1795. 

In  the  Georgia  Gazette  of  Thursday,  May  29,  1783,  we  find  the  following: 
"  On  Wednesday  last,  when  the  great  and  joyful  news  of  Peace  reached  this 
place, ^  properly  authenticated,  a  very  elegant  and  sumptuous  entertainment 
was  provided,  when  upwards  of  three  hundred  ladies  and  gentlemen  dined 
under  a  large  bower  made  for  the  purpose.  At  one  o'clock  there  were  thir- 
teen discharges  of  cannon,  and  after  dinner  the  following  toasts  were  drank, 
each  succeeded  by  the  firing  of  artillery: 

1.  The  Free,  Sovereign  and  Independent  States  of  America. 

2.  The  Governor  and  the  State. 

3.  His  Most  Christian  Majesty,  our  F'irst,  Good  and  Generous  Ally. 

4.  His  Catholic  Majesty. 

5.  The  United  Provinces  of  Holland. 

6.  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

7.  His  Excellency,  General  Washington. 

8.  The  Hon.  General  Greene. 

9.  The  American  Officers  and  Army  who  have  established  the  Liberty 
thereof 

10.  The  Officers  and  Seamen  of  the  American  Navy. 

11.  Compte  Rochambeau,  his  Officers  and  Army  who  have  served  in 
America. 

1  Au<justa. 


132  History  of  Augusta. 

12.  The  American  Commissioners  for  making  Peace. 

13.  May  the  Liberties  of  America  be  as  lasting  as  Time. 

The  company  retired  to  Mr.  Fox's,  where  there  was  a  ball  and  supper.  The 
evening  concluded  with  illuminations,  bonfires,  rockets  and  ever)'  other  dem- 
onstration of  joy  suitable  to  the  occasion,  and  with  the  greatest  peace  and  har- 
mony. " 

In  his  charge  to  the  grand  jury  of  Richmond  county,^  delivered  on  the  31st 
of  October,  1783,  Chief  Justice  George  Walton,  said:  "There  is  no  county  in 
the  State  which  ought  to  pride  itself  more  on  account  of  its  natural  advanta- 
ges than  that  of  Richmond.  The  principal  navigation  terminating  in  it,  pre- 
sents a  most  commodious  and  delightful  spot  for  an  extensive  commercial 
town.  It  is  to  me  a  gratification  to  be  able  to  inform  you  that  the  Legislature, 
at  its  last  session  in  Augusta,  passed  a  law  upon  the  most  liberal  basis  for  ex- 
tending and  speedily  building  up  that  town.  It  is  your  interest,  as  it  is  your 
duty,  to  watch  and  see  that  ti-a  law  is  certainly  and  faithfully  executed.  Au- 
gusta thus  extended  and  built  up.  will  soon  become  the  mart  of  the  whole 
country  above  it,  and  by  furnishing  plentiful  supplies  it  will  be  a  great  con- 
venience to  the  people. 

"In  addition  to  this  the  assembly  has  ordered  an  academy  to  be  erected  for 
the  instruction  of  youth — an  institution  which  will  record  the  names  of  its  ad- 
vocates in  letters  of  virtue  and  applause  to  the  latest  posterity.  The  entire  loss 
of  education,  and  the  great  decline  of  morality,  are  the  chief  calamities  which 
we  now  experience  as  consequences  of  the  war." 

The  chief  justice  was  right  in  his  prognostication.  By  virtue  of  her  loca- 
tion Augusta  held  the  key  which  unlocked  a  vast  trade  with  tlie  dwellers  in 
the  "ceded  lands,"  in  regions  beyond,  and  in  a  circumjacent  territory  of  rich 
proportions; — a  trade  destined  to  increase  in  volume  and  importance  with  each 
succeeding  year.  In  the  absence  of  railways,  the  Savannah  River  constituted 
a  convenient  highway  for  commerce,  the  value  of  which  could  not  be  over- 
estimated. Only  enterprise  and  capital  were  wanting  to  place  the  town  upon 
a  vantage  ground  most  enviable.  These  were  quickly  furnished  ;  and  in  pro- 
portion to  the  population  which  she  then  possessed,  we  presume  it  would  not 
be  an  exaggeration  to  affirm  that  the  town  of  Augusta  never  saw  days  of 
greater  commercial  prosperity  than  those  which  she  enjoyed  during  tlie  last 
decade  of  the  eighteenth  centurw  For  a  hundred  years  and  more  the  acad- 
emy, to  which  the  chief  ju-tice  alluded,  has  been  fulfilling  its  high  mission. 

Of  the  early  legislation  affecting  Augusta,  the  following  acts  may  be  re- 
garded as  among  the  most  important: 

By  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  approved  March  15th,  1758,  the  prov- 
ince of  Georgia  was  divided  into  eight  parishes,  and  "  The  District  of  Augusta, 
extending  from  the  northwest  boundary  of  the  parish  of  Saint  George,  and 

1  Georgia  Gazette  Thursday,  November  20.  17S3. 


Legislative  Enactments.  133 

southwest  as  far  as  the  River  Ogeechee,  and  northwest  up  the  River  Savannah 
as  far  as  Broad  River,"  was  designated  as  the  Parish  OF  Saint  Paul.  In 
the  IV  section  of  that  act  it  was  provided  that  "the  church  erected  in  the  town 
■of  Augusta,  with  the  cemetery  or  burial  place  thereto  belonging,  shall  be  the 
Parish  Church  and  Burial  Place  of  Saint  Paul." 

Ten  years  afterwards  legislative  sanction  was  obtained  for  the  establishment 
of  a  public  ferry  "from  the  center  of  the  town  of  Augusta,  upon  Savannah 
River,  to  the  bluff  on  the  opposite  shore  in  the  Province  of  South  Carolina." 

By  the  Constitution  of  1777,  Parishes  were  abolished,  and  Counties  were 
erected  in  their  stead.  Under  this  change  the  Parish  of  Saint  Paul  became  the 
County  of  Richmond,  and  was  declared  entitled  to  ten  representatives.  In 
naming  the  counties  the  Constitutional  Convention  was  not  unmindful  of  the 
debt  of  gratitude  which  Georgia,  in  common  with  her  sister  American  colonies, 
owed  to  distinguished  statesmen  and  friends  in  England  who  were  espousing 
the  cause  of  justice,  humanity,  and  liberty. 

In  1780,  Savannah  and  the  seaboard  generally  being  in  the  possession  of 
the  king's  forces,  "  the  town  of  Augusta  in  the  county  of  Richmond"  was  des- 
ignated as  "  the  seat  of  government."  with  a  proviso  that  in  case  that  town 
should,  during  the  recess  of  the  legislature,  "be  approached  or  invested  so  as 
to  appear  untenable,  then  his  Honor,  the  Governor,  and  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil for  the  time  being,  should  remove  to  such  place  as  the  common  safety 
should  make  necessary,  which  should  be  considered  as  the  seat  of  government 
until  the  recovery  of  the  said  town  of  Augusta  " 

By  the  same  act  lot  owners  within  the  limits  of  Augusta,  deriving  title 
from  the  Crown,  were  required,  within  two  years  after  the  passage  of  the  act, 
to  build  upon  their  respective  lots  houses  of  prescribed  dimensions,  or  else  for- 
feit them  to  the  use  of  the  State.  The  vacant  lands  above  and  below  the  town, 
lying  along  the  river  and  adjoining  the  premises  of  McCartan  Campbell  on 
the  west  and  Andrew  McLean  on  the  east,  were  "to  be  laid  oiit  in  lots  and 
sold  for  the  use  of  the  State  in  order  to  enlarge  the  limits  of  the  town."  When 
divided  into  lots  of  prescribed  dimensions,  this  territory  was  to  be  disposed  of 
"at  public  vendue  in  Augusta  by  the  sheriff  of  the  county."  To  the  purchas- 
ers the  governor  was  empowered  to  sign  grants  in  the  name  of  the  State.  It 
was  further  ordered  that  the  streets  and  roads  of  Augusta  should  be  laid  out, 
measw'cd,  and  posted  in  the  best  and  most  regular  way.  "  The  remote  situation 
of  Brownsboro  rendering  it  a  very  unsafe  place  for  a  Gaol  and  Court-House," 
it  was  enacted  that  "a  Court-House  and  Gaol  for  the  County  of  Richmond  be 
built  in  the  Town  of  Augusta  on  one  of  the  public  lots  in   Broad   Street. 

.  and  that  all  malefactors  should  be  there  confined  and  tried,  and  that  suits 
at  law  should  be  there  heard  and  determined  during  the  present  war,"  Reser- 
vations of  lots  were  indicated  for  the  location  of  "public  seminaries  and 
.schools,"  for  "Houses  of  Public  worship,"  and  for  "public  cemeteries." 


134  History  of  Augusta. 


William  Glascock,  George  Walton,  Daniel  McMurphy,  John  Twiggs,  and 
George  Wells  Esquires,  were  named  as  commissioners  to  carry  into  effect  the 
provisions  of  this  act. 

The  contemplated  sale  of  lots  having  miscarried,  a  new  commission  —  con- 
sisting of  George  Walton,  Joseph  Pannel,  Andrew  Burns,  William  Glascock, 
and  Samuel  Jack  Esquires,  was  appointed  by  act  of  the  Legislature,  approved 
July  31st,  1783,  to  lay  out  and  sell  the  reserved  lands  in  and  near  the  town  of 
Augusta. 

Sections  IV  and  VII  of  this  act  made  provision  for  the  location,  erection, 
and  support  of  the  "Academy  or  Seminary  of  Learning"  which  has  so  long 
ministered  to  the  educational  wants  of  this  community.  The  designated 
commissioners  were  also  charged  with  the  direction  of  the  public  ferry  at 
Augusta. 

By  the  third  section  of  the  act  assented  to  January  26th,  1786,  Augusta 
was  continued  as  the  place  of  meeting  for  the  Legislature;  and  the  Governor, 
the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Treasurer,  the  Surveyor  General,  and  the  Auditor 
were  required  to  reside  and  have  their  respective  offices  here  until  the  State 
house  and  public  buildings  authorized  to  be  constructed  at  Louisville,  in  Jeffer- 
son County,  under  the  supervision  of  Nathan  Bronson,  William  Few,  and 
Hugh  Lawson,  —  commissioners,  —  should  be  completed  and  declared  ready 
for  occupancy. 

On  the  6th  of  December  1790  the  General  Assembly  invested  Wade 
Hampton,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  with  the  exclusive  right  of  erecting  and  main- 
taining a  toll-bridge  over  the  Savannah  River  at  or  near  the  ferry  previously 
established  between  the  town  of  Augusta  and  the  Carolina  shore,  upon  the 
annual  payment  of  a  certain  sum  to  George  Walton,  William  Glascock,  Abra- 
ham Baldwin,  Robert  Forsyth,  Edward  Telfair,  Seaborn  Jones,  and  John 
Milton,  Esquires,  Trustees  of  Augusta,  and  their  successors  in  office. 

Three  days  afterwards  an  act  was  passed  dividing  the  territory  of  Rich- 
mond County  into  two  counties.  All  that  portion  lying  above  or  northwest- 
erly of  a  line  commencing  on  the  Savannah  River  at  the  mouth  of  Red's 
Creek  and  thence  running  south  forty-five  degrees  west,  was  erected  into  a 
new  county  called  Columbia.  George  Handley,  John  Meals,  and  Robert  For- 
syth Esquires  were  designated  as  commissioners  to  select  a  site  within  the 
town  of  Augusta  whereon  to  erect  "a  Court  House  and  a  Gaol,"  and  to  super- 
vise the  construction  of  those  buildings. 

On  the  15th  of  December  1791  the  Corporation  of  the  Town  of  Augusta 
was  vested  with  the  power  of  regulating  the  proposed  county  "Court  House 
and  Gaol." 

By  an  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  approved  the  iSth  of  February  1796, 
the  Trustees  of  Augusta  were  required  to  make  uniform  the  width  of  Broad 
Street  which,  between  Washington  and  Lincoln  streets,  was  sixty- four  feet 
wider  than  at  other  points  along  its  line. 


Augusta  Incorporated. 


135 


Cornelius  Dysart,  Samuel  Jack,  Dennis  Smelt,  Isaac  Herbert,  James  Pearre, 
John  Springer,  and  Moses  Waddell  were  declared  a  body  corporate  "  by  the 
name  and  style  of  'The  Trustees  of  the  Augusta  Meeting  House,'  and  the 
Trustees  of  Augusta  were  instructed  to  convey  to  them  and  their  successors  one 
of  the  public  lots  within  the  town,  containing  at  least  one  acre  of  ground  and 
conveniently  situated,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  thereon  a  'House  of  Public 
Worship  to  the  Divine  Being  by  whose  blessing  the  Independence  of  the 
United  States  had  been  established.'  " 

Augusta  having  recently  sustained  considerable  injury  from  a  freshet  in 
the  Savannah  River,  the  Trustees  of  the  town  were  authorized  to  establish  a 
Lottery,  "under  such  scheme,  regulations,  and  restrictions"  as  they  might 
deem  most  expedient,  in  order  to  raise  moneys  with  which  to  erect  piers  in 
such  parts  of  the  river  as  "would  in  their  Judgment  most  effectually  divert 
the  current  of  the  same  from  off  the  said  Town." 

B37  section  VI  of  this  act  Thomas  Gumming,  Esqr.,  was  named  as  a  Trus- 
tee of  the  town  of  Augusta  in  the  room  of  John  Milton  resigned,  and  Abra- 
ham Jones,  Samuel  Jack,  and  Augustus  Baldwin  Esquires  "were  added  to  the 
list  of  Trustees  for  the  said  Town." 

The  bridge,  erected  by  Wade  Hampton,  over  the  Savannah  River  having 
been  carried  away  "by  an  extraordinary  fresh,"  the  Legislature,  on  the  13th 
of  February  1797,  at  his  urgent  request  granted  him  an  extension  of  two  years 
within  which  to  replace  a  structure  so  essential  to  the  convenience  and  the 
commerce  of  the  place. 

On  the  31st  of  January  1798  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act  incor- 
porating the  "  Gity  of  Augusta. "^  The  preamble  runs  as  follows:  "Whereas, 
from  the  extent  and  population  of  the  town  of  Augusta,  its  growing  import- 
ance both  with  respect  to  increase  of  inhabitants  and  diffusive  commerce, 
it  is  indispensably  necessary  that  many  regulations  should  be  made  for  the 

Previous  to  its  incorporation  as  a  "city,"  Augusta  was  governed  by  Commissioners,  or 
Trustees,  who  exercised  over  the  town,  the  Academy,  public  buildings,  and  public  lands,  such 
authority  as  the  General  Assembly  appointing  them  saw  fit  to  delegate  and  enjoin. 

In  1780  the  "  Trustees  of  the  Town  of  Augusta  "  were  William  Glascock,  George  Walton, 
Daniel  MacMurphy,  John  Twiggs,  and  George  Wells. 

Those  serving  in  1783  were  William  Glascock,  George  Walton,  Joseph  Pannill,  Andrew 
Burns,  and  Samuel  Jack. 

Three  years  afterwards,  the  Trustees  were  William  Glascock,  George  Walton,  Abraham 
Baldwin,  Robert  Forsyth,  Seaborn  Jones,  Edward  Telfair,  Samuel  Jack,  and  John  Milton. 

In  1790  William  Glascock,  George  Walton,  Robert  F'orsyth,  Seaborn  Jones,  Abraham 
Baldwin,  John  Milton,  and  Edward  Telfair  acted  as  Trustees. 

When  the  act  of  incorporation  was  assented  to,  Thomas  Gumming,  George  Walker,  James 
Pearre,  Robert  Cresweli,  Andrew  Inniss,  Isaac  Herbert,  and  William  Longstreet  were  com- 
missioners.* 

*  For  this  list  of  Trustees  and  Commissioners  I  am  indebted  to  L.  T.  Blome,  Esqr.,  the  courteous  and  efficient  Clerk  o 
Council. 


136  History  of  Augusta. 

preservation  of  peace  and  good  order  within  the  same  :  And  Whereas  from- 
the  many  weighty  and  important  matters  that  occupy  the  attention  of  the 
Legislature  at  their  general  meeting  it  has  hitherto  been  found  inconvenient, 
and  may  hereafter  become  more  so,  for  them  to  devise,  consider,  deliberate 
on,  and  determine  all  such  laws  and  regulations  as  emergencies  or  the  local 
circumstances  of  the  said  Town  may  from  time  to  time  require:"  therefore  be 
it  enacted,  etc.,  etc. 

The  qualification  for  citizenship,  the  corporate  name,  and  the  territorial 
divisions  of  the  municipality  were  specified  thus:  "From  and  immediately 
after  the  passing  of  this  act  all  persons,  citizens  of  the  United  States  and 
residing  one  year  within  the  said  town  and  having  a  freehold  or  lease  for  years 
of  a  lot  within  the  same  or  the  village  of  Springfield,  or  between  the  said 
village  and  Town,  shall  be  deemed,  and  they  are  hereby  declared  to  be  a  body 
politic  and  corporate;  and  the  said  Town  shall  hereafter  be  called  and  known 
by  the  name  of  the  City  of  AugUSTA,  and  shall  be  divided  into  the  follow- 
ing districts,  to  wit:  All  lots  situate  below  the  cross  street  running  from  the 
river  Savannah  between  the  Market  House  and  the  house  of  Mrs.  Fox  to  be 
called  and  known  by  District  Number  One:  all  the  lots  between  the  said  street 
and  the  cross  street  running  from  the  said  River  between  the  house  of  Mr. 
Andrew  Innis  and  the  house  occupied  by  Collin  Reed  &  Co.  to  be  called  and 
known  by  District  number  Two:  and  all  the  lots  above  that  street,  including 
the  village  of  Springfield,  shall  be  called  and  known  by  District  Number 
Three."  ^ 

When  organized  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  of  incorporation,  the  city 
council  of  Augusta  was  composed  of  the  following  members:  Thomas  Cum- 
ming.  intendant ;  Joseph  Hutchinson,  clerk ;  George  Walker,  James  Pearre, 
Robert  Creswell,  Andrew  Innis,  Isaac  Herbert,  and  William  Longstreet,  coun- 
cilmen.  - 


\  Marbury  and  Crawford's  Digest,     pp.  136-139. 

'  INTEND.A.NTSOF  AUGUSTA.  — 1803-1804,  John  Murray;  1805,  William  J.  Hobby;  1806, 
Thomas  Flournoy  ;  1807,  John  B.Barnes;  1808,  Freeman  Walker,  John  Catlett ;  1809-1811, 
Joseph  Hutchinson  ;  1812,  James  T.Walker;  1812-1813,  Seaborn  Jones  :  1814,  Joseph  Hut- 
chinson;  181 5-1 8 16,  Walter  Leigh  ;   1817,  P'reeman  Walker. 

Mayors  of  Augusta.— 1818-1819,  Freeman  Walker;  1819-1821,  Nicholas  Ware  ;  1821, 
Richard  H.  Wilde;  1822,  Robert  Walker;  1822,  Freeman  Walker;  1823-1824,  Robert  R. 
Reid  ;  1825-1826,  William  W\  Holt;  1826,  Robert  R.  Reid  ;  1827-1836.  Samuel  Hale;  1837, 
John  Phinizy;  1838,  Samuel  Hale;  1839.  Alfred  Gumming;  1840,  Daniel  Hook  ;  1841,  Martin 
M.  Dye;  1842.  Daniel  Hook;  1843-1845,  Martin  M.  Dye;  1846-1847,  L.  D.  Ford  ;  1848,  I.  P- 
Garvin;  1849.  James  B.  Bishop  ;  1850-1851,  Thomas  W.  Miller  ;  1852-1853,  William  E.  Dear- 
jng;  1854,  Abner  P.  Robertson;  1855.  William  E.  Dearing ;  1856,  George  W.  Evans;  1857- 
1858,  Benjamin  Conley  :  1859-1860.  Foster  Blodgett,  jr.  ;  1861-1865.  Robert  H.  May;  1866, 
James  T.  Gardiner;  1866,  John  Foster;  1867,  Foster  Blodgett,  jr.;  1868,  Henry  F.  Russell; 
1869,  J.  V.  H.  Allen;  1870- 1875,  Charles  Estes  ;  1876-1878,  John  U.Meyer;  1879-1889, 
Robert  H.  May.* 

*  For  this  list  of  intendants  and  mayors  of  the  city  of  Augusta  I   am  indebted  to  I..  T.  lilome,  Es(i.,  the  courteous  and 
efficient  clerk  of  council. 


Population  in  1791.  137 


In  1 79 1  Augusta  is  said  to  have  contained  two  hundred  and  fifty  houses, 
and  a  population  of  eleven  hundred.  The  public  buildings  consisted  of  a 
church,  a  court  house,  an  academy,  wherein  between  eighty  and  ninety  pupils 
were  instructed,  a  stone  jail,  a  government  house  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
governor  and  the  State  officials,  and  three  warehouses  capable  of  storing  ten 
thousand  hogsheads  of  tobacco.  In  that  year  over  six  thousand  hogsheads  of 
tobacco  were  there  inspected. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Legislative  Proceedings  —  Newspapers  — Ratification  in  Augusta  by  the  State  of  Georgia, 
•of  the  Federal  Constitution  —  Constitutional  Convention  of  1789  —  Georgia  Divided  into  Con- 
gressional Districts  —  President  Washington's  Visit  to  Augusta — Military  Convention  of 
August,  1793. 

WHEN  the  Land  Court  was  opened  in  Augusta  by  the  Hon.  John  Haber- 
sham, president  of  the  executive  council,  in  May,  1784,  so  thronged  was 
it  by  impatient  applicants  that  the  greatest  disorder  prevailed,  and  for  days 
the  regular  business  had  to  be  suspended. 

It  was  in  Augusta  that  the  Legislature  perfected  those  liberal  bills  which 
gave  to  the  State  a  university.  When  we  remember  the  tender  age  of  the 
commonwealth,  its  feebleness  and  destitution,  when  we  appreciate  the  losses 
which  had  been  sustained  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  when  we  consider 
the  unsettled  condition  of  public  affairs,  and  then  appreciate  the  broad  basis 
upon  which  this  institution  of  learning  was  planted,  the  sound  principles  upon 
which  it  was  founded,  and  the  zealous  efforts  of  its  originators  to  make  it  stable 
and  efficient,  we  may  well  claim  peculiar  honor  for  Georgia  in  thus  making 
early  provision  for  a  State  university,  and  in  passing  wholesome  laws  for  secur- 
ing to  her  sons  the  blessings  of  a  liberal  education  on  her  own  soil.  ^  In  pro- 
moting this  important  measure,  and  in  the  development  of  this  most  valuable 
scheme,  the  City  of  Angusta,  through  her  prominent  citizens,  bore  an  enviable 
part.  It  would,  perhaps,  not  be  deemed  invidious  in  this  connection  to  claim 
the  highest  honors  for  the  Hon.  Abraham  Baldwin. 

In  1785  Augusta  had  made  such  progress  that  a  weekly  newspaper  was 
established  in  the  town.  It  was  called  the  Augusta  Chronicle  and  Gazette  of 
the  State,  and  was  the  official  organ  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Georgia.  In  182 1 
it  became  The  Augusta  Chronicle  and  Georgia  Gazette.  The  following  year 
its  name  was  changed    to    The  Aus^usta    Chronicle  and   Georgia  Advertiser. 


'  See  Stevens  Bistorj  0/ Geor£-ia.     Vol.  ii.,  p.  364.     Philadelphia.     1859. 
10 


138         V  History  of  Augusta. 


Thirteen  years  afterwards  it  appeared  simply  as  the  Augusta  Chronicle.  In 
1837,  having  absorbed  The  States  Rights  Sentinel,  a  paper  edited  by  Judge 
Longstreet,  author  of  "  Georgia  Scenes,"  it  appeared  as  a  daily  newspaper 
under  the  style  oi  Daily  Chronicle  and  Sentinel.  Having,  in  1877,  absorbed 
The  Constitutionalist,  which  for  more  than  eighty  years  had  been  its  rival,  it 
appeared  as  TJie  Chronicle  and  Constitutionalist ;  and,  having  subsequently 
again  changed  its  name,  now  maintains  a  vigorous  existence  as  The  Augusta 
Chronicle. 

Early  in  January,  1788,  occurred  a  political  event  of  no  ordinary  signifi- 
cance. We  refer  to  the  ratification  by  the  State  of  Georgia  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.     This  was  accomplished  in  Augusta  on  the  2d  of  that  month : 

By  ordinance  of  the  loth  of  February,  1787,  William  Few,  Abraham  Bald- 
win, William  Pierce,  George  Walton,  William  Houstoun,  and  Nathaniel  Pen- 
dleton, esqs.,  were  appointed  commissioners  to  represent  the  State  of  Georgia' 
in  the  convention  called  for  the  revision  of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 
They  were  instructed  to  unite  with  the  deputies  from  sister  States  in  devising 
and  discussing  such  alterations  and  further  provisions  as  might  be  found  neces- 
sary to  render  the  Federal  constitution  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
Union. 

In  the  deliberations  which  ensued  the  Hon.  Abraham  Baldwin  bore  an 
active  and  influential  part.  In  concluding  its  labors  on  the  17th  of  September, 
1787,  that  Constitutional  Convention — over  which  General  George  Washington 
had  presided  with  distinguished  ability — adopted  a  resolution  that  the  constitu- 
tion just  formulated  and  promulgated  to  accomplish  "a  more  perfect  union, 
establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquility,  provide  for  the  common  defence, 
promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty,"  should  be 
submitted  to  "  a  convention  of  delegates,  chosen  in  each  State  by  the  people 
thereof  under  the  recommendation  of  its  Legislature,  for  their  assent  and  ratifi- 
cation ;  and  that  each  convention  assenting  to  and  ratifying  the  same,  should 
give  notice  thereof  to  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled." 

In  responding  to  this  suggestion  Georgia  was  not  tardy.  A  convention 
was  promptly  called,  to  meet  in  Augusta  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  in  December, 
1787,  to  consider  the  proposed  constitution,  and  to  adopt  or  reject  any  part  or 
the  whole  thereof.  Augusta  was  then  the  capital  of  Georgia.  The  following 
gentlemen  were  named  as  members  of  that  important  convocation:  Delegates 
from  Chatham  county,  William  Stephens,  Joseph  Habersham  ;  from  Effing- 
ham, Jenkin  Davis,  N.  Brownson  ;  from  Burke,  Edward  Telfair,  H.Todd; 
from  Richmond,  John  Wereat,  William  Few,  James  McNeily ;  from  Wilkes, 
George  Matthews,  F"lorence  Sullivan,  John  King;  from  Liberty,  James  Powell, 
John  Elliott,  James  Maxwell ;  from  Glynn,  George  Handley,  Christopher  Hil- 
lary, J.  Milton  ;  from  Camden,  Henry  Osborne,  James  Seagrove,  Jacob  Weed  ; 
from  Washington,  Jared    Irwin,  John   Rutherford  ;    and    from   Greene,  Robert 


Christmas,  Thomas  Daniel,  R.  Middleton. 


Ratification  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  139 

John  Wereat,  a  delegate  from  the  county  of  Richmond,  speaker  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress  of  1776,  a  conspicuous  patriot  during  the  Revolutionary  War, 
and,  at  one  time,  as  president  of  the  executive  council,  acting  govornor  of 
Georgia,  presided  over  the  convention.  The  delegates  were,  without  excep- 
tion, men  of  character,  of  established  reputation,  and  of  acknowledged  ability. 
William  Stephens  had  been  the  attorney- general  of  the  State,  and  also  its  chief 
justice. 

Joseph  Habersham  had  been  a  prominent  ofificer  in  the  Continental  army, 
and  was  afterwards  complimented  by  General  Washington  with  the  position  of 
postmaster  general  of  the  United  States. 

Jenkin  Davis  and  James  Maxwell  were  delegates  to  the  memorable  Pro- 
vincial Congress,  which  assembled  at  Tondee's  long  room  in  Savannah,  on  the 
4th  of  July,  1775. 

John  Milton  had  borne  arms  in  the  lists  of  patriots,  and  filled  the  office  of 
secretary  of  State. 

Henry  Osborne  was  a  prominent  jurist,  and  was  advanced  to  the  position 
of  chief  justice  of  Georgia. 

In  the  catalogue  of  governors  of  Georgia  appear  the  names  of  Nathan 
Brownson,  Edward  Telfair,  George  Matthews,  George  Handley,  and  Jared 
Irwin.  William  Few,  who  had  been  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress, 
was  subsequently  elected  United  States  senator  from  Georgia. 

The  deliberations  of  this  convention  were  harmonious ;  and,  on  the  2d  day 
of  January,  1788,  culminated  in  the  following  ratification  of  the  Federal  con- 
stitution : 

"  We,  the  delegates  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Georgia  in  convention 
met,  having  taken  into  our  serious  consideration  the  Federal  Constitution 
agreed  upon  and  proposed  by  the  deputies  of  the  United  States  in  general 
convention  held  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  on  the  17th  day  of  September  in 
the  yc.r  of  our  Lord  1787,  have  assented  to,  ratified,  and  adopted,  and  by 
these  presents  do,  in  virtue  of  the  powers  and  authority  to  us  given  by  the 
people  of  the  said  State  for  that  purpose,  for  and  in  behalf  of  ourselves  and 
our  constituents,  fully  and  entirely  assent  to,  ratify  and  adopt  the  said  consti- 
tution, which  is  hereto  annexed,  under  the  great  seal  of  the  State." 

As  the  formal  signing  of  this  ratification  by  the  delegates  was  concluded, 
the  joyful  tidings  were  proclaimed  to  the  multitude  assembled  opposite  the 
State  House.  The  huzzas  of  the  citizens  were  supplemented  by  a  salute  of 
thirteen  discharges  from  two  field-pieces,  served  by  a  detachment  from  Colonel 
Armstrong's  regiment  which  was  then  quartered  in  Augusta.^ 

In  the  order  of  time,  Georgia  was  the  fourth  State  to  accept  and  ratify  the 
constitution  as  promulgated  by  the  convention  of  1787. 

The  conventions  whose  deliberations  gave  to  Georgia  the  constitution  which 

^See  the  Gazette  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  No.  260,  Thursday,  January  17,  1788. 


I40  History  of  Augusta. 


became  operative  on  the  first  Monday  of  October,  1789,  all  met  in  Augusta. 
When,  having  completed  their  labors,  the  members  of  the  third  constitutional 
convention,  in  a  body,  waited  upon  Governor  George  Walton,  their  president, 
William  Gibbons,  of  Savannah,  placed  in  his  hands  that  admirable  document 
and  requested  that  it  be  deposited  among  the  archives  of  the  State.  In  the 
name  of  the  convention  he  further  asked  that  its  provisions  be  formally  pro- 
mulgated. Upon  receiving  the  engrossed  constitution  Governor  Walton  re- 
plied : 

"  Mr.  President,  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention  :  The  constitution  for 
the  government  of  this  State,  which  you  now  deliver  to  me,  shall  have  the 
great  seal  affixed  to  it  and  be  deposited  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 
It  shall  be  announced  to  the  people  at  large  by  proclamation,  and  a  sufficient 
number  of  copies  printed  for  the  use  of  the  several  counties.  I  hope  and  be- 
lieve that  it  will  be  productive  of  public  good  and  happiness,  the  objects  of  gov- 
ernment and  of  society." 

The  act  of  formally  accepting  the  new  constitution  by  the  governor  from 
Mr.  Gibbons,  the  president  of  the  convention,  was  announced  to  the  town  by 
a  salute  of  eleven  guns  in  honor  of  the  eleven  States  which  had  thus  far  acceded 
to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. ^ 

Edward  Telfair  was  the  first  governor  elected  under  this  constitution,  and 
his  inauguration  took  place  in  the  House  of  Representatives  which,  if  we  are 
correctly  informed,  stood  nearly  opposite  the  present  "Law  Range"  in  the  city 
of  Augusta,  on  the  nth  of  November,  1789.    l  ^>v  C  SliW}^  m^  tilv.  l>.o<~i'itUi 

On  the  26th  of  this  month,  a  day  set  apart  by  the  General  Congress  for  "^Vs 
public  thanksgiving  and  prayer,  in  order  that  the  people  of  the  land  might  ac- 
knowledge "with  grateful  hearts  the  many  and  signal  favors  of  Almighty  God, 
especially  by  affording  them  an  opportunity  peaceably  to  establish  a  form  of 
governmetit  for  their  safety  and  happiness,"  the  members  of  the  General  As- 
sembly repaired  to  St.  Paul's  Church  where  they  listened  with  great  attention 
to  a  sermon  prepared  for  the  occasion  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Palmer,  rector  of  the 
parish. 

The  General  Assembly  on  the  8th  of  December,  1790,  divided  the  State  in- 
to three  Congressional  districts  The  counties  of  Camden,  Glynn,  Liberty, 
Chatham  and  Effingham  composed  the  lower;  Burke,  Richmond  and  Washing- 
ton the  middle  ;  and  Wilkes,  Franklin  and  Greene  the  upper  district.  In  due 
course  James  Jackson  was  chosen  as  a  representative  from  the  lower,  Abraham 
Baldwin  from  the  middle,  and  George  Matthews  from  the  upper  district. 

On  Wednesday,  the  i8th  of  May,  1791,  Augusta  was  honored  by  a  visit 
from  the  Pater  Patrice,  General  George  Washington,  then  the  president  of  the 
United  States.  In  the  Augusta  Chronicle  oi^Adiy  21,  will  be  found  an  account 
of  the  courtesies  extended  and  the  ceremonies  observed  on  this  occasion. 


^  See  Stevens'  History  of  Georgia,  vol.  ii.  p.  390.     Philadelphia.     1859. 


Visit  of  General  Washington.  141 


Major  Ambrose  Gordon,  by  direction  of  the  governor,  had  been  ordered  to 
hold  himself  in  readiness  with  a  detachment  of  not  less  than  fourteen  volun- 
teers, to  march  and  escort  the  president,  who  was  journeying  by  land  from  Sa- 
vannah to  Augusta. 

The  artillery  was  posted  at  the  old  fort  with  instructions,  upon  the  approach 
of  the  president,  to  fire  a  salute  of  fifteen  rounds. 

Accompanied  by  Major- General  Twiggs,  Judge  Walton,  the  Sheriff  of  Rich- 
mond county,  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Treasurer,  the  Attorney- General,  the 
Solicitor- General,  the  Surveyor- General,  the  Clerk  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, the  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  and  a  numerous  cavalcade  of  respectable 
citizens,  his  excellency.  Governor  Edward  Telfair,  five  miles  below  Augusta 
met  the  President  of  the  United  States.  The  procession  halted,  and  General 
Washington,  alighting  from  his  carriage,  mounted  his  horse.  Escorted  by 
Major  Jackson  and  the  Federal  Marshal,  he  then  advanced  to  meet  the  Gov- 
ernor who  moved  forward  attended  by  the  Secretary  of  State.  Governor  Tel- 
fair then  congratulated  the  President  "on  his  near  approach  to  the  residence 
of  government." 

This  ceremony  concluded,  a  procession  was  formed,  and  the  President,  amid 
salvos  from  Captain  Howell's  artillery,  was  conducted  to  the  residence  on 
Broad  street  prepared  for  his  reception.  At  four  o'clock  he  dined  with  the 
Governor — the  Federal  and  State  officers  and  other  gentlemen  being  present. 
"  The  President's  toast  was  The  State  of  Geoj'gia."  In  the  evening  a  ball  in 
his  honor  was  given  by  Mrs.  Telfair. 

On  Thursday  morning  the  citizens  of  Augusta  presented  the  following  ad- 
dress : 

"  To  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America  : 

"Sir:  Your  journey  to  the  southward  being  extended  to  the  frontier  of  the 
Union,  affords  a  fresh  proof  of  your  indefatigable  zeal  in  the  service  of  your 
country,  and  equal  attention  and  regard  to  all  the  people  of  the  United  States. 
With  these  impressions,  the  citizens  of  Augusta  present  their  congratulations 
upon  your  arrival  here  in  health,  with  the  assurance  that  it  will  be  their  great- 
est pleasure,  during  your  stay  with  them,  to  testify  the  sincere  affection  they 
have  for  your  person,  their  sense  of  obligation  for  your  merits  and  for  your 
services,  and  their  entire  confidence  in  you  as  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  their 
country.  On  your  return,  and  at  all  times,  their  best  wishes  will  accompany 
you,  while  they  retain  the  hope  that  a  life  of  virtue,  benevolence,  and  patriot- 
ism, may  be  long  preserved  for  the  benefit  of  the  age,  and  the  example  of  pos- 
terity. "  George  Walton, 

"John  Meals, 
"Thomas  Gumming, 
"Peter  Carnes, 
"Seaborn  Jones." 


!i42  History  of  Augusta. 


To  this  complimentary  address  the  President  returned  the  following  answer: 

"Gentlemen:  I  receive  your  congratulations  on  my  arrival  in  Augusta 
with  great  pleasure.  I  am  much  obliged  by  your  assurances  of  regard;  and  thank 
you,  with  unfeigned  sincerity,  for  the  favourable  sentiments  you  are  pleased  to 
express  towards  me. 

"Entreating  you  to  be  persuaded  of  my  gratitude,  I  desire  to  assure  you 
that  it  will  afford  me  the  most  sensible  satisfaction  to  learn  the  progression  of 
your  prosperity.  My  best  wishes  for  your  happiness,  collectively  and  individ- 
ually, are  sincerely  offered.  George  Washington." 

At  half  past  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  President  dined  at  the  court- 
house with  a  large  number  of  citizens.  Governor  Telfair  was  also  present. 
The  entertainment  was  provided  by  subscription,  and  was  as  sumptuous  as  the 
means  at  command  would  allow.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  feast  customary 
toasts  were  offered.  That  proposed  by  the  President  was  The  State  of  Georgia, 
and  Prosperity  to  Augusta. 

In  the  evening  General  Washington  attended  a  ball  in  the  large  room  of  the 
Academy. 

On  Friday,  the  20th  day  of  May,  the  following  address  was  presented  by 
Governor  Telfair: 

"  To  the  President  of  the  United  States  of  America. • 

"  My  warm  congratulations  on  your  arrival  at  the  residence  of  government 
in  this  State  are  presented  with  a  peculiar  pleasure,  as  well  as  a  feeling  sensi- 
bility ;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  these  emotions  are  perfectly  congenial  with 
those  of  my  fellow  citizens. 

"After  the  gratification  felt  from  your  presence  among  them,  they  will  nat- 
urally contemplate  the  many  unavoidable  inconveniences  arising  in  so  arduous 
and  extensive  a  tour,  with  the  most  solicitous  anxiety.  Not  less  impressed, 
my  cordial  wishes  shall  accompany  you  through  every  stage  on  your  return  to 
the  seat  of  government  of  the  United  States. 

"Long  may  you  remain  to  fill  the  exalted  station  of  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
American  Republics  as  the  just  reward  of  that  patriotism  which  marked  every 
act  of  your  life  whilst  engaged  in  the  arduous  struggles  of  a  long  and  compli- 
cated war — gave  tone  to  the  liberties  of  your  country — immortalized  your 
name  throughout  the  nations  of  the  world — and  created  an  unbounded  confi- 
dence in  your  virtue,  with  the  strongest  attachment  to  your  person  and  family, 
in  the  minds  of  American  citizens.  Edward  Telfair." 

To  this  the  President  was  pleased  to  return  the  following  response: 
*'  To  his  Excellency,  Governor  Telfair: 

"Sir:  Obeying  the  impulse  of  a  heartfelt  gratitude,  I  express  with  particu- 
lar pleasure  my  sense  of  the  obligations  which  your  Excellency's  goodness, 
and  the  kind  regards  of  your  citizens  have  conferred  upon  me. 


Visit  of  General  Washington.  143 

"I  shall  always  retain  the  most  pleasing  remembrance  of  the  polite  and 
hospitable  attentions  which  I  have  received  in  my  tour  through  Georgia,  and 
during  my  stay  at  the  residence  of  your  government. 

"The  manner  in  which  your  Excellency  is  pleased  to  recognize  my  public 
services,  and  to  regard  my  private  felicity,  excites  my  sensibility  and  claims 
my  grateful  acknowledgement. 

"You  will  do  justice  to  the  sentiments  which  influence  my  wishes  by  be- 
lieving that  they  are  sincerely  proffered  for  your  personal  happiness,  and  the 
prosperity  of  the  State  in  which  you  preside.  GEORGE  Washington." 

On  Friday  the  President  attended  an  examination  of  the  pupils  of  Rich- 
mond Academy,  and  expressed  much  satisfaction  at  the  evidence  of  profi- 
ciency which  they  exhibited.  In  the  afternoon  he  dined  with  Governor  Tel- 
fair and  a  select  party. 

On  Saturday  morning  General  Washington  bade  adieu  to  Augusta.  He 
was  escorted  by  the  Governor  and  the  State  and  Federal  Officers  to  the  bridge 
over  the  Savannah  River,  where  they  "paid  their  compliments  and  took  their 
leave."  As  the  President  was  crossing  the  bridge  he  was  saluted  by  Major 
Gordon's  horse,  and  Captain  Howell's  artillery. 

Thus  ended  a  pleasant  episode  in  the  history  of  Augusta.  What  a  contrast 
between  the  journey  of  President  Washington  in  1791,  and  the  tour  of  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  in  1887  ! 

In  1793  the  existing  relations  between  the  State  of  Georgia  and  the  Indian 
nations  had  become  so  unsatisfactory  and  threatening,  that  Governor  Telfair, 
having  applied  in  vain  to  the  Federal  Government  for  such  aid  as  he  thought 
the  exigencies  of  the  frontier  demanded,  resolved  himself  to  conduct  military 
operations  on  the  part  of  the  Commonwealth  to  compel  peace  and  security  at 
the  hands  of  the  Creeks  and  Cherokees.  To  that  end  he  summoned  a  council 
of  general  officers  to  meet  him  in  Augusta  on  Thursday,  the  8th  of  August, 
1793.  There  were  present  on  that  occasion  Governor  Telfair,  commander-in- 
chief,  Major-Generals  John  Twiggs,  James  Jackson  and  P^lijah  Clarke,  and 
Brigadier-Generals  Glascock,  Morrison,  Clarke,  Irwin  and  Gunn.  After  con- 
sidering the  condition  of  affairs  it  was  resolved  that  an  expedition  of  two  thou- 
sand horse  and  three  thousand  foot  should  at  once  be  organized  to  proceed 
against  the  Creeks  in  the  following  October.  When  advised  of  this  purpose  on 
the  part  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  President  Washington  expressed  his  decided 
disapproval.  Through  General  Knox,  his  secretary  of  war,  he  promulgated 
the  wish  that  the  purposed  expedition  should  be  abandoned,  and  so  the  matter 
ended.  "  With  the  Yazoo  speculations,  in  which  several  of  the  prominent  citi- 
zens of  Augusta  were  largely  interested,  the  limits  of  this  sketch  do  not  per- 
mit us  to  deal. 

In  the  convention  which  framed  the  constitution  of  1798,  the  County  of 
Richmond  was  ably  represented,  and  the  labors  of  Mr.  Robert  Watkins  in  this 


144  History  of  Augusta. 


connection  entitle  him  to  permanent  and  honorable  remembrance.  The  drama 
made  its  first  appearance  in  Augusta  in  1798.  "  positively  for  six  nights  only," 
under  the  auspices  of  Misses  Williamson  and  Jones.  They  opened  with  "Three 
Week's  After  Marriage." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Cultivation  of  the  Tobacco  Plant  in  Georgia — Rapid  Improvement  in  the  Trade  and  Pros- 
perity of  Augusta — Introduction  of  Cotton— Letter  of  Mr.  Joseph  Eve — William  Longstreet 
and*  his  Steamboat — Population  of  Richmond  County  upon  the  Close  of  the  Last  Century — 
Sibbald's  Description  of  Augusta  in  1799 — Concluding  Remarks. 

THE  introduction  of  the  tobacco  plant  into  Georgia  materially  conduced  to 
the  development  and  the  prosperity  of  Augusta.  Many  of  the  early  ini 
habitants  of  the  present  counties  of  Elbert,  Lincoln,  Wilkes  and  Oglethorpe 
came  from  Virginia  bringing  with  them  not  only  a  fondness  for  "  the  weed," 
but  also  a  high  appreciation  of  its  value  as  an  article  of  commerce.  The  vir- 
gin lands  of  this  region  were  well  adapted  to  its  cultivation.  This  plant  soon 
attracted  general  notice,  and  proved  the  staple  commodity  or  market  crop  of 
the  farmers. 

As  the  existing  laws  of  the  State  forbade  its  exportation  without  previous 
inspection  and  the  payment  of  specified  fees,  it  became  necessafy  to  establish 
public  warehouses  at  convenient  points  where  the  tobacco  crop  could  be  stored 
and  inspected.  No  hogshead  or  cask  of  tobacco  could  be  shipped  which  did 
not  bear  the  stamp  of  some  "lawful  inspector."  ^  For  the  faithful  performance 
of  their  duties  these  inspectors  were  required  to  give  bonds,  and  it  was  made 
obligatory  upon  them  to  attend  continuously  at  their  respective  warehouses 
from  the  first  of  October  to  the  first  of  August  in  each  year.  It  was  enjoined 
upon  them  carefully  to  inspect,  weigh,  receipt  for,  and  stamp  each  hogshead 
delivered  at  the  warehouse.  The  hogshead  or  cask  was  "not  to  exceed  forty- 
nine  inches  in  length,  and  thirty- one  inches  in  the  raising  head."  Its  weight, 
when  packed,  was  to  be  not  less  than  "  nine  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  nett." 

Vehicles  of  all  sorts  being  scarce,  it  was  not  customary  in  those  primitive 
days  to  transport  these  hogsheads  upon  wagons.  The  hogshead  or  cask  being 
made  strong  and  tight,  and  having  been  stoutly  coopered,  was  furnished  with 
a  temporary  axle  and  shaft  to  which  a  horse  was  attached.  By  this  means  it 
was  trundled  over  the  country  roads  to  market,  or  to  the  nearest  public  ware- 
house.     Water  courses  were  also  freely  used  for  the  conveyance  of  tobacco  in 

1  See    Watkins's  Digest,  p.  444. 


Letter  of  Joseph  Eve.  145 

open  boats.  The  prototype  of  the  Petersburg  cotton  boat  of  the  present  day 
was  the  tobacco  boat  of  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

The  location  of  a  public  warehouse  at  the  confluence  of  Broad  and  Savan- 
nah Rivers  proved  most  acceptable  and  serviceable  to  the  tobacco  growers  in 
this  rich  region,  and  speedily  attracted  merchants  who,  there  fixing  their 
homes,  became  purchasers  of  the  tobacco  when  inspected,  and  in  return  sold 
to  the  planters  such  supplies  as  they  needed.  Such  was  the  origin  of  the  town 
of  Petersburg.  Its  existence  was  due  to  the  concentration  at  this  point  of  the 
tobacco  crop  of  a  considerable  area.  The  presence  of  this  commodity  was  em- 
phatically the  cause  of  population,  and  the  parent  of  trade.  Lisbon,  Federal- 
Town,  and  Edinborough  were  other  villages  which  owed  their  existence  to  the 
tobacco  trade.  Augusta  was  in  the  end  the  principal  mart  whither  this  tobacco 
tended.  It  was  the  point  of  transhipment,  and  from  the  depots  of  the  Au- 
gusta merchants  were  supplies  derived  not  only  by  the  country  merchants  but 
also  by  numerous  planters  coming  from  great  distances.  The  trade,  both  by- 
wagon  and  by  boat,  was  extensive  and  lucrative;  and  its  effect  in  confirming^ 
the  prosperity  of  the  town,  in  improving  the  style  and  number  of  its  buildings,, 
in  enhancing  the  general  wealth,  and  in  promoting  the  importance  of  the  set- 
tlement, was  most  evident.  Commerce  with  the  Indians  still  existed  to  a  lim- 
ited extent,  but  it  no  longer  entered  as  an  important  factor  in  the  calculations 
of  the  merchants. 

Upon  the  decadence  of  the  tobacco  plant,  the  cultivation  of  cotton  engaged 
the  attention  of  the  agricultural  community.  Although  as  early  as  1739,  a 
bag  of  cotton  is  said  to  have  been  exported  from  Savannah,  it  was  not  until 
1785  that  the  value  of  this  product  was  fairly  recognized  in  the  United  States. 
Ten  years  afterwards  a  million  pounds  were  exported  for  foreign  consumption. 
Early  in  the  present  century  five  hundred  bales,  each  weighing  three  hundred 
pounds,  were  consumed  by  the  home  manufacturer,  and  forty- one  million 
pounds  went  abroad  to  supply  the  needs  of  foreign  factories.  Tobacco  was 
then  supplanted  by  cotton,  and  Augusta  became  the  market  for  an  extensive 
region  producing  this  most  important  article  of  commerce.  The  invention 
and  introduction  of  Eli  Whitney's  cotton  gin  imparted  a  wonderful  impulse  to 
this  industry,  and  conferred  a  benefit  which  cannot  be  overestimated.  He 
should  be  generously  remembered  as  a  benefactor  of  his  race. 

In  this  connection  we  make  no  apology  for  introducing  the  following  letter 
from  Mr.  Joseph  Eve,  the  father  of  the  late  venerable  Professor  Joseph  A.  Eve, 
M.D.,  of  this  city,  whose  pure  life  and  valuable  ministrations  are  cherished  in 
such  lively  recollection.  The  original  exists  among  the  Rush  papers  in  the 
manuscript  department  of  the  Ridgway  Library  in  Philadelphia. 

"  Dear  Sir  : — I  have  invented  a  machine  for  the  separating  of  Seed  from 
cotton,  which  has  been  in  use  in  these  islands  these  several  years. 

"  Having  received  the  last  year  a  number  of  applications  from  the  Southern 

19 


146  History  of  Augusta. 


States  for  my  Machines,  I  am  induced  to  petition  the  Legislature  of  the  United 
States  for  a  Patent  for  the  exclusive  use  of  them.  Without  this  security  I 
could  not,  in  justice  to  myself,  let  my  machines  be  introduced  into  the  States. 

"  Major  l^utler  was  kind  enough  to  hand  a  Petition  for  me  to  Congress, 
and  has  promised  that  if  I  send  a  model  of  my  Machine,  I  shall  obtain  a  Patent. 

"  I  was  in  Charles  Town  in  the  Summer  to  meet  General  Butler  there. 
The  business  could  then  have  been  settled,  but  that  I  could  not  make  the 
model  in  Charles  Town.  I  had,  however,  such  papers  executed  as  the  law 
relative  to  Patents  requires  ;  and  having  taken  the  liberty  of  sending  them, 
with  the  model  of  the  Machine,  to  your  care.  Major  Butler  has  promised  to 
bring  the  matter  forward  for  me  again,  and  to  use  his  influence  in  promoting 
its  success. 

"The  only  motive  I  can  urge  for  troubling  you  with  the  care  of  this  Model 
and  these  Papers  is  the  probability  that  Major  Butler  may  not  be  at  Philadel- 
phia. Perhaps  I  gratif}'  a  secret  vanity  at  the  same  time,  and  I  am  conscious 
of  a  high  pleasure  in  the  opportunity  it  affords  me  of  expressing  my  gratitude 
for  your  former  Patronage,  and  the  kindness  I  have  so  often  met  with  from  you. 

"  If  I  succeed  in  this  business  I  expect,  in  the  prosecution  of  it,  to  have  to 
go  to  Philadelphia,  when,  to  thank  you  personally  will  not  be  my  smallest 
pleasure.  "  I  remain,  with  high  esteem,  dear  sir, 

"  Your  most  obd't  hble.  servt., 
"  Bahama  Islands.  "JOSEPH  EvE. 

"Nassau,  24th  Nov.,  1794. 

"  I  have  sent  the  Pacquet  to  Major  Butler,  which  is  inclosed,  open  for 
perusal. 

"  I  will  thank  you  to  put  a  wafer  in  it. 

"Dr.  Benjamin  Rush." 

What  the  precise  character  of  this  machine  was,  and  whether  or  not  Mr. 
Eve  obtained  a  patent  for  it,  we  are  not  advised.  It  would  appear,  however, 
from  this  letter,  that  this  "machine  for  the  separating  of  seed  from  cotton" 
had  not  only  been  in  use  among  the  cotton  planters  of  the  Bahama  Islands 
sexeral  years  before  Whitney  perfected  and  introduced  his  invention,  but  that 
it  had  also  attracted  the  notice  of  cotton  growers  in  the  Southern  States. 

In  the  centennial  edition  of  the  Augusta  C/ironicle,  appeared  an  interesting 
article  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Salem  Dutcher,  entitled  "William  Longstreet,  in- 
ventor of  the  steamboat."  On  the  1st  of  February,  1788,  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  Georgia  passed  an  act  securing  to  Isaac  Briggs  and  William  Longstreet, 
for  the  term  of  fourteen  years,  the  exclusive  privilege  of  using  a  newly  con- 
structed steam  engine,  the  product  of  their  joint  invention.  In  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  Governor  Edward  Telfair,  and  now  of  file  in  the  archives  of  this 
State,  Mr.  Longstreet,  under  date  Augusta,  September  26th,  1790,  refers  to 
his  steamboat,  and  asks  executive  assistance  and  patronage  in  his  efforts  to  per- 


William  Longstreet  and  his  Steamboat.  147 


feet  and  utilize  it.      It  does  not  appear  that  this  application  was  crowned  with 
success. 

In  the  teeth  of  many  obstacles  Mr.  Longstreet  continued  his  experiments; 
and,  having  in  1806  accumulated  means  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  constructed 
a  steamboat  according  to  his  own  ideas  and  successfully  navigated  it  in  the 
Savannah  River. 

After  a  careful  examination  of  all  the  evidence  which  can  be  adduced,  Mr. 
Butcher  arrives  at  the  following  conclusion  : 

"  From  the  reference  here  to  '  the  different  essays  he  has  made,'  taken  in 
connection  with  the  letter  above  quoted  of  1790,  it  is  quite  likely  that  the 
statement  of  his  having  successfully  operated  a  steamboat  on  the  waters  of  the 
Savannah  in  1806  is  correct.  If  so,  he  is  indubitably  entitled  to  the  honor  of 
being  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat,  Robert  Fulton's  successful  trial  trip  up  the 
Hudson,  in  the  Clermont,  dating  from  August  7,  1807.  If  Mr.  Longstreet's 
boat  was  not  on  the  water  till  1808,  so  that  Fulton  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of 
having  first  operated  the  invention,  the  honor  of  excogitating  the  idea  of  steam 
navigation  is  still  with  the  former,  since,  as  we  have  seen,  he  receives  a  patent 
from  the  Georgia  Legislature  in  1788,  and  in  1790  mentions  the  steamboat  by 
name  as  an  invention  of  his,  then  well  known,  and  it  was  not  until  1790  that 
Robert  Fulton  left  the  United  States  for  Europe  in  order  to  perfect  his  educa- 
tion. After  his  return  to  the  United  States  he  became  acquainted  with  Chan- 
cellor Livingston,  who  had  paid  great  attention  to  the  subject  of  steam  as  a 
motor,  and  in  1798  obtained  from  the  New  York  Assembly  the  exclusive  right 
to  apply  it  to  the  propulsion  of  vessels.  From  this  time  Fulton  began,  in  con- 
junction with  the  chancellor,  a  series  of  experiments  which  culminated  in  the 
Clermont,  in  1807. 

"  Considering  that  something  over  nineteen  years  elapsed  from  the  time 
of  the  Georgia  statute  up  to  Fulton's  final  experiment,  and  that  Longstreet 
never  relinquished  his  idea  in  all  that  period,  but  constantly  kept  it  before  the 
public,  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  but  that  in  that  prolonged  period  intelligence 
of  the  ingenious  Georgian's  idea  extended  throughout  the  then  Union.  In 
fact,  we  know  that  in  1789  John  Stevens  made  some  experiments  toward  steam 
navigation  in  New  York,  and  that  in  1790  John  Fitch  is  said  to  have  put  a 
species  of  steamboat  on  the  Delaware;  circumstances  tending  to  show  Long- 
street's  idea  had  been  noised  abroad. 

"This,  of  course,  is  but  inference;  but,  however  it  may  be,  one  thing  in 
the  history  of  steam  navigation  is  perfectly  well  established,  and  that  is  that  in 
1788  William  Longstreet,  of  Georgia,  had  conceived  the  idea  of  the  steamboat, 
and  either  before,  or  about  contemporaneously  with,  the  famous  trip  of  the 
Clermont,  had,  by  the  mighty  agency  of  steam,  made  a  vessel  walk  the  water 
like  a  thing  of  life." 

We  have  here  a  memory  which,  among  the  recollections  of  old  Augusta, 
should  be  cherished  with  peculiar  pride. 


148  History  of  Augusta. 

When  the  census  of  1791  was  taken,  Richmond  county  had  an  aggregate 
population  of  eleven  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventeen.  Of  this  number 
four  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixteen  were  slaves.  Columbia  county  had 
not  then  been  carved  out  of  the  territory  of  Richmond. 

By  the  census  of  1801  the  population  of  Richmond  county  is  returned  at 
five  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy- three,  while  that  of  Columbia  county 
is  fixed  at  eight  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty- five. 

In  Sibbald's  Notes  a}id  Observations  07i  the  Pine  Lands  of  Georgia} — a  rare 
and  an  interesting  tract, — we  find  the  following  description  of  Augusta  as  the 
town  appeared  at  the  close  of  the  last  century: 

"  Augusta  is  situated  upon  the  southwestern  bank  of  Savannah  River,  lat- 
itude 33.40,  on  a  beautiful  and  extensive  plain.  It  is  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  northwest  of  Savannah.  The  town  is  regularly  laid  out  in  streets  cross- 
ing at  right  angles.^  The  principal  street,  called  Broad  street,  running  nearly 
east  and  west,  is  a  handsome,  well  built  street,  one  hundred  and  sixty- five  feet 
wide,  and  has  a  row  of  trees  for  nearly  a  mile  on  each  side.  On  this  street 
there  are  upwards  of  one  hundred  stores  filled  with  all  the  necessary  manufac- 
tures of  the  Northern  States,  of  Europe,  the  East  and  West  Indies.  This  city, 
in  point  of  riches,  is  equal  to  any  of  the  same  size  in  tlie  United  States.  The 
other  streets  are  sixty-six  feet  wide,  except  Greene  street,  which  is  one  hun- 
dred feet  wide.  There  are  many  handsome,  well  built  houses  on  them.  In  the 
rear  of  the  town  a  street  has  been  laid  out  three  hundred  feet  wide,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  which  an  academy,  containing  a  center  building  forty-five  by  thirty-six 
feet,  and  wings  thirty-three  by  one  hundred  feet,  is  now  building.  This  build- 
ing is  ornamental  with  a  cupola,  and  may  be  said  to  be  the  most  elegant  build- 
ing of  the  kind  in  the  Southern  States.  It  is  intended  to  accommodate  one 
hundred  and  fifty  students. 

"  Upon  a  line  with  it,  fronting  another  square,  a  brick  building  is  now  erect- 
ing for  a  Court- House,  upon  a  handsome  and  convenient  plan.  This  street  is 
intended  to  be  ornamented  with  trees  for  a  Public  Walk.  There  are  also  a 
Church,  Methodist  Meeting- House,  a  large  Stone  Goal,  a  Market-House,  and 
two  Ware-Houses  for  the  Inspection  of  Tobacco.  No  Town  ever  rose  into  im- 
portance with  such  rapidity  as  this  Town  has.  In  the  year  1785,  on  the  spot 
where  the  Town  stands,  there  were  only  ten  houses.  There  are  now  three  hun- 
dred and  four  houses,  and  it  is  fast  increasing  in  buildings,  commerce,  and 
every  kind  of  improvement.  It  has  the  advantage  of  a  most  beautiful  situation, 
and  enjoys  a  good  climate,  good  water,  and  is  surrounded  by  fertile  land.  It 
will,  one  day,  rise  to  a  degree  of  importance.  It  was  incorporated  by  an  Act  of 
the  Legislature  approved  January  31,  1798." 

With  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  our  labors  in  connection  with  the 

'Augusta:     Printed  by  William  J.  Bunce.     1801.     pp.  59,  60. 

'■'This  is'characteristic  of  all  the  towns  in  Georgia  planned  l)y  General  Oglethorpe. 


^'^'fyFa.Ke.rna.TL  1>C'V^. 


/^^  e^  Jm^.(^/. 


General  Remarks.  149 

preparation  of  this  Memorial  Volume  end.  We  have  endeavored,  from  all 
.available  sources  of  information  at  command,  to  furnish  a  truthful  narrative  of 
ev^ents,  military,  political  and  social,  and  to  present  a  faithful  history  of  the  for- 
tunes and  development  of  Augusta  during  the  first  sixty-five  years  of  her  ex- 
istence. 

The  curtain  rose  upon  a  feeble  trading  post,  quite  isolated,  and  located 
upon  the  extreme  verge  of  European  colonization  in  Georgia.  It  descends 
upon  a  thriving  town,  claiming  a  population  of  some  two  thousand,  conduct- 
ing a  lucrative  commerce  with  an  extensive  circumjacent  territory,  and  ad- 
vancing rapidly  in  civilization  and  wealth.  The  clouds  which  overshadowed 
the  settlement  and  darkened  its  progress  during  the  Indian  wars,  and  the 
storms  which  shattered  its  houses  and  rendered  desolate  its  streets  during  the 
protracted  and  sanguinary  contest  between  Revolutionists  and  Royalists,  have 
all  been  dissipated.  An  era  of  steam  and  of  assured  prosperity  is  at  hand. 
Competent  men  are  earnestly  striving  for  the  honor  and  the  expanding  welfare 
of  the  community.  Among  those  who  then  guided  and  stimulated  public 
affairs,  and  attended  to  the  business  of  law,  of  politics  and  of  commerce,  the 
names  of  Abraham  Baldwin,  George  Walton,  Edward  Telfair,  William  Few, 
John  Twiggs,  Wade  Hampton,  Samuel  Hammond,  Thomas  Gumming, 
Thomas  Glascock,  Freeman  Walker,  Nicholas  Ware,  Seaborn  Jones,  Elijah 
Clarke,  Robert  Watkins,  Benjamin  Few,  and  others  scarcely  less  prominent, 
are  well  remembered.  And  among  them — at  that  time  unknown  to  fame  but 
inspired  with  a  brave  ambition  to  excel — is  an  Irish  boy,  poor  and  a  stran- 
ger, destined  in  after  years  as  a  lawyer,  an  advocate,  a  statesman,  and  a  man 
of  letters  to  reflect  credit   upon  his  adopted  home,  and  in  his  pathetic  lines 

commencing: 

"  My  life  is  like  the  summer  rose, 
Tiiat  opens  to  the  morning  sky," 

entitling  himself  to  grateful  and  honorable  remembrance  so  long  as  the  English 
language  endures. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


^^^^•^    4- 


Original  Plan  of  the  City — The  Old  Town — Limits  Enlarged  in  1780  — Government  by 
•Commissioners — Augusta's  Loyal  Element— The  Captured  Cannon— Augusta  the  State  Capi- 
tal— Trustees  of  Augusta— Limits  Enlarged  in  1786— Charter  of  1789— Popular  Discontent — 
Charter  Withdrawn — The  Yazoo  Freshet. 

THE  history  of  Augusta  from   its   settlement  in  1735    to  the   close  of  the 
eighteenth    century    is  previously    narrated    in    this    work    by    one    en- 
tirely competent  to  the  task.      The  city  was  incorporated  in  1798,  and  its  his- 


150  History  of  Augusta. 


tory  from  that  time,  with  some  account  of  its  municipal  government  from  the 
earliest  period,  will  be  the  business  of  this  part  of  the  work. 

As  has  been  stated.  Augusta  was  first  settled  in  1735,  and  while  General 
Oglethorpe's  primary  object  was  to  establish  a  trading  post  and  frontier  for- 
tress for  the  new  colony,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  he  looked  forward  to 
more  permanent  results,  and  anticipated  that  Augusta  would,  in  time,  become 
a  thriving  city  in  the  up-country  as  a  counterpart  to  Savannah,  near  the  coast. 
For  several  years  after  the  establishment  of  Georgia,  General  Oglethorpe  was 
the  governing  authority  in  the  province,  and  seemed  to  aim  at  permanence  in 
all  he  did.  Thus,  while  fully  armed  with  the  royal  authority  to  take  possession 
of  the  new  country,  he  relied,  like  Penn,  fully  as  much  on  native  consent  as  on 
kingly  sanction,  and  made  it  one  of  his  first  endeavors  to  win  over  the  Indians 
to  a  peaceful  occupation  of  the  soil  by  the  whites.  This  was  all  the  more  nec- 
essary, since,  after  many  bloody  collisions,  it  had  been  agreed  between  the 
settlers  of  South  Carolina  and  the  savages,  that  the  River  Savannah  was  to  be 
the  dividing  line  between  the  red  man  and  the  pale-face.  To  the  west  of  that 
river,  no  white  man,  even  for  trade  or  hunting,  was  to  set  his  foot.  The  set- 
tlement of  Georgia  was,  consequently,  an  infraction  of  this  treaty ;  and  seeing 
that  the  settlement  to  be  permanent,  must  be  either  by  arms  or  negotiation, 
General  Oglethorpe,  at  his  landing,  persuaded  the  Indians  to  a  new  treaty 
whereby  the  white  man  was  to  be  allowed  to  settle  along  the  western  bank  of 
the  river.  The  same  prudent  foresight  marked  the  general's  course  in  the 
establishment  of  towns.  From  the  specimens  of  early  plats  which  survive,  they 
seem  all  laid  off  on  the  same  plan,  namely,  in  broad,  straight  streets,  intersect- 
ing at  right  angles,  and  having  the  lots  intended  for  public  purposes  on  one 
side  the  square,  with  an  extraordinarily  wide  space  or  parade  in  front.  In  a 
word,  the  plan  is  that  of  a  camp,  as  might  have  been  expected  from  Ogle- 
thorpe's profession.  While  no  written  record  remains  of  the  fact,  it  is  beyond 
question  that  Augusta  was  originally  laid  off  on  this  plan.  So  thoroughly  con- 
vinced is  Colonel  C.  C.  Jones,  the  eminent  arch^ologist  of  Georgia,  of  a  plan 
of  the  city  having  been  made  by  General  Oglethorpe  that  he  made  most  care- 
ful search  in  the  British  Museum  and  British  colony  office  for  the  original  when 
abroad  some  years  since,  but  unfortunately  without  success.  The  reader  has 
but  to  cast  his  eye,  however,  on  the  present  map  of  the  city,  to  see  that  the 
contour  of  the  municipality  still  retains  the  original  idea  of  its  founder.  The 
limits  of  the  first  settlement  are  not  now  precisely  ascertainable,  but,  on  a  plan 
of  the  city  made  about  1784,  and  still  in  existence,  a  certain  portion  of  its  pres- 
ent area,  bounded  by  the  Savannah  River  on  the  north,  Elbert  street  on  the 
east.  Green  on  the  south,  and  Washington  on  the  west,  is  denominated  "  the 
Old  Town,"  and  this  is,  in  all  probability,  the  original  Augusta.  What  adds 
to  this  probability  is  that,  midway  between  Elbert  and  Washington  lies  a 
street  which,  from  time  immemorial,  has  been   called  Centre  street,  a  name 


Limits  Enlarged  in  1780.  151 


•  which  would  have  no  relevancy  unless  it  were,  so  called  as  having  originally 
bisected  the  town.  To  corroborate  this,  we  have  a  provincial  act  of  1768 
which  establishes  "a  ferry  from  the  centre  of  the  town  of  Augusta,  upon  Sa- 
vannah River,  to  the  bluff  on  the  opposite  shore,  in  the  province  of  South  Car- 
olina," and  Sherwood's  Gazetteer  says  the  ferry  ran  just  where  the  bridge  was 
afterwards  built,  to  wit :  at  the  foot  of  Centre  street.  We  may,  therefore,  say 
that  Augusta  was  originally  bounded  by  Elbert,  Greene  and  Washington 
streets,  and  the  river.  This  gave  three  streets  running  at  right  angles  to  the 
river,  namely,  Washington,  Centre  and  Elbert;  and  three  running  parallel  to 
the  river,  to  wit :  Greene,  Ellis  and  Reynolds,  the  names  of  the  latter  two  be- 
ing those  of  the  early  royal  governors,  being  an  additional  evidence  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  this  part  of  the  city. 

It  does  not  appear  what  form  of  municipal  government  prevailed  at  this 
early  day,  but,  as  the  population  numbered  several  hundred  soon  after  its  first 
settlement,  and,  at  certain  seasons,  there  was  an  extraordinary  influx  of  In- 
dians, there  must  have  been  some  kind  of  local  authority.  The  first  distribu- 
tion of  Georgia  into  political  subdivisions  was  into  two  counties,  namely.  Sa- 
vannah county,  comprising  all  north  of  Darien,  and  Frederica  county  compris- 
ing all  south  of  that  point,  each  county  being  under  the  supervision  of  a  presi- 
dent and  four  assistants.  This  threw  Augusta  in  Savannah  county,  and  the 
local  government  was,  doubtless,  conducted  by  the  commandant  of  the  fort, 
under  the  orders  of  the  president  and  assistants  of  that  county.  Some  years 
later  the  colony  was  divided  into  eleven  districts,  namely,  Abercorn  and  Go- 
shen, Acton,  Augusta,  Darien,  Ebenezer,  Joseph's  Town,  Little  Ogeechee, 
Medway,  Savannah,  Skidaway  and  Vernonburg.  In  1750  the  trustees  ordered 
a  colonial  assembly  of  sixteen  members  to  be  chosen,  each  district  to  be  rep- 
resented in  proportion  to' its  population,  and,  on  this  apportionment,  the  Au- 
gusta district  sent  two  members,  evidencing  a  considerable  increase  in  its  pop- 
ulation. 

In  1758  the  districts  became  parishes,  the  district  of  Augusta  becoming  the 
parish  of  St.  Paul,  the  act  making  this  change  providing  that  "from  and  after 
the  seventeenth  day  of  March,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  fifty-eight,  the 
church  erected  in  the  town  of  Augusta,  with  the  cemetery  or  burial  place 
thereunto  belonging,  shall  be  the  parish  church  and  burial  place  of  St.  Paul." 
The  same  act  empowered  the  churchwardens  and  vestrymen  to  assess  rates 
for  the  repair  of  churches,  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  other  parochial  services. 

In  1780  the  limits  of  Augusta  were  enlarged,  and  we  begin  to  see  the 
germs  of  a  regular  municipal  government.  By  act  of  that  year  it  was  recited 
that  "  the  vacant  land  above  and  below  the  town  of  Augusta,  lying  on  Savan- 
nah River  on  the  north,  and  joining  the  common  in  a  line  with  the  south 
street  of  the  town  running  parallel  with  the  river,  and  joining  land  of  McCar- 
tan  Campbell  on  the  west,  and  Andrew  McLean  on  the  east,  ought  to  be  laid 


152  History  of  Augusta. 


out  into  lots  and  sold  for  the  use  of  this  State,  in  order  to  enlarge  the  limits  of 
the  said  town;"  and  thereupon  it  was  enacted  "that  five  commissioners  be 
appointed  by  this  house,  and  the  said  commissioners  so  appointed,  or  any  three 
of  them,  are  hereby  empowered  to  lay  out  the  said  vacant  land  in  lots  of  one 
acre  each,  and  also  to  lay  out  proper  streets,  and  to  arrange  them  with  the 
others  in  the  said  town  of  Augusta,  and  the  whole  shall  be  included  and  called 
Augusta."  This  act  appears  to  have  extended  the  town  limits  to  Lincoln  street 
on  the  east,  and  to  Jackson  street  on  the  west.  The  duties  that  devolved 
on  the  commissioners  were  numerous  and  important.  They  were  directed  to 
sell  the  lots  at  public  sale,  for  one-half  cash  and  the  balance  on  twelve  months' 
time ;  no  person,  however,  to  be  allowed  to  purchase  more  than  one  lot,  and 
each  purchaser  to  be  required  to  give  good  security  to  settle  and  build  upon 
his  lot  within  two  years  after  purchase.  They  were  also  directed  to  straighten 
the  streets,  which  seem  to  have  been  encroached  upon,  and  to  make  "the  road 
on  either  side,  up  to  Rae's  Creek  and  down  to  the  Sand  Bar,"  conform  to  the 
streets.  On  one  of  "the  public  lots  in  Broad  street"  they  were  to  build  a 
court-house  and  jail,  and  were  to  reserve  the  other  "  for  houses  of  public  semi- 
naries and  schools."  They  were  to  superintend  the  construction  of  all  new 
houses,  and  see  that  they  were  at  least  twenty  by  sixteen  feet,  and  if  of  wood, 
"framed  and  built  in  a  workmanlike  manner,"  and  all  houses  were  to  be  placed 
on  such  part  of  the  lot  as  the  commissioners  should  direct,"  to  the  end  that  the 
said  town  may  be  regularly  built.  They  were  also  directed  to  reserve  "  two 
of  the  best  lots  in  the  centre  line  of  the  said  town,  and  distant  from  each  other, 
for  houses  of  public  worship,"  and  to  "  lay  out  two  acres  of  ground  in  the  com- 
mon south  of  the  said  town  for  public  cemeteries,  each  opposite  the  respective 
lots,  and  to  cause  the  same  to  be  cleared  and  fenced  in."  The  act  made  sun- 
dry other  provisions,  which  afford  internal  evidences  of  Augusta  being,  even  at 
this  early  date,  a  point  of  recognized  and  growing  importance.  All  suits  at 
law  were  to  be  heard  and  determined  there ;  all  criminal  trials  were  also,  to  be 
had  there  ;  all  lots  not  built  on  and  improved  in  the  course  of  two  years  after 
the  passage  of  the  act  were  to  be  forfeited  to  the  State,  and  sold  'out  to  such 
purchasers  as  would  build  ;  and  no  burials  were  to  take  place  within  the  town 
limits.  The  references  in  this  act  to  the  lots  of  the  original  town  aftbrd  still 
further  proof  that  Augusta  was  originally  laid  out  on  some  settled  and  recog- 
nized plan.  The  commissioners  appointed  to  carry  out  the  act  were  William 
Glascock,  George  Walton,  Daniel  M'Murphy,  John  Twiggs  and  George  Wells, 
and  this  body  of  city  fathers  would  doubtless  have  done  good  work  for  the 
town  but  for  the  pendency  of  the  war  between  the  king  and  the  colonies,  and 
the  bloodshed  and  havoc  which  marked  the  struggle.  In  and  about  Augusta 
the  dogs  of  war  did  their  worst,  and  so  ruthless  and  sanguinary  was  the  com- 
bat that  the  famous  Revolutionary  soldier  General  Lee — "Lighthorse  Harry," — 
says  in  his  memoirs,  "in  no  part  of  the  South  was  the  war  conducted  with  so 


Augusta's  Loyal  Element.  153 

much  barbarity  as  in  this  quarter."  With  the  approach  of  the  Revolution  two 
parties  developed  themselves  in  the  town.  One  favored  the  king,  and  sent 
him  a  loyal  address,  assuring  him  of  their  affection  and  support.  The  other 
side  took  the  old  Continental  view  of  the  question.  It  is  pretty  clear  that  at 
first  the  monarchical  sentiment  was  very  strong.  Georgia  was  in  some  re- 
spects a  colony  of  peculiar  environments.  The  other  provinces  had  been 
established  for  motives  of  ambition  or  pecuniary  gain,  but  this  had  for  its  ori- 
gin the  desire  of  the  crown  to  furnish  comfortable  homes  for  distressed  Eng- 
lishmen who  from  debt  or  misfortune  had  no  future  in  life.  In  1730  Viscount 
Percival,  a  benevolent  nobleman,  General  Oglethorpe,  a  veteran  officer  who 
afterwards  rose  to  be  ranking  general  in  the  British  service,  and  a  number  of 
other  philanthropic  gentlemen  petitioned  King  George  II.  for  a  charter  of  in- 
corporation "  as  a  charitable  society  by  the  name  of  the  corporation  for  the 
purpose  of  establishing  charitable  colonies  in  America."  The  petitioners  stated 
"that  the  cities  of  London  and^  Westminster,  and  parts  adjacent,  do  abound 
with  great  numbers  of  indigent  persons  who  are  reduced  to  such  necessity  as 
to  become  burdensome  to  the  public,  and  who  would  be  willing  to  seek  a  live- 
lihood in  any  of  his  majesty's  plantations  in  America  if  they  were  provided 
with  a  passage  and  means  of  settling  there,"  and  went  on  to  say  that  petition- 
ers were  willing  "  to  undertake  the  trouble  and  charge  of  transporting  all  such 
persons  and  families,  provided  they  may  obtain  a  grant  of  lands  in  South  Car- 
olina for  that  purpose,  together  with  such  powers  as  shall  enable  them  to  con- 
tract with  persons  inclinable  to  settle  there  and  to  receive  the  charitable  con- 
tributions and  benefactions  of  all  such  persons  as  are  willing  to  encourage  so 
good  a  design."  In  order  to  understand  this  reference  to  a  grant  of  land,  in 
South  Carolina,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  prior  to  the  founding  of  the 
colony  of  Georgia,  the  province  of  South  Carolina  extended  westward  "to  the 
South  Seas,"  it  being  the  belief  at  that  period  that  some  vast  body  of  water 
lay  far  inland  of  the  continent.  His  majesty  referred  the  petition  to  the  Board 
of  Trade,  which  in  December,  1730,  reported  back  in  favor  of  granting  the 
prayer  of  petitioners.  The  report  says  :  "  We  are  of  the  opinion  his  majesty 
may  be  graciously  pleased  to  grant  to  the  petitioners  and  to  their  successors 
forever,  all  that  tract  of  land  in  his  province  of  South  Carolina  lying  between 
the  Rivers  Savannah  and  Alatamaha.  to  be  bounded  by  the  most  navigable 
and  largest  branches  of  the  Savannah  and  the  most  southerly  branch  of  the 
Alatamaha,  with  the  islands  in  the  sea  being  opposite  to  the  said  land."  It  was 
also  recommended  that  this  terfitory  should  be  erected  into  a  separate  colonial 
government,  and  that  the  society  should  have  power  to  make  laws  and  appoint 
officials  therein,  subject  to  the  allowance  and  approval  of  the  crown.  On  the 
coming  in  of  this  report  it  was  amended  so  as  to  make  the  new  province  ex- 
tend Avestwardly  to  the  South  Seas,  so  as  to  include  all  the  islands  within 
twenty  leagues  of  the  coast,  and  so  as  to  prohibit  the  grant  of  more  than  five 
20 


154  History  of  Augusta. 


hundred  acres  of  land  to  any  one  person,  and  as  thus  amended,  was  received 
and  approved. 

On  June  9,  1732,  the  king,  by  his  letters  patent,  incorporated  Viscount 
Percival,  General  Oglethorpe,  and  their  associates  by  the  name  of  ."the  trustees 
for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America,"  and  granted  them  the 
territory  and  powers  above  mentioned.  The  work  of  establishing  the  new 
colony  at  once  began.  General  Oglethorpe  himself  headed  the  first  ship  load 
of  emigrants,  and  the  king  sent  a  special  letter  of  instructions  to  Governor 
Johnstone  of  South  Carolina,  setting  forth  that  whereas  the  trustees  had 
petitioned  the  crown  to  notify  him  of  their  charter,  "that  all  due  countenance 
and  encouragement  should  be  given  for  settling  the  said  colony;"  therefore,  he 
was  to  register  said  charter  among  the  archives  of  his  province,  and  "to  give 
all  due  countenance  and  encouragement  for  settling  of  the  said  colony  of 
Georgia,  by  being  aiding  and  assisting  to  such  of  his  majesty's  subjects  as  shall 
come  into  the  said  province  of  South  Carolina  for  that  purpose."  Anthony 
Stokes,  the  royal  chief  justice  of  Georgia  from  1769  to  1783,  gives  a  lively 
picture  of  the  favor  and  protection  extended  this  particular  colony  by  the 
crown.  He  says:  "Georgia  continued  under  the  king's  government  to  be 
one  of  the  most  free  and  happy  countries  in  the  world.  Justice  was  regularly 
and  impartially  administered;  oppression  was  unknown;  the  taxes  levied  on 
the  subject  were  trifling;  every  man  that  had  industry  became  opulent.  The 
people  there  were  more  particularly  indebted  to  the  crown  than  those  in  any- 
other  colony;  immense  sums  were  expended  by  government  in  settling  and 
protecting  that  country;  troops  of  rangers  were  kept  up  for  several  years 
the  civil  government  was  annually  provided  for  by  vote  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons in  Great  Britain  and  most  of  the  inhabitants  owed  every  acre  of  land 
they  possessed  to  the  king's  free  gift;  in  short  there  was  scarce  a  man  in  the 
province  that  did  not  lie  under  particular  obligations  to  the  crown.  As  a 
proof  of  the  amazing  progress  that  Georgia  made,  I  should  observe  that  when 
Governor  Reynolds  went  to  that  province  in  1754,  the  exports  did  not  amount 
to  /"30,000  a  year,  but  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  they  could  not  be 
less  than  i^200,000  sterling."  We  have  the  figures  of  the  colonial  tax  levied 
for  a  number  of  years  which  go  to  show  that  taxation  could  not  have  been 
onerous,  and  that,  judging  from  the  ratio  of  increase,  the  colony  must  have 
been  rapidly  growing  in  wealth  and  population.     The  figures  are: 

£         ..     d.      f. 

For  the  year  1759 820        502 

"       "      1760 1,118        3        8 

"       "      1761 1,373      II        7 

"        "       "      1762 1,421        5 

"       "      1763 1,934       9 

"       "      "     1764 2,117     13       o       2 


The  Captured  Cannon.  155 


£        s.     d.     f. 

For  the  year  1765 '.599       7        i        2 

"      1766 J. 925        6        I 

"      1767 1,843      II        4       2 

"      1768 3,375        4        I 

"      1769 3,046      16       8       2 

"     1770 3,355       902 

"     1773 5. 171      15      10       2 

With   the  above  data  before  us,  we  can  see  why  the  loyal  sentiment  was 
strong  in  Augusta,  as  throughout  Georgia,  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution- 
ary struggle.     The   people   had   been  kindly  treated  by  the  British  Crown. 
None  of  the  embroilments  and  quarrels  which  had  embittered  the  colonists 
against  the  king  in  other  provinces  had  taken  place  in  Georgia.     Prior  to  the 
bloodshed  at  Lexington,  the  revolutionary  sentiment  was  very  evidently  quite 
weak  in  Georgia,  and  even  after  the  first  clash  of  arms  was  heard,  the  spirit 
of  loyalty  was  still  strong.     Out  of  this  fact  grew  acts  which  afterwards  resulted 
bloodily  for  Augusta.     In  Augusta,  as  in  Savannah,  was  formed  an  order  or 
association  called  Liberty  Boys,  devoted  to  the  American  cause.    The  Augusta 
branch  paid  special  attention  to  expelling  such  members  of  the  community  as 
were  supposed  to  favor  the  royal  cause,  and  were,  in  particular,  exceedingly 
severe  on   one  Thomas  Brown.     Brown  was  a  native  of  Augusta  and  seems 
to  have  been  a  man  of  fixed  views  and  determined  courage.      On  his  escape 
lie  joined  the  British  and,  being  possessed  of  great  native  military  ability,  soon 
rose  to  high  command  in  the  service.     Scarcely  had  the  above  mentioned  act 
■of  1780  been  passed  and  the  municipal  board  organized  thereunder,  when  a 
British   force   under  the    command   of   Brown,    then    Colonel  Brown,  of    his 
majesty's  service,  took  possession  of  the  town.      His   resentment  was  written 
■on  Augusta  in   letters   of  blood  and    fire.      After  a   prolonged  and  desperate 
struggle,  elsewhere  narrated,  he  was   captured    with   all  his  forces,  and  British 
domination  in  Augusta  ended.     Three   of  the  cannon   taken  on  this  occasion 
are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  city.      One  is  in  possession  of  the  artillery  company, 
and  occasionally  used  in  firing  salutes;  a  second   surmounts  the  grave,  in  the 
city  cemetery,  of  a   Revolutionary  soldier;   and  the  third  is  half  imbeded  in 
the  soil  at  the  corner  of  Ellis   and    Mcintosh  streets.      Why  it  is  placed  there 
no  man  seems  to  know,  but  the  probabilities  are  that  it  marks  the  location  of 
the  tower  whence  the  Americans  poured  down  a  fire  into  Fort  Cornwallis.  the 
last   British  stronghold   in  Augusta,  which   swept  its  garrison  from  their  guns 
and  compelled  its  surrender. 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  British,  the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia  again 
convened  in  Augusta,  at  that  time  the  seat  of  the  State  government,  and,  in  an 
act  passed  in  1 782'  we  find  a  moving  picture  of  the  times.  While  not  so  stated 
in  so  many  words,  the  scene  was  doubtless  taken  from   what  had  occurred  in 


156  History  of  Augusta. 


Augusta.  After  stating  that  many  citizens  of  Georgia  had  "been  guilty  of 
treason  against  the  State,  and  the  authority  of  the  same,  by  traitorously  adher- 
ing to  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  and  by  aiding,  assisting,  abetting,  and  com- 
forting the  generals  and  other  ofificers  civil  and  military  of  the  said  king,  to  en- 
force his  authority  in  and  over  this  State  and  the  good  people  of  the  same;" 
it  went  on  to  say  that  "  said  treasons  had  been  followed  with  a  series  of  mur- 
ders, rapine,  and  devastation  as  cruel  as  they  were  unnecessary,  whereby  order 
and  justice  were  banished  the  land,  and  lawless  power  established  on  high,  ex- 
hibiting the  melancholy  picture  of  Indians  inflicting  dreadful  punishments  on 
both  old  and  young  of  the  faithful  and  peaceful  citizens  of  this  State;  women  and. 
children  sitting  on  the  ruins  of  their  houses,  perishing  by  famine  and  cold  ; 
whilst  others  were  compelled,  in  the  midst  of  a  rigorous  season,  to  depart  the 
State,  being  previously  plundered  of  both  their  and  their  children's  clothing, 
and  every  other  necessary  that  might  tend  to  mitigate  the  uncommon  severi- 
ties exercised  on  the  softer  sex  and  their  innocent  babes.  Nor  was  this  all, 
whilst  these  days  of  blood  and  British  anarchy  continued  among  us,  and  com- 
manded executions  of  our  citizens,  taken  in  arms  in  defense  of  their  invaluable 
rights,  to  take  place,  executions  as  unauthorized  by  the  laws  of  nations,  as 
they  were  cruel  in  themselves,  and  only  to  be  exceeded,  if  possible,  by  the 
abandoned  profligacy  of  setting  torches  to  temples  dedicated  to  the  service  of 
the  most  high  God,  whereby  they  completed  a  violation  of  every  right  human 
and  divine." 

Fired  by  the  very  recital  of  these  wrongs  the  act  proceeds,  in  the  nature  of 
a  bill  of  attainder,  to  proclaim  as  traitors  a  long  list  of  persons,  not  forgetting 
Colonel  Thomas  Brown,  the  author  of  the  miseries  of  Augusta.  They  were 
commanded  to  leave  the  State,  under  penalty  of  death  if  they  returned,  and 
their  property  was  sequestrated  and  ordered  to  be  sold.  Some  of  the  land 
titles  of  Augusta  run  back  to  deeds  given  under  this  act  by  the  commissioners 
of  confiscated  estates.  The  recollection  of  British  severity  long  lingered  in 
Augusta,  and  we  remember  to  have  heard  from  an  aged  matron  that  in  her 
early  days  she  saw  a  venerable  lady,  whose  cottage,  out  where  the  Presby- 
terian Church  now  stands,  was  attacked  by  the  Indian  allies  of  the  British,  her 
babe  slain  and  she  herself  scalped  and  left  for  dead.  From  another  mother  in 
Israel  we  have  heard  that  after  the  Revolution  one  Fox,  a  Tory,  settled  in  Au- 
gusta at  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Washington  streets — where  a  marble  slab  let 
high  into  the  building,  still  proclaims  it  "  Fox's  Corner," — and,  to  tlie  huge 
disgust  and  indignation  of  the  good  people  of  the  town,  would  ever  and  anon, 
of  a  bright,  sunshiny  day,  hang  his  red  coat  out  of  the  window,  as  he  alleged 
simply  to  sun  it,  but  as  the  indignant  citizens  declared,  to  taunt  them  with  the 
sight  of  the  hated  British  uniform  once  more  within  rifle  shot  of  the  site  of  Fort 
Cornwallis.  Colonel  Thomas  Brown,  who  had  wrought  such  ruin  on  the  town, 
escaped  unhurt  after  his  surrender,  though  at  one  time  the  Continental  officers" 


Trustees  of  Augusta.  157 

were  compelled  to  turn  out  their  troops  to  protect  him  from  the  American  mil- 
itiamen who  thirsted  for  his  blood.  He  was  sent  to  Savannah  ;  there  organ- 
ized a  battalion  of  negro  infantry  in  the  British  service  ;  went  thence,  on  the 
final  surrender,  to  England,  and  was  rewarded  for  his  loyalty  with  an  appoint- 
ment in  one  of  the  West  India  islands  and  a  gratuity  of  ^30,000.  Not  satis- 
fied with  this,  he  surreptitiously  affixed  the  colonial  seal  to  some  false  grants  of 
land,  and  was  convicted  in  London  of  forgery.  Whether  he  was  hanged  ac- 
cordingly does  not  appear. 

But  Augusta  lost  no  time  in  repining.  The  lots  ordered  to  be  sold  under 
the  act  of  1780  had  not  been  built  on;  the  church  had  been  burned;  there 
was  no  court-house  or  academy,  but  steps  were  at  once  taken  to  build  up  the 
waste  places.  In  1783  the  Legislature  declared  that,  while  the  act  of  1780 
had  not  proved  effectual,  "  the  same  reasons  continued  for  the  encouragement 
and  enlargement  of  the  town  of  Augusta";  and  thereupon  selected  another 
board  of  commissioners,  appointing  William  Glascock,  George  Walton,  Joseph 
Pannel,  Andrew  Burns,  and  Samuel  Jack  as  the  board.  The  act  then  pro- 
ceeded to  forfeit  the  town  lots  which  had  not  been  built  on  and  ordered  the 
commissioners  to  expose  them  to  sale  anew,  one-fourth  cash,  one-fourth  in 
one  year  thereafter,  and  the  residue  in  three  years;  deferred  payments  to  be 
secured  by  mortgage.  Every  purchaser,  as  part  of  the  contract  of  sale  was, 
within  two  years  from  date  of  purchase,  "  to  build,  or  cause  to  be  built,  a  ten- 
antable  brick,  stone,  or  frame  house,  not  less  than  sixteen  feet  by  twenty-four," 
on  his  lot,  under  penalty  of  the  same  reverting  to  the  State.  Particular  and 
special  attention  was  also  given  to  the  erection  and  endowment  of  an  institntion 
of  learning.  After  building  a  church,  and  reserving  a  sufficiency  of  land  for 
public  purposes,  all  the  other  lots  were  to  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  used  to 
establish    and    maintain    a  seminary.      This  is  the   origin  he  Richmond 

Academy,  an  institution  which  still  exists,  and  is  the  olde      seat  of  learning 
in  the  United  States  with  the  exception  of  Yale,  Harvard,       d  Princeton. 

The  act  of  1783  constituted  the  board  of  commissioners  of  Augusta  trus- 
tees for  all  the  purposes  mentioned  in  the  act,  namely  the  improvement  of  the 
town  and  the  erection  and  support  of  the  academy,  but  did  not  in  express  terms 
confer  general  powers  of  municipal  government.  In  1786.  however,  another 
act  was  passed  which  did  so.  It  provided  that  "tiie  board  shall  have  power  to 
carry  into  execution  in  the  town  of  Augusta,  the  same  regulations  and  powers 
as  the  commissioners  of  the  town  of  Savannah  may  lawfully  do  there."  The 
acts  of  1780,  1783,  and  1786  therefore  operated,  when  taken  together,  as  a 
sort  of  charter  for  Augusta  ;  and  up  to  the  year  1798,  when  the  charter  of  the 
present  city  was  granted,  Augusta,  with  a  brief  exception,  whereof  more 
hereafter,  was  governed  by  a  board  of  commissioners.  This  board,  as  we  learn 
from  an  act  passed  in  1835,  was  considered  as  being  in  reality  made  up  by 
two  bodies,  or  rather,  had  two  sets  of  powers,  one  as  trustees  of  the  town  of 


158  History  of  Augusta. 

^ • 

Augusta  and  the  other  as  trustees  of  Richmond  Academy.  This  act  of  1786 
made  another  alteration  in  the  hmits  of  Augusta,  the  trustees  being  directed  to 
add  another  row  of  lots  on  the  south  side  of  the  town,  which  seems  to  have  ex- 
tended Augusta  to  the  present  Telfair  street.  Edward  Telfair  was  governor 
in  this  year,  1786,  whence,  no  doubt,  the  name  given  to  the  new  street. 

In  1789  the  Legislature  incorporated  Augusta  and  Savannah  in  one  and 
the  same  act,  the  earlier  statutes  of  Georgia  being  frequently  a  sad  farrago  of 
all  sorts  of  subjects.  A  bill  seems  to  have  been  regarded  as  a  sort  of  sausage 
into  which  legislators  were  at  liberty  to  cram  all  kinds  of  material.  This  evil, 
it  may  be  here  remarked,  finally  led  to  the  rule  that  a  law  should  relate  to  but 
one  subject  matter,  which  has  been  adopted  from  Georgia  into  the  constitu- 
tions of  almost  all  the  other  States.  The  act  of  1789  incorporated  the  town  of 
Savannah  as  the  city  of  Savannah,  but  left  Augusta  still  a  town;  and  for  some 
reason,  probably  because  the  good  people  of  Augusta  of  that  day  resented  this 
inferiority  in  title,  the  charter  of  1789  found  little  favor.  True,  it  gave  Au- 
gusta a  mayor  and  board  of  aldermen,  as  it  did  Savannah,  but  even  this  placebo 
did  not  heal  the  first  affront.  The  people  took  offense  at  the  act  itself  and 
every  part  and  parcel  thereof  Its  very  phraseology  seems  to  have  become 
obnoxious,  and  when  Augusta  did  become  a  city  the  charter  studiously  pro- 
vided that  the  chief  executive  of  the  municipality  should  be  styled  not  mayor, 
but  "  intendant,"  and  intendant  it  remained  till  18 17.  As  to  alderman,  that 
word  was  also  scoured,  and  has  never  been  the  official  designation  of  an  Au- 
gusta city  father  from  that  day  to  this.  In  1841,  a  half  century  afterwards,  an- 
act  was  passed  to  create  a  board  of  aldermen  in  Augusta,  but  in  the  very  next 
year  was  incontinently  repealed.  "  Member  of  Council  "  is  now,  and  has,  for 
nearly  a  century,  been  the  only  legal  official  appellation. 

It  is  unfortunately  the  case  that  the  text  of  this  act  of  1789,  so  far  as  rela- 
tive to  Augusta,  does  not  appear  in  the  statute  book,  and  we  are  therefore, 
unable  to  give  the  terms  of  this  unpopular  charter.  It  appears,  however,  that 
the  mayor  and  aldermen  therein  provided  for  were  to  be  appointed,  not  elected, 
and  that  no  appointments  were  made  for  some  years,  and  that,  in  the  mean- 
time, the  government  by  board  of  trustees  continued.  In  1790  the  trade  of 
Augusta  with  South  Carolina  had  increased  to  such  an  extent  that  it  became 
necessar}'  to  have  a  bridge  over  the  Savannah  ;  and,  the  trustees  having  sur- 
rendered their  ferry  right  in  his  favor,  the  Legislature  granted  Wade  Hamp- 
ton the  right  to  construct  and  maintain  a  toll  bridge  from  the  foot  of  Centre 
street  to  the  Carolina  shore.  The  grantee  was  to  keep  up  a  bridge  of  at  least 
sixteen  feet  in  width  ;  was  to  pass  the  master,  teachers,  and  scholars  of  the 
Richmond  Academy  free ;  was  to  pay  the  trustees  an  annual  rent  of  £so,  and 
charge  only  the  tolls  set  out  in  the  act,  which  were  the  same  as  the  old  ferry 
had  charged.  Among  the  items  appear  a  couple  which  present  a  curious  pic- 
ture of  the  times,  to  wit:   "  for  every  rolling  hogshead  witli   two  horses,  and 


Charter  of  1789  Repealed.  159. 


drawn,  one  shilling  and  two  pence  ;  for  every  rolling  hogshead  with  one  horse, 
and  drawn,  one  shilling."  In  those  days  tobacco  was  a  staple  in  Georgia  and 
South  Carolina,  and  Augusta  was  a  notable  inspection  point.  By  law  the  hogs- 
head was  not  to  exceed  forty-nine  inches  in  length,  and  thirty-nine  inches  in 
the  head,  and  was  to  weigh  at  least  nine  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  nett.  They 
were  very  stoutly  coopered,  and  fitting  a  sort  of  axle  to  them  and  shafts  or 
pole,  the  planter  trundled  them  along  the  road  to  market  after  the  fashion  of  a 
huge  garden  roller. 

In  1 79 1  we  find  that  "  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  to  be  appointed  for  the 
Corporation  of  the  Town  of  Augusta,"  were  made  ex-officio  commissioners  of 
court-house  and  jail. 

In  1 794  occurs  another  instance  of  the  rivalry  of  the  time  between  Augusta 
and  Savannah.  The  latter  place  had  two  fire  engines,  and  desired  a  fire  com- 
pany chartered.  Augusta  having  but  one  engine,  at  once  purveys  herself  an- 
other, and  has  that  incorporated  as  the  Augusta  Fire  Company.  The  original 
by-laws  of  this  venerable  organization  are  still  preserved.  One  article  is  that 
the  members  are  to  dine  together  every  Fourth  of  July  ;  each  member  was  to 
provide  himself  at  his  own  expense  with  a  white  oil  cloth  cover  for  his  hat,  let- 
tered with  the  company's  name,  also  two  fire  buckets,  and  "  four  bags,  each  con- 
taining three  yards  of  strong  Osnaburgs,  and  drawn  at  top  with  a  suitable  cord," 
buckets  and  bags  to  be  similarly  lettered.  The  buckets  were  to  put  out  fires  ; 
the  bags  to  save  goods.  There  was  to  be  a  monthly  inspection  of  buckets  and 
bags,  and  any  dereliction  in  this  particular  met  a  fine  of  five  dollars.  The 
company  was  to  meet,  buckets  in  hand,  at  the  engine-house,  at  sun  rise,  on 
the  first  Saturday  of  each  month  to  clean  the  engine.  The  officers  bore  com- 
missions from  the  governor,  and  when  on  duty  carried  white  wands  six  feet 
long,  and  lettered  as  above. 

In  this  same  year,  1794,  the  mechanics  of  Augusta  became  an  incorporated 
company  under  the  name  of  "  The  Augusta  Association  of  Mechanics."  The 
act  states  that  they  had  petitioned  for  a  charter,  because  "  desirous  of  placing 
their  various  crafts  on  a  more  social  footing  than  heretofore,  and  of  establishing, 
by  their  united  exertions  and  contributions  a  lasting  fund  for  the  relief  and  sup- 
port of  such  of  their  unfortunate  brethren,  or  their  families  as  are,  or  may  be- 
come objects  of  charity."  The  petitioners  are  stated  in  the  act  to  be  William 
Longstreet,  president;  John  Catlett,  vice-president;  Thomas  Bray,  secretary; 
Robert  Creswell,  treasurer,  and  Hugh  Magee,  William  Dearmond,  Baxter 
Pool,  John  Cook,  Joseph  Stiles,  Angus  Martin,  John  Stiles,  Hiel  Chatfield, 
Edward  Primrose,  Conrad  Liverman,  and  Isaac  Wingate. 

In  1795  so  much  of  the  act  of  1789  as  chartered  Augusta  as  a  town  with  a 
mayor  and  aldermen  was  repealed,  the  act  stating  that  "  experience  hath  proven 
that  so  much  of  the  act  is  deemed  incompatible  with  the  interest  and  the  wishes 
of  the  inhabitants  thereof"     The  act  proceeded  to  say  "  and  it  shall  be  the 


i6o  HisroRY  OF  Augusta. 

duty  of  the  mayor  and  aldermen  now  in  office,  under  said  act,  and  they  are 
hereby  required  to  adjust,  and  within  six  months  from  and  after  the  passing  of 
this  act,  finally  to  settle  and  close  the  books  and  accounts  of  the  corporation, 
and  to  deposit  the  same,  together  with  the  funds  thereof,  with  the  commission- 
ers of  the  court-house  and  jail,  to  be  appointed  for  the  county  of  Richmond 
who  shall  hold  such  property,  real  and  personal,  as  may  have  been  acquired 
by  the  said  corporation,  in  trust,  for  and  to  the  use  of  the  said  town  of  Au- 
gusta and  the  inhabitants  thereof,  provided  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall 
prevent  the  collection  of  the  corporation  tax  already  levied,  which  sums  shall 
be  deposited  with  the  commissioners  aforesaid." 

With  the  repeal  of  the  charter  of  1789,  the  government  of  Augusta  reverted 
to  the  board  of  trustees,  as  we  find  by  act  of  the  next  year,  1796,  which  di- 
rected "The  Trustees  of  the  Town  of  Augusta,"  to  do  a  number  of  things  for 
the  good  of  the  place.  Among  other  things  they  were  to  rectify  an  inconve- 
nience growing  out  of  the  extraordinary  width  of  Broad  street  in  the  original 
plan  of  the  town.  It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  the  original  Broad 
street  extended  from  Washington  to  Elbert,  and  was  laid  off  by  Oglethorpe  as 
more  of  a  parade  ground  than  a  street,  being  three  hundred  feet  wide  ;  and 
that,  in  extending  Broad  street  east  to  Lincoln  street,  and  west  to  Campbell 
street,  the  act  of  1780  required  that  width  to  be  preserved,  it  not  being  until 
1784  that  the  width  was  reduced  to  one  hundred  and  sixty-four  feet. 

This  direction  seems  to  have  been  complied  with  only  so  far  as  the  exten- 
sion east  was  concerned,  the  extension  to  Campbell  street  being  made  much 
narrower.  In  laying  out  the  town  below  Lincoln  under  the  act  of  1786,  Broad 
street  was  also  narrowed,  so  that  in  1796  the  original  portion  of  that  street  was 
sixty-four  feet  wider  than  it  was  above  or  below.  To  add  to  the  confusion, 
the  street  on  its  south  side  was  straight  its  entire  length,  the  inequality  being 
wholly  on  the  north  side.  To  remedy  this,  the  north  side  lots  were  extended 
sixty-four  feet  into  the  street.  The  same  act  gives  some  interesting  informa- 
tion respecting  the  "Yazoo  Fresh,"  as  it  is  called  from  occurring  the  same  year 
as  the  Yazoo  Fraud,  or  that  memorable  land  speculation  which  occupies  such 
a  space  in  the  history  of  Georgia.      The  act  says : 

"  Whereas,  The  aforesaid  Town  of  Augusta  hath  latterly  sustained  con- 
siderable injury  by  the  inundation  of  an  extraordinary  flood  of  water  in  the 
Savannah  River,  and  which  was  considerably  heightened  on  account  of  the 
direction  of  the  current  immediately  against  the  town,  for  remedy  whereof,  Be 
it  enacted,  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  trustees  of  the  aforesaid 
town  of  Augusta,  within  eight  months  from  and  after  the  passing  of  this  act, 
under  such  scheme,  regulation,  and  restrictions  as  the  said  trustee  may  deem 
most  expedient  fully  to  effect  the  end  of  erecting  and  completing  one  or  more 
sufficient  pier  or  piers,  in  such  part  or  parts  of  the  river  as  will,  in  their  judg- 
ment most  effectually  divert  the  current  of  the  same  from  off  the  said  town  ; 
provided,  that  such  piers  shall  not  obstruct  the  navigation  of  the  said  river." 


Augusta  Incorporated.  i6i 


This  Yazoo  freshet  swept  away  the  bridge,  but,  as  usual,  the  people  of 
Augusta  lost  no  time  in  idle  lamentations.  An  act  was  immediately  passed 
directing  it  to  be  rebuilt. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Augusia  Incorporated  —  Charter  of  1798  —  Thomas  Gumming,  P^irst  Intendant  —  City 
Limits  —  Rise  of  the  Cotton  Interest  —  Whitney  and  his  Gin  —  Price  Current  of  1802  —  Inten- 
dant Murray^  Intendant  Hobby —  Intendant  Flournoy  —  Intendant  Catlett  —  Assize  of  Bread 
-^  The  Steamboat  of  1808  —  Intendant  Hutchinson  —  Intendants  Walker  and  Jones  —  Gover- 
nor Matthews  —  Beards  President  Adams  —Intendant  Leigh  —  Panic  of  1814  —  Intendant 
Called  Mayor  —  Mayor  Freeman  Walker  Becomes  United  States  Senator — Mayor  Ware  be- 
comes United  States  Senator  —  Mayors  Reid  and  Holt  —  La  Fayette's  Visit  —  Mayor  Hale 

Rise  of  the  Railway  System  —  Mayors  Phinizy,  Hook,  and  Dye  —  The  Algerine  Law  —  Au- 
gusta Canal  —  Mexican  War  —  Mayor  Ford. 

ABOUT  1796  it  became  apparent  that  the  device  of  a  board  of  trustees 
appointed  by  the  Legislature  would  no  longer  suffice  for  the  government 
of  the  town.  In  1797  the  Legislature  itself  declares  that  a  full  board  was  such 
a  hindrance  to  business  that  thereafter  a  majority  of  members  should  consti- 
tute "  The  board  of  trustees  for  the  academy  and  town  of  Augusta." 

Finally,  by  act  of  January  31,  1798.  the  town  ceased  to  be  a  town,  and  was 
recognized  and  chartered  as  a  city.  This  instrument  was  skillfully  and  care- 
fully drawn,  and  is  still  the  organic  law  of  the  city.  It  begins,  as  is  usual  with 
these  old-fashioned  acts,  with  a  preamble  expressive  of  why  it  was  passed. 

"  Whereas,  From  the  extent  and  population  of  the  town  of  Augusta,  its 
growing  importance,  both  with  respect  to  increase  of  inhabitants  and  diffusive 
commerce,  it  is  indispensably  necessary  that  many  regulations  should  be  made 
for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  good  order  within  the  same  ;   and 

"  Whereas,  From  the  many  weighty  and  important  matters  that  occupy 
the  attention  of  the  Legislature  at  their  general  meeting,  it  has  hitherto  been 
found  inconvenient,  and  may  hereafter  become  more  so,  for  them  to  devise, 
consider,  deliberate  on,  and  determine  all  such  laws  and  regulations  as  emer- 
gencies, or  the  local  circumstances  of  the  said  town,  may  from  time  to  time 
require  ; 

"  Be  it  therefore  enacted.  That  from  and  immediately  after  the  passing  of 
this  act  all  persons  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  residing  one  year  within  the 
said  town,  and  having  a  freehold  or  lease  for  years  of  a  lot  within  the  same  or 
the  village  of  Springfield,  or  between  the  said  village  and  town,  shall  be  deemed, 
and  they  are  hereby  declared  to  be,  a  body  politic  and  corporate,  and  the  said 
21 


1 62  History  of  Augusta. 


town  shall  hereafter  be  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  THE  CiTY  OF  AU- 
GUSTA, and  shall  be  divided  into  the  following  districts,  to  wit :  All  lots  situate 
below  the  cross  street  running  from  the  river  Savannah,  between  the  market- 
house  and  the  house  of  Mrs.  Fox,  to  be  called  and  known  as  district  number 
one  ;  all  the  lots  between  said  street,  and  the  cross  street  running  from  the  said 
river,  between  the  house  of  Mr.  Andrew  Jones,  and  the  house  occupied  by 
Collin  Reed  and  Company  to  be  called  and  known  by  district  number  two  ; 
and  all  the  lots  above  that  street,  including  the  village  of  Springfield,  shall  be 
called  and  known  by  district  number  three." 

We  may  pause  here  to  remark  that  this  much  of  the  act  throws  a  strong 
light  on  the  limits  of  the  city  in  1798.  The  village  of  Springfield  was  located 
about  where  the  upper  market  formerly  stood,  that  is,  at  Marbury  street,  and 
by  the  act  of  1783,  as  will  be  remembered,  the  western  boundary  of  Augusta 
was  at  or  about  Jackson  street.  This  left  an  intervening  space  between  the 
town  and  village,  answering  to  the  area  now  comprised  between  Jackson  and 
Cumming,  or  possibly  Kollock  street.  This  space,  as  well  as  the  village  of 
Springfield,  then  a  few  houses  and  a  negro  church,  was  included  in  Augusta, 
so  that  the  act  chartering  the  city  also  extended  its  limits  to  Marbury  street. 

In  speaking,  in  his  sketch  "The  Gander  Pulling,"  of  Augusta  in  1798, 
Judge  Longstreet,  author  of  "  Georgia  Scenes,"  says:  "Those  who  are  curi- 
ous to  know  where  Springfield  stood  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  speaking,  have 
only  to  take  their  position  at  the  intersection  of  Broad  and  Marbury  streets, 
in  the  city  of  Augusta,  and  they  will  be  in  the  very  heart  of  old  Springfield. 
Sixty  steps  west  and  as  many  east  of  this  position  will  measure  the  whole 
length  of  this  Jeffersonian  republican  village,  which  never  boasted  more  than 
.four  dwelling  houses;  and  Broad  street  measures  its  width,  if  we  exclude 
kitchens  and  stables."  And  again  :  "  In  1798  Campbell  street  was  the  west- 
■ern  verge  of  Augusta,  a  limit  to  which  it  had  advanced  but  a  few  years  before, 
from  Jackson  street.  Thence  to  Springfield  led  a  large  road,  now  built  up  on 
either  side,  and  forming  a  continuation  of  Broad  street.  This  road  was  cut 
across  obliquely  by  a  deep  gully,  the  bed  of  which  was  an  almost  impassable 
bog,  which  entered  the  road  about  one  hundred  yards  below  Kollock  street  on 
the  south,  and  left  it  about  thirty  yards  below  Kollock  street  on  the  north  side 
of  now  Broad  street.  It  was  called  Campbell's  Gully,  from  the  name  of  the 
gentleman  through  whose  possessions  and  near  whose  dwelling  it  wound  its 
way  to  the  river." 

The  form  of  government  established  by  the  charter  was  this  :  the  first  and 
third  districts  were  to  elect  two  members  each  ;  the  third  district  was  to  elect 
three  ;  these  members  were  out  of  their  own  number,  or  from  the  citizens  at 
large,  to  select  an  intendant  of  the  city,  and  the  intendant  and  members  were 
to  be  known  and  styled  by  the  name  of  "  The  City  Council  of  Augusta."  Any 
person  elected  intendant  and  refusing  to  serve  was  to  forfeit  the  sum  of  thirty 


Whitney  and  the  Cotton  Gin.  163 

dollars  to  the  city;  a  member  of  council  refusing  was  to  pay  twenty  dollars. 
Elections  were  to  be  annual,  and  only  freeholders  or  leaseholders  were  com- 
petent to  vote  or  hold  office.  The  powers  of  the  council  extended  to  making 
any  "  by-law  or  regulation  that  shall  appear  to  them  requisite  and  necessary 
for  the  security,  welfare,  and  convenience  of  the  said  city,  or  for  preserving 
peace,  order,  and  good  government  within  the  same,"  and  they  were  empow- 
ered "  to  make  such  assessments  on  the  inhabitants  of  Augusta,  or  those  who 
hold  taxable  property  within  the  same,  as  shall  appear  to  them  expedient." 
These  franchises  have  been  found  so  ample  that  the  city,  even  in  the  long  tract 
of  ninety  years  has  found  little  occasion  to  apply  to  the  Legislature  for  exten- 
sion of  its  authority.  They  have  also  been  found  flexible  enough  to  meet  all 
the  varying  exigencies  of  that  long  period.  The  early  restrictions  on  munici- 
pal suffrage  have  long  been  removed  ;  the  intendant  is  now  called  mayor  ;  the 
districts  are  called  wards,  and  new  ones  have  been  added  ;  but,  in  all  its  essen- 
tial and  substantial  parts,  the  charter  of  1798  is  still  the  fundamental  law  of  the 
city.  The  first  council  consisted  of  Messrs.  George  Walker,  James  Pearre,  Rob- 
ert Creswell,  Andrew  Innis,  Isaac  Herbert,  and  William  Longstreet,  and  Thomas 
Gumming  was  chosen  intendant.  For  a  few  years  there  is  a  break  in  our  muni- 
cipal records,  but,  beginning  with  1803,  we  have  a  complete  list  of  the  chief 
magistrates  of  the  city  to  date.  From  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  history  of  Augusta  is  that  of  a  steady  and  continuous  development,  despite 
war,  flood,  conflagration  and  fever.  As  if,  in  her  early  days,  she  had  had  her 
quantum  of  hostilities,  the  actual  tramp  of  contending  forces  was  never  heard 
in  her  streets,  nor  was  the  torch  ever  applied  to  her  houses.  Such  sufferings 
as  she  had  were  reflected,  and  her  history  during  this  period,  while  interesting, 
is  not  marked  by  any  of  the  terrible  and  bloody  incidents  of  her  early  days. 

The  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  was  marked  in  Augusta  by  the  rise 
of  the  cotton  industry. 

In  1 79 1  the  entire  export  of  cotton  from  the  United  States  was  but  189,- 
500  pounds,  all  told,  or  about  379  bales;  but,  at  that  time,  an  inventive  genius 
was  at  work  on  a  machine  destined  to  revolutionize  the  fictile  industries  of  the 
world.  Eli  Whitney  was  born  in  Westburough,  Mass.,  on  Decembers,  1765, 
and,  after  completing  his  education  at  Yale,  came  to  Georgia,  with  a  view  of 
entering  the  legal  profession.  He  made  his  home  with  the  widow  of  General 
Greene,  the  Revolutionary  hero  ;  and,  as  tradition  has  it,  had  his  attention  di- 
rected by  that  lady  to  the  subject  of  a  machine  for  preparing  cotton  for  market. 
In  those  times  the  seed  was  laboriously  and  imperfectly  separated  from  the  lint 
by  hand,  and  Mrs.  Greene  seems  to  have  foreseen  that  important  results 
would  follow  a  speedier  process.  Young  Whitney  worked  out  the  idea,  and 
in  1793  received  a  patent  for  his  famous  cotton  gin.  His  experiments  were 
made  in  and  near  Augusta,  and  about  two  miles  south  of  the  city  is  still  to  be 
seen  the  dam  used  by  him  to  run  his  works. 


i64  History  of  Augusta. 

Sometimes  it  is  said  that  Wiiitney  is  not  the  real  inventor  of  this  device,  but 
purloined  the  idea  from  its  original  author,  the  statement  being  that  a  citizen 
of  South  Carolina  constructed  a  gin  toward  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  that  Whitney,  surreptitiously  gaining  access  to  his  workshop,  carried  off 
the  plan  and  constructing  a  machine  patented  it  as  his  own.  This  stor\'  is  told 
with  great  circumstantiality,  and  the  house  in  which  the  machine  was  originally 
constructed  is  said  to  be  still  standing  within  sight  of  Augusta,  in  Hamburg, 
on  the  left  hand  side  of  the  road,  just  as  you  cross  the  Savannah  River  bridge. 

The  contemporaneous  history  of  Whitney's  times,  however,  shows  pretty 
clearly  that  he  is  really  the  inventor.  The  patent  was  issued  him  in  1793, 
and  by  act  of  December  19,  1801,  (5  Statutes  South  Carolina,  page  427)  the 
Legislature  of  South  Carolina  purchased  from  him  the  right  to  use  his  patent 
in  that  State  for  the  sum  of  $50,000. 

In  the  Augusta  Herald  of  December  30,  1801,  the  editor  mentions  the  pas- 
sage of  this  act,  and  says:  "  In  the  course  of  the  negotiations  between  the 
Legislature  of  South  Carolina  and  the  patentee,  we  understand  that  every  satis- 
factory evidence  of  the  originality  of  the  invention  was  produced,  and  its  prin- 
ciples so  fully  explained  by  the  ingenious  inventor  that  little  or  no  diversity  of 
opinion  existed  as  to  the  propriety  of  making  the  contract." 

Now,  if  Whitney  had  really  robbed  a  citizen  of  South  Carolina  of  the  in- 
vention, it  is  hardly  likely  that  the  Legislature  of  that  very  State  would,  but 
eight  years  after,  have  permitted  him,  as  against  one  of  its  people,  to  profit 
by  the  wrong.  The  statement,  just  quoted,  that  during  the  negotiations  be- 
tween Whitney  and  the  Legislature,  "  every  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  or- 
iginality of  the  invention  was  produced,"  seems  to  justify  the  inference  that 
some  question  may  have  been  raised,  but  if  so,  the  Legislature  was  so  fully 
satisfied  on  investigation  of  Whitney's  right,  "  that  little  or  no  diversity  of  opin- 
ion existed  as  to  the  propriety  of  making  the  contract." 

The  strength  of  this  contemporaneous  testimony  can  hardly  be  overcome, 
but,  if  more  were  needed,  we  find  it  in  two  acts  of  the  Legislature  of  Tennes- 
see, one  passed  in  November,  1803,  and  the  other  in  September,  1806  The 
act  of  1803  is  modeled  on  the  South  Carolina  statute  of  1801,  save  that  the 
price  .igreed  on  was  but  $35,000;  and  in  1806,  in  order  to  make  the  act  of 
1803  more  fully  operative,  there  was  passed  "an  act  to  carry  into  effect  a  con- 
tract between  the  State  of  Tennessee  and  Eli  Whitney  and  Phineas  Miller." 
The  preamble  to  this  act  also  indicates  that  some  question  was  made  as  to 
Whitney  being  the  real  inventor,  and  shov\s  that,  a  second  time,  the  issue  was 
found  in  his  favor,  reading  thus  : 

"Whereas,  it  has  been  made  to  appear  to  the  satisfaction  of  this  General 
Assembly  that  Eli  Whitney,  from  whom  this  State  purchased  the  patent  right  of 
a  machine  for  cleaning  cotton,  commonly  called  the  saw  gin,  is  the  true  inven- 
tor of  said  machine,  therefore,"  etc.,  etc. 


Early  Cotton  Interests.  165 


The  new  invention  at  once  gave  a  tremenduous  impetus  to  the  cotton  in- 
terest. As  early  as  1796  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  passed  "  an  act  for  the 
inspection  of  cotton,"  a  sure  proof  of  the  product  being,  even  at  that  day,  re- 
garded as  a  staple.  In  1798  another  act  was  passed  to  encourage  cotton  man- 
ufactures, and  in  the  next  year  Governor  Jackson  informs  the  General  Assem- 
bly, in  his  annual  message,  that  "  the  article  is  rapidly  advancing  to  the  head 
of  American  exports,  and  that  Georgia  cotton  is  taking  the  lead  in  most  for- 
eign markets." 

At  the  September  term,  1800,  of  Richmond  Superior  Court,  the  grand  jury 
say  in  their  general  presentments:  "The  article  of  cotton  having  become  a 
principal  staple  of  this  State,  in  the  packing  and  bagging  of  which  considerable 
frauds  have  been  committed,  to  prevent  which  we  recommend  legislative  inter- 
ference." 

From  this  presentment  it  is  quite  clear  that,  as  early  as  iSoo,  Augusta  was 
quite  a  cotton  emporium.  As  to  the  complaints  of  false  packing,  it  is  not  un- 
likely that,  in  the  then  infant  state  of  cotton  culture  and  preparation  for  mar- 
ket, much  of  what  is  put  down  as  deception  was  really  due  to  ignorance.  It 
adds  to  this  view  that  the  complaint  was  not  confined  to  Georgia,  since  we 
read  in  an  Augusta  paper  of  September  25,  1800,  that  the  merchants  of  Char- 
leston appointed  a  committee  to  consider  how  to  protect  the  credit  of  South 
Carolina  cotton,  which  committee  reported  that  they  found  no  inspection  law 
necessary,  but  would  recommend  an  act  requiring  that  the  name  of  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  locality  where  raised  be  stamped  upon  the  bags. 

We  have  already  stated  that  in  1791,  two  years  before  the  invention  of  the 
gin,  the  entire  export  from  the  United  States  was  but  189,500  pounds,  or  about 
379  bales,  all  told.  For  the  year  ending  October  i,  1800,  the  export  from 
Georgia  alone  was  3,444,420  pounds,  or  6,889  bales. 

In  1802  a  Liverpool  price  current  quotes  Georgia  sea  island  cotton,  26  and 
35d;  upland,  14^  and  15.  In  1806  the  Augusta  quotation  was  15  and  I5f 
cents;  in  1808,  it  was  12  and  13;  in  1810,  it  was  10  and  iii;  figures  intimat- 
ing a  rapid  increase  in  acreage  and  yield.  The  development  of  this  staple 
gave  a  great  impetus  to  Augusta.  Huge  warehouses  were  erected,  and  foun- 
dations, broad  and  deep,  were  laid  of  the  immense  cotton  business  the  city  now 
possesses. 

One  of  the  events  of  1800  in -Augusta  was  the  death  here  of  the  admiral  of 
the  American  navy  during  the  Revolutionary  War.  In  the  Augusta  Herald, 
under  date  of  July  16,  1800,  we  read  this: 

"Died,  on  Friday  last,  of  a  violent  billious  remittent  fever.  Commodore  Oli- 
ver Bowen.  As  a  mark  of  respect  for  the  services  rendered  by  him  in  the 
American  war  his  remains  were  interred  the  next  day  with  military  honors,  by 
the  Augusta  Volunteer  companies  of  Infantry  and  Rangers." 

This  ancient  worthy,  one  of  the  few  naval  heroes  of  the  Revolution,  lies 
buried  in  St.  Paul's  churchyard  in  Augusta,  where  his  tomb  may  be  still  seen. 


i66  History  of  Augusta. 


The  schedule  of  the  Augusta  and  Savannah  stage  coach  hne  of  this  period 
is  as  follows  :  Leave  Augusta,  Saturday  7  A.  M. ;  arrive  at  Savannah  on  Mon- 
day at  9  A.  M.,  fifty  hours  to  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-one  miles;  fare  nine 
dollars,  with  fourteen  pounds  baggage ;  all  over,  seven  cents  per  pound. 

The  fervor  of  the  spirit  of  '']6  at  this  time  is  something  remarkable.  The 
Fourth  of  July  was  one  of  the  institutions  of  the  country.  The  military  fired 
salutes,  the  orator  of  the  day  exhausted  rhetoric  in  adulation  to  "  Columbia," 
and  the  toasts  at  the  banquet  were  something  astonishing,  as  witness  these 
choice  extracts:  "The  Day — may  it  always  frown  on  Royalty;"  "  May  the 
wing  of  liberty  never  lose  a  feather;"  "The  American  Eagle — may  she  hold 
out  her  olive  branch  to  all  men,  so  long  as  consistent  with  her  dignity  and 
honor,  but  not  a  moment  longer."  Rather  a  curious  contemporaneous  expo- 
sition of  the  sex  of  the  national  bird. 

We  find  that  Augusta  had  a  Tammany  Society,  and  that  this  toast  is  given 
at  its  annual  dinner:  "  St.  Tammany,  the  tutelary  saint  of  America ;  may  his  ex- 
ample teach  us  to  prefer  death  to  the  loss  of  liberty." 

In  1803-4  John  Murray  was  intendant,  but  the  municipal  annals  present 
nothing  of  interest 

In  1805  William  J.  Hobby  was  intendant.  This  gentleman  was  long  a  resi- 
dent of  Augusta;  carried  on  the  business  of  a  stationer  and  journalist,  and  was 
for  years  editor  of  the  Herald. 

In  1806  General  Thomas  Flournoy  was  intendant.  He  was  one  of  the  com- 
missioners who  ran  the  boundary  line  between  North  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  during  his  term  of  office  quite  a  breeze  of  war  agitated  Augusta.  The 
Chesapeake  was  fired  into  by  the  Leopard  and  forced  to  pull  down  her  flag- 
The  American  vessel  was  not  cleared  for  action  and  fired  but  one  gun,  that  be- 
ing discharged  by  a  coal  which  an  officer  took  with  his  fingers  from  the  cook's 
galley.  The  indignation  throughout  the  country  was  intense,  and  President 
Jefferson  declared  it  unequaled  by  anything  that  had  occurred  since  the  firing 
on  the  militia  at  Lexington  in  1775  Captain  John  Neilson  of  the  Augusta 
Rangers,  and  Captain  George  W.  Evans,  of  the  Augusta  Independent  Blues, 
tendered  their  services  to  the  president,  who  responded  in  a  handsome  letter  of 
thanks. 

In  1808  John  Catlett  became  intendant,  and  the  city  council  gave  a  curious 
exhibition  of  their  powers,  passing  an  ordinance  to  prescribe  an  "  assize  of 
bread,"  providing  that  when  flour  was  six  dollars  per  barrel,  the  twelve  and 
one-half  cent  loaf  should  weigh  two  pounds  and  nine  ounces;  and  the  six 
and  one-fourth  cent  loaf,  one  pound  and  four  ounces.  If  of  fine  flour,  the 
weights  were  to  be  two  pounds  and  thirteen  ounces,  and  one  pound  and  six 
ounces.  In  this  year  Mr.  William  Longstreet,  who  as  we  have  already  seen, 
was  president  of  "The  Augusta  Association  of  Mechanics,"  operated  a  steam- 
boat on  the  Savannah  River  opposite  Augusta.     As  early  as  1788  the  General 


Governor  Matthews.  167 


Assembly  had  given  him  a  patent  on  an  invention  of  this  kind,  and  in  1790 
he  reports  to  the  governor  that  he  is  making  satisfactory  progress  in  perfect- 
ing his  discovery.  Mr.  Longstreet  also  operated  successfully  a  steam  cotton- 
gin  and  saw-mill  in  Augusta  long  before  this  date.  The  evidence  is  very 
strong  that  the  honor  of  the  invention  of  the  steamboat  belongs  to  him.  In 
the  Augusta  press  of  this  date  we  also  find  mention  of  another  invention  which 
seems  to  have  been  the  germ  of  the  sewing  machine.  "  It  consists  of  a  small 
wheel  and  pinion,  a  spindle,  a  fly  to  conduct  the  thread  on  the  broach,  and  a 
temper  pin  to  regulate  the  velocity  of  the  broach,  beside  a  rock-head  on  which 
the  raw  material  is  fixed.      The  whole  machine  is  worked  by  a  handle." 

From  1809  to  181 1  Joseph  Hutchinson  was  intendant.  He  was  the  first 
clerk  of  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  and  under  his  administration  the  city 
limits  were  enlarged  and  defined,  and  some  useful  regulations  made.  A  new 
row  of  lots  was  added  to  the  city  on  the  south  side  of  the  city,  parallel  to  Tel- 
fair street,  and  the  new  street  was  named  Walker,  after  Freeman  Walker, 
afterwards  the  first  mayor.  On  January  13,  181 1,  Augusta  was  visited  with  an 
earthquake,  the  vibrations  continuing  till  July. 

In  18 1 2  James  S.  Walker  served  as  intendant  for  a  portion  of  the  year.  Sea- 
born Jones  filling  out  his  term,  and  being  chosen  intendant  in  181 3  for  the  full 
term.  Mr.  Jones  was  a  lawyer  of  eminence,  and  long  prominent  in  public 
affairs.  He  was  one  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Augusta  in  1790,  and  in  1825 
during  the  Indian  disturbances  in  Upper  Georgia,  was  one  of  the  commission- 
ers charged  with  their  settlement. 

In  1 8 12  Governor  Matthews  died  in  Augusta.  He  was  a  soldier  of  dis- 
tinction in  the  Revolution,  and  by  his  undaunted  courage  made  his  regiment, 
the  Ninth  Virginia,  one  of  the  best  in  the  Continental  service.  At  the  battle 
of  Brandywine,  this  regiment  and  one  other  stood  firm  amid  the  first  disas- 
trous rout,  and  thus  enabled  Washington  to  rally  the  rest  of  his  troops.  At 
Germantown  Governor  Matthews  attacked  the  British  with  such  fury  as  to  put 
their  best  grenadiers  to  flight,  and  captured  an  entire  regiment.  The  governor 
was  very  proud  of  his  military  record,  and  used  to  swear  that  he  and  George 
Washington  had  saved  the  country.  He  was  twice  governor  of  Georgia,  and 
during  his  last  term  signed  the  Yazoo  Act.  Tradition  says  that  his  secretary, 
who  was  violently  opposed  to  the  bill,  dipped  the  governor's  pen  in  oil  so  it 
would  not  write,  and  his  excellency  was  compelled  to  cut  a  new  quill  before 
he  could  append  his  name.  Notwitstanding  his  signature  of  the  bill.  Gover- 
nor Matthews  was  always  popular,  the  people  feeling  he  was  a  rough,  unedu- 
cated soldier,  who  had  been  overreached  by  the  land  speculators  lobby.  In 
person  this  eccentric  executive  was  short  and  stout,  red  faced  and  fair- haired. 
His  head  was  thrown  back  a  la  game  cock,  and  no  man  on  earth  was  his 
superior  but  George  Washington.  Once  the  Legislature  had  some  doubts  of 
his  election.      "What  are  these  fellows  about,"  quoth  he,  "that  they  do  not 


i68  History  of  Augusta. 


let  me  know  they  are" organized  and  ready  to  receive  my  message."  His  sec- 
retary replied  they  were  discussing  his  election.  "By  the  Eternal !  "  said  the 
governor,  "if  they  don't  recognize  me,  I'll  cut  an  avenue  from  this  office 
through  them  !  "  After  Governor  Matthews's  second  term  President  Adams 
nominated  him  for  governor  of  the  Mississippi  Territory,  but  withdrew  the 
nomination. 

The  governor  at  once  set  out  for  Washington,  in  top  boots,  huge  ruffles  at 
wrists  and  breast,  and  a  long  sword  at  his  side.  On  his  arrival  in  Philadelphia, 
then  capital  of  the  United  States,  he  made  directly  to  the  president's  house, 
hitched  his  horse,  and  gave  a  thundering  knock  at  the  door,  his  revolutionary 
sword  at  his  thigh,  and  three-cornered  cocked  hat  on  his  head.  On  the  serv- 
ant opening,  he  demanded  to  see  the  president.  The  answer  was  that  the 
president  was  engaged.  Quoth  the  governor  to  the  lackey,  "  I  presume  your 
business  is  to  convey  messages  to  the  president.  Now,  if  you  do  not  instantly 
inform  him  that  a  gentleman  wishes  to  see  him,  your  head  shall  answer  the 
consequences."  The  servant  reported  that  a  strange  old  fellow  was  at  the  door 
who  would  take  no  denial.  "Let  him  in,"  said  Mr.  Adams,  and  in  strode  the 
governor  in  a  towering  rage.  "  I  presume  you  are  Mr.  Adams,  president  of 
the  United  States."  The  president  bowed.  "  My  name  is  Matthews,  some- 
times called  Governor  Matthews;  well  known  at  the  battle  of  Germantown, 
however,  as  Colonel  Matthews  of  the  Virginia  line.  Now,  sir,  I  understand 
that  you  nominated  me  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  to  be  governor  of 
the  Mississippi  Territory,  and  that  afterwards  you  took  back  the  nomination. 
Sir,  if  you  had  known  me,  you  would  not  have  taken  the  nomination  back. 
If  you  did  not  know  me,  you  should  not  have  nominated  me  to  so  important 
an  office.  Now,  sir,  unless  you  can  satisfy  me,  your  station  as  president  of 
these  United  States  shall  not  screen  you  from  my  vengeance."  Mr.  Adams 
forthwith  set  about  the  pacification,  and  soon  satisfied  the  simple-hearted  old 
man  no  insult  was  meant  him.  To  cement  the  good  understanding,  Mr.  Ad- 
ams promised  to  appoint  his  son  to  a  Federal  office  in  Georgia,  the  governor 
complacently  remarking,  "  My  son  John  is  a  man  about  my  inches,  with  the 
advantages  of  a  liberal  education,  and  for  his  integrity  I  pledge  my  head." 
In  i8l  I  Governor  Matthews  was  commissioned  by  President  Madison  to  com- 
pose some  disturbances  with  a  number  of  men  who  had  thrown  off  the  Spanish 
yoke  in  Florida.  Misunderstanding  his  instructions,  he  made  a  formal  treaty 
with  them,  which  Mr.  Madison  disavowed.  Once  more  in  high  dudgeon  the 
governor  set  out  for  the  capital  to  see  the  president ;  but  old  age,  the  fatigues 
of  his  journey,  and  his  terrific  state  of  excitement  prostrated  him  at  Augusta, 
where  he  died  in  1812,  and  is  buried  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard. 

In  1 8 14  Joseph  Hutchinson  served  another  term  as  intendant.  The  bene- 
fits of  experience  in  office  were  again  demonstrated,  as  in  this  year  we  find 
further  legislation  looking  to  the  improvement  of  the  city,  the  surveyor-gene- 


Senators  from  Augusta.  169 

ral  being  directed  to  lay  off  new  streets,  and  remark  the  lines  of  old  ones,  that 
the  invariable  policy  of  the  city  from  its  foundation,  to  have  its  streets  wide, 
straight,  and  regularly  built  upon,  should  be  maintained.  , 

In  181 5  and  18 16  Walter  Leigh  was  intendant.  In  the  earlier  portion  of 
his  administration  considerable  distress  prevailed  in  mercantile  circles.  The 
War  of  18 1 2  ended  suddenly,  and  many  merchants  who  had  laid  in  stocks  at 
the  inflated  war  prices,  calicos  at  one  dollar  per  yard,  and  salt  at  three  dollars 
per  bushel,  were  ruined.  The  development  of  Augusta  as  a  municipality, 
however,  kept  on.  In  1816  a  new  range  of  lots  on  the  south  side  of  Walker 
street,  and  running  the  entire  length  of  the  city  was  laid  out,  and  the  new 
street  on  which  it  abutted  was  called  Watkins,  after  Robert  Watkins,  an  emi- 
nent lawyer  of  the  Augusta  bar,  and  compiler  of  "  Watkins's  Digest,"  the  ear- 
liest compilation  of  Georgia  laws. 

In  18 1 7  Freeman  Walker  was  chosen  intendant.  By  act  of  this  year  the 
style  intendant  was  changed  to  mayor,  and  Major  Walker  was  chosen  mayor 
in  both  1818  and  18 19.  The  portrait  of  this  gentleman  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
mayor's  office,  in  the  gallery  of  pictures  of  the  city's  chief  magistrates  for"  nearly 
eighty  years  back,  and  his  handsome,  intelligent  face  and  laughing  eye  bear 
out  the  tradition  of  his  wit  and  eloquence.  He  is  said  to  have  been  one  of  the 
mad  wags  whose  pranks  are  related  in  the  famous  "  Georgia  Scenes,"  and  to 
be  the  original  of  Freeman  Lazenby  in  the  laughable  "  Wax  Works  "  sketch. 
He  was  a  lawyer  of  fine  abilities,  was  distinguished  for  his  eloquence  in  Con- 
gress, and  served  in  the  United  States  senate  from  December  8,  18 19,  when 
he  resigned  the  mayoralty  of  Augusta  to  accept  that  position,  to  November 
21,  1 82 1,  when  he  resigned  from  the  senate.  Walker  county  is  named  after 
him.      In  181 8  Augusta  was  extended  from  Springfield  to  Hawks'  Gully 

In  1 8 19,  1820,  and  1821  Nicholas  Ware  was  mayor.  On  the  resignation 
of  Major  Walker  in  18 19,  in  order  to  enter  the  United  States  Senate,  Mr. 
Ware  was  chosen  to  succeed  him  and  served  until  November  21,  1821,  when 
he,  in  turn,  resigned  the  mayoralty  in  order  to  enter  the  United  States  Senate, 
it  being  a  curious  coincidence  that  Mr.  Ware  succeeded  Major  Walker  in  both 
the  mayoralty  and  the  senate.  Mr.  Ware  served  in  the  senate  from  Novem- 
ber 10,  182 1,  to  his  death,  November  4,  1824.  It  is  not  often  that  any  city 
furnishes  from  its  mayoralty  two  United  States  senators  in  succession,  but  such, 
in  this  case,  is  the  remarkable  record  of  Augusta.  It  remains  to  add  that  both 
these  distinguished  citizens  had  the  honor  of  having  counties  named  after  them. 
Ware  county,  created  in  1824,  having  been  named  after  one,  and  Walker,  organ- 
ized in  1833,  after  the  other. 

During  the  administrations  of  Mayors  Walker  and  Ware  there  was  legisla- 
tion of  importance  to  the  city.  The  intendant  became  the  mayor  ;  the  quali- 
fications of  voters  that  they  should  be  freeholders  or  leaseholders,  was  re- 
pealed, and  it  was  only  required   they  should  have  the  qualifications  requisite 


170  History  of  Augusta. 


to  vote  for  a  membeB  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  have  resided  twelve  months 
in  the  State  and  six  months  in  the  city  preceding  the  election  ;  the  election  of 
mayor  was  taken  from  council  and  given  to  the  people. 

In  1823  Robert  Raymond  Reid  was  elected  mayor  of  Augusta  and  re- 
elected in  1824.  Mr.  Reid  was  born  in  South  Carolina  in  1789,  but  early 
removed  to  Augusta  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
seven  he  was  made  judge  of  the  Middle  Circuit,  and  then  served  in  Congress 
from  18 18  to  1822.  At  the  close  of  his  last  term  became  mayor  ;  was  then 
reappointed  judge  of  the  Middle  Circuit;  then  became  judge  of  the  City 
Court  of  Augusta  ;  in  1832  was  appointed  by  President  Jackson  United  States 
district  judge  in  Florida;  in  1839  was  appointed  by  President  Van  Buren 
governor  of  the  Territory  of  Florida,  in  which  office  he  died  in  1841. 

In  1825  and  1826  another  celebrated  judge,  William  W.  Holt  was  elected 
mayor  of  Augusta.  For  very  many  years  after  his  mayoralty  Judge  Holt  sat 
on  the  bench  of  the  Middle  Circuit,  the  very  embodiment  in  learning  and 
severity  of  the  old  English  common  law  justice.  He  was  deeply  learned  in  his 
profession  and  strove  always  to  ascertain  and  apply  the  law,  holding  the  scales 
of  justice  inflexibly  even.  During  his  mayoralty  the  famous  election  excite- 
ment of  Troup  and  the  Treaty  swept  over  Augusta,  as  over  the  State.  The 
casus  belli  was  whether  a  treaty  made  by  Governor  Troup  with  the  Indians, 
touching  a  cession  of  Cherokee  Georgia,  should  stand,  or  give  place  to  one 
negotiated  with  them  by  the  United  States  government.  Governor  Troup  and 
General  Clark  were  the  opposing  candidates  for  governor.  The  contest  was 
close  :  Troup,  20.545  ;  Clark,  19,362 — Troup's  majority,  683  ;  and  the  tem- 
per in  which  it  was  conducted  may  be  gathered  from  a  couple  of  toasts  given 
at  the  time.  It  was  said  Governor  Troup  had  Indian  blood  in  his  veins,  and 
in  allusion  to  this  a  Clark  partisan  proposed  this  sentiment :  "  General  John 
Clark — a  former  trouble  to  the  Indians,  a  present  trouble  to  some  of  their  kin- 
dred." Up  sprang  a  "  Troup  and  Treaty "  man  with  the  quick  rejoinder : 
"  George  M.  Troup — may  every  hair  on  his  head  be  a  standing  army,  and 
every  soldier  be  armed  with  a  thundering  cannon  to  drive  his  enemies  to  h — 11." 

During  Mayor  Holt's  time  LaFayette  visited  Augusta.  After  a  tour 
through  the  North,  General  LaFayette  landed  at  Savannah  on  March  19,  1825, 
and  was  met  by  Governor  Troup,  who,  pursuant  to  a  joint  resolution  of  the 
General  Assembly,  was  there  to  welcome  him  as  the  guest  of  the  State.  As 
the  general  stepped  on  shore,  the  governor  addressed  him  as  follows :  "  Wel- 
come, LaFayette.  'Tis  little  more  than  ninety  years  since  the  founder  of  this 
State  first  set  foot  on  the  bank  on  which  you  stand.  Now  four  hundred  thou- 
sand people  open  their  arms  to  receive  you."  After  the  welcome  Governor 
Troup  accompanied  him  to  Augusta,  which  he  reached  a  few  days  after  arriv- 
ing in  Savannah,  and  was  received  with  great  ceremony.  A  procession  met 
him  at  the  steamboat  landing,  as  follows  :   "Music;  chief  marshal  and  staff; 


Visit  of  General  LaFayette.  171 

committee  of  arrangements;  a  marshal;  detachment  of  hussars;  General  La- 
Fayette in  a  phaeton  drawn  by  four  horses ;  son  and  suite  of  General  LaFay- 
•ette  in  a  barouche  drawn  by  two  horses  ;  troop  of  hussars  ;  a  marshal ;  clergy, 
officers  and  soldiers  of  the  Revolution  ;  a  marshal ;  general  officers  and  staff; 
•citizens  in  carriages  ;  a  marshal ;  citizens  on  horseback  ;  a  marshal ;  music  ; 
United  States  artillery;   volunteer  battalion  ;  a  marshal;   citizens;   a  marshal." 

The  mounted  men  rode  four  abreast ;  citizens  walked  six  abreast.  The 
procession  moved  from  the  bridge  through  Centre  street  to  Greene,  and  up 
Greene  to  the  city  hall,  where  the  visitor  was  welcomed  by  the  mayor ;  thence 
lie  was  escorted  through  Washington  and  Broad  streets  to  the  apartments  pre- 
pared for  him  at  the  Planters'  Hotel.  As  the  marquis  landed,  Colonel  William 
•Cumming.  chairman  of  the  committee  of  arrangements,  welcomed  him.  Then 
Mr.  DeLaigle,  on  behalf  of  the  French  citizens  of  Augusta,  addressed  him  in 
French,  to  which  the  marquis  replied  in  the  same  language.  A  delegation 
from  Alabama  then  invited  him  to  visit  that  State,  and  finally  the  mayor  for- 
mally welcomed  him  to  Augusta.  The  marquis  being  a  Mason,  was  addressed 
by  John  W.  Wilde,  grand  commander  of  Georgia  Encampment  No.  i.  A 
banquet  followed,  at  which  the  distinguished  visitor  was  toasted  as  follows : 
"  The  man  whose  sovereignty  is  above  that  of  kings — LaFayette,  who  reigns 
in  the  hearts  of  a  whole  people."  Then  came  a  grand  ball,  after  which  the 
marquis  departed  for  the  State  capital.  The  military  companies  of  Augusta 
at  this  time  were  Richmond  Hussars,  Captain  Boisclair;  Georgia  Fencibles. 
Captain  W.  W.  Holt ;  LaFayette  Riflemen,  Captain  Caldwell ;  Hamilton  Rifle- 
men, Captain  Cumming;  Irish  Volunteers,  Captain  Cormick,  and  Georgia 
Blues,  Captain  McKinne. 

In  1827,  in  which  year  the  Savannah  River  was  frozen  over,  Samuel  Hale 
•was  elected  mayor  and  continued  to  be  re-elected  each  year  till  1837.  Mr. 
Hale  was  a  successful  merchant*,  and  his  long  administration  is  memorable  in 
many  ways.  Augusta  had  had  two  notable  industrial  epochs  before — the  rise 
•of  the  cotton  industry  about  1800,  and  the  advent  of  the  steamboat  in  18 17, 
the  Enterprise,  of  Savannah,  coming  up  the  river  in  that  year;  and  in  1833, 
•during  Mayor  Hales's  time,  the  railroad  put  in  an  appearance.  The  first  one 
constructed  in  America  was  the  South  Carolina  road,  from  Charleston  to  Ham- 
burg, opposite  Augusta.  It  was  begun  in  1830,  and  by  July,  1833,  was  com- 
pleted and  in  running  order.  Its  stock,  which,  up  to  that  time,  had  been  a 
■drug  in  the  market,  rose  to  105.  The  fare  from  Hamburg  to  Charleston,  one 
hundred  and  thirty-six  miles,  was  $6.75,  with  seventy-five  pounds  baggage  ; 
for  less  distances,  five  cents  per  mile.  By  November,  1833,  the  company  had 
«ix  engines,  the  "  Best  Friend,"  having  four  wheels  and  costing  $4,000 ;  "  West 
Point,"  four  wheels,  costing  $3,250;  and  the  "  South  Carolina,"  "  Charleston," 
^'Barnwell,"  and  "  Edisto,"  all  with  eight  wheels  and  costing,  the  first  $5,000 
and  the  others  $5,750  each. 


1/2  History  of  Augusta. 


The  success  of  this  enterprise  at  once  stimulated  Augusta.  A  public  meet- 
ing for  July  20,  1833,  to  consider  of  a  railroad  from  Augusta  to  Athens,  the 
original  of  the  now  far-famed  Georgia  *Railroad,  was  called  by  Samuel  Hale,. 
W.  W.  Montgomery,  James  McLaws,  William  T.  Gould,  and  J.  P.  King.  At 
the  meeting  Messrs  H.  H.  Gumming,  W.  W.  Montgomery,  James  Harper, 
James  W.  Davies  and  William  C.  Micou  were  appointed  a  committee  to  or- 
ganize a  company. 

Similar  meetings  were  held  in  various  portions  of  the  State;  and,  from  this 
time  out,  the  railroad  became  a  fixed  fact.  In  1836  the  locomotive  whistle  was 
invented;  in  1839  the  South  Carolina  trains  left  Hamburg  at  six  A.  M.  and 
reached  Charleston  at  three  P.  M. ;  rate  of  speed,  fifteen  miles  per  hour;  fare, 
$10.  The  same  year  the  Georgia  Railroad  only  reached  from  Augusta  to 
Greensboro,  leaving  Augusta  at  six  P.  M.  and  arriving  at  Greensboro  at  one 
A.  M. ;  speed,  twelve  miles  per  hour;  fare,  $4.25.  During  the  same  long  ad- 
ministration troubles  occurred  in  Florida  and  Texas,  in  the  former  with  the 
Seminoles  and  in  the  latter  with  the  Mexicans.  The  president  called  for  thirty- 
five  hundred  men  to  march  against  the  Indians,  and,  as  usual,  the  Augusta 
companies  came  to  the  front ;  the  Richmond  Hussars  put  seventy  sabers  in  the 
field,  and  the  Richmond  Blues  marched  out  one  hundred  and  six  strong.  As 
they  marched  out  Washington  street  on  their  way  to  Savannah  the  town  as- 
sembled to  see  them  off.  There  were  volunteers  also  for  Texas,  and  when 
at  the  fall  of  the  Alamo  the  famous  Davy  Crockett  was  slain,  the  Augusta 
paper  gave  him  a  curious  and  yet  touching  eulogy,  which  may  here  be  re- 
produced : 

"  Colonel  Crockett — all  flesh  is  grass,  saith  the  preacher,  and  as  the  flower 
of  the  field,  it  passeth  away.  It  is  even  so.  He  that  came  off  victorious  from 
a  hundred  contests  with  the  stern  chieftains  of  the  forest  ;  at  whose  approach 
the  bear  and  panther  shook  with  afright.  and  the  deer  and  buffalo  fled  as  from 
the  messenger  of  death — the  redoubtable  Crockett  is  no  more.  Fallen  is- 
Alamo!  Fallen  is  the  hero  of  Tennessee!  The  places  which  have  known 
him  shall  see  him  no  more — the  halls  which  have  re-echoed  with  the  thunders 
of  his  eloquence  are  silent,  and  the  wildcat  and  the  alligator  no  longer  tremble 
at  the  sound  of  his  carabine.  The  victor  is  overthrown,  the  champion  is  dead. 
He  has  gone  ahead  of  his  competitors  to  that  land  from  whose  bourne  no  trav- 
eler returns.      May  he  rest  in  peace." 

Under  the  administration  of  Mayor  Hale  a  question  of  jurisdiction  which 
had  rankled  to  the  injury  of  the  city  since  1798  was  finally  satisfactorily 
adjusted  It  will  be  remembered  that  prior  to  the  grant  of  the  charter  the 
municipal  government  had  been  in  the  hands  of  a  board  of  commissioners  who 
were  at  once  trustees  of  the  town  and  of  the  academy.  When  the  city  council 
was  organized  to  administer  the  municipal  government  the  trustees  of  the 
academy  still  claimed  title  to  all  the  commons.     This  the  council  disputed,  and^ 


Recollections  of  John  Phinizy.  173: 

by  act  of  1835,  ^^^  trustees  were  directed  to  convey  the  commons  to  the  city 
on  terms  agreed  on  between  the  two.  All  that  part  of  the  city  west  of  Camp- 
bell street  was  erected  into  a  new  district,  or  ward,  number  four;  the  fire  de- 
partment materially  strengthened,  Augusta  having  been  devastated  by  a  great 
fire  in  1829;  and  the  military  companies  encouraged.  It  may  also  be  noted 
that  during  this  administration  the  famous  "  Georgia  Scenes  "  appeared  ;  most 
of  the  sketches  being  located  by  Judge  Longstreet  in  and  about  Augusta. 

In  1837  John  Phinizy  was  elected.  This  venerable  citizen  lived  to  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  ninety- four,  and  died  only  a  few  years  since.  To  the  last  he  re- 
tained his  mental  faculties  unimpaired,  and  but  a  short  time  before  his  death 
gave  some  interesting  testimony  before  the  United  States  Senate  Committee 
on  education  and  labor,  which  we  here  reproduce  : 

"  I  was  born  in  Oglethorpe  county,  Ga.,  in  1793,  very  near  the  Indian  line. 
The  country  was  sparsely  settled,  and  there  were  almost  as  many  Indians  as 
whites.  I  recollect  that  the  Indian  chief  used  to  ride  me  on  his  knee.  They 
were  a  very  honest  and  well  disposed  people ;  far  more  so  than  the  negroes. 
But  the  white  people  wanted  their  lands,  and  therefore  drove  them  out  of  the 
country.  I  came  to  Augusta  in  1800,  riding  here  in  a  sulky  with  my  father. 
We  had  no  carriages  or  buggies  in  those  days.  I  had  never  seen  any  la.rge- 
collection  of  houses,  and  looked  upon  Augusta  as  the  biggest  place  in  the 
world.  Soon  after  I  came  here  I  was  sent  to  Franklin  College,  at  Athens,  Ga,, 
now  the  State  University,  and  graduated  in  181  L  I  am  the  only  living  repre- 
sentative of  that  class.  I  cannot  give  you  much  positive  information  about 
the  cotton  crop  in  the  first  part  of  the  century,  a'3  I  was  so  young  at  the  time, 
but  I  recollect  that  it  was  not  thought  much  of  and  very  few  planted  it.  About 
1810,  I  think,  I  used  to  see  small  wagons  coming  to  town  with  a  bale  of  cotton, 
two  or  three  barrels  of  flour,  and  a  hogshead  of  tobacco,  revolving  on  a  sort  of 
axis,  pulled  along  behind.  There  was  far  more  tobacco  made  in  this  section 
then  than  cotton.  One  planter,  who  made  20,000  pounds  of  seed  cotton,  was 
thought  to  be  doing  a  wonderful  thing.  The  seed  was  either  picked  out  by 
hand  or  pushed  out  by  rollers,  aud  the  neighbors  used  to  gather  at  each  other's 
houses  to  help  in  getting  out  tlie  seed.  I  own  the  place  now  where  Whitney 
made  his  first  experiment  with  the  cotton-gin.  He  built  a  dam  across  a  small 
stream  and  ran  the  gin  by  v/ater.  The  dam  is  standing  to  this  day,  and  the 
water  of  the  stream  turns  an  improved  gin.  Large  quantities  of  tobacco,  made 
in  the  vicinity,  were  brought  to  Augusta  during  the  first  quarter  of  the  century, 
but  it  soon  gave  way  to  cotton.  Now  there  is  no  tobacco  made  about  here. 
It  was  about  181 1  that  cotton  first  began  to  come  into  prominence,  and  its 
cultivation  increased  very  rapidly.  In  1818  I  had  a  large  cotton  warehouse 
myself.  A  long  wooden  building,  that  cost  one  thousand  dollars  to  build, 
rented  for  eighteen  hundred  dollars  the  first  year.  Centre  street  was  so  packed 
with  cotton  wagons  in    i8-i8  that  at  times  it  was  completely  blocked.     The 


174  History  of  Augusta. 


average  yield  of  cotton  to  the  acre  at  that  time  was  about  the  same  as  now, 
but  the  planters  used  no  fertilizers.  Everybody  had  now  learned  to  make 
cotton  and  very  little  else  was  thought  of  Property  in  Augusta,  and  especially 
near  the  cotton  warehouses,  increased  rapidly  in  value.  These  are  about  all 
the  points  I  could  give  you  in  regard  to  the  early  history  of  cotton  in  this 
section." 

In  1837  Augusta's  cotton  receipts  were  one  hundred  thousand  bales.  In 
1838  Mayor  Hale  served  another  term,  and  was  succeeded  in  1839  ^Y  Alfred 
Gumming,  afterwards  governor  of  Utah.  During  Mayor  Cumming's  term 
Augusta  had  a  severe  visitation  of  yellow  fever,  there  being  from  fifteen  hundred 
to  two  thousand  cases  and  two  hundred  and  forty  deaths.  A  fuller  account 
of  this  epidemic  appears  elsewhere  in  this  work.  In  1840  Dr.  Daniel  Hook 
was  mayor,  and  in  1842  served  another  term.  In  1 841,  1843,  1844  and  1845 
Martin  M.  Dye  was  mayor.  During  Mayor  Hook's  first  term  Augusta  was 
visited  with  a  terrible  freshet,  the  worst  then  known  since  the  terrible  overflow 
of  1796,  called  the  "Yazoo  Fresh."  On  May  28th  the  Savannah  River  rose 
thirty- five  feet  above  low  water  mark.  Broad  street  was  from  two  to  ten  feet 
deep,  and  floated  forty  bale  boats.  Some  one  thousand  bales  of  cotton  were 
swept  away,  and  between  $500,000  and  $1,000,000  damage  done.  A  house 
containing^  a  woman  and  her  four  children  was  swept  away.  All  perished  but 
one  little  girl.  The  captain  of  a  Petersburg  boat  chased  the  house  three  miles, 
and  finally  saved  tht  child,  almost  exhausted,  but  still  clinging  to  her  pet  dog. 

During  Mayor  Dye '5  first  term  the  main  office  of  the  Georgia  Railroad 
Gompany  was  moved  from  Athens  to  Augusta.  At  this  time  also  was  passed 
the  famous  "  Algerine  law,"  as  1^  is  termed.  This  was  an  act  to  provide  a  sort 
of  upper  house  for  the  city  council  in  the  shape  of  a  board  of  aldermen,  two 
from  each  ward.  The  sting  of  the  act  lay  in  the  fact  that  no  one  was  eligible 
to  be,  or  to  vote  for,  an  alderman  unless  he  owned  one  thousand  dollars'  worth 
of  real  estate  or  had  paid  at  least  twenty-five  dollars  city  tax.  In  1842  the 
act  was  repealed.  During  Mayor  Dye's  administration  the  Augusta  Ganal 
was  commenced.  The  first  survey  was  made  in  the  fall  of  1844,  ^"^  in  May, 
1845,  the  work  was  begun.  The  plan  of  the  canal  was  to  be  five  feet  deep, 
twenty  feet  wide  at  the  bottom  and  forty  feet  at  the  surface  of  the  water.  The 
total  length  was  nearly  seven  miles,  and  on  November  23,  1846,  the  water  was 
let  in.  Some  of  the  citizens  of  Augusta  resorted  to  litigation  to  stop  this  pub- 
lic work,  but  the  courts  decided  against  them,  finding  the  authority  of  the  city 
council  to  undertake  such  enterprises  in  the  chartt^r  of  the  city.  At  this  time 
Augusta  had  a  population  of  7,502,  and  its  trade,  relatively  speaking,  was  im- 
mense. There  were  twelve  large  warehouses  capable  of  containing  70,000 
bales,  and  three  new  ones  were  begun.  The  wharfage  front  was  2,500  feet, 
and  had  cost  $150,000.  The  river  and  wagon  trade  was  enormous,  and,  in 
1845,  the  cotton  receipts  ran  to  the  unprecedented  figure  of  212,019  bales. 


First  Railroad  to  Augusta.  175 

The  revenue  from  the  bridge  the  same  year  was  $23,678.  The  foundations 
of  many  fortunes  were  laid  at  this  golden  epoch,  which  is  still  further  memor- 
able as  giving  the  city  its  first  railroad,  the  Georgia  road  tapping  the  city 
in  1845. 

In  1846  and  1847  ^^-  Lewis  D.  Ford,  an  eminent  physician,  was  mayor  of 
Augusta.  In  his  first  term  the  Mexican  War  broke  out.  A  regiment  was 
raised  in  Georgia,  and  in  this  regiment  went  the  Richmond  Blues,  one  hundred 
and  five  strong,  this  being  the  same  gallant  command  as  had  volunteered  in 
the  Florida  War.  The  city  council  gave  fifteen  dollars  per  man  towards  fitting 
out  troops.  In  Dr.  Ford's  second  term,  the  pioneer  of  the  city's  now  numerous 
cotton  manufactories,  "  The  Augusta  Cotton  Mills,"  was  organized.  The  por- 
trait of  Dr.  Ford  is  to  be  found  in  the  mayor's  ofiice.  He  was  a  man  of  patri- 
archical  appearance,  and  his  heart  was  kindness  itself 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

Mayors  Garvin,  Miller  and  Dearing  —  Central  Railroad  Comes  in  —  Mayor  Conley  —  Mavor 
Blodgett  —  Augusta  Waterworks  —  The  War  Opens  —  Capture  of  Augusta  Arsenal  —  Geor- 
gia's Wonderful  Prosperity  in  i860  —  First  Regiment  —  Augusta's  Volunteers  —  Her  Dead  — 
Confederate  Monuments  —  Ladies'  Memorial  Association  —  The  Salt  Famine  —  Speculation 
—  Gunpowder  Works  —  Fury  and  Suffering  of  the  War  —  Confederate  Money  —  Lee's  Sur- 
render—  Riot  of  1865  —  Mayor  May —  Military  Rule  —  Mayor  Gardiner —  Military  Mayor  — 
Reconstruction  —  Mayor  Russell  —  Mayor  Allen  —  Mayor  Estes  —  Enlargement  of  Canal  — 
Mayor  Meyer — Mayor  May  —  Vast  Extension  of  Corporate  Limits — Freshet  of  1888  —  Ex- 
position—  Augusta's  Double  Tax  —  Retrospect  —  Proud  Record  of  a  Century  and  a  Half 

IN  1848  Dr.  Ignatius  P.  Garvin  was  elected  mayor.  He,  also,  was  a  physi- 
cian of  eminence,  was  professor  in  the  medical  college,  and  about  this  time 
edited  the  Southern  Medical  atid  Surgical  Jo?irnal  in  conjunction  with  the  cel- 
ebrated Dr.  Paul  F.  Eve,  who  subsequently  removed  to  Nashville,  Tenn.  In 
1849  James  B.  Bishop  was  mayor ;  •"  1850  and  185 1,  Thomas  W.  Miller ;  and 
in  1852  and  1853,  still  another  physician.  Dr.  William  E.  Dearing.  This  gen- 
tleman was  one  of  the  most  accomplished  herpetologists  that  ever  lived  in  the 
United  States.  His  knowledge  of  the  nature,  habits  and  species  of  the  serpent 
tribe  was  wonderfully  accurate  and  extensive,  and  it  is  greatly  to  be  regretted, 
in  the  interests  of  science,  that  he  did  not  commit  his  fund  of  information  in 
this  wierd  and  yet  interesting  field  to  book  form. 

In  1854  Abner  P.  Robertson  was  mayor,  and  this  year  is  memorable  for  a 
yellow  fever  epidemic,  of  which  we  speak  more  at  large  elsewhere  in  this 
work,  and  for  the  tapping  of  the  city  by  the  Augusta  and  Savannah  Railroad^ 


176  History  of  Augusta. 


now  known  more  generally  by  the  name  of  its  lessor,  the  Central.  In  this 
year  also  the  city  limits  were  extended  so  as  to  take  in  that  extensive  tract 
lying  east  of  the  Carnes  road  and  north  of  South  Boundary;  and  the  city 
council  had  a  controversy  with  the  South  Carolina  authorities  in  reference  to  a 
claim  by  certain  grantees  of  that  State  to  collect  tolls  on  the  Carolina  side, 
which  was  decided  in  favor  of  the  city. 

In  1855  Dr.  Bearing  served  another  term  as  mayor,  and  in  1856  General 
George  W.  Evans  was  elected. 

From  1856  to  1858  Benjamin  Conley  was  mayor.  Mr.  Conley  was  a  suc- 
cessful merchant  of  Augusta,  and,  after  the  war,  was  for  a  short  time  governor 
of  Georgia.  During  Mayor  Conley's  first  term  the  registration  of  voters  for 
municipal  elections  became  the  law. 

In  1859  and  i860  Foster  Blodgett  was  mayor.  His  administration  is  sig- 
nalized by  the  introduction  of  the  waterworks  system.  As  far  back  as  1818  the 
waters  of  Turknett  Springs  had  been  used.  Mayor  Hale,  among  his  other 
public  services,  had  much  enlarged  and  improved  that  system,  and  from  him 
the  city  bought  it;  but,  with  the  development  of  the  municipalty,  other  re- 
sources became  necessary  and  these  Mayor  Blodgett  supplied.  Since  his  ad- 
ministration, and  notably  since  the  enlargement  of  the  canal,  the  water  supply 
of  Augusta  has  been  largely  increased.  The  source  of  supply  is  the  Savannah 
River  It  is  a  tradition  that  "  the  man  who  once  drinks  the  water  of  this  river 
is  certain  to  return  to  it,"  and  the  purity  of  the  element,  as  shown  by  an  analy- 
sis made  by  Dr.  Joseph  Jones,  an  eminent  chemist,  may  be  one  reason  for  the 
old  saw.     The  analysis  is  as  follows  : 

Solid  matters 4.2936 

Carbonate  of  lime 0.7544 

Carbonate  of  magnesia 0.0250 

Sulphate  of  lime slight  trace 

Chloride  of  Calcium slight  trace 

Chloride  of  magnesium slight  trace 

Phosphate  of  lime .  slight  trace 

Chloride  of  sodium 0.0436 

Sulphate  of  soda  and  potassa 0.0489 

Silicic  acid,  silicate  of  alumnia,  silicate  of  potassa, 
silicate  of  soda,  together  with  a  small  proportion  of 
organic  matter  and  traces  of  ammonia 3. 12 10 

Purity  of  water  is  not  the  only  requisite  of  a  water  supply.  Quantity 
available  is  an  important  consideration,  and  in  this  too  Augusta  is  in  the  front 
rank,  comparing  favorably  not  only  with  other  Georgia  cities  but  with  most 
cities  of  the  entire  country.  Before  the  river  water  is  pumped  through  the 
city  it  goes  from  the  canal  into  large  settling  basins  covering  acres  of  ground, 
where  all  suspended  matters  settle  to  the  bottom,  and  it  is  furnished  clear  and 
free  from  impurities.  The  waterworks  pumps  have  a  capacity  of  8,000,000 
gallons   per   day,  if  such    a   mammoth   supply  should  be  needed.     The  daily 


Opening  of  the  War 

177 


1,041,113   gallons  to  a  population  which   she  claims  is  nearlv  Hn„M.  ,t  .    r 
Augusta,  and  Charleston  furnishes  but  600,000  gallons  '^  "  °' 

In  .861  the  great  drama  of  the  war  opened.  On  the  ,9th  of  January  ,86r 
the  n  ^'  Convention  adopted  an  ordinance  of  secession,  and  on  the  Ith 
the  United  S  ates  arsenal  at  Augusta   was  surrendered  to  the  State  troops 

ff  tie  n't  f  f ''""^^  °' *"^*"^""  °f---- C^'P'-n  Arnold  Firr; 

a  s     :,  andl   ^TT""''  ""*  '  '°"^  °'  ^'^"'^  "-•  '^  stationed  a    the 
o    theL  t         "  r'"^'  °'  *^  "*"™^'  'he  usual  military  rout  ne 

of  the  post  was  continued.  The  sentry  paced  his  round,  and  the  Starrld 
Stnpes  were  regularly  hoisted  at  sunrise  to  flutter  in  the  breeze  ah  dtr  Thk 
was  too  much  for  the  excited  mind  of  the  day.  Had  not  G  o^gi  Leeded 
and  resumed  her  sovereignty ;  and  why  then  were  another  unifL  and  flal 
o  be  seen  upon  her  soil  ?  On  the  ..d  of  January  Governor  Brown  arrivd 
n  Augusta  with  a  staff  officer  and  on  the  next  day  the  following  commun ica 
tion  was  sent  to  the  Federal  commandant :  ^  communica- 

,.  ^        .     .  "  Augusta,  Ga.,  January  23.  1861 

"  Captam  Arnold  Elzev   n   9    A     r  j-       a  /    j,  looi, 

..(;,„      T  ^'  '  Commanding  Augusta  Arsenal  ■ 

that  r  r  ■"'"■"""''  ''^  ^''  E=<cellency  Governor  Brown,  to  say  to  you 

tha   Georgia  having  seceded  from  the  United  States  of  Americ;,  and  resumed 
exclusive  sovereignty  over  her  soil,  it  has  become  his  duty  to    equte  yorto 

:^z^:7^^:r'  ~'  -^  '^^  -^"-  --^-^^^: 

"  He  proposes  to  take  possession  of  the  arsenal,  and  to  receipt  for  all  oublic 
property  under  your  charge,  which  will  hereafter  be  accounted    o     on  adius 
ment   between  the  State  of  Georgia  and  the  United  States  of  Africa  'h; 
begs  to  refer  to  the  fact  that  the  retention  of  foreign   troops   upon     he  soil  of 
Georgia,  after  remonstrance,  is  under  the  laws  of  nations   an  act  of  host^L 

most  a        Z      1 '''  ^'^'^  ''  "°^  °"'>^  ^^  P^^-'  ^"^  --OUS  to  cul  L        tL 
most  amicable  relations  with  the  United   States  government       I   amT'^h 
instructed  to  say  that  an  answer  will  be  expected  to  Z.T 
o'rIorV  T  ■  expected  to-morrow  mornmg,  at  nine 

o  clock.  I  am.  sir,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  Henry  R.  Jackson. 

"  Aid-de-camp,  &c." 

to  VVaThTn"toI"rec?'""'  7  t' T  '''  ''''"''  '"^  te^.g.,pi,,i  the  situation 
CO  Washington,  receiving  at  midnight  the  following  reply  : 

"Washington,  January  23,  iS6r. 
Captain  Elzey,  Second  Artillery,  commanding  Augusta  Arsenal,  Ga.  : 

States  an  a^t°tT°%  fi"  ''"'  ^''"'"'^  '^''"''  ^""^  P°^'  ^"d  'he  United 

States  an  attitude  of  war.      His  summons  is  harsh  and  peremptory.     It  is  not 


178  History  of  Augusta. 


expected  that  your  defense  should  be  desperate.  If  forced  to  surrender  by 
violence  or  starvation,  you  will  stipulate  for  honorable  terms,  and  a  free  pass- 
age by  water  with  your  company  to  New  York. 

"  T.    Holt,  Secretary  of  War." 

On  the  refusal  of  Captain  Elzey  to  surrender  the  arsenal  Governor  Brown 
had  ordered  out  the  troops  about  the  city,  and  800  were  soon  in  line,  but  after 
the  letter  written  giving  the  captain  till  next  day  to  reply,  the  volunteers 
were  dismissed  till  9  A.  M.  on  the  24th.  At  that  time  they  re-assembled  when 
the  following  communication  came  in  : 

"  Headquarters,  Augusta  Arsenal, 

"  Georgia,  January  24,  1861. 
"  Sir — I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  I  am  directed  by  Captain  Elzey, 
commanding  this  post,  to  say,  in  reply  to  the  demand  of  the  governor  of  the 
State  of  Georgia,  made  through  you  yesterday,  requiring  him  to  withdraw 
his  command  beyond  the  limits  of  the  State:  he  begs  to  request  an  interview 
with  his  excellency,  the  governor,  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  honorable 
terms  of  surrender  at  as  early  an  hour  this  morning  as  practicable.  I  have  the 
honor  to  be,  very  respectfully, 

"  Your  Obedient  Servant, 

"J.   C.  Jones,  Lieut.  2d  Art,  Adj. 

"To  Col.  H.  R.  Jackson,  Aid-de-camp." 

Governor  Brown  and  his  staff,  Colonel  H,  R.  Jackson,  Colonel  William 
Phillips,  Lieutenant-Colonel  M.  C.  Fulton.  Lieutenant-Colonel  C.  V.  Walker, 
and  Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry  Cleveland,  rode  out  to  the  arsenal,  and  the 
following  terms  of  surrender  were  agreed  on:  the  United  States  flag  to  be 
lowered  and  saluted ;  the  company  to  march  out  with  military  honors  ;  a 
receipt  to  be  i^iven  for  the  public  property,  with  a  view  to  future  adjustment ; 
and  the  company  to  retain  its  arms  and  property,  to  stay  in  its  quarters  till 
removal  from  the  State,  and  to  have  passage  to  New  York  from  Savannah. 
After  these  terms  had  been  agreed  on,  Colonel  William  Henry  Walker  crossed 
the  room  to  where  Captain  Elzey  was  standing  and  assured  him  he  had  done 
all  a  brave  officer  could  have  done.  A  silent  pressure  of  the  hand  was  the 
reply.  The  two  officers  had  been  classmates  at  West  Point.  Colonel  Walker 
afterwards  became  a  major-general  in  the  Confederate  service  ;  was  repeatedly 
desperately  wounded  and  was  finally  killed  in  the  battles  around  Atlanta. 
The  preliminaries  being  settled,  the  garrison  was  drawn  out  and  a  salute  fired 
from  four  field  pieces  to  the  United  States  flag.  Thirty-three  guns  were  fired, 
one  for  each  State,  including  Georgia,  and  between  the  thirty-second  and 
thirty-third  discharge  the  flag  descended  from  the  staff.  At  three  o'clock 
Brigadier-  General  Harris,  with  a  detachment  of  the  Washington  Artillery  and 


The  War  Period. 

179 


Oglethorpe  Infantry,  took  possession  of  the  arsenal  and  raised  the  then  State 

cele°r  Z7l"'  '  P-T'''^''""^''  "'"'  '  '"Se.  red  five  pointed  star  in  the 
center.  Salutes  were  hred  vv.th  two  guns  belonging  to  the  Washington  Artil- 
le  y  :  one  or  the  sovereignty  of  Georgia  ;  five  for  the  seceded  states  •  and 
fifteen  for  the  prospective  Southern  Confederacy.  ' 

At  the  time  the  war  opened,  Georgia  was  developing  enormously  in  wealth 

was  *672.322,777,  showing  the  stupendous  increase  of  $176  8  in,,  The 
first  year  the  increase  was  $33,600,000;  the  next,  $4l,ooo,o<;o ;  then  $70- 
000,000;  and  then  $6..ooo,ooo.  The  value  of  slave  property  in  i860  being 
$302,694,855,  left  .he  value  of  other  property  $369,637.922 ;  and  deducting 
the  slave  mcrease.  $92,260,2.,,  from  the  total  gain,  shows  that  property  other 
than  slave  had  mcreased  in  the  four  years  just  prior  ,0  the  war,  from  $285  - 
076,6,0  to  $369,627,922.  a  gain  in  four  years  of  $84,55  ..3.2.  Land  had  in- 
creased $30,000,000;  c„y  property,  $9,000,0000;  money,  $30,000,000  This 
golden  prosperity  was  sacrificed  on  the  altar  of  war 

A  regiment  was  soon  called  for  to  go  to  Pensacola,  and  two  hundred  and 
fifty  companies  volunteered  their  services.  The  State  was  wild  with  military 
ardor,  and  Augusta,  as  in  times  past,  stood  out  among  the  foremost  Of  the 
ourteen  companies  selected,  Augusta  furnished  two.  the  Oglethorpe  Light  In- 
fantry Captain  Clarke,  and  the  Walker  Light  Infantry.  Captain  Camp  The 
?/!/     H   r  7  —'-'y  through  Augusta;  the  sound  of  marching 

feet  and  the  sharp  command  of  the  drill  officers  were  heard  everywhere 
From  April  ist  to  July  ,,  ,86,,  Augusta  had  sent  forward  eleven  companies' 
LlTTh  'f^^='"'^°f*^  «-'   Manassas,  which  exalted  the  spirits  of  the 

fead  „;  e  H  f "'  '"'"•  7""'  """  ''''''"  ^"^''^'^  "'"  "'g'"  -"  th- 
read in  the    heater,  a  scene  of  indescribable  excitement  ensued      Men  cheered 

hemselves  hoarse;    ladies  fainted  ;  yells  of  triumph  and  frantic  inquiries  for 

Irdo  of?h  >  rVV^'  ''"'=  """=  '  ""'"'"'"e  "P--.  The  military 
ardor  of  the  cty  already  fervent,  was  stimulated  to  white  heat.  Other  compa- 
nies  were  hurried  forward,  and  by  July  1,  ,862,  Augusta  and  Richmond  county 
had  twemy.four  companies,  or  over  two  lull  regiments  in  the  field  The 
commands  were  Oglethorpe  Infantry,  Company  A,  69  men ;  Company  B,  66  ■ 
Walker  L'ght  Infantry,  60;  Blodgett  Volunteers,  95;  Confederate  Ugh 
Guards,  76;  Clinch  Rifles,  94;  Irish  Volunteers.  80;  Letcher  Guards.  80;  fn- 
dependent  Blues.  54;  Montgomery  Guards.  „ :  Georgia  Light  Guards  94- 
Wilson  Tigers.  „6;  Richmond   Hussars.  Company  A,  86 ;  Company  B  90 

eTs  Ni  bTv  r  '■  'tr  °'"^  ''"^'^'^"■^'  ^^'^''^y  '^"'«-  C-"ford  Rang, 
ers    N  sbet  Volunteers,  Vigilant  Rifles,  Richmond  Rough  and  Readys,  Bak^r 

Volunteers,  Augusta  Rangers  and  Milledge  Artillery.  Some  six  other  com- 
panies were  organized  and  sent  forward.  Out  of  a  white  population  of  ,0  - 
000  over  2,000  soldiers  were  raised  ;  and  of  these  292  were  killed  or  died  in 


i8o  History  of  Augusta. 


the  service.  The  streets  were  crowded  and  depots  thronged  with  commands 
from  other  parts  of  the  State  and  from  Florida,  Louisiana,  Alabama,  Texas 
and  Mississippi  luirrying  to  the  front.  Soon  train  loads  of  sick  and  wounded 
came  back.  Augusta  became  a  great  hospital  center.  Wayside  homes  were 
established  for  the  disabled  soldiers,  and  the  ladies  of  the  city  strained  every 
nerve  to  fit  out  the  volunteer  on  his  way  to  the  front  and  nurse  the  wounded 
who  returned. 

The  legislature  of  the  State  "  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  State  of  Georgia  are  due,  and  are  hereby  tendered  to  the  ladies 
of  the  whole  State,  for  their  active,  untiring  and  successful  efforts  to  aid  in 
clothing  and  making  comfortable  our  soldiers  in  the  field,  and  for  their  zeal  and 
devotion  in  ministering  to  the  wants  of  the  sick  and  wounded,  by  which  they 
have  demonstrated  that  God's  last,  best  gift  is  woman,  and  by  which  they 
prove,  too,  that  they  merit  the  Bible  appellation  of  'blessed.'  " — "  Georgia  Laws, 
1862,"  page  107. 

This  care  ceased  not  with  the  war.  When  the  struggle  was  over  a  Ladies' 
Memorial  Association  was  formed  which  erected  in  Broad  street  the  Confeder- 
ate Monument,  one  of  the  handsomest  war  memorials  in  the  country.  It  is 
seventy-two  feet  high,  and  from  the  top  of  the  second  section,  twenty-five  feet 
from  the  base,  rises  a  simple,  unbroken  shaft  forty-seven  feet,  presenting  a 
singularly  graceful  and  dignified  aspect.  At  the  tour  angles  of  the  first  sec- 
tion are  placed  statues  of  Generals  Robert  E.  Lee,  Stonewall  Jackson,  Thomas 
R.  R.  Cobb  and  William  Henry  Walker ;  the  first  two  typifying  the  Confed- 
eracy, the  third  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  the  fourth  Richmond  county. 
On  the  North  side  of  the  monument  is  the  inscription  : 

"No    NATION    ROSE    SO   WHITE   AND    FAIR, 

None  fell  so  pure  of  crime." 
On  the  South  side  : 

"  Worthy 

To    HAVE    lived    and    KNOWN 

Our   gratiiude  : 
Worthy 
To  he  hallowed  and  held 
In   tender  remembrance. 

Worthy 

The  fadeless  fame  which 

Confedkrai'e  soldiers 

Won, 

Who  liAVK  themselves  in  life 

and    death  for  us: 

For  the  honor  of  Georgia, 

For  the  rights  of  the  States, 

For  the  liberties  of  the  people, 

For  the  sentiments  of  the    South, 

■\^  F"oR  the  principles  of  the  Union,  , 

As  THESE  WERE  HANDED  DOWN  TO  THEM, 
By  THE  FATHERS  OF  OUR  COMMON  COUNTRY." 


The  Confederate  Monument.  i8i 

On  the  East  side  : 

"  Confederate  Dead." 

And  on  the  West  side : 

"Erected  A.  D.  1878, 

By  the  Memorial  Association  of  Augusta, 

In  honor  of  the 

Men  of  Richmond  County, 

Who  died 

In  the  cause  of  the  Confederate   States." 

On  the  pinnacle  of  the  shaft  is  a  statue,  heroic  size,  of  a  Confederate  pri- 
vate soldier.  He  is  standing  at  ease,  leaning  on  his  musket,  and  gazing  in- 
tently out  in  front  of  him,  as  if  waiting  the  command  to  move  forward  into 
action. 

The  base  of  the  monument  is  of  granite,  the  shaft  and  statues  of  pure  Ital- 
ian marble.  The  work  was  executed  in  Carrara,  Italy,  and  in  its  design,  exe- 
cution, and  general  appearance  the  monument  is  deservedly  the  subject  of 
general  admiration.  It  was  erected  by  the  Ladies'  Memorial  Association,  at  a 
cost  of  $17,331  35  ;  and  was  unveiled  on  October  31,  1878,  amid  imposing 
ceremonies.  The  governor  of  the  State,  Hon.  Alfred  H.  Colquitt,  the  hero  of 
Olustee,  and  the  widow  of  Stonewall  Jackson,  honored  the  occasion  with  their 
presence.  The  volunteer  battalion,  headed  by  the  band  of  the  Thirteenth 
United  States  Infantry,  and  a  large  number  of  cavalry  commands,  escorted 
the  Confederate  survivors,  and  about  the  platform  hung  the  scarred  and 
smoke- begrimed  battle  flags  of  the  Stonewall  Brigade,  Cobb  Legion,  Washing- 
ton Artillery,  Fifth  Georgia,  Eighth  Georgia,  and  Fifth  and  Twenty-seventh 
Virginia  Infantry,  as  also  the  Confederate  flag  which  was  in  the  hands  of  Gen- 
eral Bartow  when  he  fell  at  the  first  battle  of  Manassas.  The  oration  was  de- 
livered by  Colonel  C.  C.  Jones. 

This  beautiful  monument  is  the  result  of  untiring  efforts  on  the  part  of  the 
Ladies'  Memorial  Association.  The  original  of  this  society  was  the  Ladies' 
Relief  and  Hospital  Association,  organized  during  the  war  for  the  benefit  of  the 
sick  and  wounded  soldiery.  When  the  war  ended  and  the  hospitals  were  closed, 
the  association  took  upon  itself  the  duty  of  annually  decorating  the  soldiers' 
graves  in  the  city  cemetery  with  flowers  on  the  26th  of  April,  the  anniversary 
of  General  Lee's  surrender  at  Appomattox.  In  1868  it  was  proposed  to  form 
a  society  for  the  purpose  of  taking  care  of  those  graves,  and  also  of  erecting  a 
Confederate  monument,  and  the  Ladies'  Memorial  Association  was  organized 
with  Mrs.  Dr.  John  Carter,  as  president;  Mrs.  Dr.  H.  H.  Steiner,  as  vice-presi- 
dent, and  Mrs.  John  T.  Miller,  as  secretary  and  treasurer.  The  financial  de- 
pression following  the  war  and  the  death  of  both  president  and  vice-president 
prevented  the  association  from  doing  more  than  taking  care  of  the  soldiers' 
graves,  but  in  1873  a  reorganization  was  effected,  and  the  following  officers 
elected:   President,  Mrs.  M.  E.  Walton  (now  Mrs.  F.  A.  Timberlake);   vice-pres- 


1 82  History  of  Augusta. 

idents,  Mrs.  J.  M.  Adams,  Mrs.  John  M.  Clarke,  Mrs.  J.  J.  Cohen,  Mrs.  J.  T. 
Derry,  Mrs.  A.  E.  Dortic,  Mrs.  DeSaussure  Ford,  Mrs.  H.  W.  Milliard,  Mrs. 
J.  L.  Lamar  and  Mrs.  M.  E.  Whitehead  ;  and  secretary  and  treasurer,  Mrs. 
John  T.  Miller.  The  association  proceeded  systematically  to  work.  The  Con- 
federate dead  were  gathered  into  the  soldiers'  section  of  the  cemetery,  which 
was  enclosed  with  a  substantial  stone  coping.  A  fountain  was  placed  in  the 
center,  and  at  each  of  the  five  hundred  and  forty  graves  a  marble  headstone. 
The  cost  of  the  work  was  $2,606  46  ;  and  when  accomplished,  the  association 
turned  its  attention  to  the  erection  of  a  monument,  with  the  result  above  stated. 

In  front  of  St.  James  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on  Greene  street,  is 
another  Confederate  monument,  erected  in  1873,  by  the  Sunday-school  of  that 
church,  in  memory  of  the  twenty-three  teachers  and  scholars  who  fell  in  the 
war.  This  monument  is  a  very  handsome  cenotaph  of  white  marble,  and  bears 
on  it  the  names  of  two  hundred  and  ninety-two  slain  Confederates.  The  cen- 
otaph cost  $5,400,  and  was  unveiled  on  December  31,  1873. 

A  third  Confederate  monument  is  the  huge  chimney  of  the  Confederate 
powder  works  on  the  canal.  The  works  have  been  long  taken  down,  but  the 
chimney  was  preserved  and  still  towers  above  the  great  factories  which  now 
surround  it,  while  a  marble  tablet  let  into  its  side  tells  what  it  was  and  why  it 
is  preserved. 

The  vigorous  blockade  of  the  Southern  ports  by  the  United  States  navy 
was  soon  felt  in  the  home  life  of  the  Confederacy  and  especially  in  the  cities,, 
always  dependent  on  outside  sources  for  supply.  That  prime  necessary,  salt, 
became  almost  unattainable.  What  would  now  be  called  salt  "corners"  and 
"syndicates"  were  formed  by  speculators.  The  price  of  the  commodity  rose 
enormously.  The  Legislature  at  once  intervened,  and  at  first  tried  to  stimu- 
late production  by  a  system  of  bounties,  offering  a  loan  of  $50,000,  without 
interest,  and  repayable  only  on  the  restoration  of  peace,  "to  any  company  or 
corporation,  which  has  been  or  may  hereafter  be  established  in  this  State  for 
the  manufacture  of  salt."  This  failing  to  meet  expectations,  the  sum  of 
$500,000  was  appropriated  for  the  purchase  of  salt  for  distribution  among  the 
people,  and  to  enable  the  State  to  enter  on  the  production  of  the  article. 
Much  other  legislation  was  had  to  benefit  the  soldiers  and  protect  the  people 
from  monopoly  and  speculation.  No  judgment  was  to  be  enforced  against  a 
soldier  until  three  months  after  his  discharge  :  the  statute  of  limitations  was 
suspended  ;  it  was  made  a  crime  to  purchase  clothing,  shoes,  leather,  cloth, 
provisions,  wheat,  corn,  flour,  corn  meal,  meat,  bacon,  hogs,  cattle,  salt,  bagging, 
twine,  rope,  or  other  articles  of  general  use  under  false  pretense  that  they  were 
for  the  army;  or  to  monopolize  or  charge  extortionate  prices  for  such  articles; 
it  was  forbidden  to  raise  more  than  three  acres  of  cotton  to  the  hand;  it  was 
also  forbidden  to  make  any  spirituous  or  malt  liquor  out  of  corn,  wheat,  rye,  or 
other  grain,  except  for  medicinal,  hospital,  chemical,  or  mechanical  purposes;. 


War-time  Legislation.  183 

and  by  subsequent  legislation  this  inhibition  was  extended  to  sugar,  molasses, 
syrup,  sugar  cane,  honey,  sweet  potatoes,  pumpkins,  peas,  Irish  potatoes,  or 
dried  fruit,  the  penalty  being  a  fine  of  from  $500  to  $5,000  and  twelve  months 
imprisonment.  The  sum  of  $400,000  was  appropriated  for  the  Georgia 
Relief  and  Hospital  Association  in  providing  medical  attendance,  hospital 
rooms,  stores,  supplies,  accommodation  and  transportation  for  the  sick  and 
wounded,  suffering  and  destitute  soldiers  of  the  State  of  Georgia;  in  estab- 
lishing wayside  homes  for  the  same ;  and  in  collecting  claims  of  Georgia  sol- 
diers or  their  estates.  To  provide  clothes,  shoes,  hats,  and  blankets  $1,500,000 
were  appropriated.  At  one  time  97,000  bushels  of  corn  were  distributed  in 
fifteen  of  the  most  needy  counties  to  the  families  of  living  or  deceased  soldiers; 
at  another,  and  later  period  when  the  general  distress  became  appalling, 
$6,500,000  were  voted  to  indigent  families  of  the  soldiers,  "  the  term  indigent 
to  include  wives,  mothers,  grandmothers,  and  all  those  who  have  to  leave  their 
ordinary  business  in  the  house,  and  to  labor  in  the  field  to  support  themselves 
and  children."  The  enormous  prices  of  articles  in  general  use  may  be  seen  when 
it  is  known  that  yarn  was  eight  dollars  per  bunch  ;  and  the  State  was  thought 
to  be  conferring  a  great  favor  in  selling  it  at  six  dollars.  The  municipal 
authorities  of  Augusta  strained  every  nerve  to  co-operate  with  the  State. 
They  issued  $50,000  in  bonds  for  a  gunboat,  and.  it  may  be  here  added,  paid 
every  dollar  after  the  war,  over  the  objection  of  the  military  authorities  that  such 
debt  being  in  aid  af  rebellion  was  noL  enforceable.  They  obtained  permission 
to  issue  $100,000  in  change  notes  in  denominations  of  five,  ten,  twenty-five, 
and  fifty  cents  and  one  dollar.  The  city  became  a  hive  of  industry  in  making 
shoes,  clothing,  wagons,  and  other  supplies.  Its  moneyed  men  started  a  new 
bank  called  the  Traders  and  Importers  Bank,  two  insurance  companies.  The 
Augusta  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance  Company,  and  The  Commercial  Insurance 
Company  of  Augusta  ;  a  gold  mining  company  The  Augusta  and  Dahlonega 
Mining  Company  ;  and  projected  a  new  railroad.  The  Columbia  and  Augusta 
Railroad  Company.  The  State  ceded  the  Augusta  arsenal  and  all  the  realty  of 
the  United  States  at  Augusta  to  the  Confederate  government,  and  under  the  su- 
perintendency  of  Colonel  Rains,  a  huge  powder  manufactory  was  erected  on  the 
Augusta  Canal.  This  is  said  to  have  been  the  largest  and  most  complete 
establishment  of  its  kind  in  the  world,  and  turned  out  a  powder  of  most  excel- 
lent quality,  supplying  the  armies  with  abundant  ammunition.  The  chimney 
of  these  works  still  stands  on  the  bank  of  the  canal,  a  towering  monument 
of  the  past.  The  pressure  and  agony  of  the  times  were  something  appalling. 
The  State  had  its  entire  arms-bearing  population  in  the  field.  There  were 
■84, 119  "war  indigents"  at  home;  45,718  children,  22,637  P^°^  kinswomen 
of  soldiers,  8,462  orphans,  4,003  widows,  in  the  first  two  years  of  the  war. 
The  papers  were  full  of  reports  of  battles,  lists  of  killed  and  wounded,  calls  for 
troops,  appeals  for  food,  clothing  and  shoes,  proclamations  doling  out  salt  by 


i84 


History  of  Augusta. 


the  peck,  impressment  orders  for  negroes  to  work  on  fortifications,  piteous  sup- 
plications for  hospital  funds.  It  was  a  fearful  and  dreadful  time.  The  soldier 
dead  of  the  State,  up  to  the  close  of  the  year  1863,  numbered  57,905.  The 
white  polls  had  fallen  from  52,764  to  39,863,  showing  war's  ravages.  The 
war  indigents  rose  from  84,119  to  117,889.  Confederate  money  had  gone 
down,  down  until  almost  as  worthless  as  the  old  Continental  currency.  June 
15,  1862,  it  took  $2  to  buy  $i  in  gold  ;  on  June  15,  1863,  $7-50;  on  June  15, 
1864,  $18;  on  January  i,  1865,  it  was  $60  for  one;  April  26,  $200  for  one, 
April  27,  $300,  April  28,  $500,  April  30,  $i,OQO.  In  1864  hats  were  worth 
hundreds  of  dollars;  a  horse,  thousands;  a  drink  of  whisky,  $10;  a  pair  of 
suspenders,  $150;  a  cake  of  toilet  soap,  $25. 

As  of  historic  interest  we  here  give  the  fluctuations  of  Confederate  money 
as  kept  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Barber,  a  broker  of  Augusta,  commonly  known  as  Bar- 
ber's tables,  which  have  been  recognized  as  correct  in  the  courts  of  Georgia. 


1 861,  Gold  premium. 

January  i, $  .05 

July  1 10 

October  i 12 

October  15 15 

December  i, 20 

December  15 30 

1862. 

January  i, 20 

January  15 20 

February  i 25 

February  15 40 

March  i , 50 

March  15 60 

April  1 75 

April  15 ^ ,     .85 

May  1 90 

May  15 95 

June  1 95 

For$i  in  Gold. 

June  15 ,$2.00 

August  I , : 2.20 

September  1 2.50 

November  i 3.00 

1863. 

February  i , 3.10 

March  i 3.25 

March  15, 5.00 

May  15 6.00 

June  I, 6.50 

June  15 7.50 

July  1 8.00 

July  15 10.00 


August  I, 14.00 

August  15 1 5.00 

September  i, 14.00 

September  15, 14.00 

October  I, 13.00 

October  15 12.50 

November  i 13.00 

November  15 1 5.00 

December  i 20.05 

December  15 21.00 

1864. 

January  i, $  21.00 

January  15 20.00 

February  i ,    20.00 

February  15, 21 .00 

March  i 26.00 

March  15 20.00 

April  1 19.00 

April  15 21.00 

May  I , 20.00 

May   15, 18.00 

June  1-15 18.00 

July  1 5 — August  15, 20.00 

August  15 22.00 

September  i 20.50 

September  15 22. 50 

October  i 27.00 

October  15, 25.00 

November  i 26.00 

November  15 28.00 

December  i 32.00 

December  15 35-00 

December  31, 50.00 


The  Close  of  the  War.  jg^ 


'865.  For  $1  in  Gold. 

January   r 6000 

January   15 5^00 

February  i ^000 

February  15 4600 

March   1 5500 

March  15, ; 5700 

April  1 70.00 


AP"'  '5 80.00 

AP"'2o, ^^^^ 

AP''''26, 200.00 

AP'-'l^? 300.00 

AP"'28 50000 

AP'''l29 Soo.oo 

AP'-'lSo i.ooo.oo 

May  1 1,200.00 


When  Sherman  swun,s:  loose  from  Atlanta  and  started  on  his  way  through 
Georgia  to  the  sea,  it  was  apprehended   that   Augusta   would  see  what  it  had 
not  yet  witnessed,  amid  all  the  other  agonies  of  war,  a    hostile   force    in    her 
streets;    but   the   storm  passed  by.      A    marauding  party  of  Federal  cavalry 
would   no   doubt   have   swept  through   the    city,    but    was    met    by    General 
Wheeler  and  driven  back  upon  the  main  body.      In  anticipation  of  the  entrance 
of  Sherman's  troops  immense  quantites  of  cotton  were  brought  out  and  piled 
in  the  street.      On  Broad  street,  from  Jackson   to    Mcintosh  was  a  solid  wall 
about  five  or  six  bales  high  and  covering  the  bulk  of  that  unusually  wide  thor- 
oughfare.     It  lay  there  exposed  to  the  elements,  eaten  into  by  the  cows   spat 
tered  with  mud,  so  valuable  and  yet  so   worthless  !     The   chances   of  its  ever 
being  made  available  were  considered  so  hopeless  that  thousands  of  bales  were 
offered  at  one  dollar  per  bale  in  gold,  with  few  takers.      When  it  seemed  as  if 
nothing  could  avert  the  advent    of  the   enemy  the  Confederate   commandant 
issued  orders  to  have  it  burned  on  their  approach.    The  execution  of  this  com- 
mand would  have  almost  necessarily  involved  the  destruction  of  the  city   and 
fully  alive   to  this   awful  peril  Hon.  Robert  H.  May,  then  mayor,  used  Jvery 
exertion    to  have   the  order  rescinded  and  by  extraordinary  exertions  finally 
prevailed.     At  the  same  time  and  from  the   same   idle   policy  of  destruction 
barrels  of  tar  and   heaps   of  combustibles  were  placed  on  the  city  brid-e  to* 
reduce  that,  too,  to  ashes,  but  here  again    the   danger  was  averted       As""  has 
been  said,  Augusta  had    the   largest   powder  mills  in  America  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Confederate  government.      Besides  these,  machine  shops  and  -un 
factories  belonging  to  the  government  were  located,  and  the  city  was  one  of 
the  most  important  posts  in  the  Southern  States  during  the  civil  struggle.      It 
was  for  this  reason  that  it  was  considered  by  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  LincoL's  war 
secretary,  to  have  been  a  vital  point  in  the  seceding  states,  and  he  was  horri- 
fied to  find  that  General  Sherman,  instead  of  destroying  the  great  manufact- 
uring  plant  in   Augusta,   turned  off  and  pursued  an  empty  and   vainglorious 
march  to  the  sea.      So  long  as  Augusta  remained  intact,  the  army  in  Northern 
Virginia,   under   General    Lee,   was  furnished   with  ammunition  and  materials 
from    the   government  workshops,  and    the   Southern   armies  were  enabled  to 
hold  their  ground,  and  it  was  believed  that  had  Sherman   made   Au-usta   the 
base  of  his  operations  instead  of  Atlanta,  the  civil  war  would  have  come  to  an 
end  at  least  a  year  before  it  did. 


24 


1 86  History  of  Augusta. 


It  is  a  current  belief  in  the  city  that  Sherman  turned  his  course  aside  be- 
cause in  his  early  days  he  was  stationed  at  the  Augusta  arsenal  and  had  a  child 
buried  there,  and  while  it  is  not  likely  sentiment  controlled  him,  we  give  the 
story  for  what  it  is  worth. 

One  day  in  April,  1865,  a  disarmed  and  footsore  soldier  of  Lee's  army 
reached  town.  There  could  now  no  longer  be  any  doubt  that  the  valiant  army 
of  northern  Virginia  had  at  last  succumbed.  A  mob  gathered,  intent  on  sacking 
the  Confederate  quartermaster  and  commissary  departments.  It  was  argued 
that  as  the  Confederacy  was  gone,  its  few  remaining  assets  had  better  fall  into 
the  hands  of  its  own  poor  than  go  to  the  enemy,  and  acting  on  this  belief  the 
mob  soon  "  looted  "  the  government  repositories.  Then,  as  mobs  will,  other 
places  in  no  way  connected  with  the  government  were  marked  for  plunder. 
It  was  proposed  to  sack  the  factories,  and  some  private  stores  were  broken  into. 
A  guard  of  citizens  and  returned  soldiers  was  hastily  assembled,  and  after  a 
collision  in  which  one  life  was  lost,  the  mob  dispersed  and  order  was  restored. 

Soon  after  the  Federal  forces  entered  the  city,  a  detachment  being  sent  up 
from  Savannah,  and  the  city  was  placed  under  the  rule  of  a  provost  marshal. 
None  could  walk  the  streets  at  night  without  a  pass.  Then  the  Freedmen's 
Bureau  was  established,  and  the  colored  population  recognized  that  they  were 
free.  To  their  credit,  it  is  to  be  said,  they  made  no  disorder  and  attempted 
no  violence.  Mr.  Davis,  president  of  the  Confederacy,  was  brought  captive 
through  the  streets  of  Augusts  on  his  way  to  Fortress  Monroe.  He  rode  in  a 
carrriage  surrounded  by  a  strong  guard  of  cavalry  and  was  carried  up  Broad 
street  to  the  headquarters  of  the  post  commandant.  The  military  authorities 
insisted  on  all  civilians  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  no  one,  not  even  the 
ladies,  were  allowed  to  receive  letters  without  doing  so.  Owing  to  the  lack  of 
other  clothes  the  returned  soldiers  were  allowed  to  wear  their  uniforms,  but 
the  military  buttons  were  ordered  cut  ofif.  All  arms  were  ordered  delivered 
up,  and  the  press  was  put  under  surveillance.  Each  editorial  was  required  to 
be  submitted  to  the  post-commandant,  and  for  one  fiery  article  the  office  of  the 
Augusta  Constitutionalist  was  closed  and  a  sentry  put  in  the  composing  room. 

Finally  order  began  to  evolve  out  of  chaos.  The  State  government  was 
reorganized  on  the  plan  of  reconstruction,  devised  by  President  Johnson.  Hon. 
James  Johnson,  a  lawyer  of  Columbus,  was  appointed  provisional  governor,  and 
a  convention  ordered  at  Milledgeville  on  October  25,  1865.  Charles  J.  Jen- 
kins, John  P.  King,  and  A.  C.  Walter  were  sent  as  delegates  from  Richmond. 
Hon.  Herschel  V.  Johnson  was  elected  president  of  the  convention,  which, 
under  instructions  from  Washington,  repealed  the  ordinance  of  secession  and 
repudiated  the  State's  war  debt.  It  adopted  a  new  constitution  which  recog- 
nized the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  provided  for  the  organization  of  a  State  gov- 
ernment thereunder  ;  made  provision  for  the  support  of  the  poor  of  the  State, 
and  appealed  to  President  Johnson  for  clemency  to  President  Jefferson  Davis, 


Reconstruction  Period.  i8^ 

Vice-President  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  and  other  Confederates  then  prisoners 
at  Fort  Pulaski.  On  the  reorganization  Hon.  C.  J.  Jenkins  was  elected  gov- 
ernor, and  the  State  government  was  completed  in  all  its  parts. 

During  the  war  Hon.  Robert  H.  May,  the  present  chief  magistrate  of  the 
city,  was  mayor  of  Augusta.  As  has  been  stated  the  tread  of  hostile  forces 
never  resounded  in  the  streets  of  the  city,  but  all  during  the  war  thousands  and 
tens  of  thousands  of  Confederate  soldiers  marched  through  going  to  battle  ; 
trains  upon  trains  of  sick  and  wounded  were  brought  back.  The  maimed  and 
disabled  were  to  be  nursed,  the  dead  to  be  buried,  the  impoverished  to  be  fed, 
the  unruly  to  be  kept  in  order.  Time  after  time,  as  the  city  was  menaced,  al- 
most every  available  man  was  marched  out  to  assist  the  regular  forces,  and 
women  and  children  were  left  behind  almost  defenseless,  but  in  every  exig- 
ency Mayor  May  was  found  adequate  to  the  occasion.  At  one  time,  when 
the  Confederate  forces  were  about  to  burn  the  cotton  piled  five  bales  high  on 
the  streets,  which  would  have  been  to  destroy  the  city,  Mr.  May  averted  the 
useless  and  appalling  destruction.  When,  in  1865,  a  terrific  freshet  flooded  the 
■city,  he  quickly  repaired  its  damage;  and  when  later  in  the  year,  at  the  down- 
fall of  the  Confederacy,  a  mob  sacked  the  Confederate  commissary  and  quar- 
termaster departments  and  seemed  ripe  for  further  pillage,  the  mayor's  firm 
hand  and  active  measures  restored  order  and  obedience  to  law. 

In  1866  James  T.  Gardiner  served  a  portion  of  the  year;  and  John  Foster 
filled  out  his  term. 

In  the  spring  of  the  next  year  the  scheme  of  congressional  reconstruction 
of  the  South  was  initiated.  Major-General  John  Pope  overturned  civil  rule 
and  established  military  domination,  and  for  the  first  and  only  time  in  its  ex- 
tended municipal  history  Augusta  saw  its  mayor  designated  by  the  sword. 
Foster  Blodgett  was  made  mayor  by  General  Pope  in  May,  1867,  and  acted  as 
such  till  December,  1868,  when  reconstruction  was  completed,  and  an  election 
held  at  which  Henry  F.  Russell,  a  prominent  merchant,  was  chosen  mayor. 
Mayor  Russell  was  succeeded  in  1869  by  J.  V.  H.  Allen,  who  reorganized  the 
police  force  of  the  city  on  a  military  footing,  the  men  being  uniformed,  and 
armed  and  drilled  as  infantry.  This  discipline  has  since  been  maintained  and 
the  force  of  the  city  is  not  only  available  for  the  ordinary  duties  of  police,  but, 
at  a  moment's  notice,  becomes  the  drilled  and  organized  nucleus  of  a  military 
body.  In  this  year  another  railroad,  the  Charlotte,  Columbia  and  Augusta 
entered  the  city. 

In  1870  Charles  Estes  became  mayor  and  was  re-elected  year  after  year 
till  1876.  During  Mayor  Estes'  extended  administration,  the  city  was  rapidly 
rehabitated  and  materially  enlarged  and  improved.  In  1870  the  area  inclosed 
by  the  Savannah  Road,  the  Turknett  Springs  Road,  Carnes  Road,  and  South 
Boundary  street  was  added  to  the  city,  and  the  street  railway  system  put  upon 
a  permanent  basis.      In  1871  the  Legislature  authorized  the  enlargment  of  the 


1 88  History  of  Augusta. 


Augusta  Canal.  Mayor  Allen  had  urged  such  an  enlargment,  but  it  was  re- 
served for  Mayor  Estes  to  beghi  and  complete  the  work.  The  work  was  com- 
menced in  March,  1 872,  and  completed  in  July,  1 875,  at  a  cost  of  $972,883.  i  5 . 
The  present  length  of  the  main  canal  is  seven  miles;  including  second  and 
third  levels,  nine  miles.  The  minimum  water  way  is  150  at  surface,  106  feet 
at  bottom,  and  li  feet  deep,  making  an  area  of  cross  section  of  1,408  square 
feet.  The  area  of  the  supply  openings  is  1,463  square  feet ;  and,  by  means  of 
a  colossal  dam  the  entire  waters  of  the  Savannah  River  are  made  available. 
There  is  a  bottom  grade  of  descent  on  the  main  canal  of  one  hundredth  of  a 
foot  in  one  hundred  feet,  giving  a  theoretical  mean  velocity  of  two  and  seventy- 
four  one  hundredth  feet  per  second,  or  a  mechanical  effect  of  14,000  horse 
power,  the  old  capacity  being  but  600.  The  result  of  the  enlargement  has 
been  to  give  an  immense  impetus  to  cotton  manufacturing  in  Augusta,  to 
largely  stimulate  other  industries,  and  to  add  wonderfully  to  the  wealth  and 
population  of  the  city.  In  1873  the  Macon  and  Augusta,  and  the  Port  Royal, 
and  Augusta  Railways  tapped  the  city.  During  this  administration  the  re- 
quirement of  a  registry  fee  as  a  condition  precedent  to  voting  in  municipal 
elections  was  abrogated  ;  the  lien  for  city  taxes  was  made  second  in  dignity 
only  to  State  and  county  taxes;  and  the  style  "  marshal  "  was  changed  to 
chief  of  police.  Provision  was  also  made  for  extension  and  improvement  of 
the  waterworks  system. 

In  1876  the  mayor's  term  was  extended  from  one  year  to  three  years,  and 
in  this  year  John  U.  Meyer  was  elected  for  that  term.  During  his  time  a 
board  of  health  was  created  which  is  still  in  operation  and  has  accomplished 
valuable  results.      Of  its  operations  we  speak  elsewhere  in  detail. 

In  1879  Hon.  Robert  H.  May,  the  war  mayor  of  Augusta,  was  again  elected 
and  has  been  continuously  re-elected  at  each  recurring  triennial  election  ever 
since.  In  1877  Mr.  May  was  one  of  the  delegates  sent  from  Richmond  county 
to  the  State  convention  which  framed  the  present  constitution  of  Georgia. 
This  instrument  has  many  important  provisions  looking  to  the  improvement 
of  the  science  of  municipal  government,  and  from  his  long  experience  in  this 
field,  Mr.  May's  counsels  were  of  great  service  to  the  convention.  During  his 
administration  from  1879  Augusta  has  almo.st  became  a  new  city.  The  devel- 
opment of  business  and  increase  of  population  have  been  unprecedented. 
Among  other  important  matters  of  legislation  in  this  time  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  a  board  of  police  commissioners  was  organized,  and  the  limits  of  the  city 
were  very  largely  extended  in  1882  so  as  to  take  in  that  extensive  territory  on 
the  west  of  the  city,  north  of  the  Turknett  Springs  road  to  the  line  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Summerville,  thence  along  that  line  across  the  head  of  Lake  Olmstead,. 
to  the  head  of  the  canal,  so  as  to  throw  the  entire  length  of  that  great  work 
within  the  municipal  limits;  and  again,  in  1883,  so  as  to  include  the  territory 
lying  south  of  the  Turknett  Springs  road  to  the  Milledgville  road,  and  thence 


Freshet  of  1888.  iSg* 


east  to  the  line  of  the  Central  Railroad.  These  additions  bring  in  an  immense 
area  on  the  west  and  southwest  of  the  city,  and  where  fields  lately  waved  in 
grain,  streets  run  and  houses  glow  with  life.  In  Augusta,  as  elsewhere,  "west- 
ward the  star  of  empire  takes  its  way." 

In  September,  1888,  Augusta  was  visited  with  the  worst  freshet  known  in 
her  history.  During  the  latter  part  of  August  and  the  early  part  bf  Septem- 
ber heavy  rains,  extending  above  the  city  for  many  miles,  almost  incessantly 
prevailed.  On  Sunday,  September  9th,  the  Savannah  River  began  to  rise,  but 
as  this  was  not  unexpected,  no  particular  attention  was  aroused.  All  Sunday 
night  the  rise  continued,  and  by  the  morning  of  the  loth  it  became  apparent 
that  a  freshet  of  unprecedented  magnitude  was  imminent.  All  that  day  and 
until  late  at  night  the  water  rose.  About  one  P.  M.  the  canal  banks  gave  way, 
precipitating  that  immense  volume  suddenly  upon  the  already  submerged  city. 
Finally,  not  a  foot  of  dry  land  remained,  the  water  obtaining  a  depth  of  from 
two  to  five  and  in  some  places  six  feet  throughout  the  city.  All  night  long 
the  angry  rush  of  the  waters  was  heard,  hurrying  past  the  very  thresholds  of 
the  astonished  and  alarmed  citizens.  About  three  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
Tuesday,  September  11,  the  water  came  to  a  stand  and  then  began  to  fall,  at 
first  very  slowly,  an  inch  or  so  an  hour,  then  more  and  more  rapidly,  until  on 
Wednesday  morning  the  I2th,  the  land  again  appeared.  But  the  city  looked 
as  if  built  in  the  bed  of  a  river.  Huge  holes,  especially  at  street  corners,  made 
travel  impossible  for  vehicles  and  difficult  for  pedestrians.  Some  ten  persons 
were  drowned,  and  the  damage  done  to  property  is  estimated  at  about  two 
millions  of  dollars.  The  city  was  just  about  completing  arrangements  for  a 
grand  exposition,  intended  to  display  Augusta's  many  natural  and  industrial 
advantages  and  in  particular  her  vast  water  power  and  flourishing  manufactur- 
ing interests.  In  a  moment,  as  it  were,  the  water  power  was  wrecked,  the 
huge  cotton  mills  silenced,  and  a  busy,  hopeful,  ambitious  city  crushed  prone 
to  the  earth.  But  in  less  than  forty-eight  liours  a  programme  was  devised 
which  met  instant  popular  acceptance.  There  was  to  be  no  call  for  outside  aid  ; 
the  city  was  to  bear  its  own  burden  ;  the  exposition  was  to  proceed  ;  the  canal 
was  to  be  rebuilt;  the  mills  were  to  be  run  at  the  earliest  possible  moment; 
and  the  citizens  were  to  impose  on  themselves  an  extra  tax,  which  with  the 
ordinary  rate  then  already  levied,  made  a  total  of  three  years'  taxes  in  one. 
This  tax  was  unflinchingly  voted  ;  the  exposition  was  held;  the  canal  repaired  ; 
and  on  December  26  the  mill  wheels  began  to  revolve,  and  the  looms  to  work 
anew.     Such  a  record  is,  surely,  honorable  to  any  people. 

The  exposition  of  which  mention  has  been  made,  was  determined  upon  at 
a  meeting  held  on  November  8,  1887,  when  $29,245  was  raised.  By  Novem- 
ber 19,  the  subscriptions  reached  the  sum  of  $55,000;  on  January  3.  1888,  they 
amounted  to  $65,000.  A  charter  was  procured  and  the  following  officers 
elected:  President,  James  Tobin  ;  vice-presidents,  Patrick  Walsh,  Charles  H. 
Phinizy,   and   Clement  A.  Evans;  secretary  and   treasurer,  J.   H.  Alexander;. 


I90  History  of  Augusta. 


general  solicitor,  Sanford  H.  Cohen.  A  tract  of  land  was  purchased  near  the 
city;  a  costly  building,  944  feet  by  400,  with  dome  154  feet  high,  erected  ; 
numerous  exhibits  and  attractions  arranged  for,  and  the  exposition  was  within 
a  short  time  of  opening  when  the  flood  overwhelmed  the  city.  This  terrible 
disaster  postponed  the  opening  some  si.xty  days,  but  the  enterprise  was  finally 
carried  out,  its  crowning  and  peculiar  glory  being  that  the  fact  of  its  being  held 
at  all  under  the  circumstances,  was  commented  on  throughout  the  country  as 
an  unparalleled  instance  of  energy  and  courage. 

Rounding  up  the  history  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  odd  years,  Augusta  is 
now  a  great  railroad  center,  a  great  manufacturing  center,  and  a  great  com- 
mercial center.  As  has  been  seen  in  the  review  taken  of  her  history,  one  prom- 
inent characteristic  of  this  particular  city  has  been  its  indomitable  energy  under 
every  possible  form  of  adversity  to  which  municipalities  are  subject.  We  have 
seen  it  drenched  in  blood  and  scorched  with  fire  in  the  Revolution  ;  but  hardly 
had  the  smoke  of  the  British  guns  dissipated  on  the  air  before  the  citizens  of 
that  day  were  at  work  with  unabated  courage,  re-erecting  churches,  laying  the 
corner-stone  of  seminaries,  surveying  out  streets  and  annexing  new  territory. 
A  little  later,  and  when  business  had  begun  to  revive,  the  Yazoo  freshet  floods 
the  town,  and,  in  carrying  away  the  Savannah  River  bridge,  cuts  the  town  off 
from  its  valuable  Carolina  trade  ;  but  almost  instantly  the  bridge,  a  stupendous 
undertaking  in  those  days,  is  ordered  rebuilt.  In  1829  the  greater  portion  of 
the  city  is  laid  in  ashes,  but  in  1833  we  find  it  laying  the  foundations  of  the 
immense  railway  system  of  the  State  by  a  line  from  Augusta  to  Athens,  an- 
other undertaking  which  merely  ordinary  as  it  seems  to  us  now,  was  at  that 
time  of  the  first  magnitude.  In  1839  the  yellow  fever  claims  many  victims, 
at  least  one-third  of  the  population  having  an  attack,  and  the  very  next  year 
the  river  rises  thirty-seven  feet,  again  flooding  the  town,  and  inflicting  damage 
to  the  amount  of  a  million  dollars,  but,  girding  up  its  loins  Augusta  sets  about 
another  enterprise,  the  canal,  and  a  few  years  later  has  it  built  and  in  active 
operation. 

In  1854  there  is  another  access  of  fever,  but  in  that  very  year  the  Central 
Railroad  is  brought  to  Augusta  and  the  city  limits  largely  extended,  as  if  noth- 
ing were  further  from  the  minds  of  the  people  than  a  cessation  of  municipal 
growth.  Then  came  on  the  agony  of  war,  and,  after  it,  the  turmoil  of  recon- 
struction ;  but,  close  upon  the  heels  of  these  disturbing  and  discouraging  eras, 
the  city  proceeds  to  extend  its  railway  system,  and  enlarge  its  canal  to  pro- 
portions greater,  in  all  except  length,  than  the  famous  Erie  Canal.  Contem- 
poraneously, the  city  limits  are  extended  more  widely  than  ever  before. 
Lastly,  within  two  years  of  this  writing,  the  city  is  visited  in  1886  by  a  terrific 
shock  of  earthquake  and  almost  to  a  day  two  years  later,  by  a  flood  which 
throws  even  the  far-famed  Yazoo  freshet  far  in  the  shade.  And  yet  what  effect 
have  these  terrific  and  quick  succeeding  calamities  on  Augusta  ?  With  the 
earth  trembling  beneath  their  feet,  the  people  of  Augusta  go  on  about  their 


Intendants  and  Mayors. 


i9r 


daily  business,  stout  of  heart.  The  street-cars  run,  the  daily  paper  comes  out, 
the  court,  the  counting-room,  the  workshop,  the  factory,  the  store  witness  the 
same  unabated  toil.  The  motto  of  Augusta,  now  as  ever,  seems  to  be,  "sor- 
row endureth  for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning." 

Straightway  after  the  freshet,  the  city  looks  about  it ;  seems  to  say  like  the 
man  in  the  story,  "  Well,  it  was  not  so  much  of  a  shower  after  all ;"  and  com- 
posedly goes  to  work  to  vote  a  double  tax  upon  itself,  the  year  1888  present- 
ing the  spectacle  of  Augusta  not  only  meeting  its  usual  annual  tax,  but  an 
additional  tax  equal  to  that  of  two  ordinary  years,  making  three  years  taxes  in 
one.     Such  a  spectacle  of  financial  fortitude  is  not  often  seen. 

Another  striking  feature  in  Augusta's  history  is  the  unvarying  good  faith  it 
has  always  exhibited  in  its  monetary  transactions.  It  has  never  in  all  its  long 
history  evaded  or  repudiated  an  obligation.  Nor  in  any  of  its  troubles,  disas- 
asters  and  calamities  has  it  ever  invoked  outside  aid.  Its  own  shoulders  have 
always  borne  the  burden  of  the  hour.  Such  a  record  is  honorable  to  any  peo- 
ple, and  in  closing  this  sketch  of  Augusta's  history,  it  can  be  truly  said  that 
the  city  of  Augusta  has,  at  all  times,  and  in  all  circumstances,  for  a  century 
and  a  half  consistently  maintained  the  reputation  of  an  upright,  self-respect- 
ing, faith-abiding  and  courageous  municipal  commonwealth.  It  was  named 
after  the  Princess  Augusta,  one  of  the  daughters  of  King  George  the  Second, 
and  has  always  been  as  its  name  imports,  the  proud  city. 

Intendants  and  Mayors  of  Augusta,  Ga. 
intendants. 


1798  Thomas  Cumming. 

1803-4  John  Murray. 

1805  William  J.  Hobby. 

1806  Thomas   Flournoy. 

1807  John  B.  Barnes. 

1808  John  Catlett. 


1818-19 Freeman  Walker. 

1819-21 Nicholas  Ware. 

1822        Robert  Walker. 

1823-4   Robert  Raymond  Reid. 

1 825-26 William    W.    Holt. 

1827-36 Samuel  Hale. 

1837        John   Phinizy. 

1838       Samuel  Hale. 

1839       Alfred  Cumming. 

1840       Daniel    Hook. 

1841        Martin   M.   Dye. 

1842        Daniel     Hook. 

1843-45 Martin    M.   Dye. 

1846-47 Lewis   D.   Ford. 

1848       Ignatius  P.  Garvin. 

1849       James  B.  Bishop. 

1850-51 Thomas  W.   Miller. 


1809-1 1 Joseph  Hutchinson. 

1812       James  S.  Walker. 

1813       Seaborn  Jones. 

1 814  ...    Joseph  Hutchinson. 

181 5-16 Walter  Leigh. 

1 817        Freeman  Walker. 

MAYORS. 

1852-53 William   E.   Dearing. 

1854       Abner  P .  Robertson. 

1855  William  E.   Dearing. 

1856       George  W.  Evans. 

1857-58 Benjamin  Conlev. 

1859-60 Foster  Blodgett. 

1861-65 Robert  H.   May. 

1866       James  T.  Gardiner. 

1867  Foster  Blodgett  (ap- 
pointed by  military  com- 
mandant.) 

1868       Henry  F.  Russell. 

1869        J.  V.  H.  Allen. 

1 870-7  5 Charles  Estes. 

1876-79 John  L^.  Meyer. 

1880       Robert   H.  May. 


192  History  of  Augusta. 


CHAPTER  XVHI. 

BENCH  AND  BAR. 

Judicial  Establishment  of  Georgia  Under  the  Trustees — Judicature  Court — The  Rum  Law 
— Law  Against  Fine  Clothes — Free  Labor  Law — Tenure  by  Tail  Male  -Surrender  of  the  Char- 
ter— Judicial  Establishment  Under  the  King's  Colonial  Government — The  Royal  Governor,  the 
Chancellor — Court  of  Chancery — Fee  Bill — "Thirteen  Chancellors." 

THE  history  of  the  bench  and  bar  of  Augusta  is  indissohibly  united  with  the 
judicial  history  of  Georgia.  Some  of  the  ablest  lawyers  and  most  cele- 
brated judges  in  the  annals  of  the  State  presided  and  practiced  at  Augusta; 
for  many  years  here  were  the  headquarters  of  the  Middle  Judicial  Circuit,  in 
which  lay  the  State  capital;  and  the  solicitor- general  of  this  circuit  was  ex- 
officio,  the  attorney-general  of  the  State,  so  that  for  a  long  course  of  years  Au- 
gusta may  be  said  to  have  been  the  legal  center  of  Georgia.  To  speak  of  the 
judges  and  lawyers  who  in  times  past  have  been  eminent  in  the  city  is  to  speak 
of  the  courts  in  which  they  presided  and  of  the  laws  under  which  they  prac- 
ticed, and  we  will,  therefore,  in  this  part  of  this  work,  consider  first  the  judicial 
establishment  of  Georgia  as  it  existed  in  colonial  days  ;  then  of  its  reorganiz- 
ation under  the  State  government,  and  lastly  of  the  many  learned  and  brillant 
men  who  have  adorned  the  legal  annals  of  the  city. 

Of  the  judicial  establishment  existing  in  Georgia  from  the  first  colonization 
in  1733  until  the  trustees  surrendered  their  charter  to  the  crown  in  1754  we 
have  meager  information.  By  the  charter  it  was  ordained  that  the  trustees  for 
establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America  "  shall  and  may  form  and  pre- 
pare laws,  statutes,  and  ordinances  fit  and  necessary  for  and  concerning  the 
government  of  the  said  colony,  and  not  repugnant  to  the  laws  and  statutes  of 
England,  and  the  same  shall  and  may  present,  under  their  common  seal,  to  us, 
our  heirs,  and  successors  in  our  or  their  privy  council,  for  our  or  their  appro- 
bation or  disallowance  ;  and  the  said  laws,  statutes,  and  ordinances,  being  ap- 
proved of  by  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  in  our  or  their  privy  council,  shall, 
from  thenceforth,  be  in  full  force  and  virtue  within  our  said  province  of  Geor- 
gia." It  was  also  provided  that  the  trustees  "shall  have  full  power  and  au- 
thority for  and  during  the  term  of  twenty-one  years,  to  commence  from  the 
date  of  these  our  letters  patent,  to  erect  and  constitute  judicatories  and  courts 
of  record,  or  other  courts,  to  be  held  in  the  name  of  us,  our  heirs  and  succes- 
sors, for  the  hearing  and  determining  of  all  manner  of  crimes,  offenses,  pleas, 
processes,  plaints,  actions,  matters,  causes,  and  things  whatsoever  arising  or 
happening  within  said  province  of  Georgia,  or  between  persons  of  Georgia  ; 
whether  the  same  be  criminal  or  civil,  and  whether  the  said  crimes  be  capital 
or  not  capital,  and  whether  the  said  pleas  be  real,  personal,  or  mixed;  and  for 


Bench  and  Bar. 


193 


awarding  and  making  out  executions  thereupon  ;  to  which  courts  and  judica- 
tories we  do  hereby,  for  us,  our  heirs  and  succesors,  give  and  grant  full  power 
and  authority,  from  time  to  time,  to  administer  oaths  for  the  discovery  of  truth 
in  any  matter  in  controversy  or  depending  before  them,  or  the  solemn  affirm- 
ation to  any  of  the  persons  commonly  called  Quakers,  in  such  manner  as  by 
the  laws  of  our  realm  of  England  the  same  may  be  administered." 

The  charter  further  provided  "  that  all  and  every  the  persons  which  shall 
happen  to  be  born  within  the  said  province,  and  every  of  their  children  and 
posterity,  shall  have  and  enjoy  all  liberties,  franchises  and  immunities  of  free 
denizens  and  natural  born  subjects,  within  any  of  our  dominions,  to  all  intents 
and  purposes,  as  if  abiding  and  born  within  this  our  kingdom  of  Great  Britain, 
or  any  other  dominion." 

At  that  time  the  law  of  England  held  that  English  colonists  carried  with 
them  the  laws  of  the  mother  country,  the  birthright  of  every  subject,  meaning 
thereby  "  so  much  of  the  English  law  as  is  applicable  to  their  own  situation 
and  the  condition  of  an  English  colony;"  and  that  "what  shall  be  admitted 
and  what  rejected,  at  what  times  and  under  what  restrictions  must,  in  case  of 
dispute,  be  decided  in  the  first  instance  by  their  own  provincial  judicature, 
subject  to  the  revision  and  control  of  the  king  in  council;  the  whole  of  their 
constitution  being  also  liable  to  be  remodeled  and  reformed  by  the  general 
superintending  power  of  the  legislature  in  the  mother  country."  This  view 
was  considered  particularly  applicable  to  Georgia  as  we  learn  from  a  valuable 
work  published  in  1783  by  Anthony  Stokes,  for  many  }'ears  royal  chief  justice 
of  that  province. 

Under  the  charter  then,  and  the  general  law  of  England,  the  first  settlers 
of  Georgia  brought  with  them  all  the  English  law  applicable  to  their  new  situ- 
ation ;  and  after  their  arrival  were  subject  to  have  those  laws,  and  such  other 
laws  as  the  trustees  nught  see  fit  to  enact,  if  approved  by  the  crown,  adminis- 
tered by  courts  erected  b}^  the  trustees.  The  traditional  loyalty  of  English- 
men to  the  common  law  seems  to  have  withheld  the  trustees  from  much  legis- 
lation, and  accordingly  the  records  of  their  judicial  establishment  are  bare  and 
jejune.  They  satisfied  themselves  with  the  erection  of  a  few  courts  and  the 
enactment  of  a  very  few  laws 

The  trustees  organized  under  their  charter  in  July,  1732,  and  in  the  Au- 
gust following  appointed  a  committee,  of  which  General  Oglethorpe  was  chair- 
man, to  propose  laws  for  the  benefit  of  the  colony.  It  does  not  appear  what 
report,  if  any,  was  made  by  this  committee,  nor  is  it  at  all  clear  but  that  mere 
by-laws  for  the  management  of  the  board  were  meant.  In  November,  1732,  a 
court  of  judicature  was  established  in  Savannah,  with  power  to  try  all  causes, 
civil  and  criminal.  At  a  later  date  it  was  provided  with  a  seal,  and  was  con- 
ducted by  three  judges  called  bailiffs,  who,  to  ensure  greater  respect,  wore  pur- 
ple robes  trimmed  with  fur.     Their  executive  officer  was  termed  constable  and, 

25 


194  History  of  Augusta. 


as  has  been  seen  by  the  charter,  they  could  pass  even  on  capital  cases.  A  like 
court  was  also  established  at  I'^rederica.  In  1744  the  method  of  procedure 
was  ordered  to  be  c^ccording  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  realm  of  England 
and  of  the  laws  enacted  for  the  province.  The  laws  enacted  by  the  trustees 
were  few  in  number,  and  most  of  them  gave  rise  to  great  dissatisfaction.  One 
absolutely  prohibited  the  drinking  of  brandy  and  rum,  and  ordered  all  vessels 
containing  such  liquors  to  be  staved  immediately  on  being  brought  within  the 
colony  The  settlers  vociferously  insisted  that  in  that  hot  and  close  climate  it 
was  absolutely  necessary  to  have  these  beverages  for  the  slacking  of  their 
parched  clay ;  but  the  trustees  were  inexorable,  and  repeatedly  admonished 
the  courts  to  rigidly  enforce  the  statute.  From  the  number  of  these  instruc- 
tions it  may  fairly  be  inferred  that  the  judicial  establishment  partook  of  the 
general  drought,  an  inference  which  becomes  almost  certainty  in  view  of  a  cer- 
tain passage  in  the  minutes  of  a  legislative  body  some  years  later  where  it  is 
gravely  set  down  that  the  house  adjourned  "to  take  a  drink."  The  traders  of 
South  Carolina,  where  no  prohibitory  legislation  prevailed,  were  quite  ready  to 
supply  all  the  rum  needed,  and  at  one  time  a  serious  inter-colonial  difficulty 
arose  from  the  officers  at  Augusta  staving  a  cargo  which  had  just  been  brought 
into  that  port.  Great  was  the  popular  outcry  at  so  heinous  a  waste  of  so  much 
precious  material.  From  the  incident  we  may  gather  that  there  was  some  sort 
of  court  at  this  time  at  Augusta,  also,  though  no  express  mention  of  such  a 
tribunal  appears. 

Another  act  of  the  trustees  was  leveled  at  "  the  use  of  gold  and  silver  in 
apparel  and  furniture  in  Georgia,  and  for  preventing  extravagance  and  luxury." 
The  date  of  this  statute  was  1737,  but  four  years  after  the  foundation,  and  the 
law  seems  to  infer  either  that  some  wealthy  colonists  had  then  come  over,  or 
that  the  first  settlers  had  prospered  wonderfully.  Still  another  act  prohibited 
the  purchase  or  use  of  negro  slaves  in  the  colony.  It  was  supposed  that  this 
kind  of  labor  would  enervate  the  colonists,  and  not  only  render  them  averse  to 
building  up  the  settlement  with  their  own  hands,  but  form  an  element  of  dan- 
ger in  the  infant  commonwealth.  Here  again,  the  example  of  South  Carolina, 
where  slavery  obtained,  was  ever  before  the  Georgians,  and  rendered  them 
grievously  discontented  with  their  own  less  favored  status. 

A  fourth  act,  and  possibly  the  most  obnoxious  of  all,  was  the  tenure  of  lands. 
By  the  charter  the  crown  had  granted  the  land  to  the  trustees,  with  power  to 
sub-let;  and  in  portioning  out  the  soil,  the  trustees  rigidly  insisted  on  making 
the  tenure  tail  male,  that  is  to  a  man  and  his  heirs  male.  The  object  was  the 
same  as  on  the  establishment  of  the  feudal  system,  namely,  to  have  the  tenant 
always  a  man  fit  for  military  service.  If  a  settler  died,  leaving  only  daughters, 
the  land  reverted  to  the  trustees,  to  be  regranted  to  some  tenant  capable  of 
bearing  arms.  Again  and  again  the  colonists  petitioned  and  remonstrated, 
demanding  lands  in  fee  simple.      For  a  long  time  the  trustees  steadily  resisted 


Bench  and  Bar  195 


the  appeals  of  the  settlers  on  the  matter  of  the  tenure  of  lands,  use  of  negroes, 
and  allowance  of  rum.  In  1742  steps  were  taken  to  repeal  the  prohibition  act, 
and  in  the  same  year  Governor  Stephens  was  instructed  to  examine  into  and 
report  upon  the  real  views  of  the  people  as  to  negro  slavery,  and  how  far  and 
under  what  restrictions  it  might  be  advisable  to  rescind  the  original  statute. 
Rum  and  slavery  were  finally  allowed,  and  some  modifications  made  in  the  law 
of  entails,  and,  pleased  with  these  concessions,  the  colonists  went  to  work  and 
soon  improved  the  condition  of  affairs.  The  trustees  seem  not  to  have  taken 
the  repeal  of  their  laws  so  well,  and  were  evidently  not  ill  pleased  at  the  ap- 
proach of  the  time,  when  under  their  charter,  the  form  of  government  and  ap- 
pointment of  officers  for  the  colony  was  to  devolve  upon  the  crown.  By  the 
charter  it  was  provided  that  the  trustees  "  shall,  from  time  to  time,  for  and 
during  and  unto  the  full  end  and  expiration  of  twenty-one  years,  to  commence 
from  the  date  of  these  our  letters  patent,  have  full  power  and  authority  to 
nominate,  make,  constitute,  commission,  ordain,  and  appoint,  by  such  name  or 
names,  style  or  styles,  as  to  them  shall  seem  meet  and  fitting,  all  and  singular 
such  governors,  judges,  magistrates,  ministers,  and  officers,  civil  and  military, 
both  by  sea  and  land,  within  the  said  districts,  as  shall  by  them  be  thought  fit 
and  needful  to  be  made  or  used  for  the  said  government  of  the  said  colony, 
save  always  and  except  such  officers  only  as  shall  by  us,  our  heirs  and  succes- 
sors, be  from  time  to  time  constituted  and  appointed  for  the  managing,  col- 
lecting, and  receiving  such  revenues  as  shall  from  time  to  time  arise  within 
the  said  province  of  Georgia,  and  become  due  to  us,  our  heirs  and  successors;" 
and  "  from  and  after  the  determination  of  the  said  term  of  one  and  twenty 
years,  such  form  of  government  and  method  of  making  laws,  statutes,  and  ordi- 
nances for  the  better  governing  and  ordering  the  said  province  of  Georgia,  and 
the  inhabitants  thereof,  shall  be  established  and  observed  within  the  same,  as 
we,  our  heirs  and  successors,  shall  hereafter  ordain  and  appoint,  and  shall  be 
agreeable  to  law;  and  that,  from  and  after  the  determination  of  the  said  term 
of  one  and  twenty  years,  the  governor  of  our  said  province  of  Georgia,  and  all 
officers,  civil  and  military,  within  the  same,  shall,  from  time  to  time,  be  nomi- 
nated and  constituted  and  appointed  by  us,  our  heirs  and  successor^." 

It  is  not  the  case,  therefore,  as  is  currently  supposed,  that  the  trustees  vol- 
untarily surrendered  their  charter,  whereby  Georgia,  from  a  proprietar}',  be- 
came a  royal  government.  The  charter  having  been  granted  on  June  9,  1732, 
by  the  terms  thereof,  as  just  seen,  the  government  of  the  colony  reverted  on 
June  9,  1753,  to  the  crown. 

It  is  true  that  the  trustees  did  execute  a  formal  written  relinquishment  and 
surrender  of  their  charter  to  the  crown,  but  that  instrument  expressly  recites 
that  they  were  to  have  the  government  of  the  colony  for  twenty-one  years  and 
no  more  by  the  terms  of  their  charter,  so  that  this  was  not  the  ground  on  which 
the  surrender  was  based.     The  charter  gave  them  seven- eighths  of  the  territory 


196  History  of  Augusta. 

specified  therein,  and  by  indenture  of  February  28,  1732,  from  Lord  Carteret, 
afterwards  Karl  Granville,  they  had  previously  obtained  the  other  one- eighth. 
There  was  no  provision  in  tiie  charter  that  the  title  to  the  territory  owned  by 
the  trustees  sliouUl  revert  to  the  crown,  and  hence  an  indenture  was  requisite 
to  convey  the  same.  The  indenture,  therefore,  conveys  all  and  singular  the 
rights  of  tile  trustees  under  the  charter  of  whatsoever  nature  ;  and,  in  particu- 
lar all  the  territory  conveyed  them  by  the  crown  and  by  Lord  Carteret,  "  to- 
gether with  all  the  soils,  grounds,  havens,  ports,  gulphs  and  bays,  mines,  as 
well,  royal  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  as  other  minerals,  precious  stones,  quarries, 
woods,  rivers,  waters,  fishings,  as  well,  royal  fishings  of  whale  and  sturgeon  as 
other  fishings,  pearls,  commodities,  jurisdictions,  royalties,  franchises,  privileges, 
and  pre-eminences,  within  the  said  territories  and  the  precincts  thereof,  and 
thereunto  in  any  sort  belonging  or  appertaining  ....  subject  never- 
theless, and  without  prejudice  to  all  such  grants,  leases,  contracts,  estates,  and 
interests,  in  law  or  equity  as  have  been  heretofore  lawfully  made  or  granted  by 
the  said  trustees  for  establishing  the  colony  of  Georgia  in  America,  or  by  any 
acting  in  authority  under  them  in  America,  and  which  are  now  subsisting  ac- 
cording to  letters  patent." 

On  the  surrender  of  the  charter  the  Lords  Commissioners  for  Trade  and 
Plantations  were  directed  to  lay  before  the  privy  council  a  plan  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  colony  of  Georgia,  which  they  did  early  in  1754.  This  plan 
was  approved,  and  by  it  the  government  was  modeled  on  that  of  the  other  royal 
governments,  or  king's  colonies  ;  or,  as  nearly  as  practicable,  on  that  of  the 
home  government.  The  governor  represented  the  king  ;  there  was  a  colonial 
parliament  called  the  Assembly,  consisting  of  an  upper  house,  representing  the 
House  of  Lords,  and  a  Commons  House  of  Assembly,  representing  the  House 
of  Commons  ;  and  a  regular  judicial  establishinent  of  law,  equity,  admiralty  and 
other  courts.  The  governor  was  appointed  by,  and  held  office  at,  the  pleasure 
of  the  crown.  He  was  officially  styled  His  Excellency,  and  was  "  Captain- 
General  and  Governor-in-Chief  in  and  over  the  Province  of  Georgia,  and  Chan- 
cellor. Vice  Admiral,  and  Ordinary  of  the  same."  He  had  the  power  to  veto 
all  bills ;  convene,  adjourn,  prorogue,  and  dissolve  the  Assembly;  could  appoint 
to  fill  all  vacancies  ;  paidon  all  crimes  except  treason  and  murder,  but  could 
reprieve  or  suspend  in  the  excepted  cases  until  the  king's  pleasure  was  known; 
he  exercised  chancery,  probate,  and  admiralty  jurisdiction  ;  and  collated,  or 
appointed,  to  churches  all  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  Council, 
or  Upper  House  of  Assembly,  consisted  of  twelve  "  members  in  ordinary  "and 
two  "  extraordinary  members,"  all  appointed  by  the  crown,  one  of  the  extra- 
ordinary members  being  the  surveyor-general  of  the  customs  and  the  other  the 
superintendent-general  of  Indian  afl'airs.  In  its  legislative  capacity  the  council 
formed  one  branch  of  the  Assembly  and  were  presided  over  by  the  lieutenant- 
governor.     In  its  executive  capacity  it  was  the  governor's  privy  council.     When 


Bench  and  Bar 


197 


in  legislative  session  it  was  governed  by  the  rules  of  the  House  of  Lords.  The 
Commons  House  of  Assembly  was  composed  of  members  elected  from  the 
various  parishes  into  which  the  State  was  divided.  The  qualification  of  an 
elector  was  fifty  acres  of  land  in  the  parish  where  he  voted  ;  and  of  representa- 
tive, five  hundred  acres  of  land  in  any  part  of  the  province.  The  commons 
elected  their  own  speaker,  messenger,  and  doorkeeper,  but  the  governor  ap- 
pointed the  clerk.  They  remained  in  session  until  adjourned  by  the  governor; 
claimed  the  exclusive  right  to  originate  money  bills,  and  had  most  of  the  priv- 
ileges of  the  British  House  of  Commons  ;  and,  like  the  Commons,  received 
no  pay. 

Of  the  judicial  establishment  we  may  speak  more  at  large.  As  has  been 
stated,  the  royal  governor  was  ex- officio  chancellor  of  the  province.  He  had, 
like  his  English  prototype,  the  custody  of  the  great  seal,  and,  when  sitting  as 
chancellor,  had  the  same  powers  of  judicature  as  the  lord  high  chancellor  in 
England.  The  proceedings  in  the  colonial  Chancery  were  similar  to  those  of 
the  High  Court  of  Chancery  in  England,  and  the  books  of  practice  then  used 
in  England  governed  the  colonial  practice,  except  in  a  few  instances  of  local 
import.  One  notable  exception,  however,  was  that  the  subpoena  was  made  re- 
turnable immediately  ;  and  "  in  case  of  a  contempt,"  says  Chief  Justice  Stokes, 
"  the  plaintiff  (when  a  commission  of  rebellion  is  returned  non  est  inventu 5)^^x0- 
ceeds  to  sequestration,  without  an  order  for  a  sergeant- at  arms."  In  drawing 
a  bill  in  the  Georgia  Chancery  the  form  was  thus  : 

"  Georgia,.  )  To  His  Excellency,  A.  B.,Esq.,  Captain  General  and  Gov- 
"In  Chancery.  S  ernor  in  Chief  in  and  over  his  Majesty's  province  of  Georgia, 
and  Chancellor,  Vice- Admiral,  and  Ordinary  of  the  same  :  Humbly  com- 
plaining, sheweth  unto  your  Excellency,  your  Orator  &c.  &c." 

From  the  decision  of  the  governor  sitting  as  chancellor,  an  appeal  lay  to 
the  king  in  council,  in  causes  where  the  value  of  the  property  in  dispute  ex- 
ceeded five  hundred  pounds  sterling;  but  where  the  matter  in  question  related 
to  the  taking  o'*  demanding  of  any  duty  payable  to  the  king,  or  to  any  fee  of 
office,  or  annual  rent,  or  other  such  like  matter  or  thing  where  rights  in  future 
might  be  bound,  an  appeal  lay,  irrespective  of  the  amount  involved.  The  ap- 
peal was  required  to  be  made  within  fourteen  days  from  the  pronouncing  of 
the  decree  ;  and  the  appellant  was  to  give  good  security  that  he  would  effec-  . 
tually  prosecute  his  appeal,  and  also  pay  such  costs  and  damages  as  might  be 
awarded  by  the  king  in  case  the  decree  of  the  chancellor  was  affirmed.  On 
lodgement  of  the  appeal,  the  prothonotary  was  to  copy  out  all  the  proceedings 
in  a  fair  hand  on  large  paper  and  make  affidavit  that  he  had  compared  the 
copy  with  the  original,  and  that  the  same  was  a  true  copy.  Copy  and  affidavit 
were  then  attached  together  and  handed  the  governor,  who  affixed  the  great 
seal  thereto,  when  they  were  ready  for  transmission  to  the  crown.  One  year 
was  allowed  for  the  transmission  after  entrance  of  appeal.      Should  the  chan- 


198  History  of  Augusta. 

cellor  doubt  of  his  decree  he  could  take  such  time  as  he  saw  proper  to  deliber- 
ate thereon  ;  and  from  any  decree  rendered,  whether  interlocutory  or  final,  the 
defendant  could  appeal,  for  which  reasons  a  chancery  cause  of  moment  in  Ge- 
orgia was  almost  interminable. 

The  Court  of  Chancery  had  a  master  ;  also  an  e.xaminer  and  register ;  and 
the  fees  of  these  officers,  as  also  those  of  the  chancellor  himself  are  set  down  in 
an  ancient  statute. 

The  Chancellor's  Fees. — Sealing  every  writ,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence; 
signing  a  decree  in  chancery,  fourteen  shillings  and  twopence  ;  every  order  on 
motion  or  petition,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence  ;  signing  and  sealing  an  ex- 
emplification of  a  decree,  fourteen  shillings  and  twopence  ;  hearing  and  deter- 
mining every  cause,  one  pound  eight  shillings  and  fourpence. 

The  Master  in  Chancery's  Fees. — Every  summons,  one  shilling  and  ten- 
pence  halfpenny ;  copies  of  charges  and  discharges  brought  before  the  mas- 
ter, each  side  containing  fifteen  lines  and  six  words  in  a  line,  fourpence  half- 
penny; taking  affidavits  in  writing,  if  drawn  by  the  master  (the  oath  included),. 
one  shilling  and  tenpence  halfpenny;  every  other  oath,  ninepence ;  taxing  a 
bill  of  costs,  two  shillings  and  fivepence;  all  accounts  referred  to  him  for  ex- 
amination or  settling,  to  be  allowed  for  at  the  discretion  of  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery; taking  a  recognizance,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence;  every  day's  at- 
tendance upon  a  final  hearing,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence. 

Fees  of  the  Examiner  and  Register  in  Chancery. — Filing  a  bill,  petition, 
affidavit  or  other  paper,  fourpence  halfpenny;  every  writ  of  subpa'ua,  one 
shilling  and  tenpence ;  attending  the  chancellor  or  Court  of  Chancery  on  the 
hearing  a  petition  or  motion,  three  shillings  and  sixpence  ;  attending  the  chan- 
cellor at  his  chambers,  and  for  every  other  necessary  attendance,  one  shilling 
and  ninepence;  reading  every  paper,  one  shilling  and  ninepence;  a  writ  of 
Ne  Exeat  Provincia,  injunction,  or  other  special  writ,  ten  shillings;  every  order 
on  a  petition  or  motion,  two  shillings ;  entering  a  rule  or  order,  per  copy  sheet, 
fourpence  halfpenny;  every  search,  eightpence;  copy  of  an  order,  bill,  an- 
swer, or  other  paper,  per  copy  sheet,  fourpence  halfpenny  ;  every  rule,  two 
shillings;  taking  depositions  of  a  witness,  per  copy  sheet,  sixpence  halfpenny; 
copying  such  depositions,  per  copy  sheet,  fourpence  halfpenny;  setting  down 
a  cause  or  demurrer  for  hearing,  one  shilling  and  one  penny;  attending  at 
the  hearing  a  cause  or  pronouncing  a  decree  each  day,  three  shillings;  enter- 
ing a  motion,  one  shilling  and  one  penny;  entering  the  minutes  of  a  decree, 
each  copy  sheet,  fourpence  halfpenny ;  drawing  a  decree,  each  copy  sheet, 
fourpence  halfpenny;  every  attachment,  one  shilling  and  tenpence;  entering 
an  appearance,  each  defendant,  two  shillings. 

In  his  famous  work  on  "Equity  Jurisprudence,"  Mr.  Justice  Story  says  that 
"in  many  of  the  colonies,  during  their  connection  with  Great  Britain,  equity 
jurisprudence  had  either  no  existence  at  all,  or  a  very  imperfect  and  irregular 


Bench  and  Bar.  i^^ 


administration  ;  "  but,  however  this  may  have  been  in  the  other  provinces,  what 
has  been  said  is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  Court  of  Chancery  had  a  very  early 
existence  and  complete  operation  in  Georgia. 

The  Chancery  Bar  was  a  recognized  institution,  and  we  find  in  an  old  court 
roll  the  names  of  the  following  as  solicitors  in  the  Chancery  before  the  Revo- 
lution :  Robert  Hamilton,  James  Roberts,  Thomas  Ross,  William  McKenzie 
John  Houstoun,  and  George  Walton.  Both  of  the  latter  rose  in  time  to  be  gov- 
ernor of  Georgia  as  a  State,  and  Mr.  Walton  was  for  years  judge  of  the  Supe- 
rior Court  of  Augusta.  That  the  Chancery  Bar  was  in  active  practice,  appears 
from  their  fee  bill,  yet  extant. 

Fees  of  the  Solicitors  in  Chancery. — A  retaining  fee,  fourteen  shillings  and 
twopence ;  every  attendance  at  court  when  any  business  is  done,  three  shil- 
lings;  court  fee  at  hearing  the  cause,  seven  shillings  and  one  penny;  drawing 
every  bill,  answer,  plea,  demurrer,  replication  or  other  paper,  each  copy  sheet, 
sixpence  halfpenny;  fair  copy  and  engrossing  same,  per  copy  sheet,  each  copy 
sheet  containing  ninety  words,  fourpence  halfpenny;  signing  thereof,  three 
shillings  and  sevenpence  ;  every  motion  in  court  or  defending  same,  three  shil- 
lings and  sixpence  ;  a  brief  or  abstract  of  the  proceedings,  each  copy  sheet  of 
such  proceedings,  fourpence  halfpenny  ;  every  brief  on  hearing  the  cause,  or 
arguing  demurrer  or  exceptions,  fourteen  shillings  and  twopence  ;  drawing  a 
bill  of  costs  and  attending  taxation  thereof,  two  shillings  and  fivepence ;  copy 
of  the  same  and  notice,  one  shilling  and  threepence  ;  attending  the  master  on 
any  reference  to  him  by  order  of  the  court,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence  ; 
drawing  every  decree,  each  copy  sheet,  ninepence. 

It  may  here  be  remarked  that  the  colonial  Court  of  Chancery  obtained  its 
highest  degree  of  excellence  while  Sir  James  Wright  was  governor,  and  ex- 
officio,  chancellor.  During  the  administration  of  this  able  man,  the  colony  in- 
creased rapidly  in  wealth  and  population,  it  being  recorded  that  he  found  an  ex- 
port trade  of  ;^3o,ooo  per  annum,  and  left  one  of  i;200,ooo.  Governor  Wright 
had  been  bred  a  lawyer,  and  was  at  the  time  of  his  appointment  in  practice  in 
Charleston,  S.  C,  and  from  this  training  and  experience  made  an  excellent 
chancellor.  Chief  Justice  Stokes,  who  had  considerable  experience  in  a  number 
of  the  colonies,  having  from  time  to  time  held  judicial  appointments  therein, 
speaks  very  highly  of  Governor  Wright's  legal  abilities,  and  contrasts  the  rep- 
utation made  by  the  Georgia  Court  of  Chancery  with  the  chancery  in  other 
colonies,  particularly  in  South  Carolina,  quite  unfavorably  to  the  latter.  He 
states  that  one  governor  of  South  Carolina  was  inadvertently  drawn  in  to  ap- 
prove a  bill  which  made  the  twelve  councillors  judges  of  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery, so  that  the  spectacle  was  presented  of  thirteen  chancellors  in  a  row. 
Justice  Stokes  states  that  this  was  the  rule  in  Barbadoes,  Antigua  and  Mont- 
serrat,  and  that  in  its  operation  it  caused  great  inconveniences.  It  led  to  de- 
lays, because  it  was  necessary  to  call  on  the  council  from  difterent  parts  of  the 


200  History  of  Augusta. 


province  at  every  cause;  it  led  to  hasty  judgments,  as  in  difficult  matters,  the 
temptation  was  to  decide  off-hand,  lest  by  consideration  another  meeting 
would  become  necessary;  and,  lastly,  it  lowered  tbe  tone  of  the  court  by  di- 
viding the  responsibility  of  the  decree.  "  A  chancellor,"  says  he,  "  when  he 
sits  alone  (be  his  disposition  what  it  may),  will  hardly  venture  to  commit  any 
flagrant  acts  of  injustice.  Jkit  when  a  dozen  councillors  are  placed  on  the 
bench  with  him,  defendit  numerus ;  and,  if  they  are  inclined  to  do  mischief, 
they  keep  each  other  in  countenance,  and  there  are  thirteen  to  divide  the  cen- 
sure amongst  them." 

This  ill  opinion  of  thirteen  chancellers  survived  in  Georgia  long  after  Chief 
Justice  Stokes  had  been  relegated  back  to  his  royal  master,  and  it  was  only  by 
a  sort  of  tacit  connivance,  finally  ripening  by  usage  into  a  rule,  that  it  became 
established  in  Georgia  as  a  State.  In  1847  the  judge  of  Muscogee  Superior 
Court  finally  decided  an  equity  cause  without  the  intervention  of  a  jury,  and 
his  right  so  to  do  was  the  question  before  the  Supreme  Court.  That  tribunal 
decided  for  the  thirteen  chancellors,  saying  "  it  was  at  one  time  a  question  in 
Georgia  whether  a  jury  was  at  all  necessary  in  trials  in  equity.  That  is  to  say, 
whether  the  act  of  1799,  conferring  chancery  powers  on  the  superior  courts, 
did  not  clothe  the  judge  with  the  powers  of  a  chancellor  in  England.  I  advert 
to  this  not  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  question,  but  of  saying  that  such 
a  doubt  no  longer  exists — that  the  usage  of  the  Superior  Courts  for  a  long 
series  of  years  has  been  to  submit  the  facts  in  all  trials  in  equity  to  a  jury,  and 
that  this  usage  has  been  sanctioned  by  repeated  acts  of  the  Legislature  recog- 
nizing it.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  had  its  origin  in  quite  sufficient  authority  of 
law.  In  Georgia  the  judge  and  the  jury  constitute  the  chancellor." — 3  Geor- 
gia Reports,  163—4. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

BENCH  AND  BAR    CONTINUED. 

Common  Law  Courts— The  Chief  Justice  of  Georgia — Grover,  Simpson  and  Stokes,  Chief 
Justices — Commission — Fees — The  General  Court— Origin  of  Superior  Court — Judges — Attor- 
ney-General— Provost  Marshal — Clerk  of  the  Crown — Court  of  Ordinary — Couri  of  Conscience 
— Justices  of  the  Peace — Early  J.  P's.  in  Augusta— Oyer  and  Terminer — Court  of  Admiralty 
— -Appeals — Court  of  Errors — Writ  of  Error — Appeal  to  the  King — The  Colonial  Bar — Pomp, 
Form  and  Circumstance — Robes,  Seals  and  Precedence. 

THE  common  law  courts  under  the  royal  establishment  were  divided  into 
superior  and  inferior,  all  under  the  superintcndency  of  a  chief  justice. 
The  first  of  these  functionaries  was  William  Grover,  commissioned  April  13, 
1759,  under  the  administration  of  Governor  Ellis,  and  removed  by  Governor 
Sir  James  Wright,  on  November  5,  1762,  for  conduct  unbecoming  a- judicial 


Bench  and  Bar.  201 


officer.  The  second  chief  justice  was  Wilham  Simpson,  appointed  December 
15,  1766,  but  of  whose  career  we  have  no  information.  The  third  and  last  of 
the  royal  chief  justices  was  Anthony  Stokes,  who  held  from  September  i,  1769, 
until  the  independence  of  the  United  States  was  recognized  in  1783.  Chief 
Justice  Stokes  was  an  English  barrister,  and  in  1762  left  Westminster  Hall  to 
practice  in  the  West  India  colonies  of  Antigua  and  the  Leeward  Isles.  Here 
he  seems  to  have  obtained  prominence,  and  from  his  familiarity  with  provincial 
jurisprudence  was  appointed  in  1769  to  be  his  majesty's  chief  justice  of  Geor- 
gia. In  this  position  he  acted  acceptably,  and  much  to  the  improvement  of 
the  jurisprudence  of  the  colony,  till  Savannah  was  taken  by  the  American 
forces  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution,  and  Governor  Wright  and  Chief 
Justice  Stokes  both  made  prisoners.  The  governor  effected  his  escape  to  a 
British  man-of-war,  but  the  chief  justice  remained  a  prisoner  for  some  weeks, 
and  was  finally  exchanged,  with  liberty  to  leave  the  country.  He  returned  to 
England  and  there  set  about  the  preparation  of  a  work  on  the  political  and 
legal  institutions  of  the  American  and  West  India  colonies,  but  while  so  en- 
gaged, Savannah  was  retaken  by  the  British  in  1778,  and  the  justice  re- 
ceived the  royal  mandate  to  return  to  Georgia,  and  there  resume  his  functions. 
He  set  out  accordingly  in  a  king's  ship,  which  had  not  voyaged  far  before  it 
was  attacked  by  a  French  cruiser,  and  in  the  engagement  so  much  damaged 
that  it  became  neccsssary  for  her  to  return  to  England  to  refit.  Starting  on  a 
second  voyage,  Justice  Stokes  reached  Georgia  in  safety  in  1779,  and  there  re- 
mained till  May,  1783,  when  he  again  went  back  to  England  on  the  conclusion 
of  the  treaty  of  peace  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  During 
the  siege  of  Savannah  by  the  allied  French  and  American  forces,  the  quarters 
of  the  chief  justice  were  burned  by  a  shell,  and  many  of  his  papers  destroyed  by 
the  conflagration,  so  that,  as  he  tells  us,  in  his  work  "A  View  of  the  constitution 
of  the  British  Colonies  in  North  America  and  the  West  Indies,"  published  in 
London  in  1783,  much  of  the  material  he  had  prepared  perished,  but  his  book 
is  esteemed  valuable  for  all  that,  in  giving  us  an  insight  into  the  Colonial  estab- 
lishments, particularly  as  to  the  judiciary.  The  chapters  on  the  admiralty 
practice  are  specially  valuable,  and  have  been  cited  as  authority  by  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States.  As  a  lawyer.  Chief  Justice  Stokes  was 
well  grounded  in  his  profession,  and  as  a  judge  sought  diligently  to  do  justice. 
There  can  be  no  question  but  that  he  rendered  a  service  to  the  jurisprudence 
of  Georgia  which  has  never  been  acknowledged  or  appreciated.  The  manner 
of  the  appointment  of  a  chief  justice  in  those  days  of  form  and  ceremony,  was 
by  the  issuance  to  the  appointee  of  a  warrant  under  the  royal  sign  manual, 
whereupon  the  governor  of  the  colony  issued  him  a  commission  in  the  form  of 
letters  patent.     The  warrant  and  letters  read  as  follows  : 

"George  R.     Trusty  and  well-beloved,  we  greet  you  well.     Whereas  we 
have   taken  into  our  royal  consideration   the  loyalty,  integrity  and  ability  of 

2(5 


202  History  of  Augusta. 


our  trusty  and  well-beloved  A.  B.,  Esq.;  we  have  thought  fit  hereby  to  author- 
ize and  require  you   forthwith  to  cause  letters  patent  to  be  passed   under  the 

seal  of  our  province  of .constituting  and  appointing  him,  the  said  A.  B,, 

to  be  our  chief  justice  of,  and  in  our  said  Province,  in  the  room  of  L.  M.,  Esq., 
deceased  :  To  Have,  Hold,  Execute  and  Enjoy  the  said  office  unto  him  the 
said  A.  B.,  for  and  during  our  pleasure,  and  his  residence  within  our  said  prov- 
ince, together  with  all  and  singular  the  rights,  profits,  privileges  and  emolu- 
ments unto  the  said  place  belonging,  in  the  most  full  and  ample  manner,  with 
full  power  and  authority  to  hold  the  Supreme  Courts  of  Judicature,  at  such 
places  and  times  as  the  same  may  and  ought  to  be  held  within  our  said  Prov- 
ince :  and  for  so  doing,  this  shall  be  your  warrant :  and  So  we  bid  you  fare- 
well.     Given  at  our  Court  at  St.  James  the.  .  .  .day  of.  ...  17. .  .in  the 

year  of  our  reign.  By  His  Majesty's  Command." 

This  warrant  being  received  by  the  governor,  he  issued  letters  patent  ac- 
cordingly : 

"  George  the  Third,  by  the  grace  of  God,  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ire- 
land, King,  defender  of  the  faith,  &c.,  to  all  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come, 
greeting:  Know  ye  that  we,  taking  into  our  royal  consideration  the  loyalty, 
integrity  and  ability  of  our  trusty  and  well-beloved  A.  B.,  Esq.,  have  consti- 
tuted and  appointed  him  the  said  A.  B.  our  chief  justice  of  and  in  our  province 

of in  America,  in  the  room  ol   L.  M.,  Esq.,  deceased,  to  have,  hold, 

exectite,  and  enjoy  the  said  office  unto  him  the  said  A.  B.,  for  and  during  our 
pleasure,  and  his  residence  within  our  said  province,  together  with  all  and  sin- 
gular the  rights,  profits,  privileges,  and  emoluments  unto  the  said  place  belong- 
ing, in  the  most  full  and  ample  manner,  with  full  power  and  authority  to  hold 
the  Supreme  Courts  of  Judicature  at  such  place,  and  times  as  the  same  may 
and  ought  to  be  held  within  our  said  Province.  In  witness  whereof  we  have 
caused  these  our  letters  to  be  made  patent.  Witness,  His  Excellency  D.  E., 
Esq.,  our  captain  general  and  governor  in  chief  in  and  over  our  said  Province 

of at the day  of in    the year  of  our 

reign.  D.  E. 

*'  By  his  Majesty's  Warrant,  under  his  r      Great 

royal  sign  manual  and  signet,  dated  at  |        Seal 

his  court  of  St.  James  the  . .  day  of  . .  "^       of  the      )> 

17..  in  the  ..  year  of  his  reign."  j    l^ro^ince   | 

The  emoluments  of  the  royal  chief  justice  were  by  no  means  inconsidera- 
ble, consisting  of  a  salary  of  ^500  from  the  crown,  and  fees  for  almost  every 
judicial  act.  The  fee  bill  is  of  interest  as  manifesting  the  then  practice  of  the 
law  courts. 

The  Chief  Justices'  F"ees. — For  every  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  two  shillings 
and  sixpence  ;    every  other  writ  or  process,  original,  judicial,  or  mesne,  and 


Bench  and  Bar.  203. 


■every  other  writ  or  process  whatsoever  in  a  civil  or  criminal  case,  one  shilling 
and  tenpence  halfpenny;  every  summons  at  chambers,  one  shilling;  every 
order  or  rule,  whether  at  chambers  or  at  court,  sixpence  ;  every  recognizance 
taken  before  him  in  a  civil  or  criminal  case,  three  shillings  and  sixpence  ;  every 
warrant  by  him,  two  shillings  and  tenpence;  every  mittimus  by  him,  one  shil- 
ling and  tenpence;  every  affidavit  in  writing  taken  before  him,  one  shilling  and 
fivepence  ;  administering  an  oath  in  court  or  at  chambers,  ninepence  ;  every 
deposition  taken  before  him  to  send  out  of  the  province,  one  shilling  ;  every 
copy  of  a  record  under  the  seal  ©f  the  court  to  send  out  of  the  province,  two 
shillings  and  sixpence  ;  every  other  exemplification  under  the  seal  of  the  court 
and  for  signing  the  testimonial  thereof,  five  shillings  and  fivepence  ;  taking 
acknowledgment  of  satisfaction,  ninepence ;  judge's  books  on  an  issue  of  law 
or  fact  in  a  civil  or  criminal  case,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence;  taxing  a  bill 
of  costs  in  a  civil  or  criminal  case,  two  shillings  and  fivepence  ;  drawing  a 
special  jury,  five  shillings  and  ninepence;  drawing  a  special  jury  at  a  special 
court,  five  shillings  and  ninepence;  every  special  court  and  attendance  thereon» 
fourteen  shillings  and  twopence  ;  the  admission  of  an  attorney,  two  pounds, 
seventeen  shillings  and  sixpence;  every  judgment  confessed  out  of  court,  six 
shillings  ;  taking  the  private  examination  of  a  feme-covert  and  signing  the  tes- 
timonial thereof,  seven  shillings  and  one  penny  ;  cross-examination  of  any 
witness  out  of  court,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence  ;  every  attachment  for  a 
contempt  and  seal  of  court,  seven  shillings  and  one  penny  ;  every  judgment  in 
-a  civil  or  criminal  case,  one  shilling  and  tenpence  halfpenny  ;  every  motion  in 
arrest  of  judgment  or  demurrer  in  law  on  special  verdict,  or  for  a  new  trial  in 
a  civil  or  criminal  case,  one  shilling;  hearing  every  motion,  six  shillings  and 
a  penny  ;  every  indictment  found,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence  ;  the  exam- 
ination of  a  person  committed  for  a  contempt  of  court,  ten  shillings  and  nine- 
pence  ;  the  admission  of  a  guardian  to  prosecute  or  defend  a  cause  for  a  per- 
son under  age,  two  shillings  ;  entering  an  action  in  the  judge's  book  that  is  to 
be  tried  by  a  jury,  one  shilling  ;  receiving  a  private  verdict,  one  shilling  and 
sixpence  ;  for  allowance  of  a  writ  of  error,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence  ;  re- 
turning a  writ  of  error,  one  shilling  and  tenpence  halfpenny ;  for  the  trial  or 
hearing  of  any  cause  whether  civil  or  criminal  or  writ  of  enquiry,  three  shil- 
lings and  sevenpence  ;  discontinuing  of  any  action,  one  shilling  ;  prohibition 
granted,  four  shillings  and  ninepence  ;  a  dedimiis  potestateni,  seven  shillings 
and  one  penny ;  marking  the  roll  that  a  writ  of  error  is  allowed,  one  shilling  ; 
transcript  of  the  record,  examined  by  the  judge  to  be  annexed  to  a  writ  of 
error,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence  ;  return  oi  certiorari  in  a  civil  or  criminal 
case,  two  shillings  ;  allowance  of  a  writ  of  audita  qtierela,  three  shillings  and 
sevenpence;  every  appeal  to  the  General  Court Trom  an  order  or  adjudication 
of  any  justice  or  justices  of  the  peace,  one  shilling;  for  every  capias  against 
defauting  jurors,  one  shilling. 


204  History  of  Augusta. 


The  distribution  of  the  law  courts  was  as  follows  :  The  chief  court  of  law 
was  termed  the  General  Court,  sometimes  the  General  Court  of  Pleas,  and,  in 
time,  was  commonly  known  as  the  Superior  Court,  to  distinguish  it  from  infe- 
rior judicatories.  It  had  all  the  powers  of  the  King's  Bench,  Common  Pleas, 
and  Exchequer,  and  is.  therefore,  the  lineal  progenitor,  in  name  and  common 
law  jurisdiction  of  the  present  Superior  Court  of  Georgia,  the  highest  tribunal 
of  original  jurisdiction  in  the  State.  This  court  was  held  by  the  chief  justice 
and  two  assistant  judges,  but  any  one  of  themvvas  competent  to  try  causes. 
The  letters  patent  creating  this  tribunal  will  be  of  interest  : 
"  Georgia. 

"  George  the  Second,  by  the  grace  of  GOD,  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Ireland,  King,  Defender  of  the  faith,  and  so  forth  :  To  all  to  whom  these  pres- 
ent letters  shall  come,  greeting:  Know  ye  that  we,  tendering  the  state  and 
condition  of  our  province  of  Georgia,  and  being  willing  and  desirous  that  jus- 
tice be  duly  and  regularly  administered  therein,  have  thought  fit  to  erect  and 
constitute  and  by  these  presents  do  erect  and  constitute  a  Court  of  Record,  by 
the  name  and  style  of  the  General  Court  to  be  holden  yearly  at  Savannah, 
within  our  said  Province  on  the  second  Tuesday  in  January,  the  second  Tues- 
day in  April,  the  second  Tuesday  in  July,  and  the  second  Tuesday  in  October* 
before  our  trusty  and  well  beloved  Noble  Jones  and  Jonathan  Bryan,  Esquires, 
or  one  of  them,  whom  we  hereby  appoint  our  justices  thereof,  during  our 
pleasure,  and  others  our  justices  appointed  for  the  time  being.  And  we  do 
hereby  give  and  grant  unto  the  said  Noble  Jones  and  Jonathan  Bryan,  and 
each  of  them,  and  all  others  our  justices  of  the  said  General  Court,  for  the 
time  being,  full  power,  jurisdiction,  and  authority  to  enquire  by  the  oaths  of 
good  and  lawful  men  of  the  province  aforesaid,  and  by  other  ways  and  means 
by  which  the  truth  of  the  matter  may  be  better  known  and  enquired  into,  of  all 
treasons,  felonies,  and  other  crimes  and  criminal  offences  whatsoever,  done  or 
committed  within  our  said  Province  by  any  persons  whomsoever,  and  the  same 
to  hear  and  determine  according  to  the  laws  and  customs  of  our  said  Province, 
saving  to  us  and  our  successors  all  fines,  forfeitures  and  amerciaments,  and  all 
other  things  to  us  on  account  thereof  belonging  and  appertaining.  And,  fur- 
ther, we  give  and  grant  to  the  said  Noble  Jones  and  Jonathan  Bryan,  and  each 
other,  our  justices  of  our  said  General  Court  for  the  time  being,  full  power, 
jurisdiction,  and  authority  to  hold  pleas  in  any  and  all  manner  of  causes, 
suits,  and  actions  whatsoever,  as  well  criminal  as  civil,  real,  personal,  and  mixed, 
arising,  happening,  or  being  within  our  said  province  where  the  sum  or  thing 
demanded  shall  exceed  the  value  of  forty  shillings  sterling,  except  only  where 
the  title  to  any  freehold  shall  come  in  question,  and  to  proceed  in  such  pleas, 
suits,  and  actions,  by  such  ways,  means,  and  process,  as  may  with  the  greatest 
safety,  dispatch,  and  justice,  bring  the  same  to  a  final  determination  and  also  to 
hear  and  determine  all  such  pleas,  suits,  and  actions,  and  judgment  thereupoa 


Bench  and  Bar. 


205 


to  give,  and  execution  thereof  to  award  and  issue,  and  this  as  fully  and  amply 
as  can  or  may  be  done  by  our  Court  of  King's  Bench,  Common  Pleas,  and  Ex- 
chequer in  England,  doing  therein  what  of  right  and  justice  ought  to  be  done. 
In  testimony  whereof  we  have  caused  these  our  letters  to  be  made  patent^^nd 
the  seal  of  our  said  province  to  be  affixed  thereto.  Witness  our  worthy  and 
well  beloved  John  Reynolds,  Esq.,  captain-general  and  governor-in-chief,  in 
and  over  our  said  province  of  Georgia,  the  twelfth  day  of  December  in  the 
twenty-eighth  year  of  our  reign.  J.  REYNOLDS. 

"  By  his  Excellency's  command, 
"James  Habersham, 

"  Secretary.  [Great  Seal  of  Georgia.]  " 

Judge  Jones  was  in  some  sort  a  provincial  Lord  Mansfield,  having,  like  the 
great  English  jurist,  been  a  soldier  in  his  earlier  days.  He  came  into  the  col- 
ony with  Oglethorpe  as  an  officer  of  marines,  and  did  some  valorous  fighting" 
in  the  war  with  the  Spaniards  at  Bloody  Marsh  and  the  attack  on  St.  Simons. 
Later  he  was  made  commander  of  the  colony  militia,  and  still  later  was  com- 
missioned colonel  of  the  regiment  raised  for  defense  of  the  province.  In  1751 
he  was  made  register,  or,  as  we  would  say,  chief  of  the  land  office  ;  and  two 
years  after  was  a  member  of  the  proprietary  governor's  council.  In  1754  he 
became  a  king's  councillor  and  so  remained  till  raised  to  the  bench  in  1759. 
Judge  Jones  died  at  an  advanced  age  just  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution. 

Jonathan  Bryan,  the  other  assistant  judge,  was  born  in  South  Carolina  in 
1708.  In  1752  he  settled  in  Georgia,  and  on  the  establishment  of  the  king's 
government  was  raised  to  the  bench.  Unlike  his  associate  Judge  Jones,  who- 
was  an  unswerving  loyalist  to  the  last,  Judge  Bryan  was  the  first  man  in  Geor- 
gia to  fall  under  the  royal  ban  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  He  presided 
over  a  meeting  called  in  Savannah  in  1775  to  denounce  the  action  of  the  crown 
in  seeking  to  oppress  America,  and  when  Sir  James  Wright  called  his  council 
together  and  a  motion  was  made  to  expel  the  judge  for  disloyalty,  he  at  once 
handed  in  his  resignation  as  councillor.  The  king,  highly  incensed,  removed 
him  from  the  bench  ;  and,  after  the  fall  of  Savannah  Judge  Bryan  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  British  and  sent  prisoner  to  New  York.  Having  been  ex- 
changed he  returned  to  Georgia  and  at  a  subsequent  period,  though  then  eighty 
years  old,  fought  under  General  Wayne,  closing  his  life  as  his  associate  had  be- 
gun it,  in  the  tented  field. 

The  practice  in  the  General  Court  was,  for  the  most  part,  similar  to  that  in 
the  English  courts  of  law.  The  action  was  commenced  by  suing  out  a  writ, 
which  was  made  returnable  on  a  day  certain,  and  after  the  return  of  the  writ, 
the  plaintiff  filed  his  declaration  ;  all  original  writs  issued  out  of  the  General 
Court  (except  audita  querela,  which  issued  out  of  the  chancery)  and  were  tested 
in  the  name  of  the  chief  justice.  No  real  actions  were  used  except  actions  for 
dower ;   titles  to  land   being  tried  by  ejectment,   trespass,  or  replevin.      The 


2o6  History  of  Augusta. 


practice  in  criminal  cases  was  also  similar  to  that  in  the  English  courts,  but  no 
instance  of  outlawry  was  ever  known. 

The  General  Court  was  attended  by  the  attorney- general,  and  had  for  its 
executive  officer  a  provost- marshal,  who  discharged  the  duties  of  sheriff.  It 
had  also  a  "  Clerk  of  the  General  Court,"  on  the  civil  side  of  the  court,  and 
a  "Clerk  of  the  Crown  and  Peace"  on  the  criminal  side.  There  was  also  a 
crier.  Fee  bills  were  provided  for  all  these  functionaries.  Among  other  items 
the  attorney-general  received  fourteen  shillings  on  each  true  bill ;  seven  shil- 
lings and  a  penny  for  each  brief;  and  the  same  for  each  opinion  on  matters 
submitted  by  the  governor.  The  clerk  of  the  crown  had  ninepence  for  every 
indictment,  and  sixpence  for  every  cause  entered  on  the  trial  book  ;  swearing 
the  grand  jury,  each  juror  fourpence  halfpenny;  arraignment,  two  shillings 
and  tenpence,  and  sentence  same.  The  clerk  of  the  General  Court  had  nine- 
pence  for  each  writ;  swearing  jury,  four  shillings  and  threepence;  entering  ver- 
dict, tenpence.  The  provost-marshal  had  three  pounds  for  swearing  jury  ; 
mileage  twopence  one  farthing  ;  dieting  white  prisoners,  tenpence  ;  negroes, 
sixpence  three  farthings;  executing  a  criminal,  fourteen  shillings  and  twopence; 
levy,  eight  shillings  and  sixpence;  executing  bench  warrant,  three  shillings 
and  sevenpence.  The  crier  had  sixpence  for  each  cause,  and  every  attorney 
was  bound  to  give  him  a  shilling  at  the  end  of  each  term  of  court. 

Next  is  the  Court  of  Ordinary.  The  royal  governor  was,  as  has  been  seen, 
ordinary  of  the  province,  and  had  the  exclusive  power  of  granting  probate  of 
wills  and  administration  of  intestate  estates.  The  governor  not  infrequently 
appointed  a  deputy  to  attend  to  these  matters,  and  the  procedure  was  this  : 
the  executor  producing  the  will  to  the  ordinary  made  oath  that  it  was  the  last 
will  and  testament  of  deceased,  and  that  he  would  truly  administer  the  estate 
and  pay  debts  and  legacies.  Appraisers  were  then  appointed  on  the  estate, 
and  their  report  filed  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of  the  province.  No  letters 
of  administration  were  granted  until  a  citation  had  been  issued  and  read  in  the 
church  by  the  minister  during  the  time  of  divine  service  on  the  Sunday  before 
letters  were  granted;  the  administrator  was  then  sworn  and  appraisement  of  the 
estate  had  as  in  the  case  of  executors.  Some  of  the  fees  in  the  Court  of  Or- 
dinary were:  Marriage  license,  fourteen  shillings  and  twopence;  letters  of  ad- 
ministration, if  under  fifteen  pounds,  three  shillings  and  sixpence  ;  if  over, 
double;  probate  of  will,  three  shillings  and  sixpence;  letters  of  guardianship, 
seven  shillings  and  a  penny;  letters  dismissory,  same;  litigated  cause,  fourteen 
shillings  and  twopence. 

There  were  also  Justice  Courts,  and  it  may  be  here  noted  that  as  early  as 
1773  we  see  the  original  of  the  Georgia  Militia  District,  which  is  now  synony- 
mous with  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  a  Justice  Court.  An  act  of  that  year 
provides  that  the  officers  of  each  regiment  are  "to  fix  and  ascertain  the  dis- 
tricts or  bounds  of  every  company." 


Bench  and  Bar.  207 


The  provincial  Justice  Courts  had  jurisdiction  in  actions  on  contracts,  or 
for  damages,  up  to  eight  pounds  sterHng.  If  the  debt  or  damages  claimed 
were  under  forty  shillings  two  justices  and  three  jury  men  were  required  to  sit; 
if  over  that  amount,  two  justices  and  a  jury  of  twelve.  Where  the  debt  or 
damages  were  under  forty  shillings  there  was  no  appeal  from  the  judgment ;  if 
over  that  amount  an  appeal  might  be  taken  to  the  General  Court.  These 
courts  were  not  officially  styled  Justice  Courts,  but  Courts  of  Conscience,  but 
the  popular  designation  was  Inferior  Courts,  just  as  the  General  Court  came  to 
be  known  as  the  Superior  Court,  whence  those  names  have  been  transplanted 
into  the  present  judicial  nomenclature  of  Georgia.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  In- 
ferior Court  was  limited  to  the  parish  where  thinly  peopled,  or  to  the  subor- 
dinate divisions  or  districts  of  the  parish  where  more  thickly  settled.  They 
disposed  of  a  great  deal  of  business,  having  in  addition  to  their  civil  jurisdiction 
authority  as  courts  of  inquiry  in  criminal  matters.  Some  of  the  items  of  the 
justices  fee  bill  illustrate  the  practice:  For  a  warrant  and  oath  in  criminal  case, 
one  shilling  and  fivepence  ;  recognizance,  same  ;  commitment,  ninepence;  war- 
rant in  civil  cases,  one  shilling  ;  examining  witnesses  and  hearing  and  deter- 
mining a  cause,  one  shilling  and  fivepence  ;  "  a  hue  and  cry,  one  shilling  and 
tenpence  halfpenny." 

The  Inferior  Courts  had  a  constable,  who  performed  duties  analogous  to 
the  officer  of  the  same  name  of  the  present  day,  and  had  among  his  fees  the 
following  :  Serving  warrant,  one  shilling  ;  poundage,  threepence  in  the  pound 
on  all  levies ;  search  warrant,  two  shillings  and  tenpence  ;  "  carrying  on  an  hue 
and  cry,  five  shillings  and  fourpence." 

Early  in  the  history  of  Augusta  we  find  James  Fraser  acting  as  justice  in 
this  city,  though  under  the  title  of  Conservator  of  the  Peace,  in  which  office  he 
was  assisted  b)^  three  freeholders.  Under  the  royal  establishment  the  justices 
were  more  numerous.  St.  Paul's  is  reported  as  one  of  the  most  populous  par- 
ishes and  had  quite  a  number  of  justices,  among  others  John  Oliver,  William 
Harding,  James  Marshall,  James  McFarland,  and  James  Seymour.  The  office 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  dignity  and  importance  ;  and  Button  Gwinnett, 
afterwards  governor  of  Georgia,  appears  in  the  commission  at  one  time  for  the 
parish  of  St.  John.  There  was  also  a  coroner,  and  this  officer  and  the  local 
justices  were  the  jury  commissioners  for  all  courts  held  in  their  respective  jur- 
isdictions. In  addition  to  all  these  courts,  special  terms  of  the  General  Courts 
were  not  infrequently  held  for  the  expediting  of  civil  business,  the  court  being- 
then  termed  Courts  of  Common  Pleas,  and  Courts  of  Oyer  and  Terminer  were 
held  for  the  trial  of  criminal  causes.  Special  taxes  were  imposed  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  these  latter  tribunals,  and  among  the  collectors  of  this  tax  at  vari- 
ous periods  in  Augusta  were  tlie  following  :  John  Rae,  Martin  Campbell,  Pat- 
rick Brown,  David  Douglass,  Daniel  Clarke,  Lachlin  McGillivray,  John  Will- 
iams, William   Sluthers,  Dugald   Campbell,  John   Fitch,  Robert  Germany,  Dr. 


2o8  History  of  Augusta. 


William  Day,  John  Pettigrew,  and  John  Walton.  Tlie  expenses  of  the  Court 
of  Oyer  and  Terminer  were  ;i^ii5  for  1757;  for  1758,  iJ'iSS;  and  for  1760  the 
same.  In  this  latter  year  James  DeVeaux  was  senior  judge  of  the  court.  In 
1768  the  expenses  were  ^^190. 

There  was  also  a  Court  of  Admiralty,  whereof  the  governor  was  judge.  We 
have  already  seen  that,  among  other  attributes,  he  was  vice-admiral  of  the 
province.  The  jurisdiction  of  this  court  was  quite  extensive,  and  in  the  sepa- 
rate commission  which  the  governor  received  as  vice-admiral  its  main  features 
were  set  out.  The  commission  declared  the  governor  "  our  vice-admiral,  com- 
missary and  deputy  in  the  office  of  vice-admiralty  in  our  Province  of  Georgia," 
and  empowered  him  to  take  cognizance  of  all  maritime  causes,  of  wrecks,  pi- 
rates, marine  forfeitures,  "  flotson,  jetson,  lagon,"  derelict,  anchorage,  lastage, 
ballast,  "  fishes  royal,  namely,  sturgeons,  whales,  porpoises,  dolphins,  kiggs, 
and  grampusses,  and  generally  of  all  other  fishes  whatsoever,  which  are  of  a 
great  or  very  large  bulk  or  fatness  ;  "  to  preserve  the  rivers  and  ports  of  proper 
depth  ;  to  reform  nets  too  close,  and  abate  all  unlawful  engines  for  the  catch- 
ing offish  ;  to  enforce  the  trade  and  revenue  acts  for  the  colonies;  and  deter- 
mine all  matters  of  prize. 

The  Court  of  Vice-Admiralty  had  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  all  maritime 
cause  and  matters  of  prize,  and  concurrent  jurisdiction  with  the  General  Court 
in  cases  of  forfeitures  and  penalties  for  breach  of  any  act  of  parliament  relating 
to  the  trade  and  revenue  of  the  British  colonies  in  America,  the  informer  hav- 
ing the  option  of  filing  his  information  in  either  court.  The  Vice- Admiralty 
was  fully  organized  with  an  advocate  general,  the  attorney  general  acting  as 
such,  proctors,  a  register,  and  marshal.  As  judge  of  the  Admiralty  the  gov- 
ernor, or  his  deput}',  he  ordinarily  appointing  one,  had,  among  other  fees,  for 
admitting  a  libel,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence ;  citation,  one  shilling  and 
tenpence ;  hearing  the  cause,  fourteen  shillings  and  twopence;  interlocutory 
decree,  seven  shillings  and  a  penny;  definitive  sentence,  fourteen  shillings  and 
twopence;  issuing  letters  of  marque,  two  pounds  and  two  shillings.  The  ad- 
vocate-general had,  retainer,  fourteen  shillings  and  twopence  ;  arguing  point 
of  law,  seven  shilhngs  and  one  penny;  brief,  three  shillings  and  seven  pence; 
court  fee  in  each  cause,  seven  shillings  and  one  penny.  The  proctors  had  same 
fees  as  the  advocate- general.  The  register  had,  for  each  warrant,  one  shilling 
and  tenpence;  citation,  ninepence ;  decrees,  fourpence  halfpenny  per  sheet; 
services  on  letters  of  marque,  four  shillings  and  threepence.  When  pirates 
were  tried  he  had,  for  reading  the  commission  of  piracy,  one  shilling  and  one 
penny  halfpenny;  accusation,  ninepence;  sentence,  one  shilling  and  tenpence 
halfpenny.  The  marshal  had  five  shillings  and  ninepence  per  day  for  keeping 
a  ship,  and  tenpence  halfpenny  for  a  person,  with  same  for  supplying  him  with 
one  pound  of  flesh  and  two  pounds  of  bread  ;  hanging  pirate,  fourteen  shill- 
ings and  twopence. 


Bench  and  Bar. 


209 


A  system  of  appeals  in  civil  causes  was  provided  for  all  these  tribunals. 
The  appeal  from  the  decrees  of  the  governor  sitting  in  chancery  has  already 
been  mentioned.  It  lay  from  the  chancellor  to  the  king,  where  the  amount 
involved  was  over  iJ^500.  The  appeal  from  the  Inferior  or  Justice  Courts  to  the 
General  Court  has  also  been  mentioned,  as  lying  when  the  debt  or  damage  in 
question  was  over  forty  shillings. 

An  appeal  lay  from  the  General  Court  to  the  governor  and  council,  sitting 
as  a  Court  of  Error,  in  any  cause  where  the  sum  involved  exceeded  .;^300,  or 
where  any  duty  payable  to  the  crown  or  any  fee  of  office,  annual  rent,  or  other 
such  matter  which  might  determine  rights  in  future,  was  involved.  The  ap- 
pellant was  to  enter  his  appeal  in  fourteen  days  after  rendition  of  the  judgment 
complained  of,  and  give  good  security  for  prosecuting  his  appeal  effectually 
and  payment  of  the  eventual  condemnation  money  and  all  costs  and  damages 
assessed  against  him  by  the  appellate  court.  On  this  being  done,  the  governor 
issued  a  writ  of  error  to  the  General  Court,  the  form  whereof  was  as  follows : 
"  Georgia  : 

"  George  the  Third,  by  the  grace  of  GoD,  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and 
Ireland,  King,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  and  so  forth  :  To  our  trusty  and  well 
beloved  Anthony  Stokes,  Barrister  at  Law,  our  Chief  Justice  of  our  Province 
of  Georgia,  Greeting,  Whereas  by  our  fifty-second  instruction  to  our  Governor 
and  Commander-in-Chief  of  our  said  Province  or  Colony  of  Georgia,  we  have 
thought  fit  to  authorize  him,  or  the  commander-in-chief  of  our  said  Province 
for  the  time  being,  to  permit  and  allow  appeals  from  any  of  the  Courts  of 
Common  Law.  in  our  said  Colony,  and  to  issue  a  writ  for  that  purpose  return- 
able before  him,  and  the  Council  of  our  said  Colony ;  provided  that  in  all  such 
appeals  the  value  exceeds  the  sum  of  three  hundred  pounds  sterling,  and  that 
security  be  first  duly  given  by  the  Appellant,  to  answer  such  charges  as  shall 
be  awarded  m  case  the  first  sentence  be  affirmed,  as  in  the  said  in  part  re- 
cited instruction  is  more  fully  contained.  And  Whereas  Richard  Roe,  of  our 
said  Province  of  Georgia,  Esquire,  hath  by  his  petition  alleged  that  in  the  rec- 
ord and  process,  and  also  in  the  giving  of  judgment  of  the  Plaint,  which  was- 
in  our  General  Court  of  our  said  Province  of  Georgia,  before  you  the  said  An- 
thony Stokes,  our  Chief  Justice  of  our  said  Province  of  Georgia,  and  your  fel- 
lows, our  Justices  of  our  said  General  Court,  by  our  writ,  between  John  Doe 
(on  the  demise  of  Matthew  Stiles)  and  the  aforesaid  Richard  Roe,  of  a  certain 
trespass  and  ejectment  of  farm,  manifest  error  hath  intervened  to  the  great 
damage  of  him  the  said  Richard  Roe,  as  we  from  his  complaint  are  informed. 
And  whereas  by  the  affidavit  of  the  said  Richard  Roe  made  before  you,  our 
said  Chief  Justice,  it  is  alleged  that  the  premises  mentioned  in  the  declaration 
filed  in  the  cause  aforesaid,  with  the  improvements,  are  worth  five  hundred 
pounds,  lawful  money  of  our  said  Province:  We,  therefore,  being  willing  that 
the  error,  if  any  there  be,  should  be  corrected  in  due  manner,  and  that  full  and 


2  10  History  of  Au(;usta. 


speedy  justice  should  be  done  to  the  parties  in  this  behalf,  do  command  j^ou 
that,  if  judgment  thereof  be  given,  then  (on  the  said  Richard  Roe's  giving 
before  you  such  security  as  by  our  said  in  part  recited  instruction  is  directed) 
the  record  and  process  of  the  plaint  aforesaid,  with  all  things  concerning  them, 
to  his  Excellency,  our  trusty  and  well  beloved  Sir  James  Wright,  Baronet,  our 
Captain,  General  and  Governor- in- Chief  in  and  over  our  said  Province  of 
Georgia,  and  Chancellor,  Vice-Admiral,  and"  Ordinary  of  the  same;  and  the 
Honorable  Council  of  our  said  Province,  under  your  seal,  to  wit:   on  the  .... 

day  of next  ensuing,  distinctly  and  openly  you  send,  and  this  writ ; 

that  the  record  and  process  aforesaid  being  inspected,  our  said  Governor,  with 
the  assent  of  our  said  Council,  may  further  cause  to  be  done  therein  for  cor- 
recting that  error  what  of  right  and  according  to  the  law  and  custom  of  P3ng- 
land,  in  force  in  our  said  Province  of  Georgia,  ought  to  be  done.  Witness  our 
said  Governor  in -Chief  of  our  said  Province,  in  Council,  at  Savannah,  the  .... 
day  of in  the  fifteenth  year  of  our  reign.  Jas.  Wright. 

"  By  His  Excellency's  Command,  )  C  Great  Seal  ) 

"A.  B.,  Clerk  of  the  Council.       )  (  of  Georgia  ) 

On  the  return  of  the  writ  the  cause  was  heard  before  the  governor  and 
council,  but  no  councillor  who  had  presided  as  judge  at  the  rendering  of  the 
judgment  under  review  was  competent  to  sit,  though  allowed  to  attend  and 
give  in  his  reasons  for  rendering  the  same. 

From  the  judgment  of  the  governor  and  council  an  appeal  lay  to  the  crown, 
if  the  matter  in  dispute  was  ;^500  in  value,  or  touched  questions  of  general 
import  as  above  stated,  the  royal  revenue,  office  fees,  etc.  The  appeal  from 
the  Court  of  Errors  to  the  crown  was  to  be  made  in  fourteen  days,  and  security 
was  to  be  given  as  before,  for  the  eventual  condemnation  money,  costs,  and 
damages.  The  papers  were  to  be  transmitted  and  the  appeal  pressed  within 
one  year  from  time  of  entering  the  same  in  the  Colonial  Court.  The  governor 
and  council  when  sitting  on  appeals  were  styled  the  Court  of  P>rors. 

In  criminal  causes  there  was  no  writ  of  error,  but  the  governor  could  par- 
don all  offenses  save  treason  or  murder,  and  in  those  could  reprieve  till  the 
pleasure  of  the  crown  was  known.  He  could  also  remit  all  fines  imposed  for 
misdemeanors,  and  if  the  fine  was  ;^200  or  over,  his  refusal  to  remit  could  be 
carried  by  appeal  to  the  crown. 

From  the  vice  admiralty  an  appeal  lay,  of  right,  to  the  crown,  where  the 
sum  in  question  was  ;^500  or  over;  if  under  that  value  the  defendant  had  the 
right  to  petition  the  crown  for  leave  to  appeal  ;  on  which  leave,  if  granted,  an 
appeal  could  be  entered  on  giving  the  usual  security.  This  given,  an  order  in 
council  was  made  directing  the  Vice-Admiralty  Court  to  furnish  the  petitioner 
with  a  certified  transcript  of  the  record  of  the  cause. 

It  but  remains  to  speak  of  the  Colonial  Bar.  The  practitioners  in  the  West 
India  Islands  had  a  much  higher  reputation  in  the  profession  than  those  of  the 


Bench  and  Bar.  211 


continental  colonies,  one  reason  given  being  that  the  sugar  planialions  of  the- 
fornier  were  enormously  valuable,  while  tiie  landed  interests  of  the  latter  were 
of  much  less  importance.  In  Georgia  the  offices  of  counsel  and  attorney  were 
united,  and  three  classes  of  lawyers  were  known,  first,  those  who  had  beeni 
regularly  called  to  the  inns  of  court  in  London  ;  these,  on  producing  certificates^ 
were  at  once  admitted  to  practice  ;  secondly,  those  who  had  served  clerkships- 
in  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  or  the  colonies;  and  thirdly,  those  who,  through  in- 
terest, were  admitted  to  the  bar  without  such  preliminary  training;  these,  in' 
the  language  of  the  times,  being  said  "to  turn  lawyers."  The  practice  in 
Georgia  was  good,  so  much  so  that  it  was  complained  that  the  attorneys  were 
so  busy  using  what  small  knowledge  they  begun  with  as  not  to  have  leisure  to 
acquire  any  more.  Chief  Justice  Stokes  inveighs  against  the  haste  and  care- 
lessness of  his  bar,  and  such  of  the  Carolina  attorneys  as  came  before  him,  in- 
stancing in  particular  that  they  would  annex  the  several  sheets  of  their  inden- 
tures hind  side  before.  This  was  probably  the  more  distasteful  to  him,  as  he 
was  himself  a  barrister,  trained  to  all  the  nicety  of  Westminster  Hall.  The 
attorney's  fee  bill  has  these,  among  other  items:  Retaining  fee,  seven  shillings- 
and  a  penny  ;  warrant  of  attorney,  ninepence  ;  every  attendance  necessary  in. 
the  cause,  one  shilling  and  fivepence  ;  filing  writ  and  signing  same,  two  shill- 
ings and  twopence  ;  copy  of  writ  and  notice,  one  shilling  and  fivepence  ;  if 
long  and  special,  three  shillings;  drawing  declaration  plea,  replication,  rejoin- 
der, demurrer,  rejoinder  in  demurrer,  or  other  pleading,  two  shillings  and  ten- 
pence  ;  and,  if  special,  double  ;  rule  to  plead,  for  trial,  or  other  common  rule, 
ninepence  ;  brief,  three  shillings  and  sixpence  ;  court  fee,  not  exceeding  twO' 
courts,  three  shillings  and  sevenpence ;  pleading  fee,  seven  shillings  and  a 
penny;  "the  attorney  to  pay  the  petit  jury  in  every  cause  tried  or  enquiry 
executed,  three   shillings  and  sevenpence";   drawing  judgment,  one  shilling 

and  tenpence  halfpenny;   fee  on  ending  cause,  same; at  which  last  item 

the  client's  heart  must  have  leaped  with  joy,  the  bill  being  of  formidable  length 
and  exceedingly  "special." 

Such,  then  was  the  judicial  establishment  of  Georgia  under  the  colonial 
government.  It  is  readily  seen  to  have  been  the  germ  of  the  existing  system. 
Our  Superior  Courts,  Courts  of  Ordinary,  Justice  Courts,  the  old  Inferior  Court, 
our  Georgia  Militia  District  as  the  basis  of  the  territorial  jurisdiction  of  the 
courts,  our  system  of  appeals,  are  directly  descended,  name  and  thing,  from 

" ,   the  good  old  Colony  times. 

When  we  lived  under  the  King." 

The  form,  and  pomp,  and  style  and  circumstance  of  that  day  were  wonder- 
ful. It  was  the  era  of  huge  seals,  fine  robes  and  high  sounding  titles.  The- 
Colonial  seal  was  of  silver,  and  had  on  one  side  a  figure,  supposed  to  represent 
the  genius  of  the  Colony,  offering  a  skein  of  silk  to  his  majesty — it  being  then 
thought  that  the  province  was  destined  to  become  a  silk  raising  country — withj 
the  inscriptions,  Hinc  laiidem  sperate   Coloni  (Find  ye  Colonists,  your  glory- 


212  History  of  Augusta. 


here),  and  Sigi//uni  Provincicc  nostra:  Georgice  in  America  (The  seal  of  our 
Province  of  Georgia  in  America).  On  the  obverse  were  the  royal  arms  and 
the  inscription:  Georgius  II.,  Dei  Gratia  Magna'  Brittanice  Fr.  et  Hib.  Rex 
Fidei  Defensor,  Bt'unswici  et  Lunenbergi  Dux  Saeri  Romani  Imperii  Archi 
Thesaurarius  et  Elector ;  or,  George  II.,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  King  of  Great 
Britain,  France  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  Duke  of  Brunswick  and 
Luncnberg,  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  Arch-Treasurer  and  Elector. 

A  stand  of  the  colonial  colors  cost  £T)0  sterling ;  and  the  robes  and  mace 
of  Mr.  Speaker,  with  a  gown  for  the  clerk  of  the  Commons,  cost  £iSO.  By 
way  of  comparison  it  may  be  here  noted  that  Rev.  Mr.  Ellington,  at  this  time 
minister  of  St.  Paul's  at  Augusta,  received  from  the  treasury  a  salary  of  but 
£\^  per  year. 

Rank  and  precedency  were  jealously  guarded  by  set  rules  which  have  been 
preser\ed  and  may  here  be  reproduced  : 

"  Rules  of  precedency  coniparecl  and  adjusted  from  the  several  acts  and  statutes  made  and 
provided  in  England  for  the  settlement  of  the  precedency  of  men  and  women  in  America,  by 
Joseph  Edmonson  Mowbray,  Herald." 


Baronets,  their  wives. 
His  Majesty's  Attorney-General,  his  wife. 
Judge  of  the  Admiralty,  his  wife. 
Secretary  of  the  Province,  his  wife. 
Members  of  the  Commons   House  of  Assem- 
bly, their  wives. 
Mayor,  his  wife. 
Aldermen,   their  wives. 


Governor  of  the  Province,  his  wife. 
Lieutenant-Governor,  his  wife. 
President  of  the  Council,  his  wife. 
Members  of  His  Majesty's  Council,  their  wives 
Speaker  of  the  Commons  House  of  Assem- 
bly, his  wife. 
Chief  Justice,  his  wife. 
Treasurer,  his  wife. 
Associate  Judges,  their  wives. 

Beneath  all  the  pomp  and  circumstance  of  the  colonial  establishment  lay  a 
wise,  fairly  proportioned  and  justly  distributed  form  of  government,  the  main 
and  substantial  features  whereof,  especially  in  the  judicial  department,  yet  re- 
main. Under  that  establishment  were  reared  a  number  of  lawyers  who,  de- 
spite the  chief  justice's  criticism,  a  criticism  possibly  tinged  with  the  acerbity 
of  the  times,  well  understood  the  principles  of  the  British  constitution  and  the 
rules  of  the  English  common  law.  Out  of  their  ranks  came,  as  we  shall  see, 
some  of  the  ablest  champions  of  the  cause  of  independence  ;  and,  when  the  vic- 
tory was  won,  the  retention  by  their  influence  ot  the  substance  of  the  old  judi- 
cial regime,  is  the  best  testimony  to  its  inherent  worth. 


Bench  and  Bar  213 


CHAPTER   XX. 

BENCH  AND  BAR    CONTINUED. 

The  Judicial  Establishment  of  1776— Constitution  of  1777— The  Superior  Court— Judi- 
ciary Act  of  1778— Reopening  of  the  Courts  in  1782— Judiciary  Act  of  1789— Two  Circuits- 
Chief  Justice  Glen— Judge  Few— Chief  Justices  Glen,  Stephens  and  Wereat— Chief  Justice 
George  Walton -Chief  Justice  Osborne— Richmond  Superior  Court  in  1787— Benefit  of  Clergy 
—Branding  and   the  Pillory— Grand  Jury  Presentments— Chief  Justice  Pendleton. 

IN  April.  1776,  opposition  to  the  royal  authority  in  Georgia  had  progressed 
so  far  that  the  Provincial  Congress  formed  a  provisional  government  for  the 
province,  until  other  measures  could  be  concerted.  This  instrument  provided 
for  the  election  of  a  president  and  commander- in  chief  and  a  council  of  safety 
of  thirteen  by  the  congress,  and  further  directed  as  follows: 

"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  Continental  or  our  Provin- 
cial 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. 

"That  there  shall  be  a  Chief  Justice  and  two  assistant  judges,  an  attorney- 
general,  a  provost-marshal  and  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Sessions,  appointed  by 
Ijallot,  to  serve  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Congress.  The  Court  of  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. 

"That  the  President  and  Commander-in-chief  with  the  advice  of  the  Coun- 
cil, shall  appoint  magistrates  to  act  during  pleasure  in  the  several  parishes 
throughout  this  Province,  and  such  magistrates  shall  conform  themselves,  as 
nearly  as  may  be,  to  the  old  established  forms  and  methods  of  proceedings." 

Archibald  Bullock  was  elected  president  of  the  province  and  John  Glen 
chief  justice.  By  the  proceedings  of  the  congress  it  appears  that  almost  all  the 
magistrates  in  the  province  had  refused  to  act,  "whereby  all  judicial  powers  are 
become  totally  suspended,  to  the  great  danger  of  persons  and  property"— a 
state  of  things  which  evidently  led  to  the  judicial  reorganization,  so  to  speak, 
embodied  in  the  provisional  constitution  Under  this  instrument  the  affairs  of 
the  province  were  administered  until  on  February  5,  1777,  a  regular  State  Con- 
stitution was  adopted.  By  this  a  court  to  be  called  the  Superior  Court,  was 
established  in  each  county;  it  was  to  consist  of  the  chief  justice  and  three  or 
more  of  the  justices  resident  in  the  county;   it  had  jurisdiction  of  all  manner 


2  14  History  of  Augusta. 


of  causes,  except  admiralty;  was  to  sit  twice  in  each  year;  no  cause  was  to- 
depend  therein  more  than  two  terms,  nor  were  the  costs  in  any  action  to  ex- 
ceed three  pounds.  In  civil  causes,  either  litigant  dissatisfied  with  the  verdict 
of  the  jury  might  appeal  therefrom  in  three  days  to  a  special  jury  whose  deter- 
mination was  final.  The  special  jury  was  selected  as  follows:  the  plaintiff  and 
defendant  each  chose  six  ;  six  more  names  were  taken  at  random  out  of  a  box 
provided  for  that  purpose  ;  the  whole  eighteen  were  summoned  and  ail  their 
names  put  in  the  box,  and  the  first  twelve  drawn  were  the  jury.  The  special 
jury  were  sworn  "to  bring  in  a  verdict  according  to  law  and  the  opinion  they 
entertain  of  the  evidence,  provided  it  be  not  repugnant  to  justice,  equity  and 
conscience  and  the  rules  and  regulations  contained  in  the  constitution,  of  which 
they  shall  judge."  The  special  jury  was  the  old  Colonial  Court  of  Errors  and 
the  King  in  Council.  A  register  of  probates  for  proving  wills  and  granting  let- 
ters of  administration  was  to  be  appointed  by  the  legislature  in  each  county. 
The  Courts  of  Conscience  or  Justice  Courts,  were  continued  as  theretofore 
practiced,  but  their  jurisdiction  was  extended  to  ten  pounds.  Admiralty  causes 
were  triable  in  a  special  court  called  by  the  chief  justice  in  the  county  where 
the  same  might  arise,  with  an  appeal  Irom  one  jury  to  another  as  in  the  Supe- 
rior Court,  and  an  appeal  from  the  special  jury  to  the  Continental  Congress. 
No  person  was  allowed  to  plead  as  attorney  unless  authorized  so  to  do  by  the 
Legislature.  All  civil  causes  were  to  be  tried  in  the  county  of  the  defend- 
ant's residence,  except  in  cases  involving  title  to  land  which  were  triable  in  the 
county  where  the  land  lay.  The  parishes  were  formed  into  counties,  the  par- 
ish of  St.  Paul  becoming  Richmond  county,  so  called  after  the  Duke  of  Rich- 
mond, a  friend  of  American  independence.  The  Superior  Court  in  Richmond 
was  to  meet  on  the  fourth  Tuesday  in  March  and  October. 

In  1778  there  was  passed  "  An  act  for  opening  and  regulating  the  Superior 
Courts  in  the  several  counties  of  this  State,  and  for  the  more  convenient  ad- 
ministration of  justice  in  the  same,  agreeable  to  the  Constitution  thereof,"  which 
made  provision  for  the  Superior  Courts  of  the  counties  of  Chatham,  Liberty, 
Effingham,  Burke,  Richmond,  and  Wilkes,  there  being  at  this  time  but  eight 
counties  in  the  State,  to  wit:  those  just  named  and  Camden  and  Glynn.  In 
each  county  four  justices  of  the  peace  were  named  —  those  for  Richmond  being 
John  Walton,  James  McFarland,  Dionysius  Wright,  and  William  Few  —  and 
these  were  made  "  assistant  and  associate  judges,"  and,  with  the  chief  justice 
were  to  hold  the  Superior  Court,  and  "  have  cognizance  of  all  pleas  civil  and 
criminal,  and  of  all  causes  of  what  nature  and  kind  soever,  according  to  the 
custom  and  usage  of  courts  of  law  and  equity."  The  jurisdiction  of  the  court 
on  the  law  side  extended  to  all  cases  where  the  amount  involved  was  over  £  10, 
or  where  title  to  land  was  involved,  or  in  appeals  from  the  register  of  probates. 
It  is  also  likely,  though  not  so  expressly  stated,  that  it  had  cognizance  of  ap- 
peals from   the  courts  of  conscience,  the  constitution  of   1777  providing  that 


Bench  and  Bar.  215 


those  tribunals  should  "  be  continued  as  heretofore  practiced,"  and  there  hav- 
ing been  an  appeal  from  them  to  the  General  Court  under  the  colonial  estab- 
lishment in  cases  involving  over  forty  shillings,  as  we  have  seen.  The  petition 
was  to  "  contain  the  plaintiff's  charge,  complaint,  allegation,  or  demand  plainly 
and  distinctly  set  forth,  and  be  signed  by  the  party  or  his  attorney."  All 
writs  were  to  be  tested  by  the  chief  justice  or  senior  assistant  judge  of  the 
county,  directed  to  "  all  and  singular  the  sheriffs  of  this  State,"  and  made  re- 
turnable twenty  days  before  the  first  setting  of  the  court.  The  writ  and  a  copy 
of  the  petition  were  to  be  served  by  the  sheriff  or  his  deputy  on  the  defendant 
personally,  or  by  leaving  the  same  at  his  "  usual  and  notorious  place  of  abode," 
twenty  days  before  court.  The  court  was  to  award  judgment  according  to  the 
verdict  of  the  jury,  and  award  execution  thereof  within  ten  days  thereafter. 
The  court  fees,  or  costs,  were  :  to  the  chief  justice,  or,  in  his  absence,  the 
senior  presiding  associate,  fifteen  shillings  ;  the  attorney,  one  pound  ;  the  clerk 
and  sheriff,  each,  ten  shillings.  If  the  execution  were  levied,  the  sheriff  had  : 
levy,  ten  shillings  ;  mileage,  fourpence  a  mile  ;  commissions  on  sale,  five  per 
cent;   making  conveyance,  one  pound. 

No  one  was  a  competent  traverse  juror  unless  a  freeholder,  that  is,  seized 
in  his  own  right,  in  fee  simple,  fee  tail,  or  for  life,  of  fifty  acres  of  land  ;  or  a 
householder,  seized,  in  like  manner,  of  a  town  lot.      No  one  was  a  competent 
grand  juror  unless  seized  of  a  like  estate  of  not  less  than  two  hundred  and  fifty 
acres  of  land,  or  in  the  commission  of  the  peace,  and  the  associate  justices  were 
to  annually  go  over  the  list  of  those  so  qualified  and  select  the  "  most  able  and 
•discreet"  thereof  as  grand  jurors.      A  jury  box  was  to  be  provided  with  four 
compartments,  numbered  respectively  one,  two,  three,  and  four,  and  the  names 
of  the  grand  jurors  written  on  separate  pieces  of  paper,  were  to  be  placed  in 
No.  I,  and  of  the  traverse  jurors  in  No.  3.      On  the  last  day  of  the  term,  in  the 
presence  of  one  of  the  associate  judges  and  the  clerk,  some  indifferent  person 
was  to  draw  out  of  No.  i  the  names  of  thirty-six  persons  to  serve  as  grand 
jurors  at  the  next  term,  the  slips  to  be  then  deposited  in  No.  2.      Out  of  No. 
3  were  to  be  drawn  thirty-six  as  petit  jurors,  the  slips,  as  drawn,  to  be  depos- 
ited in  No.  4.      When  Nos.  2  and  4  were  exhausted,  the  drawing  was  reversed 
back  to  Nos.  i  and  3.     The  clerk  then  entered  the  names  on  his  minutes,  and 
the  sheriff  delivered  the  jurors   a  precept  ten  days  before  court.      From  the 
petit  jurors  the  act  provided  that  "  a  jury  shall  be   balloted  and  drawn  for 
every  cause,  in  like  manner  as  has  hitherto  been   used  and  accustomed  in  the 
courts  of  law  in  this  State."     That  method  no  doubt  was  that  of  the  English 
courts,  where  the  names  of  the  jurors  were  written  on  tickets  which  were  then 
put  in  a  box  and  shaken  ;   and  the  twelve  first  drawn  were  the  jury,  unless 
challenged.      "  Ministers  of  the  several  churches,  or  of  any  dissenting  congre- 
gations, members  of  the  executive  council  or  house  of  assembly  ;  sworn  attor- 
neys, physicians,  surgeons,  apothecaries,  mad  men,  idiots,  and  sick  persons," 
were  exempt  from  jury  duty. 


2i6  •    History  of  Augusta. 


Where  a  caveat  was  filed  before  the  register  of  probate  either  party  might 
appeal  from  the  determination  thereon  in  four  days,  whereupon  in  ten  days 
thereafter  the  associate  judges  were  to  meet  and  pass  on  the  appeal,  an  appeal 
lying  from  their  judgment  to  the  Superior  Court. 

On  the  criminal  side  the  court  had  cognizance  of  all  offenses,  and  in  capital 
cases  could  respite  for  thirty  days  after  sentence.  If  the  attorney  general  did 
not  attend  co  prepare  and  prosecute  indictments,  the  court  appointed  "  any 
barrister  or  attorney  at  law,  or  other  fit  person,"  so  to  do. 

On  the  equity  side  of  the  court  it  was  provided  "  That  where  any  case 
which  may  be,  or  heretofore  was  cognizable  in  a  court  of  equity  shall  happen, 
the  same  shall  be  introduced  by  way  of  petition  to  the  Superior  Court  of  each 
county,  as  the  case  may  require,  which  court  is  empowered  to  determine  finally 
on  all  such  cases  as  courts  of  equity  have  heretofore  usually  done." 

In  the  same  year,  1778,  it  was  enacted  that  "all  laws  heretofore  made  in 
the  then  province,  now  State,  of  Georgia,  and  not  repealed,  and  all  the  laws  of 
England,  as  well  statute  as  common,  and  heretofore  used  and  adopted  in  the 
courts  of  law  of  the  then  province,  now  State,  of  Georgia,  and  which  were  used 
and  of  force  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  shall  be  of  full  force,  virtue,  and 
effect,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  as  were  heretofore  had  and  used,  as  the  law 
of  the  land,  any  law,  usage,  custom,  article,  matter  or  thing  at  present  adopted 
in  a  change  of  government  to  the  contrary  in  any  wise  notwithstanding,  so  far 
as  the  same  do  not  contradict,  weaken,  hurt,  or  interfere  with  the  resolves  and 
regulations  of  the  honorable  the  Continental  Congress  or  any  resolve  or  regu- 
lation of  this  or  any  former  assembly,  congress,  or  convention  held  in  and  for 
this  State,  and  in  particular  the  constitution  of  the  same." 

Inter  anna  cessant  leges,  however,  and  the  fury  of  war  soon  closed  the 
courts  and  silenced  the  voice  of  justice  until  in  1782  the  British  withdrew  from 
the  State.  In  the  interim  a  State  and  a  King's  Assembly  held  alternate  sway, 
and  as  each  gained  ascendancy,  thundered  forth  acts  of  attainder  against  the 
adherents  of  the  other.  The  State  attainted  Sir  James  Wright,  Chief  Justice 
Stokes,  and  other  loyalists,  and  confiscated  their  estates,  appointing  commis- 
sioners in  the  several  counties  to  bring  such  estates  to  the  hammer,  the  com- 
missioners for  Richmond  being  Robert  Walton,  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  Benjamin 
Few,  William  Glascock,  John  Walton,  and  William  Jackson.  The  King's  As- 
sembly retorted  with  an  act  disqualifying  from  any  office  under  the  crown  Gov- 
ernor Houstoun,  Chief  Justice  Glen,  Seth  John  Cuthbert,  rebel  major;  William 
Glascock,  rebel  councillor;  Robert  Walton,  rebel  commissioner;  Dionysius 
Wright,  rebel  judge,  and  many  others,  kindly  offering  to  rehabilitate  them  on 
their  giving  security  to  be  of  good  behavior,  or  serving  "  his  majesty  as  a  pri- 
vate soldier  for  and  during  the  continuance  of  the  present  American  rebellion  ;" 
otherwise,  when  caught,  "  to  be  impressed  and  carried  into  his  majesty's  sea 
service." 


Bench  and  Bar  217 


In  1782,  on  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  the  courts  were  ordered  to  be  opened 
and,  in  order  to  simplify  the  practice,  it  was  enacted  "that  in  all  cases  whatso- 
ever, demurrers,  special  pleas  in  abatement,  and  all  unnecessary  prolixity  and 
nicety  shall  as  much  as  possible  be  discouraged  by  the  several  courts  within 
this  State ;  the  general  issue  shall  be  usually  plead,  and  all  matters  of  fact 
which  go  to  the  merits  of  the  dispute,  and  are  for  the  advancement  of  justice 
between  the  parties  at  variance  shall  be  allowed  to  be  given  in  evidence  under 
the  said  plea,  though  not  coming  within  the  strict  rules  of  former  practice  ;  and 
in  every  case  it  shall  be  at  the  discretion  of  the  court  to  admit  parties  to  avail 
themselves  of  substantial  advantages  as  w^ell  by  motion  as  if  the  same  had  been 
brought  on  by  a  formal  plea." 

From  the  same  act  we  learn  that  the  courts  of  conscience  held  monthly 
sessions  with  jurisdiction  up  to  forty  shillings,  and  quarterly  terms  for  causes 
of  from  forty  shillings  to  ten  pounds  in  value. 

In  1789  the  State  was  divided  into  two  judicial  districts,  called  respectively 
the  eastern  and  western,  the  counties  of  Camden,  Glynn,  Liberty,  Chatham, 
Effingham,  and  Burke  composing  the  former;  and  Washington,  Greene,  Frank- 
lin, Wilkes,  and  Richmond,  the  latter.  It  was  provided  that  there  should  be 
two  judges  of  the  Superior  court,  one  for  each  district.  This  court  had  juris- 
diction of  all  pleas,  civil  and  criminal.  In  equity  causes,  the  court  was  to  have 
all  the  powers  of  a  court  of  equity,  referring  issues  of  fact  to  a  special  jury. 
•Courts  called  the  Inferior  County  Courts  were  established  in  each  county,  to 
consist  of  "  the  first  five  justices  mentioned  in  the  commission  of  the  peace,  or 
any  three  of  them;"  to  hold  quarterly  sessions;  and  have  jurisdiction  of  all  civil 
causes,  not  involving  title  to  land,  with  a  right  in  defendant  to  remove  any 
cause  involving  fifty  pounds  or  over  to  the  Superior  Court,  and  an  appeal  thereto 
in  all  cases  of  over  five  pounds.  Justice  Courts  were  also  established  for  the 
trial,  without  a  jury,  of  cases  not  involving  ov^er  five  pounds,  with  right  of 
appeal  to  the  Inferior  Court.  No  person  was  allowed  to  practice  law  in  the 
Superior  or  Inferior  courts,  unless  so  admitted  by  the  Superior  Court,  after  ex- 
amination in  open  court.  This  act  makes  many  rules  of  practice  in  the  several 
courts  thereby  established,  and  may  be  regarded  as  the  original  Judiciary  Act 
of  this  State.  In  1791,  1792,  1793,  1796,  1797,  and  1799  other  acts  of  like 
general  tenor  were  passed,  the  last  named  whereof  is  ordinarily  known  as  the 
Judiciary  Act,  but  the  basis  of  our  present  judiciary  establishment  is  marked 
out  in  that  of  1789.  Having  progressed  this  far,  we  may  compare  the  Colonial 
with  the  State  establishment.  In  the  colony  the  royal  governor  was  the 
chancellor,  the  ordinary,  and  the  judge  in  admiralty;  the  General  Court  was 
the  court  of  common  law  jurisdition,  having  the  powers  of  King's  Bench,  Com- 
mon Pleas,  and  Exchequer.  The  Inferior  Court  was  a  county  court  as  to  its 
quarterly  sessions  and  a  Justice  Court  at  its  monthly  terms.  An  appeal  lay 
from   the  Inferior  Court  to  the  General  Court,  and  from  the  General  Court  to 

28 


2i8  History  of  Augusta. 


the  governor  and  council  sitting  as  a  Court  of  Errors.  From  the  Chancery 
and  Admiralty  an  appeal  lay  to  the  crown. 

The  present  judicial  establishment  of  Georgia  is  this:  Admiralty  jurisdic- 
tion is  vested  in  the  Federal  Courts,  pursuant  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  powers  of  the  General  Court  and  of  the  Royal  governor  as  chan- 
cellor are  vested  in  the  Superior  Court  which  is  King's  Bench,  Common  Pleas, 
Exchequer,  and  Chancery.  The  powers  of  the  King's  governor  as  ordinary 
are  vested  in  the  Court  of  Ordinary,  the  State  after  first  reposing  them  in  a 
register  of  probates  and  afterwards  in  the  Inferior  Court,  finally  returning  to 
the  original  name  and  style.  The  County  Court  has  a  jurisdiction  subordinate 
to  the  Superior  Court,  and  the  Justice  Courts,  still  sitting  monthly,  one  less 
than  the  County  Court.  From  the  Court  of  Ordinary,  County  Court,  and 
Justice  Court  an  appeal  lies  to  the  Superior  Court,  and  from  that  to  the  Su- 
preme Court,  our  Court  of  Errors,  The  harmony  and  proportions  are  essen- 
tially the  same,  and  justify  the  assertion  that  Sir  James  Wright  and  Chief  Jus- 
tice Stokes  laid  in  their  time  the  basis  of  a  legal  structure  which  has  stood  the 
test  of  over  a  hundred  years. 

Coming  now  to  Augusta,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  county  of 
Richmond  was  originally  of  great  extent,  reaching  from  McBean  Creek  to 
Little  River  on  the  northwest  and  to  the  Ogeechee  on  the  southwest,  thus 
necessitating  a  court-house  at  some  central  point.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution  it  was  at  Brownsborough,  but  in  1780  was  established  at  Augusta 
for  and  during  the  war.  In  1784  it  was  located  "at  the  place  where  the  road 
crosses  the  Little  Kioka  Creek,  leading  to  the  meeting-house;"  and  in  1790.  by 
the  act  which  cut  off  Columbia  county,  was  fixed  at  Augusta,  where  it  has 
since  remained. 

Of  the  judges  who  have  presided  and  the  lawyers  who  have  practiced  in 
Richmond  county  in  bygone  days,  it  now  remains  to  speak 

From  1777  until  1790,  the  Superior  Courts  were  held,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
each  county  by  the  chief  justice  of  the  State  and  the  justices  of  the  peace  in 
that  county  as  associate  or  assistant  judges.  As  organized  in  177S,  the  Su- 
perior Court  of  Richmond  county  was  to  be  held  by  John  Glen,  chief  justice, 
and  John  Walton,  James  McFarland,  Dionysius  Wright,  and  William  Few, 
assistant  judges,  but  no  record  remains  of  any  session.  Augusta  was  the 
scene  of  sanguinary  hostilites  for  several  years  succeeding  this  date,  and  not 
until  late  in  the  year  1782  was  the  usual  course  of  justice  restored  and  the 
courts  reopened.  We  find  that  in  1780  William  Stephens  was  chief  justice^ 
and  in  1781  John  Wereat,  and  that,  in  1782,  a  session  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  Richmond  was  held,  but  it  does  not  appear  who  was  then  chief  justice.  In 
1783  George  Walton  was  chief  justice  ;  after  him  Henry  Osborne  ;  and  in  1789 
Nathaniel  Pendleton  who  appears  to  have  remained  such  until  the  above  men- 
tioned act  of  1789  went  into  effect,  which  did  away  with  the  system  of  a  chief 


Bench  and  Bar.  219 


justice  and  assistant  judges  presiding  in  the  Superior  Courts,  and  supplied 
their  places  with  one  Superior  Court  judge.  From  1790,  when  this  change 
took  place,  we  have  a  complete  court  roll  of  the  judges  presiding  in  Augusta; 
but  before  speaking  of  them,  will  give  such  information  as  is  obtainable  in 
reference  to  the  system  under  the  chief  justices.  John  Glen,  first  chief  jus- 
tice of  the  State,  was  a  resident  of  Savannah,  and  early  in  1775  was  chairman 
of  the  first  Provincial  congress  called  in  Georgia  to  concert  measures  of  union 
with  the  other  colonies  in  opposition  to  the  crown,  and  in  1796  judge  of  the 
Superior  Courts  of  the  Eastern  Circuit.  John  Walton  was  a  delegate  from 
Richmond  to  the  second  provincial  congress,  and  was  one  of  the  committee 
appointed  by  that  body  to  memoralize  the  royal  governor.  Sir  James  Wright, 
in  the  interests  of  the  liberties  of  the  subject,  the  memorial  stating  that  the 
objects  of  the  congress  were  "a  reconciliation  with  our  parent  State  on  con- 
stitutional principles,  as  well  as  to  endeavor  to  preserve  the  peace  and  good 
order  of  the  province."  Mr.  John  Walton  was  also  a  delegate  to  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  in  1778,  and  signed  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  Dionysius 
Wright  was  a  planter  in  Richmond,  and  one  of  the  prominent  Americans  em- 
braced by  name  in  the  British  Disquahfication  Act.  William  Few,  the  other 
associate  judge  with  Chief  Justice  Glen,  was  long  and  honorably  prominent  in 
Georgia  affairs.  His  father  was  one  of  the  original  settlers  of  Pennsylvania, 
coming  over  with  Penn,  and  in  1776  the  son  removed  to  Georgia,  and  settled 
at  Augusta.  Here  he  at  once  attained  prominence,  and  was  sent  as  a  delegate 
to  the  convention  which  framed  the  State  constitution  of  1777.  In  1778  he 
guarded  the  western  frontier  against  the  Indians,  and  afterwards  became  assist- 
ant judge  as  above  stated;  in  1780  was  sent  as  one  of  the  delegates  from 
Georgia  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  again  in  1782,  1785,  1786,  and  1788. 
On  the  conclusion  of  peace  he  began  to  practice  law  in  Augusta,  and  in  1787 
was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  framing  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
as  also  the  Georgia  Convention  which  adopted  it  at  Augusta  on  January  2, 
1788.  On  the  inauguration  of  the  government  under  the  constitution,  Mr. 
Few  was  elected  United  States  senator  and  served  in  that  body  till  1793.  In 
1796  he  was  appointed  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the  Middle  Circuit, 
which  included  Augusta,  and  served  in  that  capacity  till  1799,  when  for  the 
benefit  of  his  health,  he  removed  to  New  York.  Of  that  city  he  was  chosen 
mayor,  and  died  there,  after  a  long  life  of  activity  and  honor,  in  1828. 

William  Stephens,  the  second  chief  justice,  was  the  son  of  William  Stephens, 
who  was  governor  of  Georgia  in  1743  under  the  regime  of  the  Trustees,  suc- 
ceeding General  Oglethorpe  in  that  office.  Chief  Justice  Stephens  was  clerk 
of  the  Commons  House  of  Assembly  under  the  royal  government,  and  the 
first  attorney-general  of  the  State.  From  1796  to  1798  he  was  judge  of  the 
Superior  Courts  of  the  Eastern  Circuit,  and  afterwards  United  States  district 
judge  of  Georgia. 


220  History  of  Augusta. 


Chief  Justice  John  Wereat  was  the  president  of  the  Provincial  Congress  of 
1776;  was  Governor  in  1778;  and  president  of  the  convention  which  ratified 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  1788.  Me  was  a  man  of  considerable 
financial  ability,  which  proved  of  great  assistance  to  the  State  in  its  struggle; 
and  was  noted  for  his  kindness  to  the  people  about  Augusta.  The  close  of 
the  Revolution  found  them  distressed,  impoverished,  and  almost  starving,  and 
to  relieve  them  Governor  Wereat  put  all  his  boats  and  slaves  at  work  bring- 
ing provisions  up  the  river  and  continued  the  good  work  until  their  needs  were 
supplied. 

Chief  justice  George  Walton  was  a  central  figure  in  the  history  of  this 
period.  He  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1740,  and  early  developed  that  tliirst  for 
learning  which  is  the  precursor  of  influence  and  renown.  As  a  lad  he  was 
apprenticed  to  a  carpenter  who  thought  it  extravagance  to  allow  his  apprentice 
a  candle  to  read  by  at  night,  but  the  young  scholar,  gathering  lightwood,  pur- 
sued his  studies  by  the  light  of  his  fire.  After  his  indentures  were  out  he  re- 
moved to  Georgia,  studietl  law,  and  in  1773  was  admitted  as  a  solicitor  in 
Chancery.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  he  at  once  took  the  patriot 
side  and  labored  assiduously  to  have  Georgia  unite  with  her  sister  colonies  in 
opposition  to  the  crown.  He  was  one  of  the  committee  to  prepare  an  address 
from  Georgia  to  the  other  colonies;  was  president  of  the  Council  of  Safety, 
and  in  1776  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress  where,  on  July 
4,  he  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  with  Lyman  Hall  and  Button 
Gwinnett,  on  behalf  of  Georgia.  The  same  year  Congress  appointed  him, 
together  with  Robert  Morris,  the  celebrated  financier  of  the  Revolution,  and 
George  Clymer,  of  Pennsylvania,  a  special  committee  to  attend  to  certain  im- 
portant affairs  of  the  United  States  at  Philadelphia,  including  the  fitting  out  of 
the  Continental  frigates.  In  1777  Congress  again  placed  him  on  a  special 
committee  with  instructions  to  distribute  $1,000  in  presents  to  the  Indians  of 
the  Six  Nations,  and  secure  their  good  will  to  the  Continental  cause.  In  1778 
Mr.  Walton  was  again  appointed  delegate  to  Congress,  but  in  the  latter  part 
of  that  year  returned  to  Georgia  and.  in  the  battle  of  December  29,  at  Savan- 
nah, commanded  a  battalion  on  the  American  right.  In  that  disastrous  defeat, 
he  w.is  severely  wounded  and  taken  prisoner.  In  1779  he  was  exchanged, 
and  on  his  return  elected  governor.  The  next  year,  the  governor  then  being 
appointed  annually,  he  was  again  sent  as  a  delegate  to  Congress.  In  1783  he 
was  made  chief  justice  of  Georgia;  in  1787,  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention which  framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States;  and  in  1789  was 
again  elected  governor.  On  the  expiration  of  this  term  he  was  made  judge 
of  the  Superior  Courts  and  presided  in  Richmond  in  1790  and  1791.  In  1793 
he  was  again  made  judge  of  the  Superior  Court,  and  served  as  such  till  sent 
to  the  United  States  Senate  in  1795.  In  1799  he  was  again  made  judge  of 
the  Superior  Court  and  sat  therein  till  his  death,  at  Augusta,  February  2,  1801. 


Bench  and  Bar.  221 


Judge  Walton  was,  indeed,  part  and  parcel  of  his  times,  and  from  his  long 
continuance  in  public  life,  the  high  stations  he  held,  and  his  wide  and  varied 
experience,  it  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that  he  did  not  carry  out  the  purpose 
once  entertained  by  him  of  writing  a  history  of  Georgia.  His  portrait  hangs 
on  the  wall  of  the  Superior  Court  room  in  Augusta,  and  in  front  of  the  court 
house  stands  a  granite  obelisk  erected  in  his  honor  and  in  commemoration  of 
his  associates.  Button  Gwinnett  and  Lyman  Hall,  both  governors  of  Georgia 
like  himself,  in  signing  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

Chief  Justice  Henry  Osborne  was  a  resident  of  Camden,  and  like  Judge 
Walton,  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  In  1788  he 
was  member  of  the  convention  which  ratified  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  but  principally  appears  in  the  history  of  those  times  in  a  judicial  capa- 
city. The  minutes  of  Richmond  Superior  Court  in  1787-9  give  a  lively 
picture  of  legal  procedure  in  the  days  of  this  chief  justice.  The  presiding 
judges  were  Henry  Osborne,  chief  justice,  and  Charles  Crawford,  James  Mc- 
Farland,  and  James  McNeil,  assistant  judges.  The  grand  jury  at  March  term, 
1787.  was  Samuel  Wilson,  William  Maddox,  Archibald  Beal,  James  Sims, 
David  Maxwell,  Thomas  Pace,  David  Walker,  William  Jones,  Randal  Ramsey, 
jr.,  Thomas  Green,  jr.,  Thomas  Hanson,  William  Winingham,  Charles  Bost- 
wick,  Nathaniel  Cocke.  Henry  Turknett,  James  Stallings,  Anthony  Haynes,. 
Solomon  Ellis,  Joseph  Thomas,  Samuel  Alexander,  jr.,  and  Stephen  Day. 
The  charge  to  the  grand  jury  was  delivered  by  the  chief  justice,  who  reminds 
them  that  the  proper  administration  of  the  criminal  laws  depends  on  their  co- 
operation, and  invites  their  attention  to  the  propriety  of  an  amendment  of  the 
State  constitution.  The  clerk  of  court  was  N.  Harris,  and  Mr.  Pendleton,  an 
attorney,  moves  a  rule  against  him  for  neglect  of  duty  in  reference  to  sum- 
moning jurors  and  entering  a  certain  appeal.  It  seems  the  clerk  had  sent  out 
no  venire,  and  it  is  not  till  next  day  that  petit  jurors  could  be  obtained,  when 
James  Tinsley,  James  Cobb,  John  Pitman,  Jacob  Bugg,  Isham  Bailey,  Thomas 
Jones.  William  Hogg.  John  Lampkin,  Job  Jackson,  Peleg  Rogers,  Reuben  Bar- 
row, and  Samuel  Langston  appeared.  On  one  day  of  court  the  assistant  judges 
were  Charles  Crawford,  William  Glascock,  and  Thomas  Low.  Another  day 
no  chief  justice  appears,  and  the  court  is  held  by  William  Glascock,  James  Mc- 
Niel,  John  Cobb,  and  Henry  Allison,  assistant  judges.  It  seems  to  have  been 
the  practice  for  any  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  to  come  in  and  sit  as  assistant 
judges  or  depart  at  pleasure,  and  that  the  presence  of  the  chief  justice  was  not 
indispensable,  provided  as  many  as  three  judges  occupied  the  bench.  The  at- 
torneys whose  names  appear  at  this  period  are  Nathaniel  Pendleton,  William 
Stith,  Seaborn  Jones,  William  Few,  and  Abraham  Baldwin.  A  few  terms  later 
T.  P.  Carnes,  Robert  Watkins.  P.  Carnes,  C.  Jackson,  Dickinson,  Sullivan, 
Robert  Porter,  Huntington,  and  Williamson  appear.  Verdicts  for  consider- 
able amounts  were  not  uncommon,  but  there  was  an  appeal  in  almost  every 


222  History  of  Augusta. 


litigated  cause.  One  case  will  show  the  practice:  plaintiff  has  a  verdict  for 
;^28i  I  IS.  3d.  3f ,  and  Jones,  for  defendant,  moves  an  appeal;  defendant  brings 
in  his  sureties,  and  the  clerk  tests  the  bond.  The  entire  record  of  the  appeal 
is  placed  on  the  minutes,  but  does  not  exceed  ten  lines.  Many  judgments  are 
confessed,  and  appeals  dismissed  for  want  of  prosecution.  Once  an  appellant 
refuses  to  prosecute  his  appeal  and  pays  cost  ;  Jones,  for  appellee,  objects  and 
insists  on  a  trial.  Unanimously  overruled.  The  bar  moves  the  court  for  in- 
structions as  to  the  proper  manner  of  appealing  from  the  Inferior  to  the  Supe- 
rior Court.  The  court  answers  that  the  procedure  is  to  be  the  same  as  governs 
an  appeal  from  one  jury  to  another  in  the  Superior  Court.  The  reference  of 
cases  to  arbitration  is  a  common  feature.  The  confusion  and  depreciation  of 
currency  during  the  Revolution  made  it  difficult  very  often  to  ascertain  the 
true  amount  due  in  specie,  and  these  references  were  made  in  order  that  the 
computations,  often  complicated,  could  be  properly  made.  To  obtain  the  tes- 
timony of  non-resident  witnesses,  a  rule  was  moved  and  order  made  that  the 
other  side  should  have  so  many  days  notice,  and  that  the  interrogatories  should 
be  received  as  evidence.  A  defaulting  juror  is  fined  ;i^iOO;  and  we  find  ap- 
peals from  the  Courts  of  Conscience.  Five  of  these  courts  were  held  in  the 
county,  and  their  respective  jurisdictional  limits,  and  the  places  at  which  the 
court  was  to  be  held  are  specified  in  an  order  of  court,  namely,  district  No.  i, 
at  Augusta;  No.  2,  at  Richmond  Court  House;  No.  3,  at  Brownsborough  ; 
No.  4,  at  Wrightsborough  ;   and  No.  5,  at  Rocky  Comfort. 

One  case  seems  to  have  attracted  considerable  attention.  Ogilvie  vs.  Telfair 
and  Kelsall,  executors,  Pendleton  appearing  for  the  plaintiff  and  Jones  for  de- 
fendants. Plaintiff  moved  a  rule  for  defendants  to  show  cause  why  execution 
should  not  issue  on  a  judgment  for  ;^6.ooo  obtained  by  him  against  them  in 
the  General  Court  of  the  then  province,  now  State,  of  Georgia,  in  1775.  De- 
fendants plead  7i?d  tiel  record,  or  that  there  was  no  record  of  such  a  judgment, 
and  for  further  plea,  that  if  there  ever  had  been  such  debt  it  had  been  confis- 
cated by  the  sequestration  act  of  the  State,  plaintiff  having  adhered  to  the 
crown  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  Plaintiff  replied  that  his  judgment  was 
of  record,  and  that  by  the  treaty  of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  his 
Britannic  majesty  it  was  stipulated  that  creditors  on  either  side  should  have  no 
impediment  in  the  way  of  collecting  their  debts.  Defendants  rejoined  that 
said  treaty  did  not  extend  to  the  judgment  in  question,  the  same  having  been 
sequestered  before  the  peace,  and  was  therefore  no  debt  due  plaintiff.  Chief 
Justice  Osborne  delivered  the  opinion.  Oyer,  he  said,  had  been  had  of  the 
record  produced,  and,  on  inspection,  it  was.  nothing  more  than  a  transcript  from 
the  books  of  the  provost-marshal  before  the  Revolution,  and  this  was  not,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  court,  a  sufficient  record  to  prove  a  judgment.  Moreover,  it 
was  matter  of  notoriety  that  the  records  of  the  prothonotary's  office  had  been 
<:arried  away  by  the  British  in  1778,  and  plaintiff  being  a  British  subject,  could, 
and  should  have  produced  the  record,  wherefore  judgment  for  defendants. 


Bench  and  Bar.  22^ 


On  the  criminal  side  of  the  court  we  see  the  common  law  in  full  operation. 
One  Robert  Parish  is  indicted  for  murder,  but  there  seems  to  have  been  con- 
siderable diversity  of  opinion  in  his  case,  the  bill  being  brought  in  with  the 
entry  "  14  say  a  true  bill."  Being  put  upon  trial,  the  jury  find  that,  according 
to  the  technical  state  of  the  law,  he  is  guilty  of  manslaughter,  but  recommend 
lenity  to  the  court.     The  judgment  we  give  verbatim  : 

"  And  it  is  demanded  of  the  said  Robert  Parish  if  he  hath  or  knoweth  any- 
thing to  say  wherefore  the  said  judges  here  ought  not  upon  the  premises  and 
verdict  aforesaid  to  proceed  to  judgment  and  execution  against  him,  who  saith 
he  is  a  clerk  and  prayeth  the  Benefit  of  Clergy;  when,  all  and  singular  the  pre- 
mises being  seen  and  by  the  said  judges  understood  :  It  is  Considered  by  the 
Court  here  that  the  said  Robert  Parish  be  burned  in  his  left  hand  and  deliv- 
ered, and  immediately  he  is  burned  in  his  left  hand  and  delivered  according 
to  the  form  of  the  statute.  Henry  OSBORNE. 

"  19  Jan.,  1788." 

Another  convict  does  not  fare  so  well.  Being  found  guilty  of  horse  steal- 
ing, he  is  sentenced  to  stand  in  the  pillory  two  hours,  and  then  to  be  publicly 
whipped  on  his  bare  back  on  Monday,  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  thirty-nine 
lashes  each  time,  and  then  to  be  branded  on  the  left  shoulder  with  the  letter 
"  R,"  and  be  discharged. 

Another  fellow,  a  cow  stealer,  is  sentenced  to  two  hours  in  the  pillory,  a 
whipping  of  thirty-nine  lashes  on  Tuesday  and  Wednesday,  then  six  months' 
confinement  in  jail,  with  a  flogging  at  the  market-house  in  Augusta  on  the  last 
Saturday  of  his  imprisonment ;  to  be  branded  "  R  "  on  the  shoulder,  and  dis- 
charged. 

With  all  this,  the  grand  jury  presents  as  a  grievance  the  lenity  of  the  law 
toward  horse  and  cattle  thieves,  and  says  the  punishment  should  be  death, 
unless  recommended  to  mercy.  It  further  complains  of  the  non- enforcement 
of  the  laws  by  justices  of  the  peace,  particularly  in  the  article  of  tippling-  houses, 
gambling,  and  profane  swearing,  and  says  that  "  many  fall  into  these  vices 
their  duty  compel  them  to  punish  in  others."  It  presents  the  inhuman  prac- 
tice of  dueling  as  being  then  rampant  and  fashionable ;  it  declares  the  estray 
laws  "  little  better  than  robbery,"  and  presents  divers  persons  by  name  for 
overcharging  for  liquor  (the  law  then  fixing  a  tariff  for  publicans),  and  one  for 
having  "  a  ball-battery,"  probably  ten-pins.  It  presents  as  a  grievance  that 
the  Legislature  will  sit  for  the  transaction  of  public  business  on  Sunday,  in  de- 
fiance of  previous  presentments,  and  declares  all  the  surplus  paper  money  should 
be  destroyed.  Each  grand  juror  signs  his  name  in  full  and  affixes  his  seal 
thereto. 

Chief  Justice  Nathaniel  Pendleton,  the  last  of  the  State's  chief  justices  of 
this  era,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1785,  and  in  1787  was  one  of  the  delegates 
of  Georgia  to  the  convention   which  framed   the  Constitution  of  the  United 


2  24  History  of  Augusta. 


States.  In  1789  he  was  appointed  cliief  justice  of  Georgia.  In  the  next  year 
the  system  of  liaving  a  chief  justice  for  the  whole  State  to  preside  in  the  Su- 
perior Court  of  each  county  in  rotation  with  the  resident  magistrates  as  his  as- 
sociates was  abandoned.  The  State  was  divided  into  two  judicial  districts  and 
two  judges  were  appointed  to  hold  the  Superior  Courts  therein. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

BENCH  AND  HAR    CONTINUED. 

Augusta's  Early  Bar  —  Abraham  Baldwin  —  Governor  John   Milledge  —  Governor  Telfair 
—  William  H.  Crawford -- Robert  Watkins  — T.  P.  and   W  J.  Carnes  — Silken  Robes  — Rob- 
ert Raymond   Reid  — Pathos  .and  Humor  —  His  Bar  Dinner  —  Freeman  Walker  —  John   P. 
King — Nicholas  Ware  —  John  Forsyth. 
< 

AMONG  the  lawyers  of  this  period,  Abraham  Baldwin  occtipies  a  promi- 
nent place.  He  was  born  in  Connecticut  in  1754,  graduated  at  Vale  in 
1772,  was  for  some  time  a  professor  in  that  renowned  college,  and  served  as  a 
chaplain  in  the  Continental  army.  After  the  war  he  studied  law  and  removed 
to  Georgia,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1784.  In  1785  he  was  sent  as  a 
delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress  and  from  this  time  to  his  death  in  1807 
was  continually  in  public  life.  He  served  in  the  convention  framing  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  and,  with  William  Few,  signed  that  instrument 
for  Georgia.  In  the  Continental  Congress  he  was  one  of  the  three  commis- 
sioners to  settle  the  accounts  of  the  States,  and  in  1788  we  find  him  offering  a 
resolution,  which  was  adopted,  recommending  the  States  to  pass  laws  prevent- 
ing the  transportation  of  convicted  malefactors  from  foreign  countries  into  the 
United  States,  Georgia  having  passed  such  an  act  in  1787.  On  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Baldwin  was  sent  to  Con- 
gress and  served  a  number  of  terms.  In  1799  he  was  made  United  States 
senator,  and  remained  such  till  his  death  in  1807. 

John  Milledge  was  the  son  of  John  Milledge,  one  of  the  original  settlers  of 
Georgia,  who  came  over  with  General  Oglethorpe,  and  was  a  trusted  friend  and 
companion  of  the  founder  of  Georgia.  He  was  born  in  Savannah  in  1757, 
and  was  given  the  best  education  the  colony  afforded,  and  then  placed  in  the 
office. of  the  attorney-general  to  pursue  the  study  of  law.  Mr.  Milledge  was 
an  ardent  patriot,  sided  with  the  colonists  from  the  outset,  and  was  one  of 
the  party  which  made  Sir  James  Wright  and  Chief  Justice  Stokes  prisoners, 
thus  overturning  the  king's  government.  At  the  siege  of  Savannah  and  at 
the  taking  of  Augusta,  Mr.  Milledge  behaved  with  great  gallantry,  and  after 
the  war  became  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  day.  From  1802  to  1806  he 
-was   Governor  of  Georgia,  and  on  the   termination  of  his  last  gubernatorial 


Bench  and  Bar.  221; 


<;erm,  in  the  latter  year,  was  on  June  19,  1806.  elected  to  the  United  States 
Senate  to  succeed  James  Jackson,  deceased.  In  1807  he  was  re-elected  for 
the  full  term,  but  resigned  in  November,  1809,  and  died  at  his  residence  near 
Augusta  in  1818.  In  1802  Governor  Milledge  was  one  of  the  commissioners, 
James  Jackson  and  Abraham  Baldwin  being  his  associates,  to  negotiate  the 
cession  of  Georgia's  western  territory  to  the  United  States.  He  was  particu- 
larly and  especially  the  friend  of  the  State  University,  urged  the  importance 
of  such  an  institution,  and  when  the  State  had  no  land  available  for  a  site  in  a 
desirable  location,  purchased  a  tract  him.self  at  a  cost  of  $4,000  and  generous- 
ly donated  it  to  the  college.  On  this  land  much  of  Athens  is  built.  In  1808 
President  Meigs,  of  the  university,  wrote  Governor  Milledge:  "Your  institu- 
tion has  taken  a  strong  root,  and  will  flourish;  and  I  feel  some  degree  of 
pride  in  reflecting  that  a  century  hence,  when  this  nascent  village  shall  em- 
bosom a  thousand  of  the  Georgian  youths,  pursuing  the  paths  of  science,  it 
will  now  and  then  be  said  that  you  gave  this  land  and  I  was  on  the  forlorn 
hope." 

Governor  Milledge  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Society  of  Augusta,  chartered  in  18 16  by  the  General  Assembly,  the  in- 
corporators named  in  the  act  being  John  Milledge,  John  Carter,  Valentine 
Walker,  George  Walton,  Thomas  Watkins.  Richard  Tubman.  Edward  F.  Camp- 
bell, Augustin  Slaughter.  Freeman  Walker.  Joseph  Hutchinson,  William  M. 
Cowles,  Walter  Leigh,  John  A.  Barnes.  Milledge  Golphin,  and  Patrick  Carnes. 
The  first  Episcopal  clergyman  in  Augusta  was  Rev.  Jonathan  Copp  who 
labored  diligently  from  175  i  to  1756.  In  1758  we  find  St.  Paul's  recognized 
as  the  parish  church  in  Augusta,  and  some  years  after  Rev.  Samuel  Prink  was 
rector.  In  1764  he  reports  Augusta  as  having  540  whites,  501  slaves,  and  90 
Indians.  In  1767  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Edward  Ellington,  who  served 
until  1770.  In  1786,  after  the  turmoil  of  the  Revolution  was  over,  a  new  St. 
Paul's  Church  was  built  on  the  ruins  of  the  old  one  burned  during  the  war, 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Boyd  was  pastor  till  about  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
After  that  no  Episcopal  Church  organization  was  maintained,  until  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Society  in  18 16  as  stated.  In  1821,  the 
present  church  was  built,  and  its  rectors  since  have  been  :  Rev.  Hugh  Smith, 
1819-1832;  Rev.  Edward  Eugene  Ford,  1832-1862;  Rev.  William  H.  Clark! 
1 862-1 877;  Rev.  Chauncey  C.  Williams,  the  present  incumbent,  having  been 
rector  since  1877. 

Soon  after  Governor  Milledge's  election  to  the  Senate  the  State  capitol  was 
moved  from  Louisville,  in  JetTerson  county,  to  a  point  in  Baldwin  county, 
which  was  named  Milledgeville  in  his  honor,  and  here  was  the  seat  of  the  State 
government  till  removed,  in  1868,  to  Atlanta. 

Edward  Telfair,  another  governor  of  Georgia,  was  contemporary  with 
Governor  Milledge.      He  was  born  in  Scotland  in  1735,  the  year  Augusta  was 


226  HiSTt)RV  OK  Augusta. 

founded,  and  in  1766  settled  in  Savannah,  where  he  took  a  prominent  part  in 
the  Revolutionary  struggle.  In  February,  1778,  he  was  elected  to  represent 
the  State  in  the  Continental  Congress,  the  delegation  that  year  being  Lyman 
Hall,  George  Walton,  Joseph  Clay,  John  Walton,  Joseph  Wood,  Edward  Lang- 
worthy  and  Edward  Telfair.  In  1780  he  was  again  elected  to  Congress  ;  and 
again  in  1781,  1782  and  1885.  With  John  Walton  and  Edward  Langworthy 
he  signed  the  Articles  of  Confederation  on  the  part  and  behalf  of  the  State  of 
Georgia.  In  1786  he  was  elected  governor  of  Georgia,  and  again  in  1790, 
serving  till  1793.  During  his  latter  administration  President  Washington  vis- 
ited Augusta,  and  was  entertained  by  Governor  Telfair.  Washington's  toast 
was,  "The  State  of  Georgia,  and  prosperity  to  Augusta."  Telfair  county  is 
named  after  Governor  Telfair. 

William  Harris  Crawford,  United  States  senator,  minister  to  France,  and 
twice  a  cabinet  officer,  began  his  career  in  Augusta.  Mr.  Crawford  was  born 
in  Virginia  in  1772,  and  early  in  life  was  one  of  the  professors  of  the  Richmond 
Academy.  In  1806  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  in  place  of 
Abraliam  Baldwin,  deceased,  and  re-elected  in  181 1,  but  did  not  fill  out  this 
latter  term.  In  18 13  President  Madison  offered  him  the  appointment  of  sec- 
retary of  war,  which  he  declined.  He  was  then  appointed  minister  to  France, 
and  on  his  return  in  181  5,  became  secretary  of  war.  In  18 16  he  was  appointed 
secretary  of  the  treasury  by  President  Madison,  and  on  the  coming  in  of  Presi- 
dent Monroe's  administration,  was  again  appointed  to  that  high  office.  When 
President  Monroe  was  re-elected,  Mr.  Crawford  was  again  appointed  to  the 
treasury  portfolio,  and  served  till  1825.  In  1824  he  was  voted  for,  for  presi- 
dent, the  other  candidates  being  Andrew  Jackson,  John  Quincy  Adams,  and 
Henry  Clay,  and  the  electoral  vote  standing:  Jackson,  ninety-nine;  Adams, 
eighty- four;  Crawford,  forty-one;  and  Clay,  thirty  seven.  In  those  days  the 
electors  of  a  State  did  not  always  vote  as  a  unit,  and  Mr.  Crawford  received 
the  following  :  New  York,  five  ;  Delaware,  two  ;  Maryland,  one  ;  Virginia, 
twenty-four;  Georgia,  nine;  total,  forty-one.  The  whole  number  of  electors 
at  that  time  was  two  hundred  and  sixty-one,  and  no  candidate  receiving  a 
majority,  the  election  was  thrown  into  the  house,  where  the  vote,  by  States, 
stood:  Adams,  thirteen;  Jackson,  seven  ;  Crawford,  four,  thus  electing  Ad- 
ams. John  C.  Calhoun  having  received  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  votes  in 
the  electoral  college,  was  chosen  vice-president.  In  1827  Mr.  Crawford  was 
elected  judge  of  the  Northern  Circuit,  which  office  he  held  until   his  death  in 

1834- 

The  early  portion  of  this  illustrious  career  was  enveloped   in  storms.      In 

Mr.  Crawford's   early  manhood    the    immense   western    landed   possessions  of 

Georgia  made  this  State  a  favorite  field  for  speculation.      The  Yazoo  fraud  was 

one  episode       Mr.  Crawford's  duel  with  Van  Allen  was  another.     Mr.  Crawford 

had  refused  to  take  a  retainer  from  the  land  speculators,  and  fearing  his  oppo- 


Bench  and  Bar.  227 


sition  at  the  bar,  it  was  generally  believed  they  instigated  *a  fiery  young  gen- 
tleman named  Van  Allen,  of  New  York,  a  cousin  of  President  Van  Buren,  to 
fasten  a  personal  quarrel  upon  him.  Mr.  Crawford  accepted  the  challenge  and 
Van  Allen  was  killed. 

Later  in  life  Mr.  Crawford  became  involved  in  another  affair  with  General 
John  Clark.  The  general  had  preferred  charges  against  Judge  Tait,  Mr.  Craw- 
ford's fellow  professor  of  the  Richmond  Academy,  and  Mr.  Crawford  then  in 
the  Legislature,  championed  his  friend's  cause.  After  a  searching  inquiry  the 
committee  reported  the  charges  unfounded,  which  report  was  adopted  by  fifty- 
two  to  four.  General  Clark  was  exceedingly  restive  under  this  result,  and  chal- 
lenged Mr.  Crawford.  On  the  field,  the  general  and  his  seconds  are  said  to 
have  harrassed  Mr.  Crawford  with  quibbles  and  controversies  until  he  lost  tem- 
per, and  when  put  to  the  peg,  suffered  his  disengaged  arm  to  hang  outside  his 
body,  so  that  General  Clarke's  ball,  which  would  have  otherwise  passed  harm- 
lessly by,  struck  his  wrist.  In  person  Mr.  Crawford  was  a  tall,  large,  fine  look- 
ing man  of  exceedingly  imposing  personal  appearance,  so  much  so  that  it  is  said 
the  Emperor  Napoleon  remarked  of  him  when  presented  at  his  court  that  he 
was  the  only  man  to  whom  he  ever  felt  constrained  to  bow.  Mr.  Crawford  was 
minister  when  the  emperor  was  compelled  to  sign  the  famous  abdication  at 
Fontainebleau.  and  witnessed  the  entry  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  and  King  of 
Prussia  into  Paris  at  the  head  of  50,000  of  the  flower  of  their  soldiery.  As  a 
lawyer,  Mr.  Crawford  rendered  signal  service  to  the  jurisprudence  of  Georgia. 
In  conjunction  with  Horatio  Marbury  he  compiled,  at  an  early  age,  "Marbury 
and  Crawford's  Digest  of  Georgia  Laws  ;"  and  during  the  entire  period  he  was 
on  the  bench,  namely,  from  1 827  to  1834,  was  chairman  of  the  convention  of 
Superior  Court  judges,  which  met  annually  to  consider  doubtful  and  difficult 
points  of  law  arising  in  the  several  circuits,  with  intent  to  form  a  legal  stand- 
ard of  interpretation  and  practice,  there  then  being  no  Supreme  Court.  The 
decisions  are  to  be  found  in  '  Dudley's  Georgia  Reports."  The  value  of  these 
conventions  led  not  long  after  to  the  establishment  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

Robert  Watkins  compiled  in  conjunction  with  his  brother,  George,  "  Wat- 
kins'  Digest,"  our  oldest  digest  of  Georgia  laws,  and  fought  a  duel  in  1802  with 
Governor  James  Jackson,  growing  out  of  this  work.  General  James  Jackson, 
as  the  most  active  opponent  of  tiie  Yazoo  sale  and  the  author  of  the  Rescinding 
Act,  was  elected  governor  in  1798.  In  this  capacity  he  rejected  the  digest  of 
Georgia  laws  prepared  by  Robert  and  George  Watkins,  on  the  ground  that  the 
compilers  had  inserted  in  the  volume  the  Yazoo  Act  of  1 795,  in  defiance  of  the 
Rescinding  Act,  which  declared  it  never  to  have  been  one  of  the  laws  of  the 
State.  B\'  this  means  a  costl\^  edition  was  thrown  on  the  hands  of  the  compilers 
to  their  pecuniary  loss,  and  with  the  result  of  engendering  a  bitterness  of  feel- 
ing which  developed  into  a  hostile  meeting  some  years  afterwards  between  Gov- 
ernor J'ackson  and   Robert  Watkins,  which  was  conducted  in  the  highest  style 


228  History  of  Augusta. 


of  punctilio.  While  the  seconds  were  arranging;  the  terms  of  the  combat,  the 
principals  conversed  "with  great  elegance  and  entire  politeness"  on  different 
matters,  so  that  no  one  would  have  imagined  they  were  about  presently  to  cut 
each  other's  throats.  Then  the  seconds  notified  the  combatants  of  the  terms 
agreed  on  :  You  are  to  stand  at  the  distance  of  ten  paces;  you  are  to  fire  at 
the  word  make  ready,  fire!  a  snap  or  a  flash  is  to  be  counted  as  a  shot,  etc., 
etc.  At  the  first  fire  both  pistols  went  off  into  the  ground  ;  the  second  was  a 
blank  shot;  at  the  third  Governor  Jackson  fell,  shot,  secii?idc7n  a) tern,  in  the 
right  hip.  He  insisted  on  another  fire,  but  the  surgeons  claimed  the  right  to 
first  examine  him  ;  and  on  their  report  that  the  ball  might  have  entered  the 
cavity,  hostilities  ceased.  Mr.  VVatkin's  with  great  civility,  offered  his  services 
to  bear  the  wounded  man  from  the  field;  and,  on  being  carried  off,  the  gov- 
ernor most  affably  remarked,  "  D — n  it,  Watkins,  1  thought  I  could  give  you 
another  shot." 

The  Carnes  were  two  in  number,  Thomas  P.,  one  of  the  commissioners  who 
ran  the  line  between  North  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  judge  of  the  Western 
Circuit  from  1798  to  1803,  and  again  from  1809  to  1813;  and  Peter  Johnston 
Carnes,  attorney-general  of  the  Middle  Circuit,  from  1799  to  1804.  At  this 
time  and  for  years  after  the  bar  wore  black  silk  robes,  and  the  sheriff  gown  and 
sword. 

It  has  been  stated  that  in  1789  the  State  was  divided  into  two  judicial  dis- 
tricts, the  eastern  and  western,  Augusta  being  in  the  latter.  In  1797  three  judi- 
cial districts  were  made,  called  respectively,  the  Eastern,  the  Middle  and  the 
Western  Circuits,  Richmond  being  in  the  Middle  Circuit,  and  so  remaining  until 
the  Augusta  Circuit,  comprising  the  counties  of  Burke,  Columbia,  McDuffie 
and  Richmond,  was  created  in  1870.  The  judicial  history  of  the  Middle  Cir- 
cuit is,  therefore,  a  long  one  and  as  brilliant  as  it  is  long.  Of  some  of  its  judges 
and  lawyers  we  have  already  spoken,  and  now  resume  the  narrative.  It  will 
be  impossible  in  th^  limits  of  this  sketch  to  speak  of  all  eminent  in  the  legal 
profession  at  Augusta,  and"  we  will  therefore  select  some  of  the  most  striking 
characters.  Some  few  years  after  Chief  Justice  Walton,  the  celebrated -Robert 
Raymond  Reid  became  judge.  Mr.  Reid  was  prominent  in  public  life  for  over 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  In  1816,  when  but  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  he  was 
elected  judge  of  the  Middle  Circuit ;  in  1 8 1 8  was  sent  to  Congress,  and  in  1 820 
re-elected  ;  at  the  expiration  of  that  term  in_  1823,  he  was  made  mayor  of  Au- 
gusta, and  re-electtd  to  that  office  in  1824;  in  1825  was  again  elected  Superior 
Court  judge,  and  being  defeated  of  a  re  election  by  reason  of  having  been  a 
Clarke  man  in  the  contest  between  him  and  Troup  for  the  governorship,  in  the 
days  of  "Troup  and  the  Treaty,"  wa:,  made  judge  of  the  City  Court  of  Augusta 
in  1827,  and  re-elected  to  that  office  in  1829.  In  1832  President  Jackson  ap- 
pointed him  judge  of  the  United  States  for  the  district  of  East  Florida,  and  in 
1839  he  was  appointed  by  President  Van  Huren  governor  of  Florida,  in  which 


Bench  and  Bar.  229 


office  he  died  in  1841.  This  list  of  honors  is  sufficient  to  show  what  opinion 
was  entertained  of  his  legal  abilities,  but  his  literary  talents  were  even  greater. 
Who  can  read  without  emotion  the  beautiful  story  of  his  early  life  and  first 
great  sorrow  as  it  appears  in  his  diary.  He  was  sent  to  a  distant  school  and 
being  a  delicate,  effeminate  boy  was  roughly  used  by  his  stouter  companions. 
Of  this  period  he  says : 

"I  was  at  last,  after  acquiring  the  character  of  a  dull,  lazy  and  unprincipled 
child  taken  home.  My  vices  forsook  me  and  my  joys  returned.  Let  those 
who  have  children  take  care  how  they  send  them  forth  at  an  early  age  to  an 
unfeeling  world!  I  was  again  with  my  mother,  and  again,  in  reading,  writing, 
— thinking  rapturously — looking  at  her  benign  face,  listening  to  her  voice,  and 
imbibing  her  instructions,  I  was  happy — too  happy. 

"  About  a  year  after  I  was  sent  to  Savannah  to  the  care  of  an  aunt,  and  there 
I  was  as  miserable  as  before.  The  boys  imposed  upon  me  ;  my  cousins 
cheated  and  scorned  me;  my  aunt  and  uncle  neglected  and  starved  me.  After 
some  time  I  returned  to  my  beloved  home.  I  had  no  reputation  for  genius  ex- 
cept at  home.  There  I  spoke  to  the  admiration  of  my  parents,  and  wrote  both 
prose  and  poetry  which  they  esteemed  prodigiously  fine.  I  also  had  a  turn  for 
drawing,  with  which  my  mother  was  delighted.  After  a  twelve  month  passed 
in  my  heaven  of  home  I  was  taken  by  my  father  to  Augusta.  The  scene  was 
changed.  I  met  kind  hearted  boys,  indulgent  and  friendly  teachers,  and  kind 
friends.  Among  the  first,  James  McLaws,  always  my  friend,  and  afterward 
my  brother-in-law;  John  Powell,  a  fine  lad,  the  victim  of  disease  too  soon. 
My  heart,  which  had  always  loved  something  or  other — now  a  boy,  and  now 

a  girl — formed  a  strong  attachment  to ;   but  a  stronger  one  for . 

I  never  loved  any  being,   except  my  mother,   as  well  as  I  did .      We 

were  at  dancing-school  together  ;  and  though  she  never  acknowledged  her  af- 
fection, and  I  did  not  declare  my  own,  we  both  well  knew  how  dear  we  were 
to  each  other. 

"To  return,  my  mother  died,  and  I  received  the  heartrending  news  at  Au- 
gusta. Great  Father  of  mercies  !  what  were  my  sufferings,  those  who  saw  my 
agony  alone  can  tell.  I  sat  sometimes  looking  at  the  moon  with  streaming 
eyes,  remembering  the  moments  we  had  passed  together  by  moonlight,  and 
recalling  all  my  poor  mother's  sorrows,  her  virtues,  her  voice,  and  her  words. 
At  other  times,  when  all  was  still  around  me,  and  my  companions  were  asleep, 
I  have  sobbed  upon  my  pillow  and  drenched  it  in  tears.  My  studious  habits 
were  abandoned,,  and  an  all-absorbing  grief  possessed  me.  I  determined  to  leave 
school  ;  and,  opportunity  affording,  I  went  home. 

"My  poor  mother's  late  residence  was  a  desert;"  but  I  walked  about  the 
garden,  through  her  chamber,  sat  in  her  chair,  and  bewailed  her  with  a  grief 
most  poignant.  O!  my  beloved  parent,  dost  thou  inhabit  other  regions,  and 
can  it  be  that  thou  forgettest  thy  erring  and  unhappy  and   still  helpless  son  ? 


^3o  History  of  Augusta. 


On  thy  death  bed  thou  didst  caress  a  Httle  butterfly,  fancyin*^  that  my  spirit 
liad  taken  a  favorite  and  lovely  form  to  commune  with  thine  in  its  darkest  hour ; 
and  now  I  sometimes  think  when  a  butterfly  comes  to  me  fluttering  around  the 
candle  at  which  I  read,  settling  on  my  sleeve,  or  crosses  my  evening  walk, 
that  thou  has  not  forgot,  but  art  still  near  me  O,  loved  long  and  ever,  if  my 
thoughts  can  be  known  to  thee,  and  if  thou  iiast  power  to  assist  me,  yield  me 
thine  aid  ;  take  sometimes  the  place  of  my  guardian  spirit,  and  be  ever  near  me  ; 
and,  oh,  implore  thy  God  and  my  God  to  forgive  my  follies  and  to  grant  me 
strength  to  bear  up  against  the  ills  of  life,  and  to  overcome  the  envy  and  malice 
of  my  enemies  " 

In  enforcing  on  his  grand  juries  the  necessity  of  maintaining  the  laws  Judge 
Reid's  literary  turn  did  him  good  service.  In  one  of  the  counties  of  his  circuit 
the  disgusting  vice  of  drunkenness  was  exceedingly  prevalent,  and  after  stating 
this  county  was  particularly  afflicted  in  one  respect,  the  judge  said  :  "Need  I 
tell  you  in  plainer  language  it  is  drunkenness  of  which  I  speak  ?  Man  is  at  best 
but  the  creature  of  frailty.  The  violence  of  passion  agitates  the  human  mind 
with  continual  tumult,  and  the  voice  of  reason,  like  the  cries  of  the  shipwrecked 
mariner,  is  heard  only  in  the  pauses  of  the  storm.  But  when  a  depraved  ap- 
petite delivers  its  miserable  victim  to  the  influence  of  intemperance,  it  is  then 
that  reason  is  overwhelmed,  pride  forgets  its  consequence,  intellect  relinquishes 
its  rich  treasures,  and  that  form  which  bore  the  impression  and  seal  of  divinity 
is  changed  into  a  bloated  monster,  with  feelings  and  propensities  at  once  best- 
ial and  disgusting.  Many  persons  vainly  imagine  that  infractions  of  the  laws 
are  venial  when  committed  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  and  they  sophistically 
argue  that,  laboring  under  a  species  of  madness,  they  are  driven  to  atrocities 
from  which,  in  their  moments  of  sobriety  and  self  collection  they  would  start 
with  abhorrence.  But  the  plea  will  not  avail.  This  hideous  vice  conceals 
none  of  its  deformities.  It  is  true  the  brimming  goblet  may  sparkle  in  the 
hand  of  pleasure,  but  beneath  its  transparent  wave  is  seen  the  dark  and  deep 
and  deadly  poison.  Roses  m  ly  crown  the  cup,  but  they  are  cankered  by  tears 
of  remorse  and  sorrow  and  disappointment.  The  unhappx'  being  who  ventures 
to  slake  his  thirst  knows  at  the  moment  the  perils  which  await  him  He  has 
before  witnessed  its  horrible  effects.  He  has  seen  the  fond  father  become  the 
hater  of  his  offspring,  the  tender  husband  transformed  to  the  inveterate  tyrant, 
the  fciithful  friend  to  the  bitter  enemy,  the  pride  of  society  to  the  object  of 
common  scorn,  and  yet  he  will  not  abstain,  yet  will  he  swallow  down  the  in- 
furiating draught  which  shall  make  him  the  jest  of  the  vulgar,  the  scoff  of  his 
foes,  and  the  regret  of  his  friends — which  shall  lift  his  arm  against  every  man, 
and  every  man's  hand  against  him.  Let  him  then  receive  the  consequences 
of  his  temerity;  he  has  courted  them  with  his  eyes  open.  The  law  rejects  his 
claim  to  its  lenity,  and  intemperance  adds  a  blacker  shade  to  the  enormities 
which  it  produces." 


Bench  and  Bar.  231 


The  grand  jury  were  profoundly  impressed  with  this  ornate,  and  yet  forci- 
ble, exposition  of  the  legal  doctrine  that  voluntary  drunkenness  is  no  excuse 
for  crime  ;  thanked  the  judge  "for  his  determined  support  of  good  order  ;"  re- 
quested the  charge  should  be  published,  and  called  on  the  Legislature  to  grant 
no  licenses  to  retail  liquors  except  to  inns,  in  small  quantities,  for  travelers  and 
strangers. 

Judge  Reid's  pen  could  turn  to  humorous  as  well  as  serious  thought.  On 
assuming  his  position  on  the  United  States  bench  in  Florida  he  found  a  very 
different  class  of  lawyers  from  that  to  which  he  had  been  accustomed  at  home. 
One  writer  says:  "The  bar  of  the  Middle  Circuit  always  maintained  a  high 
character  for  abilities  and  courtesy.  Its  members  fostered  a  lofty  social  bear- 
ing, neither  oppressive  by  cold  dignity,  nor  yet  so  free  as  to  encourage  rude 
familiarity.  It  was  the  happy  medium  which  secured  respect  and  business  on 
terms  compatible  with  true  fame.  Of  this  school  Judge  Reid  was  a  loyal  dis- 
ciple." The  Florida  bar,  as  was  perhaps  natural  in  a  territory  newly  opened, 
was  of  rougher  mould,  and  the  judge  thus  limns  one  of  them  : 

"  Getting  on  in  court  pretty  well ;  only  one  skirmish,  and  that  with  one  of 
the  bar,  whose  temper  and  habits  and  manner  unfit  him  for  social  life.  What 
shall  we  think  of  one  whose  literary  attainments  are  not  inconsiderable,  whose 
physical  and  mental  powers  are,  perhaps,  extraordinary,  whose  industry  and 
energy  are  vigorous  and  indefatigable,  and  yet  whose  love  of  self  and  ambition 
are  unbounded,  who  is  impatient  of  all  restraint,  suspicious,  angry,  and  re- 
vengeful, with  a  spice  of  magnanimity  and  a  gloss  of  good  breeding,  to  which 
may  be  added  violent  passions   irritable  feelings,  and  unbounded  craft  ?     All 

these  qualities  belong  to ,  and  make  him  a  strange,  lofty  and  repulsive 

character.  When  we  look  to  his  gigantic  stature,  lofty  brow,  the  deep  furrows 
of  passion  around  his  eyes  and  on  his  cheeks,  his  surly  mouth,  formed  not 
■even  for  sneers,  but  full  of  bitterness,  rank  bitterness  ;  and  lastly  his  black  eyes, 
in  which  you  look  as  into  deep  and  dark  fountains  of  sin  and  remorse  ;  eyes 
which  may  be  characterized  by  the  word  '  luciferian,'  more  than  any  other,  we 
behold  a  being  from  whom  we  must  stand  apart,  who  can  have  no  sympathy 
with  us,  and  who,  if  we  approach  too  near  him,  will  certainly  do  us  harm." 

The  bar  of  m  hich  this  extraordinary  character  was  a  member  gave  the 
judge  a  specimen  of  its  breeding  by  inviting  him  to  a  curious  banquet,  which 
he  calls  a  "  feast  of  shells."  In  a  letter  informing  him  that  the  gentlemen  of 
the  long  robe  thought  very  well  of  him,  he  was  invited  to  a  public  dinner  in 
his  honor.  No  place  was  mentioned,  and  after  waiting  in  expectation  of  an 
escort  till  the  hour  named,  the  judge  sallied  forth  alone,  having  previously 
prepared  a  speech  "  to  be  delivered  after  the  removal  of  the  cloth,  and  in  which 
everything  that  could  be  agreeable  to  the  bar  was  carefully  infused.  '  As  they 
treat  me,'  thought  I,  '  why  should  I  not  treat  them  in  return  ?'  As  well  as  I 
remember  'twas  a  pretty  good  speech,  with  several  clever  flights."     After  wan- 


232  History  of  Augusta. 


dering  about  awhile  the  judge  arrived  at  a  house  where  it  was  understood  the 
banquet  was  to  be  given,  and  reconnoitered  his  way  into  tiie  parlor.  There 
was  no  table  therein,  and  but  three  chairs.  Thinking  there  was  some  mistake, 
he  was  about  to  beat  a  retreat  when  a  gentleman  of  the  bar  entered  and  some- 
what restored  the  judicial  equanimity  by  his  cordiality.  "  Said  I,  '  the  hour 
mentioned  in  my  invitation  has  passed,  so  I  thought  I  would  come  round  ;  but 
I  fear  I'm  too  early.'  '  No,'  he  coldly  replied,'  but  the  dinner  is  too  late.' 
'  Well,'  said  I,  *  I'll  return  home,  and  come  back  again.'  '  Well,  perhaps, '^ 
said  he  '  it  might  be  as  well  and  better  than  to  stay  here  alone.'  So  I  was  pre- 
paring to  abscond,  when  in  came  a  few  gentlemen,  and  other  chairs  being 
brought,  we  seated  ourselves  in  a  piazza,  and  a  conversation  commenced,  dur- 
ing which  some  one  or  two  other  gentlemen  dropped  in.  '  This,'  said  I  to 
myself,  '  is  not  a  very  promising  beginning,  but  who  knows  how  well  it  may 
end  ?'     So  we  talked  of  the  heat  of  the  weather,  alligators,  the  Greek  pun  for 

laughter,  etc.,  etc.,  when    Messrs.  made  their  appearance  and  invited 

us  up  to  dinner.      The  dinner  was  plentiful  —  ham,  poultry,  ducks,  a  half  turtle 

soup  —  everything   rough  and  coarse.      Judge  at  the  head,  and  Mr. 

at  the  tail,  and  the  guests  few  and  far  between,  and  vacant  chairs  scat- 
tered from  right  to  left.  But  few  words  were  said.  All  seemed  wrapped  in 
their  own  gloomy  thoughts.  '  I  wish,'  said  I  to  myself,  '  I  had  been  in  Guinea 
before  I  accepted  this  invitation.  Here  is  evidently  something  wrong."  At 
length  wine  was  introduced,  and  the  judge  began  to  look  for  better  hours,  but 
worse  ensued.  "This,"  said  a  commissary's  man,  "is  the  gift  of  our  friend, 
Mr.  ,  who  left  us  this  morning  in  the  Agnes  for  Charleston.  '  Come,  gen- 
tlemen, 'fill  your  glasses,'  said  the  president.  'Now,'  thought  I,  '  he'll  drink 
my  health,  and  how  shall  I  demean  myself  so  as  to  be  neither  civil  nor  offen- 
sive ?'      I  resolved  at  once.      '  The  health,'  said   the  president,  '  of  our  absent 

friend,  Mr.  '  (the  donor  of  the  wine)      I  drank  a  bumper.      By  this  time 

Mr.  (the  champaign   having  been  introduced),  got  drunk,  and   he,  after 

some  coarse  and  maudlin  prelectives,  called  on  the  president  for  a  toast.      The 

president  declined,  and  begged  the  bewildered to  get  the  toast  from  the 

other  end  of  the  table.      consented,  and  halloed  for  a  toast  from  Mr. , 

who  insisted  he  would  not  give  one,  and  the  president  should.  Then  the  pres- 
ident, looking  for  a  moment  like  a  thunder-storm,  but,  turning  to  me,  said,  '  If 
I  give  a  toast,  you'll  not  get  under  the  table  ?'  '  Oh,  no  !'  said  I,  good  humor- 
edly,  '  I'll  stick  to  you  at  all  events  !'  Then  they  filled,  and  the  president,  in 
a  hurried  manner,  said,  *  I'll  give  you  our  excellent  friend  and  guest,  the  Hon. 
Robert  Raymond  Reid,  the  excellent  judge  of,  etc.,  etc'  They  drank  their 
wine.  '  Now,'  said  I,  '  if  you  will  be  pleased  to  fill  your  glasses,  I'll  give  you 
a  toast.'  They  filled.  'The  hospitable  and  excellent  citizens  of  St.  Augus- 
tine.' They  looked  surprised.  Toasts  went  on.  One  drank  the  judiciary, 
another  the  chief  justice,  another   the   memory  of  Julius    C;vsar,  another  the 


Bench  and  Bar.  •        233 


memory  of  Noah,  the  drunken  lawyer  gave  '  the  memory  of  our  departed 
friends,'  and  moreover  he  sung 'The  Old  Jackdaw  and  the  Young  Jackdaw,' 
and  swore  he  liked  no  courts  because  they  always  made  d — d  rascally  decisions 
against  him. 

"Thus  flew  the  hours,  and  at  length  I  escaped,  leaving  my  brethren  of  the 
bar   and   guests,  president,  \'ice-president   and   all,  scarcely  less  sorrowful  or 

sober  (except )  after  emptying  half  a  dozen  of  champagne  than  when  the 

happy  festival  commenced.  For  my  own  part  I  never  knew  a  compliment 
press  so  closely  on  the  confines  of  insult.  Why  did  I  accept  that  invitation? 
'Twas  a  false  step.      I  went  home  and  burned  the  notes  of  my  speech." 

The  judge  was  a  great  admirer  of  Andrew  Jackson,  but  hardly  able  to  en- 
dorse all  the  eccentric  movements  of  that  hero  when  president.  "  He  frocks 
and  unfrocks  at  pleasure,  but  he  is  a  magnificent  fellow,  and  the  best  constitu- 
tional president  since  the  days  of  Jefiferson,  who  was  himself  not  sinless."  Then 
he  tells  a  story  of  old  Hickory's  taste  in  music,  as  related  by  Governor  Duval. 
"I  was,"  said  he,  "at  the  White  House  one  evening,  and  tliere  were  Mrs.  D. 
and  Mrs.  J.,  and  a  half  dozen  others,  dressed  up  in  the  first  style  a  la  Parisieniie, 
and  there  were  sofas  and  ottomans,  and  musical  instruments,  and  lights,  all  of 
which,  with  the  company,  made  a  pretty  picture.  I  had  been  invited  to  spend 
a  sociable  evening,  and  the  ladies  and  the  music  made  my  heart  throb  as  I 
entered  the  saloon,  for,  old  as  I  am,  I  love  both.  Very  soon  I  was  asked  if  I 
would  not  approach  a  group,  and  listen  to  the  splendid  performance  of  a  young 
gentleman  just  returned  from  Italy,  and  who  played  divinely.  I  left  the  side 
of  the  general,  who  was  smoking  in  his  large  arm  chair,  and  beheld,  sur- 
rounded by  beauty  and  fashion,  a  young  man  who  sat  on  a  low  stool  with  a 
guitar  across  his  lap.  '  Good  heavens,'  thought  I,  '  Can  the  spirit  of  harmony 
reside  in  such  a  temple  ?'  He  had  a  huge  head,  on  the  front  of  which  his  hair 
had  been  brushed  in  three  ways,  to  the  right,  to  the  left,  and  in  front,  and  then 
purposely,  some  confusion  had  been  imparted  to  it.  The  hinder  part  had  been 
closely  cut.  His  neck  was  enveloped  in  a  stock  which  closely  compressed  it, 
leaving  two  little  points  of  shirt  collar  projecting  under  his  chin.  He  wore 
large  whiskers,  innumerable  chains  and  shirt  buttons,  was  tightly  laced,  and 
bent  forward  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  him,  in  his  close  habit,  a  monkey-like 
aspect.  After  some  preluding,  the  creature  opened  his  mouth  and  sung — no, 
that  is  not  the  word  —  he  squalled,  worked  his  eyes  and  heaved  his  breast,  now 
sinking  into  a  whisper,  and  now  squealing  so  loud  you  might  have  heard  him 
at  the  capitol.  Never  did  I  hear  such  horrible  noises.  But  after  a  while  I  was 
relieved  by  the  conclusion  of  the  strain,  when  all  pronounced  it  exquisite  —  an 
admirable  Italian  sonnet.  I  went  back  to  the  president.  'Well,  governor,' 
said  he,  '  don't  you  like  the  music  ?'  '  General,'  said  I,  '  its  d — d  stuff,  between 
you  and  me.  Come  here,  Tommy  Blount.  And  now  let  me  have  leave  to 
make  this  lad  from  the  wilds  of  Tennessee,  sing  '  Blue  Bonnets  on  the  Border.' 

30 


234  History  of  Augusta. 


'  Certainly,'  said  the  general,  and  Tommy,  without  any  affectation,  began  to 
sin'^  In  a  moment,  such  was  the  force  of  his  melody  that  the  ladies  and  their 
sparks  flocked  around  him.  Their  eyes  glistened  with  pleasure  and  feeling; 
there  was  not  the  rustling  of  a  ribbon  to  be  heard.  Tom's  fine  tones  filled  the 
spacious  room,  and  made  their  way  to  all  hearts  except  the  youngster  from  his 
Italian  travels.  When  the  music  was  done,  all  were  warmly  expressing  their 
pleasure.  I  looked  round  for  Monsieur  Squallini,  and  there  he  sat  on  the  little 
stool,  the  lonesomest  man  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  '  General,'  says  I,  '  that's  the 
sort  of  music  for  me.'  'Yes,  governor,'  said  the  president,  'that's  the  music 
that  makes  the  goose  flesh  come,  and  nothing  could  be  better  except  Wash- 
ington's march  upon  the  drum  and  fife.'  " 

Freeman  Walker  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  his  day. 
He  was  born  October  25^  1780,  in  Virginia,  and  when  seventeen  years  old 
came  to  Augusta  and  studied  law  with  his  brother,  George  Walker,  then  a  lead- 
inCT  member  of  the  bar.  In  1802  he  began  practice,  and  soon  rose  to  eminence, 
being  equally  distinguished  for  solid  learning  and  bright  and  ready  wit.  In 
1807  he  was  sent  to  the  Legislature  from  Richmond  county,  and  in  18 17  chosen 
mayor  of  Augusta  by  the  city  council,  which  then  elected,  and  re-elected  in 
1818  and  18 19.  In  the  latter  part  of  that  year  he  was  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  resigned  the  mayoralty  on  December  8,  18 19,  in  order  to 
take  his  seat  in  that  august  body,  succeeding  the  celebrated  John  Forsyth. 
In  1 82 1  Major  Walker  resigned  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  and  in  the  next  year 
was,  for  the  fourth  time,  elected  mayor  of  Augusta.  The  portrait  of  this  dis- 
tinguished and  witty  advocate  hangs  in  the  mayor's  office,  and  represents  him 
as  a  strikingly  handsome  man,  with  an  air  of  quiet  dignity  through  which  lurks 
in  his  bright  eye  the  spirit  of  merriment  and  humor.  As  has  been  elsewhere 
stated,  he  is  believed  to  be  the  Freeman  Lazenby  of  one  of  Judge  Longstreet's 
lauf^hable  "  Georgia  Scenes,"  and  by  his  genial  manners  made  hosts  of  friends. 
While  somewhat  quick  in  temper,  he  was  ready  to  see  the  laughable  side  of 
a  serious  matter,  as  is  amply  evidenced  by  his  encounter  with  the  famous  Judge 
Dooly,  so  celebrated  for  his  wit  and  humor.  While  on  circuit  once,  the  bar 
supper  waxed  uproarious.  The  fun  grew  fast  and  furious,  and  in  those  days 
when  the  wine  flew  freely  hard  rubs  were  given  and  received.  Judge  Dooley 
was  in  more  than  ordinary  spirits,  and  jested  so  long  and  roughly  with  Major 
Walker,  that  the  latter's  equanimity  finally  gave  way,  and  catching  up  a  chair 
he'advanced  on  his  tormentor.  The  judge  seized  a  large  carving  knife,  and 
affairs  looked  serious.  Several  gentlemen  seized  the  judge,  and  but  one  caught 
hold  of  Major  Walker.  With  a  comical  look  the  judge  cried  out,  "  Gentlemen, 
one  of  you  will  be  sufficient  to  prevent  me  from  doing  mischief;  the  rest  of  you 
had  better  hold  Major  Walker!"  The  laugh  which  followed  restored  the  era 
of  wood  feeling,  and  the  fun  and  frolic  went  on  as  before.  Major  Walker  died 
at  the  age  of  forty-seven,  and  the  opinion   of  his  contemporaries  is  expressed 


■'—I  b,,l  uiHU,: 


Bench  and  Bar.  235 

in  his  epitaph  as  written  by  his  friend,  Richard  Henry  Wilde,  author  of  that 
beautiful  poem,  "  My  life  is  like  the  summer  rose." 

"  Consecrated 

to  the  cherished  memory  and  mortal  relics 

of 

Freeman  Walker, 

an  able  and  successful  advocate, 

a  graceful  and   fluent  speaker. 

His  influence  as  a  statesman,  his  reputation  as  an  orator,  and 

his  urbanity  as  a  gentleman,  were  embellished  ;ind  endeared 

by 

social  and  domestic  virtues. 

Long  a  distinguished  member  of  the  bar. 

Often  elected  to  the  Legislature  of  the  State, 

he  at  length  became 

one  of  her  senators  in  Congress, 

and  retired  after  two  years  of  honorable  service, 

to  resume  a  profitable  profession, 

which  he  practiced  with  untiring  industry,  and 

unblemished  character,  until  shortly  before  his  death. 

Generous,  hospitable,  and  humane, 

of  cheerful  temper  and  familiar  manner, 

he  was  idolized  by  his  family, 

beloved  bv  his  friends, 

and 

admired  by  his  countrymen. 

Even  party  spirit  in  his  favor 

forgot  something  of  its  bitterness,  and  those 

who  differed  from  the  politician, 

did  justice  to  the  man. 

Born  in  Virginia,  in  October,  1780, 

His  brilliant  and  useful  life 

was  terminated  by  a  pulmonary  complaint 

on  the  23d  day  of  September,  1827, 

in  the  47th  year  of  his  age." 

Walker  county  is  named  after  Major  Freeman  Walker. 

John  P.  King  was  another  celebrated  lawyer  of  the  time.  Mr.  King  was 
born  in  Kentucky,  but  at  an  early  age  made  Georgia  his  home,  and  adopted 
the  law  as  a  profession  in  Augusta.  In  1832  he  was  made  judge  of  the  City 
Court  of  Augusta,  succeeding  Hon.  Robert  Raymond  Reid,  who  had  been 
appointed  United  States  judge  in  Florida.  In  1833  Mr.  King  was  appointed 
to  the  United  States  Senate  in  the  place  of  Governor  Troup,  resigned,  and  in 
1835  was  elected  by  the  Legislature,  but  resigned  in  1837.  On  his  return  to 
Augusta  Judge  King  seemed  to  foresee  the  enormous  development  of  the  rail- 
way system,  and,  abandoning  the  practice  of  his  profession,  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  railroad  affairs.      He  was  prominent  in  creating  the  Georgia  Railroad  ; 


^6      •  History  of  Augusta. 


was  for  very  many  years  president  of  that  company,  one  of  the  oldest,  most 
useful  and  most  substantial  in  the  United  States,  and  may  be  justly  termed  the 
father  of  the  road.  Judge  King  died  in  Augusta  in  1887  at  a  very  advanced 
age,  being  at  the  time  of  his  demise  the  oldest  United  States  senator  surviving. 

Nicholas  Ware  was  also  an  Augusta  lawyer  of  the  old  school.  He  was 
born  in  Virginia  in  1776,  studied  law  in  Augusta,  then  attended  the  famous 
Gould  Law  School  at  Litchfield,  Conn.,  and  on  his  return  began  practice  in 
this  city.  When  Major  Freeman  Walker  resigned  the  mayoralty  of  Augusta 
to  take  his  seat  in  the  United  States  Senate,  Mr.  Ware  was  elected  in  his  place 
and  re-elected  in  1820,  and  a<4ain  in  1821.  In  the  latter  part  of  1821  he  re- 
rigned  in  order  to  enter  the  United  States  Senate,  where  he  died  in  1824. 
Mr.  Ware  was  a  strong  friend  of  the  Richmond  Academy  and  distinguished 
for  his  literary  tastes.      Ware  county  is  named  after  him. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  lawyers  of  Augusta  was  John  Forsyth.  He 
was  born  in  Virginia  in  1781,  and  four  years  afterwards  his  father,  an  officer  of 
the  Revolution,  removed  to  Augusta,  Here  the  elder  Forsyth  was  made  United 
States  Marshal,  and  in  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  lost  his  life.  About  1795  a 
ca.  sa  issued  out  of  the  United  States  Court  for  the  arrest  of  one  Beverly  Allen, 
a  preacher  from  Wilkes  county.  Allen  barricaded  himself  in  a  storehouse  in 
Augusta,  and  when  the  marshal  forced  the  door,  shot  him  dead.  The  grave 
of  marshal  Forsyth  is  to  be  seen  in  St.  Paul's  churchyard,  with  an  inscription 
laudatory  of  his  services  in  the  Revolution,  and  his  unflinching  courage  in  the 
execution  of  duty.  On  the  tomb  is  also  graven  the  insignia  of  the  Order  of 
the  Cincinnati. 

John  Forsyth  studied  law  in  Augusta  with  Mr.  Noel,  and  was  admitted  in 
1802,  when  just  of  age.  From  1808  to  181  i  he  was  attorney  general  of  the 
Middle  Circuit,  from  181 2  to  1818  was  member  of  Congress,  in  18 18  was 
elected  to  the  United  States  Senate,  but  in  18 19  resigned  in  order  to  accept  the 
position  of  United  States  minister  to  Spain.  There  he  remained  four  years, 
and  satisfactorily  adjusted  all  the  delicate  questions  growing  out  of  the  cession 
of  Florida  to  the  United  States.  In  1823,  while  still  in  Spain,  he  was  re-elected 
to  Congress,  and  returned  at  each  succeeding  election  till  he  resigned  in  1827 
and  was  elected  governor  of  Georgia.  As  governor  Mr.  Forsyth  gave  great 
attention  to  the  amendment  of  the  law.  He  urged  the  codification  of  the  laws 
and  the  creation  of  a  Supreme  Court,  which  latter  reform  was  adopted  in  1845, 
and  the  former  in  i860.  At  the  end  of  his  gubernatorial  term,  in  1829,  Mr. 
Forsyth  was  again  sent  to  the  United  States,  succeeding  the  celebrated  John 
McPherson  lierrien,  of  Savannah,  and  became  the  champion  of  President  Jack- 
son, in  that  body.  In  183  i  he  was  elected  for  the  full  term  of  six  years.  He 
stood  by  General  Jackson  manfully  in  the  nullification  issue,  the  bank  question, 
and  other  exciting  controversies  of  that  time,  and  in  1834  became  secretary  of 
State,  and  for  seven  years  was  the   head  of  the  cabinet,  holding  during  the 


Bench  and  Bar.  237 


second  term  of  President  Jackson  and  during  the  presidency  of  his  successor, 
Martin  Van  Buren.  In  March,  1841,  General  Harrison  became  president,  and 
appointed  Daniel  Webster  secretary  of  State.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  Mr.  For- 
syth died.  One  of  the  last  objects  to  which  he  devoted  his  attention  when 
secretary  of  State  was  the  annexation  of  Texas,  and  while  he  did  not  live  to  see 
it  accomplished,  his  efforts  paved  the  way  for  that  consummation  a  few  years 
later.  Mr.  Forsyth  is  said  to  have  been  a  model  of  manly  beauty,  and  to  have 
possessed  a  voice  as  clear  as  a  silver  clarion.  His  abilities  as  a  diplomatist  and 
a  debater  were  so  evenly  balanced  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  in  which  he  excelled. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

BENCH    AND    BAR,    CONCLUDED, 

Eminent  Lawyers  of  Augusta,  Continued  —  Richard  I  lenry  Wilde  —  "  My  Life  is  Like  tlie 
Summer  Rose"  —  George  W.  Crawford  —  Charles  J.  Jenkins —  Ebenezer  Starnes- — Andrew 
J.  Miller —  William  T.  Gould  —  Henry  H.  Gumming  —  Governor  William  Schley  —  Judge  John 
Shly  —  Judge  Holt  —  Herschel  V.  Johnson  —  Court  Roll  of  Judges  from  1776  —  Solicitors- 
General  from  1796  —  City  Court  of  Augusta  —  Origin  and  History  —  Court  Roll. 

RICHARD  HENRY  WILDE  was  a  most  eminent  lawyer,  and,  what  is 
remarkable,  as  great  in  the  civil  law  courts  of  Louisiana,  where  he  prac- 
ticed in  the  latter  years  of  his  life,  as  in  the  common  law.  Mr.  Wilde  was  born 
in  Dublin,  September  24,  1789,  and  was  reared  from  his  thirteenth  year  in 
Augusta,  where  his  widowed  mother,  by  heroic  efforts,  supported  a  large 
family.  Mr.  Wilde  aided  her  all  his  tender  age  and  extremely  delicate  health 
permitted,  and  in  the  meanwhile  read  law  incessantly  by  himself,  being  too 
poor  to  pay  the  fee  then  usual  for  instruction  in  a  practitioner's  office.  Fear- 
ful he  could  not  stand  an  examination,  and  dreading  a  failure  at  home,  he  made 
application  in  Greene  Superior  Court,  then  presided  over  by  Judge  Early,  a 
rigid  martinet,  and  more  severe  even  than  usual  at  the  spectacle  of  a  student 
applying  for  admission  away  from  his  own  home.  But  a  three  days'  examina- 
tion failed  to  shake  young  Wilde,  and  he  was  triumphantly  admitted.  His 
success  at  the  bar  was  immediate.  In  181  5  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  again 
in  1825,  in  1828,  and  from  that  time  continuously  till  1835.  ^^  ^^'^^^  .sailed 
for  Europe  and  remained  abroad  till  1842,  writing  two  learned  works  on  the 
great  Italian  poets,  Dante  and  Tasso.  In  1842  he  returned  home,  but  shortly 
afterwards  removed  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  took  rank  at  once  with  the  then 
leaders  of  the  civil   law,  Prentiss,  Benjamin,  Soule,  and  others.      In    1847  he 


238  History  of  Augusta. 


died  in  that  city  of  yellow  fever.  During  his  professional  career  Mr.  Wilde 
was  frequently  engagj^d  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  but 
his  fame  as  a  lawyer  makes  him  less  known  than  one  beautiful  poem  which 
met  Byron's  applause,  and  has  been,  by  unanimous  consent  of  the  world  of 
letters,  acknowledged  to  be  an  unapproachable  gem.  It  was  written  in  1820, 
and  for  some  time  there  was  a  controversy  as  to  whether  it  were  original  or  a 
plagiarism  from  the  Greek  poet,  A1c;eus.  The  facts  are  that  after  "  My  Life 
is  Like  the  Summer  Rose"  was  written  by  Mr.  Wilde,  Mr.  Barclay,  then  Brit- 
ish consul  at  Savannah,  and  a  man  of  letters,  translated  it  into  Greek  for  the 
amusement  of  himself  and  friends,  and  this  translation  coming  under  the  ob- 
servation of  some  critic,  was  compared  by  him  with  the  poem,  with  the  result 
that  Mr.  Wilde  was  accused  of  plagiarism.  Several  eminent  Greek  scholars 
pronounced  Mr.  Barclay's  translation  not  Greek  poetry  at  all,  but  prose,  and 
modern  Greek  prose  at  that ;  and  declared  that  no  fragments  of  Alcaeus  were 
extant  at  all  resembling  the  poem.  Mr.  Barclay  was  much  distressed  at  the 
use  made  of  his  translation,  intended  as  it  was  solely  for  the  private  entertain- 
ment of  himself  and  friends,  and  wrote  Mr.  Wilde  a  letter  in  which  he  stated 
that  it  was  beyond  question  he  was  the  author  of  the  beautiful  lines  in  contro- 
versy.     The  poem  we  here  subjoin  : 

Mv  Lir-'E  IS  Like  the  Summer  Rose. 

My  lile  is  like  the  summer  rose, 

That  opens  to  the  morning  sky, 
And,  ere  the  shades  of  evening  close, 

Is  scattered  on  the  ground  to  die. 

Yet  on  that  rose's  humble  bed 
The  softest  dews  of  night  are  shed, 
As  though  she  wept  such  waste  to  see  ; 
But  none  shall  drop  a  tear  for  me  ! 

My  life  is  like  the  autumn  leaf, 

Which  trembles  in  the  moon's  pale  ray  ; 
Its  hold  is  frail,  its  date  is  brief, 

Restless, — and  soon  to  pass  away : 

Yet  when  that  leaf  shall  fall  and  fade, 
The  parent  tree  will  mourn  its  shade, 
The  wind  bemoan  the  leafless  tree  ; 
But  none  shall  breathe  a  sigh  for  me. 

My  life  is  like  the  print  which  feet 

Have  left  on  Tampa's  desert  strand  : 
Soon  as  the  rising  tide  shall  beat. 

Their  trace  will  vanish  from  the  sand  : 

Yet,  as  if  grieving  to  efface 

All  vestige  of  the  human  race. 

On  that  lone  shore  loud  moans  the  sea  ; 

But  none  shall  thus  lament  for  me. 


Bench  and  Bar.  ^^g 


George  W.  Crawford  was  born  in  Columbia,  formerly  Richmond,  county 
December  22,  1798,  and  after  graduating  at  Princeton,  in  1820,  began  thJ 
study  of  the  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Richard  Henry  Wilde,  in  Augusta.  In 
1822  he  was  admitted  and  at  once  established  a  fine  practice.  In  March,  1 827 
he  was  appointed  attorney- general  of  the  Middle  Circuit,  and  in  November'of 
that  year  elected  for  the  full  term  and  re-elected  in  1828,  serving  until  the  fall 
of  1 83 1,  when  he  was  .succeeded  by  Charles  J.  Jenkins.  In  1837  he  was  sent 
to  the  State  Legislature  and  returned  at  each  succeeding  election,  save  one, 
till  1842.  In  that  year  he  was  sent  to  Congress,  but  in  1843  was  elected 
governor.  In  1845  he  was  again  elected  governor.  His  administration  of 
this  office  was  remarkable  for  the  re-establishment  of  the  credit  of  the  State, 
which  had  become  seriously  impaired.  The  confidence  of  the  banks  and 
financiers  of  the  State  in  Governor  Crawford  had  much  to  do  with  this  result, 
and  the  governor's  confidence  in  the  success  of  his  own  plans— for  which  he 
pledged  his  own  means  to  the  extent  of  $150,000— had  equally  as  good  an 
effect.  The  bonds  of  the  State  were  brought  to  par,  and  its  monetary  affairs 
happily  rehabilitated.  In  1849  President  Taylor  appointed  Mr.  Crawford 
secretary  of  war,  but  on  the  death  of  the  president  he  resigned  and  retired  to 
private  life. 

Charles  Jones  Jenkins  was  born  in  South  Carolina  in  1805,  and  educated  at 
Union  College,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  under  that  famous  preceptor;  Rev.  EHphalet 
Nott.      Graduating  in  1824,  Mr.  Jenkins  began  the  practice  of  law  in  Augusta^ 
and  in  183 1  was  elected  attorney- general  of  the  Middle  Circuit,  retaining  that 
position  till  1834,  being  succeeded  by  that  able  jurist,  Ebenezer  Starnes.''    He 
served  many  terms  in  the  Legislature  from  Richmond  county,  and  was  several 
times  speaker  of  the  House.      In  August,  i860,  he  became  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia,  and  remained  on  that  bench  till  the  fall^^of 
1865,  when   he  was  elected  governor.      Troubled   days   shortly  ensued.      In 
March,  1867,  the  State  government  was  declared  illegal   by  Congress  and  the 
State  placed  under  military  rule.      Governor  Jenkins  resolutely  recused  to  sur- 
render  his  chair  to  General  Ruger,  who  had  been  appointed  military  governor 
until  uniformed  force  would  be  employed,  when,  stating  that  he  was  powerless 
to  resist,  he  left  the  capitol.     The  key  of  the  treasury  and  the  great  seal  of  the 
State  he  refused  to  give  up  under  any  circumstances,  and  carried  them  off  with 
him.      Determined  to  sustain  the  civil  power,  if  possible,  he  filed  a  bill  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the   United  States,  in  the  name  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  to 
enjoin  the  execution  of  the  reconstruction  acts  on  the  ground  that  Congress 
could  not  constitutionally  prostrate  a  State  under  military  rule.      The  Supreme 
Court  held  that  this  was  a  political  question  over  which  it  had  no  jurisdiction 
On  the  restoration  of  the  State  government,  in  1870,  the  Legislature  adopted 
the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  his  excellency,  the  governor,  be  authorized   and  instructed 


240  History  ok  Augusta. 


to  have  prepared,  and,  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  Georgia,  to  present  to  Hon. 
Charles  J.  Jenkins,  a  seal  to  be  the  lac-simile  of  the  one  preserved  and  restored 
b)'  him,  except  that,  in  addition  to  other  devices,  it  shall  have  this  inscription  : 
"  Presented  to  Charles  J.  Jenkins  by  the  State  of  Georgia,"  and  this  legend, 
' '  in  arduis  fidelis. 

In  1877  Governor  Jenkins  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  held  that  year,  and  was  made  president  of  the  body.  He  died  in 
1883,  bearing  the  name  of  "  noblest  Roman  of  them  all." 

Ebenezer  Starnes  was  a  sound  and  eminent  jurist.  In  1834  he  was  ap- 
pointed attorney-general  of  the  Middle  Circuit,  and  was  subsequently  elected 
to  the  same  position  by  the  Legislature,  and  performed  its  duties  till  the  fall 
of  1840. 

In  November,  1849,  Mr.  Starnes  was  elected  judge  of  the  Middle  Cir- 
cuit, and  in  February,  1853,  while  still  on  the  bench,  was  appointed  to  the 
Supreme  Court,  vice  Judge  Warner  resigned.  At  its  next  session  the  Legis- 
lature elected  him  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  for  si.x  years,  but  he  resigned 
at  the  close  of  1855.  From  the  establishment  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Georgia  up  to  the  time  Judge  Starnes  left  the  Superior  Court  bench,  there 
were  many  reversals  of  the  judgments  below,  the  proportion  being  forty-eigh; 
per  cent.,  but  out  of  thirty-eight  Superior  Court  judges.  Judge  Starnes  was  the 
most  generally  sustained,  but  seventeen  per  cent,  of  his  decisions  being  re- 
versed. Judge  Starnes  was  of  a  grave  and  dignified  demeanor,  a  lawyer  of 
ripe  learning,  and  a  man  of  kind  heart  We  remember  that  he  prided  himself 
on  being  descended  from  Lawrence  Sterne,  the  famous  English  writer,  and 
once  mentioned  that  the  family  crest  was  a  starling,  a  bird  which  is  the  subject 
of  one  of  Sterne's  most  beautiful  passages. 

Andrew  J.  Miller  was  a  distinguished  contemporary  of  Wilde,  Crawford, 
Jenkins,  and  Starnes.  Mr.  Miller  was  born  in  Camden  county,  Georgia,  in 
1806,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  was  entered  a  cadet  at  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy.  His  tastes  lay  in  another  direction  and  he  soon  returned  home 
and  began  the  study  of  law.  When  but  nineteen  he  was  authorized  to  be 
admitted  to  the  bar  by  a  special  act  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  in  1825 
entered  on  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Mr.  Miller  verified  the  observation 
that  labor  is  genius  He  devoted  himself  to  a  careful  study  and  preparation 
of  his  cases  ;  was  always  prompt  and  ready,  and  soon  stood  at  the  front  of  the 
bar.  In  1836  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
in  1837  was  sent  to  the  State  Senate,  and  continued  to  be  a  member  of  that 
body  until  his  death  in  i8t6.  He  was  twice  president  of  the  Senate,  and  even 
when  not  in  the  chair  was  the  recognized  arbiter  in  all  questions  of  parlia- 
mentary procedure  and  law.  He  aided  very  greatly  in  projecting  and  accom- 
plishing the  Western  and  Atlantic  or  State  road,  and  during  his  entire  legisla- 
tive life  labored  zealously  in   favor  of  the  passage  of  a    law    reserving  to   a 


Bench  and  Bar.  241 


married  woman  the  title  to  her  property.  Rules  of  law  in  vogue  for  centuries 
do  not  readily  yield,  and  Mr.  Miller  passed  away  without  carrying  his  favorite 
measure,  but  in  1866  it  became  law,  and  has  now  become  a  principle  imbedded 
in  the  State  constitution.  In  one  of  the  many  eulogies  pronounced  over  Mr. 
Miller  on  his  untimely  demise,  was  one  which  especially  referred  to  this  fact. 
In  the  House  of  Representatives  Mr.  Thornton,  of  Muscogee,  said  :  "  He  was, 
sir,  the  friend  of  woman,  and  I  am  glad  that  they,  by  their  presence  to-day, 
sanction  the  last  act  of  respect  paid  to  his  name.  He  was  the  first  who  raised 
his  arm  and  his  voice  to  battle  for  woman's  rights.  For  eighteen  years  he 
fought  for  the  widow  and  her  daughters,  and  he  never  would  have  ceased  his 
efforts  until  he  had  carried  his  bill  for  the  protection  of  their  property.  They 
should  build  him  a  monument  to  commemorate  his  exertions  in  their  behalf. 
He  was  their  friend  and  advocate." 

Mr.  Miller  was  at  the  time  of  his  death  a  member  of  the  State  Senate,  city 
attorney  of  Augusta,  and  president  of  the  Medical  College  of  Georgia.  The 
Legislature  sent  a  special  committee  to  his  obsequies,  created  a  new  county  — 
Miller — in  his  honor,  and  ordered  a  monument  to  be  erected  to  him. 

William  T.  Gould  was  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  1 882,  the  Nestor  of  the  Au- 
gusta bar.  He  was  the  son  of  the  celebrated  jurist,  William  Gould,  whose  law 
school  at  Litchfield,  Conn.,  was  in  its  time  the  most  famous  seat  of  legal  learn- 
ing in  the  United  States,  and  was  in  point  of  legal  attainments  a  worthy  scion 
of  such  a  stock.  Judge  Gould  cared  nothing  for  political  preferment,  but  at  the 
bar  was  for  more  than  half  a  century  a  central  figure.  He  was  for  many  years 
attorney  of  the  Georgia  Railroad,  and  for  most  of  the  time  from  185  i  to  1876, 
was  judge  of  the  City  Court  of  Augusta.  He  survived  to  an  extreme  old  age, 
but  retained  his  intellectual  faculties  unimpaired  almost  to  the  very  last.  There 
was  none  of  the  uncertainty  or  forgetfulness  of  the  ordinary  old  man.  During 
his  active  life  the  judge  was  a  devoted  Mason,  and  almost  at  the  close  of  his 
career,  when  unable  to  leave  his  chamber,  a  litigation  involving  the  title  of  the 
Masonic  Hall  arose.  The  minutes  of  the  order  gave  some  information  on  a 
vital  point,  but  in  such  a  concise  ambiguous  way  as  not  to  be  of  much  value. 
One  of  the  counsel  in  the  case  requested  us  to  accompany  him  on  a  visit  to  the 
judge  to  seek  information  as  to  the  facts.  As  soon  as  the  matter  was  stated, 
and  before  the  minutes  had  been  shown  him  to  refresh  his  memory,  the  vet- 
eran lawyer  in  a  surprisingly  terse,  clear  way,  recounted  all  that  had  occurred 
at  the  meeting  of  half  a  century  before.  There  was  not  a  moment's  pause  or 
hesitation.  It  was  a  wonderful  exhibition  of  the  strength  of  human  memory 
in  the  extremity  of  age. 

Colonel  Henry  H.  Gumming  may  be  regarded  as  the  father  of  the  Augusta 

canal.      He  seems  to  have  studied  the  subject  of  how  to  utilize  the  vast  water 

power  of  the  Savannah  River  for  years,  and  never  rested  until,  triumphing  over 

all  obstacles,  he  saw  the  water  finally  turned  in.      At  the  time  this  enterprise 

31 


242  History  of  Augusta. 


was  projected  it  was  asserted  that  the  city  council  possessed  no  legal  authority 
to  undertake  such  works,  nor  could  the  Le<^islature  confer  such  power,  but 
Colonel  Cumming's  legal  opinion  to  the  contrary  was  sustained  by  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  State  which  held  that  the  charter  conferred  the  power,  but 
if  not  the  General  Assembly  had  granted  such  authority,  and  was  fully  em- 
powered by  the  constitution  of  the  State  so  to  do. 

Governor  William  Schley  belonged  to  a  judicial  family.  He  was 
himself  judge  of  the  Superior  Courts  of  the  Middle  Circuit,  his  brother, 
John  Schley,  sat  upon  the  same  bench,  and  his  nephew,  William,  John 
Schley's  son,  was  judge  of  the  Superior  Courts  of  the  Eastern  Circuit. 
Governor  Schley  was  born  in  Maryland  in  1786,  was  educated  in 
Augusta,  and  came  to  the  bar  in  1812.  In  1825  he  was  elected  judge  of 
the  Middle  Circuit  and  served  till  1828.  In  1830  he  was  sent  to  the  Legis- 
lature from  Richmond  county,  and  in  1832  was  elected  to  Congress,  and  re- 
elected in  1834.  In  1835  he  was  elected  governor,  and  was  untiring  in  his 
efforts  to  build  the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  and  had  finally  the  satis- 
faction of  signing  the  bill  ordering  that  important  public  work.  It  will  have 
been  noticed  in  this  review  that  several  of  the  prominent  lawyers  of  Augusta 
had  a  strong  pejichatit  for  developing  industrial  enterprises,  and  the  Schleys 
were  particularly  notable  this  way.  After  a  long  public  career  Governor  Schley 
developed  a  taste  for  cotton  manufacturing,  greatly  to  the  surprise  of  his  friends 
and  of  himself  as  well.  When  asked  to  explain  this  the  governor  humorously 
replied  he  knew  not  how  he  had  become  so  tied  up  with  cogs,  and  spindles, 
and  motive  power.  At  one  time  he  said  he  was  so  disgusted  with  his  brother 
John's  devotion  to  mechanics  that  he  could  not  abide  a  wheel  on  his  planta- 
tion, even  if  it  were  only  a  wheelbarrow,  but  of  a  sudden  found  himself  im- 
mersed in  cotton  factories.  Governor  Schley  projected  and  at  one  timeow.ned 
Richmond  Factory,  a  cotton  manufacturing  establishment  on  the  waters  of 
Spirit  Creek,  still  in  operation.  While  late  in  entering  the  industrial  field  Gov- 
ernor Schley  won  victories  there  as  elsewhere,  his  factory  for  a'number  of  years 
paying  a  regular  dividend  of  sixteen  per  cent.  The  governor  also  requited  the 
debt  which  every  lawyer  owes  his  profession  by  the  compilation  of  Schley's 
"  Digest  of  English  Statutes  "  of  force  in  Georgia,  a  work  of  erudition  and 
value.      Schley  county  is  named  after  Governor  William  Schley. 

John  Schley,  or  Shly,  as  he  spelled  his  name,  started  in  life  as  a  coachmaker 
at  Louisville,  then  the  capital  of  Georgia.  At  that  time  supplies  were  pain- 
fully wagoned  up  from  Savannah,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  miles,  and  to  ob- 
viate this  tedious  and  expensive  method  of  transportation  Mr.  Schley  turned 
his  attention  to  the  improvement  of  the  Ogeechee  River  and  was  foremost  in 
urging  the  construction  of  the  canal  connecting  that  river  and  the  Savannah. 
Till  the  rise  of  the  railway  system  the  method  of  transportation  thus  devised 
was  of  immense  value.      Mr.  Shly  also  claims  the  honor  of  operating  the  first 


Bench  and  Bar.  243 


cotton  manufactory  in  Georgia.  It  was  a  primitive  afifair,  run  by  horse- power, 
but  did  good  work  in  its  way.  About  1830  Mr.  Shly  removed  to  Richmond 
county,  and  established  on  Butler's  Creek  a  cotton- mill,  Belleview  Factory, 
which  was  the  pioneer  in  that  field,  its  success  leading  to  the  establishment  of 
Richmond  factory  by  Governor  Schley,  and,  in  time,  to  the  construction  of  the 
Augusta  canal  and  the  rise  of  the  great  mill  industry  of  Augusta. 

While  busied  with  industrial  matters,  Mr.  Shly  found  time  to  study  law,  and 
in  1834  became  judge  of  the  Middle  Circuit.  In  1838  he  was  re-elected,  and 
again  in  1841,  serving  eleven  years.  Judge  Shly  gave  close  attention  to  the 
cases  argued  before  him,  and  in  one  instance  summarily  removed  an  obstacle 
to  his  giving  that  attentive  consideration  to  counsel  he  desired.  One  day  an 
eminent  lawyer  from  South  Carolina  was  arguing  a  knotty  point  before  him 
with  great  ability  and  learning.  The  bar,  partly  from  courtesy  and  partly 
from  the  excellence  of  the  argument,  were  paying  strict  attention  to  their 
Carolina  brother,  and  the  bench  was  evidently  much  impressed.  Not  less  in- 
terested was  the  veteran  clerk  of  the  court,  whose  desk  was  just  below  that  of 
the  judge.  From  long  attendance  Mr.  Clerk  had  become  a  pretty  fair  judge 
of  a  legal  argument  himself,  and  on  this  important  occasion  had  sharpened  his 
faculties  by  copious  potations.  As  the  argument  waxed  warm  he  could  not  re- 
tain his  seat,  and  rising  little  by  little,  finally  stood  bolt  upright  between  judge 
and  lawyer.  Absorbed  in  his  argument  the  jurist  went  on,  but  the  judge  was 
not  so  oblivious  of  the  obstruction  which  blocked  his  view.  A  sharp  repri- 
mand from  the  bench  dropped  the  clerk  into  his  seat  as  if  shot,  but  in  a  few 
minutes  he  was  bolt  upright  again,  and  wavering  from  side  to  side.  For  a  few 
minutes  the  judge  kept  time  with  the  oscillations,  vainly  trying  to  keep  from 
behind  the  form,  first  on  this  side  and  then  on  that.  Losing  patience  he  siezed 
the  court  docket  with  both  hands  and,  rising  in  the  stirrups,  came  down  on  the 
muddled  pate  before  him   with  a  vigor  which  dropped   Mr.  Clerk  at  lightning 

speed  into  his  seat.      "Now,  d you,"  said  the  court  beneath  his  breath,  "I 

think  you'll  stay  down";  then,  turning  to  the  astonished  counsel,  calmly  added 

with  great  courtesy.      "  Proceed,  Brother ,  I  think  we  need  apprehend 

no  further  interruption." 

Judge  Shly's  reason  for  changing  the  spelling  of  his  name  was  that,  as  ori- 
ginally written,  it  was  abominably  miscalled.  His  letters  and  papers  would 
come  as  Schooly,  and  Scully  and  Sleigh  and  Slack  and  in  a  dozen  other  wrong 
ways,  until  in  despair  he  hit  upon  Shly  as  a  combination  which  no  human  in- 
genuity could  pervert. 

Judge  William  W.  Holt  was  another  celebrated  jurist  of  the  olden  time. 
He  succeeded  Judge  Reid  as  mayor  of  Augusta  in  1825,  and  was  re-elected  in 
1826;  and  for  a  time  represented  Richmond  county  in  the  Legislature,  but 
his  tastes  turned  to  the  law,  and  he  is  mainly  remembered  for  his  long  and 
honorable  career  on  the  bench.      In  1828  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  Middle 


244  History  of  Augusta. 

Circuit,  succeeding  Governor  Schley,  and  served  till   1834,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Judge  John  Shly.     In  January,  1847,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Towns  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and  in  November  following  elected  by  the  Legisla- 
ture for  the  full  term,  serving  this  time  till  November,  1849.      I"  August,  1853, 
he  was  appointed   by  Governor  Cobb  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Judge 
Starnes,  appointed  to  the  Supreme  Court,   and  in  November  of  that  year  was 
elected  by  the   Legislature  for  still  another  full  term  ;    and  from  that  time  for- 
ward was  regularly  re-elected  term  after  term  till   1863.     The  length  of  this 
service  and  the  frequency  of  executive  appointment  and  legislative  election  is 
the  best  evidence  of  Judge  Holt's  legal  ability.     The  Supreme  Court  of  Geor- 
gia was  established  in  1845,  ^"d  during  the  early  portion  of  its  history  the  de- 
cisions of  the  circuit  judges  were  very  frequently  reversed,  the  proportion  of 
reversals  being  about  forty- eight  per  cent.,  this  being  probably  due  to  the  fact 
that  there  had  been  no  common  standard  on  many  legal  points  during  the  time 
when  each  Superior  Court  judge  was  supreme  in  his  own  circuit.     As  has  been 
stated,  Judge  Ebenezer  Starnes  had  the  least  number  of  judgments  reversed, 
and  next  to  him  came  Judge  Holt.     Tlie  memory  of  Judge  Holt  has  lingered 
long  at  the  bar  and  among  the  people.      One  portrait  of  him   hangs  in  .the 
mayor's  office  in  Augusta;  another  side  by  side  with  that  of  John  Macpherson 
Berneir,  the  great  advocate  of  Savannah,  on  the  walls  of  Burke  Superior  Court. 
Herschel  V.  Johnson,  twice  governor  of  Georgia,  was  born  in  Burke  county^ 
Ga.,  on  the  i8th  of  September,  18 12.      In   1834  he  graduated  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Georgia,  and  in  the  same  year  entered  on  the  practice  of  the  law  in 
the  city  of  Augusta,  having,  with  the  vigor  and  determination  characteristic  of 
the  man,  pursued  his  collegiate  and  legal  studies  simultaneously.      In  1839  he 
removed  from  Richmond  to  Jefferson  county,  and  soon  rose  into  public  prom- 
inence.     In  1843  he   was  nominated  for  Congress,  but  was  defeated  with  the 
whole  Democratic  licket.      The   next  year,  in  the  famous  presidential  contest 
between  James  K.  Polk  and   Henry  Clay,  he  was  Democratic  elector  for  the 
then  seventh  district.      In  1845,  and  again  in  1847,  he  was  strongly  supported 
for  governor  in  the  Democratic  State  Nominating  Convention,  but  on  both  oc- 
casions withdrew  his  name.      In  1848  Hon.  Walter  T.  Colquitt  having  resigned 
from  the  Cnited  States  Senate,  Governor  Towns  appointed  Mr.  Johnson  to  fill 
the  vacancy  ;   and  during  the  long  and  excited  senatorial  session  of  that  year 
he  attracted  great  attention  by  the  s  )lidity  and  brilliance  of  his  talents,  John  C. 
Calhoun  declaring  him  the  ablest  man  of  his  age  in  the  Senate.      In  1849  Gov- 
ernor Johnson  was  elected  judge  of  the  Superior  Courts  of  the  Ocmulgee  Cir- 
cuit, which  position  he  retained  till  nominated  in  1853  as  the  Democratic  can- 
didate for  governor.      His  opponent  in  this  contest  was  that  other  distinguished 
Georgian,  Hon.  Charles  J    Jenkins,  and  after  a  singularly  close  vote  (Johnson 
47,638,  Jenkins  47,128,)  the  subject  of  our  sketch  became  chief  magistrate  of 
Georgia.      In  1855  he  was  re-elected   governor  by  a  vote  of  53,478  to  43,228 


Bench  and  Bar.  245 


for  Hon.  Garnett  Andrews.  In  i860  Governor  Johnson  ran  as  vice-president 
on  the  Stephen  A.  Douglas  ticket,  and  in  1861  was  a  delegate  to  the  secession 
convention,  and  cast  his  vote  with  the  minority  of  eighty-nine  against  the  ma- 
jority of  two  hundred  and  eight  that  adopted  the  memorable  measure  of  Jan- 
uary 19,  1861:  "An  ordinance  to  dissolve  the  union  between  the  State  of 
Georgia  and  other  States  united  with  her  under  a  compact  of  government  en- 
titled 'The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America.'" 

In  1865  Governor  Johnson  was  president  of  the  constitutional  convention 
•called  under  the  reconstruction  scheme  of  President  Johnson  to  rehabilitate  the 
State,  and,  under  the  fond  persuasion  that  the  labors  of  the  body  would  be  ef- 
fectual to  that  end,  in  adjourning  the  convention  sine  die,  addressed  it  in  lan- 
guage which  cannot  be  read  even  now  without  emotion  : 

"  Our  old  mother,  thank  God,  is  not  dead,  but  she  has  been  reduced  to  ex- 
tremity. We  have  been  called  together  to  nurse  around  her  bedside,  and  to 
endeavor,  if  possible,  to  reanimate  and  reinvigorate  her  wasted  body  and  now 
almost  paralyzed  limbs,  and  to  drive  back  into  her  heart  the  vital  blood,  and 
bid  it  throb  until  the  vital  current  shall  stream  through  every  vein  and  artery, 
and  she  shall  bloom  again  in  the  beauty  and  vigor  of  health." 

The  Legislature  which  met  under  the  constitution  of  1865  elected  Governor 
Johnson  and  Hon.  Alexander  H.  Stephens  United  States  senators,  but  neither 
was  allowed  to  take  his  seat.  After  this  Governor  Johnson  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  the  law,  first  in  Augusta,  in  copartnership  with  that  eminent  jurist,  Judge 
Ebenezer  Starnes,  aad  afterwards  in  Jefferson  county.  In  1873  he  was  ap- 
pointed judge  of  the  Superior  Courts  of  the  Middle  Circuit,  which  position  he 
filled  with  exemplary  fidelity  and  usefulness  until  his  death,  which  occurred  at 
his  home  in  Jefferson  county,  on  the  i6th  of  August,  1880. 

Of  a  number  of  the  solicitors-general  of  the  Middle  Circuit  we  have  already 
spoken.  John  Forsyth,  George  W.  Crawford,  Charles  J.  Jenkins,  and  Ebenezer 
Starnes  are  prominent  on  the  list,  three  of  them  having  become  governor  and 
two  Supreme  Court  judges.  James  Gardner,  another  solicitor  or  attorney- 
general,  as  the  solicitor- general  of  this  particular  circuit  was  called,  was  a  prom- 
inent figure  in  the  politics  of  his  time,  and  was  supported  for  governor  in  one 
of  the  most  exciting  nominating  conventions  ever  held  in  the  State.  For  many 
ballots  he  led  all  opposition,  but  it  was  finally  seen  that  a  two-thirds,  then  nec- 
essary, could  not  be  obtained  and  he  withdrew.  Still  no  candidate  could  suc- 
ceed, and  finally  as  a  compromise  Joseph  E.  Brown  was  nominated,  thus  be- 
ginning the  career  which  has  made  him  so  prominent  a  figure  in  the  history  of 
Georgia. 

Having  confined  our  review  to  the  judges  and  lawyers  who  have  passed  into 
history,  we  will  not  speak  of  those  yet  in  life,  further  than  to  say  that  the  rep- 
utation of  Augusta  for  legal  ability  has  been  honorably  maintained.  We  here 
subjoin  a  court  roll  of  the  judges  who  have  presided  in  the  Superior  Court  of 


246 


History  ok  Augusta. 


Richmond  county  from  the  close  of  the  revolution,  and  a  list  of  the  solicitors- 
general  from  1796  to  the  present  day: 


Chief  Justices. 


John  Glen 1776 

William  Stephens   1780 

John  Wereat 1781 


George  Walton 1 782 

Henry  Osborne 1787 

Nathaniel  Pendleton 1789. 


Sui'EKioR  Court  Judges. 


George  Walton 1 790 

William   F'evv 1796 

George  Walton 1799 

Benjamin  Skrine 1804 

Robert  Walker 181 3 

Robert  R.  Reid 1816 

John  H.  Montgomery 18 19 

Robert  Walker 1822 

Robert  R.  Reid 1825 

William  Schley 1825 

William  W.  Holt 1828 


John  Shly 1834 

Roger  L.  Gamble .  .  .  ; 1 845 

William  W.  Holt 1847 

Ebenezer  Starnes    . 1849 

Andrew  J.  Miller 1853 

William  W.  Holt 1853 

James  S.  Hook 1 863 

William  Gibson    1866 

Claiborne  Snead 1 879 

Henry  C.  Roney 1883 


Solicitors-General. 


Henry  George  Caldwell 1 796 

Peter  Johnston  Carnes 1799 

Robert  Walker 1804 

John   Forsyth 1 808 

Alexander  Allen 181  i 

Alexander  M.  Allen 18 13 

Roger  L.  Gamble 1816 

Thomas   F.  Weils 1822 

George  W.  Crawford 1827 

Charles  J.  Jenkins 1831 

Ebenezer  Starnes 1834 


John  J.  Flournoy i 

Alpheus  Colvert i 

John  T.  Shewmake i 

William  R.  M'Laws i 

Alpheus  M.  Rogers i 

W.  W.  Montgomery i 

John  P.  C.  Whitehead i 

John  R.  Prescott i 

H.  Clay  Foster i 

Davenport  Jackson i 

Salem  Dutcher i 


843 
847 
851 

855 
859 
862 
865 
866 
868 
872 
877 


James  Gardner 1840      Boy  kin  Wright 1881 

h'roin  the  review  given  it  will  be  seen  that  the  bench  and  bar  of  Augusta 
have  been  honorably  prominent  in  public  affairs,  State  and  Federal. 

George  Walton  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  William  Few  and 
Abraham  Baldwin  were  the  only  two  of  the  Georgia  deputies  who  signed  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Freeman  Walker,  Nicholas  Ware,  Robert 
Walker,  Robert  Raymond  Reid,  and  William  W.  Holt  were  mayors  of  Augusta. 
Charles  J.  Jenkins,  Ebenezer  Starnes,  and  William  W.  Montgomery  became 
Supreme  Court  judges.  George  Walton,  John  Milledge,  John  Forsyth,  George 
W.  Crawford,  William  Schley,  Herschel  V.  Johnson,  and  Charles  J.  Jenkins  were 
governors  of  Georgia.  William  Few,  George  Walton,  Abraham  Baldwin,  John 
Forsyth,  Freeman  Walker,  Nicholas  Ware,  William  H.  Crawford,  and  John  P. 
King  became  United  States  senators,  and  John  Forsyth,  secretary  of  State; 
George  W.  Crawford,  secretary  of  war,  and  William  H.  Crawford,  secretary  of 
the  treasury.     The  counties  of  Baldwin,  Crawford,  Forsyth,  Glascock,  Johnson, 


Bench  and  Bar.  247 


Miller,  Schley,  Telfair,  Walker,  Walton,  and  Ware  still  commemorate  the  names 
of  men  eminent  in  the  history  of  Augusta's  bench  and  bar. 

The  history  of  the  Augusta  bar  is  largely  connected  with  the  Superior  Court, 
but  the  records  of  the  City  Court  show  many  of  the  names  already  mentioned. 
For  some  seventy  years  there  has  always  been,  under  one  name  or  another,  a 
tribunal  peculiar  to  the  city  in  which  a  vast  amount  of  legal  business  has  been 
done.  It  began  as  the  Mayor's  Court,  was  then  called  the  Common  Pleas,  and 
for  many  years  past  the  City  Court.  Its  history  we  here  synopsize,  adding  a 
court-roll  of  this  tribunal. 

By  act  of  December  19,  1 8 1 7,  there  was  established  in  Augusta  a  court  called 
the  Mayor's  Court,  the  mayor  being  ex-o^cio  judge  thereof,  the  jurisdiction 
whereof  extended  to  cases  involving  not  less  than  thirty  dollars  nor  more  than 
two  hundred  dollars.  For  his  compensation  as  judge  the  mayor  was  to  have, 
in  cases  not  exceeding  fifty  dollars,  a  fee  of  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents ;  in  cases 
of  over  fifty  and  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars,  two  dollars ;  over  one 
hundred  and  not  exceeding  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  three  dollars ;  and 
over  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  four  dollars.  It  was  made  a  court  of  re- 
cord, and  to  have  the  same  authority  as  the  Mayor's  Court  of  Savannah,  in 
which  court  the  sessions  were  to  be  monthly ;  there  was  to  be  an  appeal  from 
the  decision  of  the  mayor  to  a  jury  of  seven  men ;  the  proceedings  were  to  con- 
form to  those  of  the  Superior  Court ;  and  the  court  could  sit  as  a  court  of  in- 
quiry in  criminal  causes.  The  court  was  to  go  into  operation  on  January  i, 
1818. 

By  act  of  December  17,  1818,  it  was  provided  that  the  Mayor's  Court  should 
be  held  on  the  fourth  Monday  in  each  month,  and  iiave  cognizance  of  all  civil 
cases  not  involving  title  to  real  estate  within  the  city,  involving  not  less  than 
twenty  nor  more  than  two  hundred  dollars,  which  should  be  tried  by  a  jury  of 
twelve,  with  the  right  in  the  court  to  grant  a  new  trial  in  its  discretion.  In  the 
absence  of  the  mayor  any  member  of  the  city  council  might  preside,  or  the 
council  could  elect  a  ma.y or  pro  tern,  as  judge.  Proceedings  were  to  be  by  pe- 
tition, a  copy  of  which  was  to  be  served  on  defendant  five  days  before  court. 
The  court  could  issue  attachments,  hold  to  bail,  and  hear  claims  and  illegalities. 
The  city  council  was  to  elect  a  clerk  and  city  sheriff  for  the  court,  who  were  to 
hold  two  years,  and  have  the  same  fees  as  in  the  Superior  Court. 

By  act  of  December  9,^822,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Mayor's  Court  was  ex- 
tended to  cases  not  involving  realty,  where  the  defendant  resided  in  the  city, 
and  the  sum  involved  was  not  less  than  thirty  nor  more  than  three  hundred 
dollars,  but  in  no  case  was  the  court  to  have  jurisdiction  where  a  corporation 
or  body  politic  was  a  party.  There  was  to  be  an  appeal  in  all  cases  to  the  Su- 
perior Court. 

By  act  of  December  21,  1826,  the  name,  the  Mayor's  Court  of  the  city  of 
Augusta  was  changed  to  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  city  of  Augusta, 


248  History  of  Augusta. 


and  it  was  provided  that  the  judge  thereof  should  be  elected  by  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  hold  for  three  years. 

By  act  of  December  19,  1828,  the  jurisdiction  was  limited  to  cases  involv- 
ing not  less  than  thirty  nor  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars;  but  four 
terms  a  year  were  to  be  held,  on  the  fourth  Monday  in  January,  April,  July, 
and  October;  the  clerk  and  sheriff  were  to  have  but  two-thirds  of  the  fees 
theretofore  allowed ;  and  the  attorney  tax  fee  was  to  be  on  suits  pressed  to 
judgment,  three  dollars;   settled  before  judgment,  two  dollars. 

By  act  of  December  21,  1829,  the  jurisdiction  was  extended  to  three  hun- 
dred dollars,  cases  involving  title  to  land  or  within  a  magistrate's  jurisdiction 
excepted  ;  the  terms  were  to  be  held  six  times  a  year,  on  the  fourth  Monday 
in  January,  March,  May,  July,  September,  and  November;  rent  cases  were 
triable  at  the  first  term  ;  and,  when  the  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  was  absent, 
the  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas,  in  conjunction  with  the  justices  of  the  Inferior 
Court,  had  jurisdiction  in  habeas  corpus. 

By  act  of  December  21,  1830,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  was  confined  to 
cases  where  the  defendant  resided  at  the  commencement  of  the  suit  within  the 
corporate  limits  of  the  city  of  Augusta. 

An  act  of  December  26,  1831,  made  some  important  changes.  It  was 
provided  that  where  no  plea  was  filed  the  court  should  award  judgment,  with- 
out the  intervention  of  a  jury,  on  proof  of  the  plaintiff's  demand,  a  rule  now 
embodied  in  the  State  constitution.  It  was  also  provided  that  there  should  be 
no  appeal  to  the  Superior  Court,  but  to  a  special  jury  in  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas. 

By  act  of  December  24,  1832,  the  terms  were  changed  to  the  second  Mon- 
day of  F'ebruary  and  April,  fourth  Monday  of  May  and  July,  and  second  Mon- 
day of  October  and  December. 

By  act  of  December  22,  1834,  the  judge's  fees  were  fixed  at  two  dollars  in 
cases  not  exceeding  one  hundred  dollars  ;  where  between  one  hundred  and  two 
hundred  dollars,  three  dollars;  over  two  hundred  dollars,  four  dollars;  on 
issues  of  fraud  under  insolvent  debtors  act,  three  dollars.  All  the  laws  as  to 
interrogatories,  de  bene  esse,  and  subpcena  duces  tucnvi  were  made  applicable. 

By  act  of  December  24,  1835,  the  city  council  was  to  fill  vacancies  in  the 
office  of  clerk  or  sheriff  of  the  Common  Pleas,  the  city  marshal  to  act  as  sheriff 
till  such  election. 

By  act  of  December  30,  1836,  the  jurisdiction  was  extended  to  five  hun- 
dred dollars,  save  as  to  cases  within  magistrate's  jurisdiction  ;  the  terms  were 
made  quarterly,  on  the  second  Monday  in  February,  May,  August,  and  Novem- 
ber ;  the  court  was  empowered  to  foreclose  mortgages  within  its  jurisdiction  ; 
suits  were  to  be  filed  ten,  and  process  served  eight,  days  before  court ;  the 
judge  was  to  receive  from  the  city  council  a  salary  of  $i,000;  all  his  former 
fees  to  be  turned  over  to  the  council ;  and  judgment  might  be  rendered  at  the 
first  term  where  defendant  failed  to  plead. 


Bench  and  Bar.  249 


By  act  of  December  22,  1837,  the  provision  authorizing  the  court  to  ren- 
der judgment  at  the  first  term  where  defendant  failed  to  plead  was  repealed, 
and  process  was  to  be  served  nine  days  before  court. 

By  act  of  December  23,  1840,  the  terms  were  fixed  for  second  Monday  in 
February  and  May,  and  third  Monday  in  July  and  October,  and  in  event  of 
vacancy  in  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  Common  Pleas,  the  clerk  of  the  city  coun- 
cil was  to  act  as  such  till  the  vacancy  was  filled. 

By  act  of  December  27,  1842,  the  terms  were  fixed  for  fourth  Monday  in 
February,  May,  August,  and  November  ;  and  the  court  fees  were,  in  suits  not 
exceeding  one  hundred  dollars,  one  dollar  ;  between  one  hundred  and  two 
hundred  dollars,  two  dollars  ;  between  two  hundred  and  three  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars,  three  dollars  ;  over  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  four  dollars,  to 
be  paid  before  issue  of  process. 

By  act  of  January  21,  1852,  the  terms  were  fixed  for  first  Monday  in 
March,  fourth  Monday  in  May,  and  first  Monday  in  September  and  December. 
By  act  of  February  15,  1856,  "  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  city  of 
Augusta"  was  to  be  styled  "the  City  Court  of  Augusta,"  and  in  November, 
1857,  and  every  four  years  thereafter,  the  city  council  was  to  elect  the  judge; 
the  court  was  to  have  jurisdiction  of  all  offenses  not  punishable  by  death  or 
imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary,  committed  in  the  city  ;  and  to  have  a  grand 
jury  to  pass  on  indictments  therefor,  the  criminal  practice  to  be  the  same  as  in 
the  Superior  Court,  with  certiorari  to  that  court,  the  attorney- general  of  the 
Middle  District  was  to  be  the  prosecuting  officer  of  the  City  Court  and  the 
judge's  salary  was  increased  to  $1,500,  The  same  act  empowered  council  to. 
appoint  a  recorder  to  try  all  infractions  of  the  municipal  ordinances. 

By  act  of  Decetnber  17,  1861,  the  city  council  was  empowered  to  fix  the 
salary  of  the  City  Court  judge  not  to  be  less  than  $1,000. 

By  act  of  December  7,  1863,  the  judge  of  the  City  Court  was  given  con- 
current jurisdiction  with  the  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  in  habeas  corpus 
cases. 

By  act  of  March  9,  1865,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  was  extended  to  ten 
thousand  dollars,  and  the  tax  fee  on  suits  was  abolished. 

By  act  of  February  8,  1866,  it  was  provided  that  a  writ  of  error  should  lie 
from  the  City  Court  to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  by  act  of  February  6,  1866, 
the  jurisdiction  was  reduced  to  $1,000. 

By  act  of  December  13,  1871,  it  was  provided  that  the  City  Court  of  Au- 
gusta should  have  jurisdiction  of  suits  against  joint  obligors,  joint  promisers, 
joint  trespassers,  or  copartners,  where  one  resided  within  the  corporate  limits, 
a  second  original  to  issue  into  the  county  of  the  other's  residence. 

By  act  of  August  24,  1872,  the  City  Court  was  vested  with  concurrent 
jurisdiction  with  the  Superior  Court  in  all  cases  where  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
latter  was  not  exclusive  under  the  constitution,  in  cases  involving  not  more 


32 


250  History  of  Augusta. 


than  $1,000;  and  was  empowered  to  render  judgment  in  all  civil  causes,  with- 
out the  intervention  of  a  jury,  unless  the  defendant  made  written  demand  for 
a  jury  trial  before  the  call  of  the  appearance  docket.  The  grand  jury  was 
abolished,  and  criminal  causes  made  triable  on  written  accusation  founded  on. 
affidavit  of  a  prosecutor,  and  signed  by  the  solicitor-general. 

By  act  of  February  21,  1873,  the  mayor  was  directed  to  furnish  two  police- 
men to  act  as  bailiffs  during  the  session  of  the  City  Court. 

By  act  of  February  28,  1876,  the  City  Court  of  Augusta  was  abolished 
from  January  i,  1877,  and  its  unfinished  business  turned  over  to  the  Superior 
Court. 

By  act  of  September  22,  1881,  a  city  court  was  established  in  the  city  of 
Augusta,  with  a  territorial  jurisdiction  over  Richmond  county;  was  vested 
with  jurisdiction  in  all  civil  cases,  except  divorce,  ejectment  and  equity  causes,, 
involving  over  one  hundred  and  not  exceeding  two  thousand  dollars  (this  lat- 
ter limit  removed  in  1887) ;  its  authority  within  these  limits  being  concurrent 
with  that  of  the  Superior  Court.  It  was  also  given  cognizance  of  all  criminal 
cases  where  the  punishment  is  not  death  or  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary, 
to  be  tried  on  accusation,  based  on  affidavit,  and  by  the  judge,  unless  defen- 
dant demand  indictment  and  jury  trial.  The  judge  and  City  Court  solicitor 
were  made  appointable  by  the  governor  and  to  hold  four  years.  The  judge 
of  this  court  is  also  vested  with  the  management  of  the  county  business,  taxes, 
roads,  poor,  etc.  This  court  is  still  in  operation.  The  court  roll  of  the  judges 
of  the  City  Court  from  its  origin  as  the  Mayor's  Court  to  the  present  time  is 

as  follows : 

The  Mayor's  Court. — 1818-1827.     judges. 

Jan.  1,  1818-Dec.  8,  1 8 19 Freeman  Walker. 

Dec.  13,  1819-N0V.  21,  1821 Nicholas  Ware. 

.Dec.  12,  1821-April  10,  1822 Richard  Henry  Wilde. 

April  10,  1822-N0V.  18,  1822 Robert  Walker. 

Nov.  18,  1822-April  II,  1823 Freeman  Walker. 

April  II,  1823-April  12.  1825 Robert  Raymond  Reid. 

April  12,  1825-Oct.  4,  1826 William  W.  Holt. 

Oct.  27,  1826-Feb.  22,  1827 Robert  Raymond  Reid. 

The  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  City  of  Augusta. 

1 827-1 832 Robert  Raymond  Reid. 

June-Nov.,  1 832 John  P.  King. 

1832-1851 John  W.  Wilde. 

1851-1857 William  T.  Gould. 

The  City  Court  of  Augusta. 

1857-1866 William  T.  Gould. 

1866-1870 John  C.  .Snead. 

1870-1876 William  T.  Gould. 

The  City  Court. 

1881-         William  F;  Eve. 

City  Court  Solicitors. 

1881-1885   Louis  A.  Dugas,  jr. 

J         1885-         C.  Henrv  Cohen. 


The  Medical  Profession. 


251 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

THE   MEDICAL   PROFESSION. 

Augusta  Physicians  of  1760-1785  —  First  Sanitation  Act  —  Medical  Association  of  1808 
—  Medical  Society  of  Augusta  Incorporated  in  1822  — Medical  Academy  of  Georgia  —  Bach- 
elor of  Medicine  Degree  —  State  Board  of  Physicians  —  Medical  Institute  of  Georgia  —  Doctor 
of  Medicine  Degree  —  The  Medical  College  Organized —*  Roll  of  Graduates  —  Yellow  Fever 
of  1839 — -Celebrated  Report  Thereon  —  Non-contagiousness  Demonstrated. 

AS  early  as  1760,  when  Augusta  had  been  settled  but  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
we  read  of  a  Dr.  William  Day  being  a  resident  of  Richmond  county,  and 
it  may  fairly  be  inferred  that  he  was  a  gentleman  of  extended  practice  and 
consequent  acquaintance,  since  it  appears  he  was  one  of  the  three  tax  assessors 
of  the  county,  then  much  larger  than  it  is  now.  We  also  read  in  the  same 
year  of  a  Dr.  Thomas  Ford,  who  must  also  have  lived  in  Richmond,  then  a 
border  county,  as  the  Colonial  Assembly  votes  him  ^20  los.  for  attention  to 
"  the  people  of  this  province  wounded  by  the  Cherokee  Indians."  In  1773 
we  read  of  Dr.  Andrew  Johnston,  evidently  of  Augusta,  since  the  Assembly 
-votes  him  ^^3  for  examining  the  body  of  one  William  Miller,  who  had  been 
shot  about  twenty  miles  above  the  city,  the  coroner  desiring  medical  testimony 
at  the  inquest.  We  further  learn  from  an  ancient  act  of  about  this  period  that 
the  division  of  the  medical  profession  into  physicians,  surgeons  and  apothecaries 
was  rigidly  maintained.  Coming  down  to  the  close  of  the  Revolution,  we  find 
Dr.  Johnston  still  a  practicing  physician  in  Richmond  county,  and  that  Dr. 
Francis  Folliott  and  Dr.  Thomas  Taylor  were  contemporary.  It  appears  that 
these  gentlemen  took  the  king's  side  in  the  Revolutionary  struggle,  and  were 
included  in  the  bill  of  attainder  of  the  crown's  principal  adherents,  passed  in 
1778.  By  this  all  the  property  of  the  loyalists  was  confiscated  and  the  loyal- 
ists themselves  ordered  to  depart  the  State,  and  not  to  return  under  pain  of 
death.  It  does  not  appear  that  Drs.  Folliott  and  Taylor  were  relieved  of  their 
disabihties,  but  in  1785  Dr.  Johnston  was  permitted  to  return  home  and  re- 
sume practice  on  certain  conditions.  He  was  to  pay  an  amercement,  or  fine, 
of  one  per  cent,  of  his  property,  but  was  not  to  vote  or  hold  office  for  fourteen 
years.  The  usual  amercement,  where  the  bar  of  the  attainder  was  lifted,  being 
twelve  per  cent,  the  doctor  may  be  considered  as  fortunate,  and,  we  suspect, 
owed  his  good  fortune  to  the  influence  of  a  brother  physician.  Dr.  Cornelius 
Dysart,  who  took  the  American  side.  Dr.  Dysart  lived  on  the  Washington 
road,  about  three  miles  above  Augusta,  and  was  a  man  of  large  possessions, 
and,  at  one  time,  one  of  the  commissioners  to  administer  the  sequestrated 
•estates  of  the  loyalists. 


252  History  of  Augusta. 

About  this  time  the  first  known  steps  for  the  sanitation  of  Augusta  were 
taken.  At  that  period  the  town  had  a  deep  gully  extending  diagonally  across 
it  from  what  is  now  the  neighborhood  of  the  Riverside  Mills  towards  Green 
street,  while  on  the  southern  side  of  the  city  lay  a  species  of  morass  interspersed 
with  swamp  growtii.  In  1786  an  act  was  passed  empowering  the  trustees  of 
the  Richmond  Academy  to  lease  out  these  swamp  lands  or  commons,  for  terms 
of  seven  years  in  five  acre  lots,  the  preamble  of  the  act  giving  as  a  reason  that 
"the  clearing  and  cultivation  of  the  flat  lands  southward  of  Augusta  will  con- 
tribute much  toward  preserving  the  health  of  the  inhabitants,  as  well  as  add  to 
the  support  of  the  town."  About  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  ap- 
pears another  sanitary  act.  At  this  time  the  cotton-gin  had  become  an  estab- 
lished institution,  and,  especially  about  Augusta,  the  preparation  of  cotton  for 
market  had  become  a  prosperous  and  growing  business.  It  was  supposed  that 
the  cotton  seed  would  ferment  and  produce  unhealthful  odors,  and  in  1803  the 
Legislature  passed  an  act  that  the  owners  or  occupiers  of  cotton-gins  in  or 
about  any  town  or  village  should  keep  the  seed  dry,  and  at  least  once  a  week 
remove  them  to  such  a  distance  from  the  town  or  village  as  would  "  prevent  all 
the  unwholesome  effects  arising  from  the  stench  and  vapors  arising  from  the 
seed  in  their  putrid  state,  if  suffered  to  remain  in  heaps,"  under  penalty  of  a  fine 
of  three  dollars  per  week. 

In  July,  1808,  a  call  was  published  in  the  Augusta  Herald  for  a  meeting  of 
the  physicians  of  the  city  to  form  a  medical  association,  and  while  it  does  not 
appear  what  action  was  taken,  it  is  quite  probable  that  such  a  society  was  or- 
ganized. In  1822  there  was  such  an  organization,  the  officers  and  members  of 
which  were  Dr.  Anderson  Watkins,  president;  Dr.  Alexander  Cunningham, 
vice-president;  and  Doctors  Milton  Antony,  Thomas  J.  Wray,  W.  T.  Young, 
William  Savage,  John  Dent,  B.  D.  Thompson  and  Thomas  H.  M.  Fendall;  and 
by  act  of  November  27,  1822,  the  General  Assembly  incorporated  the  associ- 
ation under  the  name  and  style  of  "The  Medical  Society  of  Augusta,  Georgia." 
The  society  was  empowered  "  to  receive,  hold  and  enjoy  real  and  personal 
estate  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  said  institution  ;  "  and  was  made  "  capable  of 
receiving  any  bequest  or  donation,  whether  in  money  or  other  things  for  the 
benefit  of  said  institution  ;  "  and  empowered  to  "  sell,  lease,  or  exchange  any 
estate  by  them  acquired,  whether  by  purchase,  bequest,  or  donation  ;  "  from 
which  language  it  is  clearly  inferable  that  one  of  the  objects  of  the  society  was 
to  erect  a  medical  college  in  Augusta. 

This  intent  becomes  certain  when  we  consider  an  act  passed  on  December 
20,  1828,  "to  establish  and  incorporate  the  Medical  Academy  of  Georgia." 
By  this  act  Doctors  William  R.  Waring,  John  Carter,  Lewis  D.  Ford,  Ignatius 
P.  Garvin,  Benjamin  A.  White,  Samuel  Boykin,  William  P.  McConnell,  Walter 
H.  Weems,  William  P.  Graham,  Thomas  P.  Gorman,  Alexander  Jones,  Milton 
Antony,  John  J.  Boswell,  Thomas  Hoxey,  James  P.  Scriven,  William  C.  Daniel, 


The  Medical  Profession.  253 

Richard  Banks,  Henry  Hull,  John  Dent,  Thomas  Hamilton,  Tomlinson  Fort, 
Nathan  Crawford,  O.  C.  Foot,  and  John  Walker  were  constituted  a  body  cor- 
porate under  the  name  and  style  of  "  the  Trustees  of  the  Medical  Academy  of 
Georgia."  The  act  authorized  the  trustees  to  establish  within  the  corporate 
limits  of  the  city  of  Augusta,  a  medical  academy  for  the  State  of  Georgia,  on 
such  principle,  and  under  such  rules  and  regulations,  and  with  such  professors, 
instructors,  and  officers  as  may  be  best  calculated  to  perpetuate  the  same,  and 
promote  the  improvement  of  its  pupils  in  the  several  branches  of  the  healing 
art."  It  was  further  provided  that  the  trustees  should  annually  assemble  at  the 
Medical  Academy  for  an  examination  into  its  affairs,  five  to  be  a  quorum,  and 
that  the  said  "  trustees,  together  with  the  regular  professors  and  teachers  in 
the  institution,  shall  constitute  a  board  of  examination,  whose  duty  it  shall  be, 
at  the  said  annual  meeting,  after  thorough  examination,  to  decide  on  the  merits 
of  such  candidates  as  may  have  studied  in  the  said  institution  at  least  one  year, 
and  complied  with  all  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  board  of  trustees  as  pre- 
hminary  to  such  examination,  and  confer  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Medicine,, 
on  such  as  in  their  judgment  may  be  worthy  of  the  same."  The  trustees  were 
to  keep  a  record  "in  which  shall  be  registered  the  name,  age  and  place  of  na- 
tivity of  each  and  every  person  who  shall  receive  from  this  institution  the  de- 
gree of  Bachelor  of  Medicine,  and  the  time  when  the  said  degree  was  conferred, 
together  with  the  name  of  the  members  of  the  board  of  examination  present  " 
The  trustees  were  allowed  to  hold  real  and  personal  property  for  the  uses  of 
the  Medical  Academy  to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the 
graduates  of  the  institution  were  to  be  allowed  to  practice  medicine  and  sur- 
gery as  fully  as  if  licensed  by  the  State  Board  of  Physicians. 

The  board  of  physicians  here  referred  to  had  been  appointed  by  an  act  of 
the  General  Assembly  passed  December  24,  1825,  and  from  the  names  of  the 
appointees  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  faculty  of  Augusta  had  inspired  this  statute 
also.  The  following  gentlemen  constituted  the  State  board:  Doctors  Tomlin- 
son Fort,  Milton  Antony,  James  P.  Scriven,  Charles  West,  Anderson  Watkins,. 
Southworth  Harlow,  Ambrose  Baber,  B.  A.  White,  Norburne  B.  Powell,  Wal- 
ter H.  Weems,  William  P.  Graham,  John  Gerdine,  A.  B.  Redby,  O.  C.  Fort, 
Thomas  Hamilton,  William  C.  Daniel,  John  Dent,  Thomas  B.  Gorman,  Alex- 
ander Jones,  and  William  N.  Richardson.  The  act  provided  that  no  person 
should  practice  physic  or  surgery,  or  any  of  the  branches  thereof  or  prescribe 
for  the  cure  of  diseases  for  fee  or  reward  unless  licensed  so  to  do  by  said  board, 
under  penalty  of  a  fine  ot  not  exceeding  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  first  of- 
fense;  and  for  the  second  imprisonment  not  exceeding  two  months.  It  was 
also  provided  that  no  apothecary  should  vend  drugs  under  like  penalty,  unless 
licensed  by  the  board  after  examination  into  his  knowledge  of  pharmacy.  The 
substance  of  this  statute  is  law  to-day,  and  were  the  act  enforced  a  valuable 
safeguard  would  be  afforded  the  public  health,  and  much  malpractice  and  con- 


254  History  of  Augusta. 


sequent  suffering  obviated.  It  is  unfortunately  the  case,  however,  that  the  offi- 
cers of  the  law  are  derelict  in  arresting  and  prosecuting  those  prowling  quacks, 
mountebanks,  and  charlatans  who  from  time  to  time  peregrinate  the  country, 
robbing  the  ignorant  and  unwary,  and  leaving  in  their  trail  untold  agony. 

Ryan  act  passed  December  19,  1829,  the  name  "Medical  Academy  of 
Georgia."  was  changed  to  "The  Medical  Institute  of  the  State  of  Georgia."  and 
the  trustees  of  the  institution  were  empowered  "to  confer  the  degree  of  Doc-- 
tor  of  Medicine  upon  such  applicants,  in  such  manner,  at  such  times,  and  un- 
der such  circumstances  as  may  to  the  said  board  seem  fit  and  proper,  provided 
that  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  shall  in  no  case  be  conferred  on  any  per- 
son who  shall  not  have  attended  two  full  courses  of  lectures  in  the  institute,  or 
one  course  in  some  other  respectable  medical  college  or  university,  and  one  in 
the  institute  in  addition  to  the  usual  term  of  private  instruction  required  by 
other  institutions  of  a  like  kind." 

By  an  act  passed  December  20,  1833,  the  name  "  The  Medical  Institute  of 
the  State  of  Georgia,"  was  changed  to  "The  Medical  College  of  Georgia," 
which  it  has  since  retained.  The  act  appropriated  $10,000  "  for  the  purpose  of 
enabling  the  board  of  trustees  of  said  institution  to  procure  a  suitable  piece  or 
lot  of  land,  erect  thereon  such  buildings,  and  make  such  other  improvements 
as  may  be  necessary  for  the  various  purposes  of  a  medical  college,  and  to  pro- 
cure a  suitable  library,  apparatus,  and  museum  for  said  institution,  and  such 
other  things  as  may  be  necessary  to  the  proper  and  successful  operation  of  the 
same  "  It  was  also  provided  that  fifty  lots  on  the  town  commons  of  Augusta, 
to  be  designated  by  the  city  council,  should  be  sold  and  the  proceeds  paid  over 
to  the  college. 

By  an  act  passed  in  1826  the  Bank  of  Augusta  was  empowered  to  increase 
its  capital  stock  up  to  $600,000,  one-si.xth  of  any  increase  made  to  be  reserved 
to  the  State  at  par  up  to  the  end  of  the  legislative  session  next  ensuing  such 
increase,  and  by  act  of  December  23,  1835,  the  Medical  College  of  Georgia 
was  given  the  same  rights  of  priority  and  all  advantage  derivable  therefrom  as 
to  the  increased  stock  of  this  bank  as  the  State  had  under  the  act  of  1826. 

In  1835  the  Medical  College  was  erected,  and  from  that  time  to  the  present 
has  uninterruptedly  continued  its  career  of  usefulness.  For  many  years  The 
Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  a  professional  publication  of  great 
merit,  was  published  in  connection  with  it  by  Drs.  Paul  F.  Eve  and  Ignatius 
P.  Garvin.  While  the  present  college  building  was  not  erected  till  1835,  the 
work  of  instruction  began  at  an  earlier  period,  and  the  list  of  graduates  dates 
as  far  back  as  1829.  P'rom  that  time  to  the  present,  the  college  has  sent  forth 
1,675  graduates  —  from  Georgia,  1,264;  South  Carolina,  222  ;  Alabama,  135  ; 
Florida,  13  ;  Texas,  12  ;  Mississippi,  8;  North  Carolina,  5;  Tennessee,  4  ;  and 
Arkansas,  Canada,  Germany,  Ireland,  Kentucky,  New  Hampshire,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  and  West  Virginia,  one  each. 


The  Medical  Profession.  255. 

Shortly  after  the  completion  of  the  Medical  College,  Augusta  was  visited 
with  an  epidemic  which  severely  taxed  the  strength  and  skill  of  its  physicians. 
On  the  8th  of  June,  1839,  ^  number  of  members  of  a  family  residing  on  the 
river  near  Lincoln  street,  were  attacked  by  a  virulent  disease  taken  at  the  time 
to  be  a  remittent  fever.  On  the  5th  of  July  a  laborer  who  had  been  working 
in  the  same  vicinity  was  attacked  in  the  same  way  ;  then  a  little  boy  who  had 
been  playing  in  the  locality,  was  taken  with  like  symptoms  and  died  in  a  few 
days,  his  skin  turning  yellow  toward  the  close  of  his  illness  and  developing 
large  purple  blotches  shortly  after  death  Sundry  like  cases  then  occurred  in 
that  portion  of  the  city  adjacent  to  the  first  cases,  and  finally  on  August  19th 
the  physicians  of  the  city  were  summoned  into  consultation  by  the  mayor. 
Up  to  this  time  no  such  disease  had  been  known  in  Augusta  within  the  mem- 
ory of  man,  but  forty  cases  had  occurred,  the  development  was  now  rapid,  and 
it  was  clear  that  an  epidemic  prevailed.  The  disease  was  pronounced  yellow 
fever.  From  this  time  on  it  ran  the  usual  course  of  this  dreadful  disease,  in- 
creasing in  virulence  until  on  November  8,  terminating  by  a  black  or  killing 
frost.  There  were  from  1,500  to  2,000  cases,  and  240  deaths.  In  the  Au- 
gusta Chronicle  of  November  11,  1839,  "1^7  t)^  seen  the  list  of  the  victims. 

On  the  13th  of  November,  at  a  meeting  of  the  physicians  of  Augusta,  Dr. 
A.  Cunningham  was  called  to  the  chair,  and  Dr.  Paul  F.  Eve  appointed  secre- 
tary. The  following  resolution  offered  by  Dr.  F.  M.  Robertson  was  unani- 
mously adopted. 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  enquire  into  the 
origin  and  causes  which  gave  rise  to  the  late  epidemic  in  Augusta." 

Doctors  F.  M.  Robertson,  I.  P.  Garvin,  and  Paul  F.  Eve  were  appointed 
that  committee,  and  on  December  10,  1839,  made  their  report.  This  report 
is  one  of  the  most  valuable  contributions  known  to  the  literature  of  that  dreaded 
scourge,  yellow  fever.  In  1877  it  was  ordered  reprinted  by  the  City  Council. 
The  committee  say  they  considered  the  question  submitted  them  from  two 
standpoints,  viz  : 

"  I.  Was  the  cause  of  the  late  epidemic  introduced  into  our  city  from  for- 
eign sources  ? 

"II.   Did  it  arise  from   local  causes;   and  if  so,  what  were  those  causes?" 

Those  believing  the  disease  imported  were  of  three  classes.  The  first  be- 
lieved it  introduced  and  spread  by  contagion  ;  the  second  considered  that  the 
atmosphere  was  in  a  vitiated  condition,  and  that  the  introduction  of  one  case 
sufficed  to  impart  an  epidemic  constitution  to  an  already  vitiated  air  ;  and  the 
third  class  attributed  the  introduction  of  the  disease  to  some  decayed  tropical 
fruit  at  that  time  thrown  on  the  market.  The  committee  take  up  these  three 
theories  in  the  order  named,  and  discuss  them  with  signal  care,  skill,  and 
abiHty.  As  to  the  supposition  that  the  disease  was  introduced  and  spread  by 
contagion,  their  argument  is  so  unanswerable  that  it  has  now  passed  into  a 


256  History  of  Augusta. 


medical  axiom  that  yellow  fever  is  not  contagious.  We  give  a  brief  synopsis 
of  the  report  on  this  interesting  and  important  point.  On  July  27  two  per- 
sons arrived  from  Charleston,  then  suffering  from  an  epidemic  of  yeJlow  fever, 
or,  as  we  learn  from  the  report,  as  it  was  then  called,  "  stranger's  fever,"  and 
on  the  31st  of  July,  a  third,  all  unwell.  No  other  sick  person  arrived  from 
Charleston  prior  or  subsequent  to  those  dates,  so  that  if  these  parties  did  not 
introduce  or  spread  the  disease,  it  did  not  arise  from  contagion.  Of  the  two 
persons  arriving  on  July  27,  one  died  with  all  the  symptoms  of  yellow  fever. 
The  other  was  at  once  removed  to  the  extreme  western  portion  of  the  city  and 
recovered.  The  person  arriving  on  the  31st  also  recovered.  Many  persons 
visited  these  patients  and  in  fact  one  was  quartered  at  a  hotel,  but  no  case  of 
yellow  fever  could  be  traced  to  such  contact  or  proximity.  The  western  por- 
tion of  the  city  to  which  one  of  the  patients  had  been  removed  as  stated,  de- 
veloped no  fever  till  a  long  subsequent  period  in  the  history  of  the  epidemic. 
Having  thus  treated  of  the  only  known  imported  cases,  and  shown  that  no 
contagion  could  be  traced  to  them,  the  committee  refers  to  the  fact  that  the 
first  arrival  from  Charleston  was  on  July  27,  and  then  specifies  by  name  and 
date  eleven  cases  occurring  in  the  city  prior  to  that  date,  adding  that  numerous 
other  cases  could  be  mentioned  had  it  been  deemed  necessary.  The  report 
then  proceeds  to  give  the  localities  in  which  the  bulk  of  the  cases  occurring 
prior  to  August  19,  when  the  disease  was  declared  epidemic,  were  found,  and 
demonstrates  that  they  were  not  contiguous  to  the  places  where  the  Charles- 
ton cases  were  located,  but  lay  in  a  close  radius  about  the  house  on  the  river 
where  on  June  8th  the  first  case  was  discovered.  On  these  facts  the  committee 
submit  "that  the  epidemic  had  commenced,  fairly  and  decidedly,  before  the 
introduction  of  a  single  case  of  disease  from  Charleston  must  be  evident  to 
every  unprejudiced  mind." 

The  report  then  takes  up  another  argument  advanced  in  favor  of  the  theory 
of  contagion,  namely  that  a  number  of  persons  who  nursed  the  sick  were  them- 
selves attacked.  As  an  answer  to  this  it  is  shown  that  where  the  sick  were 
removed  out  of  the  infected  district,  not  one  single  person  engaged  in  nursing 
a  patient  was  known  to  have  had  the  disease  ;  and  the  conclusion  is  drawn 
that  it  was  not  proximity  to  the  sick,  but  habitancy  in  the  infected  district 
which  subjected  the  attendant  to  the  malady.  "This  we  consider  an  unan- 
swerable argument,"  says  the  report,  against  the  contagious  nature  of  the  pre- 
vailing fever.  If  the  disease  was  contagious,  how  could  a  removal  of  the  sick- 
half  a  mile  or  more  from  the  infected  part  of  the  city,  deprive  it  of  its  conta- 
gious properties  ?  On  the  grounds  of  contagion  this  cannot  be  explained,  but 
considering  the  disease  of  miasmatic  origin,  the  fact  is  easily  accounted  for. 
Those  who  nursed  the  sick  in  the  infected  district  were  exposed — and  that, 
too,  at  the  worst  period  of  the  twenty- four  hours  —  to  the  same  miasmatic 
exhalations  that  had  produced  the  disease  in  the  patient.      When  the  patient 


The  Medical  Profession.  257 

was  removed,  however,  to  an  atmosphere  free  from  the  malarial  poison,  the 
nurses  escaped,  though  they  were  exposed  to  the  exhalations  from  the  dis- 
eased body  of  the  patient,  who  often  expired  in  the  most  frightful  agonies, 
with  black  vomit,  hemorrhage,  and  all  the  evidences  of  extreme  putridity." 
The  committee  then  instanced  one  remarkable  case  where  there  was  no  com- 
munication whatever  with  the  sick.  A  criminal  under  sentence  of  death  in  the 
jail,  immured  in  a  cell,  and  having  seen  no  one  but  the  jailer  and  turnkey,  was 
the  first  person  in  prison  who  took  the  disease.  Again,  after  the  first  black 
frost,  which  occurred  on  November  8,  great  numbers  of  the  citizens  returned 
to  the  city.  If  the  disease  could  spread  by  contagion,  why  was  it  not  commu- 
nicated to  some  of  them  by  the  numerous  cases  then  still  under  treatment. 

The  report  next  takes  up  reports  made  by  eminent  physicians  of  Charles- 
ton, Norfolk,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  and  New  York  on  the  yellow  fever  in 
those  cities.  In  1839  the  fever  prevailed  in  Charleston  as  it  did  in  Augusta, 
and  in  the  former  city  it  was  a  general  impression  that  it  had  been  introduced 
by  a  vessel  called  the  BiirniaJt.  On  October  18,  1839,  Dr.  T.  Y.  Simons, 
chairman  of  the  Charleston  Board  of  Health,  read  before  that  body  "  a  report 
of  the  history  and  causes  of  the  strangers  or  yellow  fever,  of  Charleston,"  in 
the  course  of  which  he  says :  "  The  fever  having  occurred  so  earl)^  in  the  sea- 
son and  so  soon  after  its  occurrence  on  the  Burtnah,  created  suspicion  of  con- 
tagion in  the  minds  of  some,  but  I  could  not,  upon  the  minutest  investigation, 
come  to  that  conclusion,  and  a  committee  appointed  by  the  Medical  Society, 
after  making  a  minute  and  thorough  investigation,  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  fever  was  not  introduced  by  the  BurniaJi  or  by  contagion,  but  was 
produced  by  the  peculiar  condition  of  our  atmosphere,  in  other  words  was 
epidemic  and  arose  from  causes  among  us." 

The  committee  here  referred  to  was  composed  of  Drs.  A.  Lopez,  James 
Moultrie,  E.  Geddings,  I.  M.  Campbell,  Henry  Winthrop  and  J.  E.  Holbiook, 
the  president  of  the  Medical  Society.  The  following  is  from  the  report  of  that 
committee:  "Your  committee  are  therefore  of  opinion  that  the  yellow  fever 
which  has  prevailed  and  still  continues  this  season,  has  its  origin,  not  from  con- 
tagion derivable  from  those  cases  imported  in  the  ship  BurniaJi  on  the  6th  of 
June  last,  but  from  local  and  general  causes."  Dr.  Geddings,  chairman  of  this 
committee,  in  answer  to  a  query  from  the  chairman  of  the  Augusta  commit- 
tee, says  :  "  I  have  never  either  in  the  epidemic  of  the  present  summer  in 
Charleston,  or  in  any  of  those  which  preceded  it,  observed  a  single  fact  or  cir- 
cumstance favorable  to  the  belief  in  any  contagious  property.  On  the  con- 
trary I  have  witnessed  the  most  free  and  unlimited  intercourse  between  the 
sick  and  those  who  might  be  considered  subjects  for  the  disease,  without  the 
latter  being  attacked." 

In  speaking  of  the  yellow  fever  as  prevailing  in  Charleston  in  1799,  Dr. 
Ramsey,  the  eminent  physician  and  historian,  says  :    "  We  have   no  reason  to 
33 


258  History  of  Augusta. 


believe  that  the  yellow  fever  was  imported  among  us,  or  communicated  by 
contagion.  Strangers  who  left  the  city  and  afterwards  sickened  and  died  in 
the  country,  were  not  the  occasion  of  death,  or  even  disease  to  those  who  at- 
tended them  in  their  last  illness."  In  writing  in  1800  to  Dr.  Miller,  of  New 
York,  Dr.  Ramsey  says  :  "  The  disputes  about  the  origin  of  yellow  fever  which 
have  agitated  the  Northern  States,  have  never  existed  in  Charleston.  There 
is  but  one  opinion  among  the  physicians  and  inhabitants,  and  that  is  that  the 
disease  was  neither  imported  nor  contagious.  This  was  the  unanimous  senti- 
ment of  the  Medical  Society,  who,  in  pursuance  of  it,  gave  their  opinion  to  the 
government  last  summer,  that  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the  quarantine  laws 
was  by  no  means  necessary  on  account  of  yellow  fever." 

In  Norfolk  the  fever  had  frequently  prevailed  at  the  date  of  the  report  now 
under  consideration,  and  a  report  or  certificate  dated  October  12,  1801,  and 
signed  by  Drs.  Taylor,  Hansford,  Selden,  and  Whitehead  is  quoted  as  follows : 
"  We  do  hereby  certify  that  the  malignant  yellow  fever,  which  prevailed  with 
violence  for  some  time  past,  has  now  nearly  ceased,  and  that  the  health  of  the 
town  appears  to  be  improving  daily.  We  know  of  no  instance  in  which  the 
disease  has  been  communicated  by  contagion." 

In  a  report  made  in  1800  by  the  medical  faculty  of  Baltimore  to  the  mayor 
of  that  city  in  reference  to  the  yellow  fever  prevalent  there  in  the  summer  of 
that  year,  they  say:  "  After  the  most  scrutinizing  investigation  the  faculty  find 
no  proof,  or  even  cause  of  suspicion,  that  the  fever  which  lately  so  unhappily 
afflicted  our  city  was  derived  from  foreign  causes." 

The  celebrated  Dr.  Rush,  of  Philadelphia,  was  in  the  early  part  of  his  ca- 
reer of  the  opinion  that  yellow  fever  was  contagious,  but  in  his  later  years,  and 
as  the  result  of  the  most  careful  investigation  and  study,  publicly  announced 
that  he  had  arrived  at  the  opposite  conclusion.  In  1793,  1794,  and  1797  the 
fever  desolated  Philadelphia,  and  Dr.  Rush  based  his  later  opinion  on  his  ex- 
perience of  the  disease  from  practical  observation,  his  original  idea  of  infec- 
tiousness being  derived  from  the  works  of  some  West  India  writers,  and  there- 
,fore  purely  theoretical. 

In  1803  the  yellow  fever  prevailed  in  New  York,  and  Drs.  Miller  and  Mit- 
chell of  that  city  say  :  "  The  first  public  alarm  took  place  from  some  deaths 
about  the  Coffee  House  slip,  and  in  that  neighborhood,  where  from  the  num- 
.ber  and  malignity  of  the  cases,  the  atmosphere  must  have  been  charged  with 
miasmata  of  great  virulence  ;"  also,  "  many  aged  and  young  persons,  whose 
•condition  imposed  confinement  in  their  houses,  without  the  occurrence  of  any 
preceding  case  in  the  families,  were  attacked  with  the  disease  in  its  most  viru- 
lent form.  Multitudes  also  took  the  disease  who  had  not  previously  appoached 
any  sick  person,  any  suspected  vessel,  or  any  families  allowed  to  be  imbued 
with  contagion."  The  report  then  instances  Galliopolis  in  Ohio  where  many 
deaths  occurred  in    1797,  when  there  was  no  communication  with  Atlantic 


The  Medical  Profession.  259 

ports,  but  the  place  was  remarkable  for  "  the  filthiness  of  the  inhabitants,  and 
an  unusual  quantity  of  animal  and  vegetable  putrefaction  in  a  number  of  small 
ponds  and  marshes  within  the  village."  In  the  same  year  New  Design,  a  small 
inland  town  of  Missouri,  containing  a  population  of  about  two  hundred,  lost 
fifty- seven  by  yellow  fever,  whereas  no  person  had  arrived  at  it  from  any  in- 
fected place  within  the  year  preceding. 

The  report  then  says  :  "If  we  examine  minutely  the  history  of  yellow  fever, 
wherever  it  has  prevailed,  we  find  that  it  invariably  obeys  most  of  the  laws 
which  govern  other  miasmatic  diseases.  It  has  usually  commenced  its  ravages 
during  the  heat  of  summer,  increased  its  violence  as  the  season  advanced,  and 
ceased  as  soon  as  the  temperature  ranged  below  a  given  point,  or  after  a  severe 
frost.  Contagious  diseases  conform  to  none  of  these  laws.  What  climate, 
what  temperature,  or  what  season  can  arrest  the  ravages  of  smallpox,  for  in- 
stance ?  " 

The  committee  then  takes  up  the  second  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  dis- 
ease, namely  that  the  atmosphere  was  in  a  vitiated  condition  and  that  the  in- 
troduction of  one  foreign  case  was  the  match  to  the  magazine.  It  considers  it 
an  unanswerable  argument  against  this  view  that  the  disease  was  at  first  con- 
fined to  one  spot  and  spread  gradually  thence  so  that  it  was  late  in  the  season 
before  it  had  progressed  from  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  where  it  first  devel- 
oped to  the  western  portion,  then  about  half  a  mile  or  so.  The  theory  of  the 
decayed  West  India  fruit  is  found  unworthy  of  serious  mention.  Such  fruit  is 
found  all  over  the  country  every  season,  with  no  fever  as  a  concomitant. 

The  report  then  proceeds  to  consider  the  second  great  question,  "  did  the 
fever  arise  from  local  causes,  and  if  so,  what  were  those  causes."  The  commit- 
tee find  that  is  was  not  any  peculiar  filthiness  in  the  lots  where  the  disease  first 
appeared,  they  being  up  to  the  standard  of  the  city's  cleanliness.  Nor  was  it  any 
accumulation  of  water  infused  with  filth  on  those  lots,  they  lying  low,  such  accu- 
mulations being  a  frequent  occurrence  before  without  evil  results,  and  more- 
over, this  particular  season  being  extremely  dry,  no  rain  falling  for  seventy- 
one  days.  Nor  was  it  the  unusual  lowness  of  the  river  exposing  banks  of  slime, 
etc.,  the  bed  as  exposed  being  "a  beautiful  sandy  gravel,  containing  scarcely 
any  remains  of  either  animal  or  vegetable  matter";  and  in  1830  the  river  was 
equally  low,  with  perfect  health  prevailing.  Nor  was  the  fever  caused  by  cer- 
tain rotten  cotton  seed  or  decayed  bacon,  or  the  rank  growth  of  the  morns 
rmdticaulis  as  variously  supposed,  the  bacon  being  at  a  point  distant  from  the 
first  seat  of  the  disease,  the  morus  growth  thickest  in  that  portion  of  the  city 
last  to  feel  the  epidemic,  and  the  cotton  seed,  a  subordinate  factor,  if  an  opera- 
tive factor  at  all,  to  the  real  origin.  That  origin  the  committee  finds  in  what 
was  known  as  the  city  trash  pile,  that  is,  an  enormous  accumulation  of  the  ref- 
use of  the  city  in  the  river  at  the  foot  of  Lincoln  street.  In  April,  1834,  the 
city  council  voted  "that  there  be  constructed  a  slide  or  platform  on  the  river 


26o  History  of  Augusta. 


bank  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  the  dirt  and  rubbish  collected  by  the  street 
officer  clear  of  the  bank  into  the  river."  The  platform  was  erected  on  piling, 
projected  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  into  the  river  from  the  edge  of  the  bank, 
and  was  forty-five  feet  high  from  the  bed  of  the  river.  The  street  officers'  carts 
laden  with  all  the  animal  and  vegetable  matter  collected  from  the  different  lots 
and  yards  of  the  city  daily,  were  drawn  to  the  end  and  sides  of  this  platform 
and  emptied  in  the  river.  Thus  commenced  the  accumulation  in  1834.  At 
first,  this  collection  was  cleared  away  from  time  to  time  down  to  the  water's 
edge,  but  finally  this  was  neglected.  An  old  boat  lodged  against  the  pile 
which  prevented  the  water  sweeping  under  the  platform,  and  in  1869  the  mass 
amounted  to  over  200,000  cubic  feet.  Malaria  arising  from  the  dissolution  of 
vegetable  and  animal  matter,  especially  the  former,  what  a  magazine  of  death 
was  here!  In  April,  1839,  the  city  directed  the  accumulation  removed,  and  the 
use  of  the  platform  discontinued.  The  contractor  who  undertook  the  removal 
of  the  filth  only  partially  did  his  work.  The  accumulation  was  so  high  that  the 
workmen  could  step  from  the  platform  on  to  it,  and  the  plan  of  removal  was  to 
dig  down  into  it  and  throw  it  broadcast  into  the  river.  During  the  operations 
of  the  workmen  as  they  penetrated  into  the  interior,  the  heat  evolved  was  so 
great  that  tliey  were  compelled  to  desist  from  work  for  two  hours  at  a  time, 
though  they  wore  thick  shoes.  When  the  contractor  had  leveled  it  off  as  far 
as  possible  there  still  remained  117,000  cubic  feet,  which  had  been  concealed 
for  years,  and  now  first  since  its  deposit  saw  the  light  of  day.  The  river  con- 
tinuing to  fall  exposed  those  portions  of  the  mass  which  had  been  leveled  otT 
and  thrown  into  it.  For  its  measurements  the  committee  could  vouch  having 
had  an  accurate  survey  made  by  a  competent  engineer.  The  first  leveling  off 
was  completed  by  May  29.  On  June  8th  the  first  cases  of  fever  developed  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  pile.  The  nearest  family  was  taken,  a  second  removal 
was  ordsrod,  which  was  completed  on  July  2,  with  the  result  of  exposing  fresh 
festering  surfaces.  On  July  5,  one  of  the  workmen  was  prostrated  with  fever, 
and  on  the  same  day  a  little  boy  who  had  been  playing  about  the  platform. 
On  the  7th  there  were  two  more  cases,  another  on  the  14th,  two  more  on  the 
l6th,  and  then  others  in  rapid  succession  before  the  arrival  of  the  first  infected 
person  from  Charleston.  Efforts  were  made  to  cover  the  trash  pile  with  earth) 
but  it  was  too  late;  tlie  atmosphere  was  already  impregnated  with  the  mias- 
matic poison,  and  more  )ver  the  portions  of  the  filth  which  had  been  cast  into 
the  river  reniaineJ  uncovered.  The  direction  of  the  wind  was  from  the  trash 
pile  towards  the  parts  of  the  town  affected,  and  as  the  direction  varied,  new  dis- 
tricts lying  in  the  charged  track  became  infected,  gradually  poisoning  the  whole 
city. 

On  all  the  facts  collectible  in  a  most  laborious  examination  the  committee 
came  to  two  conclusions,  which  they  embody  in  resolutions.  • 

"  I.    Resolved,  That  from  the  facts  disclosed  in  the  foregoing  report,  we  are 


The  Medical  Profession.  261 

of  opinion  that  the  cause  of  the  late  epidemic  was  not  introduced  into  our  city 
in  any  manner  whatever  from  foreign  sources,  nor  do  we  believe  the  disease 
to  have  exhibited,  in  the  slightest  degree,  a  contagious  nature. 

"2.  Resolved^  That  in  our  opinion  the  cause  of  the  late  epidemic  arose  from 
the  accumulation  at  the  upper  '  trash  wharf,'  between  Lincoln  and  Elbert 
streets,  of  upwards  of  200,000  cubic  feet  of  vegetable  and  animal  matter,  col- 
lected from  the  lots  and  streets  pf  the  city  since  the  year  1834,  which  was 
opened  and  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  sun  in  the  months  of  May  and  June 
last." 

The  report  and  resolutions  were  then  adopted. 

While  there  has  been  subsequent  medical  dissent  from  one  of  the  positions 
taken  in  this  valuable  report,  it  may  be  regarded  as  settling  the  question  of  con- 
tagion or  infection  in  the  sense  in  which  smallpox  is  contagious.  A  modern 
view  is  that  there  is  a  yellow  fever  microbe  or  germ,  which  when  meeting  an 
atmosphere  prepared  for  its  reception  flourishes  like  a  rank,  poisonous  weed. 
One  striking  point  in  the  report  is  the  evidence  that  it  affords  that  Au- 
gusta was  never  visited  by  yellow  fever  till  1839,  o^"  ^O''  iriore  than  a  century 
from  its  foundation.  A  third  resolution  reported  by  the  committee  urges  the 
citizens  to  be  warned  of  "  deleterious  consequences  arising  from  a  general  neg- 
lect of  cleanliness,  which,  for  some  years  past  has  been  too  common  in  our  city, 
owing  to  its  2inprecede7ited  state  of  health^  In  his  letter,  heretofore  mentioned, 
to  Dr.  Geddings  of  Charleston,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  says:  "The  irrup- 
tion of  a  malignant  disease  in  a  community  unaccustomed  to  such  a  visitation." 
In  1854  Augusta  was  again  visited  with  yellow  fever.  On  the  i6th  of  Sep- 
tember the  disease  was  declared  epidemic,  and  the  bulk  of  the  population  fled, 
as  in  1839,  to  the  Sand  Hills,  the  piney  woods  and  other  salubrious  resorts  so 
plentiful  near  the  city.  Despite  this  depopulation,  the  fever  vindicated  its  fear- 
ful name.  We  have  heard  from  an  eye-witness  that  the  dead  were  even  car- 
ried to  the  grave  in  wheelbarrows  for  lack  of  vehicles. 

In  a  medical  point  of  view  the  epidemic  of  1839  had  been  of  service  to  the 
world.  From  the  observations  then  made  it  became  confirmed  as  an  axiom 
that  yellow  fever  was  not  contagious  in  the  sense  of  personal  communication 
like,  for  instance,  smallpox.  The  outbreak  of  1854  had  also  its  uses.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  in  the  celebrated  report  of  the  Augusta  physicians  of  1839, 
it  had  been  argued,  and  with  great  power,  that  the  fever  was  of  local  origin  and 
had  not  been  imported  or  communicated  from  Charleston,  then  infected.  The 
origin  was  then  traced  to  a  noxious  mass  of  animal  and  vegetable  decomposi- 
tion on  the  river  bank,  and  the  disease  was  traced  in  its  course  from  the  first 
cases,  occurring  in  that  vicinage,  until  it  radiated  throughout  the  city.  The  ob- 
servations of  1854  confirmed  the  conclusion  of  1839  of  the  non-contagiousness 
of  yellow  fever,  but  led  to  a  very  careful  examination  of  the  doctrine  of  local 
-origin,  with  the  result  of  evolving  a  theory  that  yellow  fever  is  of  exotic  origin, 


262  History  of  Augusta. 


has  no  native  habitat  in  the  United  States,  and  only  effects  a  foothold  by  trans- 
portation of  a  germ  or  spore.  This  theory  was  advanced  as  early  as  1856  by 
Dr.  Henry  F.  Campbell,  an  eminent  Augusta  physician,  at  the  seventh  annual 
meeting  of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  held  in  Macon,  and  has 
since  in  several 'valuable  papers  been  enlarged  upon  by  him.  The  substance  of 
his  views  is  about  as  follows:  From  1768  to  1838  there  had  been  some  twenty- 
seven  visitations  of  yellow  fever  in  Charleston,  but  one  hundred  and  thirty- six 
miles  distant  from  Augusta,  and  yet  up  to  1839  there  had  been  no  yellow  fever 
in  Augusta.  In  1833  a  system  of  railway  communication  had  been  opened  be- 
tween Charleston  and  Hamburg,  lying  immediately  across  the  Savannah  River 
from  Augusta,  and  by  1839  ^^^s  in  full  operation,  the  distance  which  by  stage 
had  taken  several  days  to  traverse  being  now  covered  in  some  few  hours.  In 
1839  the  fever  raged  in  Charleston;  no  check  was  placed  on  the  running  of 
railway  trains  out  of  the  infected  city  to  Hamburg,  and  that  year  the  fever  for 
the  first  time  appeared  in  Augusta.  Did  not  these  facts  point  to  a  transmis- 
sion of  the  disease  from  Charleston  to  Augusta  by  rail.  The  possibility  of  con- 
tagion being  communicated  by  personal  contact  had  been  shown  not  to  exist. 
In  all  former  epidemics  in  Charleston  fugitives  had  found  their  way  to  Augusta 
by  the  slow  staging,  and  yet  no  residents  of  Augusta  had  been  attacked,  though 
the  fugitive  himself  not  unfrequently  died  in  the  city  with  the  disease  in  its 
most  malignant  form. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  MEDICAL  PROFESSION.  CONCLUDED. 

The  Yellow  Fever  Epidemic  of  1854 — Portability  of  Fever  Germ— Dr.  Campbell's  Theory 
of  Quarantine— Board  of  Health— The  Sewer  System— Decrease  in  Death  RaXt— Southern 
Medical  and  Surgical  Journal — Eminent  Physicians — Milton  Antony — Fendall — Cunning- 
ham—Watkins— Carter — Garvin — Newton — Dugas — Ford— Eve — Augusta's  Present  Faculty. 

AGAIN,  from  1807  to  1854  the  yellow  fever  had  visited  Savannah  seven 
times,  and  yet  there  had  been  no  outbreak  in  Augusta  contemporaneous 
with  one  in  Savannah,  but  in  1854  communication  by  rail  was  established  be- 
tween Savannah  and  Augusta.  In  that  year  the  fever  became  epidemic  in  the 
former,  and  after  it  had  there  obtained  a  firm  fo6thold,  appeared  in  the  latter 
city.  Again,  it  was  the  fact  that  a  distance  formerly  consuming  days  was  now 
traversed  in  a  few  hours.  No  restraint  was  placed  on  trains  leaving  infected 
Savannah  for  uninfected  Augusta  ;  and  behold  the  uninfected  city  becomes 
infected.      Did  not  this,  also,  tend  to  show  the  portability  of  a  fever  germ  ? 


The  Medical  Profession.  263 

Still,  further,  Macon  was  placed  in  railway  communication  with  seaports, 
and  the  fever  appears  where  it  had  never  appeared  before  ;  and  yet  again,  such 
was  the  sequence  in  the  case  of  Memphis  and  other  far  inland  centers,  of  late 
years  so  piteously  devastated. 

Certain  specific  instances  occurring  in  the  epidemic  of  1854  seem  to  point, 
as  with  a  finger,  to  the  existence  and  portability  of  a  yellow  fever  germ.  At 
Union  point,  a  station  on  the  Georgia  Railroad  seventy- six  miles  from  Augusta, 
and  in  an  elevated  pine  region  celebrated  for  its  salubrity,  a  Mr.  Lampkin  and 
his  wife  both  died.  Mr.  Lampkin  was  transportation  agent  at  that  point,  and  in 
discharge  of  his  duty  daily  entered  the  freight  cars  arriving  from  fever-stricken 
Augusta  ;  his  wife  was  daily  in  the  passenger  cars  serving  refreshments.  Why 
should  these  residents  of  so  healthy  a  region  perish  of  yellow  fever  unless  the 
railway  had  carried  the  germ  out  of  Augusta,  and  in  their  daily  routine  they 
were  peculiarly  exposed  to  its  influences?  In  1876  the  fever  obtained  a  foot- 
hold in  Savannah,  and  at  Oliver,  a  point  on  the  Central  Railroad,  forty-five 
miles  from  that  city,  all  the  railway  employees  about  the  depot  who  slept  in 
the  freight  cars  arriving  from  Savannah  were  attacked  with  the  fever;  those 
who  slept  in  other  places  were  not  attacked.  A  young  farmer  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, who  had  not  been  near  Savannah  during  the  season,  slept  in  a  pas- 
senger car  left  over  night  at  Oliver;  eight  days  afterwards  he  died  of  yellow 
fever.  In  1877  the  fever  prevailed  in  Fernandina,  Fla.,  and  a  gentleman  fled 
thence  to  Augusta  with  his  family  and  effects.  The  father  soon  died  of  the  fever. 
About  that  time  one  daughter  opened  the  trunks  which  had  been  packed  in 
and  brought  from  Fernandina,  and  some  time  after  was  attacked  with  the  fever, 
and  then  in  rapid  succession  every  other  member  of  the  family  was  taken. 
The  disease  did  not  extend  beyond  the  household.  In  1854,  after  several 
black  frosts  had  put  an  end  to  the  epidemic,  there  were  a  number  of  new  cases 
in  Augusta,  all  confined  to  returned  refugees  who  on  reaching  home  had 
opened  wardrobes,  trunks,  bookcases,  and  other  receptacles  which  had  been 
<;losed  when  the  owner  fled. 

Dr.  Campbell,  therefore,  lays  down  as  two  fundamental  principles,  the  fol- 
lowing: 

"  First.  That  the  poison  or  product  giving  rise  to  the  assemblage  of  phe- 
nomena and  sequences  which  are  known  to  constitute  yellow  fever,  is  an  exotic 
readily  importable  into  this  country  and,  after  importation,  transportable  from 
one  region  to  another. 

"  Secondly.  That  yellow  fever  is  not  in  any  of  its  stages  communicable  from 
one  person  to  another  after  the  manner  or  according  to  the  rationale  of  ordi- 
nary contagion." 

In  support  of  these  propositions  he  enters  on  a  comparison  of  the  old  and 
new  methods  of  transit,  saying : 

"  First,  that  the  yellow  fever  refugee,  from  the  coast  or  elsewhere,  travel- 


264  History  of  Augusta. 


ing  slowly,  as  in  times  past,  by  stage  or  private  conveyance,  with  compara- 
tively little  baggage,  though  he  brings  with  him  in  his  blood  a  full  supply  of 
yellow  fever  germs  or  poison  sufficient  to  produce  in  him  all  its  phenomena^ 
and  among  them  black  vomit  and  death,  has  never  been  known,  whether  he 
was  overtaken  by  the  wayside,  in  the  pine  woods,  or  in  the  crowded  city,  to 
communicate  the  disease  to  others,  or  to  infect  the  air  of  the  inland  community 
in  which  he  had  fallen. 

"  While,  secondly,  the  yellow  fever  refugee  of  the  present  time,  coming  in 
the  rapid  transit  of  a  few  hours  by  railroad,  and  bringing  with  him  often  the 
largest  Saratoga  trunks  of  porous  baggage  that  had  been  packed  and  closed  in 
the  infected  atmosphere,  has  brought  with  him,  besides  the  germs  circulating 
in  his  own  veins — proved  to  be  innocuous  to  all  but  himself — he  has,  I  say, 
besides  these  blood-germs,  brought  with  him  a  vast  multitude  of  propagating 
atmospheric  germs,  in  all  their  activity  and  capacity,  to  poison  all  who  may 
directly  imbibe  them,  and  to  rapidly  propagate  poison  in  the  atmosphere  of 
the  entire  locality. 

"  In  the  first  case  the  ventilation  incident  to  several  days  of  travel  had  re- 
moved from  his  scanty  baggage  and  wearing  apparel,  probably,  all  yellow 
fever  germs  that  were  capable  of  communicating  disease  ;  only  the  poison 
which  he  carried  in  his  own  blood  remained,  and  this  could  infect  no  other 
person  nor  poison  the  air.  In  the  case  of  the  modern  or  railroad  traveler,  the 
immense  volumes  of  germ-laden  air  in  the  passenger  train,  and  still  more  in 
the  boxed- up  freight  cars,  besides  what  is  brought  in  the  trunks,  must  inevit- 
ably insure  widespread  atmospheric  infection,  and  a  widespread  epidemic. 
Even  though  the  air  of  the  invaded  locality  may  be  what  is  called  '  pure,'  it 
cannot  often  escape  vitiation  ;  when  it  may  be  what  is  called  '  foul,'  propaga- 
tion and  an  epidemic  are  simply  inevitable." 

Dr.  Campbell  finds  the  great  preventive  measure  in  quarantine  on  correct 
principles,  outlining  the  same  thus: 

"  First.  Allow  no  railroad  train  or  car,  whether  for  passengers  or  freight, 
coming  from  an  infected  locality,  to  approach  within  many  miles  of  any  healthy 
or  uninfected  town  or  city. 

"  Secondly.  Meet  these  trains  at  some  undoubedly  safe  distance  from  their 
place  of  destination  by  fresh  cars  for  both  passengers  and  freight. 

"  Third.  A  careful  and  discriminating  surveillance  to  be  maintained  over  the 
baggage  of  passengers  and  over  the  freight  in  order  to  determine  what  will  be 
safe,  after  ventilation  and  other  means  of  disinfection,  to  be  taken  on  the  fresh 
cars.  Porous  articles  and  closed  tnmks  being  most  objectionable  till  disin- 
fected. 

'•  Fourth.  That  passengers  have  free  passport  into,  and  refuge  in,  any  city, 
town,  village,  or  other  communit\',  without  hindrance  on  account  of  their 
physical  condition  in   relation   to  their  supposed  or  manifested   inception  of 


The  Medical  Profession.  265 


yellow  fever  poison.  Long  exposure  in  yellow  fever  atmosphere,  attendance 
on  the  sick,  actual  fever  and  black  vomit  should  be  no  bar  or  hindrance,  on 
account  of  infection,  to  the  free  passage  of  persons  seeking  refuge  for  them- 
selves and  families  from  yellow  fever. 

"  Fifth.  To  secure  the  privilege  and  benefits  of  the  unrestricted  travel  con- 
templated by  the  modified  quarantine,  all  persons  must  submit  to  such  pro- 
visions as  may  be  deemed  necessary  by  the  sanitary  officers.  Baths  and 
change  of  apparel  may  be  exacted,  but  simple  ventilation  only  will  in  most 
cases  suffice. 

^  "Sixth.  In  the  establishment  of  a  modified  quarantine  on  the  above  system- 
atized method,  arrangements  on  the  most  liberal  and  enlightened  scale  will  be 
required.  Officers  of  intelligence  and  high  character  only  should  be  appointed 
to  superintend  and  carry  out  the  details  of  the  plan.  Whether  buildings  tem- 
porary or  permanent  will  be  required,  and  whether  municipal.  State,  or  national 
sanitary  authorities  are  best  to  have  charge  of  its  conduct,  only  experience  in 
an  untried  method  can  determine.  An  efficient  and  easy-working  system  can 
only  gradually  and  by  slow  progress  be  perfected." 

By  resolution  of  November  13,  1879,  the  Augusta  Medical  Society  accepted 
these  views  as  follows  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  yellow  fever  quarantine  of  the  present  time  should  be 
so  modified  as  no  longer  to  exclude  persons  coming  from  infected  regions  from 
taking  refuge  in  healthy  localities  ;  baggage,  clothing,  trunks,  and  boxes  be- 
mg  strictly  excluded  and  every  detail  being  minutely  systematized  on  this  prin- 
ciple." 

In  1877  the  Legislature  provided  for  a  board  of  health  for  the  city  of  Au- 
gusta, and  by  subsequent  acts  enlarged  its  powers.      It  consists  of  one  citizen 
from  each  ward,   two  physicians  from   the  city  at  large,   a  chemist,  and  the 
mayor  and  health  committee  of  the  city  council,  and  has  plenary  powers  over 
the  subjects  of  sanitation  and  public  health.      It  has  a  president,  a  secretary, 
and  one  inspector  for  each  ward.      It  is  authorized  to  institute  all  sanitary 
measures  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  the  public  health,  or  to  prevent  the 
generation  or  introduction  of  infectious  and  contagious  diseases,  and  to  regu- 
late the  subject  of  quarantine  in  its  discretion.     The  ordinances  of  the  board 
on  the  subjects  committed  to  it  have  the  force  of  law,  and  all  violations  there- 
of are  cognizable  in  the  Recorder's  Court.      When  it  declares  a  quarantine,  any 
violation  of  such  quarantine  is  cognizable  in  the  State  courts.     The  board  has 
also  control  of  the  sewerage  and  drainage  systems  of  the  city,  but  the  construc- 
tion of  new  works  requires  the  concurrence  of  the  city  council ;  and  has  a  su- 
pervisory jurisdiction  over  all  public  institutions  in  the  city  as  respects  sanita- 
tion.    In  the  matter  of  quarantine  and  disinfection  the  board  has  authority  to 
establish  quarantine  stations  not  exceeding  forty  miles  from  the  city,  and  to 
prescribe  regulations  as  to  the  transportation  of  freights  to,  or  through  the  city 
34  ^' 


266  History  of  Augusta. 


and  as  to  the  ventilation,  disinfecting,  and  cleaning  of  all  boats,  cars,  engines^ 
and  vehicles  reaching  the  city;  the  penalty  for  infraction  of  such  rules  by  indi- 
viduals being  a  fine  not  to  exceed  $i,ooo,  imprisonment  in  jail  not  to  exceed 
six  months,  or  confinement  in  the  chain  gang  not  exceeding  twelve  months; 
any  one  or  more  of  such  punishments  in  the  discretion  of  the  court,  and  by 
corporations  a  fine  not  exceeding  $5,000.  The  salary  of  the  president  of  the 
board  is  $1,200  per  annum,  of  the  secretary  $400,  and  there  are  five  sanitary 
inspectors,  each  receiving  $50  per  month.  The  cost  of  the  board  averages 
$5,000  per  year.  There  are  7,068  lots  in  the  city,  about  the  same  number  of 
water  closets  and  surface  privies,  and  forty  miles  of  sewers  and  surface  drains. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  inspectors  to  see  that  the  lots  are  kept  clean,  and  that  all 
the  sanitary  regulations  respecting  the  sewers,  drains,  etc.,  are  conformed  to. 
In  1886  they  discovered  and  had  abated  12,461  nuisances  injurious  to 
health.  It  has  been  found  that  under  the  board  the  construction  of  sewers  and 
drains  has  been  not  only  more  scientifically  carried  on,  but  much  more  econ- 
omically, as,  for  instance,  in  1886,  it  constructed  6,706  feet  of  side  drains  at 
9y  cents  per  foot,  which  had  previously  cost  the  city  28|^  cents.  It  has  also 
been  found  that  it  could  construct  from  three  to  five  feet  of  sewer  for  the  price 
formerly  paid  for  one.  This  economy  has  been  the  result  of  judicious  reduc- 
tion in  the  size  of  sewers,  the  substitution  of  pipe  for  bricks,  and  the  construc- 
tion of  work  by  contract  under  competitive  bids.  The  practical  value  of  the 
board's  labors  is  shown  in  a  marked  reduction  of  the  city's  death  rate.  From 
1 87 1  to  1879,  inclusive,  it  was  30  in  the  1,000.  From  1880  to  1885  it  was  24; 
a  decreased  death  rate  equal  to  210  lives  per  annum.  The  death  rate  of  1886 
was  23.38  ;  and  for  1887  but  21.33,  the  smallest  ever  known  in  the  city. 

On  the  organization  of  the  board  of  health  Dr.  L.  D.  Ford  was  made  pres- 
ident and  continued  in  office  until  1880,  when  he,  Drs.  Dugas  and  Rains  re- 
signed. During  the  times  these  gentlemen  remained  in  office  they  each  ren- 
dered great  and  valuable  service  to  the  sanitary  interests  of  the  city.  The 
minutes  of  the  board  show  numerous  able  and  voluminous  papers  presented 
by  them  on  various  questions  of  hygiene,  as,  for  instance,  sewerage,  drain- 
age, quarantine,  disposal  of  household  wastes,  garbage,  excreta,  etc.  In  1878 
several  families  were  stricken  down  with  typhoid  fever,  attacking  nearly  every 
member  of  each  household.  Through  their  physicians  the  board  of  health  Avas 
appealed  to  investigate  the  causes  of  the  fever.  A  committee,  consisting  of 
Drs.  L.  D.  Ford,  L.  A.  Dugas,  and  G.  W.  Rains,  was  appointed.  In  prose- 
cuting their  duties  they  found  that  the  fever  was  caused  by  the  frightfully 
filthy  condition  of  the  Elbert  street  sewer,  which  was  but  an  elongated  cess- 
pool filled  to  nearly  one-half  of  its  diameter  with  mud,  stagnant  water,  kitchen 
slops  and  human  excreta.  The  committee  recommended  the  cleansing,  flush- 
ing and  disinfection  of  the  sewer.  The  committee  was  then  charged  with  the 
duty  of  opening  and  examining  the  condition  of  every  sewer  in  Augusta,  and 


The  Medical  Profession.  267 

in  1878  made  the  following  report :  "After  full  discussion  we  are  unanimously 
of  the  opinion  that  all  these  sewers  (referring  to  the  then  system)  are  viciously 
located,  improperly  constructed,  and  as  to  their  influence  upon  the  public 
health,  your  committee  here  express  the  opinion,  without  going  into  details, 
that  they  are  now  damaging  the  health  of  our  citizens,  with  the  prospect  of 

great  danger  in  the  future Your  committee  do  but  justify  their 

sober  judgment  in  declaring  their  conviction  that  malignity,  plotting  mischief 
against  the  citizens  of  Augusta,  urged  by  disciplined  ingenuity,  could  not  have 
spent  the  large  amount  of  money,  the  cost  of  these  sewers,  in  any  way  better 
for  its  purpose  than  in  building  them."  This  report  was  signed  by  Drs.  L. 
D.  Ford,  L.  A.  Dugas  and  G.  W.  Rains.  These  gentlemen  urged  immediate 
action  in  removing  faulty  sewers,  and  a  complete  system.  Dr.  G.  W.  Rains 
submitted  an  elaborate  plan  for  a  complete  system  of  sewers  and  drains,  which 
the  board  adopted,  and  recommended  council  to  put  in  execution.  In  1879 
1879  President  Ford  stated  to  the  board  that  the  report  had  been  received  by 
the  council  without  any  action  ;  "  therefore,"  said  he,  "  I  have  called  you  to- 
gether to  consider  if  any  or  what  action  you  will  take  to  relieve  the  board  of 
health  from  the  responsibility  which  is  still  resting  upon  them."  Failing  in 
their  efforts  to  secure  prompt  support  from  council,  Drs.  Ford,  Dugas  and 
Rains  resigned  membership  in  the  board  of  health.  Council  requested  these 
gentlemen  to  withdraw  their  resignations.  This  they  declined  to  do.  Council 
then  elected  Drs.  Eugene  Foster,  V.  G.  Hitt,  and  G.  H.  Winkler  as  their  suc- 
cessors. Dr.  Foster  was  unanimously  elected  president  of  the  board  of  health, 
and  has  three  times  since  been  unanimously  elected  to  that  position,  his  last 
•election  being  in  1888.  The  president  bi^  the  board  of  health  promptly  took 
up  the  sewerage  question  where  it  had  been  left  by  Dr.  Ford,  and  persistently 
pressed  the  matter  upon  the  attention  of  the  council.  The  city  engineer  was 
instructed  to  begin  at  once  to  open  each  sewer  in  the  city  and  fully  report  its 
condition,  size,  shape,  grades,  connections,  and  outlet.  Upon  receiving  the 
report  of  the  engineer,  the  board  of  health  promptly  condemned  as  a  nuisance 
injurious  to  health  every  sewer  shown  by  his  report  to  be  such.  The  board 
of  health  fully  concurred  in  the  report  of  President  Ford,  in  his  annual  report 
for  1879,  in  which  he  said  :  "  It  condemned  these  sewers  in  almost  every  par- 
ticular— that  they  were  vicious  and  dangerous  in  their  location,  vicious  in  their 
construction,  and  injurious  to  the  public  health;  that  they  were  built  in  viola- 
tion of  the  settled  principles  of  sanitary  science ;  that,  by  whomsoever  built, 
they  were  left  a  legacy  of  evil  to  the  city,  and  should  be  removed  as  soon  as 
possible."  Dr.  Foster  insisted  that  the  present  sewerage  and  drainage  sys- 
tems should  be  examined  by  a  sanitary  engineer  of  undoubted  ability,  and 
plans  presented  for  a  complete  system.  To  this  purpose  he  suggested  that 
Colonel  G.  E.  Waring,  a  world  renowned  sanitary  engineer,  be  invited  to  Au- 
gusta.    This  suggestion  was  adopted,  and  Colonel  Waring,  in  1880,  began  the 


268  History  of  Augusta. 

work  of  examining  the  then  sewerage  and  drainage  systems,  and,  after  fully 
examining  the  problem,  rendered  to  the  board  of  health  his  report,  in  which 
he  condemned  as  a  whole  the  then  sewer  system,  and  recommended  a  system 
of  pipe  sewers  (similar  to  that  of  Memphis,  Tenn.),  with  an  outlet  sewer  from 
corner  of  Taylor  and  Twiggs  streets  through  Twiggs  to  Watkins  street,  through 
Watkins  to  East  Boundary,  and  through  East  Boundary  street  to  the  river. 
The  board  of  health  decided  not  to  recommend  to  council  the  Waring  system' 
until  it  had  obtained  further  expert  opinious  on  the  question,  and  recommended 
council  to  employ  Dr.  Azel  Ames,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  another  noted  sanitary 
engineer,  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  question.  This  was  done  by  the 
council.  Dr.  Ames  promptly  began  the  work  and  submitted  plans  and  details 
therefor  in  May,  i88i.  Dr.  Ames's  paper,  like  Colonel  Waring's,  recom- 
mended the  abolition  of  the  then  existing  sewers,  and  the  substitution  there- 
for of  a  system  of  pipe  sewer,  with  a  main  outlet  sewer  commencing  at  inter- 
section of  Savannah  road  and  Ninth  street,  through  Twiggs  to  Watkins,  through 
Watkins  to  East  Boundary,  thence  northward  to  the  river.  Second  outlet 
sewer  through  Greene  to  East  Boundary,  thence  to  the  river. 

Dr.  Ames's  report  also  embraced  the  subject  of  increased  water  supply. 
He  recommended  locating  the  pumps  at  Rae's  Creek,  and  taking  the  water 
supply  from  the  lake.  The  sewerage  system  proposed  by  Dr.  Ames  was  by 
him  estimated  to  cost  $220,000,  and  the  increased  water  supply  — giving  the 
city  5,000,000  gallons  of  water  daily  —  $70,000,  making  the  sewerage  and 
waterworks  system  cost  $290,000.  The  board  of  health  and  council  adopted 
the  plans  of  Dr.  Ames,  and  council,  being  charged  with  the  duty  of  providing 
the  ways  and  means,  decided  to  submit  the  question  to  the  voters  of  the  city 
and  ask  authority  to  expend  $400,000  if  necessary,  in  constructing  these  im- 
portant works.  At  a  special  election  held  July  8,  1881,  the  citizens,  by  a  more 
than  two-thirds  vote,  sustained  the  proposition  to  construct  these  works,  and 
issue  $400,000  in  bonds  to  pay  therefor.  An  injunction  was  sued  out  against 
the  issue  of  these  bonds,  and  upon  being  carried  before  the  Supreme  Court  it 
decided  that  to  issue  the  proposed  bonds  would  violate  that  provision  of  the 
State  constitution  which  prohibited  any  city  with  a  bonded  debt  equal  to  seven 
per  cent,  of  its  taxable  property  from  incurring  any  new  bonded  debt.  Thus 
halted  in  its  work,  the  board  of  health  was  forced  to  rebuild,  remodel  and  per- 
fect the  existing  sewers  as  best  it  could  from  money  to  be  annually  appropri- 
ated by  the  council.  This  has  from  year  to  year  been  done  as  speedily  as 
possible.  The  board  of  health,  under  recommendation  of  its  president,  adopted 
a  comprehensive  plan  of  sewerage  and  drainage,  and  that  all  work  done  should 
be  a  part  of  the  complete  system,  and  $10,000  annually  has  been  expended  on 
this  important  work.  Dr.  W.  H.  Doughty,  a  member  of  the  board,  having  in 
view  the  idea  previously  suggested  by  Colonel  Rains,  and  adopted  by  consult- 
ing engineers  Waring  and  Ames,  of  delivering  the  sewage  in  the  river  north 


The  Medical  Profession.  269 

of  the  city,  instead  of  into  the  swamps  on  the  south  of  it,  submitted  to  the 
board  of  health,  in  1883,  a  plan  for  an  outlet  sewer  for  the  eastern  and  south- 
eastern section  of  the  city  extending  as  far  west  as  Mcintosh  street.  Dr. 
Doughty's  plan  recommended  an  outlet  sewer  running  through  Walton  street 
to  east  boundary  and  thence  northward  to  the  river,  the  grade  to  be  twenty  feet 
at  third  canal  level,  and  to  be  constantly  irrigated  with  a  stream  of  eighteen 
inches  from  the  canal.  The  board  of  health  and  city  engineer  found  that  the 
plan  suggested  by  Dr.  Doughty  was  not  feasible  under  the  grade  and  eleva- 
tion suggested  by  him,  and  the  board,  upon  advice  of  the  engineer,  changed 
the  route  suggested  by  Dr.  Doughty,  and  turned  the  course  of  the  sewer  north- 
ward to  the  river  through  Houston  street,  thereby  greatly  curtailing  the  cost, 
and  also  lowered  the  proposed  grade  four  feet,  thereby  rendering  the  proposed 
plan  practicable.  The  engineer  and  board  of  health  decided  to  build  the  sewer 
six  feet  internal  diameter,  so  as  to  make  it  practicable  for  an  outlet  for  all 
sewers  as  far  west  as  McKinnnie  street.  The  city  engineer  estimated  the  cost 
of  the  proposed  sewer  at  $38,978.07.  The  board  adopted  the  plan  of  Dr. 
Doughty  as  amended,  and  recommended  to  counci4  to  promptly  build  it;  coun- 
cil adopted  the  plan,  and  submitted  it  to  a  popular  vote,  and  asked  authority  to 
levy  a  special  tax  of  x  of  i  P^r  cent,  for  one  year.  The  election  was  held 
February  27,  1884,  and  resulted  in  its  adoption  by  a  more  than  two-thirds 
vote.  Council  then  appointed  the  mayor,  president  of  board  of  health,  and 
streets  and  drains  committee  of  council,  a  commission  to  build  the  outlet  sewer. 
This  commission,  with  City  Engineer  Davidson,  promptly  began  its  labors 
and,  as  rapidly  as  possible,  had  this  important  structure  completed.  Upon 
completion  of  the  sewer  the  commission  found  that  it  had  built  the  structure 
for  $10,000  less  than  the  estimated  cost,  and  more  than  five  thousand  dollars 
less  than  the  bid  of  any  responsible  bidder  for  the  work — certainly  a  rare  ex- 
perience in  constructing  a  public  work.  Since  its  completion  two  floods  have 
fully  tested  its  strength,  and,  in  each  instance,  it  successfully  stood  the  enor- 
mous water  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  it.  The  sewer  system  is  a  modifi- 
cation of  what  is  known  to  engineers  as  the  combined  system,  i.  e.,  for  con- 
duction of  sewage  and  storm  water.  All  sewers  running  southward  are  about 
thirty-six  to  forty-eight  inches  diameter  and  carry  sewage  and  storm  water, 
those  running  east  and  west  are  for  conduction  of  sewage  only — the  storm 
water  in  these  sections  being  carried  by  surface  drains  to  the  sewers  running 
southward.  By  this  latter  plan  the  city  will  save  fully  a  half  million  of  dollars 
by  the  time  the  sewerage  system  shall  have  been  completed.  This  plan  is 
that  suggested  by  the  president  of  the  board  of  health.  All  storm  water  passes 
through  sand  traps  or  pits  before  reaching  a  sewer,  thus  depositing  the  sand  in 
the  traps  instead  of  in  sewers.  Manholes  have  been  placed  at  intervals  of  three 
hundred  feet  in  every  sewer  to  readily  admit  of  inspection  of  these  conduits. 
Up  to  1887  it  was  impossible  to  build  sewers. in  the  section  of  the  city  be- 


270  History  of  Augusta. 


tween  Twiggs,  South  Boundary  and  West  Boundary  streets  and  the  canal,  as 
no  outlet  sewer  had  been  provided.  In  1887  the  president  of  the  board  pro- 
posed a  plan  for  this  latter  structure,  and,  in  consultation  with  City  Engineer 
Davidson,  submitted  to  the  board  of  health  plans  and  details  therefor.  These 
plans  were  adopted  by  the  board  of  health  and  council,  and  the  city  council 
made  an  appropriation  for  building  a  part  of  this  sewer  in  1888.  In  a  few  days 
work  will  be  begun  upon  this  structure.  When  it  is  completed  all  sections  of 
the  city  will  be  fully  provided  with  outlet  sewers,  and  the  danger  of  discharg- 
ing sewage  into  the  swamps  south  of  the  city  to  stagnate,  and  thereby  injure 
the  public  health,  will  be  removed.  The  lateral  sewers  can  then  be  constructed 
from  year  to  year  as  the  city's  finances  will  permit,  and,  when  completed, 
Augusta  will  have  a  sewerage  and  drainage  system  equalled  by  few  cities  in 
America.  When  this  important  work  is  completed  a  marked  decrease  in  our 
death  rate  will  be  observed. 

The  good  results  of  the  sanitary  measures  adopted  in  Augusta  are  seen  in 
a  death  rate  now  as  low,  as  respects  the  white  population,  as  any  city  in  the 
country,  while  the  total  death  rate  has  been  decreased  in  a  remarkable  and  en- 
couraging degree. 

From  1 87 1  to  1879,  inclusive,  the  annual  death  rate  of  the  total  population 
was  30  per  1,000;  from  1880  to  1888,  inclusive,  it  was  23  91,  showing  a  de- 
<a'ease  of  6.09.  This  result  has  been  achieved  despite  a  heavy  increase  in  density 
•of  population,  which  always  militates  against  healthfulness.  Tlie  population  of 
the  city  being  37,000,  it  is  demonstrable  that  the  very  efficient  work  of  the  board 
of  health  results  in  a  saving  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  lives  annually. 

For  the  period  1880  to  1888,  inclusive,  the  following  has  been  the  relative 
death  rate  among  white  and  colored  populations:  White,  17.36  per  1,000;  col- 
ored, 33.90,  the  death  rate  among  the  colored  population  being  nearly  double 
that  of  the  whites.  During  the  period  1880  to  1888,  inclusive,  the  death  among 
the  whites  being  only  17.36  per  1,000,  it  shows  that  for  the  whites  the  death  rate 
is  as  low  as  in  almost  any  other  city  in  America.  Further  it  appears  that  for  the 
first  five  years  of  this  period,  1880  to  1884,  inclusive,  the  average  annual  death 
rate  per  1,000  white  population  has  been  18.81,  while  for  the  last  four  years, 
/.  e.  from  1885  to  1888,  inclusive,  it  has  been  only  15.53,  showing  a  constantly 
decreasing  death  rate  among  the  white  population  amounting  to  3.28  per  1,000 
annually. 

In  1887  a  charter  commission  or  select  body  of  citizens  empowered  to  in- 
vestigate the  entire  working  of  the  city  government  in  all  its  branches,  thor- 
oughly examined  the  operations  of  the  board  of  health,  and  reported  as  fol- 
lows:  "  We  approve  of  and  highly  commend  what  has  been  done,  and  what  is 
proposed  by  the  board  of  health,  and  we  take  much  pleasure  in  bearing  testi- 
mony to  the  great  skill  and  ability  of  Dr.  Foster,  to  whose  untiring  energy  and 
knowledge  of  the  science  of  sanitation,  the  city  is  greatly  indebted  for  the  re- 


The  Medical  Profession.  271 

duction  in  the  death  rate  of  our  city  in  the  last  six  years,  from  30  to  21.33  P^r 
1,000.  We  cannot  speak  in  too  much  praise  of  such  a  work,  or  recommend 
too  strongly  that  the  powers  of  the  board  be  increased  so  that  the  death  rate 
may  be  more  and  more  reduced." 

Of  the  Southern  Medical  and  SurgicalJournalvci^xs.\\ox\  has  been  made  sev- 
eral times  in  the  course  of  this  sketch  of  the  medical  profession  of  Augusta.  It 
was  the  first  publication  of  the  kind  in  the  South,  except  possibly  one  in  New 
Orleans,  and  was  begun  in  1845  by  Doctors  Paul  F.  Eve  and  Ignatius  P.  Gar- 
vin, and  conducted  by  them  till  1851,  when  Dr.  L.  A.  Dugas  took  charge.  Dr. 
Dugas  edited  the  Jojtrnal  until  1856  by  himself,  and  from  that  time  until  the 
war  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Henry  Rossignol.  During  the  war  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Journal  was  suspended,  but  after  the  war  it  was  revived  and  con- 
tinued a  short  time  under  the  charge  of  Doctors  Dugas,  Ford,  and  Doughty. 
The  immense  number  of  medical  publications  of  recent  times  has,  to  a  great 
extent,  rendered  such  a  journal  unnecessary,  but  it  was  in  its  day  of  very  great 
value,  and  is  even  now  a  rich  treasury  of  medical  learning. 

Of  some  of  the  eminent  physicians  of  Augusta  of  the  past  we  now  speak. 
Dr.  Milton  Antony  is  a  central  figure  in  the  medical  annals  of  Georgia.  He 
founded  the  medical  college,  and  his  ashes  repose  in  the  college  yard.  Dr. 
Antony  was  born  in  Wilkes  county,  Ga.,  in  1784,  and  had  few,  if  any,  educa- 
tional advantages.  But  the  love  of  learning  was  in  him,  and  by  his  own  efibrts 
he  wrought  himself  forward  to  the  front  rank  of  his  noble  profession.  In  1822 
his  name  headed  the  list  of  members  of  "The  Medical  Society  of  Augusta,  Geor- 
gia," and  in  1825,  when  the  Legislature  created  the  State  Board  of  Physicians, 
he  was  made  one  of  its  members.  In  1828  the  Legislature  made  him  one  of  "the 
trustees  of  the  Medical  Academy  of  Georgia,"  the  act  authorizing  the  trustees 
to  establish  within  the  corporate  limits  of  the  city  of  Augusta  a  medical  acad- 
emy for  the  State.  At  this  time  Dr.  Antony  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Joseph  A. 
Eve,  one  of  his  pupils,  had  a  species  of  medical  institute  then  in  operation  in 
connection  with  a  hospital  in  the  lower  portion  of  Augusta,  where  the  widow's 
home  now  is,  but  the  inability  to  confer  degrees  probably  crippled  its  useful- 
ness as  an  educational  institution,  and  led  to  the  passage  of  the  act  of  1828,  and 
the  acts  of  1829  and  1833  already  mentioned.  In  1829  the  name  Medical 
Academy  of  Georgia  was  changed  to  "  the  Medical  Institute  of  the  State  of 
Georgia,"  and  that  in  turn  in  1833  to  the  present  style  "  The  Medical  College 
of  Georgia."  Of  this  institution  Dr.  Antony  is  undoubtedly  the  founder,  his 
energies  never  relaxing  till  he  had  seen  a  substantial  edifice  erected  and  sup- 
plied with  library  and  museum.  While  only  surviving  the  founding  of  the  col- 
lege five  years,  Dr.  Antony  had  the  satisfaction  in  that  time  of  seeing  it  grad- 
uate sixty-two  physicians.  In  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  of  1839  Dr.  Antony 
lost  his  life,  dying  on  September  19th  of  the  prevailing  disease,  but  laboring 
in  his  humane  profession  to  the  last.      The  fever  broke  out  in  August;   it  was 


272 


History  of  Augusta. 


its  first  appearance  in  the  city;  there  were  few,  if  any,  experienced  nurses;  the 
faculty  had  little,  if  any,  experience  with  such  a  malady,  and  it  seems  quite  ap- 
parent from  contemporaneous  accounts  that  Dr.  Antony  put  forth  superhuman 
exertions  in  this  terrible  exigency,  and  so  overtaxed  his  strength  as  to  fall  an 
easy  victim  to  the  plague.  Even  in  those  days  of  death  and  sorrow  his  demise 
was  keenly  felt  and  bitterly  lamented.  He  was  interred  in  the  college  grounds, 
and  on  the  slab  covering  his  grave  is  this  inscription  : 

"  Mortale  quicquid  caduit  hie  depositum 

Milton  Antony,   M.D. 

Conditor  collegi  medici  Georgiensis, 

Exegit  monumentum  sere  perennius, 

Vixit  annos  quinquaginta, 

Obiit  die  xix.  Septembris, 

A.    D.    MDCCCXXXIX." 

In  the  lecture- room  of  the  college,  on  the  right  of  the  professorial  rostrum 
is  inserted  in  the  wall  a  marble  memorial  tablet  thus  inscribed  : 

"  In    Memory  ot 

Milton    Antony.  M.D., 

Founder   of  this    College. 

A  niarlvr  to  humanity  and  the  duties  of  his  profession, 

During  the  fatal    epidemic  of  1839. 

Cheered  by  Religious  Faith  through  the  Griefs  and  Trials  of  this  life, 

He  passed  from  the  cure  of  the  sick  to  the  sleep  of  the  just. 

Amid  the  tears  and  blessings  of  the  poor. 

True  to  his  own  favorite  maxim, 

That  a  virtuous  will  is  almost  omnipotent, 

He  overcame  by  study  the  defects  of  education 

And  patiently  toiling  to  eminence,  bequeathed  to  Posterity 

A  noble  Example  of  Genius  and  Industry, 

Animated  and  directed  by  Patriotism  and  Benevolence." 

Dr.  Thomas  H.  M.  Kendall  was  a  practicing  physician  in  Augusta  as  early 
as  1808,  and  is  probably  the  author  of  the  call  made  in  June  of  that  year  for  a 
meeting  of  the  faculty  of  the  city  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  medical  associa- 
tion. Dr.  Fendall  was  still  alive  in  1822,  as  his  name  appears  as  one  of  the 
members  of  "the  Medical  Society  of  Augusta  Ga.,"  incorporated  in  that  year. 

Dr.  Alexander  Cunningham,  vice-president  of  the  society  in  1822,  was  also 
a  physician  of  eminence,  and  was  in  practice  certainly  up  to  1839,  as  in  that 
year  we  find  him  chairman  of  the  meeting  of  physicians  called  to  consider  the 
origin  of  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  of  that  year's  summer.  We  have  heard  old 
citizens  speak  very  highly  of  Dr.  Cunningham's  professional  attainments. 

Dr.  Anderson  Watkins,  the  first  recorded  president  of  the  Medical  Society 
of  Augusta,  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  first  State  Board  of  Health  ap- 
pointed in  1825. 

Dr.  John  Carter  was  also  a  prominent  physician  of  Augusta  some  half  cen- 


The  Medical  Profession.  273 

tury  since.  He  was  one  of  the  original  board  of  trustees  of  the  Medical  Acad- 
emy of  Georgia,  now  the  medical  college.  His  son,  Dr.  F"lournoy  Carter,  who 
died  some  years  since,  also  stood  high  in  the  profession. 

Dr.  Ignatius  P.  Garvin  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  and  has  an  honorable  re- 
cord. He  was  one  of  the  original  board  of  trustees  of  the  medical  academy  of 
1828,  a  colleague  of  Drs.  John  Carter,  Ford  and  Antony.  For  many  years,  in 
conjunction  with  the  celebrated  Dr.  Paul  F.  Eve,  who  subsequently  removed  to 
Nashville,  Dr.  Garvin  conducted  the  Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Review. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  faculty  of  the  medical  college.  In  1848  he  was  mayor 
of  Augusta,  and  for  a  number  of  years  just  preceding  his  death  was  the  city 
treasurer. 

Dr.  George  M.  Newton  is  a  physician  who  should  be  mentioned  in  this  con- 
nection. He  was  the  stepson  of  Mr.  Isaac  Tuttle,  who  at  his  death  in  1855  left 
his  house  on  Walker  street  for  an  orphan  asylum,  and  endowed  it  with  $50,- 
000,  half  his  fortune.  The  other  moiety  he  left  to  Dr.  Newton,  who,  at  his 
death  in  1859,  left  his  entire  estate,  $200,000,  to  the  asylum. 

Dr.  Louis  Alexander  Dugas  was  one  of  the  most  eminent  physicians  ever 
practicing  in  Augusta.  His  father  was  a  French  planter  of  San  Domingo,  who 
emigrated  to  the  United  States  on  the  insurrection  of  the  blacks  in  that  island, 
and  settled  in  Wilkes  county,  Ga..  where  Dr.  Dugas  was  born  in  1806  The 
doctor  was  educated  up  to  his  fifteenth  year  by  his  widowed  mother,  a  lady  of 
great  accomplishments,  who  had  been  herself  educated  in  Paris.  Dr.  Dugas 
at  first  studied  with  Dr.  Charles  Lambert  de  Beauregard,  a  French  emigre  ^\\y- 
sician,  and  on  his  death  studied  with  Dr.  John  Dent.  He  then  attended  lec- 
tures in  Maryland  and  Philadelphia,  and  graduated  at  the  medical  department 
of  the  University  of  Maryland  in  1827.  He  then  studied  abroad  for  three 
years,  and  in  1831  began  a  long  and  illustrious  career  in  Augusta.  At  the  time 
Dr.  Dugas  entered  actively  on  the  practice  the  medical  college  was  an  assured 
fact,  and  on  its  organization  he  was  elected  professor  of  anatomy  and  physiol- 
ogy. Subsequently  he  took  the  chair  of  physiology  and  pathological  anatomy 
which  he  held  till  1855,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  professorship  of  the  princi- 
ples and  practice  of  surgery,  which  he  held  till  his  resignation  from  the  faculty 
in  1880.  In  1834  Dr.  Dugas  revisited  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing 
a  library  and  museum  for  the  medical  college,  a  fund  of  $6,000  having  been 
appropriated  for  that  purpose,  and  from  his  acquaintanceship  in  Paris,  success- 
fully accomplished  his  important  mission.  In  185  i  he  again  visited  Europe  and 
in  the  same  year  assumed  the  editorship  of  the  Southern  Medical  and  Surgical 
Joiir?ial,  the  duties  of  which  he  acceptably  discharged  till  1858,  the  Journal 
taking  high  rank  in  the  medical  press.  Dr.  Dugas  was  a  voluminous  writer 
on  professional  topics,  and  contributed  to  a  number  of  medical  periodicals  be- 
sides the  Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  among  others  The  New  Or- 
leans Medical  and  Surgical  Journal  and  \.\\&  Atlanta  Medical  and  Surgical 
35 


274  History  of  Augusta. 


Journal,  and  several  very  valuable  papers  are  to  be  found  in  the  transactions  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  the  Medical  Association  of  Georgia,  and  the 
International  Medical  Congress.  Dr.  Dugas  wrote  as  many  as  one  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  papers  on  professional  topics  of  great  interest,  a  list  of  which  will 
be  found  on  pages  five  and  six  of  a  valuable  and  interesting  sketch  of  the  life 
of  this  celebrated  physician,  written  by  Dr.  Eugene  Foster,  of  Augusta,  presi- 
dent of  the  Augusta  Board  of  Health,  and  president  of  the  Medical  Associa- 
tion of  Georgia.  Dr.  Dugas  paid  special  attention  to  surgery,  and  when  Au- 
gusta was  a  great  hospital  center  during  the  war,  containing  thousands  of 
wounded  soldiers,  was  the  consulting  surgeon  of  the  Confederate  government. 
Some  of  his  professional  discoveries  were  of  immense  value.  In  particular  he 
furnished  a  rule  by  which  to  ascertain  whether  dislocation  of  the  shoulder  joint 
exists,  a  rule  which  works  with  mathematical  certainty,  and  should  be  known 
as  Dugas's  Law.  It  is  best  stated  in  its  author's  own  words:  "If  the  fingers  of 
the  injured  limb  can  be  placed  by  the  patient,  or  by  the  surgeon  upon  the  sound 
shoulder,  while  the  elbow  touches  the  thorax,  there  can  be  no  dislocation;  and 
if  this  cannot  be  done,  there  must  be  a  dislocation.  In  other  words,  it  is 
physically  impossible  to  bring  the  elbow  in  contact  with  the  sternum  or  front 
of  the  thorax  if  there  be  a  dislocation  ;  and  the  inability  to  do  this  is  proof  pos- 
itive of  the  existence  of  dislocation,  inasmuch  as  no  other  injury  of  the  shoul- 
der joint  can  induce  this  inability."  When  it  is  known  that  prior  to  the  dis- 
covery of  this  law  the  science  of  surgery  knew  no  certain  method  for  diagnos- 
ticating injuries  of  the  shoulder  joint,  the  service  done  in  this  particular  by  Dr. 
Dugas  can  be  readily  seen. 

At  the  time  the  report,  hereinbefore  mentioned,  on  the  causes  of  the  yellow 
fever  in  Augusta  in  1839  was  made.  Dr.  Dugas  was  the  sole  dissentient  among 
the  physicians  of  that  day  on  the  point  of  the  fever  being  of  local  origin.  It 
was  his  view  [that  it  did  not  originate  in  Augusta,  but  was  imported  from 
'Charleston  in  railroad  cars,  thus  foreshadowing  what  may  be  called  the  germ 
theory,  or  that  yellow  fever  may  be  brought  into  a  locality  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  spores. 

In  his  last  medical  paper,  one  read  before  the  International  Medical  Con- 
gress in  Philadelphia  in  1876,  Dr.  Du^as  broached  a  theory  as  to  the  treat- 
ment of  penetrating  wounds  of  the  abdomen  which  is  said  to  be  destined  to 
revolutionize  this  branch  of  practice  and  make  recovery  the  rule  and  death  the 
exception  in  these  dreadful  cases  rather  than  the  reverse  as  is  the  case  now. 
A  wound  in  the  abdomen  is  commonly  regarded  as  almost  inevitably  mortal. 
It  was  Dr.  Dugas's  idea  that  the  recognized  method  of  treating  such  wounds 
brought  on  septicaemia,  or  blood  poisoning,  and  the  practice  recommended  by 
him  was  to  open  the  lacerated  parts,  trim  the  ragged  edges  of  the  wound  to  a 
straight  edge,  and  rel\-  upon  t!ie  healing  power  of  nature  to  reunite  the  parts. 
In  enforcing  this  he  says,  "  Is  it  not  lime  that  we  should  regard  as  groundless 


The  Medical  Profession. 


275 


the  fears  heretofore  entertained  with  regard  to  the  danger  of  opening  the  abdo- 
minal cavity  ?  No  change  of  practice  in  the  class  of  wounds  under  considera- 
tion can  make  the  chances  of  recovery  less  than  they  are  now,  and  1  feel  con- 
fident that  by  adopting  the  plan  proposed  we  would  so  alter  the"  results  as  to 
make  recovery  the  rule  and  death  the  exception."  Dr.  Dugas  died  in  1884, 
honored  by  the  people  among  whom  he  had  so  long  labored  and  venerated  by 
the  profession  he  so  worthily  adorned. 

Dr.  Lewis  DeSaussure  Ford  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in  1801,  and  died  in 
Augusta  in  1883.  He  graduated  at  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of 
New  York  in  1822,  and  in  1827  settled  in  Augusta.  Here  for  over  half  a  cen- 
tury he  practiced  his  noble  profession  with  a  generous  tenderness  of  heart  that 
makes  his  name  venerated  throughout  the  city.  He  was  emphatically  a  Good 
Samaritan.  His  most  prominent  trait  was  benevolence.  Day  or  night,  in  rain 
or  sunshine,  it  was  only  necessary  to  tell  him  that  a  scene  of  misery  and 
anguish  waited  his  presence,  and  he  hastened  to  the  bedside  of  the  sick  poor. 
Often  between  the  call  of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  he  preferred  the  latter,  where 
perils  were  even  ;  if  the  latter's  anguish  were  greater  than  the  former,  the  poor 
man  always  had  his  first  attention.  It  was  a  guiding  principle  of  his  life  to  do 
good,  and  daily  as  he  taught  the  students  he  inculcated  the  lesson  of  unselfish 
devotion  to  duty  on  them.  "  The  virtue  of  benevolence,"  he  told  them,  "  lies 
at  the  foundation,  while  it  forms  the  crowning  glory  of  the  medical  character. 
Without  this  heavenborn  principle,  there  can  be  no  enlightened  appreciation, 
no  devoted  performance  of  the  duties  of  that  profession,  whose  ministrations 
have  been  represented  by  one  not  of  our  profession,  as  a  beautiful,  but  hum- 
ble, imitation  of  those  of  the  Divine  Providence."  The  portrait  of  Dr.  Ford, 
hanging  in  the  gallery  of  the  city's  chief  magistrates  in  the  mayor's  office,  suf- 
ficiently reveals  what  manner  of  man  he  was.  In  his  long  locks  and  flowing 
beard,  and  wise  yet  merciful  eye.  the  patriarch  shines  out.  Dr.  Ford  is  pre- 
eminently known  in  Augusia  as  the  good  physician. 

Dr.  Ford  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Medical  College,  and  for  a  few 
years  had  the  chair  of  chemistry.  After  that  he  had  the  professorship  of  the 
principles  and  practice  of  medicine.  In  manners  he  was  a  most  polished  and 
elegant  gentleman,  a  true  gentleman,  one  who  always  pays  a  due  regard  to  the 
rights  and  feelings  of  others.  His  literary  taste  was  highly  cultivated.  He 
spoke  with  ease,  and  had  the  happy  faculty  of  lightening  the  burden  of  a  heavy 
subject  with  a  bright  flash  of  wit,  refreshing  and  strengthening  all  who  heard. 
With  these  qualifications  he  was  a  most  successful  lecturer,  and  what  world  of 
good  he  worked  with  the  two  thousand  students  who  sat  under  him  can  be 
imagined. 

Dr.  Ford  was  an  eminent  expert  in  epidemic  diseases,  and  both  in  1839 
and  1854  rendered  immensely  valuable  service  by  his  early  and  accurate  diag- 
nosis of  the  fever  then  afflicting  this  city.      His  reputation   in  this  particular 


2/6  History  of  Augusta. 


not  infrequently  led  to  his  being  called  to  other  pioints  to  observe  and  decide 
as  to  the  nature  of  doubtful  or  imperfectly  developed  febrile  affections. 

During  the  war  he  was  surgeon  of  the  first  Georgia  Hospital  in  Richmond 
to  the  close-  of  the  struggle.  When  called  on  in  1862  he  unhesitatingly  jour- 
neyed to  the  Confederate  capital,  though  then  sixty  years  of  age,  and  well 
entitled  to  excuse  from  such  onerous  duty. 

We  have  said  that  the  speciality  of  Dr.  Dugas  was  surgery  ;  that  of  Dr. 
Ford  was  the  pathology  and  therapeutics  of  malarial  fevers.  The  pages  of  tlie 
Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Review,  from  1837  to  1845  contain  a  number 
of  papers  by  him  on  this  subject,  which  have  become  classics  of  the  profession 
on  this  important  subject.  It  is  said  that  his  contributions  to  medical  knowl- 
edge in  this  department  are  the  most  important  of  any  physician  in  America. 

Dr.  Ford  had  considerable  taste  for  public  life  ;  was  for  a  number  of  years 
a  member  of  the  city  council,  and  in  1846  elected  mayor,  and  in  1847  re- 
elected. In  the  days  when  the  State  government  was  prostrated  at  the  feet 
of  a  major-general  in  the  reconstruction  era.  Dr.  Ford  boldly  and  openly 
aligned  himself  on  the  side  of  civil  rule  against  bayonet  supremacy,  and  twice 
addressed  his  fellow-citizens,  urging  ihem  not  to  acquiesce  in  the  decrees  of 
the  military  authorities. 

At  his  death  the  city  council  voted  to  attend  his  funeral  in  a  body,  the 
leading  paper  editorially  said  his  history  was  epitomized  in  "  his  unselfish  de- 
votion to  his  fellow  men,  the  alleviation  of  their  physical  suffering,  the  binding 
up  of  their  spiritual  wounds,  the  promotion  of  their  virtues";  the  medical  col- 
lege resolveti  that  it  hatl  lost  "  the  revered  and  beloved  Nestor  of  our  faculty." 

A  third  most  eminent  Augusta  physician  was  Dr.  Joseph  Adams  Eve, 
born  near  Charleston,  S.  C.  in  1805,  and  dying  in  Augusta  in  1886.  In  man- 
ner Dr.  Eve  was  much  like  his  beloved  contemporary.  Dr.  Ford.  He  was 
courtesy  and  kindness  itself  The  Chesterfieldian  bow  and  polite  smile  of  this 
venerable  physician  were  institutions  of  Augusta.  We  once  heard  a  rough  fel- 
low aptly  express  the  general  sentiment:  "Why,  Dr.  Eve  will  take  off  his  hat 
to  an)'  man  living."  The  potent  civilizing  effect  of  urbanity  had  penetrated  the 
mind  of  even  this  uncouth  observer,  and  he  said  what  he  did  in  admiration  and 
honor.  Behind  the  formal  outwarii  observances  of  civility  lay  a  kind  heart. 
A  tale  of  distress  at  once  brought  Dr.  Eve  to  the  rescue. 

Having  a  natural  taste  f  )r  medicine,  he  studied  in  the  office  of  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  Milton  Antony,  the  founder  of  the  medical  college,  and  in  1827 
visited  Europe  and  attended  lectures  there.  In  1828  he  finished  his  course 
and  graduated  at  the  Medical  College  of  South  Carolina.  In  conjunction  with 
Dr.  Antony  he  established  the  Academy  ol  Medicine,  which  was  incorporated, 
as  we  have  seen,  in  1828,  and  was  probably  in  operation  by  1829.  It  was  at 
first  a  hospital  as  well  as  a  medical  institute,  and  was  situated  where  the 
Widow's  Home  is  now.      In    1833.  on  the  organi-zation  of  the  medical  college, 


The  Medical  Profession.  277 

Dr.  Eve  was  assigned  to  the  chair  of  materia  medica.  In  1839  he  was  elected 
professor  of  obstetrics  and  diseases  of  women  and  children,  and  held  this  chair 
uninterruptedly  for  the  long  period  of  fifty-three  years.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  considered  by  the  profession  as  the  oldest  active  teacher  of  ob- 
stetrics in  the  world.  From  his  great  skill  and  the  many  years  in  which  he 
labored,  it  may  almost  be  said  that  he  brought  half  the  town  into  being,  and  it 
is  a  reliable  estimate  that  he  attended  five  thousand  obstetrical  cases.  He  was 
an  honorary  member  of  the  Boston  Gynecological  Society,  and  the  American 
Gynecological  Society  made  him  its  first  honorary  member.  He  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  the  Medical  Association  of  Georgia,  and  in  1879  was  unani- 
mously elected  its  president.  At  one  time  he  edited  that  famous  publication, 
the  Southern  Medical  and  Snrgical  Jonvjial.  Preferring,  as  he  expressed  it, 
"to  wear  out  rather  than  rust  out,"  Dr.  Eve  continued  in  practice  to  the  last. 
Of  the  remarkable  strength  of  his  memory  we  well  recall  one  instance  coming 
under  our  personal  observation.  We  had  occasion,  in  a  legal  matter  involving 
descent,  to  call  on  him  for  information  as  to  the  dates  of  the  death  of  several 
persons,  deceased  many  years  before.  After  a  moment's  reflection  he  gave 
the  desired  data,  but  said,  to  make  sure,  he  would  have  his  old  journals  looked 
up.  This  being  done,  the  facts  were  found,  as  he  stated,  though  for  forty 
years,  no  doubt,  his  attention  had  not  been  called  to  these  cases. 

One  remarkable  fact  in  the  history  of  the  medical  profession  in  Augusta  is 
the  frequency  with  which  the  sons  or  near  relatives  of  leading  physicians  have 
themselves  adopted  the  profession  of  medicine.  Thus  Dr.  Edwin  L.  Antony 
graduates  in  1835  at  the  medical  college;  Dr.  Milton  Antony,  jr..  in  1845, 
and  Dr.  Decourcy  Antony  in  185 1.  Dr.  Henry  F.  Campbell  graduating  in 
1842,  is  followed  in  1 847  by  Dr.  Robert  Campbell,  jr.,  and  in  1872  by  Dr.  A. 
Sibley  Campbell  Dr.  John  Dent,  a  contemporary  of  Dr.  Milton  Antony,  is 
followed  by  Dr.  John  M.  Dent  in  1856.  Dr.  W.  H.  Doughty  graduating  in 
1855,  is  followed  by  Dr.  W.  H  Doughty,  jr.,  in  1878.  The  venerable  Dr. 
Joseph  A.  Eve  saw  no  less  than  seven  of  his  name  or  family  graduate  :  Drs. 
Edward  A.  Eve  in  1833,  Sterling  C.  Eve  in  1861,  W.  R.  Eve  in  1867, 
Joseph  E.  Eve  in  1872,  E.  J.  Eve  and  W.  H.  Eve  in  1875.  and  Joseph  Eve 
Allen  in  1877.  Dr.  L.  D.  Ford  had  two  sons  adopt  his  profession,  De  Saus- 
sure  Ford  in  1856,  and  Dr.  Lewis  R.  Ford  in  1870.  Dr.  Louis  A.  Dugas 
was  followed  by  Dr.  George  C.  Dugas  in  1873,  Dr.  Alexander  E.  Dugas  in 
1875,  and  Dr.  W.  H.  Dugas  in  1879.  Of  Dr.  F'lourney  Carter,  son  of  old 
Dr.  John  Carter,  we  have  previously  spoken. 

There  could  be  no  stronger  testimonial  to  the  personal  and  professional 
worth  of  the  physicians  of  Augusta  than  this  family  tendency  to  pursue  the 
profession  of  medicine.  Of  the  present  faculty  ot  Augusta  it  is  not  in  the 
scope  of  the  present  sketch  to  speak,  but  in  point  of  skill  they  lose  nothing  in 
comparison  with  the  worthies  of  the  past.      As  an  old  writer  quaintly  puts  the 


278  History  of  Augusta. 


confidence  reposed  in  a  good  physician,  "  there  is  healing  in  the  very  creak  of 
his  shoes  as  he  comes  up  the  stairs."^ 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
THE   PRESS. 

The  .-\ugusta  Chi-onicle  —  Established  in  1785  —  Its  Editors  for  a  Century  —  Smith  (1785) 

—  Driscoll  (1807)  —  Bevan  (1821)  —  A  Semi- Weekly—  Harmon  (1822)  —  A  Tri-Weel<ly  — 
Hobby  (1824)  —  Pemberton  (1825)  — Jones  (1837)  —  A  Daily  —  Colonel  James  M.  Smythe 
(1846)—  Dr.  Jones  (1847)  — Morse  (1861)  — General  A.  R.  Wri,^dit  and  Hon.  Patrick  Walsh 
(1866)  — H.  Gregg  Wright  (1877)— James  R.  Randall  (1883)  —  Plea.sant  A.  Stovall  (1887)  — 
The  Chronicle  of  1790  —  Its  Appearance,  News,  Advertisements,  etc.  —  Chronicle  s  Centennial 

—  Honorable  Record  —  The  Augusta  Herald — The  Const ittitionalist  —  Colonel  Gardner  — 
Southern  Field  and  Fireside  —  State's  Rights  Sentinel — The  Mirror  —  The  Republic  — 
The  Eve/ling  Netus  —  The  Progress  —  The  Free  Press  —  The  Banner  of  the  South  —  The 
Pacificator  —  The  Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal —  Veteran  Newspaper  Attaches. 

THE  Augusta  Chronicle  is  the  oldest  paper  in  Augusta,  and  also  the  pio- 
neer in  the  journah'stic  field  of  this  city.  It  was  established  in  1785^ 
under  the  name  of  the  Augusta  Chronicle  and  Gazette  of  the  State.  This  title, 
the  Chj'onicle,  the  paper  has  retained  ever  since,  though  from  time  to  time 
during  the  century,  as  it  absorbed  contemporary  journals,  the  latter  portion  of 
the  name  has  undergone  change.  In  1821  it  became  the  Augusta  Chronicle 
and  Georgia  Gazette.  In  1822  the  style  was  altered  to  Augusta  Chronicle  and 
Georgia  Advertiser.  \w  1835  't  appeared  simply  as  Augusta  Chronicle.  In 
1837,  having  absorbed  the  State  s  Rights  Sentinel,  a  paper  edited  by  the  famous 
Judge  Longstreet,  author  of  "  Georgia  Scenes,"  it  appeared  as  a  daily  news- 
paper, under  the  styXe  o{  Daily  Chronicle  and  Sentinel,  which  name  it  retained 
until  1877,  when,  having  absorbed  the  Constitutionalist,  its  rival  for  more  than 
eighty  years,  it  appeared  as  the  Chronicle  and  Constitutionalist.  In  1885  it 
dropped  the  latter  portion  of  this  title  and  took  the  style  of  the  Augusta 
Chronicle,  which  it  now  bears. 

The  Chronicle  was  first  edited  and  published  by  John  E.  Smith,  State  print- 
er, for  a  number  of  years.      The   paper  was  at  that  time  a  weekly  of  small  di- 

'  For  valuable  assistance  in  the  preparation  of  this  sketch  we  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Edward 
Geddings,  dean  of  the  Medical  College  of  Augusta,  and  .son  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Geddings,  of 
Charleston,  mentioned  in  the  discussion  on  yellow  fever ;  also  to  Dr.  Eugene  Foster,  president 
of  the  Augusta  board  of  Health  and  Medical  Association  of  Georgia  ;  and  to  Dr.  Henry  F.. 
Campbell,  one  of  the  most  eminent  phvsicians  in  the  United  States. 


%-F.GKernc>j^S(  C°l^-^'' 


The  Press.  279 

mensions  and  we  give  some  sketch  of  its  appearance,  contents,  etc.,  later  on  in 
this  article. 

The  next  editor  was  a  Mr.  Driscoll,  a  native  of  Ireland.  In  the  heated  pol- 
itical contests  of  the  era  of  President  Adams  Mr.  Driscoll  was  a  pronounced 
anti- Anglican,  favoring  the  French  side  in  politics  and  exhibiting  great  ani- 
mosity toward  England.  The  Augusta  Herald,  The  Chronicle's  contemporary 
of  that  time,  was  as  strongly  the  other  way,  and  between  Mr.  Bunce  of  the 
Herald,  and  Editor  Driscoll  of  The  Chronicle  heavy  journalistic  firing  ensued. 
Finally,  in  a  tart  card,  Mr.  Driscoll  informed  his  opponent  the  discussion  had 
better  be  adjourned  "  to  the  Lower  Market  or  South  Carolina,"  and  on  these 
hostile  intimations  peace  seems  to^have  resumed  its  sway.  Mr.  Driscoll  was  a 
journalist  of  considerable  ability,  and  as  early  as  1807  we  find  a  decided  im- 
provement in  the  art  editorial.  The  markets  begin  to  receive  attention,  local 
items  and  general  news  are  made  separate  departments,  and  great  attention  is 
paid  to  "  leader"  writing,  as  if  there  began  to  be  a  desire  to  mold  opinion  as 
well  as  record  events. 

In  1 82 1  Mr.  Joseph  Vallence  Bevan  assumed  the  editorial  chair.  This  gen- 
tleman was  a  man  of  fine  literary  attainments,  and  at  one  time  contemplated 
writing  a  history  of  the  State.  The  General  Assembly  voted  him  the  use  of 
the  archives  for  that  purpose,  but  his  untimely  death  intervened.  Under  Mr. 
Bevan  the  paper  was  enlarged  and  much  improved.  Its  editorials  were  well 
written,  and  the  whole  paper  began  to  assume  something  of  a  modern  journ- 
alistic air.      Under  Mr.  Bevan  The  Chronicle  began  to  appear  as  a  semi-weekly. 

Toward  the  end  of  1822  John  K.  Charlton,  Andrew  Ruddel,  and  John  B. 
Lennard  became  proprietors,  and  Mr.  T.  S.  Hannon,  editor.  Mr.  Hannon  made 
the  paper  a  tri- weekly,  but  in  1824,  at  which  time  William  J.  Hobby  took 
charge,  it  was  reduced,  to  a  semi-weekly. 

In  1825  Mr.  A.  H.  Pemberton  became  proprietor  and  so  remained  for  a 
number  of  years.  Under  Mr.  Pemberton  the  paper  was  nearly  of  its  present 
size,  but  in  a  single  sheet.  Great  attention  was  paid  to  its  literary  depart- 
ment and  much  space  given  to  correspondents.  For  some  ten  years  Mr.  A. 
H.  Pemberton  managed  the  paper  alone;  in  1835  1"^^  associated  his  brother  in 
business  with  himself,  as  A.  H.  &  William  F.  Pemberton.  On  December  31, 
1836,  the  Pembertons  sold  out  to  Mr.  William  E.  Jones,  proprietor  of  the  State's 
Rights  Sentinel,  who  merged  the  papers,  and  on  January  3,  1837,  issued  the 
first  number  of  the  Daily  Chronicle  and  Sentinel.  In  venturing  on  such  an 
untried  experiment  in  Augusta  as  a  daily  paper,  Mr.  Jones  remarked  that  he 
did  so  with  some  diffidence,  but  no  apprehension.  The  time,  he  thought,  was 
opportune  and  the  future  would  sustain  his  venture. 

In  1839  Mr.  Jones  formed  the  firm  of  William  E.  Jones  &  Co.,  which  was 
succeeded  in  1840  by  two  brothers,  James  W.  and  William  S.Jones,  the  form- 
er of  whom  acted  as  editor  for  a  number  of  years.      Mr.  James  W.  Jones  was  a 


28o  History  of  Augusta. 


writer  of  great  vigor  and  determination,  ardent  in  announcing  and  steady  ia 
maintaining  his  opinions.  In  the  heated  pohtical  discussions  of  the  day  he  be- 
came involved  in  a  controversy  with  Colonel  James  Gardner,  of  the  Constitu- 
tionalist, and  a  duel  ensued. 

In  1849  Dr.  William  S.  Jones  bought  out  the  interest  of  James  W.  Jones 
in  the  paper,  the  latter  continuing,  however,  to  act  as  editor.  About  this  time 
we  first  find  telegraphic  dispatches  in  the  paper.  The  issue  of  January  i, 
1849,  has  a  dispatch  which  is  said  to  have  left  New  York  on  ten  o'clock  on  Fri- 
day night,  and  to  have  been  received  in  Augusta  on  Saturday  afternoon.  It 
appears  in  the  paper  on  Monday  morning,  or  some  sixty  hours  after  ;  but  slow 
work  as  this  appears  now,  it  was  a  wonderful  ^improvement  then.  About  this 
time  we  also  find  the  telegraph  was  in  operation  at  various  points  in  Georgia, 
and  the  Baltimore  papers  are  quoted  with  very  full  telegraphic  intelligence  from 
Boston  and  the  West. 

In  1846  Colonel  James  M.  Smythe,  a  gentleman  still  a  resident  in  Augusta, 
edited  the  paper,  and  with  great  ability,  being  one  of  the  best  informed  politi- 
cians in  Georgia. 

During  the  war  Dr.  Jones  disposed  of  The  Chronicle  to  Mr.  N.  S.  Morse,  of 
New  York.  Dr.  Jones's  name  is  inseparably  connected  with  TJie  Chrojiicle, 
which  he  managed  with  signal  ability  for  a  period  of  over  twenty  years.  He 
died  a  few  years  since,  honored  and  revered  b}'  all  who  knew  him.  His  work 
still  lives  in  the  sturdy  journal  he  so  long  fostered,  and  his  portrait,  as  that  also 
of  his  no  less  celebrated  brother,  James  W.  Jones,  adorns  the  walls  of  the  ed- 
itorial sanctum. 

Mr.  Morse  conducted  the  paper  to  1866.  In  politics  Mr.  Morse  was  emi- 
nently a  Morse  man.  During  the  war  he  was  ardently  Southern.  When  the 
Federal  military  forces  entered  Augusta  he  burned  or  secreted  the  files  of  the 
paper  for  the  eventful  period  1861-65,  ^^^^l  became  intensely  loyal.  In  per- 
sonal appearance  Mr.  Morse  was  a  remarkable  compound.  His  face  round  as 
an  apple,  and  bright  and  rather  protruding  eyes  gave  him  a  boyish  appearance; 
but,  as  if  to  disguise  this,  he  wore  a  mustache  of  portentous  magnitude,  brist- 
ling stiffly  out  at  either  side  of  his  nose,  a  la  Victor  Emanuel.  In  character  he 
was  equally  composite.  His  real  disposition  was  that  of  good  humored  selfish- 
ness, but  he  affected  the  wild  Western  Bill  style  of  deportment  to  a  great  ex- 
tent. One  of  his  manias  was  a  love  of  bright  arms,  and  we  well  recall  the  huge 
revolver  and  preposterous  bowie-knife  he  especially  cherished.  Mr.  Morse  af- 
terwards removed  to  New  York  and  managed  the  Evening  News  there  with 
wonderful  success  up  to  his  death,  a  few  years  since. 

On  March  24,  1-866,  Mr.  Henry  Moore  and  General  A.  R.  Wright  came  in- 
to possession  of  the  paper.  In  November  of  this  year  Mr.  Patrick  Walsh  be- 
came connected  with  The  Chronicle.  Mr.  Moore  was  a  prominent  citizen  of 
Augusta,  who  by  his  business  tact  and  experience  did  much  to  sustain  the  pa- 


The  Press.  o 

281 


per  during  the  troubled  years  just  after  the  wa.  Mr.  Moore  was  one  of  the 
kmdest  and  most  generous  of  ™en.  He  it  was  who  ad.aneed  the  ntonev  to 
purchase  The  CkronicU  from  Mr.  Morse  ^ 

General  Ambrose  R.  Wright  is  one  of  the  celebrated  men  of  Georgia     Dur 
mg  the  war  he  rose  to  the  rank  of  major-general,  being  particular  yemi^e; 

tte  ofT'^r":  '"'',!'",'^^-  ^''" ""  ™^  "^  ^^'^'i  ncau.nuj:~, 

H        H         T    •  r^"'  °"''"='    "'"^^^  P^^""-'^  afflicting  circumstance 
He  had  just  been  elected  to  Congress  from  the  Richmond  district  tl's  re    iz 
ng  one  of  the  bnghtest  dreams  of  his  life,  but  the  exertions  of  the  cavs^ 
threw  him  mto  an  illness  which  proved  fatal  canvass 

Gen^ral'°A''7w  "'hf'  ^"l  ''^"'"Z"  *"  """^^  J'''"">'  ">■  ^^  "-"y  Moore, 
Genera   A.  R.  Wright,  and  Hon.  Patrick  Walsh,  but  at  that  time  Mr   Moore 

eral  Wright,  the  latter  assuming  the  editorial  chair.  Mr.  Wri..ht  possessed 
marked  journalistic  ability,  and  soon  ranked  with  the  foremost  oft  e  ^M 
profession  In  addition  to  great  talent  he  had  an  unusual  degree  of  Indus  y 
ad  practical  e.xperience.  His  influence  had  already  been  felt'throughou  1 1^ 
S  ate.  and  his  writings  quoted  throughout  the  country  ;  the  county  had  s^nl 
him  several  times  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  a  bright  future  was  before  hm 
when  his  days  were  brought  to  an  untimely  end  oeloiemm 

In  March,  ,877,  Tkc  Coustitutionalist,  The  Chronule's  rival  for  some  fiftyodd 
years,  became  merged  with  it,  and  the  paper  for  a  number  of  years  hereafe^ 
appeared  as  The  Chronicle  and  ConstUuHonaHs,,  Shortly  thereaf  e  it  became 
the  property  of  an  incorporated  company,  of  which  Hon.  Patrick  Walsrwa 
and  IS  still  president.  Up  to  about  ,887  James  R.  Randall,  the  wo  Id  Jde 
amous  author  of  ••  Maryland,  my  Maryland,"  edited  The  Ch;ouiele  w  U^si!  a 

tab     hed  '?.-\^^"-™-'  Mr.  Pleasant  A.  Stovall,  a  gentleman  of  welles- 

tabhshed  journalistic  reputation,  has  edited  the  paper 

.70^'"lHs"'  ^°P>'  "V""  ':'"'°""''  '"''"'  •'^^^^  ^^''  Saturday,  October  9   ' 
.790.     It  is  a  small  affair,  its  pages  eight  by  fifteen  inches,  and  but  four  fn 

•  Gt^Ot.      ;-  7"'f -1  --^>y.   »d     the    caption,  re'ads   as    fotv 

GEORGIA.  The  Augusta  Chronicle  and  Gazette  of  the  State.  Freedom  of 
^>e  press  and  trial  by  jury  shall  remain  inviolate.  Constitution  of  GeoTI 
Angus  a.  Printed  by  John  E.  Smith,  printer  to  the  State.  Essays  art  des 
o  Intel ligence,  advertisements,  etc.,  will  be  gratefully  received,  and  ev'ery  Wnd 
of  printing  performed."     The    advertisements   are,   compara  ively  sp  aki  , 

year  ,,9,  are  advertised  for,  the  ration  consisting  of  one  pound  of  bread  or 
flour,  one  pound  of  teef  or  three-quarters  of  a  pound  of  pork,  and  ■  :  e  gil 
of  comnron  rum."     Notice  is  given  of  administration  by  Robe  t  Watl  ^s  the 
auUior  of  ■■  Watkin's  Digest  of  Georgia  Laws,"  of  which  w'e  speak  n^c; 
of  the  Augusta  legal  profession,  on  the  estate  of  John  Walton,  one  of  the  th    e 


282  History  op^  Augusta. 


signers  of  the  articles  of  confederation  on  belialf  of  Georgia.  A  merchant 
advertises  that  he  has  Jamaica  spirits  at  five  shillings  and  threepence  per  gal. 
Ion.  "  Northward  rum,"  probably  what  was  afterwards  called  New  England 
rum,  at  three  and  ninepence,  cherry  bounce  at  six  shillings,  almonds  at  one 
and  twopence  per  pound,  coffee  at  one  and  nine,  and  imperial  Hyson  tea,  evi- 
dently then  a  very  great  luxury,  at  eleven  and  eightpence.  Curiously  enough, 
while  the  other  quotations  are  in  sterling,  Geneva,  in  cases,  is  quoted  in  Fed- 
eral currency;  at  six  dollars  and  a  half  per  case.  Another  merchant  adver- 
tises he  is  about  to  start  on  a  voyage  for  Europe,  and  will  undertake  the  sale 
on  commission  of  "  tobacco  or  merchantable  indigo,"  then  staple  products  in 
Georgia,  the  cotton  era  not  having  then  dawned.  George  Walton,  the  cele- 
brated patriot  and  jurist  of  Georgia's  Revolutionary  period,  gives  notice  of 
somebody's  old  bay  horse  having  been  taken  up  trespassing  in  his  fields.  Mr. 
Editor  conjures  and  adjures  his  delinquent  subscribers  to  pay  up,  quite  in  the 
style  of  the  country  editor  of  to-day,  and  says  hereafter  no  work  can  be  taken 
from  his  office  till  cash  down.  The  local  news  is  scant.  Results  of  the  recent 
election  for  members  of  the  Legislature  from  Richmond  county,  which  then 
included  Columbia,  are  given,  by  which  it  appears  that  the  country  was  then 
entitled  to  four  members,  and  that  the  following  were  elected  by  the  votes 
respectively  attached  to  their  names  :  Seaborn  Jones,  566  ;  James  Lewis,  538  ; 
Benjamin  Andrews,  508  ;  and  Solomon  Ellis,  476.  None  but  landowners  be- 
ing then  competent  to  vote,  the  polls  show  a  very  substantial  population  at 
the  time.  Among  the  unsuccessful  candidates  were  Benjamin  Few,  Thomas 
Carr,  Jesse  Sanders,  John  Appling,  Charles  Crawford,  W.  F.  Booker,  and 
Peter  Carnes. 

One  death  is  noted,  that  of  an  infant  of  eight  months,  whom  the  editor 
compliments  with  the  following  quotation  : 

"  Happy  the  babe  who,  privileged  by  fate 
To  shorter  labor  and  a  lighter  weight, 
Received  but  yesterday  the  gift  of  breath. 
Ordered  to-morrow  to  return  to  death." 

In  the  news  department  is  a  considerable  collection  of  items  for  so  small  a 
vehicle.  Advices  of  June  5,  1790 — only  four  months  and  four  days  old  — 
from  Berlin  state  that  the  Duke  ot  Sudermania  had  put  the  Russian  fleet  to 
flight  before  Revel,  and  rushed  pell-mell  into  the  harbor  with  them,  thereby 
taking  it.  Paris  news  of  June  21  is  that  the  title  of  the  king  is  to  be  Emperor 
of  the  French,  the  national  assembly  dignifying  Louis  XVI.  preparatory  to 
guillotining  him  three  years  later.  The  assembly  also  abolished  the  titles  of 
"marquis,  compte,  and  duke."  London  advices  of  June  7  say  the  admiralty 
has  revoked  all  protections  against  impressment,  it  being  indispensable  to  man 
the  Hannibal,  the  Royal  George,  and  other  ships  of  the  line  at  once.      At  Carls- 


The  Press.  283 

croon  the  Swedes  are  cleaving  out  of  the  soHd  rock  docks  large  enough  for 
twenty  men-of-war.  The  emperor  of  Morocco  falls  out  with  the  Spanish  con- 
sul, and,  on  the  ground  that  "  it  was  not  consistent  with  the  etiquette  of  his 
court  to  hang  him  in  effigy,"  ties  the  poor  man  to  the  tail  of  a  wild  ass,  which 
is  hunted  till  furious,  and  from  this  situation  the  consul  is  taken  only  to  be 
hanged.  War  is  brewing  between  England  and  Spain,  and  the  latter  provides 
herself  with  some  huge  ships,  carrying  124  to  140  guns.  The  Turkish  grand 
vizier  at  the  head  of  120,000  malignant  and  turbaned  Turks,  is  advancing  on 
Widdin  ;  and  the  Prince  of  Saxe-Cobourg — some  ancestor  of  Prince  Albert, 
is  to  give  him  battle.  New  York  advices  of  July  14 — a  few  days  short  of 
being  three  months  old — contain  a  report  of  the  three  United  States  commis- 
sioners to  negotiate  a  treaty  with  the  Creeks,  explanatory  of  their  failure, 
which  is  attributed  to  "  their  principal  chief,  Mr,  Alexander  McGillivray." 
They  further  report  that  the  treaty  of  Augusta  in  1783  and  other  compacts 
with  the  Indians  were  conducted  as  understandingly  as  possible  "  where  one 
of  the  contracting  parties  is  destitute  of  the  benefits  of  enlightened  society." 
Advices  of  September  2,  from  Philadelphia,  give  the  progress  of  President 
Washington  from  New  York,  then  the  capital  of  the  United  States,  to  Mount 
Vernon,  in  the  style  of  the  present  court  journals  of  Europe.  He  was  accom- 
panied to  his  barge  by  the  governor  of  New  York,  the  principal  officers  of  gov- 
ernment, the  mayor  and  corporation,  officers  of  the  city,  and  a  number  of  citi- 
zens. "  On  the  departure  of  him  whom  all  hold  so  dear,  the  heart  was  full,  the 
tear  dropped  from  the  eye;  it  was  not  to  be  restrained  ;  it  was  seen  ;  and  the 
president  appeared  sensibly  moved  by  this  last  mark  of  esteem  for  his  character 
and  affection  for  his  person."  On  the  approach  to  Philadelphia  of  "  The  pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  his  lady,  and  their  suite,"  they  were  met  by  "  a 
number  of  respectable  citizens,  the  city  troops,  and  companies  of  light  infantry, 
who,  on  this  occasion,  as  well  as  others,  all  testified  their  affection  for  the  bene- 
factor of  mankind.  Every  public  demonstration  of  joy  was  manifested,  the 
bells  announced  his  welcome,  a  /en  de  joie  was  exhibited,  and  as  he  rode 
through  town  to  the  city  tavern,  age  bowed  with  respect  and  youth  repeated  in 
acclamations  the  applause  of  the  hero  of  the  western  world  !"  A  banquet  is 
tendered  his  excellency  by  the  Legislature  and  "  by  the  president  and  other 
executive  officers  of  Pennsylvania,  at  which  reason,  valour  and  hospitality  pre- 
sided." 

The  poet's  corner  is  not  forgotten  in  the  Chronicle  of  1790.  The  editor 
states  that  an  ode  to  Washington  will  appear  in  his  next,  and  in  the  current 
issue  gives  "  Lothario's"  tribute  to  "  Miss  W 11,  a  specimen  whereof  is  : 

"  Sweetest  syren  of  the  Augustan  stage, 

Adored  by  youth,  respected  by  old  age, 

Permit  me  now  to  sing  in  homespun  lays, 

Thy  charms  divine — that  all  who  know  must  praise." 


284  History  of  Augusta. 


The   poet  incautiously  reveals  the  identity  of  his  inamorata  in  his  closing 

lines  : 

"  Thy  lovely  taper  waist,  how  round  and  small  ; 
Here  language  faints.     I  sigh  with  Jove  for  Wall, 
With  her  I'd  live — with  h-er  I'd  wish  to  fall." 

A  poet  of  another  character  appears  among  the  paid  advertisements.  He 
tells  in  doggerel  how  some  spiteful  neighbor  had  charged  him  with  filching  a 
bell,  and  how  on  the  trial  lie  came  clear  : 

"  This  advertisement  is  to  It'll, 
Near  Harden's  Creek  that  I  do  dwell. 
One  of  my  neighbors  did  falsely  tell 
That  I  of  him  had  stole  a  bell. 

His  witness  was  one  Samuel  Pope, 

A  fellow  that  deserves  a  rope. 

No  doubt  but  they  may  hear  this  bell 

A-ringing  loud  when  they're  in  ,"  etc.,  etc. 

From  this  crude  picture  of  the  times,  it  is  quite  a  change  to  turn  to  the 
Chronicle  of  the  present  day,  after  one  hundred  and  four  years  of  development, 
journalistic  and  otherwise  During  its  long  existence,  the  Chronicle  has  an 
honorable  record.  In  its  centennial  edition  published  in  1885,  it  thus  speaks- 
"  A  newspaper  one  hundred  years  old !  A  gazette  that  for  three  generations 
has.  in  its  each  recurring  issue,  set  out  the  current  history  of  the  day,  and  been 
read  in  each  succeeding  epoch  by  grandsire,  by  father,  and  by  son.  A  contem- 
poraneous annalist  of  the  times,  keeping  pace  with  decades  and  lusters  until  a 
century  is  complete.  "Such  is  now  The  Augusta  Chrojiicle.  In  the  museums 
of  old  established  governments  and  in  the  libraries  of  journalistic  virtuosos  may 
be  found  here  and  there  such  wrecks  and  remnants  of  the  past  as  a  stray  copy 
of  some  venerable  Gazette  or  antiquated  News-Letter.  As  rare  and  curious 
relics,  there  still  exist  London  papers  which  Addison  might  have  read,  and 
German  journals  wherein  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  Lion  of  the  North,  may 
have  seen  recounted  the  valorous  deeds  of  his  invincible  pikemen.  Even  in 
America  are  sundry  ante-Revolutionary  Post-Boys,  and  Mails,  and  Clarions, 
full  of  fealty  to  his  majesty,  and  scarcely  less  obsequious  to  Sir  Somebody 
Highstyle,  colonial  governor  and  vicegerent  of  the  crown. 

"  But  all  these  are  among  the  have-beens  of  the  world.  Like  the  poet's 
days  by-gone,  they  are  but  'death  in  life.'  The  chance  which  has  preserved  to 
us,  here  and  there,  some  mummied  Egyptian  has  spared  likewise  such  antique 
specimens  of  typography  ;  the  cerements  of  the  one  and  the  discolored  col- 
umns of  the  other  speaking  the  same  melancholy  language — we  are  not,  but 
we  were  ! 


The  Press.  285 

"  It  is  different  with  this  paper,  whose  centenary  we  celebrate.  A  hundred 
years  ago  it  told,  in  feeble  fashion,  of  the  world  and  its  ways.  Each  year  of  that 
hundred  since — vires  acqiiirescit  eiindo — gathering  new  strength  as  it  went 
along,  it  still  recounted  the  story  of  its  times;  and  now,  reversing  the  usual  or- 
der of  things  earthly,  and  finding  increase  of  vigor  in  increase  of  age,  it  tells, 
each  morning,  what  happened  yesterda}'-  the  wide  world  over,  from  China  to 
Peru.  The  thumb  paper  of  1785 — brief,  jejune,  primeval — a  mere  suggestion 
of  a  newspaper  rather  than  a  newspaper  itself,  and  our  modern  daily,  panoplied 
with  every  appliance  of  journalistic  science,  are  alike  The  Chronicle.  At  no  time 
in  that  century  have  its  types  lain  idle  or  its  presses  ceased  to  move.  Come 
peace  or  war,  health  or  pestilence,  prosperity  or  panic,  out  at  its  appointed  pe- 
riod came  the  paper,  to  say  by  its  bare  issual  more  powerfully  than  any  words 
could — I  still  live!  There  was  a  time  when  the  dark  wing  of  Azrael  hovered 
over  the  palid,  fever-stricken  city,  but  The  Chronicle  men  of  that' day  stood 
steady  as  a  stone  wall.  Day  after  day  the  paper  came  forth,  here  with  a  list  of 
yesterday's  dead,  and  here  with  words  of  hope,  comfort  and  courage  for  the  be- 
reaved and  terrified  living.  Then,  as  the  scourge  increased  in  virulence,  the 
printers  fell,  one  by  one,  at  their  very  stands,  until,  with  an  apology — as  if, 
brave  soul,  he  needed  to  make  any — the  editor  of  that  day  announced  lie  could 
only  issue  his  paper  intermittently.  First  there  was  a  lapse  of  three  days,  then 
it  was  a  week,  then  it  lengthened  into  a  fortnight ;  then  the  pestilence  redoub- 
led its  violence,  and  the  spirit  of  the  people  and  paper  was  almost  spent.  Still, 
in  pathetic  tones,  the  editor  exhorts  the  stricken  city  once  more  to  hope,  and 
faith,  and  patience.  The  cleansing  rain,  the  cooling  breeze,  the  all-important 
frost  cannot  now,  he  urged,  be  so  far  off. 

"And  at  length  the  scourge  ceased.  One  in  five,  a  double  decimation,  had 
felt  its  cruel  lash. 

"  There  was  another  time,  when  the  drums  beat  savagely  for  war.  Food  for 
powder  grew  scarce.  The  cradle  and  the  grave  were  robbed  to  fill  the  ranks. 
Man,  essentially  a  fighting  animal,  went  mad  at  the  steady  roar  of  the  guns  and 
the  angry  flap  of  the  flags.  Persistent  industry  was  a  thing  of  the  past,  and 
skilled  industry  all  but  unattainable.  Add  to  this  that  a  mighty  fleet  lay  like 
an  iron  wall  between  this  land  and  the  outer  world.  If  a  tool  broke  who  could 
replace  it?  When  material  was  exhausted,  what  the  source  of  supply?  The 
work  of  a  daily  journal  is  a  curious  mosaic — grand  and  beautiful  in  result,  but 
that  result  dependent  on  a  thousand  ordinarily  unconsidered  particulars.  In 
this  time  of  battle  each  of  these  unconsidered  particulars  forced  itself  into  no- 
tice. The  air  we  breathe  is  so  common  we  only  appreciate  its  value  from  its 
loss.  The  mechanical  appliances  of  our  time  are  so  much  a  matter  of  course 
that  we  never  estimate  them  truly  till  we  look  for  them,  and,  looking,  find  them 
not. 

"  Scant  of  men,  scant  of  means,  industrial   life  languished  in  the  South  of 


286  History  of  Augusta. 

twenty  odd  years  since,  and  Southern  journalism  fairly  starved.  But  the  diffi- 
culties of  that  period  daunted  our  predecessors  not.  If  printers  could  not  be 
found,  the\-  were  made  ;  if  new  type  could  not  be  had,  the  veterans  of  the  past 
were  furbished  up  and  set  to  work  again;  if  your  fine,  white,  double  extra,  im- 
proved printing  paper  had  become  a  mere  historical  reminiscence,  there  was 
enough  of  that  memorable,  dingy,  home-made,  cartilaginous,  saffi^on-hued 
product,  known  as  Confederate  paper,  to  take  the  impress  of  the  type. 

"Amid  the  war,  as  through  the  pestilence,  The  Chronicle  came  out  promptly 
at  the  appointed  day.  And,  as  with  war  and  pestilence,  so  with  financial  panic. 
Our  file  room  is  the  mausoleum  of  many  rivals  of  a  day.  In  the  morning  they 
sprang  up;  in  the  evening  were  cut  down  as  grass,  and  gathered  into  our  barn. 
Peace  to  their  names;  of  them  we  further  speak  not — parcere  sjibjectos.  Safely 
entombed,  as  they  are,  in  our  own  private  crypts,  we  refer  to  them  only  in  or- 
der to  say  that,  while  these  fell  by  the  wayside  in  the  usual  financial  vicissitudes 
of  a  century,  we  have  survived,  breasting  each  panic,  shunning  each  monetary 
rock  and  shoal.  Some  of  our  fallen  contemporaries  succumbed  to  "  the  press- 
ure of  circumstances"  eighty  or  ninety  years  ago  ;  some  a  half  century  since  ; 
some  in  more  recent  times.  At  each  recurring  financial  stress  in  the  past  cen- 
tury, some  originally  hopeful  journalistic  project  proved  unequal  to  the  strain  J 
and,  gathering  its  files,  and  its  material  into  our  garner,  we  still  pursued  the 
tenor  of  our  way — perhaps,  though  our  modesty  blushes  to  assign  that  as  the 
reason,  because  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest." 

Some  of  the  editors  of  the  CJironicle,  notably  in  later  years  when  the  slav- 
ery agitation  had  ceased  to  be  the  burden  of  newspaper  song,  have  rendered 
signal  service  to  the  cause  of  humanity,  morality,  and  good  government.  Mr, 
H.  Gregg  Wright  was  an  exceedingly  attractive  and  forcible  writer,  and  sys- 
tematically devoted  his  great  abilities  to  discountenancing  dueling  and  lynch 
law.  His  ridicule  of  the  one  and  denunciation  of  the  other  were  unremitting. 
He  steadily  iterated  and  reiterated  the  great  truth  that  no  people  can  truly  pros- 
per who  do  not  cherish  an  abiding  faith  in  and  reverence  for  the  majesty  of  the 
law.      His  early  legal  training  was  of  much  assistance  to  these  efforts. 

James  R.  Randall,  who  succeeded  Mr.  Wright,  was  the  unsparing  foe  of  in- 
fidelity and  immorality.  No  fashionable  glamour  could  conceal  from  his  re- 
buke offenses  against  modesty  and  goodness.  No  high-sounding  scientific 
phrases  could  delude  him  as  to  the  real  nature  and  end  of  atheistical  theories. 
It  was  his  custom  to  make  his  editorials  on  Sunday  mornings  a  sort  of  lay  ser- 
mon, in  which  the  beauties  of  goodness  and  the  loveliness  of  celestial  faith  were 
garbed  in  the  brightest  colors  of  a  poet's  fancy.  There  was  nothing  pedantic 
or  patronizing  about  these  admirable  articles.  They  came  from  the  heart  and 
went  to  the  heart. 

Under  the  editorial  charge  of  Hon  Patrick  Walsh,  the  CJironiclc  has  not 
only  maintained  the  salient  lines  of  the  polic}'  pursued  by  Mr.  Wright  and  Mr. 


The  Press.  287 

Randall,  but  has  been  of  incalculable  value  to  the  material  interests  of  the  city. 
The  advantages  of  Augusta  as  a  cotton  market  and  manufacturing  center  have 
been  enforced  and  illustrated  in  so  many  ways,  with  such  forcible  arguments, 
and  by  so  much  patient,  well-directed,  and  persistent  labor,  that  the  growth  of 
the  city  in  these  particulars  is  heavily  indebted  to  Mr.  Walsh's  sagacious  policy. 
The  Augusta  Herald  was  established  at  a  later  period  than  The  Chronicle, 
but  before  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  was  for  a  long  time  con- 
ducted by  John  Bunce  and  then  William  J.  Hobby.     The  Herald  was  a  strong 
Federalist  sheet  in  the  days  of  John  Adams,  the  Black  Cockade  era,  and  so  on, 
and  many  were  the  editorial  skirmishes  growing  out  of  these  antique  politics  be- 
tween it  and  the  Chronicle.      In  course  of  time  the  Herald  gave  way  to  the  Con- 
stitutiojialist,  first  issued  as  a  tri- weekly  in  1822.      From  about  1850  the  Con- 
stitutionalist was  edited  with   singular  ability  byjames  Gardner,   one  of  the 
most  influential  politicians  of  his  day.      The  contest  of  this  gentleman  for  the 
Democratic  nomination  for  governor  in  1857  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  in 
the  political  annals  of  the  State.      Mr.  Gardner  was  ultimately  defeated  by  Hon. 
Joseph  E.  Brown,  and  returned  to  the  charge  of  the  Constitutionalist.      Under 
his  management  the  influence  of  this  paper  throughout  Georgia  was  wonderful. 
Mr.  Gardner  continued  to  conduct  it  till  towards  the  close  of  the  war.     At  that 
time  Mr.  James  R.  Randall  became  editor,  and  for  some  of  his  vehement  arti- 
cles the  paper  was  silenced  by  the  military  authorities.      Publication  was  soon 
resumed,  and  Mr.  Randall  continued  to  edit  it  until  its  merger  into  the  Chron- 
icle and  Sentinel  \n  1877. 

For  a  number  of  years  The  Southern  Field  and  Fireside,  an  agricultural  and 
literary  paper  of  a  high  order  of  merit,  was  published  in  coniunction  with  the 
Constitutionalist.  It  lived  through  the  war,  a  most  crucifying  ordeal  for  a 
Southern  newspaper,  especially  of  a  literary  character,  and  was  finally  sold  in 
1865  to  a  Mr.  Smith  of  Raleigh,  N.  C,  where  it  was  continued  for  a  time.  Some 
of  the  most  eminent  of  the  Southern  writers  contributed  to  this  publication. 

The  State's  Rights  Sentinel,  originally  established  by  the  celebrated  Judge 
Longstreet,  author  of  "Georgia  Scenes,"  has  already  been  mentioned.  After^a 
short  existence  it  was  merged  in  The  Augusta  Chronicle  and  Georgia  Adver- 
tiser, which  then  became  The  Chronicle  and  Sentinel,  a  name  it  retained  for  forty 
years.  The  Alirror  and  Republic  were  also  papers  which  flourished  for  a  time 
in  Augusta.  A  very  interesting  account  of  Augusta  journalism  was  written 
some  few  years  since  by  Colonel  James  M.  Smythe,  for  a  number  of  years  edi- 
tor of  the  Chronicle  and  Sentinel.      We  quote  a  portion  : 

"  Readers  will  excuse  the  writer  for  any  allusion  to  himself,  for  that  is  made 
necessary  by  his  connection  for  a  time  with  The  Chronicle  as  one  of  it^s  editors, 
and  with  four  other  newspapers  which  were  published  in  the  city  of  Augusta' 
He  moved  from  Washington  Ga.,  to  Augusta  in  the  spring  of  1846,  and'^com- 
menced  his  work  on  the  Chronicle  and  Sentinel  on  the  fourth  day  after  his  arrival. 


288  History  of  Auousta. 


The  Chronicle  had  been  a  leading  paper  in  Augusta  for  sixty  years.  The  writer 
remembers  how  often,  when  a  boy,  he  saw  the  tall  figure  of  Mr.  Philip  C.  Gieu 
moving  about  in  the  office  of  the  Washington  Neivs.  At  tiiat  time  we  doubt  if 
there  was  a  place  in  Georgia  in  which,  for  the  number  of  its  population,  there 
could  be  found  so  many  persons  of  culture,  refinement,  learning,  and  all  that 
could  add  a  charm  to  social  intercourse  in  the  town  and  surrounding  country. 
There  were  the  Gilberts,  the  Alexanders,  the  Toombs,  the  Campbells,  the  Tel- 
fairs,  the  Longs,  the  Remberts,  the  Tolberts,  the  Abbots,  the  l^airds,  the  Hills, 
the  Ervines,  the  Sims,  the  Popes,  the  Barnetts,  and  many  more,  making  in  the 
town  and  country  a  refined  and  intellectual  population  unsurpassed  in  any  sec- 
tion of  the  State  or  country.  It  was  such  a  people  who  induced  Mr.  Gieu  to 
remain  so  long  as  publisher  of  the  Washington  Neivs.  But  with  all  that  learn- 
ing and  intelligence,  there  was  not  'patronage  enough  to  meet  the  ambitious 
longings  of  so  able  a  journalist  as  Philip  C.  Gieu,  and  he  moved  to  Augusta  and 
established  the  Constitutionalist,  which  existed  separately  as  a  powerful  journal 
until  its  connection,  a  few  years  since,  with  the  Chronicle. 

"  We  cannot  omit  a  reference  to  that  journalistic  star,  which,  for  some  years 
long  ago,  emitted  its  splendor  under  the  management  of  the  late  gifted  John  G. 
McWhorter.  The  beams  of  the  Mirror  shone  brightly  for  a  time  under  the 
management  of  Major  Thompson,  the  gifted  author  of  "  Major  Jones's  Court- 
ship." 

"  Confined  to  a  brief  space,  we  must  omit  all  extended  notice  of  the  long 
ago  papers,  and  confine  our  remarks  to  what  we  saw  and  experienced  after  our 
removal  to  Augusta.  Colonel  James  Gardner  had  become  the  proprietor  and 
editor  of  the  Constitutionalist.  We  frequently  crossed  swords  with  him  in  po- 
litical discussion,  but,  as  old  college  friends,  however,  we  may  have  intrepidly 
and  vigorously  advocated  the  views  and  principles  of  our  respective  parties,  we 
met  as  friends  and  exchanged  civilities.  Rash,  passionate,  and  presumptuous 
as  Gardner  was  as  an  editor  and  politician,  in  our  discussions  he  exhibited  uni- 
formly to  us  a  marked  courtesy  which  was  similarly  extended  by  us  to  him, 
so  that  we  never  needed  an  umpire  to  settle  our  differences  and  disputes.  Dur- 
ing the  latter  part  of  the  year  1847  ^^^  thought  we  saw  something  apparently 
cruel  and  perfidious  in  the  course  of  the  Whig  party  at  the  North,  which  ex- 
cited our  distrust  and  apprehension.  There  were  some  differences  between  the 
writer  and  the  proprietors  of  The  Chronicle  which  led  to  a  mutual  desire  for 
separation.  The  writer  did  not  doubt  the  integrity  of  the  Southern  Whigs,  but 
the  Northern  Whig  sentiment  we  believed  was  becoming  abolitionized,  and 
after  retiring  from  the  Chronicle  the  writer  established  a  paper  of  his  own 
called  the  Republic.  Some  Whigs  charged  us  with  being  about  to  desert  the 
Whig  party.  Many  Whigs  and  a  good  many  Democrats  came  to  the  support 
of  the  Republic.  Day  by  day  we  received  letters  with  names  and  money;  and 
to  be  brief,  the  Republic  obtained  near  4,000  subscribers  in  about  three  years. 


The  Press.  ^g^ 


Time  sustained  the  truth  of  our  suspicions.  The  Southern  Whigs  saw  the  di 
lemma  they  were  in.  Charged  by  some  Whigs  with  being  a  deserter,  we  sold 
the  Republic  and  its  h'st  to  Colonel  Gardner  for  $7,500.  and  became  one  of  the 
editors  of  the  Constitutionalist  and  Republic,  at  a  salary  of  $2,000  per  year  It 
.s  sufficient  to  say  that  the  Whigs  all  joined  the  Democratic  party  Some  of 
the  Whig  leaders  said  to  us :  •  Smythe,  you  saw  the  truth  a  little  sooner  than 
we  did,  and  we  must  all  unite  and  go  out  of  the  Union  and  establish  a  South- 
ern Confederacy.'" 

Colonel  Smythe  speaks  very  handsomely  of  The  Evening  Nezvs,  saying- 
A  few  years  since  Messrs.  W.  H.  Moore,  James  L.  Gow,  and  John  M   Wei- 
gle  formed  a  copartnership  to  establish  in  Augusta  a  paper  entitled  The  Even 
mg  Nezvs.      We  had  confidence  in  their  success  ;   first,  because  we  had  learned 
enough  of  Mr.  Moore  to  kuow  that  he  possessed   much,  ability  as  a  journaHst 
and  writer,  and  in  Mr.  Gibson's  aptness  to  sustain  him ;  and,  secondly  the  peo- 
ple of  Augusta  were  very  generous  in  sustaining  papers  which  were  printed  in 
Augusta.      We  found  this  latter  opinion  out  thirty  years  ago  in  the  generous 
liberality  which  they  extended  to  the  writer.      They  subscribed  with  great  lib 
erahty  for  his  paper,  and  filled  it  with  paying  advertisements.      It  turned  out 
as  we  expected,  and  The  Evening  Nezvs  has  been  established  upon  a  generous 
and  hberal  basis.      Nearly  everybody  takes  the  paper,  and  a  glance  at  it  shows 
how  ,t  IS  appreciated  as  an  advertising  medium.      It  is  eagerly  sought  for  upon 
Its  merits  as  a  newspaper,  and  its  superiority  as  a  society  paper  " 

Mr.  John  M.  Weigle.  one  of  the  founders  of  The  Evening  Nezvs,  has  since 
retired  from  that  journal,  and  now  publishes  a  very  readable  weekly  called  The 
Progress. 

Just  after  the  war  Mr.  E.  H.  Pughe  established  The  Tree  Press,  which  flour- 
ished for  some  years,  and  was  noted  for  its  enterprise  in  the  collection  of  news 
and  the  typographical  neatness  of  its  appearance. 

The  Banner  of  the  South  was  also  published  for  some  years  after  the  war  by 
Hon.  Patrick  Walsh.  It  was  a  literary  and  religious  weekly,  and  to  it  Mr  James 
K.  Randall  and  Rev.  Father  Ryan  contributed  some  beautiful  poetry  -  The 
Conquered  Banner"  of  the  latter,  and  "Why  the  Robin's  Breast  is  Red"  by 
the  former,  first  appeared  in  this  journal.  Mr.  Walsh  also  published  for  a  time 
about  the  close  of  the  war.  The  Pacificator,  a  publication  on  about  the  same 
line  as  its  successor,   The  Banner  of  the  South. 

The  Southern  Medical  and  SurgicalJournal,  spoken  of  more  fully  in  that 
portion  of  this  work  devoted  to  the  medical  profession,  was  published  in  Au- 
gusta from  1845  until  some  years  after  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was  of  high 
repute  in  its  peculiar  field.  ^ 

Two  papers  are  published  in  Augusta  in  the  interests  of  the  colored  popu- 
lation.  One  is  the  Sentinel,  a  political  journal,  edited  by  Prof.  R  R  Wright- 
the  other,  a  religious  paper.  The  Georgia  Baptist,  edited  by  Rev.  W  J   White' 


>90  History  of  Augusta. 


TJie  Georgia  Baptist  is  untiring  in  its  efforts  to  elevate  and  improve  the  col- 
ored people  mentally  and  morally,  and  wields  a  great  influence  among  them. 

In  1885  TJic  Sunday  PJuvnix  began  publication.  It  was  well  printed,  well 
edited,  and  a  very  interesting  and  readable  sheet,  but  the  experiment  of  a  purely 
Sunday  issue  does  not  seem  to  succeed  except  in  a  large  city,  and  \.\\q  P/urnix 
soon  suspended. 

For  a  time  the  labor  interest  published  The  Globe  and  Lance,  which  was 
edited  with  vigor,  but  having  only  a  limited  constituency,  was  discontinued 
about  a  year  since. 

Tlie  Augusta  Gazette,  started  as  was  generally  supposed  as  a  rival  to  the 
venerable  Chronicle,  soon  went  the  way  of  the  other  competitors  which  have 
entered  the  lists  against  that  ancient  paper  at  various  periods  in  its  prolonged 
career. 

No  sketch  of  Augusta  journalism  would  be  complete  without  some  account 
of  those  who,  while  not  in  the  editorial  department,  have  been  remarkable  for 
long  and  faithful  service.  Mr.  John  L.  Stockton,  now  deceased,  was  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  manager  of  the  Constitutionalist.  He  was  a  man  of  many  pecu- 
liarities and  even  eccentricities,  but  was  gifted  with  sound  judgment  and  much 
executive  ability.  The  difficulties  under  which  Southern  journalism  labored 
during  the  war  were  extremely  trying,  but  Mr.  Stockton  not  only  maintained 
the  Constitutionalist  in  good  working  order,  but  kept  up  the  Field  and  Fire- 
side, a  much  more  difficult  matter. 

Captain  George  B.  Adam  was  for  thirty  years  bookkeeper  of  the  Chronicle, 
and  only  resigned  that  position  because  elected  treasurer  of  Richmond  county 
and  bookkeeper  of  the  Augusta,  Gibson  and  Sandersville  Railroad  Company. 
During  the  yellow  fever  epidemic  of  1854  Captain  Adam  remained  at  his  post 
in  the  Chronicle  office.  During  the  war  he  was  absent  in  the  field  command- 
ing the  Clinch  Rifles,  one  of  the  city's  historic  companies,  but  at  the  conclu- 
sion of  hostilities  resumed  his  position  of  trust  and  confidence. 

Mr.  Edward  C.  McCarty,  and  his  brother.  Mr.  Jeremiah  McCarty,  the  form- 
er now  bookkeeper,  and  the  latter  collector  of  the  Chronicle,  have  been  in  the 
employ  of  that  paper  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Mr.  John  Anderson,  foreman,  has  spent  his  life  in  the  composing  room  of 
the  Chronicle,  excepting  the  four  years  of  the  war  when  he  served  as  a  valiant 
soldier  under  the  Confederate  flag.  Mr.  Anderson  began  as  an  apprentice  boy, 
and  rose  step  by  step  to  the  important  position  he  now  holds,  one  of  prime  im- 
portance in  the  organization  of  a  newspaper. 


Societies.  291 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

SOCIAL.  SECRET,  LITERARY,  AND  BENEVOLENT  SOCIETIES. 

The  Drama—  Commercial  Cluh — St.  Valentine  Club — Scheutzen — Gun  Club — Irish  Organ- 
izations— Jockey  Club — Tournaments — Bicycle  Club — Athletic  Association — Poultry  and  Pet 
Stock  Associations — Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals — Origin  and  Good  Work 
— Widow's  Home — Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union — Ministerial  Association — Orphan 
Asylum— Library — Sheltering  Arms— Hayne  Circle — Confederate  Survivors — Drummers — 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic — Catholic  Knights — Masons — Odd  Fellows — Knights  of  Pythias 
— Good  Templars — Miscellaneous  Organizations — Colored  Organizations. 

AS  early  as  1790  the  drama  seems  to  have  been  an  established  institution  in 
Augusta.  An  actress  named  Wall  was  a  great  favorite,  and  in  the  poet's 
corner  of  that  day  is  eulogized  as  '  sweetest  syren  of  the  Augustan  stage."  It 
does  not  appear,  however,  that  there  was  any  theater  building  till  1798,  when 
one  was  erected  on  the  river  bank,  or  Bay  street,  near  Elbert,  or  the  old  court- 
house there  situate,  was  so  used.  This  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  the  fall  of  1808. 
The  fire  was  supposed  to  have  been  of  incendiary  origin,  and  the  city  council 
offered  a  reward  for  the  detection  of  the  criminal.  In  December,  1808,  Rob- 
ert McRae,  Richard  Wilde,  Daniel  Macmurphey,  Samuel  Hale,  Abraham  A. 
Leggett,  Henry  L  McRae,  John  U.  Shinholster,  Joseph  W.  Jarvis,  James  Wilde, 
Zachariah  Rossel,  Daniel  Savage,  Willoughby  Barton,  Albert  Brux,  Thomas  I. 
Wray,  and  John  B.  Barnes  were  incorporated  as  "The  Thespian  Society  and 
Library  Company  of  Augusta,"  and  appear  to  have  rebuilt  the  theater  in  the 
same  place,  where  it  continued  till  1823.  Tradition  relates  that  the  elder 
Booth,  Thomas  Althorp  Cooper,  and  other  noted  actors  performed  there.  From 
an  aged  citizen,  now  deceased,  we  have  heard  one  reminiscence  of  this  ancient 
dramatic  seat.  Having  labored  for  nearly  a  score  of  years  on  his  invention, 
Mr.  William  Longstreet,  in  1808,  exhibited  a  steamboat  on  the  Savannah 
River  opposite  Augusta.  From  lack  of  means  or  skilled  workmen,  Mr.  Long- 
street  was  unable  to  construct  his  machinery  of  iron,  according  to  his  original 
design,  and  compelled  to  rely  largely  on  wood.  The  use  of  this  material  and 
the  natural  defects  of  all  infant  discoveries,  made  the  boat  present  a  crude  ap- 
pearance, but  in  spite  of  these  drawbacks  it  demonstrated  that  a  vessel  could 
be  propelled  through  the  water  by  steam.  As  usual,  the  inventor  came  in  for 
a  fair  share  of  that  ridicule  awarded  the  world's  benefactors  at  first,  and  an 
actor  of  the  day,  catching  at  the  ludicrous  side  as  usual  with  his  calling,  sang 
a  song  in  the  old  theater,  a  verse  or  two  whereof  has  been  preserved : 

"  Can  you  rovv  the  boat  ashore, 

Billy-boy,  Billy-boy  ? 
Can  you  row  the  boat  ashore. 

Gentle  Billy  } 
Can  you  row  the  boat  ashore, 
Without  a  paddle  or  an  oar, 

Billy-boy?" 


292  History  of  Augusta. 


Tradition  relates  that  Mr.  Longstreet  was  in  tiie  theater  when  this  precious 
effusion  was  first  warbled,  and  nettled  alike  at  the  song  and  the  titters  with 
which  it  was  greeted,  rose  from  his  seat,  fixed  a  glance  on  the  son  of  Thespis, 
which  caused  the  notes  to  die  away  in  his  throat,  and  majestically  strode  out 
of  the  building. 

On  the  burning  of  the  Bay  Street  Theater  in  1823,  Dr.  McWhortcr  erected 
another  on  Ellis  street,  near  Centre,  which  was  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of 
April  3,  1829,  which  laid  a  large  part  of  the  city  in  ashes.  In  this  theater  Joe 
Jefferson  played  at  the  outset  of  his  now  famous  career. 

In  the  next  year  William  W.  Montgomery,  Thomas  I.  Wray,  Jacob  G. 
McWhorter,  Francis  Ganahl,  and  Benjamin  Baird  were  incorporated  as  the 
Augusta  Theater  Company,  and  built  another  theater  on  Ellis  street,  between 
Jackson  and  Campbell,  for  many  years  known  as  the  Augusta  Opera  House, 
though  originally  termed  Concert  Hall.  This  theater  was,  in  turn,  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1881,  and,  though  rebuilt,  was  finally  devoted  to  business  purposes, 
the  theater  taking  up  its  quarters  in  the  Masonic  Hall,  as  rebuilt  in  1881.  On 
the  destruction  of  this  building  by  fire  in  February,  1887,  a  new  Theater  Com- 
pany was  formed,  and  a  handsome  new  theater  erected  on  the  corner  of  Jack- 
son and  Greene  streets  For  some  years  past  Mr.  Sanford  H.  Cohen  has  been 
the  recognized  head  of  theatrical  amusements  in  Augusta.  His  abilities  as  a 
manager  have  been  so  successful  that  no  difficulty  was  found  in  organizing  the 
company  which  owns  the  present  theater,  a  building  up  to  the  best  order  of 
modern  theatrical  architecture  and  appointment. 

The  Commercial  Club  was  founded  in  1883,  and  is  a  solid  organization, 
occupying  among  the  gentlemen  of  Augusta  about  the  same  position  in  point 
of  social  reunion  as  the  English  clubs. 

The  St.  Valentine  Society  is  an  organization  which,  like  the  famous  Mardi 
Gras  associations  of  New  Orleans,  confines  itself  to  an  annual  celebration  of  the 
carnival.  The  St.  Valentine  ball  is  the  social  event  of  the  Augusta  season, 
and  admission  thereto  is  a  certificate  of  standing  in  fashionable  society. 

The  Deutscher  Freundschaftsbund  is  a  social  and  benevolent  organization, 
instituted  in  1875,  by  the  German  citizens  of  Augusta,  and  has  also  an  annual 
ball,  which  is  a  social  event  of  great  interest  with  its  members  and  their  com- 
patriots. 

The  Deutscher  Scheutzen  Club  of  Augusta  is  an  organization  on  the  model 
of  the  Scheutzen  clubs,  common  among  the  German  population,  devoted  to 
marksmanship  with  the  rifle,  and  good  fellowship.  The  club  has  very  hand- 
some and  well  appointed  grounds  near  Augusta,  which  not  only  serve  the  pur- 
poses of  the  association,  but  are  largely  patronized  by  picnic  parties,  society 
celebrations,  etc.  The  club  is  a  universal  favorite  in  Augusta,  and  has  con- 
ferred a  great  public  benefit  not  only  by  providing  a  suitable  pleasure  ground, 
but  by  practically  demonstrating  that  true  cheerfulness  and  joviality  are  en- 


Societies.  293. 

tirely  consistent  with  temperance,  good  order,  and  decorum.  The  club  has  a 
monthly  target  practice,  and  once  a  year  a  grand  fest,  lasting  two  or  three 
days,  and  a  decided  gala  event,  not  only  for  the  club,  but  the  general  public. 

The  Augusta  Gun  Club  is  a  social  organization  established  in  1884,  and 
now  a  chartered  company,  its  objects  being  the  promotion  of  skill  with  the 
shot-gun  and  the  protection  of  game.  During  the  spring  and  summer  months 
it  practices  weekly  at  clay  pigeons,  a  species  of  clay  disc  which  when  thrown 
by  a  spring  technically  called  a  "  trap,"  darts  through  the  air  at  high  speed, 
and  with  a  motion  somewhat  resembling  that  of  a  swift-flying  bird.  This  club 
had  an  act  passed  by  the  Legislature  in  1886,  to  forbid  hunting  at  improper 
seasons  of  the  year  in  Richmond  county,  destruction  of  game  by  trapping,  etc., 
the  operation  of  which  statute  has  been  exceedingly  beneficial.  The  club  has 
grounds  near  the  Schuetzenplatz. 

The  Emmet  Club  is  a  social  and  patriotic  organization  among  the  Irish  cit- 
izens of  Augusta.  It  has  a  large  hall  in  the  city  at  which  its  meetings  are 
held,  and  which  is  the  assembly  room  and  headquarters  generally  of  the  other 
Irish  organizations  of  the  city,  the  Hibernian  Society,  the  Land  League,  and 
the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians.  Great  interest  is  taken  by  the  Irish  citizens 
of  Augusta  in  these  various  organizations.  They  are  all  strong  in  number  and 
devoted  to  the  memory  and  interests  of  the  beautiful  Green  Isle. 

The  Gentleman's  Driving  Park  Association  and  Augusta  Jockey  Club  are 
devoted  to  the  sports  of  the  turf  Augusta  has  always  been  noted  for  its  love 
of  fine  horses  and  high  mettled  racers.  As  early  as  18 10  there  was  a  race 
course  (a  quarter  mile  track)  at  the  then  foot  of  Centre  street,  now  Green 
street.  Later  on,  the  course  was  about  where  the  Baptist  Church  now  stands, 
at  the  intersection  of  Green  and  Jackson  streets.  Still  later,  the  LaFayette 
race  course  was  established  in  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  city,  and  as  the 
growth  of  population  encroached  upon  that  also,  a  new  track  was  laid  out  on 
the  fair  grounds,  in  the  southeastern  portion  of  the  city.  On  this  many  famous 
trials  of  speed  have  been  had  and  exciting  tournaments  or  tilts  held.  The 
rules  of  tilting,  with  saber,  are  as  follows  : 

Rules  for  Tilting  —  First. 
Right  cut. — Seven  inch  head,  supported  by  a  white  pine  peg,  tive-eighths  inch  diameter,  ex- 
posed three  inches,  on  a  post  six  feet  three  inches  high,  to  count I 

Second. 
Ouarte  Point. — Ring  three  inches  in  diameter,  to  be  suspended  six  feet  from  the  ground  on 

horizontal  bar,  to  count 3 

Third. 
Lett  Cut. — Seven-inch   head,  on  post  six   feet  eight  inches  high,  supported   by  white  pine 

peg,  five-eighths  inch  in  diameter,  three  inches  exposed,  to  count 4 

Fourth. 
Tierce  Point. — Ring  three  inches  in  diameter,  suspended  seven   feet  from  ground  on  hori- 
zo  ntal  bar,  to  count 3 


294  History  of  Augusta. 


Fifth. 
Ri»-lit  Cut  Ag.iinst  Infantry. — Leatlier  head  six  inches  in  diameter,  on  post  sixteen  inches 
hi<j;^h,  to  count • 

Sixth. 

The  e.xercisc  as  prescril^ed  by  Upton  to  count 7 

Horsemanship  to  count i 

Maximum  on  each  run 20 

Time. — Eleven  seconds. 

The  uprights  to  be  75  feet  apart.  Time  Hag,  75  feet  ahead  of  first  upright.  Making  total 
length  of  run  375  feet. 

Tilter  must  come  up  to  the  time  Hag  with  liis  saber  at  the  "  carry." 

Should  the  tilter  fail  to  make  the  run  from  time  flag  to  last  upright  in  eleven  seconds,  he 
will  lose  his  entire  score  for  that  run. 

After  the  time  flag  drops,  the  count  will  be  for  or  against  the  tilter,  and  he  will  not  be  al- 
lowed a  new  start  under  any  circumstances,  unless  the  track  be  obstructed,  or  head  or  ring 

fall  off. 

The  peg  must  be  cut  or  broken  through  where  struck  by  edge  of  saber.  If  not  severed  at 
this  point  the  head  will  not  count. 

The  "  infantry  head  "  must  be  struck  by  the  edge  of  the  saber. 

Tilters  must  be  in  full  uniform — plumes  and  gauntlets  may  be  omitted. 

Any  tilter  shouting  at  or  wilfully  striking  his  horse  with  saber,  forfeits  his  score  for  that 
run. 

There  being  no  prescribed  method  in  "  Upton  "  for  discharging,  the  rings  may  be  disposed 
of  by  an  upward  or  downward  motion,  at  the  option  of  the  tilter. 

The  Fair  Ground  track  was  afterwards  devoted  to  the  Gentlemen's  Driving- 
Park  Association,  and  a  very  fine  one-mile  race  course  was  established  by  the 
Exposition  Company  on  its  grounds  in  Woodlawn,  just  in  rear  of  the  Schuetz- 
enplatz  and  Gun  Club  grounds. 

The  Bicyle  Club  was  organized  in  1886,  and  has  a  good  membership  of 
wheelmen,  some  of  thein  celebrated  for  proficiency.  They  have  a  fine  track  on 
the  old  base  ball  grounds  of  the  Athletic  Association. 

The  Athletic  Association  for  some  years  maintained  as  fine  a  base  ball  club 
as  was  in  the  Southern  League,  and  many  exciting  games  were  witnessed  on  its 
grounds  in  1884  and  1885.  The  celebrated  game  of  thirteen  innings  Augusta 
vs.  Atlanta,  finally  won  by  the  former  after  a  terrific  contest,  was  witnessed  by 
an  excited  audience  of  several  thousands.  Though  not  now  in  active  opera- 
tion, the  association  developed  and  fostered  a  strong  taste  for  athletic  sports  in 
Augusta. 

The  Richmond  County  Poultry  and  Pet  Stock  Association  is  a  flourishing 
organization  whose  objects  are  indicated  by  its  name.  It  has  done  much  to 
improve  the  breed  of  dogs  and  fowls,  and  given  several  very  creditable  exhi- 
bitions. Of  one  we  have  heard  an  amusing  account  from  the  orator  appointed 
to  deliver  the  opening  address.  The  affair  was  unusually  successful ;  exhibits 
of  every  character  had  poured  in  beyond  all  expectation,  and  an  immense  au- 
dience had  assembled.     As  the  orator  arose  to  open  the  exposition  every  bird 


Societies.  2q, 

and  animal  seemed  to  do  its  utmost  to  drown  his  vole.  Tl,e  A^gTb^,;;!^ 
every  note  from  tl,e  sliarp  yap!  yap!  of  the  excitable  spaniel  to  the  deep  bay 
of  the  mastiff;  the  game  cocks  crowed  with  unutterable  fierceness-  the  pi/ 
eons  cooed,  ducks  quacked,  turkies  gobbled,  geese  screamed,  and'  pea-fowl 
screeched.  Even  the  little  birds  almost  burst  their  tiny  throats  chirping  and 
tw,t.ermg;  and  for  a  moment  our  friend  stood  aghast,  but  being  not  easily 
daunted,  and  takmg  in  the  humor  of  the  situation,  went  on  with  his  speech  in 
dunib  show  am,d  an  uproar  probably  no  speaker  ever  confronted  before 

One  of  the  most  estimable  organizations  in  Augusta  is  the  Georgia  Society 
for  the  Prevent.on  of  Cruelty  to  Animals.  This  was  incorporated  in  ,  873  and 
owes  ,ts  existence  to  the  kind  heart  and  untiring  energy  of  Miss  Louis;  W 
K,ng  a  daughter  of  Hon.  John  P.  King.  Though  cut  off  in  the  bloom  of  her 
youth.  th,s  gentle  lady  has  left  a  blessed  memory  behind  her  in  this  and  some 
o  her  works  of  beneficence  and  compassion.  Through  her  exertions  the  soci- 
ety was  organized,  and  the  Legislature  prevailed  upon  to  pass  laws  to  prevent 
or  pumsh  acts  of  cruelty  to  the  brute  creation.  It  is  now  an  oft-ense  against  the 
aws  o  Georgia,  "  cruelty"  being  defined  as  "any  willful  act,  omission,  or  neg- 
lect vvhereby  unjustifiable  physical  pain,  suftiring  or  death  is  caused  or  per- 

Tl  ,    M        ,!-      ™"'""  ''"''  S'^«»    '1'^   st»t"le  its   full   beneficial    efiect 

Through  M,.ss  K.ng's  efforts  the  city  council  of  Augusta  also  legislated  upon 
he  subject,  and  made  it  an  ofl^ense  cognizable  in  the  Recorder's  Court  to  over- 
load any  beast  of  burden,  or  to  work  one  when  bruised,  maimed,  sick  or  lame- 
or  to  cruelly  beat  or  ill  use  any  such  animal.     Under  the  operation  of  thes^ 
enactments  dog  fighting  and  cock-fighting  and  the  shooting  of  live  pigeons  or 
other  b,rds  at  gun  club  matches  are  unknown,  and  beasts  of  burden  are  sel- 
dom tl-used.     While  thus  invoking  the  strong  arm  of  the  law  to  protect  man's 
humble  dependents   Miss  King  also  relied  strongly  on  persuasive   measures, 
and  as  long  as  she  hved  ofl-ered  annual  rewards  to  the  dravmen  and  wagon- 
ers for  the  best  kept  animals,  and  gave  prizes  to  the  school'children  for  com- 
positions  on  the  duty  of  kindness  to  the  brute  creation      Miss  King  was   in- 
deed, an  angel  of  mercy.     The  seal  of  the  society  beautifully  typifies  her' no- 
ble and  gentle  soul.     It  represent  a  seraphic  form  waving  a  sword  of  fire  be- 
fore an  inhuman  monster  of  a  man  about  to  strike  his  overladen  horse,  who  has 
fallen   in  the  shafts,  with  a  huge  cudgel  over  the  poor  brute's  helpless  head 
The  society  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty  to  animals  is  still  in  full  operation.     It 
keeps  a  skilled  and  experienced  agent  constantly  on  duty  ,0  prevent  or  report 
nfractions  of  the  law,  and  has  established  branch  organizations  in  most  of  the 
leading  cities  of  the  State. 

.,-    TZ^^'t"  ^^?  ^^'^°'^''  "°"^"  ''  ^"°'^^^''  '"^titution  which  owes  its  ori- 
gin to  Miss  king  s  benevolence.      Here,  in  a  substantial  and  comfortable  build- 


296  '  History  of  Augusta. 

The  Woman's  Exchange  and  the  Industrial  Home  are  institutions  which 
owe  their  origin  to  the  charitable  impulses  of  other  ladies  of  Augusta.  The  ob 
ject  of  the  Woman's  Exchange  is  specified  in  its  articles  of  organization  as  fol- 
lows: "The  object  of  this  association  shall  be  to  to  enable  women  to  sell  their 
handiwork  of  all  kinds,  or  to  enable  them,  for  the  betterment  of  their  condition, 
to  sell  such  valuables  as  remain  to  them,  or  to  assist  them  to  get  employment 
for  the  support  of  themselves  or  their  families,  and  for  all  kindred  purposes." 
The  exchange,  though  of  recent  origin,  has  already  proven  potent  for  good. 

The  Industrial  Home  is  the  work  of  mercy  and  compassion  itself  Here 
the  unhappy  victims  of  man's  accursetl  deceit  and  brutality  are  given  a  refuge, 
the  institution  being  intended  as  a  reformatory  refuge  for  fallen  women,  and  un- 
der its  protecting  roof  are  a  dozen  or  more  poor  unfortunates  who  in  the  even- 
ing of  a  misspent  life  are  sheltered  from  the  outer  blasts. 

The  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  is  another  form  of  feminine 
effort  to  do  good.  Each  Thursday  the  members  meet  to  implore  the  Divine 
blessing  on  their  efforts  to  stay  the  evil  of  drunkenness.  In  every  way,  by 
letters,  by  tracts,  by  addresses,  by  memorials,  by  protests  the  union  is  heard  in 
favor  of  temperance  and  temperance  measures. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  has  been  in  existence  in  Augusta 
for  a  number  of  years.  At  one  time  it  languished,  but  was  soon  reorganized, 
and  is  now  on  a  firmer  foundation  than  ever.  It  has  a  strong  membership,  and 
is  about  to  erect  a  fine  hall  on  its  own  ground.  In  connection  with  the  usual 
reading-room  and  hall  for  devotional  exercises,  it  has  a  well  equipped  gymna- 
sium for  the  use  of  members. 

The  Ministerial  Association  of  Augusta  is  composed  of  the  pastors  of  most 
of  the  churches  in  the  city,  and  from  the  character  of  its  membership  is  an  ex- 
ceedingly strong  and  influential  body.  Its  remonstrance  against  fashionable 
follies  has  been  found  of  powerful  effect,  and  in  works  of  charity  it  is  a  most 
efficient  instrumentality. 

The  Sheltering  Arms  is  a  most  beneficent  institution  under  a  most  appro- 
priate and  endearing  name.  In  the  huge  factories  of  Augusta  whole  families 
work,  and  the  province  of  the  Sheltering  Arms  is  to  care  for  the  infants  and 
very  small  children  while  the  mother  is  at  the  loom. 

In  1852  the  Augusta  Orphan  Asylum  was  incorporated,  Thomas  W.  Miller, 
Henry  H.  Cumming,  Edward  V.  Campbell,  John  Milledge,  Artemus  Gould, 
Lewis  D.  Ford,  and  John  R.  Dow  being  the  incorporators,  with  power  to  con- 
duct an  institution  for  the  care  of  orphan  children,  to  provide  for  their  mainte- 
nance and  education,  and  bind  them  out  at  a  suitable  age  to  some  useful  trade 
or  calling  until  majority.  In  1855  operations  were  begun  in  a  rented  house 
with  four  orphans.  In  1855  Mr.  Isaac  S.  Tuttle,  a  philanthropic  citizen,  left 
his  residence  at  the  corner  of  Walker  and  Center  streets  as  the  asylum,  and  en- 
dowed it  with  $50,000  of  other  property.      In  1859  Dr.  Newton,  Mr.  Tuttle's 


Young  Men's  Library  Association.  297 

stepson,  left  the  asylum  a  further  benefaction  of  $200,000,  and,  under  author- 
ity of  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  the  city  council  g.ive  it  the  use  of  two  hundred 
shares  of  Georgia  railroad  stock.  From  the  organization  of  the  asylum  up  to 
1870  Mr.  Artemas  Gould  managed  its  finances  with  such  skill  that  in  that  year 
when  he  resigned  the  capital  of  the  institution  was  $348,071.  The  old  Tuttle 
mansion  proving  too  small,  a  new  and  very  handsome  building  was  erected  in 
the  southwestern  part  of  the  city,  near  the  Georgia  railroad,  in  1873.  The  edi- 
fice is  four  stories  high,  surmounted  by  a  lofty  cupola,  and  is  surrounded  with 
ample  grounds  laid  out  with  shrubbery  and  flowers.  The  house  and  grounds 
cost  $173,759.11  ;  the  property  in  income-paying  bonds  and  stocks  is  $244,- 
2 17.23,  making  a  total  capital  of  $417,986.37.  The  institution  has  from  a  hun- 
dred to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  inmates,  supported  at  a  cost  of  some- 
thing less  than  one  hundred  dollars  per  head  per  annum. 

The  Young  Men's  Library  Association  was  founded  in  1848.  We  have 
already  mentioned  that  in  1808  "The  Thespian  Society  and  Library  Company 
of  Augusta"  was  incorporated,  but  the  literary  feature  seems  to  have  yielded 
to  the  dramatic.  In  1827  Henry  H.  Gumming,  George  W.  Crawford,  Thomas 
J.  Casey,  Augustine  Slaughter,  John  P.  King,  James  P.  Waddel,  James  Moore, 
Peter  Bennoch,  and  Robert  R.  Reid  were  incorporated  as  "The  Augusta  Li- 
brary Society." 

For  a  number  of  years  the  library  association  had  its  rooms  on  the  north- 
west corner  of  Mcintosh  and  Ellis  streets,  but  since  1884  has  been  housed  in  a 
building  of  its  own  on  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Jackson  streets.  The  library 
now  numbers  some  7,000  volumes. 

In  the  hall  of  the  library  the  Hayne  Circle  holds  its  meetings.  This  is  a 
literary  coterie  of  some  five  or  six  years  standing,  named  after  Paul  H.  Hayne, 
the  poet.  It  is  a  somewhat  informal  organization,  though  having  a  corps  of 
officers  and  an  order  of  exercises,  but  has  a  strong  hold  on  its  members,  and  is 
a  recognized  literary  power  in  Augusta.  Ordinarily  some  novel,  play,  or  other 
literary  production  is  selected  as  a  central  theme.  An  analysis  of  some  of  the 
leading  characters  is  assigned  to  members  of  the  circle,  who  are  appointed  some 
weeks  in  advance,  and  expected  to  prepare  and  read  papers  on  the  themes 
assigned  them.  After  the  regular  papers  are  read,  a  symposium  is  had,  or  a 
general  running  discussion  wherein  the  merits  of  the  contributors  and  the  views 
generally  of  the  circle  on  the  work  selected  for  consideration,  are  in  order. 
This  is  a  sort  of  literary  free  for  all,  and  is  often  a  bright  encounter  of  wits. 
Each  member  is  then  called  on  for  a  quotation  from  some  author,  the  selection 
being  left  entirely  to  his  or  her  taste.  Assignments  for  the  next  meeting  are 
then  announced  by  the  presiding  officer,  and  any  necessary  business  transacted. 

The  Confederate  Survivors  Association  consists  of  Confederate  veterans. 
Every  man  who  served  under  the  Southern  colors  is  admissible  on  being 
vouched  for  by  two  comrades  and  giving  in  his  rank  and  command.  Quart- 
38 


298  History  of  Augusta. 


eriy  meetings  are  held,  and  on  the  26th  of  April  each  year,  Memoral  Day,  the 
association  has  its  annual  meeting,  and  after  the  transaction  of  business  drinks 
in  silence  and  standing  a  toast  to  the  Confederate  dead.  At  the  funeral  of  each 
member,  a  detail,  and  sometimes  the  whole  association,  attends  with  a  war- 
worn, tattered,  and  smoke-grimed  stand  of  Confederate  colors.  The  maimed 
members,  those  who  have  lost  arm  or  leg,  are  the  color  guard. 

The  Travelers'  Protective  Association  (Post  C,  Augusta  division)  is  a  soci- 
ety of  traveling  salesmen,  commonly  called  "  drummers,"  organized  for  pur- 
poses of  social  intercourse  and  mutual  assistance  in  matters  appertaining  to  this 
important  commercial  instrumentality. 

The  Catholic  Knights  of  America  have  two  divisions  in  Augusta,  St.  Joseph's 
branch  No.  62,  and  St.  Patrick's  branch  No.  66,  both  strong  in  membership  and 
well  sustained. 

The  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  has  a  post  in  the  city,  Augusta  Post  No. 
44,  with  a  good  membership. 

The  Masonic  fraternity  is  exceedingly  strong  and  influential  in  Augusta  and 
has  an  ancient  history.  In  1796  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Georgia  was  incorpor- 
ated; the  act  reciting  that  "William  Stephens,  grand  master;  James  Jack.son, 
past  grand  master  ;  William  Stith,  deputy  grand  master  ;  James  Box  Young, 
senior  grand  warden;  Edward  Lloyd  and  Belthazer  Shaffer,  past  grand  war- 
dens; Ulrich  Tobler,  jr.,  grand  warden;  George  Jones,  past  grand  treasurer; 
James  Robertson,  grand  treasurer  ;  David  Bridie  Mitchell,  past  grand  secre- 
tary, and  John  Blackstock,  grand  secretary  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Free  Ma- 
sons in  this  State,  have,  by  their  petition  stated,  that  there  has  existed,  and 
still  exists  in  this  State,  divers  lodges  or  societies  of  Free  Masons,  on  an  an- 
cient establishment  since  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  thirty-five, 
over  which  there  is  a  presiding  or  superintending  Grand  Lodge,  composed  of 
the  petitioners  as  members." 

Prior  even  to  this  early  date  there  were  Masons  in  Augusta,  since  in  1790 
they  were  voted  the  garret  of  the  Richmond  Academy  as  a  lodge  room. 

In  1824  Samuel  Hale,  Thomas  I.  Wray,  Augustine  Slaughter,  WilHam  W. 
Holt,  B.  D.  Thompson,  John  W.  Wilde,  and  Robert  R.  Reid  were  nominated 
commissioners  to  conduct  a  lottery  for  the  purpose  of  raising  $20,000  to  be 
appropriated  to  the  building  of  a  Masonic  Hall  in  the  city  of  Augusta. 

In  1825  La  P'ayette  visited  Augusta,  and  being  a  Mason,  was  welcomed  in 
an  address  by  John  W.  Wilde,  grand  commander  of  Georgia  Encampment 
No.  I. 

In  1827  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  act,  which  after  reciting  that  the 
money  provided  for  by  the  act  of  1824  had  been  raised,  enacted  that  the  Ma- 
sonic Hall  should  be  for  the  use  of  all  the  Masonic  bodies  of  the  city,  and  ap- 
pointed Samuel  Hale,  Augustin  Slaughter,  Thomas  I.  Wray,  Birkett  D. 
Thompson,  John  W.   Wilde,   Robert  Raymond  Reid,  Alexander  McKenzie, 


Secret  Societies.  299 

William  T.  Gould,  William  Duncan,  Thomas  G.  Casey,  Jonathan  S.  Beers, 
James  C.  Morgan,  Francis  Ganahl,  and  their  successors  as  "the  trustees  of  the 
Masonic  Hall  in  the  city  of  Augusta."  The  act  states  that  at  that  time  the 
Masonic  bodies  in  Augusta  were  the  Consistory  of  the  Sublime  Degrees,  Geor- 
gia Encampment  No.  i,  Adoniram  Council  No.  i,  Augusta  Chapter  No.  2, 
Social  Lodge  No.  5,  and  Webb's  Lodge  No.  19. 

In  the  early  part  of  1828  the  Masonic  lodge  room  was  on  Mcintosh  street, 
but  on  June  2  of  that  year  the  Masonic  Hall  was  opened,  Governor  William 
Schley  delivering  the  address 

In  1877  the  trustees  were  authorized  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  their  whole 
membership,  approved  by  like  vote  of  all  the  Masonic  bodies  in  the  city,  to 
issue  $50,000  in  bonds  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  new  hall,  and  in  1881  the 
old  one  was  taken  down  and  a  new  one  erected.  This  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  February,  1887,  but  in  its  stead  was  at  once  erected  a  third,  and  still  hand- 
somer edifice,  which  is  one  of  the  architectural  ornaments  of  the  city. 

The  large  number  of  societies  at  present  can  only  be  briefly  mentioned. 
They  are  Master  Masons,  Social  Lodge,  No.  i  ;  and  Webb  Lodge,  No.  166;* 
Royal  Arch,  Augusta  Chapter,  No.  2,  and  Georgia  Commandery,  No.  i ;  R.  and 
S.  M.  Adoniram  Council,  No.  i ;  Scottish  Rite,  Enoch  Lodge  oi  Perfection,  No. 
I,  14th  degree;  Augusta  Chapter,  Rose  Croix,  No.  2,  i8th  degree;  Augusta 
Consistory,  No.  I,  30th  degree;  and  Council  of  Kodosh,  No.  i,  32d  degree; 
also  a  colored  society,  A.  Y.  M.  Benneker  Lodge,  No.  3. 

The  Grand  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  in  Georgia  was  established  in  Savannah 
in  1842.  The  Grand  Lodge  of  the  State  was  incorporated  in  1843.  ^^  Au- 
gusta there  are  Washington  Lodge,  No.  7,  established  in  1844;  Miller  Lodge, 
No.  10,  in  1845  ;  Richmond  Lodge,  No.  loi,  in  1883,  and  Augusta  Encamp- 
ment, No.  5,  shortly  after.  There  are  also  two  colored  lodges,  Boaz  Lodge, 
No.  1686,  and  Star  of  Bethlehem  Lodge.  The  Augusta  Odd  Fellows  have 
long  occupied  a  most  prominent  place  in  the  order  in  the  State,  almost  all  the 
grand  masters  for  nearly  a  half  century  being  from  this  city. 

The  Knights  of  Pythias  have  the  Vigilant  Lodge  No.  2  ;  Endowment  Sec- 
tion, No.  118  ;  Fountain  City  Lodge;  and  Augusta  Division  No.  6,  U.  R.  R. 
of  P. 

The  Knights  of  Honor  have  Pendleton  Lodge,  No.  220;  Shepard  Lodge, 
No.  721  ;  and  Benner  Lodge,  No.  1259.  There  is  also  Louise  Lodge,  No.  141, 
D.  of  P.,  Knights  and  Ladies  of  Honor. 

The  Knights  of  the  Golden  Rule  have  Castle  Richmond,  No.  41 ;  the  Order 
of  the  Golden  Chain,  Augusta  Lodge,  No.  26  ;  Royal  Arcanum,  Ford  Council, 
No.  34 ;  Chosen  Friends,  Social  Lodge,  No.  2  ;  Knights  of  the  Golden  Eagle, 
Ivanhoe  Castle,  No.  i  ;   and  Red  Cross  Castle,  No.  4. 

The  Independent  Order  of  Red  Men  have  Osceola  Tribe,  No.  9,  and  Pap- 
poose  Tribe  No.  10. 


300  History  of  Augusta. 


The  temperance  orders  are  Good  Templars,  Martha  Washington  Lodge, 
and  Sibley  Lodge,  No.  88. 

There  are  also  Augusta  Lodge,  No.  1 19,  O.  K.  S.  B;  Obediah  Lodge,  No. 
1 19,  I.  O.  B.  B  ;  Teutonia  Lodge,  No.  429,  D.  O.  H  ;  and  Augusta  Lodge  No, 
2,  A.  O.  U.  W. 

There  are  also  societies  and  orders  in  many  avocations,  among  others  Au- 
gusta Division  No.  202,  Order  of  Railway  Conductors  ;  Locomotive  Brother- 
hood, Augusta  Dental  Association,  Typographical  Union,  Knights  of  Labor, 
Bricklayers  Union,  etc.,  etc. 

The  colored  societies  in  Augusta  are  exceedingly  numerous,  and  a  sketch 
of  their  origin  and  progress  will  be  found  of  interest.  On  emancipation  the 
colored  population  was  confronted  with  an  exigency  it  had  not  known  in  slavery. 
If  the  freedman  was  sick  there  was  no  one  interested  out  of  his  immediate  circle 
of  family  and  friends  to  care  for  him ;  if  he  died,  none  to  decently  bury  him, 
and  family  and  friends  were  as  poor  and  helpless  as  himself  In  this  emergency 
they  established  benevolent  societies.  A  monthly  fee  was  required,  whieh 
was  for  the  purpose  of  helping  one  another  when  sickness  or  death  came. 
These  societies  met  with  every  sort  of  trouble.  As  the  membership  grew  in 
numbers  the  treasury  swelled,  and  upon  this  money  avaricious  eyes  were  cast, 
and  it  was  diminished  in  various  ways,  the  failure  of  the  Freedman's  Bank  swal- 
lowing up  much  of  it.  Then  politics  crept  into  the  societies  and  many  collapsed. 
Others  struggled  on,  and  as  politics  were  weeded  out  began  to  prosper,  and 
encouraged  by  this  example  other  societies  sprang  up,  until  now  there  are 
about  twenty-five  strong  organizations  with  a  large  membership,  and  working 
much  good.  The  city  has  but  few  negroes  to  bury,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  they  are  either  expelled  from  the  societies,  or  never  belonged  to  them. 

The  plan  of  operation  is  about  the  same  in  all  of  them.  A  person  joins  and 
pays  his  initiation  fee  of  one  dollar,  and  monthly  dues  of  fifty  cents.  During 
the  sickness  of  a  member  he  or  she  receives  a  weekly  benefit  of  two  dollars  and 
fifty  cents,  and  in  case  of  death  twenty- five  dollars  is  devoted  to  funeral  ex- 
penses and  thirty  dollars  to  the  widow.  In  some  societies  when  a  member  is 
sick  there  is  a  committee  to  furnish  nourishment  and  medicine,  all  of  which  is 
paid  for  by  the  society.  The  societies  are  not  confined  to  grown  people,  there 
being  some  for  children. 

The  names  of  the  societies  seem  to  have  been  selected  more  for  euphony 
than  for  appropriateness,  as  the  following  will  show  : 

Morning  Stars  of  Benevolence,  Union  Waiters  Society,  Joint  Club,  Geor- 
gia Benevolent  Association,  Devoted  Brothers  and  Sisters,  Sons  and  Daugh- 
ters of  Benevolence,  Brothers  and  Sisters  of  the  Evening  Star,  Brown  Benefi- 
cial Society,  Trinity  Moral — two  societies,  Thankful  Moral,  No.  i,  Brothers 
and  Sisters  of  the  Morning  Star,  Watchman's  Banner,  Banner  Light  of  Geor- 
gia, Stars  of  Bethlehem,  South  Carolina  Benevolence,  Mutual  Benefit  Associa- 


Educational.  301 


tion,  Brothers  and  Sisters  of  Love,  Lillies  of  the  Valley,  St.  Phillip's  Benevo- 
lent, Mutual  Benefit  Association,  Mutual  Aid  Society,  Bonds  of  Hope.  Sons 
and  Daughters  of  Jerusalem,  Young  Mutual  Aid,  and  Young  Brown  Beneficial. 
The  Union  Waiters  Society  is  an  old  organization,  and  strong  in  numbers. 
The  Moral  Societies  have  also  full  ranks  and  have  great  influence.  By  means 
of  festivals,  picnics,  etc.,  in  addition  to  the  regular  dues,  the  society  treasuries 
are  well  replenished. 


CHAPTER   XXVH. 

EDUCATIONAL. 

Early  Educational  System  of  Georgia— The  University— The  Academy— The  Poor  School 
—Early  Appropriations— School  Population— Academies  and  Schools  of  1828— Course  of  In- 
struction— The  Educational  Commission  of  1836— Common  School  System  of  1837— School 
Fund  from  1823  to  1838— Common  School  System  Abolished  in  1840— Poor  School  Fund  of 
1843  -Large  Increase  of  Fund  in  1852  and  1858— The  Perfected  Poor  School  System— Out- 
break of  War  Prevents  Fair  Trial— The  Academies— Their  Number  and  Curious  Names— 
"The  Turn  Out  "—Codification  of  the  Laus  in  i860— Educational  Benefactions  in  Augusta- 
Old  Schools— The  Houghton  Institute— Augusta  Free  School— Richmond  Academy— Edu- 
cational Clauses  in  State  Constitutions  of  1861  and  1865— Education  During  the  War— Con- 
stitutional Provisions  of  1868— System  of  1870— The  Richmond  County  System. 

AT  a  very  early  period  in  its  history  the  State  of  Georgia  paid  great  atten- 
tion to  collegiate  education.  In  1784,  in  providing  for  the  laying  out  of 
Franklin  and  Washington  counties,  the  Legislature  set  apart  20,000  acres  of 
the  best  quality  in  each  county,  "  for  the  endowment  of  a  college  or  semi- 
nary of  learning"  and  vested  the  title  thereto  in  the  governor  for  the  time 
being  and  a  board  of  seven  trustees.  In  the  next  year  they  created  a  State 
university  by  an  act  passed  with  great  formality,  and  introduced  by  a  pompous 
preamble.  While  now  only  archaic  and  curious  in  itself,  it  is  of  present  use 
as  showing  the  extreme  importance  attached  to  intellectual  development  in 
Georgia,  even  at  that  early  day,  when  men  were  just  out  of  the  throes  of  the 
Revolution.  It  begins  thus  :  "  By  the  representatives  of  the  freemen  of  the 
State  of  Georgia  in  General  Assembly,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same.  An 
Act  for  the  more  full  and  complete  establishment  of  a  public  seat  of  learning  in 
this  State. 

"As  it  is  the  distinguishing  happiness  of  free  governments,  that  civil  order 
should  be  the  result  of  choice,  and  not  necessity,  and  the  common  wishes  of 


302  History  of  Augusta. 


the  people  become  the  laws  of  the  land,  their  public  prosperity,  and  even  ex- 
istence, very  much  depends  upon  suitably  forming  the  minds  and  morals  of 
their  citizens.  Where  the  minds  of  the  people  in  general  are  viciously  dispos- 
ed and  uiiprincipltd,  and  their  conduct  disorderly,  a  free  government  will  be 
attended  with  greater  confusions,  and  with  evils  more  horrid  than  the  wild,  un- 
cultivated state  of  nature  :  It  can  only  be  happy  where  the  public  principles 
and  opinions  are  properly  directed  and  their  manners  regulated.  This  is  an 
influence  beyond  the  sketch  of  laws  and  punishments,  and  can  be  claimed  only 
by  religion  and  education.  It  should,  therefore,  be  among  the  first  objects  of 
those  who  wish  well  to  the  national  prosperity,  to  encourage  and  support 
the  principles  of  religion  and  morality,  and  early  to  place  the  youth  under 
the  forming  hand  of  society,  that  by  instruction  they  may  be  moulded  to  the 
love  of  virtue  and  good  order.  Sending  them  abroad  to  other  countries  for 
their  education  will  not  answer  these  purposes,  is  too  humiliating  an  acknow- 
ledgement of  the  ignorance  and  inferiority  of  our  own,  and  will  always  be  the 
cause  of  so  great  foreign  attachments,  that  upon  principles  of  policy  it  is  not 
admissible. 

"This  country,  in  the  times  of  our  common  danger  and  distress,  found  such 
security  in  the  principles  and  abilities  which  wise  regulations  had  before  es- 
tablished in  the  minds  of  our  countrymen,  that  our  present  happiness,  joined  to 
pleasing  prospects,  should  conspire  to  make  us  feel  ourselves  under  the  strong- 
est obligation  to  form  the  youth,  the  rising  hope  of  our  land,  to  render  the  like 
glorious  and  essential  services  to  our  country. 

''And  Whereas,  for  the  great  purpose  of  internal  education,  divers  allot- 
ments of  land  have,  at  different  times,  been  made  particularly  by  the  legislature 
at  their  sessions  in  July,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty- three  ;  and 
February,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty  four,  all  of  which  may  be 
comprehended  and  made  the  basis  of  one  general  and  complete  establishment. 
Therefore,  the  representatives  of  the  freemen  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  in  general 
assembly  met  this  twenty  fourth  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  seven  Jinndred  and  eighty-five,  enact,  ordain  and  declare,  and  by 
these  presents  it  is  ENACTED,  Ordained,  and  Declared,  ist.  The  general 
superintendence  and  regulation  of  the  literature  of  this  State,  and  in  particular 
of  the  public  seat  of  learning,  shall  be  coinmittcd  and  entrusted  to  the  Governor 
and  Council,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly  and  tlie  Chief  Justice  of  the 
State,  for  the  time  being,  who  shall,  ex-officio,  compose  one  board,  denom- 
inated the  Board  of  Visitors,  hereby  vested  with  all  the  powers  of  visitation,  to 
see  that  the  intent  of  this  institution  is  carried  into  effect,  and  John  Houstoun, 
James  Habersham,  William  Few,  Joseph  Clay,  Abraham  Baldwin,  William 
Houstoun,  Nathan  Brownson,  John  Habersham,  Abiel  Holmes,  Jenkin  Davies, 
Hugh  Lawson,  William  Glascock,  and  Benjamin  Taliaferro,  esquires,  who  shall 
compose    another    board,  denominated    the   Board  of   Trustees.     These    two 


Early  Appropriations. 

boards  united,  or  a  n:ajo7ty  of  each  of  them,  shall  comp^"ii^7^n~7s 
ACADEMICUS  of  the  University  of  Georgia." 

The  act  then  made  many  regulations  for  the  new  institution,  and  provided 
further,  that  •'All  public  schools,  instituted  or  to  be  supported  by  fun  or 
pub,,  mon.es  ,„  th.s  State,  shall  be  considered  as  parts  or  members  of  the  Uni- 

centlrLd'"^"  °^  "'"r'f  T'  '°  ~"''""'"  "*=  ""'""'^'y  ""=  educational 
cent  r  and  supemsor  of  the  State;  but  for  many  reasons  this  purpose  failed  of 

to  at  last  VTr^  T''  'r'"''''"'  '"'  "'^=  ""'>-  "^^^  -  accomplished 
fact,  at  last,  by  the  hberahty  of  a  citizen  of  Augusta,  Governor  John  lVlilled..e 

iTwh,: ;  rbuii:  ""^"^' '"  ""'^ ''"-" ''-' '-  ■■"^'"""°"  •■-  --^  -p™ 

The  general  school  system  of  the  State  was  this:  wherever  there  was  a 
local  academy  the  State  would  grant  some  sort  of  subsidy  for  it,  support 
an  for  the  dt.ldren  of  the  poor  who  could  not  pay  any  tuiti„n,'there  wer^TpTrse 
and  spasmodic  appropriations  for  poor  schools.  There  were  thus  two  funds 
the  academical  and  the  poor  school  fund.  The  policy  of  the  State  was  tha; 
education  was  the  duty  of  the  parent,  and  the  appropriations  horn  I^me  to 

cordmg  as  parents  were  partly,  or  wholly,  unable  to  perform  this  duty  At 
divers  times  efforts  were  made  to  consolidate  the  academical  and  poor  school 
funds,  and  to  establish  a  general  and  uniform  system  of  free  educatLi   but  tlte 

desuetude.  The  academy  and  the  poor  school  were  the  features  of  the  edu- 
ca  lonal  system  of  Georgia  un.il  ,868.  when  a  general  system  of  free  educa- 
tion became  a  constitutional  principle.  Some  further  review  of  the  old  system 
may  be  of  interest.  =yMcin 

thorize7h^  T  '^°''"T  ""'  ""P"""^''  '°  g'-a-"  -y  person  or  persons  au- 
horized  by  the  several  counties  of  the  State  one  thousand  acres  of  vacant  land 
for  erecting  free  schools. 

In   ,792  such  counties  as  had  not  then  received  i:i,ooo  from  the  proceeds 
o    the  sales  o    the  confiscated  estates  of  loyalists  were  to  have  that  sum  fo 
the  support  of  the  county  academy. 

and'r  '^' V'7r'"'  °':  *'50,ooo  was  appropriated  "  for  the  future  establishment 

and  support  of  free  schools  throughout  this  State."     The  governor  was  author- 
zed  to  invest  the  same  in  bank,  or  other  profitable  stock.     The  preamble  of 

this  ac   states  that  ••  the  present  system  of  education  in  this  State  is  n"t  wel 
alculated  for  the  general  ditfusion.  and  equal  distribution  of  useful  learning  ' 

It  does  not  appear  that  any  educational  system  was  established    under  this 


In  182.  the  sum  of  $500,000  was  set  apart,  "the  one-half  for  the  support 
and  encouragement  of  free  schools,  and  the  other  half  for  the  permanent  endow- 


304  History  of  Augusta. 


ment  of  county  academies."  It  was  provided  that  this  appropriation  should 
be  called  the  school  fund,  and  should  be  composed  of  bank  stock  as  follows : 
l^ank  of  Darien,  $200,000;  the  State  Bank,  $200,000;  and  bank  of  Augusta, 
$100,000.  It  was  directed  that  inquiry  be  made  what  each  county  had  then 
received  from  the  State  in  confiscated  property  or  other  endowments  for  educa- 
tional purposes,  and  upon  receipt  of  such  information  the  interest  on  the  school 
fund  should  be  divided  out  among  the  several  counties  of  the  State  on  a  basis 
to  be  thereafter  arranged. 

In  1822  an  effort  was  made  to  establish  a  poor  school  system.  It  was  pro- 
vided that  the  Inferior  Court  of  each  county  should  appoint  certain  superin- 
tendents, not  to  exceed  in  number  one  for  each  militia  district,  to  supervise 
"the  education  of  the  poor  children  of  said  county."  These  superintendents 
were  to  make  out  a  list  of  the  names  of  the  poor  children  of  the  county  from 
eight  to  eighteen,  and  transmit  the  same  to  the  governor,  but  no  child  was  to 
be  enrolled  whose  parents  or  estate  pay  a  tax  exceeding  fifty  cents  over  and 
above  their  poll  tax.  On  receipt  of  the  enumeration  the  governor  was  to  divide 
$i2,O0O  among  the  counties,  in  "proportion  to  the  number  of  poor  children 
returned  as  above.  It  was  provided  that,  on  receipt  of  the  county  quota,  the 
superintendents  should  cause  such  poor  children  to  go  to  "such  schools  as  may 
be  convenient  in  their  respective  neighborhoods,"  but  no  child  was  to  be  "sent 
to  school  and  paid  for  out  of  said  fund,  when  such  child  has  been  taught  read- 
ing, writing,  and  the  usual  rules  of  arithmetic  ; "  nor  was  any  child  to  "be  sent 
to  school  at  public  expense  more  than  three  years."  The  superintendents  were 
also  to  take  a  general  census  of  all  children  in  the  county,  "as  well  poor  as  rich, 
and  female  as  well  as  male,  between  the  ages  of  eight  and  eighteen,"  and  trans- 
mit the  same  to  the  Legislature. 

In  the  same  year  provision  was  made  for  an  additional  endowment  of  the 
county  academies.  One- half  of  the  bank  stock  dividend,  and  all  moneys  in  the 
treasury  arising  from  escheats  and  reverted  property,  were  to  be  divided  out 
among  the  counties,  so  that,  including  the  cash  or  other  endowments  previously 
received,  each  county  should  have  $2,000;  the  residue  then  to  be  distributed 
in  proportion  to  the  representation  from  each  county;  where  there  was  more 
than  one  academy  in  a  county  the  money  was  to  be  pro-rated  according  to  the 
number  of  their  respective  scholars;  where  there  was  no  academy,  the  Inferior 
Court  was  to  apply  the  fund,  in  its  discretion,  to  educational  purposes. 

In  1823  it  was  enacted  that  out  of  the  bank  dividends  should  be  annually  dis- 
tributed among  the  counties  in  proportion  to  the  free  white  population  therein, 
the  sum  of  $20,000  "  for  the  purpose  of  educating  such  children  who  are  des- 
titute of  the  means  of  education."  The  Inferior  Court  was  to  appoint  three 
trustees  for  the  county  who  were  to  give  bond  in  the  sum  of  $1,000  each,  and 
receive,  apportion  and  disburse  the  poor  school  fund,  and  locate  and  regulate 
the  schools. 


Educational.  305 


In  1824  the  Senate  directed  its  committee  on  public  education  and  free 
schools  to  inquire  into  the  relations  of  the  Senatus  academiais  and  the  county 
academies.  The  committee  reported  that  by  the  charter  of  the  university  it 
was  made  the  duty  of  that  institution  to  remedy  the  defects  and  advance  the 
interests  of  literature  throughout  the  State  in  general  ;  that  it  was  also  the  law 
that  all  public  schools  instituted  or  supported  by  the  State  were  under  the 
superintendence  of  the  university  ;  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  president,  or 
some  member  of  the  faculty  thereof,  to  annually  visit  and  inspect  each  academy, 
but  that  this  regulation  had  been  found  impracticable  To  obtain  accurate  in- 
formation, therefore,  on  the  subject  the  committee  recommended  "  that  here- 
after it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  trustees  of  all  academies  in  this  State,  which 
derive  a  part  or  the  whole  of  their  support  from  the  State  funds  to  make  an 
annual  report  to  the  senator  of  the  county  in  which  the  academy  may  be,  of 
the  following  form  : 

1.  The  number  and  salaries  of  instructors. 

2.  The  number  of  scholars. 

3.  The  annual  income. 

4.  Branches  of  learning  taught. 

This  was  adopted.  For  a  number  of  years  the  senators,  there  then  being 
a  senator  to  each  county,  communicated  to  the  Senate  committee  on  education 
the  reports  made  them  by  the  trustees  of  the  academies  in  their  respective 
counties.  These  reports,  however,  were  extremely  meager,  and  we  find  con- 
stant complaints  that  some  of  the  trustees  totally  neglected  their  duty,  and  the 
majority  of  those  who  made  returns  did  so  in  an  unsatisfactory  manner. 

Despite  the  unsatisfactory  and  unsystematic  manner  in  which  the  state  of 
the  academies  was  reported  to  the  Legislature,  the  academies  themselves  seem 
to  have  been  carried  on  with  a  reasonable  degree  of  efficiency.  In  1826  Gov- 
ernor froup  says  in  his  annual  message  that  "  our  academic  institutions  con- 
tinue to  flourish."  In  the  same  document  he  speaks  of  the  poor  schools,  thus  : 
"  It  is  recommended  to  you  to  consolidate  the  poor  school  fund,  to  augment  it, 
to  secure  by  sufficient  guards  its  faithful  application,  and  to  diffiise  its  benefits 
as  extensively  as  possible  among  the  poor  and  indigent.  These  are  the  classes 
of  the  community  who  in  their  means  of  livelihood  fall  below  mediocrity,  and 
who,  on  this  account,  as  well  as  on  account  of  their  numbers,  have  the  strong- 
est claims  for  that  assistance  which  will  enable  them  by  the  instruction  of  pri- 
mary schools,  to  discharge  in  peace  and  in  war,  with  most  usefulness  to  them- 
selves and  advantage  to  the  country,  all  the  duties  of  good  citizens." 

The  house  committee  on  public  education  and  free  schools  made  quite  an 
elaborate  report  on  educational  matters  at  this  session.  From  this  it  appears 
that  the  State  University  at  that  time  was  conducted  by  a  faculty  consisting 
of  a  president,  a  professor  of  natural  philosophy  and  botany,  a  professor  of 
chemistry  and  mineralogy,  a  professor  of  mathematics,  a  professor  of  ethics  and 
39 


3o6  History  of  Augusta. 


belles-lettres,  and  two  tutors.  The  committee  report  in  favor  of  a  professor- 
ship of  modern  languages.  The  report  then  proceeds  to  say:  "  Tiie  manner 
in  which  the  funds  heretofore  set  apart  for  the  endowment  of  county  acade- 
mies and  for  tlie  encouragement  and  support  of  free  schools,  and  the  effects 
produced  ne.xt  demanded  the  examination  of  your  committee.  The  school 
fund  consists  of  five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  is  made  up  of 

Stock  of  the  Bank  of  Darien $200,000 

"     "    Stale  Bank 200,000 

■'      ''     "    Bank  of  Augusta 100,000 

Total $500,000 

"  The  several  acts  which  have  been  passed  upon  the  subject  of  county  acade- 
mies, commencing  with  the  charter  of  the  university  in  1785,  and  terminating 
in  1824,  obviously  contemplate  an  efficient  endowment  of  at.least  one  academy 
in  each  county.  With  this  view  that  charter  made  each  county  academy  a 
branch  of  the  university,  and  subjected  them  to  supervision  accordingly.  In 
furtherance  of  this  view,  also,  was  the  act  of  confiscation  and  amercement  in 
1792,  authorizing  commissioners  from  each  county  to  purchase  in  confiscated 
property  to  the  amount  of  ;^  1,000. 

"  The  aid  contemplated  from  this  source  was  uncertain  and  precarious,  even 
in  the  hands  of  the  most  fortunate,  and  with  many  was  wholly  inoperative. 
The  amounts  realized  were  small,  and  in  but  few  instances  beneficially  applied. 
The  present  existing  laws  have  affixed  an  estimate  of  this  intended  munificence 
by  holding  the  intended  beneficiaries  accountable  for  only  one-eighth  of  their 
nominal  purchases.  Under  the  new  scheme  of  endowment  now  in  progress, 
the  older  counties  have  been  made  to  account  for  their  ancient  purchases.  An 
equal  participation  in  the  fund  distributed  in  1824  and  1825  has  been  denied 
them,  that  they  might  be  brought  to  an  equality  with  their  younger  sisters, 
and  then  draw  equally  from  the  common  parent  until  the  receipts  of  each 
should  amount  to  the  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars. 

"  This  being  effected,  each  county  will  be  considered  as  specifically  endowed, 
and  thenceforward  the  profits  of  $250,000  in  bank  stock  will  be  distributed 
amongst  all  the  counties  in  the  State,  in  proportion  to  their  representation. 
For  the  last  political  year  ending  on  the  first  day  of  November,  the  distribu- 
tive share  amounted  to  the  sum  of  $215.38.  This  is  receivable  at  the  treasury 
upon  the  joint  application  of  the  trustees  of  the  incorporated  academies  in  each 
county,  and  to  be  divided  between  them  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  schol- 
ars usually  taught  in  each.  For  a  policy  thus  enlightened,  and  a  munificence 
thus  liberal,  no  further  requital  is  demanded  on  the  part  of  the  State  than  that 
the  participants  of  her  bounty  should  keep  a  just  and  accurate  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  same  should  be  disbursed  and  applied,  and  make  report 
thereof  annually  through  the  Senatus  academicus  to  the  Legislature.      The  pro- 


Educational.  307 


priety  of  such  report  is  dictated  by  a  sense  of  obligation,  but  its  necessity  is  the 
positive  requirement  of  the  law.  But  notwithstanding  these  things  are  so,  your 
committee  regret  to  state  that  in  the  range  which  they  have  taken  through  the 
several  reports  made  by  the  senators  to  the  Senattis  Academicus,  they  discover 
but  slight  traces  of  that  particularity  required  by  law,  and  which  is  so  es- 
sential to  a  due  course  of  legislation  upon  a  subject  so  important.  It  was  not 
to  have  been  expected  that  any  plan  of  endowment  amidst  a  new  and  vary- 
ing population  would  have  made  any  near  approach  to  perfection  ;  hence  the 
necessity  of  regular,  detailed,  periodical  information,  not  only  from  each  county 
but  from  the  whole  of  the  incorporated  academies  in  the  State.  Information 
short  of  this  would  be  short  of  the  laws  already  in  force,  and  insufficient  to 
enable  the  State  to  dispense  her  practical  and  well  aimed  aids,  and  enforce  due 
accountability  on  the  part  of  her  agent.  To  enforce  a  compliance  with  the 
laws  in  this  regard,  your  committee  beg  leave  to  accompany  this  report  with  a 
resolution  which  they  hope  may  be  adopted,  to  wit : 

"Resolved,  That  no  trustee,  or  commissioners  of  any  incorporated  academy 
shall  hereafter  be  permitted  to  draw  any  funds  from  the  treasury  of  this  State, 
until  they  shall  have  presented  a  full  and  fair  statement  of  the  manner  in  which 
all  sums  previously  drawn  shall  have  been  disbursed ;  and  that  his  excellency 
the  governor  be  requested  to  enforce  strictly  the  provisions  of  this  resolution." 

The  resolution  was  adopted.  On  the  subject  of  poor  schools  the  committee 
says:  "By  the  act  of  1821  poor  schools  were  intended  to  be  endowed  by  the 
profits  of  the  one  half  of  the  school  fund,  which  has  already  been  shown  to  con- 
sist of  a  half  million  of  dollars.  Instead,  however,  of  confining  this  depart- 
ment to  its  distributive  share  of  the  bank  dividends  it  has  found  a  better  pro- 
vision and  safer  reliance  in  the  increased  liberality  of  the  Legislatnre  expressed 
in  an  act  of  1823.  This  sets  apart  the  sum  of  twenty  thousand  dollars  to  be 
distributed  annually  amongst  the  different  counties  of  this  State  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  free  white  population  in  each  county.  Your  committee  have 
annexed  a  tabular  statement  showing  the  population  of  each  county,  and  the 
amount  which  they  are  entitled  to  receive  respectively.  The  sums  thus  pro- 
vided have  been  eagerly  sought  after,  but  the  evidence  of  fidelity  in  their  ap- 
plication and  utility  in  their  disbursement  has  not  been  furnished  in  a  manner 
satisfactory  to  the  minds  of  your  committee.  From  some  counties  imperfect 
reports  have  been  received,  from  others  no  reports  at  all.  The  several  agents 
may  have  been  faithful;  if  they  have,  the  fact  should  have  been  made  to  ap- 
pear, as  well  for  their  own  credit  as  for  the  needed  information  of  the  Legisla- 
ture ;  if  they  have  not,  then  the  information  was  the  more  necessary  to  enable 
the  Legislature  to  apply  the  corrective.  In  the  absence  of  such  information 
your  committee  are  unable  to  determine  whether  the  benefits  intended  by  a 
charity,  so  kindly  and  so  amply  bestowed,  have  been  or  are  likely  to  be  realized. 
The  subject  is  one  of  great  interest  and  complexity  and  of  novel  introduction 


3o8  History  of  Augusta. 


among  our  citizens."  The  report  then  proceeds  to  say  that  the  committee 
could  not,  for  lack  of  time  and  requisite  data,  formulate  a  free  school  system, 
but  recommended  that  Messrs.  Campbell,  Hull,  of  Clark,  and  Holt,  of  Rich- 
mond, be  appointed  a  committee  "to  digest  and  report  a  plan  of  free  schools 
suited  to  the  condition  of  the  poor  school  fund  and  of  the  dependent  popula- 
tion of  the  State."  The  tabular  statement  annexed  to  this  report  shows  that 
the  then  58  counties  of  the  State  had  a  free  white  population  of  233,305,  and 
that  the  poor  school  fund  was  about  82  cents  per  head.  The  largest  sum  al- 
lotted any  county  was  $1,603.72,  the  smallest  $54.72. 

It  does  not  appear  that  the  committee  recommended  by  this  report  to  di- 
gest and  report  a  plan  of  free  schools  took  any  action,  but  at  the  next  session 
of  the  Legislature  a  bill  was  introduced  "to  establish  a  board  of  visitors  to  the 
poor  schools,  and  to  require  teachers  in  the  sever.1l  districts  to  report  the  num- 
ber of  poor  children  and  teach  the  same,"  which  was  voted  down.  At  the 
same  session,  that  of  1827,  the  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  reports  of 
the  county  academies,  report  that  the  returns  "present  a  condition  creditable 
to  the  patrons  of  those  institutions  and  flattering  to  the  future  reputation  of 
the  State."  In  this  bright  picture,  however,  the  committee  find  one  dark  spot, 
"they  have  been  unable  to  arrive  at  any  satisfactory  conclusion  to  what  extent 
and  proficiency  classical  education  has  been  taught  in  these  institutions." 
Starting  with  the  proposition  that  "this  branch  of  literature  is  so  necessary  in 
all  systems  of  juvenile  instruction,  that  few  persons  in  modern  days  have  ob- 
tained intellectual  eminence  whose  minds  have  not  received  this  training,"  the 
committee  enter  on  a  curious  and  elaborate  argument  to  show  that  the  intel- 
lectual future  of  Georgia  depends  on  a  better  attention  to  classical  learning  in 
the  academies  of  the  State.  After  a  long  and  labored  disquisition  on  the  util- 
ity of  the  classics  as  a  means  of  mental  training,  the  committee  declare  it  "a 
source  of  melancholy  regret  that  so  little  care  should  be  bestowed  by  the  pa- 
trons of  our  academies  on  this  important  part  of  juvenile  education." 

In  1828  the  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Ordinary  was  made  sole  trustee  of  the 
poor  school  fund  and  manager  of  the  poor  schools.  The  justices  of  the  peace 
were  required  to  report  to  him  "a  list  of  all  children  in  their  respective  districts, 
together  with  their  names,  ages,  and  sexes,  whose  extreme  indigence  entitle 
them  to  a  participation  in  the  poor  school  fund."  The  same  act  required  that 
duplicate  reports  of  the  attendance  at,  and  expenses  of  both  poor  schools  and 
academies  should  be  transmitted  to  the  governor  and  the  Scuatus  Academicus, 

Of  the  educational  system  of  the  State  at  this  date  we  have  a  very  full  and 
interesting  account,  thanks  to  a  faithful  compliance  with  the  law  by  the  officials 
of  that  date.  It  appears  that  the  appropriation  for  the  support  of  academies 
for  1828  was  $14,307.44;  and  for  poor  schools.  $7,425.58.  It  further  appears 
that  there  were  in  operation  eighty  academies  in  seventy- five  counties,  with  a 
total  attendance  of  1,479  male,  and  973  female  scholars.     Some  304,  not  dis- 


Educational.  309 


tinguished  by  sex,  were  reported,  making  total  2,756,  but  twenty- seven  acad- 
emies failed  to  report  the  number  of  scholars.  If  the  same  average  obtained 
as  in  those  reporting,  there  must  have  been  at  least  4,300  scholars  attending 
the  county  academies  in  1828.  Some  of  the  academies  seem  to  haxe  had  a 
good  attendance:  the  one  in  Greene  county  showing  119  scholars;  that  in 
Wilkes,  103;  the  Sparta  Female  Academy,  151.  Richmond  Academy  has  but 
fifty  three;  three  report  less  than  twenty,  and  one  has  only  one  scholar,  a  little 
miss.  It  further  appears  that  at  this  time  the  university,  pursuant  to  its  charter, 
sought  to  exercise  a  supervisory  control  over  all  the  academies  receiving  sup- 
port from  the  State,  and  that  the  Senatus  Academiciis  adopted  the  following 
resolution,  which  under  the  charter,  had  the  force  and  effect  of  a  statute,  viz.: 

"  In  order  to  introduce  uniformity  into  the  academies  connected  with  the 
University  of  Georgia,  the  SenaUis  Academiciis  prescribe  to  each  the  following 
course  of  studies  and  authors  to  be  used  preparatory  to  admission  to  college, 
viz.:  Murray's  English  Grammar;  arithmetic,  to  the  end  of  the  cube  root; 
Ruddiman's  Rudiments;  Corderius,  fifty  colloquies  at  least ;  Erasmus,  at  least 
one-half;  Cornelius  Nepos  to  Atticus;  Caesar's  Commentaries,  six  books;  Cic- 
ero's Orations,  at  least  nine  to  be  read;  Virgil,  the  Bucolics,  Georgics,  and  six 
books  of  the  ^neid  ;  Mair's  or  Clarke's  introduction  to  making  Latin  ;  Wet- 
tenhali's  Greek  Grammar;  the  Greek  Testament,  at  least  through  John  and  the 
Acts ;  Graeca  Minora,  to  the  end  of  the  Dialogues.  The  above  are  essential 
to  qualify  the  student  to  enter  the  Freshman  class.  In  addition  to  these,  the 
following  are  necessary  for  admission  into  the  Sophomore  class  :  Xenophon, 
four  books;  the  whole  of  Horace  ;  Homer,  one  book  ;  Algebra,  through  sim- 
ple equations;   geography,  thoroughly,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  maps  essential." 

The  necessity  of  some  standard  appears  by  the  report  of  studies  pursued  in 
the  various  academies,  where  all  sorts  of  courses  were  pursued,  as  geology, 
botany,  astronomy,  and  even  theology.  Some  of  the  teachers,  to  be  on  the  safe 
side,  report  "  all  branches." 

The  poor  school  report  is  a  sad  affair.  But  thirty  one  counties,  out  of  sev- 
enty-six have  poor  schools  in  operation,  with  1.624  male  and  1,471  female 
scholars,  making,  with  120  not  distinguished  by  sex,  a  total  of  3,215.  In  one 
county  no  one  can  be  found  who  will  act  as  superintendent  of  poor  schools  ;  in 
another  the  old  and  new  trustees  are  litigating  over  the  fund  ;  in  divers  others 
the  teachers  are  not  paid. 

The  Senate  committee  on  public  education  and  free  schools  reports  "that 
the  present  free  school  system  of  Georgia  is  miserably  defective,  your  commit- 
tee have  had  but  too  mortifying  testimony  in  the  returns  of  the  several  coun- 
ties submitted  to  their  inspection  during  the  present  session;  the  fund  set 
apart  for  free  schools,  though  entirely  inadequate  to  effect  the  important  ^/^.y/V/- 
eratwn  of  furnishing  the  means  for  a  plain  axmX  substantial  education  to  every 
family  in  the  State  under  a  more  regular  and  economical  administration,  has, 


3IO  History  of  Augusta. 


it  is  feared,  been  dissipated  with  comparatively  little  benefit."  They  recom- 
mend the  employment  of  a  competent  person  to  digest  and  arrange  a  system 
of  free  schools  for  consideration  of  the  next  General  Assembly. 

At  the  next  session  in  1830  Governor  Gilmer  informs  the  Legislature  in 
his  message  that  the  academy  system  is  not  advancing  the  cause  of  education, 
and  says  that  "  the  appropriations  for  academical  purposes  which  have  been 
made  for  some  years  past,  do  not  seem  to  have  effected  any  public  benefit  at 
all  equal  to  the  expenditure."  The  poor  schools  seem  to  have  improved  con- 
siderably, being  in  operation  in  fifty-eight  counties,  with  an  attendance  of  about 
five  thousand.  The  poor  school  fund  for  this  year  was  $29,998. 15  ;  the  aca- 
demical fund  $19,296.01. 

In  1836  the  Legislature  appropriated  one-third  of  the  surplus  revenue  of  the 
United  States,  then  about  to  be  distributed  among  the  States,  as  a  permanent 
free  school  and  educational  fund,  and  authorized  the  appointment  of  a  joint 
committee  of  five  "to  digest  a  plan  of  common  school  education,  best  adapted 
to  the  genius,  habits  of  life  and  of  thought  of  the  people  of  Georgia,"  with 
power  to  appoint  a  sub-committee  of  two,  "  to  visit  different  parts  of  the  United 
States,  and  particularly  the  New  England  States,  and  institute  a  correspond- 
ence with  such  persons  as  they  may  think  proper,  either  in  the  United  States 
or  Europe,  or  both,  for  the  purpose  of  getting  information  of  the  different  sys- 
tems of  common  school  education." 

At  the  next  session,  in  1837,  Governor  Schley  in  his  message  to  the  Legis- 
lature, said:  "The  great  cause  of  education  deserves  your  fostering  care. 
About  $40,000  are  now  annually  distributed  to  the  counties,  and  constitute 
what  are  denominated  'the  Academical  and  Poor  School  Funds.'  This  system 
is  believed  to  be  radically  defective.  There  should  be  no  such  designation  as 
'academic'  and  'poor  school,'  because  they  are  invidious  and  insulting.  Pov- 
erty, though  a  great  inconvenience,  is  no  criir.e,  and  it  is  highly  improper,  while 
you  offer  to  aid  the  cause  of  education,  to  say  to  a  portion  of  the  people  '  you 
are  poor.'  Thousands  of  freemen  who  though  indigent,  are  honest,  patriotic, 
and  valuable  citizens,  will  refuse  your  bounty,  and  despise  the  hand  which  offers 
it,  because  it  is  accompanied  with  insult.  These  funds  should  be  consolidated 
under  the  title  of  '  Educational  Fund,'  and  applied  to  the  use  of  primary  schools, 
teaching  only  the  rudiments  of  English  education." 

At  the  same  session  the  joint  committee  to  prepare  a  system  of  common 
schools  made  its  report.  This  was  ordered  to  be  printed  with  the  acts  of  that 
year,  which  was  not  done,  but  from  "an  act  to  establish  a  general  system  of 
education  by  common  schools,"  approved  December  26,  1837,  their  conclu- 
sions seem  to  have  been  reduced  to  law.  This  statute  provides  that  the  aca- 
demic and  poor  school  funds  should  be  consolidated  as  a  general  fund  for  com- 
mon schools  ;  that  there  should  annually  be  elected  a  board  of  five  commis- 


Educational.  31  i 


sioners  in  each  county,  who  should  lay  the  county  off  into  school  districts,  to 
correspond  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  militia  districts,  and  have  general  charge 
of  the  matter  of  education  therein ;  that  they  should  make  annual  report  to  the 
governor  of  the  school  population  in  the  county;  and  should  receive  and  dis- 
burse the  county's  quota  of  the  educational  fund.  The  State  fund  was  to  be 
distributed  according  to  the  number  of  free  white  persons  between  the  ages  of 
five  and  fifteen  in  each  county ;  and  no  part  of  said  fund  was  to  be  used  for  any 
other  purpose  than  in  payment  of  teachers,  and  purchase  of  books  and  station- 
ery for  children  whose  parents  were  unable  to  provide  the  same.  The  system 
was  to  be  primarily  for  the  benefit  of  scholars  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fif- 
teen, but  no  person  between  fifteen  and  twenty-one  was  to  be  debarred. 

In  1839  there  were  signs  of  a  disposition  to  return  to  the  system  in  vogue 
prior  to  this  act.  In  that  year  John  McPherson  Berrien,  William  W.  Holt,  and 
A.  H.  Chappell,  commissioners,  appointed  under  authority  of  a  Legislative  res- 
olution to  inquire  into  the  whole  subject  of  the  State  finances,  with  a  view  to 
sustaining  the  "  great  interests  of  public  education  and  internal  improvement," 
made  an  exhaustive  and  valuable  report.  Of  the  academies  they  say,  "the 
county  academies  have  been  heretofore  liberally  endowed,  and,  may,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  undersigned  be  safely  left  hereafter  to  the  management  of  their 
own  trustees,  without  further  appropriation  than  a  distribution  of  the  present 
academic  fund,  in  such  proportions  as  may  be  just.  For  this  intermediary  class 
of  schools  this  provision  is  deemed  adequate,  as  experience  has  proved  that 
they  are  capable  of  self  support,  and  that  those  of  a  private  foundation  are  or- 
dinarily most  successful." 

They  next  consider  the  common  or  poor  schools,  which  they  say  they  con- 
sider more  important  than  either  the  university  or  the  academies.  They 
say  that  "hitherto  the  State  has  not  only  been  without  any  system  of  common 
schools,  but  has  actually  neglected  to  provide  adequate  means  for  their  sup- 
port, should  a  system  be  devised  suitable  to  our  condition  It  is  true  this  mat- 
ter has  not  been  entirely  neglected,  but  the  inadequacy  of  the  provision  has  in 
effect  rendered  all  our  efforts  in  this  way  inefficient."  They  state  that  the  treas- 
ury reports  show  that  for  the  five  preceding  years,  the  annual  average  poor 
school  fund  has  been  but  $17,418;  and  the  academical  fund  $19,352,  and  that 
the  total  ^'^G.y'jo  is  not  more  than  half  enough  for  poor  schools  alone.  They 
find  that  there  were  then  about  75,000  male  citizens  of  Georgia  over  twenty- 
one  and  under  sixty  years  of  age,  and  recommend  that  a  poll  tax  of  $1  be  im- 
posed, to  be  devoted  exclusively  to  poor  schools.  They  further  report  that  they 
called  upon  the  treasurer  for  information  as  to  the  disbursements  since  181 5,  or 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  past,  for  academies  and  common  schools,  and  give 
the  answer  received,  which  we  here  tabulate.  The  records  appear  not  to  ex- 
tend back  of  1823. 


312 


History  of  Augusta. 


Academies. 

Poor  Schools.     Total. 

1823   

$   3,306  80 
18.502  01 
I  1 ,004  1 2 
11,502  75 
9,205  28 
4,095  30 
14,302  44 
19,296  01 
20,156  54 
19,177  68 
21,812  95 
18,710  27 
16,657  20 
18,308  60 
22,823  88 
20,260  21 

$          '  $  3,306  80 

1824 

1825 

1826 

I    18,502  01 

12,409  63   23,413  75 
17,706  30   29,209  05 

1827  

8,493  48   17.698  76 

1828 

7,724  74   1 1,820  04 

1829 

7,425  58   21.728  02 

1830 

1831 

1832 

1833 

29,998  15 
24,570  46 
19,298  44 
22,380  57 
18,401  18 

49,294  16 
44.727  00 
38,476  12 
44,193  52 

1834  

•^7.111  4.1; 

1835  

16,560  49    ^^.217  6q 

1836 

18^7 

15,892  01 

17,711  32 

18,525  44 

34,200  61 
40,535  20 

1838... 

38,785  65 

1249,122  04 

$237,097  79 

$486,219  83 

In  the  next  year,  1840,  tlie  system  of  common  schools  as  established  by 
act  of  1837,  was  abolished,  the  poor  school  system  was  revived,  and  the  com- 
mon school  fund  was  made  a  poor  school  fund.  Five  commissioners  were  di- 
rected to  be  appointed  in  each  county  by  the  justices  of  the  Inferior  Court  to 
disburse  the  fund  for  the  benefit  of  children  "  between  the  ages  of  six  and  fifteen 
years,  whose  indigence,  in  tiie  opinion  of  tlie  justices,  entitle  them  to  a  partici- 
pation in  the  poor  school  fund."  Such  children  might  be  taught  in  the  acade- 
mies, in  which  event  the  teacher  was  entitled  to  receive  poor  school  rates  for 
their  tuition.  The  educational  system  then  stood  as  before,  to  wit:  academies 
for  pay,  and  poor  schools  for  indigent,  pupils. 

In  1842  Governor  McDonald  informed  the  Legislature  that  "  the  efforts 
heretofore  made  to  confer  the  benefits  of  education  upon  all  through  the  instru- 
mentality of  common  and  poor  schools,  have  not  been  attended  with  the  suc- 
cess that  was  hoped  for,"  adding  that  "so  small  is  the  sum  now  subject  to  dis- 
tribution, that  if  it  were  equally  divided  among  the  children  entitled  to  it  under 
the  law,  and  it  should  be  distributed  in  no  other  manner,  it  would  not  be  suffi- 
cient to  purchase  the  books  and  stationery  necessary  for  their  use.  At  the 
last  apportionment,  the  sum  of  seventy  cents  only  was  assigned  to  each  child, 
and  there  must  be  even  a  further  reduction  at  the  next."  It  was  the  opinion 
of  his  excellency  that  the  State  should  support  and  educate,  at  some  central 
point,  a  select  number  of  poor  pupils  who  should  bind  themselves  in  return  to 
teach  gratuitously  for  a  certain  period  in  the  counties  whence  they  came,  those 
counties  to  board  and  clothe  them  while  so  doing,  a  plan  which  went  no  fur- 
ther than  the  executive  recommendation. 

In  1843  was  passed  "an  act  to  provide  for  the  education  of  the  poor," 
which  empowered  the  justices  of  the  Inferior  Court  to  levy  a  tax  for  that  pur- 
pose when  recommended  by  the  grand  jury.  In  addition  to  this  resource  1733 
shares  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  890  shares  of 


Educational.  313 


Bank  of  Augusta  stock,  and  all  the  net  assets  of  the  Central  Bank  were  set 
aside  as  a  permanent  educational  fund,  the  interest  whereof  was  to  go  to  the 
support  of  poor  schools.  The  justices  of  the  Inferior  Court  were  to  have  the 
general  matter  of  poor  schools  in  charge,  and  to  provide  for  poor  children  be- 
tween the  ages  of  eight  and  sixteen  whose  parents  were  unable  to  educate 
them.  By  a  subsequent  act  the  school  age  was  changed  to  from  six  to  six- 
teen. 

For  a  quarter  of  a  century  from  this  date  the  old  system  of  academies  and 
poor  schools  remained  substantially  as  the  acts  of  1840  and  1843  left  it,  but 
some  vigorous  efforts  were  made  to  improve  the  poor  school  fund. 

By  act  of  1852  the  dividends  on  1833  shares  of  State  Bank  stock,  890 
shares  of  Bank  of  Augusta  stock,  and  186  shares  of  Georgia  Railroad  and 
Banking  Company  stock,  all  belonging  to  the  State,  were  set  apart  "  as  a  per- 
manent fund  for  the  education  of  the  poor."  This  fund  was  to  be  increased 
by  as  many  additional  shares  of  the  stock  of  either  of  said  banks  as  could  be 
purchased  with  the  unexpended  appropriation  of  $30,000  for  the  State  conven- 
tion of  1850,  and  the  net  assets  of  the  Central  Bank.  This  fund  was  to  be  ap- 
portioned among  such  counties  as  should  by  the  first  of  December  in  each  year 
certify  to  the  State  Treasury  the  number  of  children  between  the  ages  of  eight 
and  sixteen  years  therein,  as  were  unable  "from  the  poverty  of  themselves  or 
parents,  to  procure  a  plain  English  education  without  public  assistance." 

In  1858  this  fund  was  supplemented  by  the  sum  of  $100,000  annually  from 
the  revenue  of  the  Western  and  Atlantic,  or  State,  railroad,  and  any  annual 
unexpended  balance  in  the  treasury  after  defraying  all  expenses  of  the  State 
government.  It  was  also  provided  that  as  fast  as  the  then  existing  State  debt 
should  be  paid  off  six  per  cent,  educational  bonds  should  be  issued,  the  interest 
to  go  to  same  fund.  At  that  time  tlie  State  debt  was  $2,627,000,  so  that  an 
ultimate  addition  of  $157,620  was  contemplated  The  same  act  changed  the 
school  age  to  from  eight  to  eighteen. 

In  1859  the  school  age  was  changed  to  from  six  to  eighteen,  and  it  was  pro- 
vided that  the  elementary  branches  should  alone  be  taught,  the  same  being  de- 
fined as  spelling,  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  though  English  grammar  and 
geography  might  be  pursued  if  the  cost  was  not  thereby  increased. 

The  necessity  of  increased  appropriations  had  become  so  manifest  as  to 
force  the  above  stated  action.  The  number  of  scholars  was  rapidly  increasing, 
and  the  fund  became  ridiculously  small.  In  1848  there  were  23,106  poor  chil- 
dren, and  the  fund  was  $19,278.15.  In  1853  there  were  38,000  children,  and 
but  $23,000  wherewith  to  educate  them,  or  sixty  cents  apiece.  The  effect  of 
the  measures  of  1852  and  1858  we  will  trace  hereafter;  suffice  it  here  to  say 
that  the  number  of  poor  schools  and  poor  scholars  increased. 

The  academies  also  seemed  to  prosper.  We  have  seen  that  in  1828  there 
were  some  eighty  in  operation,  and  each  year  th  ^  general  assembly  incorpo- 


314  History  of  Augusta. 


rated  new  ones.  Some  ninety- seven  had  been  organized  u[)  to  1832,  and  from 
that  time  the  number  rapidly  increased.  From  1832  to  1850  one  hundred 
and  seventy-two  were  incorporated,  and  from  1 850  to  i860  forty-nine  more. 
The  Hst  of  their  names  is  curious  reading,  bibhcal,  classical,  patriotic,  Indian, 
local,  and  nondescript  cognomens  abounding.  Among  them  we  may  mention 
Leonicera,  Byron,  Jackson,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Washington,  Wellington,  La- 
Fayette,  Cicero,  Ebenezer,  Sugar  Maple,  Pond  Town,  Hickory  Flat,  Liberty 
Plains.  Vineland,  Warrior,  Bethel,  Ikickeye,  Mount  Carmel,  Mount  Bethel, 
Mount  Enon,  Mount  Horeb,  Mount  Gilead.  Mount  Zion,  Hebron,  Goshen, 
Zebulon,  Buena  Vista,  Keg  Creek,  Rum  Creek,  Traveler's  Rest,  Malmaison, 
Villanovv,  Toweliga,  Etowah,  Attapulgas,  Phidelta,  Halloca,  Rehoboth,  Reh- 
obothville.  Pond  Town,  Sardis,  Snake  Creek,  liudisco,  and  Philomathia  Aca- 
demies. One  is  called  Columbia,  and  not  to  be  outdone,  another  is  incorpo- 
rated as  Columbiana  Academy;  another  is  originally  incorporated  as  the  Farm- 
er's Academy,  and  then,  with  an  affectation  of  elegance,  procures  the  General 
Assembly  to  re-baptise  it  as  the  Planter's  Academy.  Still  another  is  the  Con- 
stitutional Hall  Academy,  and  one  is  Dried  Indian  Mountain  Academy  ! 

The  fact  is,  that  with  the  exception  of  the  well  endowed  Richmond  Acad- 
emy in  Augusta,  and  possibly  some  few  others,  these  academies  were  little 
more  than  "  the  old  field  school,"  so  well  remembered  by  the  elder  generation. 
Probably  a  fair  account  of  them  as  they  existed  for  many  years  in  most  parts 
of  the  State,  may  be  found  in  Judge  Longstreet's  sketch,  "  The  Turn  Out,"  in 
Georgia  Scenes.  The  story  turns  upon  a  school-boy  custom  of  taking  posses- 
sion of  the  school- house,  and  barring  or  turning  the  teacher  out  until  he  agreed 
to  give  them  a  holiday.  It  was  Easter,  and  the  urchins,  having  boiled  and 
colored  in  all  tlie  hues  of  the  rainbow  an  immense  number  of  eggs,  were  anx- 
ious for  a  day  or  so  in  which  to  "  peck,"  them,  that  is,  knock  point  against 
point,  the  boy  whose  egg  broke  in  the  encounter  forfeiting  the  same  to  his  an- 
tagonist. The  teacher  was  generally  quite  willing  to  grant  the  holiday,  but, 
for  form's  sake,  and  not  to  displease  his  patrons,  would  make  a  stout  prelimin- 
ary resistance.  On  this  occasion,  the  boys  had  strongly  entrenched  them- 
selves, and  our  author  thus  describes  the  academy  they  had  converted  into  a 
citadel  :  "  It  was  a  simple  log-pen,  about  twenty  feet  square,  with  a  doorway 
cut  out  of  the  logs,  to  which  was  fitted  a  rude  door,  made  of  clapboards,  and 
swung  on  wooden  hinges.  The  roof  was  covered  with  clapboards,  also,  and  re- 
tained in  their  places  by  heavy  logs  placed  on  them.  The  chimney  was  built 
of  logs  diminishing  in  size  from  the  ground  to  the  top,  and  overspread  inside 
and  out  with  red  clay  mortar."  Over  the  door  of  this  seat  of  learning  was  a 
board  bearing  the  word  "  academy."  Our  author  then  depicts  the  arrival  of 
the  enemy  before  the  fortress.  Though  previously  apprised  of  what  was  going 
on,  the  pedagogue  gave  signs  of  great  astonishment  and  indignation,  when  he 
advanced  to  the  door,  and  was  assailed  by  a  whole  platoon  of  sticks  from  the 


Educational.  3 1 5 


cracks.      He  sternly  demanded  admittance.      "  Give  us  holyday,"  said  twenty 
little  urchins  within,  "and  we'll  let  you  in." 

"  Open  the  door  of  the  Academy,''  (he  would  allow  no  one  to  call  it  a  school- 
house.)  "  Open  the  door  of  the  academy  this  instant,"  said  he,  "  or  I'll  break 
it  down." 

"Break  it  down,"  said  Pete  Jones  and  Bill  Smith,  the  big  boys  of  the  school, 
"and  we'll  break  you  down." 

A  terrific  encounter  ensues,  but  the  pedagogue  is  repulsed.  Then  he  seeks 
to  work  on  the  fears  of  the  garrison  by  hunting  up  their  stores  of  eggs,  hid- 
den in  stumps  and  other  recesses  about,  but  the  boys  are  proof  against  the 
menace.  He  then  batters  down  the  door  ;  the  boys  swarm  all  over  him,  and 
peace  is  finally  made  by  conceding  the  holyday. 

In  i860  the  laws  of  Georgia  were  ordered  to  be  digested  into  a  code.  The 
commissioners  appointed  to  perform  this  work  took  upon  themselves  a  consid- 
erable power  of  legislation,  justifying  the  same  upon  their  interpretation  of  the 
authority  confided  in  them  as  meaning  that  they  were  "  not  only  to  condense 
and  arrange  the  verbose  and  somewhat  chaotic  mass  of  the  statutes  of  Georgia, 
but  also  to  interweave  therewith  those  great  leading  principles  of  jurisprudence 
necessary  to  fill  out  and  make  perfect  the  body  of  our  laws,  of  which  the  stat- 
utes constitute  but  disjointed  parts."  Acting  under  this  very  liberal  construc- 
tion, they  did  considerable  "interweaving"  in  the  matter  of  education,  as  on 
other  topics  committed  to  their  care,  and,  in  fact  presented  a  general  educa- 
tional code,  which,  while  retaining  the  main  features  of  the  old  system,  con- 
tained a  number  of  new  principles.  The  Legislature  subsequently  adopting 
the  code  as  a  whole,  what  is  therein  written  may  be  taken  as  embodying  the 
educational  system  of  the  State  at  the  time  of  such  adoption,  and  until  some 
ten  years  later  a  new  one  was  devised.  The  substance  of  the  codified  system 
is  as  follows  : 

The  university  was  shorn  of  its  supervisory  power  over  the  academies  and 
poor  schools,  and  the  academies  and  poor  schools  were  kept  distinct  as  they 
had  been  before.  Tlie  justices  of  the  Inferior  Courts  in  the  several  counties 
were  vested  with  power,  upon  the  application  in  writing,  of  any  body  of  citi- 
zens not  less  than  three  nor  more  than  thirteen,  to  incorporate  them  as  an 
academy,  institute,  or  school,  the  powers  granted  to  be  distinctly  specified, 
recorded  on  the  minutes  of  the  court,  and  published  three  times  in  some  pub- 
lic gazette.  The  justices  were  also  given  authority  to  appoint  trustees  for  any 
county  academy,  whether  incorporated  or  not,  and  to  any  number  by  them 
deemed  expedient,  and  to  fill  vacancies  therein.  The  authority  of  the  trustees, 
unless  specially  restricted  by  statute,  was  to  elect  teachers,  fix  their  salaries 
and  terms  of  office,  prescribe  the  course  of  studies,  manage  the  finances,  and 
adopt  such  rules  and  regulations  for  the  government  of  their  respective  insti- 
tutions, as  they  might  see  fit. 


3i6  History  of  Augusta. 


The  poor  schools,  or  common  schools,  as  they  were  now  called,  were  to  be 
supported  out  of  the  educational  fund  of  the  State,  which  fund  was  made  up  as 
follows  :  First,  the  dividends  upon  the  stock  owned  by  the  State  in  the  Bank 
of  the  State  of  Georgia,  the  Bank  of  Augusta,  and  tlie  Georgia  Railroad  and 
Banking  Company.  At  this  time  the  State  owned  1833  shares  of  the  stock  of 
the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  890  shares  of  Bank  of  Augusta  stock;  and  186 
shares  of  Georgia  Railroad  stock  ;  second,  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  an- 
nually from  the  net  earnings  of  the  Western  and  Atlantic,  or  State,  Railroad, 
in  addition  to  this,  as  fast  as  any  of  the  then  existing  State  debt  was  paid  out 
of  the  earnings  of  that  road,  the  treasurer  was  to  issue  six  per  cent,  education 
bonds  to  that  amount,  the  interest  thereof  to  go  to  the  educational  fund  ; 
third,  any  undrawn  balances  of  the  $100,000;  fourth,  any  balance  in  treasury 
after  defraying  all  expenses  of  the  State  government;  and  fifth,  any  donations 
by  will,  deed,  or  otherwise,  for  educational  purposes. 

This  fund  was  pro- rated  among  the  several  counties  as  follows  :  by  the  third 
Monday  in  November  of  each  year,  the  ordinary  was  to  report  to  the  gover- 
nor "the  whole  number  of  children  in  his  county,  as  ascertained  from  the  tax 
receiver's  digest,  his  own  knowledge,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  grand  jury,"  it 
being  provided  that  the  ordinary  should  submit  the  list  as  made  up  by  him 
from  his  own  knowledge  and  the  tax  books  to  the  grand  jury,  to  be  corrected 
by  them,  if  necessary.  On  receiving  these  reports,  the  governor  was  to  pro- 
rate the  fund  among  the  counties  reporting,  any  county  not  reporting  at  the 
appointed  time  to  lose  its  share  in  the  fund,  and  draw  his  warrant  in  favor  of 
the  treasurer  of  the  county  school  board.  The  educational  fund  of  the  county 
was  thus  made  up  : 

1.  The  county's  quota  of  the  State  educational  fund. 

2.  Proceeds  of  county  tax  levied  for  educational  purposes. 

3.  Proceeds  of  sales  of  escheated  property. 

4.  Money  arising  from  fines  and  forfeiture,  after  deducting  charges  thereon, 
and  amounts  recovered  on  qui  tarn  actions,  where  half  or  all  was  to  go  to  the 
State  or  county. 

The  justices  of  the  Inferior  Court  had  authority  to  levy  such  tax  for  educa- 
tional purposes,  as  the  grand  jury  of  the  county  might  recommend.  Should 
there  be  no  such  recommendation,  the  justices  were  empowered  to  levy  a  tax 
of  not  exceeding  twenty-five  per  cent,  on  the  rate  of  the  State  tax. 

The  county  educational  board  consisted  of  the  justices  of  the  Inferior  Court, 
the  ordinary,  and  one  citizen  selected  by  the  judge  of  the  Superior  Court;  and 
had  power  "to  disburse  the  school  fund  in  their  respective  counties  in  the  man- 
ner that,  in  their  judgment,  will  best  promote  the  cause  of  general  education 
under  the  law";  to  examine  all  teachers  who  participate  in  the  school  funds 
upon  the  elementary  branches,  and  also  upon  English  grammar  and  geogra- 
phy, if  the  teacher  applying  shall  desire,  and  to  give  said  teacher  the  proper 


Educational.  317 


certificates  of  their  qualification;  to  publish  annually  the  school  system  adopted, 
rates  of  tuition,  receipts  and  expenditures,  itemized  ;  and  to  meet  at  least  once 
a  month. 

It  was  not  compulsory  upon  the  board  to  establish  common  schools,  but  it 
was  to  do  so  when  the  educational  fund  of  the  county  and  the  state  of  the  pop- 
ulation warranted  the  same  in  their  judgement. 

All  children  between  the  ages  of  six  and  eighteen  were  entitled  to  attend 
the  common  schools,  '"  but  children  of  parents  who  are  unable  to  educate  them, 
children  discarded  by  their  parents,  and  indigent  orphan  children,  must  first  be 
provided  for." 

These  special  beneficiaries  were  to  be  ascertained  as  follows  :  Each  parent 
was,  in  making  his  tax  returns,  to  state,  under  oath,  the  number  of  his  chil- 
dren, or  children  under  his  charge,  between  the  ages  of  six  and  eighteen  ;  the 
ordinary  was  to  select  from  the  tax  books  the  names  of  those  who,  from  pov- 
erty of  parent,  or  otherwise,  had  not  the  means  of  education,  adding  any  un- 
returned  cases  to  his  knowledge  ;  and  the  grand  jury  was  to  add  any  such 
cases  in  their  knowledge.  Moreover,  any  citizen  might  report  to  the  board  of 
education  the  names  of  any  poor  children  omitted  from  the  list. 

The  course  of  instruction  was  to  be  only  the  elementary  branches,  the  law 
stating  that  "by  the  term  elementary  branches  is  meant  spelling,  reading,  writ- 
ing, and  arithmetic,"  but  in  no  event  was  the  expense  to  exceed  sixteen  dol- 
lars per  scholar  per  annum.  By  special  permission  scholars  might  study  Eng- 
lish grammar  and  geography,  or  any  other  study,  always  provided  the  above 
cost  was  not  exceeded. 

After  the  act  of  1858,  assisting  that  of  1852,  had  provided  a  fairly  compe- 
tent fund  for  the  poor  schools,  the  returns  of  the  number  of  children  of  school 
age  show  a  marked  increase.  Probably  the  county  authorities  had  been  for 
years  derelict  in  this  respect  because  deeming  the  report  a  mere  idle  form. 
The  returns  for  1854  showed  42,467  poor  children,  and  the  fund  that  year  was 
but  $23,388,  or  not  quite  53  cents  per  htad.  In  1858  the  fund  was  $29,569, 
and  the  largest  amount  going  to  any  one  county  was  $761  ;  two  receiving  only 
$42.  In  1859  the  educational  fund  paid  out  was  $150,163;  the  number  of 
children  between  eight  and  eighteen,  as  ascertained  by  a  State  census  that  year 
taken,  was  129,440.  It  must  be  understood,  however,  that  this  is  the  sum  total 
of  all  the  children,  not  the  indigent  only.  For  i860  the  number  of  children 
between  six  and  eighteen  years  of  age  was  159,341,  and  the  eilucational  fund 
disbursed  to  the  counties  was  $150,000. 

The  outbreak  of  the  war  prevented  this  system  from  having  a  fair  trial, 
but  there  is  reason  to  think  that,  between  the  academies  and  the  poor  schools, 
education  was  made  pretty  general.  It  will  be  seen,  however,  from  the  review 
which  has  been  given,  that,  up  to  1858,  the  county  academies  were  the  main 
educational  resource,  and  that  children  whose  parents  were  unable  to  send  them 


3i8  History  of  Augusta. 


to  the  academy  were  dependent  for  instruction  on  the  poor  schools.  How 
meaner  that  resource  was  has  been  shown.  Riclimond  county  shared  in  the 
general  famine.  Its  report  for  1828  was  as  follows  :  "Richmond  county,  num- 
ber of  scholars,  male  22,  female  17,  total  39.  No  report  of  funds  received  or 
expended  ;  several  school  bills  presented,  but  for  want  of  funds  could  not  be 
liquidated."  For  1830  the  report  was:  "Number  of  children  returned  between 
the  ages  of  three  and  twenty  is  177,  males  94,  females  83,  of  whom  104  are 
attending  school  ;  amount  received  $636.75,  disbursed  $283.78."  What  sort 
of  school  must  have  been  kept  for  104  children  on  $283.78? 

For  1 83  I  the  poor  schools  o(  Richmond  received  $343  30  from  the  State. 
In  1 83  I  there  were  135  poor  scholars,  and  the  fund  was  $451.  In  this  year 
the  trustee,  George  A.  B.  Walker,  recommended  the  abolition  of  the  system  in 
that  count}'.  From  the  table  heretofore  given  it  will  be  seen  that,  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  following  this  date,  the  total  poor  school  fund  was  about  a  con- 
stant quantity,  from  which  we  may  infer  that  th(;re  was  no  improvement  in 
Richmond. 

This  state  of  affairs  animated  some  notable  benefactions  to  the  cause  of  free 
education  by  citizens  of  Augusta  in  bygone  years.  Prominent  among  them 
is  the  bequest  of  John  W.  Houghton,  which  still  perpetuates  his  memor}'  in  the 
Houghton  Institute,  a  flourishing  seminary.  Mr.  Houghton  was  a  native  of 
Massachusetts,  who  settled  in  Augusta  some  si\t\'  odd  years  ago.  Shortly 
after  his  arrival  he  opened  a  store  on  Lower  Broad  street,  and  engaged  in  the 
shoe  and  leather  trade.  After  years  of  close  economy  and  strict  attention  to 
business  he  accumulated  a  fortune,  and  at  his  death  left  a  sufficient  amount 
for  the  erection  of  a  brick  building  and  the  endowment  of  a  school  that  should 
bear  his  name  and  "  be  free  to  all  the  children  of  Augusta." 

By  a  provision  in  his  will  the  city  council  was  made  the  custodian  of  this 
fund.  In  1851  a  large  lot  on  Greene  street,  between  Lincoln  and  Elbert,  was 
selected  as  the  site  upon  which  to  erect  the  new  school-house,  and  during  the 
following  year  a  massive  structure,  well  ventilated  and  comfortably  furnished, 
was  appropriately  dedicated.  Two  teachers  were  elected  by  the  city  council — 
one  for  the  male  department,  the  other  for  the  fen)ale — and  the  school  opened 
under  favorable  auspices.  For  many  years  the  number  of  pupils  upon  its  rolls 
was  rather  limited,  and  the  grade  scarcely  any  liigher  than  that  of  an  interme- 
diate school  of  the  present  day.  After  the  war  a  new  impetus  was  given  under 
the  leadership  of  Hon.  M.  V.  Calvin,  then  principal  of  the  institute,  which  caused 
many  to  patronize  the  school. 

In  October,  1872,  Mr.  J.  Cuthbert  Shecut,  a  graduate  of  South  Carolina 
University,  was  elected  principal  of  the  institute.  He  immediately  reorgan- 
ized the  school,  and  adopted  the  graded  system  of  classes  and  departments, 
with  results  most  beneficial  to  the  pupils  and  most  satisfactory  to  the  com- 
munity. This  system,  with  many  improvements,  stood  the  test  of  years,  and 
is  still  in  successful  operation  at  the  institute. 


\yioM:  V.  QxLu. 


Educational.  319 


The  institute  is  divided  into  two  schools,  male  and  female,  under  the  super- 
vision of  one  head — the  principal.  Each  school  consists  of  four  departments, 
viz.:  Primary,  intermediate,  grammar  and  iiigh  school.  In  each  of  the  primary- 
departments  there  are  three  grades  or  divisions — the  higher  departments  being 
divided  into  two  grades.  Each  grade  is  again  subdivided  into  classes,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  rank  of  the  department,  and  over  the  entire  department  a 
competent  teacher  presides. 

In  the  primary  and  intermediate  departments,  the  elementary  branches  are 
taught  in  regular  graduation.  In  the  grammar  departments  the  pupil  is  taught 
the  higher  branches  in  the  English  language,  and  begins  the  study  of  Latin. 
In  this  grade  the  attention  of  the  learner  is  directed  to  an  analysis  of  the  ob- 
jects of  his  study.  The  high  school  is  the  scientific  grade.  In  this  depart- 
ment the  student  completes  the  following  course  of  study  :  Rhetoric,  English 
synonyms,  Latin,  French,  algebra,  geometry,  physical  geography,  physics, 
astronomy,  anatomy  and  physiology,  and  chemistry.  The  topics  which  the 
different  studies  present  are  illustrated  by  means  of  apparatus. 

At  the  close  of  each  scholastic  year  examinations,  oral  and  written,  are 
held  in  the  institute  hall.  Cards  of  promotion  are  given  to  all  pupils  who  suc- 
cessfully pass  their  examination,  and  diplomas  of  graduation  are  presented  to 
the  successful  competitors  of  the  high  school  department. 

Thousands  of  young  men  and  young  women  have  received  their  education 
at  the  old  Houghton.  So  popular  has  it  become  that  the  committee  in  charge 
have  already  decided  to  enlarge  the  building.  From  an  humble  origin  the 
Houghton  has  become  "a  bright  and  shining  light,"  and  an  inestimable  bless- 
ing to  the  community. 

The  institute  is  under  the  charge  and  control  of  the  city  council.  The  teach- 
ers are  one  male  principal  and  such  number  of  male  and  female  assistants  as 
council  may  determine,  all  elected  annually,  and  receiving  salaries  fixed  by 
council. 

The  Augusta  Free  School  is  a  venerable  institution  founded  before  182 1, 
and  still  in  useful  operation.  In  that  year  Rev.  William  T.  Brantley,  Rev.  Will- 
iam Moderwell,  Augustus  Moore,  William  J.  Hobby,  Ralph  Ketchum,  Samuel 
Hale,  Hugh  Nesbit,  Joel  Catlin,  Abiel  Camfield,  Robert  Raymond  Reid,  Car- 
los Tracy,  John  Campbell,  and  Thomas  McDowell  were  incorporated  as  "The 
Augusta  Free  School  Society."  Mr.  Richard  Tubman  and  others  were  gene- 
rous benefactors  of  this  school.  Mr.  Thomas  Snowden,  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful instructors  ever  known  in  Augusta,  was  for  a  long  time  principal,  and  at 
one  time  Hon.  Martin  V.  Calvin  occupied  the  same  position.  The  school  is 
now  used  for  primary  instruction,  and  is  not  incorporated  with  the  general  pub- 
lic school  system. 

Of  the  Richmond  Academy  we  have  elsewhere  in  this  work  spoken  at 
length,  and  need  here  only  say  that  this  is  the  oldest  incorporated  institution 


320  History  of  Augusta. 


of  learning  in  Georgia — with  two  exceptions,  in  Virginia,  the  oldest  in  the 
Southern  States.  The  College  of  Charleston,  next  in  order  of  time,  is  less  ven- 
erable by  several  years.  Both  were  founded  under  the  same  impulse,  and  to 
meet  the  same  social  exigencies, — the  education  of  the  youth  of  the  State  at 
home. 

No  school  of  learning  has  been  more  intimately  connected  with  all  the  in- 
terests of  the  community  in  which  it  has  been  established.  By  its  charter  its 
trustees  were  ex-officio  commissioners  of  the  town  ;  and,  indeed,  the  general 
supervision  of  the  interests  of  the  town  continued  until  the  incorporation  of 
the  city  in  1798.  From  1780  to  1786,  while  Savannah  (the  seat  of  State  gov- 
ernment) was  occupied  by  the  enemy,  Augusta  was  declared  the  temporary 
capital  of  the  State,  and  there  being  no  public  buildings  in  Augusta  suitable 
for  the  purpose,  those  of  the  academy  were  used  as  the  State  House,  and  the 
State  and  Federal  Courts  were  held  there.  The  academy  then  occupied  its  old 
site  on  Bay  street,  just  below  the  residence  of  Josiah  Sibley,  esq.  There,  in 
1 79 1,  President  Washington  attended  the  commencement  exercises  of  the 
academy  and  the  ball  given  to  his  honor  by  the  citizens.  The  board  of  trustees 
have  most  faithfully  and  continuously  carried  forward  the  trust  confided  to  them 
— to  establish  "a  seminary  of  learnin<j;  for  the  education  of  our  youth." 

The  course  of  study  includes  besides  the  Latin.  Greek,  French,  German  and 
English  languages,  a  thorough  mathematical  course  from  arithmetic  to  calcu- 
lus, a  popular  course  of  natural  philosophy,  theoretical  and  analytical  chemis- 
try, astronomy,  geology,  and  also  a  course  of  physiology  and  hygiene.  The 
present  building  was  erected  in  1802  at  a  cost  of  some  $20,000.  The  school 
was  opened  in  1785,  a  Mr.  William  Rogers,  of  Maryland,  being  appointed 
"master  of  the  academj',"  with  a  salary  of  ^200,  and  the  use  of  the  master's 
house  and  garden.  He  had  the  assistance  of  one  tutor  and  was  required  to 
teach  the  Latin,  Greek,  and  English  languages  and  the  common  practical 
branches  of  mathematics.  The  highest  rate  of  tuition  was  ten  dollars  per 
quarter.  The  academy  remained  in  successful  operation  till  1864,  when  it  was 
converted  into  a  hospital  by  the  Confedcr.ite  government.  For  a  couple  of 
years  after  the  close  of  the  war  it  was  used  by  the  United  States  troops  as  a 
barracks,  but  on  January  i,  1868,  was  reopened  and  has  since  been  in  success- 
ful operation.  Its  business  affairs  appear  to  have  been  carefully  managed  dur- 
ing its  century  of  existence.  In  1845  '^  ^^'^^  reported  as  having  buildings, 
library  and  apparatus  worth  some  $30,000,  annuity  from  real  estate  of  $16,- 
000,  and  some  $12,000  in  bank  stock  At  present  its  income  is  sufficient  to 
defray  all  expenses  and  add  about  $1,000  annually  to  the  endowment  fund. 

In  181  5  the  trustees  of  the  Richmond  Academy  were  authorized  "to  estab 
lish   a  seminary  of  learning  on   the   Sand  Hills,  near  Augusta,  to  be   held  and 
considered  as  a  branch  of  the  Richmond  Academy,  and  to  be  governed  by  such 
rules  and  regulations  as  govern  the  said  institution."     The  Sand  Hills,  subse- 


Educational.  321 


quentlySummerville,  Academy,  was  founded  under  this  authority,  and  remained 
a  part  of  the  Richmond  Academy  until  1866,  when  it  became  a  separate  insti- 
tution. It  may  here  be  added,  as  a  fact  Httle  known,  that  in  1854  an  effort  was 
made  to  change  the  name  Richmond  Academy  to  that  of  the  Tubman  College. 
In  that  year  the  Legislature  passed  an  act  to  empower  the  trustees  of  the 
academy  of  Richmond  county  to  change  the  name  of  that  institution  to  the 
Tubman  College,  and  authorizing  them  under  that  name  to  have  all  necessary 
corporate  powers  and  to  use  the  property  then  held  or  owned  by  them  for  the 
academy.  The  then  trustees  of  the  academy  were  made  trustees  of  the  college, 
and  empowered  to  add  other  trustees,  so  that  the  total  number  should  not  ex- 
ceed fifteen,  and  all  laws  relative  to  the  academy  were  made  applicable  to  the 
college.     The  proposed  change  was  not  made. 

The  Constitution  of  Georgia  framed  in  1 861,  by  the  same  convention  which 
adopted  the  Ordinance  of  Secession,  contained  the  following  provision  :  "The 
General  Assembly  shall  have  power  to  appropriate  money  for  the  promotion 
of  learning  and  science,  and  to  provide  for  the  education  of  the  people." — Art. 
II.,  sec.  5,  part  4. 

The  constitution  adopted  in  1865  had  this  clause:  "The  General  Assembly 
shall  have  power  to  appropriate  money  for  the  promotion  of  learning  and  sci- 
ence, and  to  provide  for  the  education  of  the  people,  and  shall  provide  for  the 
early  resumption  of  the  regular  exercises  of  the  University  of  Georgia,  by  the 
adequate  endowment  of  the  same." — Art.  II.,  sec.  5,  part  3. 

Thanks  to  the  industry  of  Peterson  Thweatt,  comptroller-general  during  the 
war,  and  one  of  the  best  officers  ever  holding  this  position,  we  have  a  pretty 
clear  account  of  educational  matters  from  i860  to  1865,  and  here  tabulate  the 
statistics  of  the  comptroller's  reports  : 

Children  6  to  t8.  Education  Fund  Disbursed. 

i860 159.341  $150,000 

1862 156.848  147. 1  31 

1863 97.467  137.524 

1864 152,170  79.787 

In  1865  the  State  road  was  destroyed  ;  by  that  time,  also,  the  banks  were 
suspended,  and  the  only  source  of  educational  revenue  left  was  the  interest  on 
education  bonds,  $23,355.      Even  this  fund  existed  only  on  paper. 

Well  might  Governor  Jenkins,  on  the  restoration  of  peace,  inform  the  Leg- 
islature that  among  the  other  disasters  of  the  war  the  sources  of  supply  to  the 
educational  interests  had  been  dried  up.  Before  passing  to  i\\G post  bellinn  pe- 
riod we  may  here  give  some  synopsis  of  the  legislation  and  policy  of  the  State 
in  respect  to  the  education  of  the  colored  race.  The  inhibition  on  the  education 
of  the  slaves  or  free  negroes  dates  from  colonial  days.  In  the  year  177^*  the 
Provincial  Assembly  passed  an  act,  or  rather  a  code  of  laws,  relative  to  the  col- 
ored population  of  the  colony,  and  in  this  among  a  multitude  of  regulations, 
41 


322  History  of  Augusta. 


appears  the  following  clause:  "And  whereas  the  having  slaves  taught  to  write, 
or  suffering  them  to  be  employed  in  writing  may  be  attended  with  great  incon- 
venience: Be  it  therefore  enacted  that  all  and  every  person  and  persons  what- 
soever, who  shall  hereafter  teach,  or  cause  any  slave  or  slaves  to  be  taught  to 
write  or  read  writing,  or  shall  use  or  employ  any  slave  as  a  scribe  in  any  man- 
ner of  writing  whatsoever,  every  such  person  and  persons  shall  for  every  such 
offense,  forfeit  the  sum  of  twenty  pounds  sterling."  In  1829  it  was  enacted  that 
"If  any  slave,  negro  or  free  person  of  color,  or  any  white  person,  shall  teach 
any  other  slave,  negro,  or  free  person  of  color  to  read  or  write  either  written  or 
printed  characters,  the  said  free  person  of  color  or  slave  shall  be  punished  by 
fine  and  whipping,  or  fine  or  whipping,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court  ;  and  if  a 
white  person  so  offend,  he,  she,  or  they  shall  be  punished  with  a  fine  not 
exceeding  five  hundred  dollars,  and  imprisonment  in  the  common  jail  at  the 
discretion  of  the  court  before  whom  said  offender  is  tried." 

In  the  same  year,  1829,  it  was  also  enacted  that  "if  any  slave,  negro,  mesti- 
zo, or  free  person  of  color,  or  any  other  person,  shall  circulate,  bring,  or  cause 
to  be  circulated  or  brought  into  this  State,  or  aid  or  assist  in  any  manner,  or 
be  instrumental  in  aiding  or  assisting  in  the  circulation  or  bringing  into  this 
State,  or  in  any  manner  concerned  in  any  written  or  printed  pamphlet,  paper, 
or  circular,  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  to  insurrection,  conspiracy,  or  resistance 
among  the  slaves,  negroes  or  free  persons  of  color  of  this  State,  against  their 
owners  or  the  citizens  of  this  State,  the  said  person  or  persons  offending  against 
this  act  shall  be  punished  with  death." 

In  1833  the  penal  laws  of  the  State  were  codified,  and  in  this  code  the 
foregoing  provisions,  as  also  one  against  the  employment  of  colored  persons  in 
printing-offices,  were  incorporated  as  follows:  "If  any  persion  shall  teach  any 
slave,  negro,  or  free  person  of  color,  to  read  or  write  either  written  or  printed 
characters,  or  shall  procure,  suffer,  or  permit  a  slave,  negro,  or  person  of  color 
to  transact  business  for  him  in  writing,  such  person  so  offending  shall  be  guilty 
of  a  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction  shall  be  punished  by  fine  or  imprison- 
ment in  the  common  jail  of  the  county,  or  both,  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

"If  any  person,  owning  or  having  in  his  possession  and  under  his  control 
any  printing  press  or  types  in  this  State,  shall  use  or  employ,  or  permit  to  be 
used  or  employed,  any  slave  or  free  person  of  color  in  the  setting  up  of  types, 
or  other  labor  about  the  office,  requiring  in  said  slave  or  free  person  of  color  a 
knowledge  of  reading  or  writing,  such  person  so  offending  shall  be  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  exceeding  one 
hundred  dollars. 

"If  any  person  shall  bring,  introduce,  or  circulate,  or  cause  to  be  brought, 
introduced  or  circulated,  or  aid,  or  assist,  or  be  in  any  manner  instrumental  in 
bringing,  introducing,  or  circulating  within  this  State,  any  printed  or  written 
paper,  pamphlet,  or  circular   for  the  purpose  of  exciting  insurrection,  revolt, 


Educational.  323 


conspiracy,  or  resistance  on  the  part  of  the  slaves,  negroes,  or  free  persons  of 
color  in  this  State,  against  the  citizens  of  this  State,  or  any  part  of  them,  such 
person  so  offending  shall  be  guilty  of  a  high  misdemeanor,  and  on  conviction 
shall  be  punished  with  death." 

In  1 84 1  it  was  enacted  that  "if  any  shopkeeper,  storekeeper,  or  any  other 
person  or  persons  whatsoever,  shall  sell  to.  barter,  or  in  anywise  furnish,  or  al- 
low to  be  furnished  by  any  person  in  his,  her,  or  their  employment,  any  slave, 
negro,  or  free  person  of  color,  any  printed  or  written  book,  pamphlet,  or  other 
written  or  printed  publication,  writing  paper,  ink,  or  other  articles  of  station- 
ery for  his,  her,  or  their  use,  without  written  or  verbal  permission  from  the 
owner,  guardian,  or  other  person  authorized,  such  person  or  persons  so  offend- 
ing shall,  upon  conviction  thereof,  pay  a  fine  of  not  less  than  ten  dollars  nor 
more  than  fifty  dollars,  for  the  first  offense,  and  upon  conviction  of  a  second 
offense,  be  subject  to  a  fine  and  imprisonment  in  the  common  jail  of  the 
county  at  the  discretion  of  the  court,  not  to  exceed  sixty  days  imprisonment 
and  five  hundred  dollars  fine." 

In  1867,  while  not  as  yet  fully  rehabilitated,  the  State  was  reconstructed. 
The  constitution  adopted  by  the  convention  which  met  in  Atlanta  in  1868  pro- 
vided for  a  poll  tax  of  one  dollar  annually  on  each  poll  to  be  used  for  educa- 
tional purposes  exclusively.  It  further  provided  that  the  General  Assembly  at 
its  first  session  after  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  should  "provide  a  thor- 
ough system  of  general  education,  to  be  forever  free  to  all  children  of  the  State, 
the  expense  of  which  shall  be  provided  for  by  taxation  or  otherwise";  and  that 
"the  poll  tax  allowed  by  this  constitution,  any  educational  fund  now  belonging 
to  this  State — except  the  endowment  of  and  debt  due  to  the  State  University 
— or  that  may  hereafter  be  obtained  in  any  way,  a  special  tax  on  shows  and 
exhibitions,  and  on  the  sale  of  spirituous  and  malt  liquors — which  the  general 
assembly  is  hereby  authorized  to  assess — and  the  proceeds  from  the  commu- 
tation for  militia  service,  are  hereby  set  apart  and  devoted  to  the  support  of 
common  schools.  And  if  the  provision  herein  made  shall  at  any  time  prove 
insufficient,  the  general  assembly  shall  have  power  to  levy  such  general  tax 
upon  the  property  of  the  State  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  support  of  said 
school  system.  And  there  shall  be  established  as  soon  as  practicable,  one  or 
more  common  schools  in  each  school  district  in  this  State."  The  constitution 
also  provided  that  there  should  be  a  State  school  commissioner.  In  1870  an 
act  was  passed  to  establish  a  system  of  public  instruction,  the  main  features  of 
which  were  as  follows:  there  was  to  be  a  State  board  of  education,  consisting  of 
the  governor,  the  attorney-general,  the  secretary  of  State,  the  comptroller- 
general,  and  the  State  school  commissioner;  there  was  also  to  be  a  county 
board  of  education  made  up  of  one  member  from  each  militia  district,  and  one 
from  each  town  or  city  ward,  to  be  elected  by  the  people  and  hold  two  years. 
The  State  educational  fund  was  to  be  apportioned  to  the  counties  in  proportion 


324  History  of  Augusta. 


to  the  number  of  persons  between  six  and  twenty-one  years  of  age  therein; 
the  county  boards  were  to  institute  schools  and  apportion  and  disburse  the 
county's  quota  of  the  fund.  The  course  of  instruction  was  to  be  orthography, 
reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  Engh'sh  grammar,  and  geography.  Provision  was 
made  for  evening  and  ambulatory  schools. 

Up  to  1872  the  public  schools  in  Augusta  were  conducted  under  this  act; 
but  in  that  year  a  local  law  was  passed  which  regulates  public  instruction  in  the 
city  and  county,  one  school  board  having  entire  charge  thereof  The  details  of 
this  system  are  as  follows  : 

The  board  of  education  consists  of  thirty-seven  members — three  from  each 
of  the  five  city  wards,  five  country  districts,  two  incorporated  villages  and  the 
ordinary  of  the  county,  c.v-ojficio.  Members  must  be  freeholders  and  residents 
of  the  county.  The  term  of  ofiice  is  three  years,  and  an  election  occurs  every 
November  to  fill  the  vacancies  on  the  board,  the  term  of  one-third  of  the  mem- 
bers expiring  annually.  The  board  meets  regularly  on  the  second  Saturday  of 
each  month,  and  the  president  is  chosen  from  among  its  members.  The  sec- 
retary, who  is  also  the  county  school  commissioner,  is  chosen  annually  at  the 
meeting  in  January. 

The  schools  in  each  district  and  village  in  the  county  are  under  the  entire 
control  of  the  local  trustees.  The  teachers  are  chosen  by  them,  the  length  of 
the  term  is  regulated  by  them,  and  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  schools  are  re- 
ferred to  them,  under  regulations  of  the  board  of  education.  In  the  city  the 
schools  are  under  the  charge  of  the  conference  board  of  city  trustees,  which 
consists  of  all  the  members  from  the  five  wards. 

The  finances  of  the  board  are  under  the  control  of  the  finance  committee, 
which  meets  on  Friday  before  the  regular  meeting  of  the  board  of  education. 
They  audit  all  accounts,  examine  all  the  books,  and  present  the  monthly  ex- 
penses of  all  the  schools  to  the  board  at  each  regular  meeting.  They  are  not 
authorized,  however,  to  audit  any  account  that  is  not  approved  by  a  majority 
of  the  local  trustees  of  the  ward  or  district  wherein  the  expenditure  is  to  be 
made,  except  the  high  school  accounts,  which  are  approved  by  the  secretary. 

The  school  fund  at  the  disposal  of  the  board  is  annually  divided,  according 
to  the  school  population,  among  the  city  wards,  the  five  county  districts  and 
the  two  villages,  after  reserving  a  fund  for  the  general  expenses  of  the  board 
and  for  the  high  schools.  By  this  means  each  set  of  local  trustees  can  see  the 
amount  at  their  disposal,  and  can  regulate  their  schools  accordingly.  They 
can  have  few  or  many  teachers,  a  long  or  short  term,  build  and  repair,  just  as 
they  please  and  as  their  funds  permit.  Each  district,  village  and  the  city  wards 
run  a  separate  set  of  schools,  and  yet  the  whole  system  is  controlled  by  one 
board  of  education,  and  the  actions  of  the  various  local  trustees  are  under  the 
supervision  of  suitable  committees  from  the  general  board. 

The  secretary  and  county  school  commissioner  is  in  general  charge  of  the 


Educational.  325 

whole.  He  is  required  to  visit  all  schools,  to  examine  and  instruct  the  teach- 
ers, keep  a  record  of  the  financial  operations  of  the  board,  and  in  every  way  to 
promote  the  general  interest  of  education  in  the  county. 

The  Tubman  High  School  is  for  young  ladies.  Pupils  are  admitted  to  the 
school  upon  payment  of  a  tuition  fee  of  seven  and  a  half  dollars  per  term,  in  ad- 
vance, which  is  fifteen  dollars  for  a  school  year.  The  principal  examines  all  ap- 
plicants for  seats,  unless  they  bring  promotion  cards  from  the  grammar  schools. 
The  course  of  study  is  well  chosen,  and  all  pupils  desiring  promotion  or  gradua- 
tion are  subject  to  rigid  examination  at  the  close  of  each  term.  The  young  lady 
in  the  graduating  class  who  receives  the  highest  mark  during  the  year  is  entitled 
to  the  Davidson  medal.  She  is  also  entitled  to  a  scholarship  in  the  Wesleyan 
Female  College,  of  Macon,  Ga.  The  young  lady  who  receives  the  second  high- 
est mark  is  entitled  to  a  scholarship  at  Lucy  Cobb  Institute.  A  scholarship  for 
general  excellence  is  also  offered  by  the  Millersburg  College,  in  Kentucky. 
Regular  diplomas  are  given  to  the  graduating  classes  at  the  annual  commence- 
ment exhibitions  in  June. 

The  Colored  High  School  is  conducted  in  every  regard  as  the  Tubman  High 
School,  except  that  a  fee  of  five  dollars  a  term,  in  advance,  or  ten  dollars  for  a 
school  year,  is  demanded  of  the  pupils. 

In  the  selection  of  teachers  to  fill  the  public  schools  everything  being  equal, 
preference  is  given  to  the  graduates  from  the  high  schools  of  the  county. 

The  teachers  in  the  high  schools  are  chosen  by  the  entire  board  of  educa- 
tion. Those  in  the  city  schools  are  chosen  by  the  conference  board  of  city 
trustees,  which  consists  of  the  members  from  the  five  wards.  Those  in  the 
country  districts  are  chosen  by  the  local  trustees  of  the  district  in  which  the 
school  is  situated.  No  person  can  be  considered  as  an  applicant  for  any  public 
school,  nor  entitled  to  election  as  such,  unless  possessed  of  a  certificate  of  qual- 
ification signed  by  the  president  and  secretary. 

The  method  of  securing  the  certificate  of  qualification  is  as  follows:  The  ap- 
plicant must  write  an  application  for  examination  as  teacher,  have  it  endorsed 
as  to  good  moral  character  by  at  least  two  persons  of  good  standing,  address 
it  to  the  board  of  education,  and  place  it  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary. 

The  secretary  reads  the  application  to  the  board  at  the  next  regular  meet- 
ing, and  they  order  the  examination  to  be  held.  At  any  convenient  season  the 
secretary  examines  the  applicant  upon  reading,  spelling,  writing,  geography, 
history,  grammar  and  arithmetic,  and  upon  other  branches  of  study  desired. 
The  result  of  the  examination  is  reported  to  the  next  meeting  of  the  board,  and 
according  to  the  degree  of  proficiency  in  the  studies  the  secretary  recommends 
a  certificate  of  the  first,  second  and  third  grade  to  be  granted,  which  is  accord- 
ingly done.  If  the  applicant  is  possessed  of  a  diploma,  this  wmII  entitle  him,  with- 
out examination,  to  a  certificate  of  the  first  grade,  though  the  application  must 
be  made  as  above.      A  certificate  of  the  third  grade  entitles  a  teacher  to  teach 


326  History  of  Augusta. 


in  the  primary  school  only;  of  the  second  grade  to  teach  in  the  intermediate 
school,  and  of  the  first  grade  to  teach  a  grammar  or  high  school.  The  first 
grade  certificate  is  good  for  three  years,  the  second  grade  for  two  years,  and  the 
third  grade  for  one  year. 

No  child  under  six  or  over  eighteen  years  of  age  is  allowed  to  enter  the  pub- 
lic school  system.  Pupils  are  required  to  attend  the  school  that  is  nearest  to 
them,  and  in  case  of  the  districts  in  the  country  no  pupil  is  allowed  to  attend  a 
school  that  is  in  another  district  from  the  one  in  which  he  lives,  except  by  mu- 
tual consent  of  the  local  trustees  of  both  districts. 

If  the  patrons  of  any  school  become  dissatisfied  with  the  teacher,  and  do 
not  desire  to  send  their  children,  their  remedy  is  not  in  sending  them  to  other 
schools,  but  in  presenting  a  written  petition  to  the  local  trustees  requesting  the 
teacher  to  be  displaced  and  some  other  one  put  instead,  and  support  their  pe- 
tition by  proof  of  incompetency. 

In  the  admission  of  pupils  to  the  schools  upon  the  opening  of  any  term  the 
following  rules  are  always  complied  with  by  the  teachers  : 

First.  Pupils  are  admitted  to  the  schools  according  to  the  priority  of  their 
application.  Due  regard  is  paid  to  the  application  of  those  pupils  who  reside 
in  the  ward  in  which  the  school  is  situated.  In  so  far  as  possible,  pupils  are 
required  to  attend  the  schools  in  the  wards  of  their  residence. 

Second.  Pupils  holding  promotion  cards  from  any  public  school  teacher  are 
entitled  to  highest  preference  above  pupils  who  hold  no  cards.  Of  these  pupils 
those  who  are  promoted  in  the  same  building  are  first  enrolled.  In  all  cases 
where  pupils  are  not  promoted  they  are  allowed  to  retain  their  seats  under  their 
former  teacher. 

Third.  The  rolls  of  all  the  schools  are  to  be  made  up  on  the  day  that  the 
school  opens.  Seats  are  not  reserved  for  absent  pupils.  After  a  pupil  has  taken 
his  seat  he  is  required  as  soon  as  possible  to  provide  himself  with  the  necessary 
books,  and  failure  to  do  this  will  vacate  his  position.  So  long  as  the  pupil  is 
studious  and  obedient,  and  attends  to  the  laws  of  the  school,  he  may  retain  his 
place,  but  the  strictest  regulations  are  enforced  concerning  the  suspension  and 
expulsion  of  pupils  who  neither  study  nor  behave.  Corporal  punishment  is 
allowed  to  be  inflicted  on  boys  only.  There  are  no  expenses  connected  with 
the  schools,  except  that  of  janitors'  fees,  which  amount  to  about  seventy-five 
cents  a  year  for  each  pupil. 

At  the  end  of  each  term — that  is  in  February  and  in  June — pupils  are  re- 
quired to  pass  an  examination,  written  or  oral,  of  what  they  have  been  taught 
during  the  previous  months.  The  questions  are  generally  prepared  by  the  su- 
perintendent, in  conjunction  with  the  teachers,  and  are  exhaustive  under  each 
topic  After  the  pupils  have  been  e.xamined,  each  one  is  marked  according  to 
his  answers  in  each  study.  From  this  his  general  average  is  formed,  and  from 
the  general  averages  the  average  of  the  school  can  be  found.      All  these  marks 


Educational.  327 


and  averages  are  put  down  in  the  appropriate  reports  and  filed  in  the  office  of 
the  superintendent.  Thus  the  examinations  are  made  matter  of  record  from 
year  to  year. 

The  schools  are  divided  into  primary,  intermediate,  grammar  and  high 
schools.  The  primary  comprises  three  classes;  the  intermediate  and  grammar 
grades,  two  classes  each ;  and  the  hi^h  schools,  three  classes  ;  each  class  cor- 
responding to  one  year. 

The  scholastic  year  begins  on  the  Monday  nearest  the  middle  of  Septem- 
ber, and  closes  on. the  last  school  day  in  June.  The  daily  sessions  are  from  9 
A.  M.  to  2  P.  M.  Sixty  schools  are  now  in  operation,  seventeen  in  the  city,  eight 
white,  and  nine  colored  ;  and  forty  three  in  the  country,  twenty-five  white  and 
eighteen  colored,  with  a  total  enrollment  of  6, 121  pupils,  white  3,390,  colored 
2.731.  The  whites  are  divided  as  follows:  boys,  1,446,  girls,  1,944;  the  col- 
ored: boys,  1,237,  girls,  1,494  There  are  105  teachers  employed,  their  sala- 
aries  ranging  from  $35  to  $50  per  month  in  the  white  schools,  and  from  $20  to 
$40  in  the  colored.  The  fund  for  1888  was  $43,687.61.  Prior  to  the  institu- 
tion of  this  system  Hon.  John  S.  Davidson  was  president  of  the  local  board. 
Under  the  system  the  first  president  was  John  T.  Shewmake,  who  was  suc- 
ceeded by  George  R.  Sibley,  and  he  in  turn  by  Mr.  Davidson,  who  has  been 
the  presiding  officer  for  the  last  ten  years.  The  superintendents  have  been 
Martin  V.  Calvin,  A.  H.  McLaws,  Benjamin  Neely,  and  Lawton  B.  Evans.  The 
Richmond  county  school  system  claims  to  show  by  its  records  that  it  educates 
at  less  cost  per  capita  than  any  system  in  the  South.  We  here  subjoin  a  tabu- 
lar statement  of  the  number  of  teachers  employed. 

Average  daily  attendance,  school  funds,  and  cost  per  scholar  since  1877, 
when  the  statistics  of  the  system  were  regularly  kept: 

Year.  Teachers. 

1877 81 

1878 79 

1879 82 

1880 82 

1881 99 

1882 104 

1883 120 

1 884 112 

1885 113 

1886 104 

1887 104 

1888 105 

The  fund  is  made  up  of  the  county's  proportion  of  the  State  educational 
fund,  the  poll  tax  collected  in  the  county,  the  tuition  fees  as  above  stated,  and 
the  special  school  tax  levied   by  the  School   Board.      For  the  period  above 


Average  Daily 
Attendance. 

Fund. 

Cost  per  Scholar. 

2,169 

$28,751.24 

13.26 

2,150 

29,059.18 

13-52 

2,096 

29,369.06 

14.01 

2,061 

31. 1 12.00 

15.10 

1.974 

32,010.37 

16.22 

2,809 

33734-6I 

12.01 

2,880 

39.370.14 

13.67 

3,066 

49.650.75 

16.39 

3.i'9 

45.435-83 

14-57 

3.287 

45.9I5-78 

13-97 

3,212 

45.858.01 

14.28 

3.318 

52,576.20 

15.85 

328  History  of  Augusta. 


stated  the  receipts  from  these  sources  in  round  numbers  are:  school  tax,  $360,- 
000;  State  fund,  $65,000;  poll  tax,  $22,000;  tuition,  $17,000;  total,  $464,- 
000. 

The  establishment  of  the  public  school  system  has  done  away  with  private 
educational  establishments  in  Augusta  with  the  exception  of  a  business  college 
conducted  by  Professor  Osborne,  and  three  Ca'holic  institutions,  namely:  St. 
Patrick's  Commercial  Institute,  conducted  by  a  religious  fraternity,  and  St. 
Mary's  Academy,  established  in  1853,  and  the  Sacred  Heart  Academy,  estab- 
lished in  1876,  both  founded  and  conducted  by  "The  Sisters  of  the  Order  of 
Our  Lady  of  Mercy." 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

BANKS  AND  BANKING. 

Two  Eras.  18 10  to  1865,  and  1865  to  Date — The  Old  Bank  of  Augusta— Its  Incorporators 
— Voting  on  a  Sliding  Scale — Old  Bank  Rules— Death  to  Counterfeit  its  Notes — Germs  of 
Bank  Examinations — The  Old  Bank's  Good  Showings— A  Surplus  Fund  a  Novelty — Balance 
Sheet  of  1835— List  of  Stockholders— Other  Old  Banks — First  Savings  Bank  in  1827 — Its  ex- 
penses I4. 55  per  annum— The  Old  Augusta  Savings  Institution — Augusta  Insurance  and 
Banking  Company  Almost  Ruined  by  the  Fire  of  1829 — President  Bennoch's  Tart  Report  to 
the  Governor — Report  of  1833 — List  of  Stockholders — Merchants'  and  Planters'  Bank — Its 
Failure  in  1833— Legislative  Report  Thereon— The  Mechanics'  Bank — Report  for  1833 — List 
of  Stockholders — The  Union  Bank —The  City  Bank — The  Georgia  Railroad  given  Banking 
Franchise — Its  Capital  Stock  and  Dividends,  from  1836  to  1847 — Its  Banking  Business,  from 
1847  to  1864 — Discounts,  Deposits,  and  Circulation  for  Same  Period — Early  Banking — Bank- 
ing at  Will — Prohibition  of  Change  Bills — Suppression  of  Private  Banking — Severe  Penalties 
— No  Notes  Under  Five  Dollars — Forfeiture  of  Charter  on  Suspension  of  Specie  Payments — 
Free  Banking  Law  of  1838 — Analagous  to  National  Bank  Act — Land  and  Negroes  a  Basis  of 
Issue — Panic  of  1837 — Panic  of  1857 — '' The  War  of  the  Banks" — Banking  Capital  in  1835, 
in  1838,  in  i860 — Dividends,  1829  to  1838 — Great  Prosperity  Just  Before  the  War — Increase 
of  $133,000,000  in  Two  Years — Wealth  of  Richmond  County  in  i860 — Outside  of  Slaves  $20,- 
oc)0,ocx) — War-Bonds,  Specie  Suspension — The  Banks  Exhaust  Themselves  Helping  the  Con- 
federacy— Banking  During  the  War—  Demise  of  the  Old  Banks — Banks  Since  the  War — Na- 
tional Bank — National  Exchange  Bank — The  State  Banks — Renewal  of  Banking  Franchise  to 
the  Georgia  Railroad —Dividends,  from  1836  to  1861,  Under  First  Franchise — Dividends,  1861 
to  1 88 1 — The  Commercial  Bank — The  Augusta  Savings  Institution — Planters  Loan  and  Sav- 
ings Bank — Banks  Chartered  Since  the  War,  but  Not  Organized — City  Loan  Association  and 
Savings  Bank — Mechanics'  Savings  Bank — City  Loan  and  Savings  Bank — Manufacturers' 
Bank — Citizens'  Bank— City  Bank — Savings  Bank  of  Augusta — Name  Changed  to  Bank  of 
Augusta — Its  Failure. 

THE  history  of  banking  in  Augusta  begins  in  18 10,  when  the  old   Bank  of 
Augusta  was  incorporated,  and  may  be  considered  in  two  epochs;   namely 
before,  and  since  1865.      Prior  to  the  war  the  system  of  State  Banks  prevailed 


Banks  and  Banking.  329 


since  the  war  the  National  bank  and  State  systems  have  both  obtained.  Up 
to  1838  there  was  no  uniform  banking  law  in  Georgia,  but  in  that  year  a  gen- 
eral act  providing  for  the  incorporation  of  banking  institutions  was  passed.  In 
1837,  and  again  in  1857,  financial  panics,  prevalent  thruui^hout  the  country, 
exerted  their  full  influence  in  Augusta.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  banks 
of  Augusta  risked  their  all  on  the  success  of  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  struggle  went  down  in  the  common  ruin.  With  the  rehabilita 
tion  of  the  State,  banking  revived,  and,  as  has  been  stated,  both  National  banks 
and  State  banks  now  carry  on  business  in  the  city.  The  details  of  the  history 
thus  tersely  outlined,  let  us  now  proceed  to  give. 

In  1810  there  was  passed  "An  act  to  incorporate  the  Bank  of  Augusta." 
From  the  language  of  this  statute  it  appears  that,  for  some  time  prior,  there 
had  been  a  bank  in  the  city,  the  preamble  of  the  act  reading:  "Whereas 
Thomas  Gumming,  president,  and  John  Howard,  Richard  Tubman.  John  Mc- 
Kinne,  James  Gardner,  Hugh  Nesbit,  David  Reid.  John  Moore,  John  Campbell, 
John  Willson,  Anderson  Watkins,  John  Carmichael,  and  Ferdinand  Phinizy, 
directors  of  the  said  bank,  have  petitioned  the  Legislature  that  they,  the  said 
president  and  directors,  and  others,  the  stockholders  of  the  said  bank,  may  be 
incorporated  under  the  name  of  the  Bank  of  Augusta."  The  act  then  proceeds 
to  incorporate  petitioners  by  the  name  and  style  of  "  The  president,  directors, 
and  company  of  the  Bank  of  Augusta."  and  to  declare  that,  by  that  name,  they 
"  shall  be,  and  are  hereby  made,  able  and  capa'  Ic  in  l.iw  to  have,  purchase,  re- 
ceive, possess,  enjoy,  and  retain  to  them  and  t'ucir  successors  lands,  rents,  tene- 
ments, hereditaments,  goods,  chattels,  and  effects  of  what  kind,  nature,  or  quality 
whatsoever,  and  the  same  to  sell,  grant,  demise,  alien,  or  dispose  of,  to  sue  and 
be  sued,  plead  and  be  impleaded,  answer  and  be  answered,  defend  and  be  de- 
fended in  courts  of  record,  or  any  other  place  whatsoever  ;  and  also  to  make, 
have,  and  use  a  common  seal,  and  the  same  to  break,  alter  and  renew  at  their 
pleasure,  and  also  to  ordain,  establish,  and  put  in  execution  such  by-laws,  or- 
dinances, and  regulations  as  shall  seem  necessary  and  convenient  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  said  corporation,  not  being  contrary  to  the  laws,  or  to  the  con- 
stitution of  this  State,  or  of  the  United  States,  or  repugnant  to  the  fundamental 
rules  of  this  corporation  ;  and,  generally,  to  do  and  execute  all  and  singular 
such  acts,  matters,  and  things  which  to  them  it  shall  or  may  appertain  to  do ; 
subject,  nevertheless,  to  the  rules,  regulations,  restrictions,  limitations,  and  pro- 
visions hereinafter  prescribed  and  declared." 

The  charter  was  to  expire  on  May  i,  1830,  and  thirteen  directors  were  to 
be  chosen  annually  on  the  first  Monday  in  December.  The  method  of  selec- 
tion was  quite  curious.  The  number  of  votes  to  which  each  stockholder  was 
to  be  entitled  in  the  election  of  directors  was  fixed  on  a  sliding  scale,  as  fol- 
lows :  "  For  one  share,  and  not  more  than  two  shares,  one  vote  ;  for  every  two 
shares  above  two,  and  not  exceeding  ten,  one  vote;   for  every  four  shares  above 


330  History  Of  Augusta. 


ten,  and  not  exceeding  tliirty,  one  vote;  for  every  six  shares  above  thirty,  and 
not  exceeding  sixty,  one  vote  ;  for  every  eight  shares  above  sixty,  and  not  ex- 
ceeding one  hundred,  one  vote;  and  for  every  ten  shares  above  one  hundred, 
one  vote  ;  but  no  person,  corporation,  copartnership,  or  body  pohtic,  shall  be 
entitled  to  more  than  thirty  votes,  and  no  share  or  shares  shall  confer  a  right 
of  suffrage  which  shall  not  have  been  holden  three  calendar  months  previous 
to  the  day  of  election,  and  unless  it  be  holden  by  the  person  in  whose  name  it 
appears,  absolutely  and  bona  fide  in  his  own  right,  or  in  that  of  his  wife,  and  for 
his  or  her  sole  use  and  benefit,  or  as  executor  or  administrator,  or  guardian,  or 
in  the  right  and  use  of  some  copartnership,  corporation,  or  society,  of  which 
he  or  she  may  be  a  member,  and  not  in  trust  for,  or  to  the  use  of,  any  other 
person;  any  stockholder,  being  absent,  may  authorize,  by  power  of  attorney 
under  seal,  any  other  stockholder  to  vote  for  him,  her,  or  them." 

Two  weeks  before  the  election  of  directors  a  full  list  of  stockholders  was  to 
be  made  out  and  opened  to  the  inspection  of  any  stockholder  desiring  to  see 
the  same,  "  to  the  end  that  public  information  may  be  given  to  the  parties  con- 
cerned of  their  co-proprietors  and  stockholders  ;  and  to  prevent  a  division  of 
shares,  in  order  to  obtain  to  the  person  or  persons  so  dividing  them  an  undue 
influence,  the  managers  of  elections  for  directors  shall  administer  to  every  stock- 
holder offering  to  vote  the  following  oath:  'You,  A.  B.,  do  swear  (or  afifirm) 
that  the  stock  you  now  represent,  is  bona  fide  your  property,  and  that  you  are 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  that  no  other  person  or  persons  is  or  are 
concerned  therein  ;'  and  to  any  person  voting  by  proxy  for  a  minor,  or  in  right 
of  or  in  trust  for  any  other  person  entitled  to  vote,  the  following  oath :  '  You, 
A.  B.,  do  swear  (or  affirm)  that  the  stock  of  C.  D.,  whom  you  now  represent, 
is,  to  the  best  of  your  knowledge  and  belief,  the  property  of  the  said  C.  D.,  and 
that  he  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  that  no  other  person  or  persons 
is  or  are  concerned  therein  ; '  and  any  stockholder  refusing  to  take  such  oath 
or  affirmation  shall  not  be  allowed  to  vote  at  any  such  election." 

At  their  first  meeting  the  directors  were  to  elect  a  president  out  of  their 
number,  and  any  vacancies  in  the  board  were  to  be  filled  by  the  other  mem- 
bers. 

The  following  fundamental  rules  for  the  government  of  the  bank  were  then 
enacted:  ist.  The  capital  stock  was  to  be  $300,000.  in  $100  shares,  $50,000 
whereof  was  to  be  reserved  until  January  i,  1812,  for  the  State,  should  it  see 
fit  to  subscribe  ;  in  which  event  the  governor,  treasurer,  and  comptroller  gen- 
eral were  to  have  the  right  to  select  two  of  the  directors. 

2d.  By  a  majority  vote  of  the  stockholders,  the  stock  was  increaseable  up 
to  $600,000,  one-sixth  of  any  increase  to  be  reserved  for  the  State,  and,  if  not 
taken  by  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature  after  such  increase,  to  be  thrown 
open  to  the  public,  the  State,  if  subscribing,  to  appoint  another  director. 

3d.    None   but  a  stockholder,  being  a  citizen  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  shall 


Banks  and  Banking  331 


be  eligible  as  a  director,  and  no  director  of  any  other  bank  shall  at  the  same 
time  be  a  director  of  this  bank  ;  any  director  ceasing  to  be  a  stockholder  t(.i 
lose  his  seat  at  the  board. 

4th.  The  board  of  directors  had  power  to  appoint  a  cashier  and  other  offi- 
cers, fix  their  compensation,  and  make  by  laws  by  a  majority  vote. 

5th.  The  cashier  was  to  give  bond  in  sucli  sum  as  the  directors  might  re- 
quire, and  he,  the  president,  and  all  other  officers  of  the  board,  were  to  take 
the  following  oath  :  'I,  A.  B.,  do  solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that  I  will  well  and 
faithfully  discharge  the  duties  of  president  or  cashier,  or  other  officer  (as  the 
case  may  be),  of  the  board  of  the  Bank  of  Augusta,'  which  oath  was  to  be  sub- 
scribed and  entered  on  the  minutes. 

6th.  Seven  directors  were  to  form  a  quorum,  of  whom  the  president  was 
always  to  be  one,  except  in  case  of  sickness  or  necessary  absence,  when  the 
board  was  to  elect  one  of  its  members  in  his  place. 

7th.  The  board  by  a  majority  vote  could  call  a  general  meeting  of  stock- 
holders at  any  time,  giving  thirty  days'  notice  in  some  newspaper  in  Augusta, 
Washington,  Wilkes  county,  Milledgeville,  and  Savannah,  and  specifying  there- 
in the  object  of  the  meeting. 

8th.  In  case  of  death,  resignation,  or  removal  of  the  president,  the  board 
was  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

9th.   The  directors  were  to  prescribe  how  transfers  of  stock  should  be  made. 

lOth.  Bills  obligatory  and  of  credit,  under  the  seal  of  the  corporation,  were 
assignable  by  endorsement;  the  bank  bills  or  notes  were  to  be  signed  by  the 
president,  countersigned  by  the  principal  cashier  or  treasurer,  and  negotiable 
by  delivery. 

I  ith.  No  transfer  of  stock  was  to  be  valid  unless  entered  on  the  books  of 
the  company  kept  for  that  purpose. 

1 2th.  The  bank  was  only  to  hold  such  lands,  tenements,  and  heredita- 
ments as  were  necessary  for  its  accommodation  in  the  transaction  of  its  busi- 
ness, or  had  been  mortgaged  thereto,  or  conveyed  it,  or  to  some  other  in  trust, 
to  secure  loans,  or  bought  at  judicial  sales  upon  judgments  in  favor  of  the  bank, 
or  loans,  and  the  directors  were  empowered  to  sell  all  property  the  bank  might 
thus  acquire. 

13th.  The  bank  was  not  directly  or  indirectly  to  be  concerned  in  commerce 
or  insurance,  or  in  the  importation  or  exportation  of  goods,  or  the  purchase  or 
sale  thereof,  except  where  pledged  to  it  as  security. 

14th.  All  bills,  bonds,  notes,  and  contracts  of  the  bank  were  to  be  signt  d 
by  the  president,  and  countersigned  by  the  cashier,  or  else  to  be  not  binding. 

15th.  The  total  indebtedness  of  the  bank,  by  bill,  bond,  note  or  othtrAise 
was  never  to  exceed  three  tunes  the  amount  of  its  capital.  In  case  of  this  limit 
being  exceeded  the  directors  under  whose  administration  the  excess  had  taken 
place  were  individually  liable  ;   but  any  director  might  relieve  himself  b\'  dis- 


332  History  of  Augusta 


senting  from  the  act  or  resolution  authorizing  such  over-issue,  having  said  dis- 
sent entered  on  the  minutes  at  the  time,  and  forthwith  giving  notice  of  the  fact 
at  a  general  meeting  of  stockholders,  which  any  dissenting  director  might  call. 
Tlie  hank  was  also  liable  for  the  over  issue. 

i6th.  Dividends  were  to  be  paid  semi-annually,  and  never  to  exceed  the 
net  profits. 

17th.  No  dividend  was  to  be  at  the  expense  of  the  capital  stock;  and,  if 
such  were  declared,  the  directors  present  at  the  declaring  thereof  were  to  be 
individually  liable  to  the  bank  for  the  amount  of  the  infringement,  but  any 
director  might  relieve  himself  by  forthwith  dissenting  in  writing  on  the  minutes 
of  the  board. 

1 8th.  The  directors  were  to  keep  regular  minutes;  vote  by  yeas  and  nays 
at  the  demand  of  any  two  directors;  and  produce  the  minutes  before  each  gen- 
eral meeting  of  stockholders 

19th.  The  charter  was  to  endure  till  May  i,  1830,  but  two- thirds  of  the 
capital  stock  might  surrender  the  same  prior  thereto,  on  giving  twelve  months' 
notice  in  the  newspapers  of  Augusta,  Savannah,  and  Milledgeville. 

When  an  increase  of  stock  had  been  voted,  no  person  could  subscribe  for 
more  than  ten  shares,  until  after  the  expiration  of  three  months  from  date  of 
increase. 

Lastly,  the  charter  contained  this  terrific  denunciation:  "That  any  person 
or  persons  who  shall  print,  sign,  or  pass,  or  be  concerned  in  the  printing,  sign- 
ing, or  passing  any  counterfeit  note  or  notes,  bill  or  bills,  of  the  Bank  of  Au- 
gusta, knowing  them  to  be  such,  or  who  shall  alter,  or  be  concerned  in  the  alter- 
in"'  of  any  genuine  note  or  notes,  bill  or  bills  of  the  said  bank,  and  shall  be  con- 
victed thereof,  shall  sufTer  death." 

We  have  been  thus  particular  in  giving  the  details  of  the  charter  of  the  Bank 
of  Augusta  because  it  is  in  some  sort  the  model  on  which  subsequent  charters 
were  framed,  and  is  in  itself,  in  spite  of  some  archaic  features,  a  work  evincing 
much  financial  ability.  It  is  said  that  the  curious  provision  as  to  the  voting 
power  of  stock  in  elections  for  directors  was  borrowed  from  an  old  Scotch 
bank ;  but,  however  this  may  be,  the  cautious  restrictions  and  limitations 
thrown  about  the  manner  of  the  selection  of  directors,  and  the  responsibility 
placed  on  those  officials,  evince  experience  and  ability  in  the  framers  of  the  act. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  original  charter  was  to  expire  on  May  i,  1830;  but, 
in  1826,  it  was  extended  to  May  i,  1850;  and  in  1845  again  extended  to  May 
I,  1870.  This  latter  period  it  never  reached,  going  down  in  the  storms  of  war, 
but  its  long,  useful  and  honorable  history  we  may  here  trace. 

In  1 8 20  the  presidents  of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  the  Bank  of  Da- 
rien,  the  Planters'  Bank,  and  the  Bank  of  Augusta  were  required  to  annually 
report  to  the  governor  a  minute  statement  of  the  standing  and  management  of 
their  respective  institutions  for  the  twelve  months  immediately  preceding  the 


Banks  and  Banking.  333 


first  Monday  in  October,  "showing  particularly  the  amount  of  specie  in  their 
vaults;  the  amount  of  debts  due  them,  the  amount  of  issues,  and  the  amount 
of  bills  in  circulation;  the  amount  of  deposits,  and  the  highest  amount  due  and 
owing  by  each  of  said  banks." 

In  1823  Governor  Clark  in  his  annual  message  recommended  that  each 
bank  in  which  the  State  owned  stock  be  required  to  make  semi-annual  state- 
ments to  the  executive ;  "  the  whole  of  their  proceedings,  giving  the  names  of 
their  debtors  and  the  amount  due  by  each,  to  be  laid  before  the  Legislature  at 
their  annual  sessions."  His  excellency  seems  to  have  been  no  friend  to  banks; 
farther  on  in  his  message  informing  the  Legislature  that  "the  opinion  even  noM 
almost  universally  prevails  that  the  pecuniary  embarrassment  of  the  citizens  is 
greater  in  proportion  as  you  approach  the  vicinity  of  a  bank;"  also,  that  "the 
time  may  arrive  when  those  monied  'institutions'  will  throw  the  weight  of  their 
powerful  but  subtle  influence  into  the  scale  of  an  aspiring  faction,  hostile  to  the 
true  interests  of  the  country,  thus  sapping  the  foundation  of  the  representative 
system,  by  corrupting  the  purity  of  the  elective  franchise." 

So  much  of  the  message  as  related  to  the  banks  was  referred  to  a  joint  com- 
mittee on  banks,  which  reported  that  the  reports  made  were  not  specific  enough, 
and  should  exhibit  "  the  amount  of  specie  in  their  vaults  and  owned  by  said 
banks,  the  amount  of  issues  in  circulation,  the  amount  of  discounted  paper  due 
and  running  to  maturity,  designating  the  amount  in  suit,  the  amount  consid- 
ered bad  and  the  amount  considered  doubtful  (with  an  exhibit  of  the  names  of 
the  parties,  makers  and  endorsers  on  such  bad  paper),  and  at  what  time  such 
loans  were  made;  a  schedule  and  description  of  all  real  and  personal  property 
owned  by  said  banks,  and  from  whom  purchased,  the  particular  circumstances 
which  induced  the  purchase  of  such  property,  its  real  value  at  the  time  of  pur- 
chase, and  its  real  value  at  time  of  report;  "  which  exhibits  were  ordered  to  be 
made.  At  this  time  it  is  quite  clear  the  Legislature  was  groping  its  way  toward 
a  system  of  bank  examination. 

In  1824  a  special  committee  of  four,  of  which  Judge  William  W.  Holt,  of  Au- 
gusta, then  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives,  was  one,  was  appointed  to 
inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  several  banks  in  which  the  State  was  a  stock- 
holder, and  report  to  the  next  session.  The  text  of  this  report  we  do  not  find, 
but  it  must  have  been  favorable  to  the  banks  as  the  joint  committee  on  banks 
says  that  on  inspection  of  the  exhibits  made  by  the  Bank  of  Augusta,  and  the 
other  banks  in  which  the  State  had  stock,  the  report  of  the  special  committee 
is  fully  sustained,  that  "their  condition  is  sound  and  all  their  affairs  faithfully 
and  ably  conducted." 

In  [829  the  committee  on  banks  report  "  that  they  find  the  affairs  of  the  Bank 
of  Augusta  have  been  managed  with  great  prudence  and  discretion,  and  fully 
merits  the  continuance  of  the  public  confidence." 

In  1830  the  Legislative  report  gives  quite  an   insight  into  the  banking  of 


334  History  of  Augusta. 


that  clay.  The  joint  committee  on  banks  reporting;  on  the  annual  statement  of 
the  bank  of  Augusta  says:  "That  on  a  careful  examination  of  the  exhibits,  they 
find  such  evidence  of  the  abihty  with  which  the  affairs  of  this  bank  have  been 
conducted,  and  of  its  sound  and  stable  condition,  as  fully  to  retain  the  high 
credit  of  the  institution.  The  committee  find  on  examination  of  the  statement 
that  the  issues  of  the  bank  have  been  kept  within  the  bounds  of  moderation, 
amounting  to  a  sum  less  than  double  the  amount  of  specie  actually  in  the  banks 
of  the  vault;  that  out  of  a  sum  of  $890,575.38  of  paper  discounted,  and  due  and 
running  to  maturity,  only  $10,000  is  considered  bad,  and  $16,000  doubtful. 
These  facts  speak  highly  in  favor  of  the  persons  exercising  the  direction  of  the 
institution,  and  entitle  them  to  the  approbation  of  the  Legislature  and  the  com- 
munity. The  surplus  fund  over  and  above  the  regular  dividend  amounts  to  the 
sum  of  $104,948.94,  which  is  held  for  the  purpose  of  reimbursing  the  stock- 
holders in  the  event  of  loss  by  bad  debts  or  other  accidents.  This  plan  of  hold- 
ing a  large  surplus  fund  to  meet  such  exigencies,  where  the  regular  dividends, 
equal  to  legal  interest,  are  paid,  is  highly  to  be  commended,  and  your  commit- 
tee therefore  respectfuJly  submit  the  following  resolution  : 

^'Resolved,  That  the  abilty  and  fidelity  with  which  the  affairs  of  the  Bank  of 
Augusta  have  been  conducted  merit  the  approbation  of  the  Legislature,  and 
entitle  the  bank  to  the  fullest  confidence  of  the  public":   which  was  adopted. 

In  1 83 1  the  legislative  committee  reported  as  to  this  bank  as  follows:  "That, 
on  a  careful  and  minute  examination  of  the  exhibits  they  find  such  evidence  of 
the  ability  with  which  the  affairs  of  the  bank  have  been  conducted,  and  of  its 
sound  and  stable  condition,  that  notwithstanding  the  great  depreciation  in  the 
real  estate  belonging  to  the  institution  of  about  $29,000,  and  in  doubtful  and 
bad  debts  to  the  amount  of  $24,000,  yet  your  committee  are  of  opinion  that 
this  bank  is  in  a  prosperous  and  flourishing  condition,  and  that  the  ability  and 
fidelity  with  which  its  affairs  have  been  managed,  meets  the  approbation  of 
your  committee,  and  as  such  is  entitled  to  the  entire  confidence  of  the  Legisla- 
ture and  of  the  people  of  Georgia." 

In  1832  the  legis'ative  report  is  very  complimentary.  It  s.iys  that  on  con- 
sideration of  the  statement  of  Thomas  Gumming,  president  of  the  bank,  it  finds 
the  institution  "in  a  very  sound  and  flourishing  condition  ;  but  your  commit- 
tee cannot  refrain  from  giving  the  directors  extra  credit  for  the  very  able  and 
satisfactory  mnnner  in  which  the  affairs  of  the  bank  have  been  conducted  and 
kept  for  the  last  twelve  months.  It  seems  the  directors  of  the  institution  re- 
quire the  officers  to  keep  and  make  to  the  board  a  full  monthly  return  of  all  its 
operations,  which  enables  a  person  at  a  single  glance  to  ascertain  the  exact 
condition  of  the  bank  at  any  month  during  the  year,  which  is  much  plainer  and 
more  satisfactory  to  your  committee  than  any  bank  reports  w  hich  have  here- 
tofore been  made,  which  gives  evidence  of  the  distinguished  ability  and  pru- 
dence with  which  it  is  managed,  so  as  to  entitle  it  to  the  renewed  confidence  of 
our  fellow- citizens." 


Banks  and  Banking.  335 


The  report  of  the  condition  of  the  Bank  of  Augusta  in  1835,  as  shown  by  its 
statement  of  April  8,  1835,  ''s  of  interest  as  giving  a  view  of  banking  in  the  city 
at  that  early  day.  Mr.  John  Moore  was  then  president,  and  A.  Picquet.  book- 
keeper, and  the  report  shows  as  follows : 

Dr. 

To  capital  stock,  6.000  shares $    600.000.00 

To  notes  in  circulation ^55  5-,.  g- 

To  amounts  clue  other  banks 185.86672 

To  unclaimed  dividends 2  064  00 

"^^  ^^p°sits ;;;;;;■    244,484.05 

To  amount  due  treasurer  of  the  United  States .  8  813  08 

'T^  ^"-"P^"^ '.'..*.         129.98078 

$1,937,882.26 

Cr. 

By  discounts,  running $    900.363.14 

By  discounts,  going  over 143.837.51 

By  amounts  due  from  other  banks 282.264  00 

By  amounts  at  Savannah  agency 32  687  47 

By  notes  of  State  banks,  good i43,'337.oo 

By  notes  of  United  States  and  foreign  banks 10,915.00 

By  gold  at  Charleston 4379376 

By  specie  of  bank  in  vaults 335'230  33 

By  real  estate,  including  banking  house 39,127.50 

By  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company  stock   600.00 

By  incidental  expenses e  -26  5 ; 

XT  *      •       •      1    •  $1,937,882.26 

Notes  in  circulation $766,673.63 

Notes  on  hand 584.367.37  $1,351,041.00 

Notes  of  other  banks 1 53,252 

At  Savannah  agency   32,687.47 

^.P^';'^ 379.024.09  564.963.56 

^^^'^^^^^e 39.1^-7.50 

^"''P'"^ 129,980.78 

The  cashier,  Mr.  Robert  F.  Poe,  reports  the  hst  of  stockholders,  which  we 
subjoin  : 

^^"^^-  No.  of  Shares.     Amount  Paid  in. 

Central  Bank  of  Georgia ,,000  $100,000 

Thomas  Cumminar 


290  29,000 

^g 

Richard  Tubman 


Mrs.  Ann  Cummin? 64  ^,400 


358  35.800 

John  Campbell 266  26.600 

Hugh  Nesbit 205  20,500 

John  Gumming.  Savannah 200  20,000 

Jno.  P.  King,  gdn.  B.  Keating 200 

James  Gardner.    i5q 


20.000 
16,000 


Wm.  H.  Turpin 146  14.600 

James  Fraser ,45  ,4  5^^ 


John  Fox 


120  12,000 


336 


History  of  Augusta. 


Number  of  Shares.     Amount  paid  in. 

Isaac  H.  Tuttle ...  115  11, 500 

John  Potter 100  1 0,000 

John  Bones,  gdn.  A.  E.  White   100  10,000 

Robert  Campbell 100  io,ocx> 

A.  Waterman 100  10,000 

James  Wardlaw 92  9,200 

Wm.  S.  C.  Allen 73  7,300 

John  Bones,  gdn.  G.  O.  K.  White ' . .  70  7,000 

Nicholas  Delaigle 70  7,000 

John  Carmichael 80  8,000 

John  Moore 79  7,900 

Mrs.  Mary  Hill 61  6,100 

Mary  Louisa  Hill 61  6,100 

Benj.  H.  Warren 50  5,000 

Augusta  Free  School  Society 50  5,000 

Ann  E.  Gumming 50  5,000 

Sarah  W.  Gumming 50  5,000 

S.  G.  Dortic 50  5,000 

Ghas.  A.  Harper  &  O.  Waters,  tr.  A.  E.  Jackson. ......  50  5,000 

George  Jones 50  5,000 

Anderson  Watkins 50  5,000 

Robert  Walton,  tr  50  5,000 

Wardens  and  Vestry  of  St.  Paul's  Ghurch 50  5,000 

Wm.  Whitehead 50  5,000 

Jesse  Mercer 71  7,100 

Fanny  Moore 65  6,500 

R.  A.  Reid,  gdn.,  M.  A.  Reid 40  4,000 

Robert  F.  Foe,  tr 20  2,000 

Elizabeth  Reid 37  3,7oo 

David  McKinney 35  3.500 

Wm.  Bones,  Gharleston 30  3,000 

R.  A.  Reid,  gdn.,  H.  O.  Reid 27  2,700 

Joseph  Rivers 26  2,600 

Trustees  Meeson  Academy 25  2,500 

Robert  A.  Reid 22  2,200 

Sarah  Adams 20.  2,000 

Isaac  Bryan 48  4,800 

Wm.  G.  Bunce 20  2,000 

Wm.  Gumming 20  2,000 

John  Moore,  South  Garolina 20  2,000 

Nancy  and  Margaret  Murray 20  2,000 

Thos.  N.  Hamilton 25  2,500 

Alex.  Spencer 20  2,000 

Jane  Telfair 20  2,000 

Trustees  Burke  Gounty  Academy 20  2,000 

Hozea  Webster 20  2,000 

Wm.  B.  M'Lavv.  ...    17  1,700 

Ann  E.  Gumming,  tr 25  2,500 

S.  S.  R.  R.  Jones 15  1,500 

Geo.  M.  Newton 15  1,500 


Banks  and  Banking. 


337 


James  Shackleford 

Samuel  Clarke,  tr 

Robert  Clarke 

John  and  Samuel  Bones 

Sarah  H.  Haig^ 

Joel  Martin 

Pleasant  Stovall .    

David  Wardlavv 

Mrs.  Lucy  Isaac 

James  C.  Longstreet 

Mrs.  Isabella  Bones 

James  Harrison 

Francis  Hamil 

M.  Kinchley 

James  and  William  Harper 

Thomas  M'Graw,  gdn 

S.  M'Graw 

Alexander  Martin 

\V.  W.  Montgomery,  tr.  J.  S.  Blair 

H.  Fosbrook 

Joseph  Henry  Lumpkin 

William  McCaw 

Robert  McDonald 

President,  directors  and  etc.  of  Augusta  stock  as  pledged 
on  loans. 


Number  of  Shares. 
15 


H 
14 
10 
10 
10 
10 
10 

9 
8 

7 
6 
6 
10 
5 
5 
2 

5 
5 
4 
3 
67 
5 

234 


6.000 


Amount  paid  in. 
1,500 
1,400 
1,400 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 
1,000 

900 

800 

700 

600 

600 
1,000 

500 

500 
500 
500 
400 
300 
6,700 
500 

23,400 
$600,000 


By  the  original  act  of  incorporation  the  capital  stock  was  fixed,  as  lias  been 
stated,  at  $300,000;  but  in  1826  the  Legislature  in  extending  the  charter  to 
1 850  authorized  an  increase  of  capital  to  $600,000,  which  will  account  for  above 
total. 

In  1 842  the  Bank  of  Augusta  was  authorized  on  the  sale  of  any  real  or  per- 
sonal property  held  by  it,  to  take  payment  in  cash  or  in  its  own  stock  as  it  might 
prefer;  also  to  take  in  pa\mcnt  its  shares  Inpothecated  for  loans;  also  to  re- 
duce the  number  of  its  directors  to  twelve,  five  to  be  a  quorum,  the  State  to 
have  two  and  the  stockholders  tert  directors. 

In  1845,  the  charter  was  extended  to  May  1,  1870,  and  the  total  amount 
of  its  indebtedness  was  required  never  to  exceed  double  the  amount  of  its 
capital,  the  original  charter  allowing  three  times.  It  was  further  provided  that 
the  individual  property  of  stockholders  should  be  bound  for  the  ultimate  re- 
demption of  the  bank  bill.^  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  shares  held,  and 
that  all  transfers  of  stock  six  months  prior  to  a  failure  of  the  bank  should  be 
void,  and  the  private  property  of  the  transferring  stockholder  be  liable  as  if  no 
such  transfer  had  been  made.  In  1847  this  personal  liability  clause  was  re- 
pealed, and  the  old  rule  15  of  the  charter  restored,  making  the  directors  indi- 
vidually liable  for  over-issues,  unless  dissenting,  as  therein  stated.     The  fur- 

43 


338  History  of  Augusta. 


ther  history  of  this  venerable  bank  we  will  consider  in  the  t^cneral  history  of 
banking  in  Augusta. 

The  other  ante  bcllinn  banks  of  Augusta  were  the  Augusta  Savings  Bank 
incorporated  in  1827;  the  Augusta  Insiu-ance  and  Banking  Company,  also  in- 
corporated in  1827;  the  Merchants  and  Planters  Bank  also  in  1827  ;  the  Me- 
chanics' Bank,  in  1830;  the  Union  Bank,  originally  incorporated  in  1836  as 
the  Bank  of  Brunswick  ;  the  Peoples  Savings  Bank  of  Augusta,  in  1851;  the 
City  Bank,  in  1854;  and  the  Augusta  Savings  Bank,  in  1855.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  war  there  were  in  operation,  the  Bank  of  Augusta;  the  Augusta  Insur- 
ance and  Banking  Company;  the  Mechanics'  Bank;  the  Union  Bank;  and 
the  City  Bank  of  Augusta.  The  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company,  in- 
corporated in  1833  and  a  railroad  company  with  bank  adjunct,  was  also  in 
operation  at  this  time. 

"The  Augusta  Savings  Bank  was  incorporated  in  1827.  The  incorporators 
were  John  Campbell,  Thomas  Cumming,  Samuel  Hale,  Isaac  Henry,  Timothy 
Edwards,  Edward  F.  Campbell,  James  Eraser,  William  W.  Montgomery,  Jo- 
seph Wheeler,  Anderson  Watkins,  Asaph  Waterman,  Augustus  Moore,  Henry 
Cumming,  John  Howard.  William  H.  Turpin,  John  Course,  Richard  Tubman, 
John  Phinizy,  George  Twigg.s,  John  Moore,  and  James  Harper;  and  were  to 
constitute  "the  Board  of  Appointment,"  which  board  was  annually  to  choose 
a  president  and  other  officers  of  the  board  and  seven  managers,  which  mana- 
gers, were  to  elect  from  its  own  membership,  a  president  of  the  bank,  and 
were  to  appoint  a  secretary,  treasurer,  and  other  officers  for  the  institution. 
No  president  or  manager  was  to  receive  any  compensation  for  his  services. 
Deposits  of  not  less  than  two  dollars  were  to  be  received,  and  two  weeks' 
notice  required  before  withdrawal.  Dividends  were  to  be  paid  in  June  and 
December,  "to  be  calculated  only  from  the  first  day  of  January,  April,  July 
and  October  in  each  year,  and  not  having  relation  to  ihc  time  of  deposits 
provided  deposits  shall  be  made  at  any  intermediate  period  between  those 
dates,  nor  shall  interest  be  allowed  for  fractional  parts  of  a  month."  No  mana- 
ger or  officer  was  to  be  allowed  to  borrow  from  the  bank,  nor  was  it  to  accept 
their  endorsement  or  any  security  by  them.  In  reporting  on  this  institution, 
in  1832,  the  Legislative  committee  sa}^ :  "This  differs  from  ordinary  banks;  its 
object  is  essentially  charitable  and,  with  its  benevolence  it  afTords  to  the  im- 
provident practical  lessons  on  economy;  it  holds  out  no  invitation  to  the  capi- 
talist or  office  hunter.  The  management  of  this  institution  reflects  honor  on 
its  philanthropic  directors;  and,  in  confirmation  of  the  disinterestedness  with 
which  it  has  been  managed,  it  is  shown  that  its  expenses,  from  the  commence- 
ment of  its  operations  to  the  present  time,  nearly  three  years,  amount  to  only 
$22.74."  The  charter  of  this  bank  was  perpetual,  but  it  does  not  appear  to 
have  done  business  for  any  considerable  length  of  time,  as  we  find  that,  in 
1852,  Henry  H.  Cumming,  Robert  H.  Gardner,  jr.,  George  Crump,  Gary  F. 


Banks  and  Banking.  339 


Parish,  George  M.  Norton,  J.  II.  Mann,  Cliristopher  C.  Taliaferro,  Robert  F. 
Foe,  Henry  Moore,  James  Harper,  John  Foster,  George  Jackson,  James  Mil- 
ler, Artemas  Gould,  and  John  M.  Adams  were  incorporated  as  "  The  People's 
Savings  Bank,  in  the  city  of  Augusta,"  with  all  the  powers  and  privileges  ot 
the  original  bank,  the  charter  whereof  was  granted  them. 

In  1856,  the  Legislature,  after  a  preamble  which  states  that  "there  exists 
a  class  of  persons  who,  from  their  position  and  want  of  experience,  are  incapa- 
ble of  investing  and  accumulating  their  small  incomes  and  earnings,  and  it  is 
desirable  to  encourage  economical  and  provident  habits  in  all  classes,  and  more 
especially  in  the  young,  the  laboring,  and  the  dependent,"  incorporates  Charles 
J.  Jenkins,  James  Gardner,  jr.,  A.  A.  Beall,  J.  B.  Walker,  W.  A.  Walton,  Ben- 
jamin Conley,  I.  P.  Garvin,  T.  W.  Chichester,  M.  P.  Stovall,  D.  H.  Wilcox,  E. 
B.  Ward,  W,  W.  Alexander,  H.  H.  Hickman,  and  James  Miller  as  "The  Au- 
gusta Savings  Institution."  The  capital  stock  was  $30,000,  increasable  to 
$100,000,  which  stock  was  to  be  "a  fund  pledged  for  the  security  of  deposits." 
"There  shall  be  not  less  than  twelve  or  more  than  fifteen  stockholders,  each 
stockholder  shall  have  absolutely  and  invariably  an  equal  interest  in  the  insti- 
tution." The  institution  could  i;sue  certificates  of  deposit,  but  not  notes  or 
bills  as  a  circulating  medium. 

"The  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Company"  was  incorporated  in  1827, 
the  incorporators  being  Peter  Bennoch,  James  Harper.  John  Bones,  Charles 
Labuzan,  Anderson  Watkins,  Edward  J.  Harden,  W.  W.  Montgomery,  Samuel 
Hale,  and  Abraham  M.  Woolsey.  The  capital  stock  was  not  to  exceed  $500,- 
000,  in  shares  of  $100  each.  For  the  first  twenty  days  after  the  opening  of 
the  books  of  subscription  none  but  citizens  of  Georgia  could  subscribe,  and  no 
citizen  for  more  than  one  hundred  shares;  after  the  expiration  of  that  time, 
any  citizen,  or  body  corporate,  of  the  State  could  subscribe,  without  limit. 
The  company  was  authorized  "  to  insure  property  and  effects  of  every  nature 
and  description,  against  losses  by  fire  and  water,  and  all  other  accidents,  dan- 
gers, and  casualties  for  which  insurance  companies  are  usually  established,  or 
to  buy  or  sell  life  annuities."  Losses  were  made  payable  in  six  months  after 
the  happening  thereof.  If  the  claimant  was  compelled  to  institute  suit,  the 
trial  was  to  be  at  the  first  term,  and  if  the  company  failed  to  satisfy  the  judg- 
ment in  ten  days  after  rendition  thereof,  the  charter  was  forfeitable.  The  com- 
pany was  authorized  to  issue  bills  to  the  amount  of  its  capital  stock,  when  such 
issue  was  authorized  by  a  vote  of  three- fifths  of  the  stock.  By  amendatory 
act  of  1831,  the  issue  of  bills  might  be  doubL-  the  amount  of  the  capital  stock. 
The  charter  was  granted  for  thirty  )-eirs,  or  up  to  December  26,  1857. 

The  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Company  had  scarcely  gotten  under 
way  when  it  was  almost  blotted  out  of  exislcncc  by  the  great  fire  which  deso- 
lated Augusta  in  April,  1829.  This  conflagration  reduced  the  greater  part  of 
the  city  lying  south  of  Monument  street  to  ashes,  and  the  losses  inflicted  a 


340  History  of  Augusta. 


staggering  blow  on  the  new  company.  In  1830  the  bank  committee  reported 
"  that  notwithstanding  the  institution  has  experienced  immense  losses,  at  va- 
rious times,  by  tliat  destructive  element,  fire,  in  that  city,  yet  its  exhibit  shows 
us  an  improved  condition  compared  with  the  same  peiiod  of  last  >ear,  and  we 
think  it  has  the  ability  from  its  present  condition  to  redeem  the  amount  it  has 
in  circulation,  and  will  be  able,  in  time,  to  fulfill  its  obligations  to  the  citizens 
generally." 

In  1 83  I  the  committee  reports  *' that  the  promptitude  with  which  it  has 
settled  its  late  uncommon  losses  entitles  it  to  the  highest  praise."  In  1832  it 
is  reported  "in  a  sound  and  flourishing  eondition." 

In  1833  the  president  of  this  company,  Mr.  Peter  Bennoch,  made  a  report 
to  the  governor  which  is  a  curious  and  interesting  document  in  more  than  one 
respect.  The  year  before  the  Legislature  had  passed  an  act  requiring  the  va- 
rious banks  of  the  State  to  make  certain  detailed  reports  to  the  executive  office 
annually,  under  penalty  of  not  having  their  bills  received  at  the  State  treasury. 
Like  much  of  the  legislation  then,  and  we  might  as  well  add,  since,  this  statute 
was  rather  cloudy  in  expression,  and  Mr.  Bennoch  in  his  report  very  freely  airs 
the  ill  opinion  he  entertained  of  it.  He  says  "  the  unintelligible  ambiguities 
of  the  law  in  question  have  put  at  defiance  a  common  sense  construction  of  its 
provisions;"  and  again,  "the  presumption  seems  natural  that,  during  the  con- 
ception and  maturity  of  the  law,  the  respective  departments  of  the  government 
must  have  been  under  the  influence  of  some  extraordinary  impressions  in  rc- 
gird  to  banking  operations,"  He  adJs  :  "  Your  E.xcellcncy  will  perceive  in 
submitting  the  return  now  made,  on  the  part  of  the  directors  and  officers  of 
this  institution,  an  earnest  desire  to  comply  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the 
law;  should  they  have  failed,  you  will  please  to  impute  it,  not  to  intention, 
but  to  that  dimness  of  legal  vision  which  would  enable  the  judge,  only,  to  re- 
concile and  harmonize  what,  to  ordinary  minds,  must  be  hid  in  impenetrable 
obscurity."  Having  thus  relieved  his  mind,  Mr.  Bennock  submits  his  report, 
saying:  "  it  will  doubtless  afford  to  the  stockholders  a  gratification  almost  un- 
expected to  contrast  the  present  with  the  condition  of  the  office  three  years 
since.  Then  its  stock,  from  extraordinary  losses,  sold  at  half  the  amount  paid 
in  ;  now  it  would  command  thirty  per  cent,  premium."  The  statement  shows 
as  follows : 

Dr. 

To  capital  stock $125.00000 

To  surplus 16.33831 

To  bills  in  circulation 206,399  00 

To  deposits 28, 1 86. 52 

To  dividends  unpaid 9S1.00 

$376,904.83 


Banks  and  Banking.  341 


Cr. 
By  discounts 1,^0  5^,^^ 

By  amounts  due  from  other  banks 130,256.14 

Byspt-cie 44,41921 

By  bills  of  other  banks 29.407  00 

By  amounts  due  for  premiums 2,31 9.97 


$376,904.83 


The  president  vvns  Peter  Bennoch  ;  the  cashier,  Robert  Walton  ;  the  list  of 
stockholders  was  as  follows  : 

Name.  No.  Shares.     Amount  Paid  On. 

A.L.Alexander 100  $     2,500 

W.  J.  Bunce 50  1,250 

Peter  Bennoch je  ^yr 

J.  D.  Beers.  I.  R.  St.  John  &  Co   404  10, 1 00 

John  Bones 25  625 

Estate  of  William  Bones 25  625 

William  Bryson 10  250 

Hays  Bowdre 6c  1,625 

Samuel  Clarke 200  5.000 

Estate  of  John  Campbell 545  13.625 

Phillip  Crump 10  250 

Thomas  Cumming- 200  5.000 

Charles  A.  Crawford 45  ,  ,25 

Thomas  G.  Casey cq  1,250 

John  C.  Carmichael ^o  750 

Robert  Campbell co  i  250 

Edward  Coxe 75  j  g-- 

Nicholas  Delaigle co  1,250 

William  Dearing cq  i  2  50 

John  Fox joo  2,500 

James  Eraser 210  5,250 

Alexander  Graham oi  2  275 

William   Glendenning 25  6'>z 

Samuel  Hale cq  i  250 

J.  and  W.  Harper yj  2(^5- 

Estate  of  Arthur  Harper 100  2,500 

Estate  of  J.  Herbert 10  250 

Andrew  Kerr 100  2,500 

Estate  of  E.  Knight cq  1,250 

J^L.  Kilburn ,55  3875 

Garret  Laurens ^8  050 

G.  M.  Lavender 10  1,250 

William  Harris 7c  i  875 

Juriah  Harris ic  ,7, 

Thomas  N.  Hamilton cq  1,250 

John  Moore joo  2^500 

Andrew  J.  Miller 755  i3  ,2^ 

W.  W.  Montgomery cq  1,250 

Henry  Mealing 25  625 


342 


History  of  Augusta. 


No.  Shares.     Amount  Paid  On. 


Alexander  McKenzie 

Estate  of  H.  Nesl)itt loo 

Thomas  J.  I'armelee   

Samuel  H.  Peck 

Thomas  J.  Parmelee 

Samuel  H    Pfck 

Edward  Quinn 


James  Shannon loo 

Estate  of  Alexander  Spencer 

St  Andrew  Society 

William  H.  Turpin 

Richard  Tubman 

George  O.  White 

Anna  E.  White 

James  Wai dlaw 

James  McDowell 


30 

750 

ICO 

2,500 

80 

2,000 

50 

1,250 

80 

2,0C0 

50 

1,250 

50 

1,250 

100 

2,500 

50 

1,200 

10 

250 

100 

2,500 

150 

3.750 

25 

625 

75 

1,875 

25 

625 

10 

250 

Total  shares $5,000 


$125,000 


In  1852  the  charter  of  the  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Company  was 
extended  to  January  i,  1878;  and  for  a  number  of  years  after  this  extension 
the  company  as  we  will  see  further  on,  continued  to  flourish. 

In  1827,  the  Merchants  and  Planters  Bank  was  incorporated,  Edward 
Thomas.  Joseph  Wheeler,  and  William  Bostwick  being  appointed  commis- 
sioners to  secure  subscriptions  at  Augusta  for  1,1  50  shares;  other  commission- 
ers being  appointed  for  like  purpose  at  other  points  throughout  the  State, 
viz. :  At  Savannah,  for  600  shares;  W^ashington,  Wilkes  count}',  for  i  50  shares; 
Alliens,  50  shares;  Lexington,  100  shares;  Pelersbiirg,  100  shares;  Greens- 
borough,  150  shares;  Milledgeville,  150  shares;  Macon,  100  shares;  Waynes- 
boro, 50  shares;  Louisville,  50  shares;  and  St.  Mary's,  50  shares.  The  capi- 
tal stock  was  to  be  $300,000,  in  shares  of  $200  each,  and  the  charter  was  to 
expire  January  i,  1858.  It  expired  long  before  that.  The  bank  began  busi- 
ness in  May,  1 828;  and,  for  some  years,  received  the  commendation  of  the 
LeL;islati\-c  examining  committee.  In  1830,  it  was  reported  "sound,  and  its 
credit  unimpaired ;  "  in  1831  as  "  entirely  sound;"  in  1832  "  in  a  sound  and 
thriving  condition."  April  10,  1833,  it  suspended  ;  in  December  of  that  year 
the  Legislature  appointed  Nathaniel  W.  C.  Cocke,  Henry  Cook,  and  Robert 
Campbell,  of  Augusta,  to  co-operate  with  a  joint  committee  of  two  from  the 
Senate  and  three  from  the  House,  to  cxam'nc  into  the  circumstances  of  the 
failure.  The  report  of  this  committee  is  curious  reading.  It  first  dilates  on 
the  obstructions  placed  in  the  way  of  a  discharge  of  their  duty:  "The  first 
obtacle  presented  to  the  efficient  discharge  of  those  duties  was  the  unqualified 
refusal  of  the  president  and  directors  of  said  bank  to  submit  their  books  and 
papers  to  the  inspection  of  your  committee.  A  formal  protest  under  their 
order  was  presented,  in  which  the  investigation  directed  by  the  supreme  legis- 


Banks  axd  Banking.  343 


lative  authority  of  the  State  was  denounced  as  'a  proceeding  illegal,  utterly 
subsersive  of  private  right,  and  assumption  of  power  which  under  the  Constitu- 
tion, the  Legislature  cannot  exercise.'     This  lofty  tone  of  presumptuous  defi- 
ance against  the  authority  of  the  highest  tribunal  recognized  by  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  people  of  the  State,  adopted  by   this  banking  interest,  a  mere 
creature  of  the   Legislature,  and   owing  every  moment  of  its  existence  to  the 
forbearance  of  that  body,  seemed  well  to  become  the  arrogance  of  an  inflated 
aristocracy,  more  gratified  at  the  possession  of  power  to  abuse,  than  respect  to 
those  whose  interests  are  afifected  by  its  exercise  for  the  virtuous  use  of  it,  and 
placed    in  bold    relief  the  shameless   desperation    which    violated    confidence, 
fraught  with  its  excesses,  was  capable  of  assuming."     The  committee  then 
proceeds  to  say  that  it  overruled  the  protest,  and  ordered  the  president  and 
directors  to  appear  before  them  and  to  produce  the  books  of  the  bank.      In 
answer  to  this  those  officials  replied  that  the  books  had  been  deposited  in  the 
bank,  not  to  be  removed  except  on  an  order  of  the  board  of  directors ;  and  as 
there  was  now  no  such  board  they  could  not  be  produced  by  them,  they  be- 
ing now  mere  private  individuals.     This  showing  also  was  overruled,  and  the 
books  ordered  to  be  produced  ;  and,  further,  the  recalcitiant  officials  were  or- 
dered  to  show  cause  why  they  should  not  be  attached   for  refusing  to  attend 
and  testify  in  person,  as  ordered.      On  this,  the  recusants  protested   the  whole 
investigation  was  illegal  and  unconstitutional,  as  before,  and  prayed  the  bene- 
fit of  counsel  to  make  their  defense.      At  the  prospect  of  a  dozen  lawyers  be- 
ing let  loose  upon  them,  the  committee  somewhat  receded  from  their  high 
ground,  saying,  "  to  have  done  this  would  necessarily  have  consumed   much 
time  which  was  not  to  spare,  as  the  committee  was  to  report  to  the  Legislature 
then  in  session."      Accordingly  the  committee  confined  itself  to  an   examina- 
tion of  a  large  number  of  other  witnesses,  and   reported  their  concluMons  as 
follows:   In  the  first  place  they  say  "  the  Merchants  and   Planters  Bank  never 
did  have  any  legal  existence  whatever."      By  the  charter,  directors  were  not  to 
be  elected  until  gold  and  silver  coin  to  the  amount  of  twenty  per  cent,  of  the 
subscription  had  been  received.      No  such  payment  had   been   made.      Bank 
notes  had  been  deposited  in  the  State  Bank,  and  certificates  of  deposit,  as  of 
specie,  had  been  requested  and  received,  these  certificates  being  used  in  ord.>r 
to  show  the  same  to  the  governor  as  evidence  that  the  bank  had  the  amount  of 
specie  required  for  it  to  begin  operations.     In  the  next  place  the  committee  found 
that,  whereas  the  charter  required  all  discounts  to  be  passed  on  by  at  least 
five,  directors,  it  was  a  common  practice  for  the  president,  or  the  president  and 
cashier,  or  a  less  number  of  directors  than  five,  to  make  discounts.     Another 
violation  of  the  charter  was  that  non-stockholders  were  made  directors.      The 
causes  of  the  bank's  failure  are  then  considered.      It  had  no  capital ;   the  stock 
was  largely  represented  by  the  notes  of  stockholders;  the  bulk  of  discounts 
were  made  to  the  president  and  three  directors.     This  quartette  had  half  a 


344  History  of  Augusta. 


million  of  their  paper  in  the  bank  ;  all  other  debts  due  it  were  but  $8o.OOO. 
Tlic  committee  say  they  cannot  see  how,  with  such  a  state  of  things  existing, 
the  credit  of  the  bank  stood  so  high.  Its  stock  was  130.  and  its  regular  divi- 
dend eight  per  cent.  In  1829  it  reported  a  reserved  fund  and  undivided  pro- 
fits of  $14,944 ;  in  1830.  of  $27,668  ;  in  1831,  of  $44,418;  in  1832,  of  $23,- 
060;  and  within  a  few  days  of  its  failure,  $418,803  debit  and  $659,981  credit, 
and  yet  its  stock  was  then  66  per  cent,  below  par.  The  committee  finds  that 
in  April,  1833,  the  bank  had  $393,000  of  its  bills  in  circulation,  in  December 
of  that  year  but  $98,000.  The  difference,  $205,000,  had  been  passed  out  to 
the  president  and  directors  on  their  own  notes  ;  they  had  gotten  what  they 
could  for  them  ;  and  when  the  bills,  came  back  the  bank  failed.  Down  went 
the  bills,  and  the  evidence  was  that  those  who  had  thus  set  them  afloat  at  par, 
brought  them  in  at  66  per  cent,  discount.  The  committee  further  report  that 
a  loan  of  $ioo,000  was  offered  this  bank  by  the  State  Bank,  if  it  would  allow 
two  disinterested  and  skillful  persons  to  examine  its  affairs,  and  they  should 
report  it  solvent,  which  was  declined.  The  committee  recommended  that  the 
bills  of  the  Merchants'  and  Planters'  Bank,  should  never  be  thereafter  received 
at  the  State  Treasury,  and  that  the  attorney-general  be  directed  to  proceed  to 
forfeit  the  charter  thereof,  which  was  so  ordered. 

The  Mechanics'  Bank  was  incorporated  in  1830,  the  incorporators  being 
John  Phinizy.  Amory  Sibley,  Ji'hn  H.  Mann,  Moses  Roff.  jr.,  William  W.  Mont- 
gomer)',  Alfred  Cunmiing,  Jesse  Kent,  George  R.  Roimtrte,  and  George  L. 
Griggs.  The  capital  stock  was  $200,000,  increasable  to  $400,000,  in  shares  of 
$100  each.  Subscriptions  were  to  be  paid  as  follows:  Two- per  cent,  cash  at 
time  of  subscribing,  eight  percent,  at  the  expiration  of  sixty  days,  ten  percent, 
at  the  expiiation  of  sixty  days  more,  and  the  balance  at  such  limes  thereafter 
as  the  directors  may  require.  For  non-payment,  the  shares,  and  all  amounts 
paid  thereon,  were  forfeitable  to  the  bank.  There  were  to  be  nine  directors, 
and  the  instiution  was  to  go  into  operation  when  twenty-one  per  cent,  of  sub- 
scriptions sliould  have  been  p.^id  in,  in  specie.  Stockholdeis  were  to  have  one 
vote  for  each  share,  but  no  share  was  to  be  voted  unless  held  bona  fide  for  three 
months  prior  to  the  election  by  the  person  voting  the  same.  Five  directors 
were  to  be  a  quorum  and  every  twenty  stockholders  owning  two  hundred 
shares  could  call  a  stockholders'  meeting  on  sixty  days'  notice  in  thecit\'  papers 
of  Augusta  specifying  the  objects  of  the  meeting  in  the  call.  The  bank  was 
not  to  contract  debts  by  bill  or  otherwise  beyond  three  times  the  amount  of  its 
capital,  and  the  stockholders  were  personally  liable  for  such  debts.  The  char- 
ter was  to  expire  January  i,  i860,  and  *'  the  said  bank  shall  be  established  at 
such  place  as  may  be  determined  on  by  the  directors  below  W.ishington  street 
in  the  said  city  of  Augusta."  The  granite  building  erected  b}'  this  bank  still 
stands  on  the  north  side  of  Broad  street  a  few  doors  east  of  Washington  street. 
At  the  close  of  the  war  it  was  used  as  headquarters  for  the  Federal  post- com- 


Banks  and  Banking.  345 

mandant  of  Augusta,  and  after  many  mutations,  is  now  a  hospital  for  the  ren- 
ovation of  disabled  cooking  stoves — sic  transit. 

In  1832  this  bank  was  reported  as  manifesting  "a  prudent  and  cautious 
management."  In  1833  it  was  reported  "in  a  solvent  condition  and  deserving 
confidence  of  the  people."    Its  statement  of  April  i,  1833,  makes  the  following: 

Dr. 

To  capital  stock  paid  in $200,000.00 

To  bills  in  circulation 194.439.00 

To  reserve  fund 8, 601. "2 

To  deposits 18,429.31 

$421,469.63 

Cr. 

By  specie  in  vaults $  76,403.21 

By  United  States  Bank  notes 10,295.00 

By  notes  of  other  banks 20,977.00 

By  amounts  due  from  other  banks 47,073.99 

By  exchange 119,70084 

By  discounts 122,003.96 

By  discounts,  protested  and  in  suit 3,528.69 

By  discounts,  protested  and  not  in  suit 1 1,333.47 

By  protest  account i  o  00 

By  current  expenses 2  277.08 

By  banking  house  and  lot 7,863  36 

$421,469.63 

By  the  next  semi-annual  report  the  debits  and  credits  were  $448,880.70. 
The  specie  was  $42,172.54;  issue,  $206,363.  The  bank  had  been  robbed  of 
$5,428.     Fielding  Bradford  was  president,  and  George  W.  Lamar,  cashier. 

The  list  of  stockholders  of  the  Mechanics'  Bank  in  1833  was  as  follows  : 

Name.                                                                     No.  Shares.     Amount  Paid  In. 

Richard  Allen,  Augusta 12                $     1,200 

John  M.  Adams,  Augusta 10                         100 

Fielding  Bradford,  Augusta 160  16,000 

Edward  Bustin,  Augusta lo  1,000 

J.  D.  Beers,  1.  R.  St.  John  &  Co.,  Augusta 35  3,500 

A.  Gumming,  Augusta 10  1,000 

R.  Campbell,  James  Fraser  and  James  Harper  tr.,  estate 

Jno.  Campbell,  Augusta 390  39,000 

Thomas  G.  Casey,  Augusta 36  3,600 

Samuel  Clarke,  Augusta 35  -i  500 

Jacob  Dill,  Augusta 5                         coo 

John  W.  Downing,  Philadelphia 40  4,000 

Major  A.  C.  W.  Fanning,  New  York 15  1,500 

John  B.  Guieu,  Augusta 25  2,500 

James  Hubbard,  Augusta 10  1,000 

Samuel  Hale,  Augusta 20  2,000 

Juriah  Harris,  Columbia  county,  Ga 30  3.000 

44 


346 


History  of  Augusta. 


No.  Sliaies. 

Isaac  Henry,  cashier,  Augusta 120 

Marshall  Keith,  Columbia  county,  Ga 135 

G.  B.  Lamar,  Savannah 32 

James  Lampkin,  Columbia  county,  Ga   10 

G.  B.  Marshall,  Augusta 10 

William  A.  Mitchell,  Augusta 55 

Elisha  Martin 15 

Musgrove  &  Bustin,  Augusta 1 50 

William  H.  Morgan  &  Co.,  Augusta   no 

Robert  McDonald,  Augusta 10 

George  M.  Newton.  Augusta 50 

M.  E.  Phinizy,  Augusta 5 

A.  P.  Pillot,  Augusta 50 

R.  F.  Poe,  tr..  M.  O.  Longstreet,  Augusta 25 

George  H    Paddock,  Augusta 10 

Moses  Ruff,  jr.,  Augusta  20 

Lucy  Smith,  Abbeville,  S.  C   100 

Joel  Smith,  Abbeville,  S.  C 75 

John  Smith,  Laurens,  S.  C 60 

L  S.  Tuttle,  Augusta 60 

E  B.  Webster,  Augusta 50 


Amount  Paid  In. 
12.000 
13.500 

3.200 

1,000 

1,000 

5.500 

1,500 
15,000 

I T ,000 

1,000 

5,000 
500 

5,000 

2,500 

1,000 

2,000 
10,000 

7.500 

6,000 

6,000 

5,000 


$200,000 


In  1836  the  Mechanics'  Bank  was  authorized  to  increase  its  capital  stock  to 
$1,000,000,  but  in  1841  was  empowered  to  reduce  same  to  $500,000. 

In  1854  the  charter  of  the  bank  was  extended  to  January  i,  1880,  and  the 
capital  stock  was  authorized  to  be  increased  to  $1,000,000.  The  bank  was 
given  a  lien  on  the  stock  of  any  stockholder  for  debts  due  by  him  to  the  bank 
as  principal,  security,  guarantee,  drawer,  acceptor,  or  endorser.  The  personal 
liability  clause  was  re-enacted,  and  no  transfer  of  stock  within  six  months  of 
failure  of  the  bank  should  relieve  a  stockholder. 

The  Union  Bank  was  originally  incorporated  in  1836  as  the  Bank  of  Bruns- 
wick. The  capital  stock  was  $200,000,  increaseable  on  the  completion  of  the 
Brunswick  and  Altamaha  Canal,  to  $i,coo,ooo,  and  on  the  completion  of  the 
Brunswick  and  Florida  Railroad  from  Brunswick  to  the  Apalachicola  River,  to 
$3,000,000.  The  voting  power  of  stock  was  regulated  something  after  the 
fashion  of  the  Bank  of  Augusta,  viz.:  For  one  share,  one  vote;  for  two  shares, 
and  not  exceeding  five,  two  votes  ;  and  for  every  five  shares  above  five,  one 
vote ;  but  no  person,  or  body  corporate,  was  to  have  more  than  thirty  votes, 
and  no  stock  could  be  voted  which  had  been  transferred  three  months  prior  to 
the  election.  The  subscriptions  were  to  be  in  specie,  and  the  bills  of  the  bank, 
the  issue  of  which  was  not  to  exceed  three  times  the  amount  of  the  paid  in 
capital,  were  to  be  paid  on  demand  in  specie  under  penalty  of  forfeiture  of 
charter.  The  personal  liability  clause  was  inserted,  and  it  was  provided  "that 
the  United  States  Bank,  now  located  in  Pennsylvania,  shall  hold  no  stock  in 
said  company." 


Banks  and  Banking. 


347 


In  1842  the  Bank  of  Brunswick  was  authorized  to  remove  to  Augusta  and 
there  exercise  all  the  privileges  of  its  charter,  save  that  the  capital  was  not  to 
be  increased  beyond  its  then  present  amount,  $200,000. 

In  1850  this  restriction  was  removed,  and  it  was  provided  that  the  stock 
might  be  increased  to  $500,000,  and  that  each  stockholder  should  have  one 
vote  for  each  share  by  him  held. 

In  1854  the  name  was  authorized  to  be  changed  from  the  Bank  of  Bruns- 
wick to  the  Union  Bank,  the  charter  otherwise  to  remain  the  same,  save  that 
the  personal  liability  clause  was  amended  so  as  to  continue  such  liability  on 
holders  of  the  stock  tiansferred  within  six  months  of  a  failure  of  the  bank. 

The  Peoples'  Saving  Bank,  incorporated  in  1852,  has  already  been  men- 
tioned. 

The  next  bank  incorporated  in  Augusta  was  the  City  Bank,  chartered  in 
1854.  The  incorporators  were  Ignatius  P.  Garvin,  Henry  C.  Seymour,  Ben- 
jamin Conley,  Wiiliam  H.  Stark,  and  Charles  S.  Baker.  The  capital  stock  was 
$200,000,  increaseable  to  $500,000.  The  charter  was  to  expire  January  i, 
1880;  there  were  to  be  five  directors;  each  share  of  stock  was  to  have  one  vote; 
the  debts  were  never  to  exceed  three  times  the  amount  of  the  capital  paid  in, 
and  no  bills  were  to  be  issued  until  $50,000  had  been  bona  fide  paid  in  in  specie. 
The  directors  were  personally  liable  for  the  whole  of  any  over  issue,  and  the 
stockholders  liable  in  proportion  to  their  shares. 

The  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company  was  originally  incorporated  in 
1833  as  the  Georgia  Railroad  Company  for  the  purpose  of  a  railroad  communi- 
cation between  the  city  of  Augusta  and  some  point  in  the  interior  of  the  State 
to  be  agreed  upon  by  the  stockholders,  with  branch  roads  to  Athens,  Eatonton, 
and  Madison.  In  this  charter  it  was  provided  that  "  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the 
company  from  time  to  time  to  invest  so  much,  or  such  parts  of  their  capital,  or 
of  their  profils  as  may  not  be  required  for  immediate  use,  and  until  it  may  be 
so  required,  in  public  stock  of  the  United  States,  or  of  this  State,  or  any  incor- 
porated bank,  or  lend  the  same  out  at  interest  on  good  security,  and  draw  and 
apply  the  dividends,  and  when,  and  as  they  shall  see  fit,  sell  and  transfer  any 
parts  or  portion  thereof,  provided  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  so  con- 
strued as  to  authorize  said  company  to  issue  bills  of  credit  or  to  loan  out  any 
moneys  at  a  greater  rate  of  interest  than  eight  per  cent." 

The  capital  was  fixed  at  $1,500,000,  but  it  was  provided  that  "the  said 
company  shall  be  at  liberty  to  enlarge  their  capital  as  in  the  progress  of  their 
undertaking  they  may  find  necessary,  and  that  either  by  additional  assessments 
on  the  original  shares,  not  to  exceed  in  the  whole  the  sum  of  twenty  dollars  in 
addition  to  each  original  share,  or  by  opening  books  for  enlarging  their  capital 
by  new  subscriptions  in  shares  of  not  more  than  one  hundred  dollars,  so  as  to 
make  their  capital  adequate  to  the  works  they  undertake.'' 

In  1835  the  corporate  name  was  changed  to  that  now  borne,  the  Georgia 


34!^  History  of  Augusta. 

Railroad  and  Banking  Company;  the  capital  stock  was  fixed  at  $2,000,000, 
"  one-fourth  of  which,  applied  to  banking  purposes,  shall  be  gold  or  silver  coin, 
in  shares  of  one  hundred  dollars  each,  of  which  capital  one- half  may  be  used 
for  banking  purposes,  and  not  more  until  the  completion  of  the  road  to  Athens 
and  one  of  the  southern  branches  through  Greensborough,  to  be  designated  by 
the  stockholders,  at  which  time  any  capital  stock  unemployed  may  be  used  for 
banking  purposes."  The  railroad  was  directed  to  be  completed  by  December 
18,  1840,  and  the  banking  privileges  were  to  expire  on  December  18,  1865,  or 
twenty- five  years  thereafter.  The  company  was  empowered  to  issue  bills,  not 
to  exceed  three  times  the  amount  of  the  banking  capital  allowed.  By  the  last 
section  of  this  amendatory  act  it  was  provided  "  that  no  foreigner  either  di- 
rectly, or  indirectly,  shall  own  stock  in  the  said  railroad  or  bank  ;  and  if  any 
foreigner  shall  own  stock  in  anywise,  the  same  shall  be  forfeited  to  the  State." 
In  1840  this  was  modified  so  as  to  allow  foreigners  to  own  stock,  provided  it 
did  not  amount  in  the  aggregate  to  one-third  of  the  entire  stock.  In  1849  the 
stock  was  increased  to  $5,000,000,  but  it  was  provided  that  the  banking  cap- 
ital should  not  be  increased  beyond  the  amount  then  authorized  by  the  char- 
ter, namely  $1,000,000. 

In  1865  the  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company  was  authorized  to 
close  up  its  banking  business,  the  term  of  that  privilege  expiring,  as  has  been 
stated,  in  1865.  In  1870  the  banking  privileges  under  the  act  of  1835,  ^"d 
acts  amendatory  thereof,  were  renewed  and  extended  to  October  19,  1900. 

We  here  present  a  statement  of  amotmt  of  capital  stock  of  this  company, 
and  dividends  paid  thereon  from  1836  to  1847;  from  which,  by  bearing  in 
mind  the  ratio  of  banking  to  entire  capital  as  prescribed  by  the  charter,  can  be 
seen  how  the  banking  department  prospered  during  that  period.  From  1847 
to  the  lapse  of  the  banking  privilege  in  1865,  a  fuller  account  can  be  given  : 

Date  of  Dividend.                                       Capital  Stock.  Dividend. 

November,  1836 $    858,615.00  $  26,018.00 

February,  1837 1,170.715.00  41,452.80 

October,  1837.. 1,434,405.00  53,962.54 

April,  1838 1,910.215.00  70,492.90 

October,  1838 2,011.895.00  80.300.96 

April,  1839 2,116,810.00  84.178.00 

January,  1840 2.143.317.00  86.234.68 

April.  1840 2,193.952.00  86.513.48 

April,  1842 2,201.612.00  230,161.20 

January,  1846 2.288,449  92  45,768.88 

October,  1846 2,289199.92  45.783.99 

April,  1847 2,289,199.92  45.783.99 

From  this  period  can  be  given  the  total  amount  of  capital  of  the  company, 
and  amount  of  gross  receipts  of  banking  department : 


Banks  and  Banking. 


349 


Year.  Total  Capital.         Bank  Receipts. 

1847 .$2,289,199  $5-1-761 

1849 2,262,497  26, 1 1 5 

1850   4,000,000  50, 1 59 

1851 4,000,000  55.485 

1852 4,000,000  63,661 

1853 4,000,000  95.887 

1856 4,156,000  108,441 

1857 4,156,000  204.881 

1859 4,156,000  134.324 

i860 4,156,000  104,124 

1861 4,156,000  185.209 

1 862 4, 1 56,000  1 50,686 

1S63 4,156,000  435.191 

1864 4,156,000  601,592 

The  deposits,  discounts,  and  circulation  for  the  same  period  are  as  follows: 

Year.  Deposits. 

1847 $112,004 

1849 62,762 

1850 122,666 

1851 163,0:2 

1852 214,552 

1853 72,276 

1856 53,209 

1857 214,101 

1859 • 252,939 

i860 289,114 

1861 290,018 

1862 804,667 

1863 626,849 

1864 99,844 

Having  thus  given  some  account  of  the  particular  banks  existing  in  Au- 
gusta in  ante  belhim  times,  we  now  proceed  to  a  statement  of  the  banking  sys- 
tem as  regulated  by  law. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  banking  in  Augusta,  as  else- 
where throughout  the  State,  was  conducted  in  a  very  loose  and  irregular  way. 
It  was  then  supposed  one  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  citizen  to  set  up  a 
bank  at  pleasure,  issue  such  bills  as  he  saw  fit,  and  financier  generally  at  his 
own  good  will.  The  consequence  was  that  the  country  was  overrun  with  mush- 
room banks  and  irresponsible  paper  currency.  The  need  of  a  better  plan  was 
sorely  felt  in  Savannah  and  Augusta,  and  accordingly  the  Planters'  Bank  was 
incorporated  in  the  former  city  in  1807,  and  the  bank  of  Augusta  in  the  latter 
in  1 8 10.  The  good  effect  of  these  regular  organizations  was  soon  manifest,  and 
in  18 1 5  the  Legislature  began  to  take  steps  toward  the  suppression  of  the  guer- 
rilla style  of  banking  above  mentioned.      It  was  enacted  that  it  should  not  be 


Discounts. 

Circulation, 

$297,447 

$    376,446 

279,844 

388,330 

500,663 

566,318 

365.832 

657,227 

412,183 

921,654 

578,(59 

1,145,130 

308,778 

1.233,115 

902,206 

1,115.596 

654.799 

1,293.618 

549.295 

1,069.579 

685,349 

1,651,455 

593.375 

1,065.225 

559,066 

1,054,861 

181,319 

1,005,668 

350  History  of  Augusta. 


lawful  for  any  association  or  company  of  persons  not  having  a  charter  author- 
izing them  so  to  do,  to  issue  "any  engraved  note  or  bill,  intended  to  represent 
a  bank  note,  for  the  sum  of  two  dollars,  or  for  any  greater  sum."  The  act  also 
stated  that  "a  practice  pernicious  to  the  community  has  prevailed  with  cor- 
porate bodies,  companies,  and  individuals  in  this  State,  of  putting  in  circulation 
small  notes,  or  due  bills,  to  supply  a  deficiency  of  change;  which  pernicious 
practice  is  calculated  to  defeat  the  object  it  proposes  to  remedy  by  expelling 
from  circulation  the  small  coins,  and  is  productive  of  other  serious  evils,"  where- 
fore it  was  provided  that  any  person,  body  politic  or  corporate,  other  than  the 
incorporated  banks  of  the  State  issuing  "any  engraved  or  printed  note,  due 
bill,  ticket,  or  change  bill  evidencing  or  intending  to  evidence  that  any  sum 
less  than  two  dollars  is  due,"  should  forfeit  three  times  the  amount  thereof, 
"  such  recovery  to  be  had  by  warrant  or  summons  before  a  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  on  the  trial  of  every  such  warrant  or  summons,  if  the  note,  due  bill,  ticket, 
or  change  bill  be  in  part  or  whole  engraved  or  printed,  it  shall  be  conclusive 
evidence  of  an  intention  to  violate  this  act."  The  emitters  of  all  such  bills  then 
out  were  to  pay  a  tax  of  twenty  per  cent,  thereon,  or  in  default,  be  subject  to 
a  penalty  of  treble  the  amount  of  the  bill. 

It  is  sad  to  relate  that  Augusta  felt  the  weight  of  this  statute  with  special 
force.  The  city  council  and  the  Change  Company  of  Augusta  were  found  to 
have  been  issuing  shin  plasters  at  a  terrific  rate,  and  a  special  act  was  passed 
for  their  pardon  on  condition  of  paying  the  tax  on  their  issues  in  ten  days. 

In  1818  the  Legislature  essayed  to  lay  the  ax  to  the  root  of  the  old  vol- 
untary system.  It  was  enacted  that,  from  and  after  January  i,  1820,  no  per- 
son, association  of  persons,  or  body  corporate  should  keep  any  place  of  business 
for  carrying  on  any  kind  of  banking  operation  which  incorporated  banks  were 
allowed  by  their  charter  to  conduct,  or  issue,  emit,  circulate,  lend,  pass,  pay, 
or  tender  in  payment,  as  private  bankers,  any  bills  or  promissory  notes  of  pri- 
vate bankers,  incorporated  or  unincorporated  banks  or  banking  companies,  co- 
partnership, or  association,  by  whatsoever  name  called,  unless  thereunto  spe- 
cially authorized  by  law.  If  any  person  or  persons,  co-partnership,  association 
or  corporation  should  contravene  these  provisions,  such  person  and  every  indi- 
vidual member  of  such  copartnership,  assoc  iation,  or  body  corporate  should 
forfeit  the  sum  of  $1,000  for  each  infraction,  each  day  such  unauthorized  bank 
was  kept  open,  and  each  note  issued,  etc.,  to  be  a  distinct  offense.  The  act 
also  required  that  by  the  time  named,  all  private  bank  notes  then  out  should 
be  redeemed,  on  demand,  in  specie,  or  notes  of  incorporated  banks  of  the  State, 
or  bear  interest  at  the  rate  of  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  per  month  until  paid, 
and  that,  for  any  note  under  one  dollar  issued  without  authority  of  law  a  pen- 
alty of  $100  should  be  incurred. 

This  act  dealt  a  severe  blow  to  private  banking,  but  the  issuing  of  change 
bills  was  kept  up,  and  by  acts  passed  in    1829  and   1830  it  was  declared  that 


Banks  and  Banking.  ^r. 


on  all  change  bills  put  in  circulation  without  a  charter  a  tax  of  fifty  per  cent 
should  be  collected,  and  that  for  each  issual  a  fine  of  not  less  than  fifty  nor 
more  than  five  hundred  dollars  should  be  imposed.  To  stimulate  prosecutions 
It  was  provided  in  these  acts,  as  in  that  of  1818.  that  half  the  amount  of  the 
penalty  should  ^o  to  the  informer. 

In  1832  the  Legislature,  reciting  that  "  the  circulation  of  bank  bills  of  a 
small  denonnnation  has  been  productive  of  fraud  and  loss  to  the  public  and 
has  a  tendency  to  prevent  or  retard  the  general  and  speedy  restoration  of  a 
specie  currency,"  enacted  that  the  chartered  banks  should  not  issue  any  notes 
of  a  less  denomination  of  five  dollars.  The  penalty  was  $100.  and  each  bill  a 
separate  offense.  In  1835  the  Legislature,  reciting  that  the  act  of  1832  "  has 
manifestly  benefited  the  circulating  medium,"  enacted  that  the  banks  should 
not  issue  any  notes  "other  than  of  the  denomination  of  five  dollars  ten  dol- 
lars, twenty  dollars,  fifty  dollars,  hundreds  of  dollars  or  thousands  of  dollars  " 
under  a  penalty  of  $500.  In  1842  they  were  allowed  to  issue  small  bills  of  the 
denomination  of  one.  two,  three,  and  four  dollars,  to  an  amount  not  exceeding 
five  per  cent,  of  their  capital  stock. 

In  1832  failure  to  redeem  a  bank  note  in  specie  on  demand  was  visited  with 
a  penalty  of  ten  per  cent.  In  1840  it  was  enacted  that  such  failure  should  ren- 
der the  charter  forfeitable.  In  1 832  it  was  also  enacted  that  the  banks  should 
make  semi-annual  reports  to  the  governor.  On  failure,  their  notes  were  to  be 
refused  at  the  State  treasury,  and  the  governor  was  to  publish  their  names  in 
the  papers  of  Milledgeville.  then  the  State  capital.  The  report  was  required 
to  state  "  the  amount  of  bills  on  other  banks  of  this  State;  the  amount  of  gold 
silver,  and  bullion  in  their  vaults ;  the  amount  of  debts  due  them  at  the  North' 
or  elsewhere,  which  may  be  denominated  specie  funds;  the  amount  of  active' 
or  running  paper,  the  amount  in  suit,  the  amount  under  protest,  and  not  in 
suit,  and  clearly  stating  what  amount  of  all  the  debts  due  the  bank  is  consid- 
ered good,  what  amount  doubtful,  and  what  amount  is  considered  bad  and  lost 
to  the  bank,  the  amount  of  issues  ;  the  amount  of  bills  in  circulation  ;  and  the 
amount  of  bills  of  said  bank  in  circulation  under  the  name  of  deposits;  and  the 
highest  amount  due  and  owing  by  the  bank." 

By  act  of  1837  no  bank  was  to  issue  any  paper  for  circulation  made  pay- 
able at  a  longer  time  than  three  days  from  date,  or  redeemable  otherwise  than 
in  specie,  under  a  penalty  of  $1,000  for  each  offense. 

In  1838  the  Legislature  passed  "  an  act  to  authorize  the  business  of  bank- 
mg.  and  to  regulate  the  same."  commonly  known  as  the  free  banking  law 
Ihe  system  established  by  this  statute  is  in  some  particulars  much  like  the  na- 
tional bank  act.  It  provided  for  a  commission  consisting  of  the  comptroller- 
general  and  two  commissioners  chosen  by  the  Legislature  to  operate  the  act 
Ihe  commission  was  to  prepare  a  quantity  of  engraved  bank  notes  in  blank  of 
the  denominations  then  allowed  by  law  which   were  to  be  countersioned  'by 


352  History  of  Augusta. 


registers  appointed  by  the  commission,  numbered  and  registered.  Then  any 
person  or  association  of  persons  desiring  to  do  a  banking  business  was  to  draw 
up  and  file  in  the  office  of  the  clerk  of  the  Superior  Court,  where  the  business 
was  to  be  done,  a  certificate  setting  out  the  name  of  the  proposed  association ; 
the  place  where  it  proposed  to  conduct  operations  ;  the  amount  of  capital  stock 
(which  was  not  to  be  less  than  $100,000)  and  number  of  shares  proposed;  the 
name,  residence,  and  number  of  shares  of  each  stockholder;  the  time  at  which 
the  association  was  to  begin,  and  the  period  for  which  it  proposed  to  continue, 
the  act  making  the  maximum  term  twenty  years.  A  copy  of  this  certificate 
was  to  be  furnished  the  commission,  and  the  applicants  were  to  deposit  with  it 
certain  kinds  of  securities  set  out  in  the  act  commensurate  in  amount  with  the 
number  of  bills  desired. 

The  following  securities  might  be  furnished:  first,  any  stocks  or  bonds  of 
the  United  States  or  the  State  of  Georgia,  or  of  any  other  State,  if  approved 
by  the  commissioner,  any  stock  offered  to  be  equal  to  a  State  stock  producing 
five  per  cent.  If  this  kind  of  security  were  deposited,  the  commissioner  was 
to  issue  the  incorporators  an  equal  amount  of  registered  notes,  the  same  to 
have  stamped  upon  their  face  "Secured  by  the  pledge  of  public  stocks."  Sec- 
ondly, the  incorporators  might  deposit  bonds  and  mortgages  upon  real  estate, 
bearing  at  least  six  per  cent.  Such  morgages  were  only  to  be  taken  when  on 
unincumbered  lands  in  Georgia,  worth  independently  of  the  buildings  thereon, 
at  least  double  the  amount  of  bills  desired  on  the  pledge  thereof,  and  the  com- 
missioners were  to  investigate  title  and  value.  In  the  event  this  kind  of  se- 
curity being  accepted,  the  bills  were  to  be  stamped,  "  Secured  by  pledges  of 
real  estate."  Thirdly,  the  incorporators  might  offer  bond  and  mortgage  on 
land,  town  property,  and  negroes,  in  which  case  the  negroes  were  not  to  ex- 
ceed one-half  the  security,  and  the  total  amount  of  such  deposit  was  to  be  four- 
fold the  number  of  bills  required.  In  this  case  the  bills  were  to  be  stamped, 
"  Secured  by  the  pledge  of  real  and  personal  property."  On  the  deposit  of 
the  security  the  commission  was  to  issue  bills  to  the  proper  amount  to  the  in-  ' 
corporators,  who  were  thereupon  authorized  to  fill  out  the  notes,  the  president, 
or  vice  president,  and  cashier  signing,  put  them  in  circulation  and  do  a  gen- 
eral banking  business.  On  failure  to  redeem  a  note,  in  specie,  on  demand, 
and  during  banking  hours,  i.  e.  between  nine  and  two,  the  bill  holder  was  to 
protest  same  and  file  the  protest  in  the  controller-general's  office,  whereupon 
the  commission  was  to  call  on  the  bank  tp  redeem  same.  If  not  done  is  si.xty 
da\s  thereafter  the  commission  was  to  convert  the  deposit  into  cash,  notify  all 
bill  holders  to  come  in  and  pay  them  out  of  proceeds  of  the  sale.  Incorpora- 
tions under  this  act  were  to  make  semi-annual  reports  in  April  and  October 
setting  out  their  capital  ;  value  of  real  estate;  number  and  value  of  shares, 
stating  how  many  held  as  collateral  ;  debts  due  to  and  by  tiie  corporation  ; 
disputed   claims   against  it ;  circulation,  losses,  and  dividends  since  preceding 


Banks  and  Banking.  353 


statement ;  monthly  average  of  debts,  specie,  and  circulation  ;  and  increase  of 
capital,  if  any.  This  report  was  to  be  published  in  the  county  where  the  cor- 
poration was  doing  business,  and  failure  to  make  statement,  or  violation  of 
any  requirement  of  the  law,  operated  a  loss  of  franchise.  In  addition  to  the 
regular  reports,  any  creditors  or  stockholders  representing  $5,000  could  ob- 
tain an  order  from  the  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  for  an  examination  and  re- 
port by  an  expert  of  the  state  of  affairs,  or  the  commission  could  make  exam- 
ination. In  1841  this  act  was  so  amended  as  to  require  only  so  much  of  the 
deposits  to  be  sold  as  were  necessary  to  satisfy  the  protested  bills. 

In  1837  ^'^  the  banks  in  Augusta  succumbed  to  the  panic  which  swept 
over  the  United  States  in  that  year,  and  suspended  specie  payments.  But 
three  banks  in  the  State,  the  Central  Bank,  the  Columbus  Bank,  and  the  In- 
surance Bank  of  Columbus  withstood  the  storm.  In  1836  three-fourths  of 
Georgia's  quota  of  the  surplus  revenue  of  the  United  States,  or  $1,051,421.09 
had  been  received  and  deposited  in  the  Central  Bank  and  this  measurably  re- 
lieved the  general  distress.  The  blow,  however,  was  a  severe  one.  The  banks 
remained  suspended,  and  the  act  of  1840  was  passed  to  coerce  a  resumption 
of  specie  payments,  under  penalty  of  dissolution.  The  law  officers  of  the 
State  were  busy  forfeiting  charters.  The  banks  claimed  the  act  of  1840  un- 
constitutional, and  in  1841,  the  penalties  claimed  to  have  been  incurred  were 
remitted  on  condition  of  resumption  by  January  i,  1842. 

Twenty  years  after  the  panic  of  1837,  another  period  of  financial  distress 
occurred.  The  Legislature  of  1857  suspended  the  operation  of  the  act  of 
1840,  which  forfeited  the  charter  of  a  bank  for  suspension  of  specie  payments, 
until  November  15,  1858.  The  act  was  vetoed  by  the  then  executive,  Gov- 
ernor Brown,  and  while  repassed  over  the  veto,  the  contentions  on  the  subject, 
known  as  "  the  battle  of  the  banks,"  created  great  excitement  in  Augjusta,  and 
throughout  Georgia  at  the  time.  The  bill  was  originally  passed  by  a  vote  of 
58  to  27  in  the  Senate,  and  64  to  50  in  the  House.  The  governor  sent  in  a 
veto  message,  which,  while  ostensibly  confined  to  the  measure  under  review, 
was  really  an  attack  upon  banking  and  an  argument  against  having  any  banks 
at  all.  His  first  point  was  that  banks  had  peculiar  privileges  which  were  de- 
nied the  ordinary  citizen,  and  instanced  this  in  the  following  way  :  "  Two  men 
work  with  their  hands,  the  primary  mode  of  making  capital,  till  each  makes  a 
dollar  in  gold  or  silver.  One  loans  his  at  interest.  The  law  of  our  State  per- 
mits him  to  receive  only  seven  cents  for  the  use  of  it  one  year,  and  if  he 
charges  more  the  law  declares  the  excess  to  be  usurious  and  void.  The  other 
applies  to  the  Legislature  and  obtains  a  charter  conferring  upon  him  banking 
privileges.  By  this  charter  it  is  made  lawful  for  him  to  pay  his  dollar  as  capi- 
tal stock  into  the  bank  and  to  issue  upon  it  three  paper  dollars.  The  bank  is 
permitted  to  loan  these  three  paper  dollars  at  interest,  and  charge  seven  per 
cent,  on  each  of  them.     If  he  were  to  loan  them  for  one  year  at  legal  interest 

45 


3 §4  History  of  Augusta. 


he  would  receive  for  them  twenty-one  cents.  These  three  paper  dollars  are 
based  upon  the  one  dollar  in  i^old  or  silver,  and  the  bank  in  fact  receives  the 
twenty-one  cents  interest  upon  his  one  dollar  in  specie,  while  the  person  with- 
out banking  privileges  receives  only  seven  cents  interest  upon  his  dollar.  But 
the  banker  is  not  content  with  twenty- one  per  cent,  a  year,  or  three  times  the 
amount  received  by  his  neighbor  who  is  without  banking  privileges.  He  will 
not,  therefore,  lend  his  three  paper  dollars  (his  own  notes)  a  year  at  seven  per 
cent.,  but  he  will  loan  them  at  thirty  days,  first  deducting  interest  out  of  the 
sum  loaned,  if  the  borrower  will  also  pay  one  half,  one,  two  or  three  per  cent. 
a  month  usury  under  the  name  of  exchange.  .  .  .  This  increases  the  in- 
terest received  on  the  banker's  three  paper  dollars,  or  one  silver  dollar,  to 
twenty-five,  thirty,  or  thirty-five  per  cent,  dependent  on  the  amount  of  ex- 
change or  usury  added  each  time  the  note  or  bill  is  renewed."  He  then  pro- 
ceeds to  say  that  this  is  not  all.  The  banker  has  still  left  the  one  silver  dollar 
on  which  the  three  paper  dollars  were  issued,  and  while  the  charter  says  the 
one  silver  dollar  must  be  paid  in  before  the  three  paper  dollars  issue,  it  does 
not  say  it  must  stay  in,  after  they  are  issued.  He  can,  therefore,  lend  that  out 
too,  and  thereby  make  on  the  use  of  his  one  dollar  from  thirty  to  fifty  per  cent, 
while  the  non-banker  can  only  make  seven. 

The  consideration  of  the  privileges  accorded  banks  is,  he  says,  that  they 
should  furnish  a  paper  currency  at  all  times  convertible  into  specie  on  demand. 
Out  of  their  profits  they  should  buy  specie  and  resume.  He  aflfirms  that  by 
suspending  they  are  guilty  of  a  high  commercial,  moral,  and  legal  crime ;  a 
commercial  crime  because  by  suspending,  they  have  brought  on  a  commercial 
crisis,  causing  cotton  to  fall  from  seventeen  to  ten  or  eleven  cents  a  pound  and 
other  property  in  proportion;  a  moral  crime  by  refusing  to  keep  faith  with  the 
people  by  the  redemption  of  their  promises  ;  a  legal  crime  by  violating  a  posi- 
tive statute  of  the  State. 

Since  the  establishment  of  the  banking  system  in  Georgia  he  notes  that 
the  country  has  passed  through  two  or  three  periods  of  like  distress.  In  1840 
the  people  determined  to  apply  a  remedy  to  suspensions  at  such  epochs,  and 
passed  the  act  which  makes  a  forfeiture  of  charter  the  penalty  of  suspension. 
If  that  law  be  violated  the  penalty  should  follow.  None  should  be  above  the 
law. 

He  could  not  admit  that  the  suspension  ot  the  Northern  banks  compelled 
those  of  Georgia  to  do  so  also.  If  so,  why  was  it  that  nine  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina banks,  most  of  those  in  Alabama,  all  of  the  Kentucky  banks,  and  four  or 
five  in  Georgia  had  not  suspended  ?  The  constitution  of  Louisiana  forbade  the 
Legislature  of  that  State  to  legalize  a  bank  suspension.  Referring  to  the  state- 
ment that  large  public  meetings  in  Augusta  and  Savannah  had  asked  the  banks 
to  suspend,  he  queries  how  many  bank  directors,  stockholders,  or  otherwise  in- 
terested had  managed  these  meetings,  and  asks  why  none  were  held  elsewhere 


Banks  and  Banking.  ^ct 

in  the  State.  He  then  discusses  some  of  the  details  of  the  bill  and  takes  up 
the  argument  that  it  would  react  injuriously  on  the  people  to  wind  up  the  banks 
as  the  banks  only  owe  the  people  $5,000,000  and  the  people  owe  the  banks 
$22,000,000.  This  being  so,  would  alarmingly  evidence  how  the  banks  are 
concentrating  the  wealth  of  the  country  in  their  own  hands,  but  it  is  not  true 
according  to  the  sworn  statements  of  the  presidents  and  cashiers  whose  reports 
as  made  to  the  executive  office  "balance  to  a  quarter  of  a  cent."  This  ex- 
pression was  long  memorable  in  Georgia.  Lastly  argues  it  was  part  of  the 
contract  whereby  the  bill-holder  took  the  bill,  that  of  the  bank  did  not  redeem 
It  on  demand,  in  specie,  its  charter  should  be  forfeited,  and  argues  that  the  act 
to  legalize  the  suspension  impaired  the  obligation  of  this  contract  and  thereby 
violated  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Great  was  the  excitement  in  the  Legislature  when  this  veto  came  in.  Long 
and  fiery  were  the  speeches,  but  the  bill  was  repassed  by  61  to  22  in  the  Sen- 
ate, and  68  to  33  in  the  House,  a  small  gain  for  the  bill  in  either  body.  As 
will  be  remembered,  the  suspension  was  legaHzed  to  November  15,  1858.  but 
on  May  i,  1858.  the  banks  resumed  specie  payment.  A  golden  era  ensued  and 
lasted  till  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  but  before  entering  on  this  period  we  may 
give  some  further  idea  of  banking  in  Augusta  up  to  the  time  of  the  panic  of 
1857. 

In  1835  there  were  eleven  banks  in  operation  in  Georgia  with  an  aggregate 
capitalof  $4,571,000,  a  total  circulation  of  $3,942,000,  and  the  sum  of  $2,1 1 1,- 
000  in  specie  in  their  vaults.  Three  of  the  banks  were  in  Augusta  with  cap- 
ital, circulation,  and  specie  as  follows  : 

Capital.  Circulation.  Specie  in  Vault. 

Bank  of  Augusta $    600,000  f    607,545  $    381,181 

Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Co...         i75,oo«              160,146  78,404 

,            Mechanics'  Bank 400,000             457.244  207^598 

$1,175,000         $1,224,935  $667,183 

TotalinState $4,571,000         $3,942,000         $2,111,000 

In  1838  there  were  nineteen  banks,  the  railroad  banks  being  excluded,  with 
a  total  capital  of  $8,648,562.  The  three  Augusta  banks  above  mentioned  had 
an  aggregate  capitalization  of  2,700,000,  namely.  Bank  of  Augusta,  $1,200,- 
000;  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Company,  $500,000;  Mechanics' Bank, 
$1,000,000. 

The  early  policy  of  the  State  was  to  subsidize  banks  as  it  were  by  liberal 
subscriptions  to  stock,  and  from  a  report  made  in  1839  we  have  a  very  fair 
idea  of  the  dividend  paying  power  of  the  old  Bank  of  Augusta.  We  give  the 
names  of  the  banks  in  which  the  State  had  stock,  number  of  shares,  amount 
paid  therefor,  and  dividends  and  bonus  received  thereon  from  1829  to  1838, 
both  inclusive ; 


356  History  of  Augusta. 


■  Bank.                     No.  Shares.  Amt.  Paid.  Dividends.  Bonus.            Total.  Per.Ct. 

State  Bank 5,000  $500,000  $380,000  $30,000        $410,000          .82 

Bank  of  Darien 5.000  325,000  178,750  178,750           .55 

Bank  of  Augusta 1,000  100,000  80,000  20,310           100,310  1.03 

Planters'  Bank 1,000  80,000  56,800  56,800           .71 

Showing  that  during  this  period  the  Bank  of  Augusta  paid  a  regular  eight 
per  cent,  dividend,  and  a  bonus  equal  to  two  per  cent  more.  In  process  of 
time  the  State's  bank  stock  became  reduced  from  one  cause  or  another,  and  in 
1859  there  remained  of  the  above  but  1,833  shares  in  the  State  Bank  and  890 
shares  in  the  Bank  of  Augusta.  To  this  had  been  added  186  shares  of  stock  in 
the  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company,  and  the  comptroller-general  in 
1859  states  that  these  stocks  paid  an  annual  average  dividend  often  per  cent. 
As  the  Georgia  Railroad  Bank  paid  but  eight  per  cent,  in  1859  the  other  two 
must  have  averaged  an  eleven  per  cent,  dividend. 

In  i860  there  were  twenty-five  banks  in  Georgia,  including  the  Georgia 
and  Central  Railroad  Banks,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of  $9,028,078,  Augusta 
having  six,  with  a  capital  of  $2,675,000,  as  follows  :  Bank  of  Augusta,  $600,- 
000;  Mechanics'  Bank,  $500,000;  Georgia  Railroad  Bank,  $500,000;  City 
Bank,  $400,000  ;  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Company,  $375,000;  Union 
Bank,  $300,000  The  prosperity  of  the  State  at  this  time  was  marvellous. 
The  depression  of  1857  passed  away  by  the  spring  of  1858,  and  from  that  time 
to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  taxable  property  of  Georgia  increased  at  a  rate 
never  known  before.  We  have  said  that  a  golden  era  preceded  the  war,  and 
the  tax  books  sustain  the  assertion.  The  total  valuation  of  the  State  and  of 
Richmond  county  for  the  years  1858, 1859  and  i860,  distinguishing  slave  prop- 
erty from  other  property,  we  here  give  : 

1858. 

Slaves.  Other  Property.  Total  Valuation. 

The  State $227,468,927  $311,586,187  $539,055,114 

Richmond  county 3.693,300  14,390,781  18,084,081 

1859. 

The  State $271,620,405  $337,989,471  $609,589,876 

Richmond  county 4,302,075  15.575-845  19,987,920 

i860. 

The  State    $302,694,855  $369,627,922  $672,322,777 

Richmond  county 4,407,870  17,166,487  21,574,357 

The  total  valuation  for  the  years  named  showed  the  following  astounding 

increase : 

State.  Increase.         Richmond  Co.       Increase. 

1858 $539,055,114  $18,084,081 

1859 609,589,876  $70,534,762           19,987,920         $1,903,839 

i860 672,322,777  62,732,901           21,574,357           1,586,437 

$133,267,663  $3,490,276 

Slave  increase '58-'59      75,225,928  714,570 

Other  proj)erty  58,042,635  2,775,706 


Banks  and  Banking.  357 

Showing  that,  in  the  two  years  immediately  preceding  the  war,  the  wealth 
of  the  State  in  property  other  than  in  slaves,  had  increased  about  eleven  per 
cent.,  and  the  like  wealth  of  Richmond  county  had  increased  fifteen  per  cent. 
The  wealth  of  Richmond  county  in  i860  was  made  up  of  the  following  items : 

Money  and  solvent  debts $7,11 8,247 

Crty  or  town  property 4,964,450 

Land 1,941,448 

Merchandise 1,736,850 

Other  property 1,405,492 

117,166,487 

Slaves 4.407,870 

'^21, 574,357 

But  even  this  does  not  fully  represent  the  taxable  property  of  the  county 
in  i860.  It  only  represents  the  property  returned  to  the  county  receiver  of 
tax  returns.  There  was,  as  we  have  seen,  an  aggregate  bank  capital  in  Au- 
gusta in  i860  of  $2,675,000,  which  made  return  direct  to  the  controller-gen- 
eral, and,  accordingly,  does  not  appear  on  the  books  of  the  local  officials.  In 
addition  to  this  there  were  exempt  from  taxation  all  annual  crops  and  provi- 
sions, all  libraries,  all  fire-arms,  all  poultry,  all  plantation  and  mechanical  tools, 
and  all  household  and  kitchen  furniture  not  above  three  hundred  dollars  in 
value,  all  lands  and  stocks  of  literary  associations,  and  two  hundred  dollars 
worth  of  all  other  property  to  each  taxpayer.  It  is  probably  within  bounds 
to  say  that,  exclusive  of  slaves,  Richmond  county  had,  at  least,  $20,000,000  of 
property  in  i860.  The  State  tax  was  six  and  one-half  cents  on  the  $100;  the 
State  debt  was  $2,670,750 ;  its  assets  were  the  State  or  Western  and  Atlantic 
Railroad,  which  cost  $4,441,532,  and  paid  $450,000  yearly  into  the  treasury, 
and  $807,025  in  good,  dividend  paying  stocks  and  bonds;  there  were  400  luna- 
tics, 247  felons,  and  no  paupers  in  a  population  of  1,057,248.  It  was  truly  a 
golden  era,  but  this  prosperity  was  laid  a  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  war. 

In  i860  the  Legislature  authorized  an  issue  of  $1,000,000  in  six  per  cent, 
twenty-year  bonds,  of  which  amount  the  banks  of  Augusta  at  once  took  $267,- 
000,  thus:  Bank  of  Augusta,  $60,000 ;  Mechanics'  Bank,  $50,000;  Georgia 
Railroad  and  Banking  Company,  $50,000  ;  City  Bank,  $40,000  ;  Augusta  In- 
surance and  Banking  Company,  $37,500,  and  the  Union  Bank,  $30,000. 

In  the  same  year  an  act  was  passed  relieving  the  banks  from  liability  to  for- 
feiture of  their  charters,  up  to  December,  1861,  in  event  they  should  be  com 
pelled  to  suspend  specie  payments,  a  privilege  subsequently  extended.  In 
1 86 1  the  banks  lent  the  State  $2,000,000  of  their  notes  to  bridge  over  an 
emergency.  In  1862,  in  order  to  enable  the  State  to  assume  her  quota,  $2,441,- 
000,  of  the  direct  tax  levied  by  the  Confederate  Congress,  the  banks  took 
$1,920,000  of  the  bonds  issued  to  meet  that  tax.      From  this  time  on  there  was 


358  History  of  Augusta. 


financial  chaos.  At  the  close  of  the  war  the  State's  indebtedness  in  bonds  and 
notes  was  $20,811,525.  The  war  bonds  amounted  to  $3,308,500,  in  two  is- 
sues, one  of  $2,441,000  Confederate  direct  tax  bonds,  and  one  of  $867,500  of 
State  defense  bonds,  tiie  residue  of  the  issue  of  $1,000,000  not  being  placed. 
There  were  out  $3,758,000  of  non-interest  bearing  treasury  notes  and  treasury 
certificates  of  deposit,  "  payable  in  eight  per  cent,  bonds  or  specie,  six  months 
after  a  treaty  of  peace,  or  when  the  banks  of  Savannah  and  Augusta  resume 
specie  payment,  if  before  that  time."  There  were  also  out  non- interest  bear- 
ing treasury  notes  and  treasury  certificates  of  deposit  "  payable  in  specie  or 
six  per  cent,  bonds  of  the  State,  six  months  after  a  treaty  of  peace  shall  have 
been  ratified  between  the  United  States  and  the  Confederate  States,"  to  the 
amount  of  $4,800,000.  There  were  also  in  circulation  Georgia  treasury  notes, 
payable  in  Confederate  treasury  notes  "  if  presented  within  three  months  after 
maturity,  otherwise  not  redeemable  except  in  payment  of  public  dues,"  to  the 
amount  of  $5,171,500;  and,  lastly,  there  were  change  bills  outstanding,  pay- 
able only  in  Confederate  treasury  notes,  to  the  amount  of  $977,775-  The 
change  bills  were  in  the  following  denominations,  five,  ten,  fifteen,  twenty, 
twenty-five,  fifty,  and  seventy-five  cents,  and  one,  two,  three,  and  four  dollars. 
Some  $3,000,000  of  these  bills  were  issued. 

How  the  banks  fared  during  this  period  of  inflation  and  distress  may  be 
surmised  from  the  following  statistics : 

1862.  1863.  1864. 

Capital $17,262,072  $17,335,832  $17,131,382 

Circulation 15,339,241  15,572,542  15,135,680 

Confederate  bonds 2,367,029  3,528,616  6,207,227 

Confederate  notes 3,032,832  21,928,371  7.613,305 

State  bonds 1,332,205  '.359.950  1,287,500 

State  notes 527,700  1,260,747  1,524,042 

Specie 1,643,463  1,498,118  1,294,527 

Deposits 11,588,378  25,101,848  2,833,928 

During  the  war  one  of  the  banks  now  in  operation  in  Augusta  was  char- 
tered, to  wit:  The  Commercial  Bank,  though,  as  originally  incorporated  in 
1863.  it  was  called  the  Commercial  Insurance  Company  of  Augusta.  At  a 
subsequent  date  it  was  changed  into  a  bank,  and  will  be  more  fully  mentioned 
hereafter. 

When  the  war  closed,  the  ante  bcllniii  banks  of  Augusta  were  practically 
wiped  out  of  existence.  Most  of  them  had  erected  handsome  buildings  in  the 
day  of  their  prosperity,  and  some  of  these  landmarks  remain.  The  Mechanics' 
Bank  building  has  already  been  mentioned  as  the  granite  structure  on  the  north 
side  of  Broad  street,  a  few  doors  east  of  Washington  street.  The  Bank  of  Au- 
gusta had  erected  in  1856  a  handsome  brownstone  front  banking  building  on 
the  north  side  of  Broad  street,  between  Mcintosh  and  Jackson  streets.  The 
City  Bank  was  on  the  same  square  where  the  Southern  Express  Company  office 


.^^^<^^ 


Banks  and  Banking.  359 


is  now  located.  The  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Company  had  its  quar- 
ters in  the  bank  building  on  the  same  side  of  Broad  street,  between  Jackson  and 
Campbell,  afterwards  occupied  by  the  Bank  of  Augusta,  a  corporation  created 
since  the  war  with  the  same  name  as  the  old  bank,  and  now  by  Fleming, 
Thomas  &  Co.,  bankers.  The  Union  Bank  was  located  on  same  side  of  Broad 
street,  between  Campbell  and  Cumming  streets,  where  tiie  shoe  house  of  Mul- 
herin,  Rice  &  Co.,  is  now.  The  Georgia  Railroad  Bank  occupied  its  present 
location,  but  from  1865  to  1870  did  no  banking  business,  its  franchise  having 
expired  in  the  former  and  not  being  renewed  till  the  latter  year. 

In  December,  1865,  the  National  Bank  of  Augusta  was  organized  under 
the  national  bank  act,  with  a  capital  of  $500,000.  The  main  spirit  in  its  or- 
ganization was  that  wealthy  and  powerful  capitalist  who  has  been  connected 
with  the  starting  of  so  many  great  and  substantial  enterprises,  Mr.  H.  B.  Plant. 
The  first  president  of  the  bank  was  William  B.  Dinsmore,  of  New  York.  The 
administration  of  the  bank,  however,  was  carried  on  by  the  vice-president 
Judge  B.  H.  Warren,  until  his  death.  At  his  demise  the  position  of  president 
was  given  to  that  capable  financier,  Mr.  William  E.  Jackson,  long  president  of 
the  Augusta  factory,  who  remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution  until  his 
death.  Upon  the  decease  of  Mr.  Jackson  Mr  Z.  McCord  was  chosen.  Mr. 
McCord  was  succeeded  in  the  presidency  by  Mr.  Charles  Estes,  for  many  years 
mayor  of  Augusta,  and  now  president  of  the  King  Mills.  Mr.  Estes  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  James  Tobin,  a  most  capable  financier.  From  the  organization 
of  the  bank  up  to  1884,  Mr.  George  M.  Thew  was  cashier,  and  was  then  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  A.  C.  Beane.  This  bank  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  had 
excellent  management  during  the  whole  period  of  its  existence,  and  passed 
with  flying  colors  through  the  crisis  of  1873.  The  capital  stock  of  the  bank  is 
$500,000,  and  the  surplus  $100,000.  It  carries  an  average  deposit  of  from 
$325,000  to  $350,000. 

The  National  Exchange  Bank  of  Augusta  was  organized  under  the  national 
bank  act  in  August,  1871,  with  a  capital  of  $250,000.  Mr.  Alfred  Baker,  a 
veteran  financier,  whose  biography  appears  elsewhere  in  this  work,  is  the  pres- 
ident of  this  institution,  and  has  been  from  the  time  of  its  organization.  For 
a  number  of  years  Mr.  Joseph  S.  Beane,  sr.,  a  brother  of  the  cashier  of  the  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Augusta,  was  cashier,  and  since  his  death  the  position  has  been 
very  ably  filled  by  Captain  Charles  E.  Coffin,  a  gentleman  whose  high  charac- 
ter and  great  financial  skill  have  made  him  treasurer  of  many  of  the  associa- 
tions of  the  city. 

The  State  banks  of  Augusta  are  four  in  number,  namely:  The  Georgia 
Railroad  and  Banking  Company  Bank,  commonly  called  the  Georgia  Railroad 
Bank,  The  Commercial  Bank,  The  Augusta  Savings  Bank,  and  The  Planters' 
Loan  and  Savings  Bank. 

The  history  of  the  Georgia  Railroad  Bank  up  to  1864  has  heretofore  been 


36o 


History  of  Augusta. 


given.  In  December  of  that  year  the  banking  franchise  of  the  company  ex- 
pired, and  no  effort  was  then  made  to  obtain  an  extension  or  renewal  thereof 
In  his  annual  report  in  1864,  Hon.  John  P.  King,  president  of  this  company, 
said:  "The  banking  charter  expires  in  December  next,  and  the  Legislature 
has  refused  to  renew  it  except  upon  terms  deemed  inadmissable.  Banking 
charters  are  now  of  no  value,  and  are  in  fact  a  heavy  burden  upon  stockholders. 
From  a  very  general  misunderstanding  of  the  resources  of  banks,  and  the  ex- 
tent of  their  prohts,  they  seem  to  be  considered  by  government,  both  State 
and  Confederate,  a  never  ending  resource  of  taxation.  If  they  can  so  use  their 
assets  as  to  liquidate  their  liabilities,  it  is  probable  that  most  of  them  will  deem 
it  good  policy  to  surrender  their  charters  and  wind  up  their  institutions." 
These  views  met  the  approval  of  stockholders,  and  no  effort  was  made  to  ob- 
tain an  extension  of  the  banking  franchise  of  the  company.  By  act  of  1865 
the  Legislature  empowered  it  in  order  the  better  to  close  up  its  banking  busi- 
ness to  use  the  corporate  name  in  all  suits,  legal  proceedings,  acts,  and  con- 
tracts where  necessary  to  this  end,  and  further  empowered  it  to  loan  at  seven 
per  cent,  for  not  exceeding  six  months  any  surplus  money  then  on  hand,  pro- 
vided, however,  no  notes  were  issued  or  other  banking  business  done.  A  state- 
ment of  the  dividends  paid  by  this  company  from  the  time  it  first  got  fairly  in 
operation  up  to  April,  186 1,  will  be  of  interest,  and  is  here  subjoined. 

Statement  of  Dividends  Declared  on  the   Stock  of  the  Georgia    Railroad 

AND  Banking  Company. 


Date  of  Dividend. 


Number  of 
Dividend. 


November,  1836. 

February,  1837. 

October^  1837 

April.  1838, 

October,  1838 

April,  1839 

January,  1840 

April,  '  1840 

April,  1842 

January,  1846 

Octol)er,  1846 

April,  1847 

October,  1847 

April,  1848 

October,  1848 

April,  1849 

October,  1849 

April,  1850 

October,  1850 

April,  1 85 1 

October,  1851 

April,  1852 

October,  1852 

April,  1853 

October,  1853 


No.  I 

"  2 

"  3 

"  4 

"  5 

"  6 

"  7 

'•  8 

"  9 

''  10 

"  1 1 

''  12 

"  13 

"  14 

"  15 

"  16 

"  17 

"  18 

"  19 

"  20 

"  21 

"  22 

'•  23 

"  24 

"  25 


Capital  Stock. 


^  858,615 
1,170,715 
1,434,405 
1,910,215 
2,01 1,895 
2,1 16,810 

2,143.317 
2,193,952 
2,201,612 
2,288,449 
2,289,199 
2,289,199 
2,289,199 
2,293,1 18 
2,262,497 
2,262,497 
4,000,000 
4,000,000 
4,000,000 
4,000,000 
4,000,000 
4,000,000 
4,000,000 
4,000,000 
4,000,000 


00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
92 
92 

92 
92 

36 
16 
16 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
00 


Amount  of 
Dividend. 


26,018  00 

41,452  80 

53.962  54 

70,492  90 

80,300  96 

84,178  00 

86,233  58 

86,513  48 

220,161  20 

45,768  88 

55.783  99 

45.783  99 

68,675  99 

68,807  01 

67,874  91 

79,187  31 

140,000  00 

140,000  00 

140,000  00 

140,000  00 

140,000  00 

140,000  00 

140,000  00 

160,000  00 

160,000  00 


Banks  and  Banking. 


361 


Date  of  Dividend. 


April,  1854 

April.  1855 

October,  1855 

April,  1856 

October,  1856 

April,  1857 

November,  1857 

April,  1858 

October,  1858 

April,  1859 

October,  1859 

April,  i860 

October,  i860 

April,  1861 


Number  of 
Dividend. 


26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
31 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 


Capital  Stock. 


4,156 
4,156, 
4,156 
4,156: 
4, 1 56: 
4,156 
4,156 
4-156 
4,156 
4,156 
4,156 
4,156 
4,156 
4,156 


000  00 
000  00 
000  00 
000  00 
000  00 
000  00 
000  00 
,000  00 
,000  00 
,000  00 
,000  00 
000  00 
,000  00 
,000  00 


Amount  of 
Dividend, 

166,240  00 
145,460  00 
145,460  00 
166,240  00 
166,240  00 
166,240  00 
124,680  00 
124,680  00 
145,460  00 
166,240  00 
166,240  00 
166,240  00 
166,240  00 
166,240  00 


It  will  be  perceived  that  even  during  the  panics  of  1837  ^"^  '  ^5 7  this  com- 
pany regularly  paid  its  dividend  ;  and  it  may  be  here  added  that  after  pay- 
ment of  the  last  dividend,  in  April,  1861,  there  was  then  to  the  credit  of  the  re- 
serve fund  the  sum  of  $1,065,642.  In  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  operation,  and 
that  when  railroading  was  in  its  infancy,  some  $4,700,000  was  paid  out  in  divi- 
dends. By  act  of  October  19,  1870,  the  banking  powers  and  privileges  con- 
ferred on  the  company  by  the  act  of  1835,  heretofore  mentioned,  were  con- 
tinued to  it  for  the  term  of  thirty  years,  or  up  to  October  19,  1900.  From 
1861  to  1881  it  paid  out  in  dividends  the  sum  of  $4,154,576,  or  $99  50  per 
share.  The  capital  of  this  company  is  $4,200,000,  and  the  business  done  by 
this  bank  is  the  heaviest  in  the  State,  reaching  $75,000,000  in  a  single  year. 
It  has  has  had  but  two  presidents  in  its  long  career,  Hon.  John  P.  King,  who 
presided  over  its  affairs  from  1833  to  1881,  and  Mr.  Charles  H.  Phinizy  since 
that  date.  More  of  this  wonderfully  successful  corporation  will  be  found  in  the 
chapter  on  railroads. 

The  Commercial  Bank  was  originally  chartered  in  1863,  for  a  term  of  thirty 
years,  under  the  name  of  *' The  Commercial  Insurance  Company  of  Augusta." 
The  incorporators  were  Henry  F.  Russell,  Barney  S.  Dunbar,  Jacob  Danforth, 
William  Battersby,  Henry  E.  Clark,  James  T.  Gardiner,  Daniel  B.  Plumb,  and 
George  T.  Barnes.  The  capital  stock  was  fixed  at  $250,000  increasable  to 
$1,000,000,  but  operations  could  be  be^^un  when  $100,000  was  subscribed,  and 
five  per  cent  thereof  paid  in.  The  company  was  authorized  to  insure  against 
losses  by  fire  in  all  kinds  of  property  ;  also  against  the  hazards  of  ocean  or  in- 
land navigation  and  transportation  of  every  kind ;  also,  to  make  insurance  on 
lives  and  every  insurance  appertaining  to  the  duration  of  life.  It  was  further 
empowered  to  receive  money  on  deposit  and  make  loans  and  discounts.  The 
stockholders  were  made  individually  liable  for  the  debts  of  the  company  to 
double  the  amount  of  their  respective  shaies.  In  1872  the  corporate  name 
was  amended  so  that  the  same  should  be  the  Commercial  Insurance  and 
Banking  Company  of  Augusta;  and  in  1875  was  again  changed  to  its  pres- 
46 


S62  History  of  Augusta. 


ent  style  the  Commercial  Bank  of  Augusta.  In  1876  the  bank  was  author- 
ized to  reduce  its  capital  stock  from  $300,000  to  $200,000,  without  prejudice 
to  a  right  to  a  future  increase  under  its  charter,  the  reduction  to  be  made  by  a 
purchase  and  retirement  of  its  stock.  The  personal  liability  clause  of  the  char- 
ter was  reaffirmed,  and  as  to  the  retired  stock  was  to  continue  for  twelve 
months  after  such  retirement.  In  1887  the  charter  was  extended  for  thirty 
years,  and  many  valuable  franchises  were  conferred  upon  it,  by  which  it  re- 
ceived the  most  enlarged  banking  powers,  was  authorized  to  create  a  savings 
department,  to  receive  realty  as  collateral,  or  to  deal  in  such  property,  to  act 
as  fiscal  agent  for  the  negotiation  of  bonds  or  to  act  as  executor,  trustee,  agent, 
assignee,  or  receiver.  The  capital  of  this  bank  is  $300,000.  Mr.  John  A. 
North,  an  experienced  financier,  is  president. 

The  Augusta  Savings  Institution  of  Augusta,  Ga.,  was  incorporated  in  1875, 
and  has  been  in  successful  operation  since  May  of  that  year.  The  corporators 
were  Alfred  Baker,  John  B.  King,  William  B.  Young,  George  T.  Barnes,  Will- 
iam H.  Howard,  sr.,  E.  R.  Schneider,  Charles  Spaeth,  C.  Hunneken,  Patrick 
Walsh,  William  Mulherin,  and  Edward  O'Donnell.  The  bank  was  authorized 
to  make  loans  and  discounts,  to  receive  deposits  on  interest;  act  as  trustee ;  in- 
vest in  stocks,  bonds,  or  mortgnges  on  real  estate.  Deposits  as  small  as  one 
dollar  were  made  receivable  ;  no  manager,  officer,  or  agent  of  the  corporation 
was  to  be  allowed  to  borrow  therefrom  ;  the  management  was  to  be  in  the 
hands  of  a  board  of  managers ;  and  the  private  property  of  the  managers  for 
the  time  being  is  made  liable  for  all  deposits  and  for  all  debts  incurred  by  the 
institution  while  under  their  management  in  the  same  manner  as  in  ordinary 
commercial  cases  or  cases  of  debt.  Semi-annual  returns  are  to  be  made  to  the 
governor  setting  out  in  detail  the  condition  of  the  institution. 

In  1 88 1  the  charter  was  so  amended  as  to  make  the  board  of  managers  con- 
sist of  four  members,  and  it  was  declared  that  the  private  property  of  all  incor- 
porators for  the  time  being  should  be  liable  for  deposits  or  debts  as  in  the  act 
of  1875.  Mr.  Alfred  Baker,  president  of  the  National  Exchange  Bank,  is  also 
president  of  this  institution,  and  Mr.  W  illiam  B.  Young,  cashier. 

The  Planters'  Loan  and  Savings  Bank  was  incorporated  in  1870,  Charles  J. 
Jenkins.  John  P.  King,  George  M.  Thew,  Benjamin  Conley,  Thomas  P.  Branch, 
Joseph  S  Bean,  William  H.  Goodrich,  William  H.  Scott,  and  M.  I.  Branch  be- 
ing tne  incorporators.  The  cipital  stock  w.is  $1, 000,000,  and  when  $100,000 
was  subscribed,  and  $50,000  paid  in,  the  corporation  was  authorized  to  organize 
and  proceed  to  business.  The  ordinary  banking  powers  were  granted,  and,  in 
addition,  authority  to  purchase,  hold,  and  sell  real  estate  in  the  course  of  its 
business;  act  as  trustee;  guarantee  securities,  and  loan  on  mortgages  on  real 
and  personal  property,  or  on  crop  liens,  receiving  interest  in  money  or  products, 
or  both.  Stockholders  were  individually  liable  for  the  debts  of  the  bank  in  pro- 
portion to  their  stock.  In  1873  the  charter  was  amended  so  as  to  make  the 
shares  ten  dollars  each  instead  of  one  hundred  dollars. 


Banks  and  Banking.  36^ 


In  1887  the  bank  was  authorized  to  change  its  name  to  the  People's  Insur- 
ance and  Banking  Company;  and  to  do  a  fire  and  marine  insurance  by  partici- 
pating policies  if  deemed  advisable  ;  it  being  provided  that  no  stockholder 
should  be  individually  liable  on  insurance  policies.  The  president  of  this  bank 
is  Mr.  William  E.  Benson,  and  its  capital  stock  $100,000. 

The  aggregate  banking  operations  of  the  city  will  run  to  $200,000,000. 
The  foreign  exchange  is  $17,000,000  For  cotton  alone  $280,000  have  been 
used  in  one  day.  As  much  as  $800,000  has  been  sent  to  Augusta  to  purchase 
cotton.  The  direction  of  exchanges  has  largely  changed  to  the  West  from  the 
North. 

Quite  a  number  of  other  banks  have  been  incorporated  for  Augusta  since 
the  war,  but  never  went  into  operation,  or  have  ceased  to  exist.  Some  sketch 
of  them  may  be  of  interest. 

In  1865  the  City  Loan  Association  and  Savings  Bank  of  Augusta  was  in- 
corporated, the  incorporators  being  Henry  Myers,  W.  H.  Howard,  F.  C  Barber, 
Joseph  P.  Carr,  John  E.  Marley,  W.  A.  Ramsey,  William  C.  Barber,  and  John 
Kenny.  The  capital  stock  was  $100,000,  increasable  to  $400,000  in  $50 
shares,  said  stock  being  pledged  for  the  security  of  deposits,  and  stockholders 
being  liable  to  depositors  to  the  extent  of  their  unpaid  stock.  The  corpora- 
tion was  vested  with  the  ordinary  banking  powers,  but  forbidden  to  issue  notes 
or  bills  as  a  circulating  medium. 

In  the  same  year  the  Mechanics'  Savings  Bank  of  Augusta  was  incorpor- 
ated with  a  capital  of  $200,000,  increasable  to  $400,000  in  $50  shares,  the 
corporators  being  Henry  Moore,  Porter  Fleming,  John  H.  Baker,  John  D,  Butt, 
George  McCord,  C.  A.  Rowland,  John  Butt,  Charles  Estes,  W.  E.  Jackson,  and 
George  T.  Jackson. 

In  1865  a  third  bank,  the  Savings  Bank  of  Augusta,  was  incorporated  with 
a  capital  of  $30,000,  increasable  to  $100,000  in  $100  shares,  H,  H.  Hickman, 
E.  P.  Clayton,  J.  B.  Walker,  T.  W.  Chichester,  Benjamin  Conley,  and  C.  F. 
McCay  being  the  incorporators.  The  capital  was  made  a  fund  pledged  for  the 
security  of  depositors.  In  1866  the  charter  was  so  amended  as  to  allow  the 
capital  to  be  increased  to  $500,000. 

In  1872  the  name  was  amended  by  striking  the  word  "  savings"  therefrom 
so  that  it  then  read,  the  Bank  of  Augusta,  being  identical  in  name  with  the 
venerable  bank  of  18 10. 

In  1879  the  capital,  then  $350,000,  was  authorized  to  be  reduced  to  any 
sum  not  below  $200,000  by  purchase  and  retirement  of  stock,  and  the  bank 
was  made  one  of  deposit,  discount,  and  loan.  In  1 882  the  stock  was  authorized 
to  be  further  reduced  from  its  then  figure, $350,009,  to  $125,000  in  same  man- 
ner.     In  1886  this  bank  failed. 

In  1872  the  City  Loan  and  Savings  Bank  of  Augusta  was  incorporated  with 
a  capital  not  to  exceed  $500,000  in  $100  shares,  organization  to  be  had  when 


364  History  of  Augusta. 


$100,000  was  subscribed  and  $50,000  paid  in  ;  John  P.  King,  Thomas  G.  Bar- 
rett, Charles  H.  Phinizy,  George  T.  Jackson,  W.  M.  Read,  W.  H.  Barrett,  Will- 
iam C.  Sibley,  and  P.  H.  Woodward  being  the  incorporators.  This  bank  was 
authorized  to  receive  deposits,  make  or  negotiate  loans,  guarantee  securities, 
act  as  trustee,  and  exercise  the  powers  generally  of  the  Planter's  Loan  and 
Savings  Bank. 

In  1873  the  Manufacturers'  Bank  of  Augusta  was  chartered  with  a  capital 
of  $100,000,  increasable  to  $500,000  in  $100  shares.  P2ach  stockholder  was 
liable  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  his  stock.  The  incorporators  were  Will- 
iam S.  Roberts,  Henr)^  F.  Russell,  Charles  H.  Phinizy,  William  T.  Wheless, 
and  William  F.  Herring. 

In  1879  Joseph  S.  Bean,  jr.,  D.  B.  Hack,  M.  A.  Stovall,  John  D.  Hahn,  and 
Ernest  R.  Schneider  were  incorporated  as  the  Augusta  Savings  Bank. 

In  1880  the  Citizens'  Bank  of  Augusta  was  incorporated  with  a  capital  of 
$200,000,  increasable  to  $500,000  in  $100  shares,  business  to  begin  when 
$20,000  was  paid  in.  This  bank  was  authorized  to  issue  bills  not  to  exceed 
three  times  the  amount  of  the  capital  paid  in,  and  stockholders  were  individu- 
ally liable  in  proportion  to  their  stock.  The  incorporators  were  William  H. 
Howard,  Vernon  Richards,  William  A.  Latimer,  John  Doscher,  John  W.  Wal- 
lace, Andrew  J.  Smith,  Bernard  Franklin,  John  A.  Bell,  Zachariah  McCord, 
and  Patrick  Armstrong.  In  1881  the  charter  was  amended  so  as  to  allow  busi- 
ness to  begin  when  $io,000  was  paid  in. 

In  1 88 1  William  J.  Wheless.  Edgar  R.  Derry,  J.  V.  H.  Allen,  P.  E.  Pearce, 
and  H.  Clay  Foster  were  incorporated  as  the  City  Bank  of  Augusta,  with  a 
capital  stock  of  $200,000,  increasable  to  $1,000,000  in  $100  shares,  business 
to  begin  when  $50,000  was  paid  in.  The  stockholders  were  liable  to  con- 
tribute to  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  the  corporation  an  amount  equal  to  the 
par  value  of  the  stock  held  by  them  at  the  time  of  the  bank  failure. 

During  the  existence  of  the  State  banking  system  divers  highly  penal  laws 
were  passed  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  violations  of  the  trust  and  confidence 
necessarily  reposed  in  such  institutions.  These  statutes  were  codified  into  the 
penal  code  adopted  in  1833,  and  at  various  times  since  have  been  amplified  or 
amended.  To  a  certain  extent  they  are  still  applicable  to  banks  operating 
under  the  State  system,  and  some  synopsis  of  this  legislation  will  be  here  given. 

Any  president,  director,  or  stockholder  of  an  incorporated  bank  of  this  State 
who  shall  embezzle,  steal,  secrete,  or  fraudulently  take  and  carry  away  any 
bullion,  notes,  bill,  bills  of  exchange,  warrants,  deeds,  bonds,  drafts,  checks,  or 
other  things  of  value,  the  property  thereof,  or  any  of  the  books  thereof,  is  pun- 
ishable by  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  for  not  less  than  two  nor  longer 
seven  years.  Any  president,  director,  or  other  officer  of  any  such  bank  vio- 
lating, or  being  concerned  in  the  violation,  of  any  provision  of  the  bank  charter, 
is  punishable  by  like  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  one  year  or  more  than  ten. 


Banks  and  Banking.  3^5 


Every  such  officer  is  presumed  to  have  a  sufficient  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of 
his  institution  to  determine  whether  any  act  or  omission  is  a  violation  of  the 
charter,  and  if  present  at  a  meeting  where  such  violation  occurs  is  deemed  to 
have  concurred  therein  unless  he  cause  his  dissent  to  be  entered  at  the  time  on 
the  minutes  of  the  board  ;  and  if  not  present,  but  remaining  an  officer  for  three 
months  thereafter  without  entering  his  dissent,  is  also  deemed  to  have  con- 
curred therein.  Every  insolvency  of  a  chartered  bank  or  failure  to  redeem  its 
bills  on  demand,  in  specie  or  current  bank  bills,  is  deemed  fraudulent,  but  the 
officials  may  repel  this  presumption  by  showing  that  the  affairs  of  the  bank 
have  been  fairly  and  legally  administered,  and  that  the  officers  thereof  have 
used  the  same  care  and  diligence  as  all  other  agents  receiving  a  compensation 
for  their  services  are  required  by  law  to  exercise.  Where  deposits  are  made 
in  a  bank  at  the  time  insolvent,  and  so  known  by  the  officials  having  charge 
thereof,  and  the  deposit  is  not  paid  to  the  depositor  within  three  days  after  de- 
mand, such  officers  are  punishable  by  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  for  not 
less  than  one  year,  nor  more  thixn  ten.  All  conveyances,  assignments,  or 
transfers  of  stock  or  effects  made  by  a  bank  in  contemplation  of  insolvency,  or 
after  insolvency,  except  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  stockholders  and  creditors,  un- 
less made  for  value  to  an  innocent  purchaser  are  void ;  and  the  officers  making  or 
consenting  to  such  assignment,  etc.,  even  if  to  an  innocent  purchaser,  are  pun- 
ishable by  like  imprisonment  for  not  less  than  four  nor  more  than  ten  years. 
Purchase  by  bank  officers  of  its  paper  at  a  discount  either  for  themselves  or 
the  bank  is  punishable  by  a  like  term  as  that  first  mentioned.  Declaring 
fraudulent  dividends,  or  other  than  out  of  net  proceeds,  is  similiarly  punish- 
able. Purchase  of  shares  with  the  capital  stock  is  punishable  by  from  one  to 
ten  years  imprisonment. 

On  the  organization  of  the  royal,  or  king's,  government  in  Georgia  in  1755, 
one  of  the  first  statutes  was  one  regulating  the  rate  of  interest  which  was  al- 
lowed to  be  ten  per  cent.  In  1759,  this  was  reduced  to  eight  per  cent,  the 
preamble  to  the  act  reciting  that  "  the  high  rate  of  interest  in  this  province  of 
Georgia  is  a  great  discouragement  to  planters  gjid  others  from  improving  their 
landed  estates,  by  reason  that  the  profits  arising  from  such  improvements  do 
not  equal  the  sum  paid  for  money  so  laid  out  and  employed."  It  was  there- 
fore provided  that  all  agreements  wherein  it  was  stipulated  that  a  greater 
interest  than  eight  per  cent,  per  annum  should  be  paid,  should  be  utterly  voidi 
and  that  any  one  taking  a  greater  rate  shonid  forfeit  three  times  the  sum  loaned. 

In  18 14  the  same  rate  was  re-affirmed  and  the  penalty  left  as  it  stood. 

In  1822  the  act  of  1759   was  so  amended  as  to  forfeit  only  the  entire  in- 
terest, but  to  leave  the  principal  recoverable. 

In  1845  the  rate  was  reduced  ro  seven  per  cent,  any  excess  to  forfeit  the 
whole  interest  but  impose  no  other  penalty. 

In  1857  it  was  provided  that  the  rate  of  bank  discount  should  not  exceed 


366  History  of  Augusta. 


seven  per  cent,  per  annum,  under  penalty  of  avoiding  and  annulling  the  entire 
debt. 

By  the  code  of  1863  the  rate  was  to  be  seven  per  cent. ;  all  over  was  usury; 
but  the  effect  of  the  usury  was  only  to  void  the  contract  so  far  as  the  usury 
was  concerned,  leaving  the  principal  and  legal  interest  thereon  recoverable. 

In  1 87 1  it  was  enacted  that  if  the  contract  were  silent  as  to  the  rate  of  in- 
terest, seven  per  cent,  was  collectible  ;  but  by  contract  in  writing  any  rate 
not  to  exceed  ten  per  cent,  should  be  legal ;  if  more  was  stipulated,  only  the 
excess  was  non- collectible. 

In  1872,  it  was  provided  that  no  bank  should  charge  over  seven  per  cent, 
on  loan  or  discount,  and  any  excess  paid  should  be  recoverable  if  sued  for 
within  sixty  days  after  payment  thereof. 

In  1873  banks  were  placed  on  the  same  footing  as  individuals  as  regards 
interest,  usury,  and  penalties,  the  effect  of  which  was  to  restore  the  act  of  1871, 
but  five  days  after  this  first  act,  a  second  was  passed  which  abolished  the  usury 
laws  in  toto,  and  established  a  conventional  rate  of  interest,  that  is,  made  it  law- 
ful to  contract  in  writing  for  any  rate  agreed  upon  by  the  parties,  whether 
more  or  less  than  seven  per  cent.  If  no  rate  was  stated,  seven  per  cent,  was 
to  be  understood. 

In  1875  the  rate  was  restricted  to  not  exceeding  twelve  per  cent,  provided 
it  were  specified  in  writing.  For  an  excess  both  excess  and  interest  were  for- 
feited.     If  no  rate  was  expressed,  seven  per  cent,  was  to  be  understood. 

In  1879  it  was  made  unlawful  to  charge  more  than  eight  per  cent.;  and 
any  excess,  forfeited  both  interest  and  excess.  Seven  per  cent,  still  remained 
the  rate  where  none  was  expressed.  This  act  made  it  obligatory  on  any  party 
suing  on  a  contract  which  expressed  a  higher  rate  than  seven  per  cent,  to 
allege  and  prove  that  no  greater  rate  than  eight  per  cent,  had  been,  or  was  to 
be,  taken. 

In  1 88 1  this  act  was  amended  so  as  to  make  the  penalty  for  a  greater  rate 
than  eight  per  cent,  a  forfeiture  of  excess  only  ;  and  to  do  away  with  the  re- 
quirement of  proving  no  excess  had  been,  or  was  to  be  taken ;  so  that  as  the  law 
now  stands,  the  legal  rate  of  interest  is  seven  per  cent,  where  nothing  is  said 
upon  the  subject  in  the  contract,  but  by  specifying  the  same,  the  rate  may  be 
not  exceeding  eight  per  cent,  the  penalty  for  excess  being  forfeiture  of  excess. 
With  this  we  may  end  a  somewhat  extended  sketch  of  banks  and  banking 
in  Augusta.  It  will  be  seen  that  in  the  long  course  of  some  eighty  years  since 
the  old  Bank  of  Augusta  the  second  bank  chartered  in  Georgia,  was  incorporated, 
the  record  of  banking  in  the  city  has  been  highly  creditable.  One  failure  be- 
fore, and  one  since,  the  war,  the  instances  occurring  about  a  half  a  century 
apart,  form  the  exceptions  which  demonstrate  an  excellent  general  rule.  The 
downfall  of  the  old  regime  o^hnnks  in  1865  can  hardly  be  deemed  a  banking  fail- 
ure proper.     The  banks  had  simply  gone  out  of  their  line  into  the  business  of 


Banks  and  Banking.  367 


government  and  on  the  downfall  of  the  government  of  which  they  had  become 
mere  adjuncts  fell  like  the  governing  authority  itself.  Even  in  this  fall  some 
passed  away  honorably,  redeeming  in  whole  or  part  their  bills. 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

CHURCHES. 

Early  Religious  Discrimination  in  Georgia— Establishment  of  Religious  Freedom— The 
Colony  Divided  into  Parishes— Church  of  England  Established— Parish  of  St.  Paul— Augusta's 
First  Clergyman— Rectors  of  St.  Paul's  Church— Worshipers  Required  to  Carry  Fire-arms  to 
Church— St.  Paul's  Burned  in  the  Revolution— A  New  Church  Built— The  Protestant  Episco- 
pal Society  Incorporated— St.  Paul's  Rebuilt— St.  Paul's  Ancient  Tombs— Church  of  the 
Atonement— The  Presbyterian  Churches— History  of  the  First  Presbyterian— Originally  called 
Christ  Church— Incorporated  in  1808— List  of  Pastors— The  Telfair  Building— A  Model  Sun- 
day-school—Changes in  Charter— The  Pew  Law— Who  is  a  Worshiper— Baptist  Churches— 
The  Old  Kioka  Church— Daniel  Marshall's  Grave— First  Baptist  Church  Incorporated  in  1809 
Reincorporated  in  1817— Building  Completed  in  1819-List  of  Pastors— Second  Baptist  Church 
Incorporated  in  i860— The  Baptist  Convention— Methodist  Church— Early  Difficulties— "  The 
Weeping  Prophet  "—St.  John's  Established  in  1 801— Rev.  John  Garvin.  Its  Finst  Pastor— His 
Distinguished  Successors— St.  James  Built  in  1855- Other  Methodist  Churches— Early  Catho- 
lics—Catholic Society  Incorporated  in  181 1— The  First  Church— Diocese  of  Georgia  Created 
in  1850— List  of  Bishops-St.  Mary's  Convent  Established  in  1853— Consecration  of  St.  Pat- 
rick's Church  in  1862— Father  Duggan  and  Other  Pastors -Sacred  Heart  Church  Built  in  1874 
—Sacred  Heart  Academy  in  1876 -The  Franciscan  Sisters -The  Christian  Church— The 
Lutheran  Church— The  Synagogue— The  Unitarian  Society-Colored  Churches— Quaint  Ob- 
servances—Young Men's  Christian  Association— Ministerial  Association— Libera? Religious 
Sentiment. 

BY  the  charter  of  Georgia  it  was  provided  "  that  forever  hereafter  there 
shall  be  a  liberty  of  conscience  allowed  in  the  worship  of  God  to  all  per- 
sons inhabiting,  or  which  shall  Jnhabit  or  be  resident  within  our  said  province, 
and  that  all  such  persons,  except  Papists,  shall  have  a  free  exercise  of  religion, 
so  they  be  contented  with  the  quiet  and  peaceable  enjoyment  of  the  same,  not 
giving  offence  or  scandal  to  the  government." 

By  the  sixth  article  of  the  first  State  Constitution  of  Georgia,  as  adopted 
on  February  5,  1777,  it  was  provided  that  no  person  should  be  eligible  to  be 
a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  unless,  among  other  qualifications, 
he  were  "of  the  Protestant  religion,"  but  in  1789  when  the  second  constitution 
of  the  State  was  adopted  it  was  specifically  provided  that  "all  persons  shall  have 
the  free  exercise  of  religion,"  and  thus  the  faith  of  the  Scottish  Highlanders 


368  History  of  Augusta. 

who  saved  the  infant  colony  at  the  battle  of  Bloody  Marsh  with  the  Spaniards, 
and  of  the  French  auxiliaries  who  poured  out  their  blood  before  Savannah  was 
put  upon  a  footing  of  legal  equality  in  Georgia  with  all  other  creeds. 

The  discrimination  against  Catholics  was  not,  however,  the  only  governmen- 
tal interference  with  matters  of  religion  in  Georgia's  early  days,  for  while  the 
charter  established  religious  liberty  for  all  but  Catholics,  both  the  Colonial  and 
home  government  lent  their  influence  in  favor  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Upon  the  cessation  of  the  proprietary  government  and  the  erection  of  the 
province  into  a  King's  government,  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Colonial  Assem- 
bly was  to  divide  it  into  parishes  and  provide  for  the  support  of  Episcopal  wor- 
ship therein.  In  1758  the  province  was  laid  off  into  eight  parishes  named  re- 
spectively the  parishes  of  Chri?t  Church,  St.  Matthew,  St.  George,  St.  Paul, 
St.  Philip,  St.  John,  St.  Andrew,  and  St.  James.  What  had  been  the  district 
of  Augusta  became  the  parish  of  St.  Paul,  and  it  was  provided  that  from  and 
after  March  17,  1758,  "the  church  erected  in  the  town  of  Augusta  with  the 
cemetery  or  burial  place  thereto  belonging,  shall  be  the  parish  church  and 
burial  place  of  St.  Paul."  For  the  management  of  the  parish  many  regula- 
tions were  made,  it  being  the  avowed  purpos-i  of  the  act  to  establish  the 
Church  of  England  as  the  governmental  faith,  as  appears  by  the  title  of  the 
statute  which  reads  as  follows:  "An  act  for  constituting  and  dividing  the  sev- 
eral districts  and  divisions  of  the  province  into  parishes,  and  for  establishing 
religious  worship  therein,  according  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church 
of  England  ;  and  also  for  empowering  the  churchwardens  and  vestrymen  of 
the  respective  parishes  to  assess  rates  for  the  repair  of  churches,  the  relief  of 
the  poor,  and  other  parochial  services."  Vestrymen  and  churchwardens  were 
to  be  selected  and  sworn  to  the  faithful  performance  of  their  duties.  For  the 
purpose  of  keeping  the  church  edifice  in  repair,  for  the  care  of  the  appurtenant 
cemetery,  sacred  utensils,  and  ornaments,  to  provide  bread  and  wine  for  the 
Holy  Eucharist,  to  pay  the  salaries  of  clerk  and  sexton  and  to  assist  the  poor 
and  impotent  of  the  parish,  the  rector,  churchwardens,  and  vestrymen  were 
empowered  to  levy  a  tax  on  the  estate  real  and  personal  of  all  the  inhabitants 
within  the  parish  sufficient  to  yield  annually  the  sum  of  thirty  pounds.  With 
the  rector,  churchwardens,  and  vestrymen  rested  the  authority  of  appointing 
sextons  and  of  regulating  their  salaries  and  fees.  The  rector  was  to  be  one  of 
the  vestry,  and  the  churchwardens  were  instructed,  at  the  charge  of  the  parish, 
to  procure  a  well  bound  paper  or  parchment  book  wherein  the  vestry  clerk 
was  to  "  register  the  births,  christenings,  marriages,  and  burials  of  all  and 
every  person  and  persons  that  shall  from  time  to  time  be  born,  christened, 
married  or  buried  within  the  said  parish,  under  the  penalty  t)f  five  pounds  sterl- 
ing on  failure  thereof"  Such  registers  were  to  be  adjudged  and  accepted  in 
all  courts  of  record  in  the  province  as  furnishing  sufficient  proof  of  the  births, 
marriages,  christenings,  and  burials  therein  recorded.      If  any  party  was  con- 


Churches  of  Augusta.  369 


victed  of  "  wilfully  making  or  causing  to  be  made  any  false  entry  therein,"  or 
of  "  wilfully  erasing,  altering  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."  The  vestry  was  instructed  to  nominate 
a  proper  person  to  keep  a  record  of  its  proceedings,  and  to  act  as  the  custodian 
of  its  books  and  papers.  No  authority  was  conferred  upon  rectors  to  exercise 
any  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  or  to  administer  ecclesiastical  law. 

But,  to  quote  Colonel  C.  C.  Jones,  the  great  authority  in  Georgia  on  all 
matters  of  Colonial  history,  "  while  the  patronage  of  the  Crown  and  the  favor 
of  the  Colonial  assembly  were  extended  in  this  special  manner  in  aid  of 
churches  professing  the  Episcopal  faith,  it  was  not  the  purpose  of  this  act  to 
sustain  them  by  exclusive  recognition.  This  would  have  involved  a  violation 
of  the  privileges  originally  promulgated  in  the  charter  granted  to  the  trustees. 
The  idea  appeared  to  be  to  accord  to  that  denomination,  within  the  limits  of 
Georgia,  a  preference  akin  to  that  which  the  Church  of  England  enjoyed  within 
the  Realm,  to  create  certain  offices  for  the  encouragement  of  that  religious  per- 
suasion and  the  extension  of  the  Gospel  in  accordance  with  its  form  of  worship 
and  mode  of  government,  and  to  describe  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  Presbyterians,  Lutherans,  Congregationalists,  Methodists,  Anabaptists, 
and  a  few  Hebrews.  To  all  sects,  save  Papists,  was  free  toleration  accorded, 
and  wherever  a  dissenting  congregation  organized  and  applied  for  a  grant  of 
land  whereon  to  build  a  church,  the  petition  did  not  pass  unheeded.  There 
can  be  no  doubt,  however,  but  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  government, 
both  Royal  and  Colonial,  to  engraft  the  Church  of  England  upon  the  province 
and  within  certain  limits,  to  advance  its  prosperity  and  ensure  its  permanency. 
At  the  same  time  a  loyal  adherence  to  its  rubrics  was  in  no  wise  made  a  condi- 
tion precedent  to  political  preferment." 

While  Augusta  was  laid  out  in  1735  it  was  not  until  175  i  that  it  had  stated 
religious  services  or  a  regular  pastor.  About  that  time  a  number  of  the  prin- 
cipal inhabitants  forwarded  a  memorial  to  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts,"  setting  forth  their  spiritual  needs,  and  asking  as- 
sistance. It  appears  that  as  an  earnest  of  their  disposition  they  built  a  church 
near  the  fort  on  the  Savannah  River,  the  location  of  which  is  supposed,  and 
probably  with  entire  correctness,  to  be  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  present  St. 
Paul's  Church ;  and  agreed  to  build  a  parsonage,  set  apart  a  glebe,  and  raise 
a  salary  of  twenty  pounds  per  annum  if  a  clergyman  were  sent  there.  Rev. 
Jonathan  Copp.  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  graduate  of  Yale,  who  had  been 
ordained  by  Dr.  Sherlock,  the  famous  Bishop  of  London,  was  selected  to  go 
as  a  missionary  to  Augusta,  then  the  furthest  point  in  Georgia,  to  which  the 
Church  of  England   had  penetrated,  and  about   175  i  entered   on  his  ministry 


370  History  of  Augusta. 


with  joy  and  hope.  According  to  Colonel  Jones  :  "  Although  he  found  a 
congregation  numbering  one  hundred  souls,  with  eight  communicants,  there 
was  no  parsonage,  the  glebe  land  lay  uncultivated,  and  there  appeared  but  little 
hope  of  collecting  the  twenty  pounds  offered  by  the  committee.  He  con- 
tinued to  labor  in  this  isolated  field  with  indifferent  success  and  in  extreme 
poverty,  for  some  five  years ;  when,  utterly  disappointed  and  disheartened,  he 
accepted  the  rectorship  of  St.  Jolin's  Parish  in  South  Carolina,  where  he  died 
in  1762." 

Some  eight  years  after  Mr.  Copp's  removal,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Prink  was 
sent  out  by  the  Society.  He  reported  the  population  of  Augusta  at  that  time 
as  540  whites,  501  slaves,  and  90  Chickasaw  Indians.  Mr.  Prink  labored  until 
1767,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Edward  Ellington.  In  1768  this  zeal- 
ous and  faithful  rector  reported  that  St.  Paul's  Church  was  the  only  place  of 
worship  within  one  hundred  miles  of  Augusta.  His  exertions,  as  appears  from 
the  society's  reports,  were  most  strenuous  and  praiseworthy.  He  generally 
left  home  on  Monday,  traveled  thirty  or  forty  miles  and  preached  at  three 
different  places  about  ten  miles  apart  during  the  week,  and  returned  on  Friday 
for  the  next  Sunday's  services.  During  his  three  years'  service  he  traveled 
over  three  thousand  miles  to  minister  to  his  scattered  flock,  baptised  428  per- 
sons, mostly  children,  married  sixty-two  couples,  and  raised  the  number  of 
communicants  to  forty.  After  Mr.  Ellington's  departure  in  1770  it  was  a  num- 
ber of  years  before  we  find  trace  of  any  clergyman  in  Augusta.  The  times 
seemed  to  be  portentous  of  the  storm  about  to  break  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  from  an  act  of  this  year,  1770,  the  performance  of  divine  service 
seems  not  unattended  with  peril.  The  act  is  entitled  "an  act  for  the  better  se- 
curity of  the  inhabitants  by  obliging  the  white  male  persons  to  carry  fire-arms 
to  places  of  public  worship,"  and  provides  that  every  such  person  liable  to 
militia  duty  shall  on  "  resorting  on  any  Sunday  or  other  times,  to  any  church, 
or  other  places  of  divine  worship  within  the  parish  where  such  person  shall  re- 
side, shall  carry  with  him  a  gun,  or  a  pair  of  pistols,  in  good  order  and  fit  for 
service,  with  at  least  six  charges  of  gunpowder  and  ball,  and  shall  take  the 
said  gun  or  pistols  with  him  to  the  pew  or  seat  where  such  person  shall  sit, 
remain,  or  be,  within  or  about  the  said  church  or  place  of  worship,  under  the 
penalty  of  ten  shillings  for  every  neglect  of  the  same,  to  be  recovered  by  war- 
rant of  distress  and  sale  of  the  offender's  goods,"  one-half  the  fine  to  go  to  the 
churchwardens  and  the  other  to  the  informer.  The  churchwardens  of  each 
parish,  and  the  deacons,  elders,  or  select  men  of  other  places  of  worship  were 
to  examine  every  male  person  attending  such  church  on  Christmas  and  Easter, 
and  on  twelve  other  times  during  the  year  to  see  if  he  was  so  armed,  and  if 
not,  such  officials  if  not  lodging  information  of  the  fact  in  fifteen  days  were  to 
forfeit  the  sum  of  five  pounds  ;  any  person  declining  to  allow  examination  of 
his  weapons  was  to  forfeit  ten  shillings. 


Churches  of  Augusta.  371 


Then  the  Revolutionary  War  came  on.  Augusta  was  the  scene  of  a  bloody 
border  warfare  and  the  voice  of  religion  seemed  lost  in  the  clash  of  arms.  St. 
Paul's  was  burned  by  the  British,  or  their  loyalist  allies,  and  in  1782  the  Leg- 
islature which  met  in  Augusta,  in  summing  up  the  wrongs  of  Georgia,  evi- 
dently refers  to  this  heinous  act  in  speaking  of  "  the  abandoned  profligacy  of 
setting  torches  to  temples  dedicated  to  the  service  of  the  Most  High  God, 
whereby  they  completed  a  violation  of  every  right,  human  and  divine." 

After  the  war  one  of  the  first  cares  of  the  Legislature  was  to  rehabilitate 
the  interests  of  religion  in  Augusta,  and  by  act  of  1783  certain  commissioners 
were  appointed  to  sell  the  town  lots  of  that  city  and  out  of  the  proceeds  to 
erect  on  one  of  the  best  lots  "  a  church  or  house  of  worship  to  the  Divine  Be- 
ing by  whose  blessing  the  independence  of  the  United  States  has  been  estab- 
lished." A  new  St.  Paul's  was  accordingly  erected  on  the  site  of  the  old  one 
in  1786.  Three  years  later  the  governor  was  empowered  on  the  application 
of  any  religious  society  then  erected  to  grant  the  petitioners  a  charter  of  in- 
corporation on  the  same  terms  as  those  granted  Christ  Church  in  Savannah, 
which  provided  for  the  election  annually  on  Easter  Monday  of  two  church- 
wardens and  seven  vestrymen.  It  does  not  appear  that  the  Episcopalians  of 
Augusta  availed  themselves  of  this  act,  but  it  seems  that  Rev.  Mr.  Boyd  offi- 
ciated for  them  for  some  ten  years  after  the  building  of  the  second  St.  Paul's. 

For  some  twenty  years  after  this,  the  Episcopalians  of  Augusta  appear  to 
have  been  unable  to  support  a  rector,  and  no  mention  appears  of  their  denom- 
ination, but  in  1 8 16  John  Milledge,  John  Carter,  Valentine  Walker,  George 
Walton,  Thomas  Watkins,  Richard  Tubman,  Edward  F.  Campbell,  Augustine 
Slaughter,  Freeman  Walker,  Joseph  Hutchinson,  William  M.  Cowles,  John  A. 
Barnes,  Milledge  Galphin,  and  Patrick  Carnes  were  incorporated  as  "  the  trus- 
tees of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Society  in  the  city  of  Augusta  and  county  of 
Richmond."  The  trustees  of  Richmond  Academy  were  directed  to  convey 
them  an  acre  of  ground  for  the  erection  of  a  church.  The  act  required  that 
three  pews  in  the  church  should  be  reserved  for  the  use  of  strangers,  and  pro- 
vided that  no  one  residing  out  of  the  county  should  be  eligible  to  be  a  trustee. 
Under  this  act  a  third  St.  Paul's  Church  was  erected  on  the  site  of  the  first. 
This  building  still  stands.  It  was  completed  in  1820  and  consecrated  by 
Bishop  Bowen,  of  South  Carolina,  on  March  20,  1821.  Pending  the  erection 
of  the  edifice  Rev.  Hugh  Smith  was  called  to  the  rectorate  and  officiated  from 
18 19  to  183 1.  On  the  removal  of  Mr.  Smith,  Rev.  P^dward  Eugene  Ford  be- 
came rector  in  April,  1832,  and  for  more  than  thirty  years  served  faithfully  in 
his  high  vocation.  Dr.  Ford  died  on  Christmas  Eve,  1862,  and  was  buried 
beneath  the  altar.  A  handsome  memorial  tablet  in  the  church  records  his  long 
service  and  many  virtues.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  William  H.  Clarke, 
who  also  died  in  harness,  departing  this  life  in  January,  1877.  Mr.  Clarke  was 
succeeded  by  Rev.  Chauncey  C.  Williams,  the  present  rector.     In  seventy  years 


l-ji  -  History  of  Augusta. 


St.  Paul's  has,  therefore,  had  but  four  rectors.  For  many  years,  and  in  fact,  up 
to  the  opening  of  the  present  city  cemetery,  St.  Paul's  cliurchyard  was  the  com- 
mon burial  place  of  Augusta,  and  in  the  yard  may  be  seen  the  tombs  of  those 
of  all  denominations.  Many  of  the  monuments  are  very  old.  Here  lies  Oliver 
Bowen,  the  commodore  of  the  American  Navy  in  the  Revolution.  William  Long- 
street,  inventor  of  the  steamboat,  is  also  interred  here,  as  also  Marshall  Forsyth, 
father  of  the  celebrated  John  Forsyth,  and  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution  and  mem- 
ber of  the  Order  of  the  Cincinnati,  the  insignia  of  which  are  sculptured  on  his 
tomb.  A  nephew  of  General  Washington,  who  came  south  for  his  health  and 
died  in  Augusta,  and  several  of  the  French  refugees  from  San  Domingo,  and 
one  of  the  exiles  from  Ireland,  in  consequence  of  the  rising  of  '98,  are  also  buried 
beneath  the  shadow  of  St.  Paul's.  Rev.  Mr.  Clarke,  rector,  and  General  Polk, 
an  Episcopal  bishop,  are  interred  here.  An  act  of  1818  recites  that  from  time 
immemorial  that  lot  in  Augusta  bounded  north  by  the  river,  east  by  Washing- 
ton street,  south  by  Reynolds  street,  and  west  by  lands  of  Jacob  Danforth,  had 
been  used  as  a  burial  place  and  conveys  the  same  to  the  trustees  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  of  the  City  of  Augusta  so  long  as  the  same  was  used  as 
a  place  of  interment  and  for  the  site  of  a  church,  but  on  failure  to  devote  the 
same  to  such  purposes,  to  revert  to  the  State.  A  walk  in  this  ancient  ceme- 
tery is  full  of  interest.  This  gravejard  was  formerly  larger  than  it  is,  the 
western  part  having  been  used  for  the  interment  of  slaves,  but  in  1826  an  act 
of  the  Legislature  authorized  the  sale  of  that  part,  the  proceeds  to  go  to  the 
vestry,  on  the  remains  being  removed  and  carefully  interred  in  the  new  col- 
ored cemetery  and  a  brick  wall  being  built  on  the  line  formerly  divid  ng  the 
white  and  colored  burial  grounds.  This  wall  is  still  to  be  seen  and  marks  the 
western  limit  of  the  white  portion  of  the  original  cemetery. 

The  Church  of  the  Atonement  is  a  handsome  Episcopal  edifice  on  the 
corner  of  Telfair  and  Kollock  streets.  It  is  built  in  the  form  of  a  cross  and  is 
covered  with  ivy,  presenting  an  antique  and  picturesque  appearance,  thou<^h  of 
modern  date. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  Augusta  is  said  to  date  from  1804,  and  the 
present  organization  may  possibly  only  go  back  that  far,  but  there  are  evidences 
that  this  denomination,  or  one  closely  allied  to  it.  is  of  older  date.  As  far  back 
as  1796  we  find  that  the  trustees  of  the  town  of  Augusta  were  directed  to  con- 
vey a  one-acre  lot  for  the  erection  of  a  church  thereon  to  Cornelius  Dysart, 
Samuel  Jack,  Dennis  Smelt,  Isaac  Herbert,  James  Pearre,  John  Springer,  and 
Moses  Waddel,  who  were  incorporated  as  "  the  trustees  of  the  Augusta  Meet- 
ing House."  From  a  still  older  act  we  gather  that  this  was  a  Congregational 
Church,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  a  building  was  erected. 

Returning  to  the  Presbyterian  Church,  there  was  a  congregation  of  that 
denomination  in  Augusta  in  1804,  with  Rev.  Washington  McKnight  as  pastor. 
In  1805,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  McKnight,  Rev.  John  R.  Thompson,  then  rector 


Churches  of  Augusta.  373 

of  the  Richmond  Academy,  was  called  to  the  charge  on  July  3,  1806,  and 
served  acceptably  to  his  death  in  1816.  Up  to  the  lime  of  Mr.  Thompson's 
incumbency  the  church  had  three  ruling  elders,  but  three  more  were  then 
added,  Messrs.  Oswell  Eve,  Thomas  Gumming,  and  Augustus  Moore.  The 
church  was  at  that  time  called  "  St.  Paul's  Church,"  from  the  fact  that  they 
then  worshiped  in  the  second  St.  Paul's  Church  which  was  rented  them  by  the 
trustees  of  Richmond  Academy,  the  Episcopal  organization,  as  has  been  stated 
being  in  abeyance  from  about  1796  to  1816,  and  St.  Paul's  being  used  for  other 
denominations. 

The  system  of  renting  being  uncertain  and  the  congregation  increasing,  the 
members  subscribed  fur  the  erection  of  a  church  of  their  own,  and  nominated 
John  Taylor,  James  Pearre,  John  Wilson,  sr.,  Thomas  Gumming,  John  Camp- 
bell, John  B.  Barnes,  and  William  White  as  trustees,  who  were  incorporated  by 
act  of  December  16,  1808,  as  "trustees  of  Christ  Church  in  the  city  of  Au- 
gusta." The  act  provided  that  these  trustees  should  remain  in  office  until  Jan- 
uary I,  1 8 10,  on  which  day,  and  on  the  first  day  of  January  annually  there- 
after, the  congregation  was  to  elect  seven  trustees,  none  to  be  eligible  if  resid- 
ing out  of  the  county.  Until  the  new  church  was  built  the  congregation  was 
to  meet  in  St.  Paul's.  The  act  further  provided  that  the  trustees  of  Richmond 
Academy  should  cr>nvey  to  the  church  trustees  that  lot  of  land  in  Augusta, 
then  on  the  commons,  bounded  "  on  the  north  by  Telfair  street,  on  the  east  by 
the  road  leading  from  Washington  street  to  Savannah,  on  the  west  by  Mcln- 
tosli  street,  and  on  the  south  by  a  line  to  be  drawn  parallel  to  and  distant  from 
Telfair  street  aforesaid,  three  hundred  feet." 

On  the  passage  of  this  act  the  congregation  met  and  appointed  Messrs.  John 
Murray,  David  Reed,  Robert  Creswell,  Oswell  Eve,  and  Ferdinand  Phinizy  as  a 
building  committee.  The  corner-stone  was  laid  on  July  4,  1809,  by  Dr.  John 
Mundy,  in  the  presence  of  the  trustees  and  congregation  of  the  church,  the 
trustees  of  Richmond  Academy,  the  city  officials,  and  a  large  concourse  of  cit- 
izens. The  building  was  completed  in  18 12,  and  dedicated  on  the  17th  of  May 
in  that  year,  the  spire  being  added  in  18 18. 

After  Mr.  Thompson's  death  in  18 16  the  pastorate  was  vacant  till  February 
6,  1820,  when  Rev.  Mr.  Moderwel  was  called  to  the  charge  and  remained  till 
July  16,  1826,  at  which  time  Rev.  Drs.  Davis  and  Talmage  officiated  conjointly 
for  about  a  year.  Then  Dr.  Talmage  was  pastor  till  1835  when  he  accepted  a 
call  to  Oglethorpe  University,  and  the  pulpit  was  vacant  till  May,  1837,  when 
Rev.  A.  N.  Cunningham  was  called  and  served  till  1842,  when  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  C.  S  Dod,  who  resigned  a  few  years  after.  In  1867  Rev.  Eb- 
enezer  P.  Rogers  became  pastor,  and  after  him  Rev.  James  R.  Wilson,  D.D., 
who  resigned  in  1870  to  accept  the  chair  of  pastoral  theology  in  the  seminary 
at  Columbia.  In  November,  1870,  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Irvine  was  called  from 
Knox's  Church,  Montreal,  Canada,  who  remained  till  his  death,  in  1883.     Dr. 


374  History  of  Augusta. 


Irvine  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  eloquence,  and  power,  of  fine  personal 
presence  and  high  executive  ability.  During  his  pastorate  three  new  Pres- 
byterian churches  were  erected,  the  Riverside  Chapel  on  Bay  street,  the  Sec- 
ond Presbyterian,  a  handsome  edifice  on  Upper  Green  street,  and  Sibley  Church 
on  Upper  Broad.  The  Sabbath-schools  largely  increased,  and  number  some 
five  hundred  scholars.  At  the  same  time  the  church  membership  was  in- 
creased to  three  hundred  and  five.  A  handsome  marble  monument  to  Dr.  Ir- 
vine, surmounted  by  a  statue  of  him,  heroic  size,  in  his  robes,  now  stands  close 
by  the  church. 

The  grounds  have  been  further  beautified  by  the  Telfair  building,  justly 
claimed  to  be  the  best,  the  finest,  the  most  beautiful  and  convenient  Sunday- 
school  building  in  the  United  States. 

Miss  Mary  Telfair,  of  Savannah,  a  wealthy  old  maiden  lady,  died  leaving  a 
bequest  of  $30,000  "  to  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  Augusta,  bearing  her 
name,  to  erect  a  suitable  and  commodious  Sunday-school  house  and  library." 
On  the  25th  of  April,  1883,  the  money  was  paid  to  Mr.  Alfred  Baker,  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  trustees.  The  plans  were  made  by  Mr.  Jacob  Snyder,  of 
Akron,  O.,  a  church  architect,  with  the  light  of  suggestions  from  Mr.  J.  W. 
Wallace,  the  sixth  superintendent  of  this  Sunday-school,  who  has  held  his  place 
for  twenty  years.     On  the  6th  of  August,  1 883,  the  building  was  contracted  for. 

The  corner-stone  was  laid  in  September,  1883,  and  work  begun.  Mr.  Baker 
resigned  in  January,  1884,  and  General  M.  A.  Stovall  suceeded  him  as  presi- 
dent of  the  board,  directing  the  construction,  at  the  head  of  a  building  commit- 
tee, consisting  of  George  T.  Jackson,  W.  F.  Alexander,  J.  A.  North,  and  John 
D.  Butt.  The  building  was  completed,  and  on  Sunday,  June  22d,  1884,  it  was 
dedicated  by  imposing  ceremonies. 

It  has  been  put  up  after  the  pattern  of  several  successfully  operated  halls, 
and  is  an  improvement  upon  each,  and  finer  than  them  all.  The  great  diffi- 
culty with  Sunday-schools  heretofore  has  been  to  separate  the  different  depart- 
ments and  cl.isses  during  the  time  for  instruction,  and  yet  save  time  and  pre- 
vent confusion  upon  the  reassembling  of  classes,  as  well  as  to  economize  space 
in  providing  for  these  changes.  "  Complete  separation,"  says  an  experienced 
authority,  "  where  teacher  shall  be  brought  face  to  face  with  his  class,  yet 
union,  speedy  and  quiet,  together  with  capacity  to  accommodate  each  member 
of  the  school,  was  the  problem."  The  Sunday-school  room  is  the  largest  and 
central  room  in  this  new  building,  and  is  most  spacious  and  finished  and  in- 
genious in  its  arrangement. 

The  superintendent's  desk  is  in  the  center  of  the  semi-circle,  and  the  level 
space  in  front  of  him  is  filled  with  walnut  chairs,  while  back  of  these,  in  easy 
view  of  the  superintendent,  yet  separated  from  each  other  by  walls  and  sash 
doors,  are  the  different  compartments  for  the  intermediate  and  primary  classes. 
The  seats  for  the  smaller  children   are  arranged   tier   upon  tier,  resembling 


Churches  of  Augusta.  375 

"gently  sloping  hillsides  "  encircling  the  teacher.  The  doors  closed,  the  class 
is  entirely  to  itself,  without  the  danger  of  interference  from  the  outside  ;  a  sig- 
nal from  the  superintendent,  however,  the  doors  are  opened,  and  that  officer 
stands  as  the  easy  focus  of  every  eye.  This  spacious  Sunday-school  auditorium 
occupies  the  height  of  two  stories,  and  is  fifty-three  feet  by  forty- five  in  length 
and  breadth,  and  twenty-eight  feet  in  pitch.  Over  the  lower  class  rooms  are 
symmetrical  Bible  class  apartments,  similarly  opened  and  closed,  and  all  within 
easy  sight  of  the  superintendent's  desk.  From  the  second  story  a  balcony  pro- 
jects, which  is  reached  by  half  spiral  steps  from  the  vestibules  below,  and  which 
is  arranged  in  tiers  for  the  accommodation  of  visitors,  so  ordered,  however, 
that  the  view  of  the  second  story  class-rooms  is  not  obstructed  from  the  su- 
perintendent. The  plan  of  one  central  or  main  room  connected  with  two  sto- 
ries of  radiating  class-rooms,  made  radiating  to  secure  a  mutual  view  between 
the  occupants  of  the  superintendent's  platform  and  those  of  the  twelve  radiat- 
ing class-rooms,  is  a  capital  one,  and  affords  exceptional  advantages  for  officers 
and  pupils.  Both  the  intermediate  and  infant  class-rooms  down  stairs  have  a 
separate  staircase  from  the  outside,  and  these  lower  apartments  will  accommo- 
date two  hundred  and  ten  children.  The  Bible-class  rooms  up  stairs  enable 
older  children  and  adults  to  enjoy  quiet  for  their  meetings  and  exercises, 
and  yet  give  them  the  advantage,  if  not  the  publicity,  of  the  song  and  prayer 
service  of  the  whole  school.  This  main  room  is  elegantly  ventilated  from  the 
cupola  overhead,  and  four  arched  windows  of  colored  cathedral  glass,  with 
the  light  of  the  class-rooms,  furnish  sufficient  sunshine  for  the  afternoon  or 
morning  exercises.  The  room  is  beautifully  finished.  The  ceiling  is  a  delicate 
blue,  upon  which  the  projecting  oak  work  of  the  Elizabethan  style  is  massive 
and  elegant.  The  walls  are  cream  color,  the  carpets  bright,  and  the  oak  and 
bronze  railing  of  the  gallery  is  very  handsome.  Upon  the  walls  of  the  main 
room  is  the  inscription,  "  and  they  search  the  Scriptures  daily  whether  those 
things  were  so."  Back  of  the  superintendent's  stand  is  a  marble  tablet  with 
the  words,  "held  in  grateful  remembrance,  Mary  Telfair,  of  Savannah,  through 
whose  munificent  bequest  has  this  edifice  been  erected  and  furnished." 

The  front  room  on  the  first  floor,  reached  upon  entering  the  building  from 
the  vestibule,  is  the  lecture-room,  richly  carpeted,  with  trim  little  pulpit,  con- 
fronted by  comfortable .  mahogany  chairs.  The  pitch  of  this  room  is  twenty- 
eight  feet,  and  its  dimensions  are  thirty-six  by  tliirty  feet.  It  is  large  enough, 
and  yet  as  cosy  and  finished  as  an  office.  On  the  right  is  the  Sunday-school 
library,  through  which  the  scholars  will  pass  in  entering  the  main  room,  and 
change  their  books.  This  is  twenty- five  by  twelve  feet;  it  is  well  supplied,  and 
contains  cells  for  three  thousand  books.  To  the  left  of  the  lecture-room  is  the 
pastor's  library,  study  and  office,  a  counterpart  to  the  library,  where  the  pastor 
will  have  his  headquarters.  Upstairs,  over  the  lecture-room,  is  the  ladies'  so- 
ciety room,  thirty-six  by  thirty  feet,  elegantly  fitted  up  and  supplied  with  toilet- 
rooms  and  kitchen,  designed  for  church  entertainments,  charity  suppers,  etc. 


376  History  of  Augusta. 


Taste,  ingenuity,  experience,  care  and  money  have  been  expended  without 
stint  to  make  the  structure  what  it  is  confessedly,  the  finest  and  most  complete 
in  the  country.  The  inside  is  of  pure  cathedral  architecture;  the  outside  is  of 
solid  and  symmetric  Gothic  build.  There  are  in  this  beautiful  structure  ninety- 
six  windows,  and  the  building  is  illuminated  at  night  with  one  hundred  and  fifty 
gas  burners.  The  chairs  are  moveable  and  are  solid  walnut;  the  glasses  are 
colored  cathedral  style  ;  the  rooms  are  warmed  w  ith  furnaces,  and  the  mantels 
are  exquisite  stone  pieces.      The  building  cost  throughout  $32,000. 

As  originally  incorporated  this  church  was  called  Christ  Church,  but  by 
act  of  December  29.  1836,  this  name  was  changed  to  First  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Augusta,  by  which  it  has  since  been  known  ;  the  act  also  required 
the  election  of  trustees  on  the  first  of  January  annually.  In  1859  anoth  ^r  act 
was  passed  which  minutely  regulates  the  matter  of  pews,  and  rights  of  pew- 
holders.  It  provides  that  the  trustees  may  call  a  meeting  of  pew- holders  at 
any  time  on  one  week's  notice  in  any  city  paper  and  oral  notice  from  the  pul- 
pit on  the  Sunday  before  the  meeting;  that  at  such  meeting,  which  shall  be 
held  in  the  church  or  at  the  lecture  room,  each  pew-holder  shall  have  one  vote, 
in  person  or  by  proxy,  and  that  all  assessments  made  at  such  meetings  shall 
be  binding  on  all  pew- holders  and  may  be  collected  by  law.  It  further  pro- 
vides that  if  any  pew-holder  be  in  arrears  for  two  years'  annual  assessment,  the 
trustees  may,  by  resolution  entered  in  the  minutes,  declare  such  pew  forfeited, 
and  it  shall  tiiereupon  revert  to  the  church,  or  if  the  trustees  so  elect  the  pew 
may  be  sold  by  execution  issued  on  judgment  obtained  for  the  amount  of  un- 
paid assessment,  as  in  case  of  other  property.  All  pews  belonging  to  estates 
on  which  there  is  no  representation  for  two  years  shall  revert  to  the  church,  and 
no  one  shall  vote  for  a  deceased  pew-holder  except  his  legal  representative,  but 
the  trustees  may  transfer  such  pew  to  the  decedent's  widow  or  children  on 
payment  of  all  assessments  due.  "  All  pews  held  by  business  firms  or  by  two 
or  more  persons  jointly,"  shall  on  the  death  of  one  joint  owner  rest  absolutely 
in  the  other  who  shall  be  liable  for  all  assessments  thereon.  Lastly  the  title 
to  pews  are  transferable  by  the  owners  on  the  books  of  the  trustees,  if  clear  of 
assessments,  and  not  otherwise.  These  provisions  forjn  a  more  complete  body 
of  ecclesiastical  law  on  this  subject  than  can  be  found  as  respects  any  other 
denomination  in  Georgia.  The  same  act  empowers  the  trustees  to  convey  and 
dispose  of  any  real  estate  theretofore  or  thereafter  conveyed  them  unless  ex- 
pressly prohibited  by  the  terms  of  the  grant. 

By  an  act  of  February  21,  1850,  the  trustees  are  empowered  to  take  and 
hold  land  for  a  parsonage  and  a  missionary  church,  to  be  under  the  care  of  the 
parent  church. 

By  act  of  December  21,  1866,  the  charter  was  again  amended  so  as  to  pro- 
vide for  the  election  of  nine  trustees  instead  of  seven,  three  for  one  year,  three 
for  two,  and  three  for  three  years,  so  as  to  elect  but  three  each  year  to  hold 


Churches  of  Augusta.  377 


three  years  ;  those  who  had  filled  one  term  not  to  be  re- eligible  till  the  expira- 
tion of  one  year.  In  1870  it  was  enacted  that  the  trustees  should  elect  three 
persons  to  be  pew-owners  and  residents  of  Richmond  county,  for  terms  of  one, 
two,  and  three  years  respectively  as  an  endowment  committee,  to  receive  and 
hold  all  church  property  with  power  to  invest  same,  holding  proceeds  to  use 
of  the  trustees,  and  to  make  annual  reports,  but  in  1876  this  act  was  repealed 
and   the   management  of  the  church   property  left    with   the  trustees  as   be- 


ore. 


By  an  act  passed  in  1825,  Timothy  Edwards,  M.  M.  Payne,  Joseph  Hutch- 
inson, Robert  Thomas,  and  James  Primrose  were  incorporated  as  "the  trus- 
tees of  the  Harrisburoh  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  village  of  Harrisburgh  and 
county  of  Richmond."  The  act  provides  that  the  succeeding  trustees  were  to 
be  elected  annually  on  the  first  Saturday  in  March  "  by  the  worshipers  in  the 
church,"  and  then  proceeded  to  define  that  language  by  saying  "those  shall  be 
considered  worshipers  who  attend  divine  service  there  twelve  Sabbaths  during 
the  year." 

The  Baptist  denomination  is  numerically  the  most  powerful  in  Georgia,  and 
in  and  about  Augusta  its  history  extends  back  over  one  hundred  years.  As 
far  back  as  1789  an  act  of  the  Legislature  states  that  "  a  religious  society  has 
for  many  years  past  been  established  on  the  Kioka,  in  the  county  of  Richmond, 
called  and  known  by  the  name  of  the  Anabaptist  Church,  on  the  Kioka,"  and 
incorporates  Abraham  Marshall,  William  Willingham,  Edmund  Cartledge, 
John  Landers,  James  Simms,  Joseph  Ray,  and  Lewis  Gardner  as  "the  trustees 
of  the  Anabaptist  Church  on  the  Kioka."  This  church  was  originally  estab- 
lished in  1773  by  Rev.  Daniel  Marshall. 

The  name  Anabaptist  was  subsequently  changed  to  Baptist  and  for  many 
years  after  1789,  this  old-time  congregation  met  and  worshiped  in  a  church 
building  on  the  side  of  the  road  leading  from  Augusta  to  Appling,  the  county 
seat  of  Columbia  county,  after  that  was  cut  oft"  from  Richmond  county.  The 
building  has  long  since  disappeared  but  a  venerable  tree  on  the  left  hand  side 
of  the  road  within  some  hundred  yards  of  the  court-house  at  Appling  is  still 
pointed  out  as  having  shaded  the  old  church.  Rev.  Daniel  Marshall,  said  by 
tradition  to  have  been  the  first  Baptist  preacher  in  Georgia,  for  many  years 
ministered  in  the  Kioka  Church,  and  just  across  the  road  from  the  site  of  the 
edifice  his  grave  is  still  to  be  seen,  a  square  mound  of  rock  being  his  monu- 
ment. The  act  incorporating  the  church  provided  that  the  trustees  should 
hold  office  for  three  years,  and  that  on  the  third  Saturday  in  November  in 
every  third  year  "  the  supporters  of  the  Gospel  in  said  church  should  convene 
at  the  meeting-house,  and  there  between  the  hours  of  ten  and  four  should  elect 
from  among  such  supporters  seven  discreet  persons  to  be  trustees."  An  act  of 
1 801  provided  that  the  trustees  should  fill  any  vacancy  in  their  ranks,  and  that 
the  congregation  might  fix  the  time  of  the  general  election  at  their  pleasure. 


^7^  History  of  Augusta. 


A  few  years  after  another  church  was  established  by  act  of  December  5,  1806 
at  Red's  Creek,  and  Loveless  Savage,  James  Simms,  Archibald  Odom,  David 
Walker,  and  John  Collier  were  granted  a  charter  as  "  The  Incorporated  Red's 
Creek  Baptist  Church." 

By  act  of  December  2,  1809,  the  trustees  of  Richmond  county  academy 
were  directed  "  to  lay  off  a  lot  of  ground  between  Telfair  and  Walker  streets, 
not  exceeding  half  a  square,  for  the  purpose  of  building  a  Baptist  Church  there- 
on, and  to  convey  the  same  to  the  general  committee  of  Georgia  Baptists  or  to 
such  persons  in  trust,  for  the  purpose  aforesaid,  as  they  have  or  may  nominate, 
to  receive  titles  as  aforesaid."  It  does  not  appear  that  the  scheme  of  this  act 
was  carried  into  effect,  but  in  1817,  and  evidently  through  the  untiring  exer- 
tions of  Rev.  Abraham  Marshall,  an  act  was  passed  on  December  19,  "  to  in- 
corporate the  Baptist  Church  in  the  city  of  Augusta  and  county  of  Richmond, 
and  to  authorize  the  trustees  of  the  Richmond  Academy  to  convey  a  lot  of  land 
in  the  city  of  Augusta  to  said  Baptist  Society."  By  this  act  Abraham  Mar- 
shall, John  McKinne,  James  H.  Randolph,  Woodson  Ligon,  and  Jesse  D. 
Green  were  incorporated  as  "  The  Trustees  of  the  Baptist  Society  in  the  city  of 
Augusta  and  county  of  Richmond,"  and  empowered  to  have  and  to  hold  real 
and  personal  property  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  a  house  of  worship  for  said 
society  in  the  city  of  Augusta  and  maintaining  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  for  the 
same.  To  provide  a  site,  the  trustees  of  the  academy  were  directed  to  lay  off 
and  convey  to  said  trustees  a  one-acre  lot  in  the  city,  where  they  might  deem 
proper.  In  18 18  all  the  church  societies  in  Augusta  were  authorized  to  sell 
such  parts  of  their  lots  as  they  might  deem  proper,  the  proceeds  to  be  devoted 
to  church  purposes. 

In  1819  the  First  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  Augusta  and  located  on 
the  corner  of  Greene  and  Jackson  streets,  where  it  still  stands.  The  building 
cost  $22,000,  and  the  funds  for  its  erection  were  mainly  secured  by  the  efforts 
of  Rev.  Dr.  William  T.  Brantly,  the  first  pastor,  who  at  the  time  of  the  organi- 
zation was  rector  of  the  Richmond  Academy.  The  congregation  at  that  time 
did  not  number  over  twenty  all  told,  and  but  few  of  those  were  able  to  con- 
tribute anything  towards  the  erection  of  the  building,  but  their  brother  Bap- 
tists throughout  the  State,  with  their  proverbial  zeal  and  liberality,  came  to 
the  rescue.  By  1826  the  church  had  increased  and  prospered  to  an  extent 
which  allowed  it  to  give  a  ministerial  stipend  of  $1,200.  Rev.  James  Shand 
became  Dr.  Brantly's  successor  in  the  pastorate  and  served  three  years,  when 
he  resigned  to  accept  the  chair  of  ancient  languages  in  the  University  of 
Georgia.  Rev.  Charles  D.  Mallary  then  became  pastor  and  remained  five 
years,  the  church  in  his  time  numbering  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  members. 
Rev.  W.  J.  Hard,  at  one  time  professor  in  Mercer  University  and  for  many 
years  a  well-known  teacher  in  Augusta,  was  the  next  pastor,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  W.  T.  Brantly,  jr.,  son  of  the  founder  of  the  church  who  min 


Churches  of  Augusta.  379 


istered  for  seven  years,  resigning  to  become  professor  of  belle-lettres  in  the 
State  University.  The  other  pastors  have  been  Rev.  N.  G.  Foster,  Rev.  Mr. 
Gillette,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  G.  Binney,  who  was  twice  in  charge  and  subsequently  be- 
came president  of  the  Missionary  College  at  Rangoon,  Rurmah  ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Ryerson  succeeded,  and  then  came  Rev.  A.  J.  Huntington,  D  D.,  who  re- 
moved to  become  professor  in  Columbia  College,  District  of  Columbia.  Rev. 
J.  H.  Cuthbert,  D.D.,  who  subsequently  became  pastor  of  the  first  Baptist 
Church  in  Washington,  D.  C,  and  Rev.  Drs.  James  Dixon  and  M.  B.  Whar- 
ton succeeded.  Then  came  Rev.  William  Warren  Landrum,  who  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  present  able  and  eloquent  pastor  Dr.  Lansing  Burrows.  The 
church  now  numbers  over  four  hundred  members.  The  building  has  been 
remodeled  and  is  now  an  exceedingly  handsome  edifice  and  has  a  magnificent 
organ.  A  new  lecture  room,  the  finest  in  the  city,  has  been  built  on  Jackson 
street  just  in  rear  of  the  church  at  a  cost  of  $10,000. 

Just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  denomination  had  increased  in 
Augusta  to  an  extent  which  called  for  another  church,  and  by  act  of  Decem- 
ber 8,  i860,  Henry  J.  Sibley,  Samuel  A.  Verdery,  Daniel  B.  Plumb,  James 
Hill,  David  R.  Wright,  and  Richard  Timmerman  were  incorporated  as  the 
Second  Baptist  Church,  Kollock  street,  Augusta,  Georgia,  and  made  trustees 
for  life  of  the  church.  Since  then  three  other  Baptist  Churches  have  been 
erected,  the  First  Ward  or  Calvary  Baptist  Church,  on  Lower  Greene  street, 
Curtis  Baptist  Church  on  Upper  Broad,  and  the  Berean  Church  in  Harris- 
burgh. 

In  1830  an  act  "to  incorporate  the  Baptist  Convention  of  the  State  of 
Georgia  "  was  passed  which  provided  that  Jesse  Mercer,  m.oderator ;  Abiel 
Sherwood,  clerk;  J.  P.  Marshall,  assistant  clerk;  James  Armstrong,  B.  M.  San- 
ders, Jonathan  Danis,  and  Thomas  Stocks,  the  then  executive  committee  of  the 
convention,  and  their  successors  in  office,  should  be  a  body  corporate  as  "  the 
Executive  Committee  of  the  Baptist  Convention  of  the  State  of  Georgia,"  with 
power  to  hold  all  property  of  the  convention  and  receive  donations  and  be- 
quests made  thereto.  In  1837  this  act  was  so  am.ended  as  to  withdraw  any 
taxing  power  from  the  committee  or  convention,  if  such  it  had  under  the  act 
of  1830,  legislation  which  seems  rather  anomalous  and  obscure.  The  same  act 
authorized  the  committee  to  establish  the  now  famous  Mercer  University. 

The  Methodist  Church  found  difficulty  in  establishing  itself  in  other  por- 
tions of  Georgia,  but  its  early  ministers  met  encouragement  and  support  in  and 
around  Augusta.  In  1786  in  the  Virginia  Conference  mention  was  made  of 
Georgia  as  a  missionary  ground  and  several  zealous  clergymen  volunteered  to 
plant  the  faith  there.  Two  of  them.  Rev.  Thomas  Humphries  and  John  Ma- 
jor were  accepted  and  soon  formed  a  circuit  about  Augusta,  extending  up  the 
Savannah  as  far  as  Little  River  and  in  the  interior  to  Washington,  in  Wilkes 
county.      Several   churches    were   formed   in  a  short   time    with  an   aggregate 


38o  History  of  Augusta. 


membersliip  of  four  luiiulrcd.  Mr.  M;ijor  was  particularly  active,  and  frcjni  his 
plaintive  style  of  preaching  received  the  name  of  "  the  Weeping  Prophet." 
It  is  a  notable  fact  that  in  the  early  stages  of  Methodism  it  encountered  much 
opposition  in  the  towns  and  it  was  not  until  1799,  or  some  thirteen  years  after 
the  advent  of  the  first  clergymen  of  this  denomination  in  Georgia  that  a  Meth- 
odist Church  was  formed  in  Augusta  under  the  leadership  of  Stith  Mead.  In 
the  same  year  Rev.  John  Garvin,  of  Augusta,  entered  the  ministry  and  sought 
to  establish  a  Methodist  Church  in  Savannah,  the  third  attempt  in  this  direc- 
tion. In  1790  Rev.  Mope  Hull  visited  that  place  but  met  opposition  and  was 
even  threatened  with  mob  violence.  In  1796  Rev.  Jonathan  Jackson  and  Josiah 
Randle  attempted  to  make  converts  but  failed.  Then  Mr.  Garvin  essayed  the 
task  in  1800  and  made  some  slight  progress,  but  the  difficulty  of  holding  to- 
gether his  small  society  was  so  great  that  he  also  abandoned  the  attempt  and 
it  was  not  until  1807  th.it  Methodism  obtained  a  footing  in  Savannah.  On  his 
return  from  that  stubborn  field  Rev.  Mr.  Garvin  became  pastor  of  the  Augusta 
congregation  and  in  1801  the  meeting  house  was  built  on  the  site  of  the  pres- 
ent St.  John's  Church.  Owing  to  the  rule;  of  the  Methodist  discipline  which 
changes  pastors  at  frequent  intervals,  it  is  impracticable  to  give  a  full  list  ot 
all  the  clergymen  who  in  the  lapse  of  some  ninety  years  have  officiated  in  St. 
John's.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  many  of  the  most-illustrious  names  in  the  history 
of  Georgia  Methodism  have  at  one  time  or  another  had  this  venerable  church 
in  charge.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  in  addition  to  the  pioneers  Rev. 
John  Garvin  and  Ilo[)e  I  lull,  Lovick  Pierce,  Dunwoody,  Bishop  Andrew,  and 
Bishop  Pierce.  In  1844  when  the  latter,  then  Rev.  George  F.  Pierce,  was  in 
charge  the  present  brick  building  was  erected.  F'rom  St.  John's  as  a  center 
went  out  many  other  congregations  so  that  the  old  church  is  affectionately 
known  in  the  denomination  as  the  mother  of  churches. 

In  1885  St.  James  Church  was  built  to  accommodate  the  increascil  mem- 
bershi[)  and  has  had  since  its  organization  the  following  pastors;  Rev.  William 
M.  Crumley,  E.  W.  Spcer,  Thomas  Jordon,  W.  V.  Cook,  A.  T.  Mann,  Lovick 
Pierce,  II.  J.  Adams,  George  R.  Kramer.  G.  II.  Patillo,  II.  II.  Parks,  J.  E. 
Evans,  A.  J.  Jarrell,  S  P.  Richardson,  C.  A.  P2vans,  W.  T.  Gibson,  and  J.  II. 
Bigham.      The  membership  is  about  six  hundred. 

In  1859  Asbury  Church  was  established  and  since  then  four  others  have 
been  organized,  the  Broad  Street  Church,  Jones'  Chapel,  St.  Luke's  Church, 
and  Wesleyan  Chapel. 

Up  to  1849  ^t.  John's  had  a  large  colored  membership  which  in  that  year 
was  formed  into  Trinity  Church,  and  since  then  four  other  colored  Methodist 
congregations  have  been  organized,  namely  Bethel  Church,  St.  Mark's  Church, 
Mount  Zion  Church,  and  Ilolsey  Chapel. 

Among  the  first  settlers  of  Augusta  we  find  Kennedy  O'Bryan.  William 
Callahan,  Faley   and    McQuen,  Lachlan   McBeau,  and   John   Campbell,  whose 


Churches  of  Augusta.  381 


Scotch  and  Irish  names  betray  their  Erse  and  Celtic  origin,  and  inferentially 
their  CathoHc  faith.  In  1770  Daniel  M'Murphey  appears  as  a  resident  of  Au- 
gusta and  one  of  the  board  of  town  commissioners.  In  179 1  James  Toole  is  a 
commissioner,  but  it  is  not  until  about  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  that 
any  considerable  number  of  Catholics  were  found  in  the  city.  At  that  time 
the  rising  of  '98  in  Ireland  and  the  contemporaneous  insurrection  of  the  blacks, 
in  San  Domingo  drove  many  Irish  and  French  refugees,  particularly  the  latter, 
to  Augusta  and  Savannah.  Tradition  reports  that  as  early  as  1 800  they  es- 
tablished a  place  of  worship,  but  it  was  not  until  181 1  that  a  regular  church 
was  erected.  In  that  year  James  Toole,  Bernard  Bignon,  James  Bertrand  La- 
fitte,  Francis  Bouyer,  and  John  Cormack  were  incorporated  as  "  the  trustees 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Society  in  the  city  of  Augusta  and  county  of  Rich- 
mond," and  the  trustees  of  Richmond  Academy  were  directed  to  convey  to 
them  that  lot  of  land  in  Augusta,  bounded  on  the  north  by  Telfair  street,  on 
the  east  by  Mcintosh  street,  on  the  south  by  Walker  street,  and  on  the  west 
by  Jackson  street,  for  church  purposes.  The  trustees  of  the  church  were  em- 
powered to  fill  vacancies  happening  in  their  board,  and  no  non-resident  of  the 
county  was  eligible  to  a  seat.  By  an  act  of  1820  the  Roman  Catholic  Society 
was  to  elect  trustees  annually,  the  board   to  fill  intervening  vacancies. 

On  the  passage  of  the  act  of  181 1  a  small  church  in  the  form  of  a  cross  was 
erected  in  the  center  of  the  lot,  and  for  half  a  century  was  the  only  Catholic 
Church  in  the  city.  In  this  building  such  distinguished  prelates  as  Bishop 
England  and  Bishop  Barry  preached,  and  in  the  next  quarter  of  a  century  the 
congregation  largely  increased.  The  building  of  the  Georgia  Railroad  begun 
about  1835  brought  a  large  number  of  Irish  laborers  to  the  city  and  vicinity, 
most  of  whom  settled  in  Augusta  after  the  work  of  construction  was  complete. 
The  presence  of  the  French  colony  attracted  others  of  that  nationality,  and 
their  slaves,  a  number  of  whom  followed  their  masters  from  San  Domingo  and 
professed  the  Catholic  faith,  helped  to  swell  the  congregation.  For  a  number 
of  years  before  the  present  church  was  built  the  old  building  was  inadequate 
to  accommodate  all  the  worshipers,  and  at  ma-s  many  could  be  seen  kneeling 
outside  the  door  and  following  the  services  from  afar  off  as  in  European  coun- 
tries. 

Up  to  the  year  1850  Georgia  was  included  in  the  South  Carolina  diocese 
and  presided  over  by  the  Bishop  of  Charleston,  but  in  that  year  Right  Rever- 
end Francis  Xavier  Gartland,  of  PhiladelpluH,  was  appointed  bishop  of  the  new 
diocese  of  Savannah,  which  comprised  the  State  of  Georgia.  In  1853,  under 
the  administration  of  this  prelate,  the  Sisters  of  the  Order  of  Our  Lady  of 
Mercy  established  a  convent  and  academy  known  as  St.  Mary's  Academy,  on 
the  northeast  corner  of  the  church  lot,  and  by  act  of  February  7,  1854,  were 
incorporated  under  the  above  name  "for  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  ed- 
ucation and  charity,  and  the  performance  of  acts  of  mercy  and  benevolence." 


382  History  of  Augusta. 


The  original  incorporators  were  Elizabeth  Mahoney,  Catharine  McRena,  and 
Rose  Ann  Reilly.  By  order  of  the  Superior  Court  of  Richmond  county  of 
May  9,  1 88 1,  the  sisters  were  given  the  right  to  confer  diplomas,  honors,  de- 
grees, and  other  like  marks  of  scholastic  distinction  in  their  academy. 

Scarcely  bad  the  academy  been  instituted  and  Bishop  Gartland  began  his 
administration  before  Augusta  was  devastated  with  the  jellow  fever  epidemic 
of  1854.  The  old  Catholic  parsonage,  which  was  situate  in  the  rear  of  the  old 
church  was  converted  into  a  hospital,  and  here  among  the  sick  and  dying 
Bishop  Gartland,  and  Fathers  Barry  and  Duggan,  pastor  and  assistant  pastor 
of  the  church,  aided  by  the  sisters,  labored  until  the  pestilence  ceased.  To  his 
zeal  the  good  bishop  fell  a  victim,  dying  of  the  plague.  Many  were  the  or- 
phans left  by  the  dread  malady.  The  sisters  cared  for  the  little  girls  and  Father 
Barry  adopted  the  boys,  some  of  whom  still  live  as  honored  citizens  to  bless 
and  revere  his  name. 

For  three  years  the  see  was  vacant,  but  in  1857  Father  Barry  was  appointed 
bishop.  He  died  in  1859,  while  on  a  visit  to  Rome,  whence  his  remains  were 
brought  back  and  interred  under  the  church.  On  Bishop  Barry's  demise.  Dr. 
Verot,  a  professor  at  St.  Mary's  College,  Baltimore,  Md..  and  a  scholar  of  pro- 
found erudition,  was  appointed  bishop,  and  continued  such  until  1870,  when 
he  was  translated  to  the  new  diocese  of  St.  Augustine,  which  covers  the  State 
of  Flori<!a.  During  Bishop  Verot's  administration  the  present  St.  Patrick's 
Church  was  built.  The  old  church  had  grown  entirely  too  small  for  the  con- 
gregation, and  early  in  his  incumbency  he  resolved  upon  a  new  and  more  ca- 
pacious edifice.  The  congregation  subscribed  liberally,  and  many  of  the  poorer 
members  contributed  so  many  days  labor  on  the  building.  In  1862  it  was 
completed,  and  consecrated  by  Bishop  Verot,  Bishop  Ouinlan  of  Mobile  deliv- 
ering the  sermon.  Upon  the  translation  of  Bishop  Verot  to  the  new  see  of  St. 
Augustine,  the  Right  Reverend  Ignatius  Persico,  bishop  of  Agra,  in  the  East 
Indies,  was  made  bishop  of  Savannah.  His  labors  in  the  torrid  clim.ate  of  Hin- 
dostan  had  injuriously  affected  his  health,  and  it  was  expected  that  a  change  to 
a  more  genial  air  would  restore  him.  This  expectation  was  not  realized,  and 
in  1872  his  resignation  was  accepted  and  he  returned  to  his  native  Italy,  where 
he  was  made  bishop  of  Naples,  formerly  the  see  of  St.  Thomas,  the  Angelic 
Doctor.  Since  then  he  has  been  made  archbishop  of  Damietta,  and  it  is 
thought  will  shortly  be  named  cardinal. 

In  1873  Father  Gross,  a  Redemptorist,  was  made  bishop,  and  continued 
such  until  1885,  when  created  archbishop  of  Oregon. 

Bishop  Gross  was  succeeded  on  March  26,  1886,  by  Right  Reverend 
Thomas  A.  Becker,  the  first  bishop  of  Wilmington,  Del,  which  see  he  had 
filled  since  1868.  Bishop  Becker  is  one  of  the  most  learned  men  in  the  church, 
speaking  several  modern  languages  and  deeply  versed  in  the  ancient  tongues, 
theology,  and  philosophy.     He  is  moreover  a  man  of  remarkable  executive  abil- 


Churches  of  Augusta. 


383 


ity,  and  under  his  administration  the  CathoHc  Church  has  prospered  wonderfully 
throughout  the  State.  Particular  exertions  are  made  in  behalf  of  the  colored 
population,  and  there  are  priests,  sisters,  churches,  schools,  and  an  asylum 
specially  for  them. 

Of  Bishop  Barry's  exertions  while  pastor  of  St.  Patrick's,  we  have  already 
spoken.  Father  Duggan,  the  next  pastor,  was  a  man  of  saintly  life.  With 
missionary  zeal  he  labored  incessantly  for  others,  and  himself  led  the  life  of  an 
anchorite.  By  the  most  extreme  and  unvarying  economy  and  self-denial  he 
gathered  up  a  fund  of  some  eight  or  ten  thousand  ^dollars,  which  he  left  to 
build  a  school  for  youths,  and  St.  Patrick's  Commercial  Institute,  a  very  fine 
academy  conducted  by  the  Christian  Brothers  on  the  site  of  the  old  church  is 
the  realization  of  the  good  father's  life  long  exertions.  Father  Duggan  was 
succeeded  by  Father  Kirby,  whose  monument  is  the  new  church.  To  build 
this  was  his  hope  and  aspiration.  The  next  pastor  was  Father  Hamilton,  a 
clergyman  of  imposing  presence  and  most  persuasive  eloquence,  who  after  some 
years  faithful  service  removed  to  the  diocese  of  Mobile  and  there  died,  la- 
mented by  all.  Father  O'Hara,  the  next  pastor,  died  shortly  after  Father 
Hamilton's  removal,  and  was  succeeded  by  Father  Prendergast,  a  clergyman 
of  very  great  erudition.  His  knowledge  of  the  history,  traditions,  and  coun- 
cils of  the  church  was  something  wonderful,  and  many  were  the  converts  he 
made.  He  still  labors  with  unabated  zeal  in  other  parts  of  the  diocese.  Fath- 
ers Quinlan  and  McNally  followed,  and  the  latter  was  in  turn  succeeded  by 
the  present  pastor.  Rev.  James  M.  O'Brien,  for  many  years  the  head  of  the 
famous  boy's  school  at  Washington,  Ga.,  which  has  fitted  so  many  homeless 
lads  for  lives  of  usefulness  and  honor. 

In  1873  additional  church  facilities  were  needed  by  the  Catholics  of  Au- 
gusta, and  in  October,  1874,  the  Jesuit  fathers  completed  the  Church  of 
the  Sacred  Heart,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city.  In  1876  a  second  convent 
and  academy  was  established  by  the  Sisters  of  the  Order  of  Our  Lady  of  Mercy 
under  the  name  of  the  Sacred  Heart  Convent  and  Academy,  near  the  Sacred 
Heart  Church. 

At  a  little  later  period  another  order  known  as  the  Franciscan  Sisters  es- 
tablished a  school  near  Augusta  for  little  colored  girls  and  are  doing  an  excel- 
lent work  of  charity.  In  addition  to  their  care  of  the  orphans  under  their 
charge,  and  the  management  of  their  academies,  the  sisters  attend  the  City 
Hospital  as  nurses  to  the  sick  and  injured. 

The  Christian  Church,  or  Church  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  was  organized 
in  Augusta  in  1835.  At  that  time  there  were  few  members  and  the  services 
were  conducted  in  private  parlors  or  rented  room.s,  but  in  1842  Mrs.  Emily  H. 
Tubman,  a  wealthy  and  devoted  member  of  the  congregation,  erected  a  church 
on  Reynolds  street  now  used  as  a  young  ladies'  seminary  as  the  Tubman  High 
School.      The  first  pastor  was  Dr.  Hook  whose  faithful  service  for  several  years 


384  History  of  Augusta. 


gave  the  congregation  an  impetus  which  carried  it  along  steadily  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century  or  more  of  progress  until  in  1873  the  original  building  had  be- 
come too  sm.ill  for  proper  accommodation.  Mrs.  Tubman  again  came  for- 
ward and  erected  at  her  own  expense  a  new  and  exceedingly  handsome  church, 
on  the  corner  of  Greene  and  Mcintosh  streets,  which  was  finished  and  occupied 
by  the  congregation  on  January,  1876.  The  second  Christian  church  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  city  is  of  recent  establishment. 

The  Lutheran  Church  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  Georgia.  As  early  as  1733 
a  congregation  of  some  one  hundred  sailed  from  Germany  for  Georgia  under 
the  charge  of  two  pastors,  Rev.  Messrs.  Bolzuis  and  Gronau,  and  though  en- 
countering many  vicissitudes  which  for  years  caused  the  faith  to  remain  almost 
stationary,  it  never  died  out  and  of  late  years  has  greatly  increased.  In  1859 
a  church  was  erected  on  Walker  street,  in  which  services  are  still  held,  and  in 
1887  a  second  church  was  erected  on  Greene  street  opposite  the  City  Hall. 
The  Walker  street  church  is  styled  the  German  Evangelic  Lutheran  Church, 
and  services  are  conducted  in  the  German  tongue.  In  the  second  church  the 
services  are  in  English,  and  the  church  owes  its  origin  to  the  desire  of  the 
younger  members  to  have  their  religious  exercises  in  a  language  more  familiar 
to  them  and  better  calculated  to  reach  the  general  public  than  the  tongue  of 
the  fatherland.  The  same  difference  of  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  language 
in  which  services  should  be  conducted  was  one  of  the  decadence  of  the  Lu- 
theran faith  in  the  earlier  days  of  its  settlement  in  Georgia,  but  happily  a  re- 
vival of  the  discussion  in  later  days  in  Augusta  has  had  the  effect  of  really  in- 
creasing the  denomination,  its  membership  being  quite  strong  enough  to  sup- 
port both  kinds  of  congregation. 

The  faith  of  Israel  was  early  planted  in  Georgia.  The  second  ship  which 
sailed  from  London  for  the  new  province  in  1733  brought  forty  Hebrews,  men, 
women,  and  children  who  settled  in  Savannah,  and  very  shortly  after  their  ar- 
rival rented  a  house  in  that  city  where  the  exercises  of  their  religion  were  held 
until  about  1 741,  when  the  congregation  was  temporarily  broken  up  by  the 
removal  of  many  of  its  members  to  Charleston.  In  1774  it  was  revived  again 
largely  owing  to  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Mordecai  Sheftall,  son  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Sheft- 
all,  one  of  the  original  settlers,  but  was  again  dissolved  by  the  Revolution. 
Mr.  Mordecai  Sheftall  took  a  prominent  part  in  this  struggle  and  was  commis- 
sary-general of  the  Georgia  Brigade  in  the  Continental  Army,  Sheftall  Sheft- 
all, another  member  of  the  family,  being  deputy  commissary. 

After  the  Revolution  the  congregation,  which  we  should  state  was  called 
Mickva  Israel,  was  re-established  in  1786,  and  for  a  number  of  years  service 
was  regularly  performed.  Then  another  suspension  occurred  and  lasted  till 
1820  when  a  synagogue  was  constructed  which  was  used  till  accidentally 
burned  in  1829.  Dr.  Moses  Sheftall,  the  president  of  the  congregation,  was 
very  active  in  rebuilding  the  edifice.      Subscriptions  were  liberally  made  not 


Churches  of  Augusta.  385 

only  by  the  congregation  but  many  Christians,  and  a  new  synagogue  was  soon 
built. 

In  1854  Lewis  Levy,  Isaac  Mayer,  and  Henry  Myers  were  incorporated  as 
"  trustees  of  the  permanent  fund  of  the  Children  of  Israel,  a  Jewish  congre- 
gation in  the  city  of  Augusta."  The  fund  at  that  time  consisted  chiefly  of  ten 
shares  of  the  capital  stock  of  the  Franklin  Building  and  Loan  Association,  and 
the  trustees  were  directed  to  manage  and  increase  the  same  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  cemetery  of  the  congregation  and  ultimately  for  the  erection  of  a 
synagogue.  At  this  time  and  for  many  years  thereafter  the  congregation, 
which  is  known  as  B'nai  Israel,  or  Children  of  Israel,  occupied  a  building  on 
the  corner  of  Greene  and  Jackson  streets,  known  afterwards  as  Douglass  Hall, 
and  now  the  site  of  the  new  Opera  House. 

In  1872  a  handsome  synagogue  was  erected  on  Telfair  street,  in  rear  of  the 
City  Hall.  The  design  is  that  of  a  Grecian  temple  and  the  interior  presents  a 
singularly  bright  and  cheerful  appearance.  Above  the  entrance  is  in  large 
gold  characters  the  Hebrew  inscription  B'nai  Israel.  This  synagogue  cost 
$12,000.  The  present  officers  are  Joseph  Myers,  president;  S.  Lesser,  vice- 
president  ;  and  A.  Asher,  I.  C.  Levy,  and  H.  Brooks,  trustees.  One  of  the 
original  trustees,  Mr.  Henry  Myers,  still  survives,  full  of  years  and  rich  in  the 
public  respect  and  esteem.  The  confidence  of  his  fellow- citizens  has  made  him 
president  of  the  Richmond  County  Reformatory  Institute,  a  benevolent  insti- 
tution intended  for  the  reformation  of  juvenile  offenders. 

Many  years  ago,  in  1826,  Alexander  Cunningham,  Gilbert  Longstreet, 
Thomas  S.  Metcalf,  William  Sims,  and  Philip  Crane  were  incorporated  as 
the  Unitarian  Society  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  but  it  has  been  long  since  the 
organization  has  had  an  active  existence. 

The  colored  churches  of  Augusta  are  quite  numerous  and  are  of  the  Bap- 
tist, Methodist,  and  Presbyterian  denominations.  The  colored  Baptist  churches 
are  eleven  in  number,  namely  :  Antioch,  Central  African,  Friendship,  Hale 
street.  Harmony,  Hosannah,  Macedonia,  Mount  Olive,  Springfield,  Thankful, 
and  Union  Church.  The  colored  Methodist  churches  are  five  in  number, 
namely  :  Bethel,  St.  Mark's,  Mount  Zion,  and  Trinity  Church,  and  Holsey 
chapel.     There  is  one  colored  Presbyterian  congregation  called  Christ  Church. 

Of  these  churches  Springfield  and  Thankful  have  a  very  respectable  an- 
tiquity, the  former  particularly.  As  early  as  1805  the  village  of  Springfield 
was  spoken  of  as  being  a  cluster  of  houses  and  a  house  of  worship  for  the  col- 
ored people  of  that  day.  The  location  of  this  village,  now  long  absorbed  into 
the  corporate  limits  of  Augusta,  was  at  the  intersection  of  Broad  and  Marbury 
streets,  and  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  this  point  the  present  Springfield 
Church  is  situate.  At  the  other  extremity  of  the  city  is  Thankful  Church,  much 
the  junior  of  Springfield,  but  still  of  good  age,  having  been  built  some  fifty  years 
ago.  These  churches  were  originally  designed  for  the  use  of  the  slave  popu- 
49 


386  History  of  Augusta. 


lation,  and  on  the  emancipation  of  their  congregations  have  remained  in  their 
hands  and  been  the  fruitful  centers  of  new  congregations  and  new  churches. 
Connected  with  them  are  some  quaint,  time-honored  observances.  At  stated 
intervals  there  is  a  baptizing.  There  starts  from  the  church  towards  the  river 
a  procession  with  the  pastor,  in  a  long  white  robe  and  leaning  upon  a  long 
staff,  at  its  head  ;  at  his  right  hand  and  left  are  assistants  similarly  clad  and 
equipped ;  behind  these  comes  the  choir  ;  then  the  persons  to  be  baptized,  the 
men  in  long  white  gowns  and  tlie  women  in  white  dresses,  each  applicant  sup- 
ported on  either  hand  by  friends  of  his  or  her  sex.  Then  came  the  congre- 
gation two  and  two.  The  pastor  "lines  out"  a  hymn  and  the  choir  and  con- 
gregation respond,  and  thus  the  procession  wends  its  waj'  to  the  river  where 
the  immersion  takes  place. 

Another  curious  custom  is  in  connection  with  the  burial  of  the  dead.  Con- 
nected with  the  older  churches  are  benevolent  societies,  each  with  a  distinctive 
uniform,  which  turn  out  en  masse  to  the  funeral  of  a  deceased  member.  The 
feature  of  the  uniform  of  the  females  is  a  cape,  in  some  societies  black  with 
purple  bands,  in  others  white  with  black  bands.  Those  with  the  black  capes 
wear  black  dresses  and  black  straw  hats,  those  with  white  capes,  white  dresses 
and  plain  straw  hats.  These  long  processions  moving  along  in  perfect  order 
and  silence  not  infrequently  present  a  weird  appearance.  The  custom  is  of 
unknown  antiquity. 

The  Young  Men's  Ciiristian  Association  of  Augusta  has  been  in  operation 
for  a  number  of  years  and  is  now  on  a  solid  and  prosperous  basis,  with  attrac- 
tive rooms  and  a  large  and  growing  membership.  Attached  to  it  is  a  fine 
gymnasium,  comfortably  furnished  reading-room  and  parlor,  and  a  spacious 
lecture-room. 

The  Ministerial  Association  of  Augusta  is  of  recent  date,  but  a  body  of 
great  dignity  and  moral  weight.  It  is  composed  of  divines  of  nearly  all  de- 
nominations and  is  intended  to  make  common  cause  in  the  interests  of  moral- 
ity and  religion. 

In  closing  this  sketch  of  the  churches  and  religious  institutions  of  Augusta 
it  is  pleasant  to  refer  to  the  spirit  of  charity  which  prevails  among  all.  Bigotry 
and  polemic  asperity  are  all  but  unknown,  and  as  a  consequence  the  religious 
sentiment  of  Augusta  is  as  mild  and  tolerant  as  it  is  decided,  zealous,  and 
sincere. 


Manufactures.  387 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

MANUFACTURES. 

Eli  Whitney  and  his  Cotton  Gin — Cotton  Forthwith  Becomes  a  Staple — The  Inventor's 
Troubles — Law  Suits,  Infringements,  and  Hostile  Legislation — Protest  Against  Extension  of 
the  Patent — Whitney's  Later  Inventions— His  Death  in  1825 — Rapid  Increase  in  Cotton  Ex- 
ports—Price Current  of  1802— The  Embargo  Blunder — British  Cotton — Heavy  Customs  Du- 
ties— Georgia  Long  Staple — Total  Cotton  Export  in  1810— A  Cotton  Factory  Chartered  in 
1798 — Europe  and  the  North  Manufacture,  While  the  South  only  Produces— Deterrent  Causes 
— Another  Factory  Chartered  in  1810— The  Pioneer  Southern  Mill— Judge  Shly's  Factory — 
"  The  Live  Spindle  "—Bagging  and  Yarn  the  First  Products—"  The  Dead  Spindle  "— Osna- 
burgs — The  Mill  Removed  to  Richmond  County  and  Named  Bellville — "  Georgia  Plains  " — 
Checks  and  Denims  Made — Bellville  Factory  Twice  Burned — Impetus  Given  Southern  Man- 
ufactures— Richmond  Factory — Profuse  and  Omnipresent  Water  Power  of  Richmond  County 
— Early  Factories,  Mills  and  Gins — McBean  Factory — The  Georgia  Silk  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany—The Augusta  Sugar  Manufacturing  Company — The  Savannah  River  Utilized— Augusta 
Canal  Projected— Early  History  of  this  Great  Work— The  Original  Ordinance— The  Original 
Route  Named — The  Ratifying  Act  of  the  Legislature — How  the  Money  was  Raised — The  En- 
gineer's Report— Anti-Canal  Litigation— The  Canal  Wins— The  Enlargement  in  1872-5— Di- 
mensions and  Cost — Relative  Cotton  Manufacturing  Advantages  of  North  and  South— Expert 
Testimony— The  Augusta  Manufacturing  Company— The  McBean  Factory  Charter— The  Au- 
gusta Factory— Its  Phenomenal  Success — The  Enterprise  Factory— The  Sibley  Manufactur- 
ing Company —The  John  P.  King  Manufacturing  Company  The  Riverside  Mills — The  War- 
wick Mills— The  Algernon  Mills— The  Globe  Mills— Work  of  the  Augusta  Factory  from  1873 
to  1878— The  Adjacent  South  Carolina  Mills  at  Graniteville  and  Vancluse — The  Southern  and 
Western  Manufacturers  Association — The  Lock  Out  of  1886— Other  Manufacturing  Interests 
— Georgia  Chemical  Works— The  Guano  Interest— The  Augusta  Ice  Company  of  1832— The 
Jackson  Street  Ice  Company  of  i837--The  Ice  Factory  of  1864 — The  Augusta  Ice  Company 
— The  Polar  Ice  Company— The  Augusta  Machine  Works— Pendleton  Machine  Works— Au- 
gusta Flouring  Mills — Excelsior  Flouring  Mills — The  Lumber  Interest — Brick  Yards— Augusta 
as  a  Cotton  Town— The  Best  Inland  Center  in  the  United  States — Cotton  Futures. 

TO  speak  of  the  manufactures  of  Augusta  is  to  speak  of  cotton,  and  to  speak 
of  cotton  is  to  recall  Eli  Whitney  and  his  cotton-gin.  Elsewhere  in  this 
work  we  have  made  some  mention  of  this  great  inventor  and  benefactor  of  man- 
kind, but  may  here  speak  more  fully  of  his  biography,  particularly  as  we  shall 
find  that  the  idea  of  cotton  manufacturing  in  the  South  was  coeval  with  the 
invention  of  the  cotton  gin. 

In  1793  Eli  Whitney,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  then  resident  in  Geor- 
gia, invented  the  cotton-gin,  /.  e.,  the  saw-gin.  the  roller-gin  having  been  known 
in  Hindostan  under  the  name  of  "  Churka,"  from  a  remote  antiquity.  The 
principle  of  the  "  Churka  "  is  two  rollers  revolving  in  opposite  directions,  one 
drawing  and  the  other  repelling  the  seed  cotton,  whereby  the  lint  or  fibre  passes 


388  History  of  Augusta. 

one  way  and  the  seed  the  other.  This  device,  while  answering  fairly  enough 
for  the  ginning  of  long  staple,  which  parts  with  no  great  difficulty  from  the 
seed,  has  two  drawbacks;  one  that  is  but  a  tedious  process  at  best,  and  the 
other  that  the  principle  does  not  work  with  the  ordinary  upland  variety  where 
the  fibre  adheres  closely  to  the  seed.  Celerity  and  power  were  the  great  de- 
siderata to  make  cotton  of  any  great  commercial  value,  and  these  Whitney  sup- 
plies with  his  saw-gin,  the  principle  of  which  may  be  roughly  stated  as  a  set  of 
teeth  working  between  bars,  whereby  the  lint  is  drawn  through  to  one  side 
while  the  seeds  drop  upon  the  other. 

Mr.  Whitney  constructed  his  model  and  made  his  first  experiments  there- 
with in  Richmond  county  on  the  waters  of  Rocky  Creek,  about  two  miles  south 
of  Augusta.  The  line  of  the  Central  Railroad  now  crosses  the  stream  within 
view  of  the  spot,  and  the  dam  built  by  the  inventor  to  obtain  a  water  supply 
by  which  to  run  the  machine  is  still  in  existence  and  use,  a  modern  improved 
gin  now  being  operated  where  the  original  gin  stood. 

Up  to  Whitney's  invention,  cotton  was  more  a  curious  than  valuable  pro- 
duct, but  as  soon  as  the  new  discovery  became  known  the  staple  rose  almost  at 
a  bound  into  prominence.  As  early  as  1796  the  General  Assembly  of  Geor- 
gia passed  "  an  act  for  the  inspection  of  cotton,"  a  sure  proof  that  the  article 
even  at  that  early  day  was  extensively  grown,  the  existence  of  inspection  laws, 
whatever  their  utility  in  themselves,  being  evidence  of  a  general  production  or 
use  of  the  article  inspected.  By  act  of  1797  the  inspection  act  of  1796  was 
repealed  as  having  "  been  found  in  its  operation  not  competent  to  the  objects 
proposed,  by  no  means  beneficial  to  the  interest  of  the  State,  and  an  unnecessary 
burden  on  the  planters  of  that  article."  The  next  year  we  find  a  still  further 
evidence  of  the  rise  of  the  staple  into  industrial  prominence  in  the  shape  of  an 
act  of  1798  to  encourage  cotton  manufactures,  as  follows: 

"  Whereas,  the  manufactory  of  cotton  will  be  attended  with  public  utility, 
and  William  McClure  and  James  Thompson  have  proposed  to  erect  machines 
for  that  purpose. 

"  Be  it  therefore  enacted,  That  it  shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  commis- 
sioners hereinafter  named  to  establish  a  lottery  within  six  months  from  and 
after  the  passing  of  this  act,  to  raise  the  sum  of  two  thousand  dollars,  under  such 
schemes  and  regulations  as  may  by  them  be  deemed  necessary,  the  said  money 
to  be  applied  to  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  said  William  McClure  and  James 
Thompson  for  the  purpose  of  erecting  and  carrying  on  the  machinery  afore- 
said. 

"  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  Benajah  Smith,  Joel  Abbot,  and  John 
Matthews  be,  and  they  are  hereby  appointed  commissioners  to  carry  said  lot- 
tery into  effect." 

Succeeding  this,  we  find  further  evidence  to  the  same  effect. 

"  In  his  message  to  the  Legislature  of  1799,  Governor  James  Jackson,  in 


Manufactures.  389 


speaking  on  the  then  vexed  question  of  Georgia's  southern  boundary,  says  that 
the  lands  in  that  part  of  the  State  "  answer  very  well  for  cotton,  an  article  that 
is  rapidly  advancing  to  the  head  of  American  exports,  and  which  (Georgia  cot- 
ton) is  taking  the  lead  and  preference  of  that  staple  in  most  foreign  markets,  a 
staple  which  deserves  the  fostering  hand  of  the  Union,  and  merits  its  attention 
and  encouragement." 

In  another  part  of  the  same  message  he  says  :  "  Having,  in  a  former  part 
of  my  message  touched  on  the  article  of  cotton,  I  beg  permission  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  complaint  of  foreign  merchants  as  to  the  deception  in  the  pack- 
age of  it.  To  preserve  the  character  and  reputation  of  that  highly  important 
staple  is  worthy  of  the  most  minute  attention  of  the  Legislature  of  Georgia, 
that  State  which  at  first  exclusively  brought  it  into  notice  as  an  export  of  the 
United  States,  and  which  from  its  almost  universal  encouragement  of  its  cul- 
ture since,  bids  fair  to  yield  the  United  States  a  larger  source  of  revenue  than 
any  other  State  in  the  Union.  An  inspection  law  was  passed  in  1796,  but  re- 
pealed in  1797  ;  whether  it  may  be  proper  to  revive  it,  I  leave  to  your  superior 
judgment.  But  it  is  known  that  almost  all  of  the  valuable  articles  of  export 
from  the  different  States  are  found  to  stand  in  need  of  inspections,  and  cotton 
is  certainly  as  valuable  as  any  of  them.  Should  this  base  practice  continue 
unchecked  by  some  guards,  the  mind  of  the  merchant  will  be  filled  with  dis- 
trust; the  reputation  of  our  cotton  will  diminish,  and  the  loss  will  ultimately 
return  on  ourselves  by  a  failure  of  price.  But  this  is  not  all;  such  infamous 
practices  tend  to  stamp  on  our  character  as  a  people  a  total  want  of  honor,  jus- 
tice, and  morality,  which  I  feel  convinced  you  will  deem  it  your  duty  to  pre- 
vent." 

About  this  time,  however,  we  regret  to  say,  we  find  evidence  of  a  disposi- 
tion to  deny  Mr.  Whitney  the  just  reward  of  his  genius.  Infringements  on 
and  violations  of,  his  patent,  litigation,  and  hostile  State  action  combined  to 
harass  and  annoy  him,  and  while  he  fought  his  battle  with  great  spirit  in  the 
courts  for  a  number  of  years,  and  won  several  important  causes,  it  is  doubtful 
if,  upon  the  whole,  he  reaped  much  emolument  from  his  invention. 

December  15,  1800,  the  following  advertisement,  indicative  of  one  of  the 
troubles  met  by  the  inventor,  appears  in  the  Augusta  Herald: 

"  Notice  to  all  concerned. — All  persons  wishing  to  use  the  Patent  Gins  for 
cleansing  cotton  are  hereby  informed  that  they  can  be  supplied  with  licenses 
therefor  by  applying  to  the  subscriber  on  or  at  any  time  before  the  20th  of 
January  next.  Those  who  neglect  to  furnish  themselves  by  that  time,  will 
have  none  to  blame  but  themselves  should  they  afterwards  be  attended  to  in  a 
way  however  necessary,  by  no  means  pleasing  to 

"J.  Grinage,  agent  for  Miller  &  Whitney. 
"Columbia  county,  December  4,  1800." 


390  History  of  Augusta 


In  his  message  to  the  Legislature  of  the  same  year  Governor  Jackson  says: 
"  I  request  your  attention  to  the  patent  gin   nionoply,  under  the   laws  of  the 
United  States,  entitled  '  an  act  to  extend  the  privileges  of  obtaining  patents 
for  useful  discoveries  and  inventions  to  certain  persons  therein  mentioned,  and 
to  enlarge  and  define  the  penalties  for  violating  the  right  of  patentees.'     The 
operation  of  this  law  is  a  prevention  and  cramping  of  genius  as  respects  cotton 
machines,  and  a  manifest  injury  to  the  community,  and  in  many  respect  a-cruel 
extortion  on  the  gin  holders.      The  two  important  States  of  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina,  where  this  article  appears  to  be  becoming  the  principal  staple,  are 
made  tributary  to  two  persons  who  have  obtained  the  patent,  and  who  demand, 
as  I  am  informed,  two  hundred  dollars  for  the  mere  liberty  of  using  a  ginning 
machine,  in  the  creation  of  which  the  patentees  do  not  expend  one  farthing, 
and   which  sum,  as  they  now  think  their  right  secured,  it  is  in  their  power  in 
future  licenses  to  raise  to  treble  that  amount;   from  the  information  given  me 
by  a  respectable  citizen  of  this  town  (Louisville)  when  Miller  and  Whitney,  the 
patentees,  first  distributed  the  machines  of  their  construction,  they  reserved  the 
right  of  property  in  it,  as  also  two-thirds  of  the  net  proceeds  arising  from  the 
gin,  tlie  expenses  of  working  to  be  joint  between  the  patentee  and  the  ginner. 
Finding,  however,  a  defect  in  the  law  under  which  their  patent  was  obtained, 
they  determined  to  sell  the  machine,  together  with  the  right  vested  in  them  for 
five  hundred  dollars,  and  for  a  license  to  authorize  a  person  to  build  and  work 
one  at  his  own  expense,  four  hundred;   but  finding,  as  I  suppose,  that  the  defect 
of  the  law  was  generally  understood,  and  that  they  could  get  no  redress  in  the 
courts,  they  lowered  the  demand   to  the  present  rate  of  two  hundred  dollars- 
That  they  may  raise  it  to  the   former  rates  is  certain,  and   that  they  will   do  it 
unless  public  interfeience  is  had,  there  can  be   little  doubt.      I  have  been  in- 
formed from  other  sources  that  gins  have  been  erected  by  other  persons  who 
have  not  taken   Miller  &  Whitney's  machines  for  a  model,  but  which  in  some 
small  degree  resembles  it,  and   in  improvement  far  surpass  it,  for  it  has  been 
asserted  that   Miller  &  Whitney's  gin  did  not  on   trial  answer  the  intended 
purpose.     The  right  of  those  improvements  are,  however,  it  appears,  by   the 
present  act,  merged   in  the  right  of  the  patentees,  who  it  is  supposed,  on  the 
lowest  calculation,  will  make  by  it  in  the  two  States  over  two  hundred   thou- 
sand dollars. 

"  Monopolies  are  odious  in  all  countries,  but  more  particularly  so  in  a  govern- 
ment like  ours.  The  great  law  meteor,  Coke,  declared  them  contrary  to  the 
common  and  fundamental  law  of  England.  Their  tendency  certainly  is  to  raise 
the  price  of  the  article  from  the  exclusive  privilege;  to  render  the  machine  or 
article  worse  from  the  prevention  of  competition  and  improvement,  and  to  im- 
poverish poor  artificers  and  planters  who  are  forbidden  from  making,  vending, 
or  using  it  without  license  from  the  patentees,  or  in  case  of  so  doing  are  made 
liable  to  penalties  in  a  court  of  law.  The  Federal  Circuit  Court  docket,  it  is 
said,  is  filled  with  those  actions. 


Manufactures.  391 


"I  do  not  doubt  the  power  of  Congress  to  grant  those  exclusive  privileges, 
for  the  Constitution  has  vested  them  with  it;  but  in  all  cases  where  they  become 
injurious  to  the  community  they  ought  to  be  suppressed,  or  the  patentees 
be  paid  a  moderate  compensation  for  the  discovery  from  the  government 
granting  the  patent.  The  celebrated  Dr.  Adam  Smith  observes  that  monopo- 
lies are  supported  by  cruel  and  oppressive  laws.  Such  is  the  operation  at  pres- 
ent of  the  law  on  this  subject ;  its  weight  lay  on  the  poor  industrious  mechanic 
and  planter.  Congress,  however,  did  not  intend  it  so,  for  when  the  first  law 
on  this  head  was  passed  in  February,  1793,  a  few  individuals  only  cultivated 
cotton,  and  it  was  not  dreamed  of  as  about  to  become  the  great  staple  of  the 
two  Southern  States,  a  staple,  too,  which,  if  properly  encouraged,  must  take 
the  decided  lead  of  any  other,  bread  kind  excepted,  in  the  United  States. 
The  steps  proper  to  be  taken  to  remedy  this  public  grievance  you  will  judge 
of,  but  I  should  suppose  that  our  sister  Sta^e  of  South  Carolina,  being  so  much 
interested,  would  cheerfully  join  Georgia  in  any  proper  application  to  Congress 
on  the  subject.  I  am  likewise  of  the  opinion  that  the  States  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  Tennessee  must  be  so  far  interested  as  to  support  such  application. 
If  you  think  with  me,  I  recommend  communications  with  all  of  them." 

The  General  Assembly  took  no  action  at  this  time  on  the  foregoing  recom- 
mendation, but  the  agitation  was  not  abandoned,  and  in  1807,  when  the  patent 
was  about  expiring,  the  following  joint  resolution  was  adopted: 

"  Whereas,  the  period  for  which  Miller  &  Whitney  obtained  an  exclusive 
privilege  for  making  and  vending  a  gin  for  separating  the  seed  from  the  cotton 
has  now  expired  ;  and,  whereas,  it  is  understood  that  themselves,  or  others 
in  their  behalf,  are  about  to  apply  to  Congress  for  a  renewal  of  such  exclusive 
privilege,  and  being  convinced  that  such  renewal  would  be  highly  injurious  to 
the  interest  of  the  people  of  Georgia,  and  retard  many  improvements  which 
might  be  made  in  the  important  business  of  ginning  and  cleaning  of  cotton. 

Now,  be  it  resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
State  of  Georgia  in  General  Assembly  met,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same  : 
That  our  senators  be  instructed  and  our  representatives  be  directed  to  use 
every  means  in  their  power  to  oppose  the  renewel  of  such  exclusive  privilege." 

In  South  Carolina,  also,  trouble  arose  on  the  same  subject.  The  original 
agreement  was  that  the  State  was  to  pay  Whitney  $50,000  as  follows :  Cash, 
$20,000,  and  the  residue  in  three  equal  payments  —  on  September  i,  1802, 
September  i,  1803,  and  October  i,  1804.  By  act  of  1803  the  comptroller 
was  directed  to  withhold  all  future  payments  "  until  the  event  of  existing  dis- 
putes between  the  State  and  the  said  Miller  &  Whitney  is  concluded."  Liti- 
gation ensued,  which  resulted  in  favor  of  the  patentees,  who  thereupon  re- 
ceived the  stipulated  payments.  In  Tennessee  it  is  stated  that  $35,000 
agreed  on  was  not  paid ;  but  North  Carolina,  which  had  contracted  for  a  five 
years'  royalty,  punctually  discharged  the  same.     The  Augusta  Herald  man- 


392  History  of  Augusta. 


fully  defended  Mr.  Whitney,  and  in  its  issue  of  December  30,  1801,  thus  speaks 
of  his  invention  and  the  treatment  of  its  author. 

"  Since  the  formation  of  our  government  no  invention  has  been  more  in- 
teresting and  important  to  the  Southern  States  than  that  of  patent  gins;  and, 
we  regret  to  add,  that  no  invention  has  been  more  ungratefully  rewarded." 

We  may  here  add  that  at  a  later  period  of  his  life  Mr.  Whitney  made  some 
improvements  in  fire-arms,  which  brought  him  in  a  handsome  revenue  from 
the  United  States  government  in  his  declining  years.  He  was  born  at  West- 
borough,  Mass.,  on  December  8,  1765,  and  died  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  on 
January  8,  1825.  He  was  educated  at  Yale,  removed  to  Georgia  with  a  view 
of  becoming  a  lawyer,  and  is  said  to  have  had  his  attention  directed  to  the 
subject  of  his  great  invention  by  the  widow  of  General  Greene,  of  Revolution- 
ary fame,  at  whose  house  he  resided,  and  who  evinced  a  great  interest  in  th^ 
young  student's  success  in  life. 

In  the   files  of  the   Chronicle  and  other  Augusta  papers,  much  interesting 
information  is  to  be  had  as  to  the  state  of  the  cotton  market  since  the  inven- 
ion  of  the  saw-gin. 

Tho  total  export  of  the  United  States  in  1791  was  but  379  bales,  while  fo 
the  year  ending  October  i,  1800,  it  was  6,889  from  Georgia  alone.     For  the 
same  period,  the  export  from  Charleston  was  6,425,863   pounds,  about  12,851 
bales. 

In  1802  a  Liverpool  price  current  of  December  29,  gives  the  following 
quotations : 

"Cotton — Georgia  Sea  Island,  26  to  35d  ;  upland,  i4Ytoi5;  New  Orleans, 
II  to  152"!  fine  Sea  Island  has  become  very  scarce  and  is  in  brisk  demand; 
good,  bright  upland  becomes  scarce  and  is  inquired  for;  New  Orleans  very 
heavy." 

March,  1803,  a  Louisana  letter  says  that  cotton,  usually  25  to  30  cents  per 
pound  there,  is  now  but  15. 

July,  1806,  Augusta  quotation  is  15  to  15^.  Liverpool  price  current  of 
March,  1807,  says:  Upland  Georgias  i6f  to  \%\<\:  New  Orleans,  18  to  20; 
Sea  Island  18  to  2s.  4d  ;   very  fine  Georgias,  2s.  5d.  and  2s.  6d. 

July  23,  1808,  at  Augusta,  12  to  13  dents;  October  13,  same  year,  it  is  said 
that  England  has  only  taken  American  cotton  within  the  last  ten  or  fifteen 
years,  which  would  practically  date  the  American  cotton  trade  from  the  in- 
vention of  the  cotton  gin.  It  is  also  said  that  in  1808  Bengal  and  Bombay 
sent  134,000  bales  to  Great  Britain  ;  also,. that  prior  to  the  rise  of  the  Ameri- 
can trade,  England  received  her  supply  from  the  West  Indies,  and  that  since 
1793  she  has  added  not  only  America,  but  Trinidad,  Surinam  and  Demerara 
to  her  sources  of  supply. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  by  an  act  of  Congress  of  December  22,  1807, 
commonly  called  the  Embargo,  commercial  intercourse  between  the  United 


Manufactures. 


393 


States  and  foreign  countries  was  interdicted,  which  interdiction  was  not  raised 
until  March,  1809.  The  suicidal  effect  of  this  policy  on  American  interests  was 
soon  made  manifest,  and  its  results  are  in  some  sort  traceable  to  the  present 
day — so  terribly  destructive  is  legislative  interference  with  the  natural  course  of 
trade.  England  was  even  at  that  time  putting  forth  strenuous  efforts  to  stimu- 
late the  production  of  cotton  in  her  colonies  and  dependencies,  and  with  what 
result  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  whereas  the  import  into  England  from  all  other 
than  American  ports  in  1806  was  49,996  bales,  in  1807  i^  •'ose  to  72,443,  an 
increase  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent,  in  a  single  season.  Just  at  this  inopportune 
time  came  the  embargo.  England  was  thus  cut  off  entirely  from  her  Ameri- 
can sources  of  supply,  and  at  once  redoubled  her  efforts  in  other  cotton  pro- 
ducing countries.  The  result  is  almost  incredible.  Up  to  1808  Bengal,  Bom- 
bay, the  V/est  Indies,  Trinidad  and  Surinam  were  her  non- American  sources 
of  supply,  but  in  1809  we  find  a  Liverpool  price  current  of  August  25,  which 
mentions  that  she  has  added  some  fifteen  or  sixteen  more.  The  embargo  was 
then  raised,  but  the  damage  was  done,  as  the  non-American  sources  of  supply 
show: 


d. 


s.    cl. 


Sea  Island,  very  clean  and 
fine 2 

Good  clean,  rather  fine ....    2 

Good  clean,  fair 2 

Good  clean,  middling 2 

Inferior  and  stained 

Upland,  new 

Upland,  old 

Tennessee 

New  Orleans 

Bourbon 

Cayenne .  • 

Surinam 

Demerara 

Grenada  and  Carriacon 
(Curocoa) 

Barbadoes 

Bahama 


4  to  2. 
3  to  2. 
li  to  2. 
0  to  2. 
3  to  I. 
5i  to  I. 
3     to  I. 

5  to  I. 

6  to  I. 
none 

I i|  to  2.     o 

10^  to  I.    11^ 

5     to  I.   10 

8J  to  I.   10 

8 

5     to  I.     9 


6 

4 

3 

li 

H 

Si 

4 

5i 

7i 


Liverpool,  August  25,  i 

s.  d. 

Cumana i. 

Oronoko i. 

Jamaica   i. 

St.  Domingo i. 

Trinidad    i. 

Laguira i. 

Giron i. 

Carthagena i . 

Surat,  long i. 

Sural,  short i. 

Smyrna i. 

Pernambuco. 2. 


Bahia 

Maranham. 

Para 

Mina 

Rio 


s 

to   I 

to   I 

to    I 

to   I 

5i  to  I 

5     to   I 

7 

3  to  I 
H  to  I 
o  to  I 
i^  to  I 
o^  to  I 
II  to  I 
loi 

9i  to  I 
9     to    I 


d. 

9 
9 

7 
6 

7i 
6 

3i 


I 

Hi 

10 

9h 


"Duty  on  cotton  imported  in  American  ships  25s.  6d.,  in  British  ships  17s. 
2d.  per  100  pounds." 

A  further  item  to  like  effect  is  that  for  the  first  six  months  of  1 808  the  import 
into  Great  Britain  "from  Brazil  and  Lisbon"  was  4,980  bales;  for  the  same 
period  in  1809  it  was  49,260  bales. 

April  5,  1810,  Augusta  quotation  is  10  to  ii-^;  January  10,  181 1,  is  13  to 
I3i 

50 


394  History  of  Augusta. 


In  October,  i8iO,  Napoleon  puts  a  duty  of  300  francs  on  "Brazil,  Cay- 
enne, Surinam,  Demarara  and  Georgia  long  staple,"  and  an  explanatory  note 
by  the  editor  says  all  Southern  Sea  Island  cotton  was  then  called  "  Georgia 
long  staple"  in  European  marts. 

In  1 8 10  the  total  export  of  the  United  States  was  188,000  bales.  From 
this  time  out  the  growth  oi  the  export,  rate  of  the  markets,  etc.,  are  readily 
traceable,  and  further  quotations  would  not  be  of  any  special  interest.  Suffice 
it  to  say  that  in  1825  when  Whitney  died,  the  annual  export  had  risen  to 
400,000  bales  as  against  the  379  painfully  picked  out  by  hand  in  1791. 

We  have  said  that  the  idea  of  cotton  manufacturing  at  the  South  was  co- 
eval with  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin.  As  we  have  seen,  a  cotton-mill  was 
incorporated  in  Georgia  in  1798,  but  five  years  after  Whitney  had  received  his 
patent.  By  1800  the  export  from  Georgia  had  risen  to  6,889  bales,  as  against 
379  in  1 791  ;  and  in  1825  had  risen  to  400,000.  1  his  rapid  increase  in  the 
raw  material  would  have  forced  a  corresponding  development  of  manufactures 
in  this  State,  but  for  the  fact  that  Europe  and  the  North  were  clamoring  for 
supplies,  and  it  was  evidently  a  serious  question  in  those  days  whether  the 
South  could  compete  with  the  greater  capital  and  mechanical  resources  of  such 
rivals.  For  instance,  as  early  as  1808,  the  state  of  manufactures  in  New  Eng- 
land was  so  flourishing  as  to  attract  special  attention  in  the  Southern  press. 
As  one  instance,  it  was  tlien  noted  that  there  was  one  mill  in  Rhode  Island 
211  feet  long  and  with  10,000  spindles,  pretentious  figures  at  that  time.  An- 
other trouble  in  the  southern  path  was  the  labor  question.  A  slave  was  worth 
more  to  produce  cotton  than  to  manufacture  cotton.  The  South  had  a  practi- 
cal monoply  of  production,  but  many  competitors  in  the  arena  of  manufactures. 
These  considerations  seem  to  have  had  a  most  depressing  influence  on  the 
original  conception  that  cotton  should  be  grown  at  the  mill- door,  and  it  was 
not  until  a  number  of  years  after  Whitney's  death  that  Southern  cotton  manu- 
facturing began  to  show  signs  of  life.  After  the  incorporation  of  the  cotton 
factory  of  1798,  heretofore  mentioned,  we  find  no  other  like  establishments 
chartered  until  the  year  18 10,  when  it  appears  one  was  incorporated  in  Wilkes 
county.  The  act  gives  as  the  reason  of  its  passage  that  "  Matthew  Talbot, 
Boiling  Anthony,  Benjamin  Sherrod,  John  Bolton,  Frederick  Ball,  Gilbert 
Hay,  and  Joel  Abbott,  as  managers  of  the  company  established  in  Wilkes 
county  in  this  State,  have  by  their  memorial  represented  that  a  company  has 
been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  cotton  and  woolen  goods  (by 
machinery  to  be  erected  in  Wilkes  county)  with  a  capital  stock  of  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  to  be  increased  conformably  to  the  articles  of  association  of 
said  company  to  any  sum  not  exceeding  fifty  thousand  dollars ;  and  the  said 
managers  have  petitioned  the  Legislature  for  a  charter  of  incorporation  to 
enable  them  more  effectually  to  accomplish  the  laudable  and  patriotic  objects 
of  the  company."     The  company  was  therefore  chartered  as  "the  Wilkes  Man- 


Manufactures.  395 


ufacturing  Company."  The  act  gives  no  light  as  to  the  methods  of  manu- 
facturing then  in  vogue,  nor  does  aught  of  the  further  history  of  this  early 
mill  appear.  It  is  stated,  and  it  seems  on  good  authority,  that  no  organization 
under  the  charter  was  ever  had. 

It  was  not  until  about  twenty  years  later  that  cotton  manufacturing  in  the 
South  began  to  assume  practical  shape.  From  all  the  evidence  we  have  been 
able  to  obtain  it  seems  clear  that  Mr.  John  Shly  (for  many  years  judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  at  Augusta  and  whose  biography  will  be  found  in  the  chapters 
of  this  work  on  the  judicial  establishment)  is  entitled  to  the  honor  of  success- 
fully operating  the  first  cotton  factory  in  the  Southern  States. 

In  1828  Mr.  Shly  went  to  Philadelphia  and  bought  from  Alfred  Jenks,  of 
Bridesburg,  Penn.,  the  first  machinery  for  making  cotton  bagging  and  spinning 
yarns  ever  brought  to  Georgia.  The  machines  were  shipped  to  Savannah  and 
thence  wagoned  two  hundred  miles  to  the  interior,  in  Jefierson  county,  on 
Reedy  Creek,  and  there  Mr.  Shly  established  his  factory.  The  machinery  was 
the  best  then  known,  termed  "  the  live  spindle."  It  was  an  English  invention, 
and  spun  yarns  of  from  fours  to  twelves.  The  bagging  was  number  one  thread. 
The  journey  to  Philadelphia  from  Louisville,  in  Jefferson  county,  took  Mr. 
Shly  six  weeks  of  constant  travel  in  what  was  then  known  as  the  Alligator  line 
of  stage  coaches.  In  his  factory  he  ran  four  looms  on  cotton  bagging,  making 
from  300  to  400  yards  per  day.  Of  yarns  he  spun  about  200  to  300  pounds 
per  day,  the  quantity  varying  according  as  fine  or  coarse  yarns  were  turned 
out.  For  this  he  received  from  $i  to  $1.50  per  pound,  the  market  being 
among  the  country  people  who  worked  it  up  into  homespuns,  jeans,  etc.  The 
bagging  was  sold  to  the  planters  to  pack  cotton  in,  the  staple  at  that  time  be- 
ing packed  only  in  round  bales.  To  make  the  bales,  the  planter  would  cut  off" 
a  piece  of  bagging  about  ten  feet  long.  The  edges  were  then  joined  and  sewed 
together,  and  one  end  also  sewed  up.  This  made  a  bag  ten  feet  long  and  from 
twenty- two  to  twenty-three  inches  wide.  Into  this  the  cotton  was  tightly 
packed  and  rammed.  When  full,  the  mouth  of  the  bag  was  closed.  At  each 
of  the  four  corners  an  ear  or  lug,  commonly  filled  with  cotton  seed,  was  made. 
The  round  bale  ordinarily  weighed  200  pounds,  sometimes  running  to  300. 

After  running  some  years,  the  price  of  cotton  rose  so  high  that  the  making 
of  bagging  out  of  it  became  unprofitable,  and  Mr.  Shly  discarded  his  bag- 
ging machinery  and  replaced  it  with  spinning  machinery,  called  "  the  dead 
spindle,"  an  improvement  on  the  live  spindle,  and  devoted  himself  entirely  to 
spinning  yarns.  The  new  spindle  ran  faster  than  the  old  and  increased  his  pro- 
duction materially.  The  yarns  were  put  up  in  five  pound  bunches,  and  found 
ready  sale  in  the  neighborhood,  as  has  been  stated. 

In  the  "live  spindle"  the  spindle  itself  revolved,  as  well  as  the  flyer.  If 
the  speed  exceeded  a  certain  moderate  velocity  the  wings  of  the  flyer  ex- 
panded, causing  them  to  catch  one  on  the  other  and  break.  Moreover,  in  or- 
der to  insert  a  new  bobbin  it  was  necessary  to  unscrew  the  flyer. 


396  History  of  Augusta. 


In  the  "dead  spindle,"  the  spindle  was  stationary,  and  only  the  flyer  re- 
volved. The  flyer  was  secured  top  and  bottom  to  the  whirl,  thus  preventing 
expansion  and  allowing  a  much  greater  rate  of  speed,  and  consequent  increased 
yield  of  yarn. 

After  obtaining  the  dead  spindle  Mr.  Shiy  put  in  six  power  looms,  and 
wove  osnaburgs,  weighing  about  eight  ounces  to  tlie  yard,  which  he  sold  to  the 
planters  to  clothe  their  slaves.  These  goods  were  about  thirty  inches  wide, 
and  sold  readily  at  half  a  dollar  per  yard.  Some  fifty  hands  were  employed 
in  this  primitive  factory,  about  half  being  whites,  and  the  rest  slaves  hired  for 
the  purpose.  The  white  hands  made  from  $6.50  to  $10  per  month,  according 
to  skill.  Mr.  Shly  furnished  his  operatives  houses,  fire  wood,  garden  patches, 
etc.,  free.  While  the  number  ol  hands  looks  large  for  works  no  more  exten- 
sive than  this  early  factory,  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  then  infancy  of 
machinery  more  manual  labor  was  required  than  at  the  present  day.  Mr. 
Shly  also  required  his  sons  to  work  in  the  factory,  for  the  purpose  of  acquir- 
ing a  practical  knowledge  of  the  business.  This  was  the  first  cotton  manufac- 
tory in  Georgia.  It  was  called  indifferently  Shly's  Mills,  Reedy  Creek  Fac- 
tory, and  Jefferson  Bath  Mills 

About  1834  Mr.  Shly  removed  his  factory  from  Jefferson  county  to 
Richmond.  The  cause  of  the  removal  was  the  unhealthiness  of  the  Jefferson 
site,  caused  by  the  rotting  of  the  timber  in  the  mill  pond.  At  this  time  Mr. 
Valentine  Walker  had  a  saw-mill  on  Butler's  Creek,  seven  miles  from  Augusta, 
which  Mr.  Shly  purchased  and  named  Bellville.  This  site  he  converted  into 
a  cotton-mill.  Having  more  power,  he  put  in  double  the  quantity  of  machin- 
ery used  at  the  Ready  Creek  mill.  In  addition  to  cotton  machinery,  he  put  in 
machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods.  The  woolen  goods  were 
known  as  "  Georgia  plains;"  it  was  made  of  all  wool  filling  and  cotton  warp; 
was  thirty  inches  wide  and  weighed  ten  ounces  to  the  yard.  These  goods  were 
sold  to  the  planters  for  dresses  for  the  female  slaves.  In  addition  there  was 
made  a  twill  of  wool  and  cotton  mixed,  which  weighed  twelve  or  fourteen 
ounces  to  the  yard,  two  grades  being  manufactured.  This  was  used  by  the 
planters  for  overcoats,  trousers,  and  jackets  for  their  men  slaves.  It  w^as  ex- 
ceedingly popular  among  the  planters  in  Georjj;ia  and  Carolina,  particularly  on 
the  rice  plantations,  and  superseded  "  British  plains,"  being  much  more  dura 
ble,  warmer,  and  only  costing  half  the  price,  the  British  plains  being  eighty 
cents  per  yard  and  ihe  Georgia  article  forty  cents. 

This  mill  also  manufactured  the  first  striped  or  checked  cotton  goods  made 
in  Georgia.  A  dye  house  was  put  in,  and  a  variety  of  stripes  and  plaids  were 
turned  out.  Blue  and  brown  denims  were  also  made,  and  had  a  large  sale  for 
workingmen's  suits.  It  may  here  be  added  that  during  the  war  the  mill  made 
the  first  cotton  duck  made  in  Georgia.  It  was  manufactured  largely  for  tents 
and  caisson  covers  for  the  Confederate  government.  Messengers  came  from 
many  factories  to  Bellville  to  learn  how  to  make  this  class  of  goods. 


Manufactures.  397 


Mr.  Shly  invented  the  first  picker  for  picking  the  burrs  out  of  wool  and 
received  a  patent  for  it.  In  the  destruction  of  the  patent  ofifice  by  fire  in  1830 
the  patent  was  destroyed.  Mr.  Shly  then  being  on  the  bench  and  attaching 
httle  importance  to  his  invention  suffered  his  rights  to  lapse.  Subsequently 
other  parties  patented  the  idea,  and  it  is  now  indispensable.  Mr.  Shly's  in- 
vention was  a  corrugated  roller  running  in  front  of  the  burring  cylinder. 

The  outfit  of  the  Hellville  factory  was  5,000  cotton  spindles  and  1,200  wool 
spindles.  There  were  100  looms  working  on  wool  and  cotton  goods.  There 
were  eighty  hands,  the  improvements  in  machinery  allowing  a  material  reduc- 
tion of  force.  The  production  was  800  to  1,000  yards  per  day  of  woolen  goods, 
the  quantity  varying  with  the  weight  of  the  goods  produced,  and  3,000  yards 
of  cotton  goods,  osnaburgs,  stripes,  plaids,  and  denims.  Shortly  before  the 
war  the  Bellville  factory  was  burned,  a  spark  falling  in  the  lint-room.  With 
considerable  effort  it  was  rebuilt  and  refitted,  and,  as  before  stated,  did  much 
work  for  the  Confederate  government.  There  was  a  considerable  production 
of  duck  used  for  caisson  covers,  and  this  new  development  was  the  cause  of 
the  second  and  final  destruction  of  the  time  honored  mill.  In  order  to  make 
the  caisson  covers  more  efficient  they  were  enameled,  and  in  this  process  a 
number  of  inflamable  ingredients,  oil,  turpentine,  etc.,  accumulated  about  the 
factory.  One  night,  shortly  after  the  operations  of  the  mill  for  the  day  were 
over,  fire  was  discovered  in  the  paint  or  enameling  room.  The  superinten- 
dent and  his  hands  rushed  to  the  rescue,  but  on  bursting  open  the  door  of  the 
room  were  driven  back  by  overpowering  fumes  of  sulphur;  the  flames  in- 
stantly darted  out  into  the  other  portions  of  the  mill  and  the  building  was  soon 
in  ashes.  One  of  the  hands  who  had  been  employed  a  short  time  before  and 
whose  antecedents  were  unknown,  had  disappeared  and  was  never  seen  there- 
after. It  was  then  called  to  mind  that  he  had  predicted  the  destruction  of  the 
factory  on  the  ground  of  its  rendering  such  efficient  aid  to  the  Southern  artil- 
lery, and  the  conclusion  was  not  far  off  that  he  had  been  sent  to  do  the  work 
of  destruction.  The  use  of  sulphur  to  drive  off  the  rescuers  until  too  late  to 
save  the  property  was  considered  a  pregnant  proof  of  fell  design. 

A  few  years  after  Mr.  Shly  had  demonstrated  that  cotton  manufacturing 
in  Georgia  could  be  made  a  success  quite  a  number  of  factory  companies  were 
incorporated,  some  of  which  still  survive,  as  the  Princeton  factory  at  Athens, 
Shoal  Creek,  Roswell,  and  Montour  factories,  at  Parker  Store  ;  Roswell  and 
Sparta,  not  forgetting  Richmond  factory,  on  the  waters  of  Spirit  Creek,  in 
Richmond  county,  about  ten  miles  from  Augusta.  Of  this  latter  mill,  still  in 
active  operation,  we  will  give  some  sketch. 

In  1834  William  Schley,  Daniel  Hook,  Philip  Thomas  Schley,  and  George 
Schley,  jr.,  were  incorporated  under  the  name  and  style  of  "  the  Richmond 
Factory,  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  cotton  and  wool,  and  making  the 
machinery  necessary  and   proper  for  the  manufacture  of  those  articles."     The 


398  History  of  Augusta. 


charter  does  not  state  the  amount  of  the  capital  stock,  simply  saying  that  "  a 
large  sum  of  money  has  been  invested  by  the  company  in  the  purchase  of  ma- 
chinery and  a  water  power  on  the  banks  of  Spirit  Creek."  In  1849  the  capital 
stock  was  $35,000,  the  number  of  spindles  1,500,  and  of  looms  forty.  The 
operatives  were  seventy  in  number,  mostly  whites,  and  their  wages  from  ten 
cents  to  one  dollar  per  day.  The  annual  consumption  of  cotton  was  450  bales, 
the  daily  production  1,000  yards  of  cloth  and  150  pounds  of  yarn.  The  pro- 
duct was  equal  in  quality  to  any  then  produced  in  the  United  States,  and  was 
mostly  sold  in  the  United  States.  From  its  commencement  up  to  1849  ^^is 
mill  had  paid  a  regular  annual  dividend  of  sixteen  per  cent.  At  present  2,200 
spindles  are  operated  in  this  venerable  mill,  the  pioneer  in   Richmond  county. 

Prior  to  the  incorporation  of  the  Richmond  Factory,  namely  in  1832, 
Moses  Rofif,  jr..  John  P.  King,  Green  B.  Marshall,  Daniel  Hook,  and  Amory 
Sibley  were  made  commissioners  to  receive  subscriptions  for  a  cotton  and 
woolen  manufacturing  company  in  Richmond  county  to  be  called  "the  Rich- 
mond Manufacturing  Company."  The  capital  stock  was  to  be  $50,000,  in 
shares  of  $50  each,  and  increasable  to  $100,000.  The  charter  is  quite  long, 
and  makes  many  minute  provisions  as  to  the  management  of  the  corporate 
business,  but  throws  no  light  upon  the  subject  of  manufacturing  itself,  and  does 
not  appear  to  have  been   put  in  operation. 

An  inspection  of  the  map  of  Richmond  county  will  show  that  it  seems 
marked  out  by  nature  for  a  manufacturing  center  from  the  abundance  of  wa- 
ter-power to  be  found  within  its  limits.  Leaving  out  of  view  for  the  present 
the  Savannah  River,  which  forms  the  northern  and  northeastern  boundary  of 
the  county,  we  find  seven  different  streams  traversing  the  county  in  various 
directions,  each  of  them  studded  at  intervals  with  lakes  or  ponds.  The  value 
of  the  water-power  thus  profusely  scattered  about  the  county  seems  to  have 
been  recognized  from  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  county,  and  to  have  been, 
from  a  very  early  date  made  available  for  grist-mills,  and  at  a  later  period, 
cotton-gins.  Some  of  the  sites  have  been  in  use  for  over  half  a  century,  and 
one  for  ninety  years.  Taking  the  county  at  its  northernmost  point  and  com- 
ing southward,  we  first  find  Rae's  Creek,  flowing  in  a  northeasterly  direction 
and  emptying  into  the  Savannah  River  a  little  to  the  north  of  Augusta.  This 
stream  has  two  ponds,  Thomas'  pond  and  Skinner's  pond,  each  with  an  an- 
cient mill  site,  and  just  before  it  reaches  the  river  debouches  into  a  handsome 
sheet  of  water  called  Lake  Rae.  Next  below,  and  running  parallel  with  the 
Savannah  River,  at  a  distance  of  about  three  miles  south  of  the  city  and  empty- 
ing into  the  river  we  find  Rocky  Creek  which  has  six  ponds,  three  of  them — 
Wyld's,  Kendrick's,  and  Phinizy's  having  mills.  The  latter  site  is  one  of  the 
oldest  if  not  the  oldest  in  the  county,  and  has  an  historical  interest  from  the 
fact  that  it  was  here  that  E\\  Whitney  first  operated  his  cotton-gin.  The  trav- 
eler, journeying  from  Augusta  to  Savannah,  can  see  from  the  car  windows,  as 
he  speeds  along  the  Central  Railway,  this  historic  spot. 


Manufactures.  399 


Next  below  Rocky  Creek  comes  Butler's  Creek,  a  bold  stream  which  also 
runs  parallel  to  the  river  and  empties  into  it.  This  stream  has  eight  ponds 
upon  it,  among  others  Wynne's,  Crawford's,  Tabb's,  Belleville  Factory,  Duval's 
and  Carmichael's.  Below  Butler's  Creek,  and  running  parallel  to  it  and  empty- 
ing into  the  Savannah  River,  comes  Spirit  Creek  which,  like  Butler's,  traverses 
the  county  from  side  to  side.  This  has  on  the  main  stream  and  its  tribu- 
taries, South  Prong  of  Spirit  Creek,  Grindstone  Creek,  and  Little  Spirit  Creek, 
eleven  ponds,  among  them  Richmond  Factory  pond,  McDade's,  Hancock's 
Hack's,  and  Walker's.  South  of  Spirit  Creek,  and  forming  the  southern 
boundary  of  Richmond  county,  is  Briar  Creek,  famous  as  the  scene  of  a  battle 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  This  has  four  ponds,  Fulcher's,  Story's,  Dickin- 
son's, and  Bennoch's.  All  these  streams  run  in  a  southeasterly  direction 
across  the  county,  dividing  it  into  four  water  tiers,  so  to  speak,  but  even  this 
abundant  supply  does  not  exhaust  the  water-power.  In  the  southwestern 
corner  of  the  county,  known  as  Pinetucky,  two  more  streams  furnish  mill  sites. 
One  is  Sandy  Run,  which  runs  almost  due  south,  and  has  upon  it  five  ponds, 
among  them  Merry's,  McNair's,  Palmer's,  Savage's,  and  Bradshaw's.  To  the 
west  of  this,  and  also  running  due  south,  comes  the  classic  Boggy  Gut  with 
two  ponds.  On  these  streams  are  to  be  found  two  factories,  Richmond  Fac- 
tory, on  Spirit  Creek,  and  Belleville  Factory  on  Butler's  Creek  ;  the  building  of 
the  latter,  however,  being  now  in  ruins.  The  number  of  neighborhood  mills 
is  legion.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned  Skinner's,  Thomas's,  Wyld's, 
Kendrick's.  Phinizy's,  Wynn's,  Crawford's,  Rowley's,  Tabb's,  Duval's,  Car- 
michael's, McNair's,  Rhode's,  McDade's,  Dove's,  Walker's,  Bennoch's,  Dickin- 
son's, Hancock's,  Fulcher's,  Bradshaw's,  Palmer's,  Merry's,  and  Mercer's. 
Some  exist  only  in  name  now,  others  grind  the  neighborhood  corn  and  gin' the 
neighborhood  cotton  as  blithely  as  of  yore.  Pleasant  is  the  recollection  of  the 
many  streams  which  intersect  Richmond  county  and  of  the  many  mill  sites 
which  dot  their  banks.  Happy  are  the  hours  we  have  spent  in  their  cool 
shades  watching  the  clouds  flit  by,  hearing  the  pine  trees  rustle  their  whole- 
some foliage,  breathing  in  the  balsamic  air,  and  ever  and  anon  landing  one  of 
the  fine  game  fish,  bream  or  trout,  that  lurk  in  their  dark  pools.  The  abun- 
dant power  we  have  mentioned  as  existing  throughout  Richmond  county  was 
early  utilized  for  manufacturing  purposes. 

In  1834  Richmond  Factory  was  built  on  the  waters  of  Spirit  Creek,  and  in 
1850  the  McBean  Manufacturing  Company  was  chartered  to  operate  on  the 
waters  of  the  stream  of  that  name.  In  1854  the  pioneer,  Belleville  Factory, 
on  the  waters  of  Butler's  Creek,  was  incorporated.  Of  the  McBean  Factory 
we  will  have  more  to  say  hereafter.  Sufiice  it  here  to  say  that  at  a  later  date 
the  locality  of  its  franchise  was  transferred  to  the  city  of  Augusta  and  its  name 
changed  to  the  Augusta  Factory. 

In  1854  George  Schley,  John  Shly,  James  M.  Schley,  WilHam  Schley,  and 


400  History  of  AuGUStA. 


Robert  Schley  were  incorporated  as  the  Belleville  Factory,  and  empowered  not 
only  to  operate  Belleville  Factory  proper,  "  a  manufacturing  establishment  in 
operation,  located  on  Butler's  Creek  in  Richmond  county,  seven  miles  south  of 
the  city  of  Augusta,  for  tlie  manufacture  of  wool  and  cotton  cloth,"  but  to  erect 
and  operate  other  mills  "  for  the  manufacturing  of  wool  and  cotton  cloth  or  other 
things"  with  like  privileges.  For  many  years  this  factory  was  in  successful  op- 
eration, as  before  noted. 

The  abundant  water-power  of  Richmond  county  inspired  the  organization 
of  some  manufacturing  companies  other  than  for  the  making  of  cotton  goods. 
As  early  as  1839  ^^  ^""^  ^hat  Jonathan  Meigs,  John  M.  Dow,  Joseph  K.  KU- 
burn,  Jesse  Clark,  Cesain  Blome,  Jesse  Walton  John  Ambler,  William  H.  Gor- 
don, Thomas  Chafifin,  and  Leon  P.  Dugas  were  incorporated  as  "  the  Georgia 
Silk  Manufacturing  Company,  to  be  located  in  Richmond  county  for  the  pur- 
pose of  raising  mulberry  trees,  growing  and  manufacturing  silk,  manufactur- 
ing machinery  for  reeling  and  spinning  silk,  and  for  carrying  on  the  different 
branches  of  business  necessarily  connected  with  the  operations  above  men- 
tioned." The  capital  was  fixed  at  $500,000,  and  John  Ambler,  John  M.  Dow, 
and  Jesse  Walton  were  to  direct  the  affairs  of  the  company  until  it  was  form- 
ally organized.  The  company  was  incorporated  for  thirty  years,  and  given 
power  to  establish  branches  of  the  business  in  other  counties  of  the  State. 
These  were  the  days  of  the  morns  nmlticaiilus,  of  the  great  silk- worm  craze 
which  swept  over  the  country  a  half  century  ago,  and  sanguine  were  the  ex- 
pectations of  the  projectors  of  this  novel  enterprise.  In  the  collapse  of  the  silk 
fever  it  went  down,  and  yet  it  may  be  said  it  was  not  a  visionary  scheme  but 
only  premature.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  that  portion  of  Georgia  in  which 
Augusta  is  situated  is  admirably  adapted  to  silk  culture,  and  if  the  economic 
conditions  can  ever  be  made  as  favorable  as  the  natural  the  dream  of  the  early 
founders  of  the  State  that  it  should  become  a  silk- producing  country  will  be 
realized.  So  firmly  persuaded  were  the  founders  of  Georgia  being  a  silk  coun- 
try that,  as  will  be  remembered,  the  colonial  seal  bore  the  impress  of  a  figure 
representing  the  genius  of  the  province  presenting  a  skein  of  silk  to  the  king. 

In  the  same  year,  1839,  a  company  was  formed  for  the  production  of  beet- 
sugar.  J.  K.  Kilburn,  William  Jones,  William  Gordon,  John  Ambler,  and  John 
W.  Dunn  were  incorporated  as  the  Augusta  Sugar  Manufacturing  Company, 
with  a  capital  of  $450,000,  increasable  to  $480,000,  with  power  to  establish 
branches  of  the  business  in  other  counties.  The  objects  of  the  company  were 
"the  raising  of  the  beet,  and  manufacturing  sugar  from  the  same,  and  for  puri- 
fying and  manufacturing  sugar  in  its  various  branches."  The  charter  ran  to 
1870,  but,  like  the  silk  company,  this  corporation  came  to  naught. 

The  use  made  of  the  water-power  found  so  abundantly  in  the  interior  of 
Richmond  county  finally  attracted  attention  to  the  Savannah  River  as  having 
more  than  all  the  interior  streams  combined,  and  only  needing  adaptation  to 


Manufactures.  401 


manufacturing  needs.  The  existence  of  the  Richmond  Factory  on  Spirit  Creek 
in  so  flourishing  a  condition  as  to  pay  a  dividend  of  sixteen  per  cent,  from  the 
moment  of  its  first  operation  was  a  standing  incentive.  If  so  much  could  be 
done  on  a  country  stream,  what  might  not  be  done  with  the  power  of  the  Sa- 
vannah River?  This  agitation  led  to  the  Augusta  Canal  and  the  history  of  this 
famous  work  of  internal  improvement  we  now  trace.  To  the  energy  and  fore- 
sight of  Nicholas  De  Laigle,  James  Fraser,  John  P.  King,  Andrew  J.  Miller, 
and  Henry  H.  Cumming,  old  and  honored  citizens  of  Augusta,  and  to  the  lib- 
erality of  the  Bank  of  Augusta,  the  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Company, 
the  Bank  of  Brunswick,  afterwards  the  Union  Bank,  and  the  Georgia  Railroad 
Banking  Company,  the  canal  owes  its  existence.  The  original  ordinance  pro- 
viding for  the  canal  is  seldom  now  seen,  and  we  here  reproduce  it  as  adopted 
on  March  15,  1845.      It  reads  as  follows: 

"An  ordinance  to  provide  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  for  manufacturing 
purposes,  and  for  the  better  securing  an  abundant  supply  of  water  for  the  city. 

"  Whereas,  certain  banking  institutions,  with  the  view  of  facilitating  the  con- 
struction of  a  canal  for  the  purposes  indicated  in  the  title  of  this  ordinance,  have 
proposed,  upon  certain  conditions,  to  advance  to  the  city  council  certain  sums 
of  money,  and  from  time  to  time,  as  may  be  needful,  to  cash  such  bonds  (not 
exceeding  in  the  aggregate  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars)  as  may 
be  issued  by  the  authority,  and  on  the  credit  of  said  city,  for  the  prosecution  of 
said  work  ;  and,  whereas,  the  citizens  of  Augusta,  at  a  late  public  meeting,  with 
great  unanimity,  resolved  that  the  proposals  of  said  institutions  should  be  ac- 
ceeded  to,  and  the  plan  suggested  carried  into  effect,  and  the  city  council  con- 
curring in  opinion  with  said  meeting: 

"  Section  i.  Be  it  ordained  by  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  that  his  honor 
the  mayor  be,  and  he  is  hereby  authorized  and  required,  in  the  name  and  in 
behalf  of  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  to  enter  into  a  contract  with  the  follow- 
ing banking  institutions,  to  wit:  The  president,  directors  and  company  of  the 
Bank  of  Augusta,  the  Augusta  Insurance  and  Banking  Company,  the  Bank  of 
Brunswick,  and  the  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company,  by  which  said 
contract,  in  consideration  of  certain  things  hereinafter  specified  to  be  done  by 
the  said  banking  institutions,  the  city  council  of  Augusta  shall  bind  itself  to 
impose  and  collect  such  yearly  amount  of  tax  on  real  estate  within  the  city,  as 
will  be  sufficient  to  raise,  within  ten  years,  the  amount  requisite  to  pay  the 
bonds  hereinafter  provided  for,  and  issue  the  certificates,  and  make  the  trans- 
fer hereinafter  specified  ;  in  consideration  whereof,  the  said  several  banking  in- 
stitutions shall,  in  and  by  the  said  contract,  respectively  bind  themselves  to  ad- 
vance to  said  city  council  of  Augusta,  the  sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  each, 
and  to  cash  the  bonds  hereinafter  specified,  whenever  required  so  to  do,  in  con- 
formity with  the  terms  of  said  contract. 

"  Section  2.  And  be  it  further  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  in 
51 


402  History  of  Augusta. 


conformity  to  the  terms  of  the  said  proposed  contract,  there  be  assessed  and 
collected  for  the  current  year,  and  there  is  hereby  assessed  for  said  year,  on  all 
the  real  estate  in  the  city  of  Augusta,  subject  to  taxation,  a  tax  of  one- fourth 
of  one  per  cent,  on  the  present  valuation  thereof,  and  that  the  clerk  of  council 
forthwith  make  out  and  deliver  to  the  collector  and  treasurer  of  said  city,  a  di- 
gest of  all  the  taxable  real  estate  in  the  city  of  Augusta  ;  and  that  the  said  col- 
lector and  treasurer  immediately  thereafter  proceed  to  collect  the  said  tax,  and 
upon  the  receipt  thereof  deliver  to  each  taxpayer  a  transferable  scrip  or  cer- 
tificate of  such  payment,  securing  to  such  tax-payer  and  his  or  her  assigns,  an 
nterest  in  the  said  canal  proportionate  to  the  amount  of  tax  so  by  l>im  or  her 
paid  ;  and  the  said  collector  and  treasurer  shall,  in  like  manner  to  each  of  the 
banking  institutions  in  the  first  section  of  this  ordinance  named,  and  to  such 
other  voluntary  contributors  (whose  contributions  he  may  have  been  by  the 
city  council  authorized  to  receive),  issue  and  deliver  similar  certificates  ;  and  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  officer,  and  of  the  clerk  of  council,  in  all  books 
accounts,  and  statements  kept  or  made  by  them,  respectively,  to  keep  the  ac- 
count of  the  said  tax  separate  and  distinct  from  all  other  accounts  of  the  city 
council,  distinguishing  the  same  as  '  the  canal  tax,'  and  the  said  tax  shall  be 
devoted  and  applied  exclusively  to  the  payment  of  the  bonds  hereinafter  men- 
tioned, and  such  interest  as  may  accrue  thereon. 

"  Section  3.  And  be  it  further  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that 
the  city  council,  immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  ordinance,  shall  elect  nine 
canal  commissioners,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  make  all  necessary  contract  for 
the  construction  of  the  proposed  canal,  and  other  works  therewith  connected  ; 
to  receive  all  moneys  raised  for  that  purpose  and  to  disburse  such  parts  thereof 
as  may  be  required  in  the  construction  of  the  same,  to  employ  engineers  and 
others,  whose  services  may  be  required  for  that  purpose;  locate  the  line  of  said 
canal  along  the  high  ground  between  Jackson  and  Washington  streets,  south 
of  the  Beaver  Dam,  and  provide  for  the  discharge  of  the  same  into  the  river  at 
or  near  the  northern  extremity  of  East  Boundary  street ;  and  generally  to  su- 
perintend the  entire  construction  of  the  said  canal,  necessary  aqueducts,  waste- 
ways,  bridges,  and  other  works  therewith  connected.  And  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  said  commissioneis  immediately  on  the  receipt  of  any  moneys  applicable  to 
the  construction  of  the  said  canal  and  other  works,  to  deposit  the  same  in  one 
of  the  banks  in  this  city,  to  be  thence  withdrawn  only  for  the  purposes  of  said 
work,  upon  checks  signed  by  at  least  three  of  their  number,  and  countersigned 
by  their  secretary  and  bookkeeper,  and  make  regular  monthly  reports  to  the 
city  council  of  all  their  actings  and  doings,  accompanied  by  an  account  of  all 
moneys  by  them  received  or  disbursed  for  the  purposes  aforesaid.  And  the 
said  commissioners  shall  have  the  power  to  fill  all  vacancies  occurring  in  their 
body  by  death,  resignation,  removal  or  otherwise;  and  any  commissioner  may 
for  misfeasance  or  neglect  of  duty,  be  removed  by  the  city  council,  at  a  meet- 


Manufactures.  403 


ing  called  for  that  purpose,  by  a  vote  of  three-fourths  of  the  members  present, 
and  upon  such  removal  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  remaining  commissioners 
immediately  to  fill  the  vacancy  thereby  produced. 

"  Section  4.  And  be  it  further  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that 
the  said  board  of  commissioners  shall,  before  transacting  any  other  business,  pro- 
ceed to  elect  a  secretary  and  bookkeeper,  with  a  reasonable  salary,  and  remov- 
able at  their  pleasure,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  attend  all  meetings  of  the  com- 
missioners, keep  minutes  of  their  proceedings,  and  full  and  regular  accounts  of 
all  moneys  received  and  expended  by  them,  and  perform  all  other  duties  which 
may  be  required  of  him  by  the  said  commissioners. 

"Section  5.  And  be  it  further  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  so 
soon  as  the  mayor  for  the  time  being,  shall  be  notified  by  the  said  commission- 
ers that  the}^  are  fully  organized  and  prepared  for  the  transaction  of  business, 
it  shall  be  his  duty,  and  he  is  hereby  required,  to  make  and  issue,  in  the  name 
and  behalf  of  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  bonds  of  convenient  amounts,  not  ex- 
ceeding in  the  aggregate  the  sum  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  signed  by 
him  in  his  official  capacity,  countersigned  by  the  clerk  of  the  council,  and  sealed, 
with  the  corporate  seal,  payable  in  ten  equal  annual  portions,  so  that  the  first 
portion  of  the  said  bonds  shall  be  payable  one  year  after  date,  and  the  last 
portion  ten  years  after  the  date  thereof,  with  interest  at  the  rate  of  eight  per 
cent,  per  annum,  payable  semi-annually,  to  be  calculated  from  the  days  on 
which  said  bonds  shall  be  respectively  cashed  by  the  banking  institutions  afore- 
said in  conformity  to  their  proposed  contract,  which  days  shall  be  inserted  by 
said  commissioners  in  a  blank  to  be  left  for  that  purpose  in  said  bonds ;  which 
said  bonds  with  such  contributions  to  be  applied  to  said  work  as  may  be  re- 
ceived by  him,  the  said  mayor,  or  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  or  any  of  its  offi- 
cers, shall  be  turned  over  to  the  said  commissioners,  who,  or  a  majority  of  them, 
shall  receipt  for  the  same. 

"Section  6.  And  be  it  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  so  sopn  as 
the  said  canal,  with  works  therewith  connected,  shall  have  been  completed,  and 
scrips  or  certificates,  as  provided  in  the  second  section  of  this  ordinance,  shall 
have  been  issued  for  two-thirds  of  the  tax  imposed  in  and  by  the  said  section, 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  mayor  for  the  time  being  to  issue  his  proclamation 
inviting  the  holder  of.  said  scrip,  in  person  or  by  their  agents,  attorneys  or 
proxies,  on  a  day  to  be  therein  named  (and  at  least  ten  days  after  the  issuing 
of  such  proclamation),  to  assemble  at  such  place  in  said  city  as  he  may  desig- 
nate, to  adopt  such  rules  and  regulations  and  appoint  such  officers  as  they  deem 
expedient  for  their  own  government  in  the  future  management  of  the  said 
canal  and  the  works  therewith  connected,  at  which  said  meeting  and  at  all 
future  meetings,  until  the  holders  of  the  major  part  of  the  aggregate  amount  of 
said  scrips  shall  have  otherwise  directed,  each  scrip  holder  shall  be  entitled  to 
one  vote  at  the  least,  and  to  an  additional  vote  for  every  dollar  over  one,  for 
which  he  or  she  may  hold  scrips. 


404  History  of  Augusta. 


"Section  7.  And  be  it  further  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  so 
soon  as  the  mayor,  for  the  time  being,  shall  duly  be  notified  that  the  said  scrip 
holders  are  fully  organized  by  the  adoption  of  rules  and  regulations  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  officers,  as  provided  in  the  preceding  section,  he  shall  give  notice 
thereof  to  the  canal  commissioners,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  thereupon  to  furnish 
to  the  proper  officer  or  officers  of  the  said  scrip  holders,  a  full  statement  of  the 
situation  of  said  canal  and  the  works  therewith  connected,  and  in  due  form  sur- 
render and  transfer  the  same  to  the  said  officers,  with  all  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges acquired  by  them  as  commissioners,  and  pay  over  and  deliver  to  them  all 
moneys  and  city  bonds  then  remaining  in  their  hands,  provided  the  same  do 
not  exceed  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars,  over  and  above  what  may  be  then 
due  upon  unsettled  accounts  against  the  said  commissioners,  and  the  residue,  if 
any,  to  the  treasurer  of  the  city,  to  be  applied  exclusively  to  the  payment  of 
outstanding  bonds  issued  under  the  provisions  of  this  ordinance  ;  upon  the 
completion  of  which  surrender  and  transfer  the  duties  and  office  of  said  com- 
missioners shall  cease. 

"  Section  8.  And  be  it  further  ordained  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  the 
mayor  be,  and  he  is  hereby  authorized  and  required  to  execute  and  deliver  to 
Nicholas  Delaigle,  James  Frazer,  John  P.  King,  Andrew  J.  Miller,  and  Henry 
H.  Gumming,  in  trust,  for  the  ultimate  proprietors  of  said  canal,  a  deed,  grant- 
ing the  right  of  way  for  the  same  over  and  through  all  lands  belonging  to  the 
city  council,  upon  the  following  terms,  that  is  to  say,  that  the  managers  and 
proprietors  of  the  said  canal,  for  the  purpose  of  insuring  an  adequate  supply  of 
water  for  the  use  of  the  city,  shall  at  all  times  keep  in  said  canal,  within  the 
corporate  limits,  a  stream  of  water  at  least  four  feet  in  depth,  and  permit  the 
city  council  to  withdraw  from  the  same  at  any  point  below  Centre  street  ex- 
tended, or  at  such  other  point  or  points  as  may  be  agreed  on,  such  quantity  of 
water  as  may  be  required  for  the  use  of  the  city,  not  reducing  the  volume  of 
water  in  said  canal  below  what  is  necessary  for  manufacturing  purposes,  and 
upon  the  further  condition  that  no  water  shall,  without  the  consent  of  the  city 
council,  be  withdrawn  from  said  canal  for  the  purpose  of  propelling  machinery, 
at  any  point  above  West  Boundary  street,  except  in  those  cases  in  which  the 
proprietors  granting  the  right  of  way  for  said  canal  have  reserved  the  right  to 
use  the  same. 

"  Done  in  council  this  fifteenth  day  of  March,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty- 
five.  M.  M.  DVE,  Mayor  C.  A. 

"  Attest,  John  Hill,  clerk, /r^  /rw." 

By  ordinance  of  July  7,  1845,  the  foregoing  was  amended  so  as  to  make 
the  point  of  discharge  for  the  canal  into  the  river  at  or  near  Hawk's  Gully  in- 
stead of  at  the  northern  extremity  of  East  Boundary  street,  or  in  other  words 
at  the  western  instead  of  the  eastern  end  of  the  city. 

While  the  legislation  on  the  subject  of  the  canal  was  in  this  shape  applica- 


Manufactures.  405 


tion  was  made  to  the  General  Assembly  for  a  charter  for  the  proprietors  of  the 
canal  under  the  original  scheme,  and  in  December,  1845,  ^^^^^  body  passed  the 
following  act,  which  with  the  ordinances  of  March  17  and  July  17,  1845,  form 
the  organic  law,  so  to  speak,  of  the  canal.      The  act  is  as  follows  : 

"  An  act  to  incorporate  the  proprietors  of  the  Augusta  Canal,  and  to  con- 
firm certain  ordinances  of  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  therein  mentioned,  and 
to  punish  those  who  may  injure  their  property. 

"  Whereas,  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  by  an  ordinance  passed  on  the  fif- 
teenth day  of  March,  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-five,  amended  by  an  ordi- 
nance passed  on  the  seventh  day  of  July,  of  the  same  year,  provided  for  the 
construction  of  a  canal  for  manufacturing  and  other  purposes,  which  is  now  in 
process  of  construction  from  Bull  Sluice,  on  Savannah  River,  in  Columbia 
county,  into  the  city  of  Augusta,  by  which  said  ordinance  the  payers  of  cer- 
tain taxes  therein  specified,  and  others  contributing  to  the  expense  of  construct- 
ing the  said  canal,  and  their  assigns,  are  to  become  the  proprietors  thereof,  in 
proportion  to  the  amount  of  scrip  issued  to,  or  held  by  them,  under  the  pro- 
visions of  said  ordinance ;  and  whereas,  it  is  necessary  for  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  said  canal  that  the  proprietors  thereof  should  be  incorporated. 

"  Section  i.  Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represen- 
tatives of  the  State  of  Georgia,  in  general  assembly  met,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted 
by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  all  persons  now  holding,  or  who  may  here- 
after hold  such  scrip  as  has  been  or  may  be  issued  by  authority  of,  and  in  con- 
formity to  the  provisions  of  an  ordinance  of  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  passed 
on  the  fifteenth  day  of  March,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  eighteen  hundred  and 
forty-five,  entitled  an  ordinance  '  to  provide  for  the  construction  of  a  canal,  for 
manufacturing  purposes,  and  for  the  better  securing  an  abundant  supply  of 
water  for  the  city,'  be,  and  they  are  hereby  made  and  declared  to  be  a  body 
corporate  and  politic,  under  the  name  and  style  of  the  Augusta  Canal  Com- 
pany, and  by  that  name  and  style  shall  have  perpetual  succession  of  ofificers 
and  members,  and  be  capable  in  law  to  have,  purchase,  receive,  possess,  enjoy 
and  retain,  to  themselves  and  their  successors,  lands,  tenements,  hereditaments, 
goods,  chattels  and  effects,  of  what  kind,  nature  or  quality  soever  the  same  may 
be,  and  the  same  to  sell,  grant,  demise,  alien,  or  otherwise  dispose  of;  to  sue 
and  be  sued,  plead  and,  be  impleaded,  answer  and  be  answered  unto,  in  any 
court  of  law  or  equity  of  competent  jurisdiction,  in  this  State  or  elsewhere; 
also  to  adopt  and  use  a  common  seal,  and  to  ordain,  establish,  and  execute 
such  by-laws,  rules  and  regulations,  as  they  shall  deem  necessary  for  their  gov- 
ernment, and  the  proper  management  of  said  canal.  Provided  the  same  be 
not  repugnant  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  this  State,  or  of  the  United  States. 

"  Section  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  for 
the  well  ordering  of  the  affairs  of  said  company,  there  shall  be  a  board  of  five 
managers,  who  shall  be  elected  so  soon  as  said  canal  shall  be  completed  by  the 


4o6  History  of  Augusta. 


commissioners  now  charged  with  the  construction  of  the  same,  or  before  that 
time,  if  a  majority  of  the  scripholders,  or  stockholders  voting  as  hereinafter  pro- 
vided, shall,  at  a  meeting  to  be  called  for  that  purpose,  after  ten  days'  notice  in 
any  two  gazettes  published  in  Augusta,  so  determine;  which  said  managers  shall 
hold  their  offices  for  one  year  from  the  time  of  their  election,  and  until  their  suc- 
cessors shall  be  duly  elected;  at  which  elections,  and  in  all  meetings  of  the  scrip- 
holders  or  stockholders,  each  scripholder  or  stockholder  shall  have  one  vote  at 
least,  and  an  additional  vote  for  every  dollar  over  one  for  which  he  or  she  may 
hold  scrip.  And  the  said  board  of  managers  shall,  at  the  first  meeting  after 
their  election,  elect  a  president,  and  such  other  officers  as  may  be  necessary 
for  the  convenient  management  of  the  affairs  of  the  said  company.  Provided 
that  such  election  of  managers  and  officers  shall  not  supersede  the  commis- 
sioners now  charged  with  the  construction  of  said  canal  and  works,  before  the 
completion  of  the  same. 

"  Section  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  said  managers,  at  any  time  hereafter,  to  increase  the  vol- 
ume of  water  in  said  canal,  by  deepening  or  widening  the  same,  or  both,  and 
extending  and  raising  the  dam  now  being  constructed  at  the  upper  end  of  said 
canal ;  and  any  damage  sustained  by  individuals  from  the  construction  of  such 
works,  or  any  of  them,  shall  be  ascertained  and  recovered  in  the  manner  here- 
inafter specified  for  the  ascertainment  and  recovery  of  other  damages. 

"  Section  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  the 
said  managers  for  the  time  being  shall  have  full  power,  in  the  name  and  be- 
half of  the  said  company,  to  make  all  contracts  for  the  construction,  extension, 
repair  and  improvement  of  said  canal  and  its  appurtenances,  and  for  the  use  of 
the  water  of  the  s.ime  for  manufacturing  or  other  purposes,  and  to  impose  and 
collect  such  proportionate  assessments  upon  the  individual  stockholders  of  said 
company  as  may  be  required  for  such  construction,  extension,  repair  or  im- 
provement, or  for  the  payment  of  any  damage  sustained  by  manufacturers  or 
others  from  a  failure  to  supply  them  with  water,  according  to  such  contracts  as 
may  be  made  by  virtue  of  the  authority  hereinbefore  granted,  or  to  meet  any 
other  legal  liability  of  the  com|)any;  and  upon  the  failure  of  any  stockholder  to 
pay  such  assessment  within  thirty  days  of  the  time  appointed  for  the  payment 
of  the  same,  (of  which  ten  days  notice  shall  be  given  through  any  two  of  the 
gazettes  then  published  in  the  city  of  Augusta),  the  entire  interest  of  such  de- 
faulting stockholder  in  said  canal  and  its  appurtenances,  and  all  other  property, 
rights  and  franchises  held  by  the  company,  shall  be  forfeited  to  said  company. 

"  Section  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  in 
case  the  line  of  said  canrd,  or  the  race-ways,  waste-ways,  or  towpath  there- 
with connected,  shall  pass  through  the  lands  of  any  person  or  persons  with 
whom  the  present  commissioners,  or  their  successors,  or  the  future  managers  of 
said  canal,  hereafter  to  be  elected,  as  provided  in  the  second  section  of  this  act, 


Manufactures.  407 


have  not  made  or  cannot  make  a  satisfactory  agreement  as  to  the  terms  upon 
which  the  same  may  be  extended  over  or  through  such  lands,  the  said  com- 
missioners, or  their  successors,  or  the  said  managers,  as  the  case  may  be,  shall 
nevertheless  have  the  right  to  establish,  open  and  construct  the  said  canal,  race- 
ways, water-ways,  (waste-ways)  and  towpaths  through  and  over  the  same,  and 
that  the  damages,  if  any,  sustained  by  the  proprietor  or  proprietors  of  such 
land-j  shall  be  ascertained  and  assessed  by  five  appraisers,  of  whom  two  shall 
be  nominated  by  said  commissioners  or  managers,  two  by  such  proprietor  or 
proprietors,  and  the  fifth  by  the  four  so  nominated,  whose  award,  or  that  of  a 
majority  of  them,  certified  in  writing  under  their  hands  and  seals,  in  duplicate, 
one  part  for  each  of  the  parties  in  interest,  shall  be  recorded  in  the  office  of  the 
clerk  of  the  Superior  Court  of  the  county  in  which  such  lands  are  situated  ; 
and  if  not  appealed  from,  as  hereinafter  provided,  shall  operate  as,  and  have 
the  force  and  effect  of  a  judgment,  vesting  in  said  company  the  right  of  way 
over  and  through  such  lands;  upon  which  award,  so  recorded,  and  not  ap- 
pealed from,  if  any  sum  is  thereby  awarded  as  damages  to  said  proprietor  or 
proprietors,  the  said  clerk  shall,  after  the  expiration  of  thirty  days  from  the 
time  of  the  record  thereof,  issue  execution  for  the  same,  under  the  usual  form 
of  executions  founded  upon  judgment  of  the  court,  returnable  to  the  next  Su- 
perior Court  of  said  county,  which  execution  may  be  levied  on  any  property 
of  the  company,  real  or  personal.  But  in  case  either  of  the  parties  should  be 
dissatisfied  with  the  decision  or  award  of  the  said  appraisers,  such  dissatisfied 
party  or  parties  may,  within  ten  days  after  the  recording  of  the  same,  exercise 
his,  her  or  their  right  of  appeal,  by  making  known  his,  her  or  their  intention, 
by  a  written  notice  served  upon  the  adverse  party,  and  upon  the  said  clerk, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  thereupon  to  suspend  the  issue  of  execution,  and  enter 
a  memorandum  of  such  appeal  on  the  appeal  docket  of  his  court,  to  be  tried 
by  a  special  jury  at  the  next  term,  which  trial  shall  be  final,  vesting  in  the  com- 
pany the  said  right  of  way,  and  in  case  of  damages  entitling  the  person  for 
whom  they  are  found  to  a  judgment  and  execution  therefor:  Provided,  that 
the  appraisers  hereinbefore  mentioned,  before  entering  upon  the  discharge  of 
their  duties  as  such  [shall]  severally  take  and  subscribe  an  oath,  before  some 
judicial  officer  of  the  State,  well  and  truly  and  impartially  to  determine  and 
award  in  the  premises.  . 

"  Section  6.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  in 
case  it  should  be  necessary,  in  the  further  construction  or  future  extension, 
deepening  or  widening  of  said  canal,  or  its  race-ways,  waste-ways,  or  other 
improvements  or  works  therewith  connected,  to  use  any  earth,  clay,  stone, 
gravel  or  other  materials,  on  or  near  the  line  of  said  canal,  or  other  works, 
and  the  said  commissioners  or  managers,  and  the  proprietor  or  proprietors  of 
the  land  from  which  such  eartli,  clay,  stone,  gravel  or  other  materials  are  to  be 
taken  cannot  agree  upon  the  terms  on  which  the  same  may  be  procured  for 


4o8  History  of  Augusta. 


the  purposes  aforesaid,  it  shall  nevertheless,  be  lawful  for  said  commissioners 
or  managers  to  take  and  use  the  same,  and  the  damages,  if  any,  shall  be  as- 
sessed, the  right  of  appeal  it  desired  exercised,  and  the  ultimate  award  or  judg- 
ment shall  be  enforced,  as  provided  in  the  preceding  section  of  this  act  in  rela- 
tion to  the  right  of  way,  and  assessment  and  collection  of  damages  awarded  by 
the  appraisers,  or  found  by  special  jury  on  appeal :  Provided,  that  no  differ- 
ence or  disagreement  between  the  said  compan\'  and  any  landholders  shall  be 
a  ground  f^r  injunction  against  said  commissioners,  managers  or  company,  or 
otherwise  suspend  or  impede  any  of  the  works  contemplated  in  this  or  the  pre 
ceding  section  of  this  act,  which  shall  proceed  without  delay  or  interruption, 
upon  the  said  commissioners,  managers  or  company  tendering  to  such  land- 
holders sufiRcient  security  for  the  payment  of  such  damages  as  may  be  so  as- 
sessed or  found  for  him  as  aforesaid  ;  upon  the  sufficiency  of  which  said  secu- 
rity the  judge  to  whom  application  may  be  made  shall  decide,  and  who  if  he 
deems  the  same  insufficient,  shall  require  other  or  additional  security  to  be  of- 
fered within  three  days;  on  failure  or  refusal  to  give  which  an  injunction  may 
issue  ;  but  any  injunction  granted  against  said  commissioners,  managers  or 
company  shall  be  dissolved  so  soon  as  such  security  as  the  judge  of  the  Su- 
perior Court  of  the  middle  district  of  this  State  may  deem  sufficient  shall  have 
been  given  by  said  commissioners,  managers  or  company. 

"  Section  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  the 
board  of  managers,  for  the  time  being,  shall  have  power  to  make  and  enforce 
such  rules  and  regulations  in  relation  to  the  use  of  said  canal  and  its  waters, 
for  navigation  or  other  purposes  and  to  impose  and  collect  such  tolls,  rents  or 
other  charges,  as  they  may  deem  equitable  and  expedient,  and  which  do  not 
interfere  with  any  of  the  existing  contracts  or  obligations  of  said  company,  or 
of  the  commissioners  now  charged  with  the  construction  of  said  canal,  under 
the  provisions  of  the  ordinances  of  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  mentioned  in 
the  first  section  of  this  act;  which  said  ordinances  are  hereby  confirmed  and 
declared  to  be  of  full  force,  so  far  as  the  same  are  not  superseded  or  modified 
by  the  provisions  of  this  act.  Provided  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall 
afTect  the  rights  of  any  person  or  persons  who  may  have  heretofore  instituted 
any  legal  proceedings  with  a  view  of  obtaining  exemption  or  relief  from  the 
payment  of  taxes  or  assessments  imposed   by  said  ordinance. 

"Section  8.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  in 
case  it  should  at  any  time  hereafter  be  deemed  expedient  for  any  of  the  law- 
ful purposes  of  said  company  to  increase  the  capital  stock  thereof,  by  voluntary 
subscriptions,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  stockholders  therein  to  authorize  such 
increase,  upon  such  terms  and  conditions  as  may  be  decided  on  by  said  stock- 
holders, voting  as  hereinbefore  provided,  in  a  general  meeting  to  be  called  for 
that  purpose,  of  which  at  least  thirty  days'  notice  shall  be  given  in  the  several 
gazettes  then  published  in  the  city  of  Augusta ;  and  that  the  new  stockholders 


Manufactures.  409 


coming  into  the  corporation   under  such  subscription,  shall  have  all  the  privi- 
leges and  be  subject  to  all  the  duties  and  liabilities  of  the  original  corporation. 

"Section  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  in 
case  the  managers  of  said  company  should  at  any  time  hereafter  deem  it  nec- 
essary or  expedient  to  borrow  money  to  carry  on  the  construction,  extension, 
enlargement  or  improvement  of  said  canal,  or  any  of  the  appurtenances  thereof 
it  shall  be  lawful  for  them  to  mortgage  the  said  canal  and  appurtenances,  and 
any  other  property  of  which  they  may  be  possessed,  by  way  of  security  for  the 
payment  of  such  loans  as  they  may  make  for  such  purposes ;  and  that  in  case 
of  the  foreclosure  of  such  mortgage,  and  the  sale  of  such  canal  and  its  appur- 
tenances, the  purchaser  or  purchasers  thereof  upon  full  compliance  with  the 
terms  of  sale,  shall  have,  possess,  retain  and  enjoy  as  a  body  politic  and  corpor- 
ate under  the  said  name  and  style  of  the  Augusta  Canal  Company,  all  and 
singular  the  rights  and  privileges  by  this  act  conferred  upon  and  vested  in  the 
company  hereby  incorporated,  and  be  subject  to  all  and  singular  the  duties, 
obligations  and  restrictions  imposed  upon  the  same  by  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  or  by  the  ordinances  of  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  hereinbefore  men- 
tioned, so  far  as  the  same  are  not  superseded  or  modified  by  this  act,  and  shall 
be  bound  faithfully  to  keep  and  perform  all  contracts  theretofore  made  by  the 
said  company  in  relation  to  the  use  of  said  canal  and  the  waters  thereof  Pro- 
vided that  no  such  mortgage  shall  be  made,  but  upon  a  vote  of  a  majority  of 
the  managers  for  the  time  being  at  two  successive  meetings  between  which 
there  shall  be  an  interval  of  at  least  ten  days.  And  provided  further,  that  the 
said  managers  shall  not  mortgage  said  canal  and  its  appurtenances  for  any 
sum  or  sums  of  money,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  at  any  one  time  to  more 
than  ten  thousand  dollars,  unless  specially  authorized  and  instructed  to  loan 
the  same  for  a  larger  amount,  by  a  vote  of  a  majority  of  the  stockholders,  vot- 
ing as  hereinbefore  provided  in  a  general  meeting  of  said  stockholders  called 
for  that  purpose  after  at  least  thirty  days'  notice  thereof  in  each  of  the  gazettes 
at  the  time  published  in  the  city  of  Augusta. 

"Section  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that  if 
any  person  shall  wilfully  and  maliciously  in  any  way  obstruct,  injure  or  dam- 
age the  said  canal  or  any  raceway,  wasteway,  towpath,  dam,  gate,  aqueduct, 
culvert,  drain,  bridge,  fence,  or  other  work  therewith  connected,  or  wilfully  and 
maliciously,  in  any  manner  whatever,  obstruct  the  free  passage  of  water  into 
and  through  the  said  canal,  or  any  of  the  raceways,  wasteways,  or  aid  or  assist 
counsel  or  abet  any  other  person  or  persons  in  so  doing,  such  persons  so  offend- 
ing shall  be  liable  to  be  indicted  for  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon  conviction 
thereof  shall  be  punished  by  fine,  or  imprisonment  in  the  common  jail  or  both 
at  the  discretion  of  the  court ;  and  moreover  shall  be  liable  in  damages  to  said 
company,  and  to  any  person  or  persons  who  may  be  thereby  injured,  to  be  re- 
covered by  action  in  any  court  having  competent  jurisdiction. 
52 


4IO  History  of  Augusta. 

"Section  ii.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  the  proprietors  of  said  canal 
shall  open  and  keep  open  the  boat-sluice  on  the  outside  of  their  dam,  at  the 
head  of  said  canal,  so  that  the  navigation  of  the  river  at  that  point  shall  be  made 
and  kept  at  least  as  good  as  it  was  before  the  construction  of  said  dam  ;  and 
that  said  proprietors  shall  not  be  allowed,  by  any  extension  of  said  dam,  or  any 
other  work,  to  obstruct  the  navigation  of  said  river  or  the  free  passage  of  fish. 

"Section  12.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  that  the  stockholders  shall  be  lia- 
ble for  the  debts  of  said  company,  in  proportion  to  their  respective  interests 
therein  ;  and  that  said  company  shall  not  at  any  time  contract  debts  beyond 
half  the  amount  of  the  capital  invested." 

By  act  of  1849  the  managers  of  the  Augusta  Canal  Company  were  author- 
ized, when  so  directed  by  a  vote  of  the  stockholders,  to  transfer  the  canal  and 
all  its  appurtenances,  to  the  city  council  of  Augusta  on  such  terms  as  might  be 
agreed  on,  and  subsequently  this  was  done  so  that  the  council  is  now  the 
owner  of  the  work.  By  the  original  ordinance  an  issue  of  $100,000  of  city 
bonds  was  authorized.  These  were  to  be  met  by  taxation,  and  each  taxpayer 
was  to  receive  a  certificate  of  stock  in  the  Canal  Company  proportionate  to  the 
amount  of  canal  tax  paid  by  him.  The  banks  were  to  advance  $1,000  each 
on  the  bonds,  and  then  cash  the  residue  at  such  times  as  might  be  agreed  on. 
The  cash  in  hand  under  this  arrangement  was  soon  exhausted,  and  it  became 
evident  that  the  full  issue  of  $100,000  would  be  insufficient.  Accordingly  by 
ordinance  of  March  7,  1846,  council  subscribed  $30,000  additional  in  bonds 
and  came  in  as  a  stockholder  to  that  extent.  By  ordinance  of  October  3,  i  846, 
it  levied  an  annual  tax  of  one  half  of  one  per  cent,  on  all  the  real  estate  in  the 
city  for  the  redemption  of  the  canal  bonds.  By  ordinance  of  July  13,  1850, 
council  authorized  another  issues  of  $30,000  of  city  bonds  for  the  use  of  the 
Canal  Company,  to  enable  it  to  complete  the  work.  By  ordinance  of  Decem- 
ber 29,  1 85 1,  another  issue  of  $10,000  was  authorized  for  the  same  purpose  ; 
and  by  ordinance  of  November  12,  1852,  still  another  like  issue  of  $30,000. 
The  entire  work  on  the  Augusta  canal,  as  it  was  originally  constructed,  from 
the  preliminary  surveys  to  the  letting  in  of  the  water,  was  done  inside  of  three 
years.  The  engineer  in  charge  was  William  Phillips,  for  many  years  city 
engineer  and  surveyor,  and  his  account  of  the  work  as  given  a  year  or  two 
after  its  completion  will  be  of  interest.  Mr.  Phillips  says:  "In  September, 
1844,  at  the  request  of  Colonel  Henry  H.  Cumming,  an  examination  of  the 
falls  in  the  neighborhood  of  Augusta  was  commenced  with  a  view  of  ascertain- 
ing the  practicability  of  rendering  them  available  for  manufacturing  and  other 
purposes.  The  report  of  the  engineer  indicating  a  favorable  route  for  a  canal, 
and  showing  considerable  fall,  was  considered  at  a  meeting  of  the  friends  of  the 
enterprise  on  the  9th  of  January,  1845.  Another  survey  was  made,  several 
preliminary  meetings  were  held,  and  finally  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  was 
called  at  which  it  was  determined  to  proceed  with  the   work.     The  plan  pro- 


Manufactures.  411 


posed  and  adopted  was  that  the  city  council  should  issue  bonds  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defraying  the  expense,  and  that  a  special  tax  should  be  levied  on  the 
real  estate  in  the  city  to  pay  off  the  bonds  at  maturity  The  Bank  of  Augusta, 
the  Bank  of  Brunswick,  the  Georgia  Railroad  Bank  and  the  Augusta  Insurance 
and  Banking  Company  each  subscribed  $1,000  for  the  same  purpose.  The 
same  banks  also  gave  further  aid  by  advancing  cash  for  the  bonds.  The  right 
of  way  through  the  lands  lying  west  of  the  city  was  obtained,  with  one  excep- 
tion, very  easily.  The  right  of  way  through  the  city  lots  was  procured  with 
much  trouble,  except  in  a  few  instances,  in  which  the  right  was  granted  with 
great  liberality.  In  April,  1845,  the  location  of  the  canal  was  made,  and  the 
larger  portion  of  it  put  under  contract.  The  work  was  commenced  the  May 
following.  The  whole  fall  of  45  feet  was  divided  as  follows  :  The  first  level, 
extending  from  Bull  Sluice  to  near  Marbury  street,  about  6i  miles,  in  length, 
with  its  bottom  slope  of  about  6  inches  per  mile,  reduced  the  fall  41.36  feet; 
from  the  first  to  the  second  level  the  fall  is  13  feet;  from  the  second  to  the 
third  level  the  fall  is  13  feet;  and  from  the  third  to  the  river  the  fall  is  about 
15  feet.  The  first  level  terminates  on  the  high  ground  between  Marbury  and 
McKinne  streets,  a  little  to  the  south  of  Fenwick  street.  The  second  level 
overlaps  the  first  on  the  north,  and  extends  from  Mr.  Meigs's  land  to  the  Sa- 
vannah road,  near  its  intersection  with  McKinne  street.  The  third  level,  lying 
north  of  the  second,  extends  from  the  Savannah  road  to  Hawk's  Gully,  at  the 
upper  end  of  the  city.  The  waterway  of  the  canal  is  5  feet  deep,  20  feet  wide 
at  bottom,  and  40  feet  wide  at  the  surface  of  the  water.  The  water  is  turned 
into  the  canal  by  a  low  dam  of  timber  and  stone,  about  800  feet  in  length, 
running  diagonally  to  an  island,  and  including  only  about  one  quarter  of  the 
width  of  the  river.  At  the  junction  of  the  dam  and  canal  there  is  a  guard-wall 
of  stone,  in  which  there  are  six  gates,  by  means  of  which  the  supply  of  water  is 
regulated,  and  that  from  the  river  may  be  entirely  excluded.  Connected  with 
the  dam  and  guard- wall  there  is  a  stone  lock  by  which  boats  pass  into  and  out 
of  the  canal.  The  first  level  is  passed  over  the  valley  of  Rae's  Creek,  by  an 
aqueduct  132  feet  in  length,  constructed  of  wood.  It  is  passed  over  several 
smaller  streams,  by  culverts  of  stone  and  brick,  and  is  now  connected  with 
Rae's  Creek  by  means  of  a  dam  across  that  stream.  At  a  short  distance  above 
Rae's  Creek  there  is  a  waste  way,  420  feet  in  length,  which  is  intended  to  reg- 
ulate the  height  of  the  water  in  all  that  part  of  the  first  level  beeween  it  and 
the  terminus  in  the  city.  West  of  McKinne  street  the  canal  is  so  enlarged  as 
to  form  a  basin  and  landing  for  boats.  All  the  bridges  are  made  of  wood,  and 
those  of  the  first  level  are  so  elevated  that  the  towpath  and  boats  pass  under 
them.  The  water  was  .let  into  the  first  level  on  the  23d  of  November,  1846. 
Last  year  [1848]  there  were  about  13,000  bales  of  cotton  landed  at  the  basin, 
and  it  is  probable  that  the  number  of  bales  this  year  will  be  extended  to  20,- 
000.     Besides  cotton,  flour,  corn,  peas,  bacon,  and  staves,  several  thousand 


412  History  of  Augusta. 

cords  of  fire- wood  have  been  landed;  also  granite,  gneiss,  and  mica  slate  for 
building.  Thus  far  the  advantages  anticipated  by  the  promoters  of  the  enter- 
prise bid  fair  to  be  realized." 

In  this  sketch,  written  about  1848,  Mr.  Phillips  fails  to  mention  that  Hon. 
John  P.  King  and  Colonel  Henry  H.  Gumming  themselves  advanced  the 
money  to  pay  for  the  preliminary  surveys  which  demonstrated  the  practicability 
and  value  of  the  canal,  and  were  the  basis  of  its  construction. 

The  Augusta  Canal,  however,  was  not  built  without  running  the  gauntlet  of 
litigation.  In  1848  Martin  Frederick,  John  W.  Houghton.  Thomas  J.  Walton, 
Philip  McGraw,  Benjamin  F.  Chew.  David  L.  Curtis,  and  John  Phinizy  filed 
their  bill  in  Richmond  Superior  Court  to  enjoin  the  collection  of  the  canal  tax 
which  had  been  levied  on  their  property  under  the  ordinances  we  have  men- 
tioned. The  bill  set  out  the  ordinance  authorizing  the  construction  of  the 
canal,  the  ordinance  changing  the  direction  of  a  portion  of  the  route,  the 
act  approving  those  ordinances,  and  the  ordinance  increasing  the  amount  of 
the  canal  tax,  and  then  proceeded  to  say  that  complainants  were  owners  of  real 
estate  in  Augusta,  and  that  executions  had  been  issued  against  them  to  coerce 
payment  of  the  canal  tax  levied  upon  them  under  said  ordinances.  They 
claimed  that  the  Legislature  could  not  constitutionally  make  them  stockholders 
in  the  Augusta  Canal  Company  as  the  act  of  1845  contemplated,  they  never 
having  consented  to  become  such  ;  that  the  city  council  had  no  legal  authority 
to  raise  money  by  taxation  to  be  expended  without  the  corporate  limits  where- 
as the  canal  was  to  be  constructed  from  a  point  called  Bull's  Sluice,  some  seven 
or  eight  miles  from  the  city;  that  the  canal  had  not  been  constructed  accord- 
ing to  the  provisions  of  the  ordinance  authorizing  it,  inasmuch  as  that  ordin- 
ance prescribed  it  should  be  constructed  along  the  high  ground  between  Jackson 
and  Washington  streets,  south  of  the  Beaver  Dam,  whereas  the  work  had  been 
stopped  at  the  street  above  the  upper  market,  so  that  owners  of  real  estate  in 
the  middle  and  lower  parts  of  the  city  were  deprived  of  whatever  advantages 
might  result  from  the  construction  of  the  canal ;  and  that  council  had  no  right 
to  levy  a  tax  upon  one  kind  of  property  and  not  include  all  taxable  property. 
Complainants  prayed  that  the  collection  of  the  canal  tax  should  be  enjoined, 
and  Judge  Holt,  then  presiding  in  Richmond  Superior  Court,  granted  an  in- 
junction. The  city  council  moved  to  dissolve  the  injunction,  which  motion  was 
granted.  PVancis  H.  Cone,  the  celebrated  advocate  of  Greensboro,  represented 
the  complainants,  and  Hon.  Andrew  J.  Miller  appeared  for  the  city.  The  case 
was  carried  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia  and  the  judgment  of  Judge  Holt 
was  there  afiirmed.  Judge  Warner  delivered  the  opinion.  The  Supreme  Court 
held  that  under  the  broad  language  of  the  city's  charter,  whereby  the  city 
council  was  "  vested  with  full  power  and  authority  to  make  such  assessments 
on  the  inhabitants  of  Augusta,  or  those  who  hold  taxable  property  within  the 
same,  for  the  safety,  benefit,  convenience,  and  advantage  of  the  said  city  as 


Manufactures.  413 


shall  appear  to  them  expedient,"  the  council  was  authorized  to  construct  the 
canal.  If  any  doubt  existed  as  to  its  power,  the  act  of  the  Legislature  ratify- 
ing and  confirming  the  ordinance  providing  for  the  construction  of  the  canal 
operated  as  a  new  and  sufficient  grant  of  authority.  The  authority  of  the  Leg- 
islature to  pass  the  act  of  1845  was  indubitable.  As  to  the  argument  that  the 
Legislature  could  not  constitutionally  make  complainants  stockholders  in  the 
canal  without  their  consent,  the  court  said  that  the  tax  was  levied  on  them  as 
citizens,  under  competent  authority.  The  provision  that  each  taxpayer  should 
receive  a  certificate  of  stock  in  the  canal  company  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  canal  tax  paid  by  him  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  taxpayer.  It  was  not  com- 
pulsory upon  him  to  receive  the  stock  certificate.  The  objection  that  the  tax 
was  partial  as  being  levied  only  on  real  estate,  thereby  subjecting  the  owners 
of  that  species  of  property  to  a  burden  not  imposed  on  those  owning  other  kinds, 
though  the  object  of  the  tax  was  the  benefit  of  all,  was  not  noticed  by  the  court 
further  than  by  inference  in  sustaining  the  legality  of  the  assessment  on  the 
grounds  just  mentioned. 

The  canal,  as  originally  constructed,  gave  six  hundred  horse-power,  but  in 
course  of  time  it  became  apparent  that  this  was  too  small  for  the  growing  de- 
mand. The  first  device  was  to  raise  the  banks  so  as  to  give  a  depth  cf  seven 
feet  of  water  and  thus  increase  the  quantity  of  water,  but  the  additional  supply 
thus  obtained  was  in  turn  speedily  exhausted.  It  became  apparent  also  that 
from  natural  accretion,  washing  of  the  water,  etc.,  the  water  area  was  lessening 
by  gradual  filling  up  of  the  waterway,  and  in  1869  the  idea  of  an  enlargement 
began  to  take  shape.  Pending  active  steps  to  this  end  the  city  and  the  Au- 
gusta Factory  purchased  a  steam  dredge,  which  made  some  improvement.  It 
soon  became  manifest,  however,  that  the  time  for  expedients  was  passed,  and 
steps  were  taken  looking  to  an  enlargement  and  remodeling  of  the  entire  work. 

On  the  3d  of  December,  1869,  Mayor  J.  V.  H.  Allen,  in  his  inaugural  ad- 
dress to  the  council,  said  :  "  The  question  of  the  enlargement  of  the  Augusta 
Canal  has  been  respectfully  referred  to  you  by  your  immediate  predecessors. 
They  are  of  the  opinion  that  this  public  work  contains  the  germ  of  the  future 
greatness  of  our  city,  and  needs  only  to  be  developed  to  bring  a  large  increase 
of  industrious  population,  millions  of  additional  wealth  and  profitable  labor  for 
our  poor.  I  would  recommend  mature  reflection  upon  the  matter,  and  that 
we  avoid  hasty  action  concerning  it.  Free  and  full  consultation  with  our  citi- 
zens should  be  held,  and  their  matured  views  as  to  the  best  means  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  work  should  be  ascertained,  and  only  after  being  assured 
of  the  hearty  co-operation  and  consent  of  our  people,  and  that  no  embarras- 
ment  would  result  to  our  finances  should  we  commit  ourselves  in  this  behalf" 
Three  months  later  (April,  1870).  he  read  a  special  message  to  the  council, 
showing  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  manufactoiies,  alluding  to  the  fact  that 
the  city  was  threatened  with  law  suits  for  failure  to  comply  with  its  water  con- 


414  .       History  of  Augusta. 


tracts,  aiul  urging  the  council  to  take  the  matter  of  enlargement  into  careful 
consideration.  ihe  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  four,  one  from  each 
w.ird.  On  hViday,  April  29,  1870,  this  committee,  consistint^  of  Messrs.  Lewis, 
Hissell,  ]51ack,  and  Walsh,  held  its  first  meeting.  There  were  also  present  sev- 
eral prominent  citizens,  who  were  invited  to  attend  and  participate  in  the  de- 
liberations. A  resolution  was  passed  instructing  the  mayor  to  appoint  a  com- 
mittee of  five  citizens  to  co-operate  with  the  select  committee  from  council, 
and  to  repoit  at  a  subsequent  meeting.  Under  the  resolution  that  the  mayor 
appointed  the  following  committee  :  Dr.  W.  H.  Tutt,  Dr.  L.  A.  Dugas,  VV.  V. 
Herring,  J  T.  Hothwell,  and  Thomas  G.  Barrett.  The  movement  progressed 
gradually.  The  cost  of  enlargement  from  the  then  ca[)acity,  fifty  feet  wide  and 
seven  feet  deep,  to  a  width  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  and  a  depth  of  eleven 
feet,  was  estimated  at  $384,093,  and  the  citizens,  then  just  emerging  from  the 
reconstruction  period,  hesitated  to  shoulder  the  burden.  In  thespringof  1871 
Mayor  Estes  asked  for  authority  to  have  a  siuvey  of  the  enlargement  and  an 
estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  work  made.  The  authority  was  granted  and  the 
survey  made  by  Mr.  Oimstcad,  and  on  August  7,  1871,  the  mayor  submitted  it 
in  a  special  message  to  the  council.  August  2  1,  1871,  the  c.mal  committee  re- 
ported in  favor  of  submitting  the  question  of  enlargement  to  the  people,  and  it 
was  accordingly  submitted  and  adopted  by  a  large  majority.  The  work  was 
commenced  in  March,  1872,  and  completed  in  July,  1875,  at  a  cost  of  $972,- 
883.15.  ^^''-  ll<^>ll'-'y  was  the  engineer  in  charge,  and  the  enlargement  was 
done  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  Mr.  h.stes,  who  was  mayor  during  the 
entire  time. 

The  dimensions  and  capacity  of  the  canal  are  as  follows:  Length  of  main 
canal  or  first  level,  7  miles,  and  including  second  and  third  levels,  9  miles. 
MinimuiTi  waterway.  150  feet  at  surface,  106  feet  at  bottom,  and  il  feet  deep, 
making  an  area  of  cross  section  of  1,408  square  feet.  The  bulkhead,  locks, 
dam  and  other  structures  arc  composed  of  stone  masoniy  formed  of  granite 
rock,  laid  up  in  hydraulic  cement  mortar,  and  are  of  the  most  substantial  char- 
acter. The  area  of  openings  for  the  supply  of  the  canal  amounts  to  1,463 
square  feet,  and  the  entire  waters  of  the  Savannah  River  are  made  available  for 
maintaining  the  supply.  There  are  about  275  acres  of  reservoirs  exclusive  of 
the  canal  proper  and  the  pond  above  the  bulkhead  and  dam.  There  is  a  bot- 
tom grade  or  descent  in  the  main  canal  of  one  hundredth  ot  a  foot  in  100  feet, 
giving  a  theoretical  mean  velocity  of  two  or  seventy-four  one  hundredths  feet 
per  second,  or  a  mechanical  effect  under  the  minimum  fall  between  the  first 
and  third  levels,  or  between  the  first  level  and  the  Savannah  River,  below  Rae's 
Creek,  of  upwards  of  14,000  horse-powers,  theoretically,  not  including  avail- 
able supply  from  the  surface  of  the  reservoirs.  This  constitutes  a  work  in  width 
and  depth  in  excess  of  any  similar  work  in  the  world,  save  the  Suez  Canal. 
Of  the  immense  power  available,  5,700  horse-power  is  in  use  on  the  first  level 


^y,^^^^ 


Manufactures.  415 


and  1,700  on  the  second  —  the  third  being  waste  water.  The  fall  varies  from 
33  to  33^  feet  on  the  first  and  1 1  to  9^  on  the  second  level.  The  entire 
cost  of  the  work  from  the  first  has  been  about  $1,500,000,  the  enlargement 
alone  costing  $972,883. 

Mr.  Charles  Estes,  the  mayor  under  whose  administration  the  enlargement 
was  carried  on,  had  from  boyhood  been  familiar  with  canals,  and  had  super- 
vised the  construction  of  a  section  of  the  Genesse  Valley  Canal,  and  with  un- 
tiring energy  pushed  the  work  until,  in  all  except  length,  Augusta  had  a  canal 
of  dimensions  equal,  if  not  indeed  superior,  to  the  famous  Erie  Canal. 

This  enlargement  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a  large  number  of  new 
factories.  The  cotton  was  grown  at  the  mill  door,  and  the  mill  had  cheap  and 
reliable  power.  In  Augusta  the  relative  advantages  of  the  North  and  South 
as  the  location  for  cotton  factories  are  well  demonstrated.  We  cannot  better 
speak  of  those  advantages  than  in  reproducing  the  substance  of  some  inter- 
views published  a  few  years  ago  of  some  prominent  Augusta  experts.  Mr. 
Francis  Cogin  was  for  many  years  superintendent  of  the  Augusta  Factory,  and 
when  asked  his  experience  in  regard  to  the  relative  advantages  of  the  two  sec- 
tions for  cotton  manufactories,  replied  as  follows: 

"There  is  no  question  but  that  the  South  possesses  vastly  superior  advanta 
ges  in  many  ways.  We  have  one  of  the  best  climates  in  the  world.  The  at- 
mosphere has  just  the  proper  humidity  for  manufacturing  purposes.  Now  at 
the  North  the  air  becomes  so  dry  that  steam  has  to  be  introduced  into  the 
weaving  room  to  dampen  the  atmosphere,  so  as  to  prevent  the  threads  from 
breaking.  We  never  have  any  such  trouble  as  that  here  Again,  the  mills 
North  often  have  to  stop  because  the  water  courses  are  frozen  up.  This  never 
happens  at  the  South,  and  we  can  therefore  run  uninterruptedly.  We  can  get 
a  plenty  of  excellent  white  labor.  In  fact  it  is  much  better  than  that  which  the 
Northern  mills  now  have.  It  is  equal  to  the  "Yankee  labor"  the  Northern  mills 
used  to  have,  but  which  they  don't  get  now.  We  can  make  more  yards  of  cloth 
per  loom  than  they  can,  running  the  same  number  of  hands  that  they  do,  and 
we  can,  therefore,  afford  to  sell  it  cheaper.  Our  water-power  is  plentiful  and 
cheaper  on  the  average  than  at  the  North.  They  can't  begin  to  compete  with 
us  where  they  use  steam.  It  costs  less  than  six  dollars  per  horse  power  here 
for  water,  while  at  Fall  River,  where  steam  is  used,  the  cost  is  forty- two  dol- 
lars per  horse-power.  It  wouldn't  pay  the  Augusta  factory,  for  instance,  to 
use  steam  instead  of  water  if  all  the  necessary  fuel  was  put  down  at  the  factory 
free.  The  operatives  in  the  Augusta  factory  work  eleven  hours  a  day.  There 
is  a  superabundance  of  white  labor  here,  and  we  have  never  had  a  machine 
stopped  for  want  of  help  during  the  nineteen  years  I  have  been  with  the  Au- 
gusta factory.  If  we  were  to  start  a  mill  the  same  size  as  ours  to-day,  we  would 
have  sufficient  skilled  labor  in  two  weeks  to  run  it." 

Mr.  Cogin's  testimony  is  valuable  from  his  long  and  intimate  acquaintance 


4i6  History  of  Augusta. 


with  cotton  manufacturing  North  and  South,  having  been  engaged  in  factories 
both  in  New  Hampshire  and  Georgia. 

The  Graniteville  F"actory,  heated  in  South  CaroHna,  a  short  distance  from 
Augusta,  and  largely  owned  by  Augusta  stockholders,  is  a  very  successful  insti- 
tution under  the  careful  management  of  Mr.  H.  H.  Hickman,  of  Augusta.  His 
views  coincide  with  those  of  Mr.  Cogin.  He  sa3's  there  could  be  no  compari- 
son between  the  North  and  South  as  respects  advantages  for  cotton  manufac- 
turing. The  South  would  eventually  drive  the  North  out  of  the  market  in 
brown  goods,  standard  sheetings  and  shirtings.  Practically,  it  was  doing  it  now. 
The  North  is  building  no  new  mills  for  the  production  of  these  goods.  When 
Northern  mills  were  compelled  to  sell  their  goods  at  cost,  he  could  sell  at  a  fair 
profit.  He  had  no  commissions  to  pay  agents  to  buy  cotton  as  Northern  mills 
did,  because  he  bought  it  himself  half  of  it  right  at  the  mill.  Getting  the  cot- 
ton right  here  he  had,  of  course,  no  freight  to  pay  as  was  the  case  with  the 
Northern  mills,  and  he  was  satisfied  that  he  could  buy  cotton  to  a  better  ad- 
vantage than  the  agents  of  those  mills;  in  fact  he  was  assured  he  made  a  half 
a  cent  a  pound  that  way.  He  could  get  a  plenty  of  white  labor,  and  cheaper 
than  Northern  mills  could.  His  operatives  could  live  on  half  the  expense  of 
those  at  the  North.  The  latter  used  four  times  as  much  fuel,  at  twice  the 
price  per  cord,  while  provisions  were  as  cheap  here  as  in  Massachusetts. 

To  sum  up  therefore,  labor  was  cheaper  ;  second,  the  operatives  can  live 
cheaper;  third,  he  has  no  commissions  to  paj- to  buy  cotton;  fourth,  the  larger 
proportion  of  goods  are  sold  without  paying  commission  ;  and,  fifth,  he  can 
run  his  mills  all  the  year.  The  Graniteville  Mill  has  not  stopped  work  two 
weeks  in  eleven  years  on  account  of  water  or  weather.  He  finds  sale  for  eighty 
per  cent,  of  his  products  at  home.  He  had  sold  $60,000  worth  of  goods  to 
Knoxville  alone  in  one  year.  He  has  built  a  new  mill  at  Vancluse  with  the 
surplus  of  the  Graniteville  Company  without  cahing  on  the  stockholders  for  a 
dollar,  and  will  be  able  to  run  it  at  three-fourths  the  expense  in  proportion  to 
its  size  that  it  costs  to  run  the  Graniteville  because  it  is  a  modern  mill,  with  all 
the  modern  improvements.  Graniteville  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  mills  in 
the  country  to  run  because  it  has  been  pieced  from  time  to  time,  and  yet  peo 
pie  can  see  how  successful  it  is. 

Mr.  William  C.  Sibley,  president  of  the  Langley  Mills  for  a  number  of  years 
after  their  organization  in  1870,  says:  "I  have  no  difficulty  in  getting  as  good 
and  reliable  white  labor  as  there  is  in  New  England,  and  who  cheerfully  work 
eleven  hours  a  day,  and  could  obtain  more  if  we  had  any  use  for  them,  and 
many  of  them  are  Southern  born  and  have  learned  their  trade  in  our  mill." 
He  thought  the  South  had  the  best  climate  for  manufacturing,  and  would  chal- 
lenge any  mill  in  New  England  to  show  as  great  a  production  of  goods  per 
loom  and  yarn  per  spindle,  on  the  same  style  of  goods,  or  a  cheaper  cost  of 
manufacturing.     In  brown  sheetings,  shirtings,  and  drills  the  South  has  com- 


Manufactures.  .j^ 


peted  successfully  with  New  England.  Some  years  since  the  United  States 
awarded  the  contract  for  sheeting  needed  for  Indian  supplies  to  the  Langley 
Mills  for  three  years. 

We  have  already  mentioned  that  in  1845,  the  same  year  in  which  the  Leg- 
islature incorporated   the  Augusta  Canal  Company,  a  cotton  manufacturing 
company  was   chartered    under  the  name   of  "  The  Augusta    Manufacturing 
Company."      Martin  M.  Dye,  John  P.  King,  John  Bones,  William  M.  D'Antig- 
nac  and   Amory  Sibley   were  made  commissioners  to  procure  subscriptions. 
The  capital  stock  was  fixed  at  $500,000  in  $100  shares,  and  for  the  first  three 
days  after  the  opening  of  the  books,  of  which  notice  was  to  be   given  in  the 
newspapers  of  Augusta  for  one  week,  no  one  was  to  be  allowed  to  subscribe 
for  more  than  one  hundred  shares.      After  the  expiration  of  that  period   the 
limit  was  to  be  removed.    At  the  time  of  subscribing,  the  subscriber  was  to  pay 
to  the  commissioner  a  sum  to  be  fixed  by  them  of  not  less  than  five  nor  more 
than  ten  per  cent,  of  his  subscription.      As  soon  as  $50,000  had  been  paid  in 
the  company  was  authorized  to  commence  business.      It  was  "authorized  to 
manufacture,  bleach,  dye,  print  and  finish  all  goods  of  which  cotton  or  other 
fibrous  materials  form  a  part;  also  to  manufacture  flour  from  wheat  or  grain  of 
any  kind,  and  all  machinery  used  for  such   purposes  or  any  other;   and  may 
erect  such  mills  or  other  works  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  on  their  business  " 
The  stockholders  were  made  liable  for  the  debts  of  the  incorporation  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  shares  of  stock  held  by  them,  provided  the  debts  did 
not  exceed  half  the  capital  stock  paid  in;   if  they  exceeded  that  amount,  the 
stockholders  were  jointly  and  severally  liable  for  the  entire  debt.    It  was  further 
provided  that  no  transfer  of  stock  within  six  months  of  a  failure  of  the  com- 
pany should  exempt  the  transferring  stockholder  from  liability;  and,  further  that 
the  proper  officers  of  the  company  should  semi-annually,  in  April  and  October 
make  a  return  on  oath  to  the  governor,  of  the  amount  of  capital  actually  em- 
ployed, with  the  names  of  the  stockholders  and  number  of  shares  held  by  each, 
and  a  statement  of  the  condition  of  the  company. 

In  1847,  or  immediately  after  the  completion  of  the  canal,  the  Augusta 
Manufacturing  Company  was  organized.  As  originally  constructed,  the"  fac- 
tory was  218  feet  long.  50  feet  wide,  and  five  stories  high,  with  200  looms  and 
5,280  spindles,  turning  out  9,000  yards  of  cloth  a  day.  The  pickery  was  three 
stones  high,  and  comfortable  houses  were  provided  for  the  operatives.  At  first 
the  enterprise  flourished.  In  1849  the  home  demand  exceeded  the  supply  and 
an  increase  of  spindles  to  10,000  was  necessitated.  The  capital  stock  paid  in 
seems  to  have  been  $200,000.  The  success  of  this  experiment,  the  first  on  a 
large  scale,  to  emulate  Northern  manufactures,  led  to  an  agitation  in  favor  of  a 
second  factory,  but  after  a  while  the  opening  promise  of  the  company  failed  to 
sustain  itself  The  business  began  to  fall  off,  and  difficulties  thickened  around 
It.      In  1858  a  number  of  capitahsts  of  Augusta,  firmly  assured  in  their  own 


4i8  History  of  Augusta. 


minds  of  the  ultimate  success  of  cotton  manufacturing  in  the  South,  and  be- 
lieving tliat  the  difficulties  environing  the  Augusta  Manufacturing  Company- 
arose  from  causes  which  they  could  obviate,  associated  themselves  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  corporate  property.  The  price  agreed  on  was  $140,000,  payable 
in  ten  equal  annual  installments.  To  provide  a  commercial  capital  the  new 
company  put  in  $60,000,  and  in  1859  obtained  from  the  general  assembly  an 
act  conferring  upon  them  the  charter  privileges  of  the  old  McBean  Company. 
The  purpose  in  so  doing  was  evidently  to  obtain  a  greater  freedom  of  corpo- 
rate action  than  was  possible  under  the  Augusta  Company's  charter.  As  will 
be  borne  in  mind,  the  McBean  Company  was  incorporated  in  1850  for  the  pur- 
pose of  engaging  on  the  waters  of  McBean  Creek,  "in  the  manufacture  of  va- 
rious fabrics  composed  of  cotton  or  wool,  or  both  ;  also  for  working  in  wood  or 
iron,  or  other  metal,  and  for  operating  a  grist-mill  and  saw- mill."  The  char- 
ter did  not  contain  the  personal  liability  clause  found  in  the  charter  of  the  Au- 
gusta Manufacturing  Company,  nor  the  requirement  of  semi-annual  reports  to 
the  governor. 

The  act  of  1859  provided  "  that  from  and  immediately  after  the  passage  of 
this  act,  James  Hope,  William  E.  Jackson,  and  their  present  associates  in  the 
manufacturing  business,  to  wit:  James  Hope,  Artemus  Gould,  and  Joseph  E. 
Fargo,  as  executors  of  the  last  will  and  testament  of  George  M.  Newton,  de- 
ceased, Henry  H.  Gumming,  William  M.  D'Antignac,  Lambeth  Hopkins,  Ed- 
ward Thomas,  Germain  T.  Dortic,  Thomas  Barrett,  Benjamin  H.  Warren,  Will- 
iam A.  Beall,  George  W.  Evans,  and  Charles  J.  Jenkins,  and  their  successors, 
be  and  they  are  hereby  authorized  to  conduct  their  manufacturing  operations 
under  the  charter  of  the  McBean  Company  within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  Au- 
gusta, in  said  State,  and  that  their  corporate  name  be,  and  is  hereby  changed 
to  that  of  the  Augusta  Factory." 

The  Augusta  Factory  was  therefore  established  in  an  unique  way,  namely, 
with  the  stockholders  and  equipment  of  the  Augusta  Manufacturing  Company, 
with  the  charter  of  the  McBean  Company,  and  with  a  new  name  dififerent  from 
the  corporate  style  of  either  one  of  those  companies. 

On  the  re- organization  in  1858  Mr.  William  E.  Jackson  was  made  presi- 
dent of  the  factory,  and  held  that  position  uninterruptedly  until  his  death  in 
1882.  From  the  first  the  Augusta  Factory  was  a  success.  The  $60,000  paid 
in  as  a  commercial  capital  by  Mr.  Jackson  and  his  associates  named  in  the  act, 
was  all  they  were  ever  called  upon  to  pay.  The  purchase  money  of  $140,000 
was  paid  out  of  the  profits.  In  1865  a  stock  dividend  of  200  per  cent,  was  de- 
clared, increasing  the  capital  stock  from  $200,000  to  $600,000,  and  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  a  quarterly  dividend  of  five  per  cent.,  or  20  per  cent,  per  annum, 
was  regularly  declared  and  paid.  The  financial  stress  of  1873  and  several  suc- 
ceeding years  injuriously  affected  the  dividends,  but  from  1865  to  1876  divi- 
dends in  an  amount  equal  to  198  per  cent,  on  the  capital  stock,  or  18  per  cent 


Manufactures.  419 


per  annum,  were  paid  the  stockholders,  whilst  investments  in  real  estate,  new 
buildings  and  new  machinery  were  made  in  the  sum  of  $460,000.  All  this 
without  the  sale  of  new  stock  or  a  call  on  the  stockholders.  From  the  ist  of 
July,  1865,  to  the  ist  of  July,  1880,  inclusive,  the  dividends  actually  paid  to 
stockholders  aggregated  $1,470,000,  or  234^  per  cent,  on  the  stock  of  $600,- 
000  in  sixteen  years,  which  is  an  average  of  14^2  per  cent,  per  annum.  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  out  of  the  earnings  the  buildings  have  been  twice  enlarged,  im- 
mense quantities  of  new  machinery  bought,  and  long  rows  of  operatives'  houses 
built  of  brick,  at  a  cost  of  $460,000,  so  that  now  the  factory,  with  its  real  es- 
tate, is  valued  at  $1,000,000,  while  a  surplus  of  over  a  quarter  of  a  million 
stands  on  the  credit  side  of  profit  and  loss. 

It  has  been  sometimes  said  that  the  success  of  the  Augusta  Factory  has 
been  due  to  a  combination  of  peculiarly  favorable  circumstances.  In  the  first 
place  the  new  management  obtained  at  a  cost  of  $140,000,  on  very  long  time, 
an  immense  amount  of  valuable  real  estate,  and  buildings  and  machinery  in 
good  order,  which  must  have  cost  at  least  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars.  Then 
the  new  management  had  scarcely  taken  hold  before  the  war  broke  out.  Cot- 
ton goods  at  once  rose  enormously  in  price,  and  a  ready  market  was  offered 
for  every  yard  that  could  be  produced  the  instant  it  left  the  loom.  The  cur- 
rency became  highly  inflated  and  out  of  this  currency  the  factory  was  readily 
enabled  to  pay  the  purchase  money  in  full,  without  waiting  the  times  of  the 
installments.  While  there  is  truth  in  all  this,  it  is  also  true  that  the  capitalists 
and  business  men  of  Augusta  did  not  attribute  the  success  of  the  factory  to 
these  peculiar  and  abnormal  conditions.  It  was  and  is  felt  that  the  real  cause 
was  the  natural  adaptability  of  the  city  to  cotton  manufacturing  operations. 
The  success  of  the  factory  continued  unabated  after  the  war.  It  continued  to 
sell  every  yard  and  to  pay  its  regular  quarterly  five  per  cent,  dividend  long 
after  the  war,  and  while  with  the  increased  number  of  mills  its  profits  was  not 
what  they  were,  it  is  still  a  solid  and  prosperous  institution.  The  present  value 
of  the  factory,  with  real  estate,  is  $1,000,000.  The  following  figures  relating 
to  the  mill,  and  showing  its  large  scale  of  operations,  will  be  of  interest:  Cap- 
ital stock,  $600,000;  bonded  debt,  $200,000;  number  of  hands  employed,  700; 
average  pay  roll,  $170,000  annually ;  average  consumption  of  cotton,  13,000 
bales ;  number  of  looms,  800  ;  spindles,  26,000  ;  average  pieces  made,  3 1 5 ,000  ; 
average  yards,  15,000,000;   average  yearly  product,  $1,000,000. 

The  next  cotton- mill  was  The  Enterprise  Factory.  Before  1873  the  site 
of  the  present  mammoth  Enterprise  Cotton  Factory  was  a  small  old  stone  mill, 
which  had  long  reposed  on  the  old  canal,  and  ground  for  its  neighbors  its  slen- 
der lots  of  flour  and  meal.  Following  the  widespread  financial  paralysis  of 
1873  the  construction  of  this  Enterprise  Factory — most  fitly  named — was  at 
once  a  gallant  rally  from  the  depression  of  a  panic,  and  for  the  city  the  first 
utilization  of  her  enlarged  canal  and  water  power.      It  was  the  evoking  from 


420  History  of  Augusta. 

disaster  a  vital  cotton  factory  of  14,000  spindles,  using  annually  6,500  bales. 
In  February,  1881,  it  was  resolved  to  increase  the  capacity  of  the  mill.  The 
capital  was  enlarged  to  $500,000,  the  spindles  increased  to  30,000,  and  the 
looms  to  640.  In  the  latter  part  of  1882  the  work  was  done,  and  the  finished 
factory  stood  ready  for  the  operatives.  The  cost  of  this  great  establisment,  over 
500  feet  in  length,  was  the  astonishingly  low  figure  of  only  $660,000.  There 
are  several  marked  advantages  in  the  construction  and  operation  of  this  superb 
cotton-mill.  It  extends  from  south  to  north,  and  thus  gets  ihe  benefit  of  the 
earliest  and  latest  sunlight,  saving  gaslight  morning  and  evening — a  matter  of 
economy  and  comfort.  The  wheels  of  the  factory  are  located  in  the  center, 
affording  a  better  distribution  of  power  over  the  establishment.  The  goods 
manufactured  are  four  yards  to  the  pound,  instead  of  three  to  the  pound  as  is 
the  general  practice  of  our  Southern  mills.  The  yarn  is  18  to  20,  instead  of 
12  to  14  as  is  custofnary.  This  is  the  finest  cloth  made  m  the  South,  and  be- 
ing an  exceptional  grade  and  excellence  of  goods,  finds  a  readier  market.  An- 
other especial  advantage  is  that  the  looms  are  made  for  yard  wide  goods,  but 
can  be  changed  to  manufacture  narrower  goods  if  desirable,  and  thus  can  vary 
the  product  to  suit  any  demand. 

For  the  fiscal  year  1884  the  figures  of  this  mill  were:  Average  number 
hands,  466;  average  number  of  looms  running,  573i;  average  number  of  yards 
a  day  made,  31,295  ;  average  number  of  yards  per  loom,  54-n)-o- ;  production, 
all  4-4  goods,  9,670,160  yards;  production,  pieces,  192,332;  production, 
pounds,  2,500,311  ;  cotton  bales  consumed,  6,312.  The  present  figures  are, 
hands,  412;  spindles  31,000;  production,  10,803,809  yards  of  cloth,  and  6"] ,- 
881  pounds  No  18  and  I9yarn;  consumption  of  cotton,  6,593  bales,  3,106,401 
pounds. 

The  Sibley  Manufacturing  Company  was  organized  May  26,  1880.  This 
factory  stands  next  above  the  John  P.  King  mill,  on  the  canal,  and  occupies 
the  site  of  the  old  Confederate  powder-mills,  the  lofty  chimney  of  which  still 
stands  as  a  memorial  obelisk  of  its  former  use.  The  structure  is  532  feet  long. 
'j6  feet  wide,  with  a  picker- house  separate,  164  feet,  and  furnished  throughout 
with  automatic  sprinklers  and  the  electric  light.  The  motive  power  is  gained 
from  two  large  turbine  wheels,  each  of  which  furnishes  six  hundred  and  fifty 
horse-power,  thirty-three  and  one  half  feet  fall  being  applied  to  the  wheels- 
The  machinery  includes  35,136  spindles,  880  looms,  equal  to  about  1,000  plain 
looms,  of  which  224  are  for  colored  and  650  are  for  plain  work,  the  former  be- 
ing of  the  Crompton  and  Bridleburg  pattern,  the  remainder  the  Lowell,  vary- 
ing in  width  from  thirty  to  sixty-four  inches  Also  a  fine  dye-house  and  a  full 
plant  of  the  most  approved  machinery  for  reeling,  dying,  winding  etc.,  for  col- 
ored warps.  The  goods  manufactured  include  checks,  chevoits,  plaids,  tick- 
ing, convict  stripes,  and  cottonades,  awning  stripes,  sheeting,  drills,  and  ducks, 
convict  drills,  and  kersey.     The  value  of  the  annual  product  of  the  Sibley  is  al- 


Manufactures.  421 


ready  $1,100,000.  Eight  hundred  hands  are  employed  at  $196,000  annually, 
and  13,000  bales  of  cotton  are  consumed. 

The  John  P.  King  Manufacturing  Company  was  organized  in  1882,  with 
Hon.  Charles  Estes  at  its  head.  When  this  enterprise  was  inaugurated  there 
were  those  who  doubted  whether  the  mill  would  ever  be  built,  but  with  Mr. 
Charles  Estes,  to  whom,  by  universal  consent,  the  work  of  organizing  the  com- 
pany was  intrusted,  there  is  no  such  word  as  fail,  and  in  an  incredibly  short 
space  of  time  the  John  P.  King  Manufacturing  Company  was  an  accomplished 
fact.  The  majority  of  the  stock  was  secured  in  Augusta  and  the  balance  in 
Northern  cities,  and  in  a  few  months  the  King  Mill  lifted  its  walls  along  that 
canal  which  is  another  monument  to  Mr.  Estes's  judgment  and  foresight.  The 
King  Mill  stands  to-day  one  of  the  most  perfect  cotton  factories  in  all  its  de- 
tails in  the  United  States.  It  is  four  stories  high,  453  feet  long,  and  'j^  feet 
wide,  a  splendidly  proportioned  building,  admired  and  commended  by  every 
architect  and  manufacturer  who  has  seen  it.  The  precautions  against  fire  and 
the  facilities  for  extinguishing  it  are  such  that  the  danger  from  this  source  is 
reduced  to  the  smallest  minimum.  All  the  machinery  is  of  the  most  improved 
description,  and  it  was  bought  with  the  greatest  advantage  to  the  company. 
It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  actual  cost  of  the  mill  and  machinery  was  with- 
in the  original  estimate;  something  that  doesn't  often  occur.  The  capital  stock 
of  the  King  Mill  is  $1,000,000  and  its  capacity  is  26,500  spindles.  The  first 
bobbin  of  yarn  was  spun  October  18,  1883.  CapitaHzed  in  $1,000,000,  the 
King  is  situated  just  east  of  the  Sibley  Mill,  454  feet  long,  'j6  feet  wide  and  four 
stories  high.  Brick  and  wooden  houses  are  provided  for  operatives,  and  the 
Augusta  and  Knoxville  Railroad  runs  immediately  in  its  rear.  Manfacturing 
was  fairly  commenced  in  the  latter  part  of  1883,  and  has  continued  uninter. 
rupted  and  successfully  ever  since.  The  product  consists  of  sheeting,  shirting 
and  drills  in  7-8  and  4-4  goods,  which  are  of  the  best  quality,  and  have  already 
achieved  an  excellent  reputation  on  the  market.  Six  hundred  hands  are  em- 
ployed, and  the  pay  roll  averages  $130,000  per  year;  96,500  spindles  and 
880  looms  are  operated,  and  a  total  of  10,000  bales  of  cotton  consumed  annu- 
ally, turning  out  a  product  of  about  15,600,000  yards  a  year. 

The  Riverside  Mills,  located  picturesquely  upon  the  Savannah  River,  at 
the  foot  of  Eleventh  (Kollock)  street,  and  on  Bay,  between  Marbury  and  Tat- 
nall  streets,  holds  a  peculiarly  prominent,  valuable  and  exceptional  position  in 
our  suberb  cotton-mill  system  of  Augusta.  It  affords  an  opportunity  for  util- 
izing in  a  convenient  way  the  waste  of  our  galaxy  of  large  cotton  factories,  and 
thus  fills  a  momentous  place  among  our  industries. 

Some  twenty  years  ago,  in  1869,  Mr.  Charles  W.  Simmons  did  a  small 
business  in  waste,  corner  Kollock  and  Ellis  streets.  Mr.  Simmons  then  built 
a  waste  factory,  corner  of  Cumming  and  Bay  streets,  in  1872,  which  was  burned 
down  in  1875.      In  1876  he  built  the  nucleus  of  the  present  splendid  establish- 


422  History  of  Augusta. 


ment,  the  lower  section  of  the  factor)',  117  by  74  feet,  in  which  he  made  only 
waste  and  batting.  He  failed  in  the  latter  part  of  1878.  This  factory  was 
called  Riverside  Factory.  Mr.  W.  E.  McCoy  bought  out  the  establishment 
early  in  1879,  and  has  been  the  creative  spirit  of  this  useful  enterprise.  He 
added  a  jarn  mill,  80  by  70  feet,  three  stories  high,  and  a  picker  room  60  by 
30  feet,  two  stories.  In  October,  1881,  he  organized  a  stock  company,  and 
put  the  enterprise  upon  a  lar^e  basis,  changing  the  name  to  the  Riverside 
Mills.  He  immediately  added  105  feet  to  the  main  building,  and  constructed 
an  engine  and  boiler-room  80  by  24  feet.  In  1883  he  enlarged  the  main 
structure  by  an  addition  40  by  ^6  feet.  The  mill  is  now  a  large  and  thoroughly 
organized,  well  conducted  and  profitable  establishment.  It  is  run  by  steam. 
It  has  a  Harris- Corliss  engine  of  250  horse- power.  It  consumes  200,000 
pounds  weekly,  or  10.400,000  yearly.  Its  capital  stock  is  $200,000;  hands 
employed,  250;  annual  wages,  $56,640;  yearly  product,  $414,284.  The  arti- 
cles produced  are  cotton  waste  for  wiping  machinery  and  packing  boxes,  jour- 
nals, etc.,  paper  stock,  cotton  batting  of  all  grades,  hosiery  yarn,  cotton  rope 
and  pieced  bagging. 

The  Warwick  is  a  new  name  for  an  old  mill — the  Shamrock  that  was.  The 
mill  has  jjassed  into  new  hands,  and  is  splendidly  equipped  in  every  way.  It 
was  built  in  March,  1882,  at  the  he.id  of  Lake  Olmstead,  at  a  point  known  as 
Rae's  Creek,  and  is  furthest  up  the  canal  of  the  mills.  It  has  2,500  spindles 
and  1,000  twisted  spiiulks.  The  mill  is  a  one-story  brick  building,  employs 
fifty  hands,  and  the  annual  output  is  180,000  pounds.  They  manufacture  only 
2o's  to  40's,  I,  2,  3  and  4  ply.  In  the  addition  to  the  manufacture  of  fine 
yarns,  connected  with  the  Warwick  mills  is  a  roller  covering  shop,  which  does 
an  extensive  business,  covering  200,000  spindles,  and  is  patronized  by  the 
largest  mills  in  the  South. 

The  Algernon  is  one  of  the  best  equipped  yarn  mills  in  Augusta.  The 
building  is  three  stories  high  of  brick,  with  metal  roof,  200  x  50  feet,  with  dje- 
house,  picker-house  and  boiler  house,  all  complete.  The  mill  operates  4,410 
spindles  and  1 50  looms,  and  employs  160  hands.  It  manufactures  check 
plaids,  seersuckers,  vvra[)ping  twine  and  cotton  rope.  The  yearly  product  is 
234,000  yards  of  cloth,  143,000  pounds  of  rope  and  twine,  valued  at  $213,823. 
The  annual  pay  roll  is  $46,148.  The  mill  has  just  completed  a  large  brick 
metal  roof,  one-story  building,  to  be  used  for  office,  dyeing  and  storing  pur- 
poses— size  I  I  5  -x  35.  The  company  owns  its  operatives'  dwellings,  which 
are  occupied  solely  by  its  employees. 

Situate  on  one  of  the  most  eligible  sites  on  the  canal  is  the  Globe  Mills. 
They  manufacture  yarns,  etc.,  run  4,600  spindles,  and  employ  80  hands.  The 
value  of  their  aimual  product  is  $125,000,  and  they  pay  out  in  wages  from 
$15,000  to  $20,000  annually,  and  consume  about  25,000  bales  of  cotton. 

The  Dartmouth,  the  youngest  of  the  mills,  was  built  in  1887.     The  build- 


^•V^FliH^HKans  itBroNT 


Manufactures. 


423 


ing  is  a  three-story  brick  building,  200x70.  In  the  upper  story  9,100  spin- 
dies  are  at  work,  one  pair  of  mules,  spooling  machine  and  twister.  Every- 
thing in  the  mill  is  complete,  the  machinery  being  selected  from  the  best  of  a 
number  of  mills.  It  pays  out  in  wages  annually  about  $25,000,  and  employs 
one  hundred  hands.  The  mill  is  valued  at  $150,000,  and  the  annual  product 
is  in  the  neighborhood  of  $150,000.  It  manufactures  yarns  alone,  numbering 
from  eight  to  twenty-six. 

This  long  list  of  flourishing  mills  is  the  work  of  the  past  ten  years,  and  is 
largely  due  to  the  Augusta  Factory.  During  all  the  period  of  depression  from 
1873  to  1878  it  manufactured  cotton  goods  profitably,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
large  profits  made  before  and  since  that  time,  while  Eastern  mills  did  not  make 
profits  during  that  period  of  depression. 

We  call  attention  to  the  results  achieved  by  the  Augusta  Factory  during 
the  memorable  years  of  the  panic — 1873  to  1878,  inclusive.  In  the  studying 
this  table,  which  is  correct  to  a  cent,  the  reader  should  bear  in  mind  that  some 
of  the  best  established  Northern  mills  were  forced  to  suspend  during  this  period. 

Work  of  the  Augusta  Factory  for  Five  Years  — Beginning  June  7,  1873, 

AND  Ending  June  15,  1878. 


Year  Ending. 

Gross 
Earnings. 

Dividends. 
Declared 
and  Paid. 

Bales  of 

Cotton 

Consumed. 

Aggregate 

Cost 
per  Poun  d 

Aggregate 
Wages  Paid. 

Aggregate 
Sales  Made. 

June  20,  1874 

June  19,  1875 

$119,069    ID 

56,068    10 

104,424   09 

116,328    28 

130,647    -]■] 

$526,837    80 

$108,000 
36,000 
48,000 
36,000 
48,000 

6,469 

7.150 

10,460 

11,177 

11,819 

15.21 
14.84 
12.  II 
10.49 
10.02 

$162,757    54 

97,864   41 

180,177    04 

162,957    44 

162,090    38 

$761,767  13 
606,651  34 
924,848  35 
870.518  70 
885,033    41 

June  17,  1876 

June  14,  1877 

June  15,  1878.. 

$276,000 

47.075 

$766,146    81 

$3,948,918    93 

The  dividends  paid  during  this  period  equaled  4  per  cent,  of  the  capital 
stock,  ($600,000),  or  average  of  9.510  per  cent,  per  annum. 

The  Graniteville  and  Vaucluse  Mills,  while  located  in  South  Carolina,  are 
not  far  from  Augusta,  and  are  generally  mentioned  among  the  Augusta  mills, 
so  large  a  portion  of  the  capital  involved  and  so  many  of  the  gentlemen  inter- 
ested in  their  management  belonging  to  Augusta.  In  reality  while  there  are 
two  separate  establishments,  both  are  one  property,  the  Vaucluse  being  simply 
a  new  plant  belonging  to,  and  built  out  of  the  earnings  of,  the  Graniteville. 
The  history  of  this  mill  puts  in  a  strong  light  the  adaptability  of  the  South  to 
cotton  manufacturing. 

In  1847  the  Graniteville  Mill  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $375,000.  Additions 
were  made  to  it  and  the  capital  stock  increased  until  in  the  year  1867  the  cap- 
ital stock  had  been  swelled  to  $716,000,  the  shares  had  fallen  in  value  to  $62.50, 
and  the  company  owed  $50,000  debt.  The  mill  was  run  down,  the  stock  de- 
preciated and  the  industry  languishing.      It  was  in  this  bad  condition  in  1867 


424  History  of  Augusta. 


when  Colonel  H.  H.  Hickman  was  elected  president  of  the  company,  starting 
it  on  an  unparalleled  career  of  recuperation  and  prosperity.  His  work  was 
marvelous.  He  put  the  enterprise  upon  its  feet.  He  infused  new  life  into  its 
management.  He  cut  down  expenses,  increased  its  business,  re^^ulated  its  op- 
erations, handled  it  with  vigor  and  skill,  and  gave  it  a  bouyant  financial  vitality. 

First.    He  restored  the  depreciated  stock  to  its  proper  value. 

Second.  He  canceled  $i  16,000  of  the  capital  shares,  buying  them  up  at  a 
cost  of  $162,000  their  enhanced  value  under  his  management,  and  thus  perma- 
nently reduced  the  interest-bearing  stock  of  the  company  from  $716,000  to 
$600,000,  its  present  amount. 

Third.  Five  years  ago,  out  of  the  surplus  of  the  earnings,  he  built  a  new 
factory,  the  Vaucluse  Mill,  at  a  cost  of  $361,513.24,  without  calling  for  one 
additional  dollar  of  assessment  from  the  stockholders,  and  added  this  income- 
producing  property  to  the  value  of  the  original  $600,000  of  stock. 

Fourth.  He  has  now  a  cash  surplus  in  reserve  of  $220,831.86,  which  added 
to  the  $361,513.24  put  into  the  Vaucluse  Mill,  makes  the  regal  amount  of 
$582,345.10  that  he  has  created  and  i)ut  on  to  the  property  of  the  company, 
as  a  test  of  his  thrift,  skill  and  enterprise  as  a  cotton- mill  manager. 

Fifth.  He  has  in  addition  to  these  splendid  betterments  and  accumulations, 
running  over  half  a  million  dollars,  paid  regularly  a  ten  per  cent,  dividend  to 
the  stockholders. 

Sixth.  He  increased  the  production  of  the  original  Graniteville  Mill  just 
double,  swelling  it  from  240,000  yards  every  fortnight  to  480,000.  The  two 
mills  now  present  the  following  condition  of  strength  : 

Capital  stock $  600,000 

Property  Represented. 

Graniteville  Mill  and  8,000  acres  land    $  600,000 

Vaucluse  Mill  and  2,000  acres  land 400,000 


$1,000,000 
(This  includes  350  operatives'  houses,  and  eight  storeliouses  for  rent.) 

Graniteville  Mill,  spindles 23,600 

Vaucluse  Mill,  spindles 10,000 

Total  spindles 33,6oo 

Graniteville  Mill,  looms 590 

Vaucluse  .Mill,  looms 312 

Total  looms 902 

Hands 75° 

Production. 

Bales.  Pounds. 

Graniteville  Mill 9,315         4,191,583 

Vaucluse  Mill 3,723         1,675,211 


Total  used  yearly 1 3,038         5,866,794 


Manufactures.  425 

Pounds  Cloth.  Yards. 

Graniteville  Mill 3.563,837         11,183,835 

Vaucluse  Mill 1,423,926  5,264,500 

Total 4,987,763         16,448,335 

Gross  Profits. 

Graniteville  Mill $  82,724.69 

Vaucluse  Mill 37. 131-31 

Total  profits $120,856.00 

Net  profits 80,701.71 

Net  profits,  13-5^  per  cent,  on  $600,000  capital.  The  mills  manufacture  3-4 
C.  shirting,  7-8  R.  R.  shirting.  4-4  E.  E.  sheeting,  7-8  brown  drills,  4-4  A.  A. 
sheetings,  4-4  L.  L.  sheetings,  S.  S.  brown  drills,  and  flour  sacks  and  grain 
bags. 

On  April  3,  1885,  the  owners  of  Southern  and  Southwestern  cotton-mills 
met  in  Augusta  and  organized  the  Southern  and  Western  Manufacturing  As- 
sociation, and  Mr.  Hickman,  president  of  the  Graniteville  Mills,  was  made  its 
presiding  officer. 

The  building  of  the  milis  had,  as  might  be  expected,  a  marked  effect  on  the 
population  of  Augusta,  and  the  disbursement  of  nearly  a  million  dollars  a  year 
in  wages  has  been  of  great  benefit  to  the  trade  of  the  city.  It  has  been  found 
that  the  concentration  of  a  factory  population  has  not  been  injurious  to  the 
health  of  the  operatives.  The  only  contest  between  capital  and  labor  occurred 
in  1886,  when  upon  a  strike  at  one  of  the  factories,  all  the  others  combined  in 
a  "  lock-out."  Both  sides  remained  obstinate  from  June  to  November,  when 
mutual  interests  happily  brought  about  a  reconciliation. 

Prominent  among  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  city  is  the  Georgia 
Chemical  Works,  organized  May  5,  1877,  with  a  paid  up  capital  of  $200,000. 
The  manufacture  of  fertilizers,  the  specialty  of  this  company,  began  in  Decem- 
ber, 1877,  and  the  works  have  been  in  constant  operation  ever  since  their  estab- 
lishment, the  demand  for  their  fertilizers  becoming  so  great  as  to  require  an 
enlargement  of  the  works  to  nearly  double  their  former  capacity,  increasing  it 
from  10,000  to  17,000  tons  per  annum.  The  manufactory  proper  is  a  huge 
building,  three  and  a  half  stories  high,  130  feet  long  and  sixty  feet  wide,  its  tall 
chimney  being  1 14  feet  high.  It  is  supplied  with  an  elegant  lOO  horse-power 
engine  and  the  best  machinery.  The  acid  chambers  are  the  most  interesting 
and  expensive  portion  of  the  works.  These  are  lined  with  lead,  in  order  to  re- 
sist the  action  of  the  sulphuric  acid  used  in  the  reduction  of  the  ground  phos- 
phate rock  and  bones,  the  principal  ingredients  of  the  fertilizer.  The  lining  of 
each  chamber  weighs  120,000  pounds  or  sixty  tons.  Two  new  chambers  have 
been  recently  added,  one  of  which  is  106  feet  long,  37  feet  wide  and  22  feet  high; 
the  other  being  32  feet  long,  32  feet  wide  and  25  feet  high.  The  building  con- 
taining the  acid  chambers  is  seventy  feet  high.  On  the  first  floor  of  this  build- 
54 


426  History  of  Augusta. 


ing  is  the  furnace  for  burning  the  sulphur  in  the  preparation  of  the  acid.  In 
the  manufacture  of  their  fertihzers  the  company  use  sulphur  from  Sicily,  pot- 
ash salts  from  Germany,  phosphate  rock  from  the  West  Indies  and  South  Car- 
olina, bone  and  other  animal  matter  from  the  slaughter-houses  of  the  North, 
West,  and  South,  fish  from  the  Virginia  coast,  and  nitrate  of  soda  from  South 
America.  The  process,  in  brief,  is  as  follows :  The  phosphate  rock  is  crushed 
by  a  powerful  crusher,  then  ground  into  a  fine  powder  by  burr  mills,  and  is 
then  carried  to  the  third  floor  by  machinery,  where  it  is  weighed  into  the  mixer. 
The  bones  are  crushed  by  separate  machinery,  ground  into  a  fine  powder  on 
the  third  floor,  and  go  into  the  mixer.  The  mixer  holds  one  ton  of  fertilizer, 
every  ingredient  being  carefully  weighed  before  going  into  it.  From  the  mixer 
it  falls  to  the  second  floor  where  it  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  the  acid  and 
dries.  The  disintegrator  and  screw  finish  the  work.  The  grounds  occu- 
pied by  the  works  consist  of  twenty  acres.  There  are  also  several  large  ware- 
houses, four  new  ones  having  just  been  built  and  one  being  in  contemplation. 
The  largest  of  these  new  warehouses  is  200  x  50  feet,  two  others  being  150x50 
feet,  and  the  smallest  being  100  x  50  feet.  Two  railways  carry  material  to  and 
the  products  from  the  works.  The  products  of  these  works  are  the  Mastodon 
Guano,  Grain  Fertilizer,  Lowe's  Georgia  Formula,  Dissolved  Bone  Potash  and 
Acid  Phosphate.  These  products  have  already  acquired  a  widespread  repu- 
tation. This  company  also  import  and  sell  all  kinds  of  fertilizing  ingredients. 
This  company  also  import  all  of  their  material  by  the  cargo.  Their  phos- 
phate rock  they  bring  from  the  Navassa  Islands  in  the  Caribbean  Sea  ;  their 
nitrate  of  soda  they  buy  from  Peru  and  Chili  ;  genuine  Leopoldshall  Kainit 
comes  from  Germany  ;  the  sulphur  direct  to  their  chamber  from  Mount  Vesu- 
vius ;  dried  blood,  they  bargain  for  at  Western  slaughter-houses,  and  bone  drifts 
into  their  mills  by  the  carload  from  every  section  ;  all  of  these  important  and 
costly  ingredients  go  to  make  up  one  of  the  finest  fertilizers  manufactured, 
adapted  to  every  crop,  and  suited,  by  different  brands  made,  of  different  qual- 
ity, to  every  kind  of  soil.  No  dirt  or  foreign  substance  is  put  into  these  com- 
pounds to  fill  up  in  bulk  or  weight,  the  base  of  the  fertilizer  is  dissolved  bone- 
phosphate  in  every  instance.  The  original  capacity  of  the  works  was  10,000 
tons  of  commercial  fertilizer.  Since  then  the  capacity  of  these  successful 
works  has  been  nearly  doubled,  and  they  can  now  mannfacture  18,000  tons 
of  fertilizer. 

The  success  of  this  enterprise  has  been  based  on  the  idea  of  manufacturing 
a  fertilizer  suited  to  the  soil  on  which  it  is  to  be  used.  P'or  some  ten  or  twelve 
years  prior  to  the  organization  of  the  works  the  progress  of  Southern  planting 
had  been  marked  by  the  general  introduction  and  intelligent  use  of  commercial 
fertilizers.  The  adoption  of  artificial  stimulants  for  the  soil  did  not  spring  from 
unnatural  causes  any  more  than  their  continuance  has  led  to  unprofitable  meth- 
ods of  farming.     The  acceptance  and  use  by  Southern   planters  of  prepared 


Manufactures.  J^^2f 


guanos  was  necessitated  by  the  demands  of  the  soil.  For  generations  the  lands 
of  this  section  had  been  worked  upon  their  own  resources  and  drained  of  the 
best  elements  of  plant  food.  Season  after  season  the  most  exacting  crops  have 
been  gathered  from  these  fields,  and  so  exhausting  had  been  the  cultivation  of 
anU  belluni  days,  that  even  the  most  skillful  rotation  of  crops  would  not  have 
built  up  the  worn  out  lands.  Thousands  of  acres  were  being  deserted  or  al- 
lowed to  lie  fallow,  while  much  time  and  labor  were  being  sacrificed  to  pre- 
pare new  lands  for  cotton.  Another  cause  contributed  to  the  adoption  of  some 
method  of  recuperation  for  old  lands  or  of  securing  continued  productiveness 
on  the  new.  Labor,  after  the  war  closed,  was  neither  as  plentiful  nor  as  relia- 
ble as  before.  The  land  cultivated  by  the  cotton  planter,  although  reduced  in 
area,  had  to  bring  the  same  returns  as  the  liberal  acreage  and  diffusive  meth- 
ods had  before  commanded.  Every  acre  then  had  to  be  doubly  productive  at 
least. 

Such  was  the  planting  status  of  the  South.  The  utilization  of  good  stable 
manure  or  of  home-made  fertilizers,  so  far  as  they  went,  were  wise  expedients. 
Obviously,  though,  no  farmer  could  make  enough  by  home  composting,  rak- 
ing or  scraping,  for  all  his  worn  out  lands.  Stock  could  not  be  kept  for  this 
purpose  alone,  else  the  stables  be  as  expensive  as  the  stalls  of  Lorillard  ;  and 
the  preparation  of  home  fertilizers  could  not  be  made  as  simple  or  as  complete 
as  would  have  justified  its  employment  in  the  planting  economy  of  the  South. 
What,  then,  was  to  be  done  ?  The  planter  recognized  that  he  must  draw  else- 
where for  those  factors  of  plant-food  which  his  crops  had  been  annually  carry- 
ing ofT  and  which  he  had  not  the  resources  to  replace.  Such,  then,  was  the 
time  and  such  the  season  for  the  introduction  and  use  of  commercial  fertilizers, 
the  tonnage  of  which,  year  by  year  has  been  increasing  over  our  railroad  lines, 
and  the  use  of  which,  despite  various  abuses  and  impositions  of  importers  and 
dealers,  is  enlarging  with  the  pitching  of  every  crop.  That  the  farmer  has  had 
much  to  contend  against  in  the  past  use  of  commercial  fertilizers,  cannot  be 
denied.  The  first  shipments  were  concentrated  articles  from  foreign  shores  or 
Northern  factories,  mixed  up  with  acids  and  bone  dust,  high  priced  and  in- 
tense, and  no  more  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  Southern  farmer's  lands  than 
to  the  lining  of  these  farmers'  pockets.  These  guanos,  made  upon  theoretical 
formula,  and  mixed  upon  general  principles,  could  not  be  entirely  satisfactory. 
They  supplied  articles  in  excess  which  were  not  needed,  and  left  out  consti- 
tuents which  were  very  important.  They  were  sacked  indiscriminately  for  use 
in  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  the  tobacco  lands  of  Virginia,  the  wheat  lands 
of  Ohio,  the  black  loams  of  Mississippi,  the  clay  lands  of  Alabama  and  Geor- 
gia, or  the  swamp  bottoms  of  Florida  and  the  Carolinas.  Such  planting  pro- 
cesses, could  not  hold  their  own,  and  when  the  farmer  found  himself  taxed 
heavily  to  pay  for  these  homogeneous  failures  his  condition  seemed  nearly  as 
deplorable  as  first.     But  even  this  difficulty  was  destined  to  be  met.     It  occurred 


428  History  of  Augusta. 


to  Mr.  George  W.  Graflin,  of  Baltimore,  and  General  M.  Stovall,  of  Augusta, 
in  1875,  that  a  home-made  and  a  home  adapted  fertilizer  was  what  the  farmers 
of  Alabama,  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas  needed.  To  supply  this  the  works  were 
established,  and  by  their  success  have  vindicated  the  foresight  of  their  founders. 

Nearly  sixty  years  ago  the  first  ice  company  in  Augusta  was  incorporated. 
Augustine  Slaughter,  William  M.  Rowland,  Charles  Labuzan,  Joseph  Wheeler, 
John  C.  Holcomb,  and  George  W.  Butler  were  incorporated  in  1832  as  the 
Augusta  Ice  Company.  No  capital  stock  was  named  and  the  act  gives  no  hint 
as  to  the  modus  operandi  of  the  company. 

In  1837  the  Jackson  Street  Ice  Company  was  incorporated.  The  preamble 
of  the  act  states  that  the  persons  thereinafter  named  had  "  formed  an  associa- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  Augusta  with 
ice."  The  capital  stock  was  $10,000,  in  shares  of  $50  each.  The  corporators 
were  Noah  Smith,  Oswell  E.  Carmichael,  Kerrs  &  Hope,  Benjamin  W.  Force, 
Lewis  D.  Ford,  Martin  Frederick,  Thomas  J.  Walton,  Samuel  Clarke,  Samuel 
Hale,  John  G.  Winter,  Robert  D.  Hamlen,  Kitchen  &  Robertson,  Peter  Golley, 
Isaac  Henry,  Snowden  &  Shear,  Pleasant  Stovall,  F.  Lamback  &  Co  ,  Elisha 
Foster,  Noah  B.  Cloud,  Albert  W.  Smith,  J.  S.  Clarke,  Sacker  P.  Turpin, 
Thomas  Richards,  Hubbell  W.  Risley,  Thomas  H.  Plant,  Augustus  B.  Long- 
street,  Augustine  Frederick,  John  V.  Cowling,  George  M.  Thew,  Isaac  Moise, 
James  Frazer,  John  Moore,  Benjamin  B.  Kirtland,  Frederick  A.  Morgan,  John 
J.  Jones,  Benjamin  Sims,  and  B.  L.  Nehr. 

The  business  of  these  early  companies  was  doubtless  the  importation  and. 
sale  of  natural  ice  from  the  North,  but  during  the  war,  when  that  means  of  sup- 
ply was  cut  off,  necessity,  the  mother  of  invention,  led  to  the  manufacture  of  arti- 
ficial ice  in  the  city,  and  by  1864  a  factory  on  a  small  scale  was  in  active  oper- 
ation. The  works  were  on  Greene  street,  near  Wilde  or  Forsyth  streets,  and 
were  managed  by  Major  I.  P.  Girardey.  The  product  was  exclusively  devoted 
to  the  hospitals  and  the  sick,  and  would  doubtless  be  now  derided  as  a  very 
poor  article  of  manufacture.  In  those  days  it  was  priceless.  It  was  veritable 
ice,  and  carried  comfort  to  many  a  fevered  bed-side  and  to  many  a  wounded 
soldier.  The  ice  was  made  in  cylinders  about  two  feet  long  and  from  five  to 
six  inches  in  diameter.  The  chemical  agents  used  were  not  strong  enough  to 
convert  the  entire  cylinder  into  a  solid  block,  and  it  came  out  in  the  shape  of 
a  pipe  about  an  inch  and  a  half  thick.  Probably  not  more  than  500  or  600 
pounds  were  made  per  day,  and  in  fact  the  manufacture  was  not  carried  on 
with  much  regularity.  The  time  chosen  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  then 
the  few  cylinders  were  eagerly  seized  and  carried  ofT.  Lucky  was  the  well 
person  who  could  manage  to  secure  a  piece  three  or  four  inches  long.  This 
primitive  ice  was  only  semi-transparent. 

Now  two  ice  companies,  the  Polar  Ice  Company  and  the  Augusta  Ice  Com- 
pany, do  a  flourishing  business,  turning  out  huge  blocks  as  clear  as  crystal  at 


Manufactures.  429 


a  rate  which  supphes  the  city  and  has  cut  off  the  importation  of  the  Northern 
article.  The  Polar  Ice  Company  was  organized  in  1888,  and  the  Augusta 
Company  in  1887. 

As  early  as  1850  an  effort  was  made  to  utilize  the  Augusta  Canal  for  the 
manufacture  of  machinery.  In  that  year  William  M.  D'Antignac,  John  M. 
Adams,  Lambeth  Hopkins,  James  M.  Poe,  and  William  H.  Turpin,  jr.,  were  in- 
corporated as  the  Augusta  Machine  Works,  "  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing 
agricultural  implements,  cotton,  wool,  and  the  machinery  necessary  for  the  fab- 
rication thereof,  locomotives,  etc."  The  act  states  that  the  works  were  to  be 
operated  by  water  power,  and  that  a  site  had  already  been  secured 

The  works  of  this  company  operated  in  a  small  way  for  a  number  of  years, 
and  about  twenty  years  ago  fell  into  the  hands  of  George  R.  Lombard  &  Co., 
who  have  made  them  an  immense  establishment.  The  shops  are  among  the 
largest  and  best  equipped  in  the  South.  Everything  in  a  mechanical  way,  for 
use  or  ornament  is  turned  out,  from  the  finest,  most  delicate  and  intricate  fac- 
tory work  to  the  heaviest  railroad  material.  More  saw- mill  work  is  done  here 
than  at  any  point  in  the  South.  Gin  ribs  and  gear,  never  heretofore  made  in 
this  section,  are  manufactured,  as  also  many  classes  of  fine  work  heretofore  or- 
dered from  the  North.  The  work  for  the  Augusta,  Langley,  Graniteville,  En- 
terprise, and  Jewell's  factories,  for  the  Georgia  and  Port  Royal  J^ailroads,  for 
the  Georgia  Chemical  Works,  and  the  Augusta  Flour  Mills  is  done  here.  An 
immense  variety  of  machines  is  kept,  among  them  some  of  the  finest  in  the 
South  Connected  with  the  shops  is  a  foundry.  The  iron  ore  is  brought  from 
North  Georgia,  and  is  considered  as  pure  as  any  in  the  world.  About  3,000 
pounds  of  castings  per  day  are  made.  Bed  plates  of  6,000  pounds  weight  have 
been  cast,  but  one  of  10,000  can  be  made.  The  assortment  of  patterns  in  this 
foundry  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  finest  in*-  the  United  States,  and  the  railing 
work  is  quite  celebrated  for  neatness.  There  is  also  a  boiler  shop,  where  boil- 
ers are  repaired  or  built. 

The  Pendleton  Machine  Works,  managed  by  Charles  F.  Lombard,  have 
been  in  operation  since  1865,  and  manufacture  steam  engines,  brass  work,  pip- 
ing, turbine  wheels,  agricultural  machines,  gins,  gearing,  belting,  and  a  large 
variety  of  mechanical  appliances.  Both  these  establishments  use  the  water- 
power  of  the  Augusta  Canal. 

Close  by  the  Augusta  Factory  are  the  Augusta  Flouring  Mills,  with  an  an- 
nual capacity  of  50,000  barrels  of  flour,  and  200,000  bushels  of  meal.  Among 
the  established  manufactures  of  Augusta  of  honorable  age,  highest  repute,  and 
admitted  excellence  are  the  Excelsior  Flour  Mills,  a  strong  five-story  structure 
located  on  the  second  level  of  the  Augusta  Canal.  The  mills  were  built  in  the 
year  1859  on  an  extensive  plan.  They  ran  upon  the  old  stone  system,  mak- 
ing 200  barrels  of  flour  a  day  until  the  year  1881,  when  the  patent  roller  pro- 
cess, so  extensively  used  in   the  North  and  West  was  adopted.      The  mills  use 


430  History  of  Augusta. 


seventeen  sets  of  the  new  rollers,  and  turn  out  from  200  to  250  barrels  of  flour 
a  day. 

The  Perkins  Manufacturing  Company  and  Jesse  Thompson  &  Co.,  do  an 
immense  lumber  business.  The  former  employs  500  men,  pays  out  $150,000 
annually  in  wages,  and  sells  16,000,000  feet  of  lumber  every  year.  It  has  mills 
in  Burke  and  Screven  counties  which  supply  it  with  lumber  transported  over 
its  own  railroad  to  the  line  of  the  Central  Railroad,  and  thence  to  Augusta. 
Jesse  Thompson  &  Co.  have  large  saw- mills  at  Midville,  Ga.,  which  are  con- 
stantly at  work  turning  out  lumber  for  this  market  from  the  best  pine  timber 
that  the  State  affords.  This  lumber  is  brought  to  Augusta  by  long  train-loads 
to  meet  the  constant  demand  for  doors,  sash,  blinds,  moldings,  brackets,  new- 
els, balusters  and  similar  articles. 

For  nearly  forty  years  Augusta  has  turned  out  a  brick  acknowledged  to  be 
superior  to  anything  made  south  of  the  Potomac.  The  main  establishment 
known  as  the  old  Delaigle  brick-yard  is  situate  upon  the  southeastern  border 
of  the  city,  being  a  broad  expanse  of  land,  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  Cen- 
tral Railroad,  east  by  the  Georgia  Chemical  Works,  South  Boundary  street  and 
the  Port  Royal  Railroad  track.  There  are  worked  within  these  yards  three 
steam  revolving  brick-makers,  which  are  fed  with  finely  prepared  clay,  which 
is  obtained  in  richness  and  profusion.  Indeed  so  inexhaustible  is  the  supply 
that  for  several  generations  to  come  ample  material  will  be  afforded  to  run  these 
works.  The  brick  are  evenly  and  substantially  shaped  in  this  steam  press,  and 
automatically  turned  out  at  the  rate  of  sixty  a  minute.  They  are  then  carted 
away  upon  smooth  platforms  and  piled  up  in  the  sun  to  dry.  After  three  or 
four  days  these  brick,  which  are  of  yellowish  tint  and  moderate  degree  of  hard- 
ness, are  skillfully  arranged  in  intcrsticial  layers  within  the  great  kilns,  which 
are  fired  from  beneath,  and  this  enclosed,  is  allowed  to  burn  for  seven  days, 
then  cooled  down,  and  the  strong,  well- tempered,  we  may  say,  red  fire-bricks, 
are  ready  for  shipment.  Several  furnaces,  or  kilns,  are  in  use,  which  alternate, 
the  one  being  fired  up  while  another  is  in  use  or  cooling  down. 

It  is  well  known  that  Augusta- made  brick  are  the  finest  and  best  manufac- 
tured south  of  the  Potomac  ;  and  these  yards  furnish  two-thirds  of  the  brick 
used  in  Augusta  in  private  and  public  buildings,  not  including  the  factories; 
they  supply  the  cities  of  Charleston,  Savannah  and  Atlanta,  and  all  interme- 
diate points.  Visitors  to  Atlanta  have  only  to  notice  the  fine  business  block 
between  the  Kimball  and  Markham  Houses,  opposite  the  Union  Depot ;  the 
magnificent  new  store  of  Moore  &  Marsh,  and  the  rising  walls  of  the  new  City 
Hall,  to  detect  the  fine  brick  of  the  great  Augusta  manufactory.  These  yards 
employ  150  men  and  turn  out  about  15,000,000  brick  a  year. 

Outside  of  the  main  interests  which  have  been  mentioned  there  are  many 
minor  manufactories,  the  total  manufacturing  capital  being  $8,000,000,  of 
which  amount  $5,525,000  is  in  cotton. 


■/Vifamt  hErvyi 


UL.^^ 


Manufactures.  43 1 


Augusta  is  emphatically  a  cotton  town,  and  destined  to  be  even  a  more  im- 
portant center  for  the  staple  than  it  is  now.  The  increased  receipts  year  by 
year  are  a  notable  feature.  This  increase  is  not  caused,  as  in  many  other  mar- 
kets, by  any  extension  of  railroads  or  by  much  increased  facilities  of  transpor- 
tation. On  the  contrary,  some  of  the  cotton  which  formerly  came  to  this  mar- 
ket was  diverted  by  unjust  railroad  rates,  obtainable  in  the  northwestern  and 
western  portions  of  the  State ;  not  only  on  direct  shipments  north  and  east, 
but  even  to  the  South  Atlantic  sea-ports.  The  increase  is  due  mainly  to  the 
admirably  intelligent  progress  made  by  a  majority  of  the  planters. 

First.  By  a  more  universal  and  more  discriminating  use  of  fertilizers,  where- 
in happily  home-made  composts  and  manures  are  assuming  a  larger  propor- 
tion every  year. 

Second.  By  the  more  general  distribution  of  labor,  through  the  slow  and 
gradual,  but,  therefore,  the  more  certain  extension  of  the  small  farm  system, 
naturally  producing  a  more  thorough  and  careful  cultivation. 

Third.  The  energetic  and  determined  efforts  the  planters  make  to  save  the 
crops  earlier,  of  which  fact  the  picking  of  the  last  crop  was  an  astonishing 
proof 

Fourth.  The  enterprising  introduction  of  all  improved  agricultural  imple- 
ments. 

We  venture  to  say,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  in  no  section  of  the 
cotton  belt  has  agricultural  science  made  greater  progress  than  in  this  section 
of  the  State  of  Georgia,  of  which  no  further  proof  is  needed  than,  that,  while 
before  the  war  the  average  production  was  about  one  bale  to  4^  acres,  now  2^ 
acres  produce  the  same  amount  of  cotton.  The  destination  of  cotton  from  Au- 
gusta points  to  almost  every  market  in  the  world. 

Some  years  since  the  destination  of  the  year's  receipts  was  ascertained  and 
the  same  substantially  obtains  now  save  as  to  the  mill  demand.  The  figures 
were:  To  mills  north  and  east,  44,000  bales;  to  foreign  ports  direct,  mainly 
to  Liverpool,  Havre  and  Bremen,  72,000  bales ;  to  Savannah  and  Charleston, 
on  account  of  exporters'  orders,  and  free  on  board,  54,000  bales  ;  to  cotton 
mills  in  and  about  Augusta,  33.000  bales;   total,  205,000  bales. 

Of  the  cotton  sent  to  foreign  ports,  large  quantities  are  on  orders  received 
from  spinners  direct  in  all  parts  of  Europe,  including  England,  France,  Ger- 
many, Spain,  Italy,  Austria  and  Russia,  through  agencies  established  by  ex- 
porters in  the  leading  ports.  The  home  demand  for  mills  is  largely  over  double 
figures  above  given. 

We  have  already  spoken  of  the  great  progress  of  this  section  in  cotton  cul- 
ture, and  must  now  speak  of  the  quality  and  handling  of  the  cotton  sold  in 
Augusta.  In  no  part  of  the  cotton  belt  do  planters  use  more  perfect  gins  and 
presses  than  in  the  one  we  are  treating  of,  it  being  seemingly  the  ambition  of 
all  to  possess  the  best.      Small  sized  gins,  driven  by  mule  or  horse-power,  are 


432  History  of  Augusta. 


being  discarded,  and  the  gfciieral  tendency  is  to  use  laig;er  gins,  driven  by  steam 
or  water-power.  The  natural  result  is  a  greater  uniformity  and  smoothness  of 
the  staple,  making  it  far  more  desirable  for  spinning  th.in  under  the  former 
method,  when  the  movement  of  the  gin  w. is  jerky  aiul  uneven.  Hy  this  means 
cotton  is  ginned  tuore  rapidly,  as  well,  and  the  earl\'  movement  of  the  erop  is 
promoted.  Ihe  quality  of  our  staple  is  excellent,  and  is  being  constantly  en- 
hanced b\'  improved  seed,  and  the  enrichment  of  the  lands  by  manures, 
rhouiih,  perhaps,  not  as  strong  and  wiry  as  the  staple  produced  in  the  Missis- 
sippi \^ille\',  or  in  parts  of  Alabama,  Louisi.uia  and  Te.\as,  it  is  usually  brighter, 
smoother,  tleciiledl\'  cleaner,  ami  much  freer  from  leaf  Many  a  spinner,  who 
prefers  the  so-called  western  staple  for  its  strengtli,  buys  the  handsome  cottons 
we  can  sent!  them  to  mix  with  it,  and  thereby  secure  a  color  and  brightness 
of  the  goods  which  western  cottons  tlo  not  give.  And  experience  has  denion- 
strateii  that  owing  to  the  more  perfect  handling  of  our  cottons,  their  superior 
ginning  and  cleanliness,  there  is  no  more  wastage  in  oui-  cottons  than  in  the 
average  run  of  western  cottons. 

That  this  cit\-  is  the  best  inlaiui  cotton  center  in  the  United  States  is  due 
to  a  variety  of  favoring  causes  in  addition  to  those  just  mentioned.  Some  we 
may  state.  First,  her  factors  guarantee  prompt  sales  and  settlements.  The 
rule  among  our  ci^tton  men  ditVering  from  the  methods  of  procedure  in  all  in- 
land market^  ami  at  the  ports,  in  that  cotton  sales  are  for  cash,  enabling  the 
factor  to  settle  at  once  with  the  planter,  and  at  the  same  time  rendering  all 
transactions  perfectly  safe  It  is  .i  tact  worth)-  of  note  that  no  planter  can  get 
his  mone\'  in  Charleston  or  Sa\  annah  iov  sever.d  days  after  effecting  a  sale. 

The  influences  which  combine  to  create  the  demand  for  cotton  in  Augusta, 
and  which  in  every  month  throughout  the  year  uphold  a  strong  tone  in  the 
market  and  a  stiff  quotation  in  prices,  putting  us  within  a  small  fraction  of  the 
coast  thiring  the  reguhir  cotton  season,  and  advancing  us  beyond  the  piM'ts  the 
rest  of  the  time,  are  peculiar  to  Augusta  and  <ire  of  paramount  value. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  in  common  with  all  other  markets,  we  are  open  tor 
ordeis  tVom  Northern  mills,  and  have  buyers  here  who  ha\'e  been  )-ears  in  the 
business  ;  are  well  known  to  all  the  prominent  spinners  north,  and  are  ener- 
getic to  bring  to  this  market  ortlers  for  cotton.  Cotton  is  purchased  in  Au- 
gusta for  New  England  spinners,  and  the  advantage  of  this  market  will  not  be 
ignored  in  this  res[KXt.  Connected  with  this  interest  are  buyers  who  fill  or- 
ders for  exports  loc.ited  at  the  ports  and  various  points. 

Hut  the  cotton  market  here  is  not  solely  dependent  upon  these  agencies. 
Ten  years  back  ci>tton  houses  in  this  city  opened  correspondence  with  foreign 
markets  direct.  The  result  was  that  our  advantages  were  readily  recognized 
and  there  is  now  a  large  market  for  direct  export  to  Europe.  Half  a  dozen 
houses  here  have  correspondence  with  Europe,  and  fill  orders  for  spinners  in 
Great  Britain,  Russia,  Italy,  France  and  Germany,  etc. 


Manufactures. 


433 


Augusta  has  advantages  of  five  ports  to  draw  from — Norfolk,  Wilmington, 
Charleston,  Port  Royal  and  Savannah — and  if  cheapness  and  accommodation 
in  ship  freights  cannot  be  secured  in  one  place,  competition  opens  up  storage 
room  and  places  a  variet}^  of  sea  bottoms  at  our  disposal.  This  position  is  of 
value  inestimable.  The  fact  that  Augusta  is  nearer  the  coast  than  interior 
points  gives  her  advantages  over  them  in  rates  to  the  coast ;  the  fact  that  she 
is  just  far  enough  from  the  coast  to  spread  out  before  her  this  wide  choice  of 
tonnage  is  saving  facility. 

One  element  which  has  sprung  up  of  late  years  to  bolster  up  Augusta's  cot- 
ton market,  and  which  has  given  it  a  reputation  throughout  the  Southern 
States,  is  our  local  milling  demand.  With  the  extension  of  our  long  established 
cotton  mills,  and  the  building  of  new  ones,  this  demand  for  home  consumption 
has  grown  to  be  a  factor  which  has  worked  phenomenal  results.  Not  only  do 
the  buyers  for  Augusta  factories  get  tbeir  takings  from  the  Augusta  market 
but  the  three  large  factories  in  Carolina  are  also  dependent  upon  our  supply. 
Throughout  the  year  this  demand  continues.  In  the  active  cotton  months  it 
is  a  competitive  agent  with  Eastern  and  export  buyers,  and  gives  a  variety  as 
well  as  strength  to  the  demand.  A  constant  seeking  for  lower  grades  is  of- 
fered for  all  mixed  packed,  irregular  or  light  bags.  At  no  point  in  the  South 
are  irregular  cottons  and  low  grade  goods  so  high-priced  relatively  as  here. 

The  cotton  product  of  the  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  counties  adjacent  to 
Augusta  is  as  follows  : 


Baldwin 

Burke 29,172 

Clarke 3.3K' 

Columbia • 8,313 

Elbert 8,826 

Glascock 2,635 

Greene 1 2,448 

Hall   5,000 

Hancock 15,010 

Hart 5.094 

Jefferson 13.377 

Johnson 3.321 

Lincoln 3,861 


Georgia. 
7.921 


McDufifie 7,439 

Madison 5.917 

Morgan 7,355 

Newton. 7,796 

Oglethorpe 1 2,336 

Richmond 2,742 

Rockdale 4.385 

Screven 6, 166 

Taliaferro 4,754 

Walton 1 2, 538 

Warren 7.885 

Washington 23, 508 

Wilkes 11,109 


Total 232,925 

South  Carolina. 


Abbeville 26,380 

Aiken   I4,334 

Anderson 21,807 

Barnwell 28,764 

Edgefield 35.894 


Greenville 17,064 

Laurens 24,484 

Lexington 9.050 

Spartanburg 24,188 


Total 202,055 

232,925 


Bales  cotton  tributary  to  Augusta 434,c 


434  History  of  Augusta. 


One  of  the  incidents  of  the  cotton  business  is  "futures."  The  courts  frown 
on  and  moralists  denounce  this  practice.  Some  years  since  a  cotton  man  fur- 
nished the  press  of  Augusta  the  other  side  of  the  question,  and  we  here  give 
the  matter  from  his  standpoint. 

Many  persons  have  a  prejudice  against  dealing  in  cotton  futures  under  the 
idea  that  it  is  all  pure  speculation,  believing  that  the  contracts  represent  no 
value  at  all,  but  are  only  a  kind  of  bet  on  the  market,  whether  prices  will  ad- 
vance or  decline. 

To  show  how  incorrect  this  idea  is  we  give  here  the  form  of  contract  as  now 
used  in  the  New  York  Cotton  Exchange : 

No.  CONTRACT  A. 

Office  of 

Nfav  York i88. . 

Bought  for  M    

Of  M 

50,000  Ib.s.  in  about  ONE 
HUNDRED  Square  bales  Cotton,  growth  of  the   United  States,  deliverable   from  licensed 

Warehouse  in  the  Port  of  New  York,  between  the  FIRST  and  LAST  day  of next, 

inclusive.  The  delivery  within  such  time  to  be  at  seller's  option,  in  lots  of  not  less  than  fifty 
bales  upon  five  days'  notice  to  buyers.     The  Cotton  to  be  of  any  grade  from  Strict  Ordinary  to 

Fair,  inclusive,  and  if  stained  not  lielow  Strict  Good  Ordinary,  at  the  price  of .(  ) 

cents  per  pound  for  Middling,  with  additions  or  deductions  for  other  grades  according  to  the 
rates  of  New  York  Cotton  Exchange  existing  on  afternoon  of  the  fifth  day  previous  to  the  date 
of  the  Warehouse  Order. 

Either  party  to  have  the  right  to  call  for  a  margin,  as  the  variations  of  the  market  for  like 
deliveries  may  warrant.     And  which  margin  shall  be  kept  good. 

This  Contract  is  made  in  view  of,  and  in  all  respects  subject  to  the  rules  and  conditions 
established  by  the  New  York  Cotton  Exchange,  and  in  full  accordance  with  Article  II.,  Title 
IV.,  Chapter  Second  of  the  By-Laws. 

Respectfully, 

Per 

For  and  in  consideration  of  One  Dollar in  hand  paid,  receipt  whereof 

is  hereby  acknowledged accept  this  Contract  with  all  its  obligations  and 

conditions. 

By  study  of  this  contract  it  will  be  seen  that  whoever  buys  this  contract 
when  the  month  named  therein  arrives  will  leceive  the  cotton,  and  have  it  for 
sale  or  use  as  surely  as  if  he  had  bought  bales  and  stored  them  away,  the  ful- 
fillment of  all  contracts  being  secured  by  the  margins  put  up.  And  on  the 
other  hand,  any  one  who  sells  such  contracts  against  cotton  he  expects  to  pro- 
duce or  receive,  when  the  month  named  arrives,  can  deliver  his  cotton  on  this 
contract  and  receive  the  price  named  with  perfect  certainty. 

The  contract  is  simply  a  contrivance  of  the  mercantile  world,  by  which  par- 
ties dealing  in  or  producing  any  article  may  secure  a  fixed  price,  at  which,  on 


Manufactures.  435 


a  certain  date  in  the  future,  they  may  buy  the  articles  desired  or  sell  the  articles 
produced.  And  so  far  from  being  purely  speculative,  they  afford  a  means  of 
eliminating  speculation  from  very  many  business  operations. 

For  instance — first,  the  producer.     Intelligent  planters  generally  know  at 
about  what  price  their  cotton  crops  pay  them  fair  profits.      If,  during  the  sum- 
mer months,  contracts  for  delivery  during  October,    November,  December, 
should  be  saleable  in  New  York  at  a  figure  that  will  secure  to  the  planter  the 
net  price  that  he  has  found  profitable,  is  it  not  a  prudent  business  transaction 
to  assure  himself  of  this  by  selling  a  contract   for  the  probable  amount  of  his 
crop  ?     If  he  does  this,  then  his  profit  is  certain  ;  if  he  does  not,  then  he  spec- 
ulates as  to  what  price  he  will  get  when  the  great  bulk  of  the  crop  is  pouring 
into  market  with  its  tendency  to  depress  prices.      His  selling  the  future  con- 
tract is  not  speculation  ;  it  is  an  avoidance  of  speculation.     When  the  months 
arrive  he  can  deliver  his  cotton  on  the  contract,  or,  if  more  convenient  or  prof- 
itable, can  sell  his  contract  for  delivery  in  New  York  to  other  parties  there  and 
market  his  cotton  at  home.     To  merchants  who  supply  planters  the  contract 
system  offers  a  valuable  safeguard   against  loss.      The  merchant  furnishes  to 
the  planter  fertilizers  and  the  supplies  necessary  to  run  them  during  the  sum- 
mer, for  which  he  is  to  receive  in  return  a  certain  quality  of  cotton.      Knowing 
the  cost  of  supplies  furnished  he  knows  what  price  for  cotton  received  will  give 
him  a  fair  profit,  and,  should  he  at  any  time  be  able  to  sell  contracts  for  fall 
delivery  at  such  price  by  making  sales  to  the  extent  of  his  profitable  receipts, 
he  secures  his  profits  and  relieves  his  business  from  one  of  its  most  serious  risks. 
The  planter  or  merchant  who  wishes  to  store  and  hold  cotton  with  the  hope  of 
higher  prices  produced  by  local  scarcity  in  the  summer  can  often  make  sure  of 
his  profit  by  selling  at  once  contract  for  delivery  in  summer  to  hedge  his  pur- 
chases.    These  contracts  always  bear  a  premium  at  least  equal  to  the  expense 
of  carrying  cotton.     This  premium  disappears  as  the  cotton  months  arrive,  and 
while  in  itself  in  the  local  market  commands  as  good  or  a  better  price,  the  con- 
tract can  be  sold  at  a  good  profit.      Besides  the.se  dealings  in  contracts  thus  far 
mentioned,  none  of  which  are  speculative,  there  is  a  very  large  business  done 
by  parties  who  buy  because  they  think  the  market  will  advance,  or  sell,  expect- 
ing a  decline. 

They  operate  in  contracts  for  cotton  rather  than  in  cotton  itself,  because  the 
expenses  are  infinitely  less.  The  contracts  pass  from  hand  to  hand,  and  one  con- 
tract may  cover  many  transactions — but  when  it  matures  it  is  good  for  the  cotton. 

These  dealings  are  speculation  only  so  far  as  it  is  speculation  to  buy  or  sell 
anything,  not  for  or»e's  use,  but  from  an  expected  profit  from  advancing  or  de- 
clining markets,  whether  the  article  dealt  in  be  cotton,  grain,  stocks,  houses, 
land,  or  anything  whatsoever.  The  man  whose  correct  judgment  and  prudent 
management  bring  him  fortune  out  of  such  transactions  is  esteemed  a  good 
business  man,  whilst  the  one  whose  judgment  was  faulty,  or  whose  operations 
were  top  extended,  resulting  in  loss,  is  condemned  for  speculating. 


436  History  of  Augusta. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

TRANSPORTATION. 

Early  Epoch — Pack  Animals — Peltry  Trade — Indigo — Tobacco — Inspection  System — To- 
bacco gives  way  to  Cotton — Wagon  Trade — "The  Georgie  Cracker"^ — Chief  Justice  Stokes's 
Account— Wagon  Yards — The  River  Trade — Hammond's  Sketch  of  the  Savannah — Neglect 
of  this  Great  Waterway — Disputes  as  to  Boundary — South  Carolina  vs.  Georgia  in  the  Conti- 
nental Congress — A  Federal  Court  Ordered — Convention  of  Beaufort — First  Improvement  Act 
in  1786 — The  Savannah  Navigation  Company  Incorporated  in  1799 — Concert  with  South  Caro- 
lina Solicited — Navigation  Acts  of  1802,  1809,  and  18 12 — Another  Appeal  for  South  Carolina 
Co-operation  — River  Commissioners — Appropriation  of  $30,000  in  1818 — The  River  Im- 
proved— South  Carolina  Co-operation — The  Convention  of  1823-25 — Congressional  Assent  not 
Obtained — Co-operation  Fails— Operations  from  181  5  to  1826 — South  Carolina  Prefers  to  Rely 
on  Railroad  Transportation — Collapse  of  the  Inter-State  Convention — Fisheries  Acts — Sketch 
of  South  Carolina  Legislation  on  Savannah  River — Federal  Appropriations  from  1826  to  1838 
— The  Anti-Internal  Improvement  School  of  Politics — The  Savannah  Valley  Convention — Its 
History,  Personnel,  and  Action — The  Augusta  Chronicle  Suggests  Such  a  Convention — Me- 
morial to  Congress — Hammond's  Topographical  Sketch — A  Trip  Down  the  River — Picturesque 
Scenes — Danger  Points  on  the  River — Regulations  of  the  Pole  Boat  Trade— The  Steamboat 
— William  Longstreet,  its  Inventor — The  First  Crude  Model — Steamboat  Act  of  1814 — The 
Steamboat  Company  of  Geoigia  Chartered  in  1817 — History  of  the  Company — Complaint  of  its 
Monopoly — South  Carolina  Competition — Legislative  Investigation  and  Report — Hamburg  vs, 
Augusta — The  Steamboat  Company  Given  Canal  and  Railroad  Franchises  in  1833 — Charter 
Extended  in  1834 — The  Iron  Steamboat  Company — The  Savannah  and  Augusta  Steamboat 
Company — Union  Steamboat  Company — Augusta,  Petersburg,  and  Savannah  Steam  and  Pole 
Boat  Navigation  Company — Augusta  Steamboat  Company  of  1887 — Phases  of  Steam  Naviga- 
tion Development — Roll  Call  of  Steamboats  for  Seventy  Years — List  of  Casualties — Burnt, 
Blown  Up  and  Sunk. 

IN  the  matter  of  transportation  Augusta  has,  in  the  long  course  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years,  experienced  the  same  succession  of  epochs  as  are  often 
crowded  into  a  twelvemonth  out  on  the  plains.  In  the  far  West  the  pack  horse 
and  flat-boat  first  appear,  then  the  wagon  and  steamboat  follow,  and,  lastly, 
the  railroad  furnishes  transportation  to  the  city  which  yesterday  was  not  and 
to-day  is  a  populous  center  crowded  with  spires  and  domes.  What  happens 
there  as  if  by  magic,  was  slowly  wrought  out  here  in  the  lapse  of  many  years. 
The  first  trade  of  the  city  was  by  long  trains  of  pack  animals  which  brought 
peltries,  and  some  few  other  articles,  from  the  Indian  hunting  grounds  into 
town,  whence  they  were  shipped  by  boats  of  about  a  ton  burden  down  the 
river  to  Savannah,  and  thence  to  England.  From  the  nattire  of  the  articles 
dealt  in,  spring  was  then  the  busy  season  of  Augusta,  as  fall  and  winter  are 
now.  that  cotton  is  the  staple.  It  appears  that  the  early  trade  was  from  300 
to  500  tons  of  peltries  annually,  making,  with  the  Indian  goods,  such  as  cali- 


Transportation.  437 


coes,  powder,  rum,  salt,  ironware,  etc.,  brought  up  the  river  for  barter,  a  trafific 
of  some  1,000  boat-loads  a  year.  It  is  quite  probable,  though  we  have  no 
positive  information  on  the  subject,  that  the  boats  employed  at  this  early  period 
were  somewhat  on  the  barge  or  flat-boat  order,  and  considerably  more  capa- 
cious than  the  Petersburgh  boat  of  the  present  day.  They  were  worked  by 
means  of  poles  thrust  to  the  bottom  of  the  river,  and,  as  will  be  hereafter  seen, 
the  first  crude  idea  of  the  steamboat,  as  worked  out  opposite  Augusta  some 
half  century  later,  was  the  propulsion  of  vessels  by  the  use  of  poles  worked  by 
steam  instead  of  hand. 

After  the  Indians  had  been  pressed  back  from  the  country  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Savannah  until  the  peltry  trade  became  of  minor  importance,  in- 
digo and  tobacco  rose  into  importance  and  formed  the  bulk  of  the  city's  export 
trade.  Just  prior  to  the  Revolution  the  cultivation  of  indigo,  or  indico,  as  it 
was  sometimes  termed,  was  quite  general.  Two  objections  were  urged  to  this 
crop,  first,  that  it  impoverished  the  soil,  and,  secondly,  that  the  rotting  of  the 
steeped  weed  engendered  diseases.  The  first  objection,  in  a  new  country 
where  virgin  soil  could  be  had  almost  for  the  clearing,  was  not  much  con- 
sidered, but  in  1774  an  act  was  passed  in  relation  to  the  second.  By  this 
statute  all  persons  concerned  in  the  planting  or  making  of  indigo  were  required 
to  bury  or  destroy  the  weed  within  forty-eight  hours  after  the  same  had  been 
taken  out  of  the  steeping  vats,  under  a  penalty  of  five  pounds  sterling  for  each 
failure.  By  subsequent  legislation  this  act  was  continued  of  force  until  some 
time  after  the  independence  of  the  United  States  had  been  recognized  by 
Great  Britain.  The  process  of  manufacture  was  by  obtaining  a  strong  solu- 
tion by  steeping  and  then  reducing  this  by  evaporation  to  solid  form,  when  the 
indigo  was  packed  in    barrels  or  casks  and  so  shipped. 

Tobacco  was  much  more  extensively  cultivated  than  indigo,  and  was,  in 
fact,  the  great  staple  of  Georgia  until  the  invention  of  the  cotton-gin  brought 
cotton  into  overwhelming  prominence.  The  main  tobacco  area  was  the 
country  immediately  contiguous  to  Augusta,  or  the  counties  of  Richmond, 
Columbia,  Lincoln,  Elbert,  Franklin,  Warren,  Jackson,  Oglethorpe,  Greene, 
Wilkes,  Hancock,  Warren,  Burke,  Jefferson,  and  Washington.  In  this  territory 
fourteen  warehouses  for  the  inspection  of  the  leaf  were  ordered  to  be  estab- 
lished, but  it  appears  that  the  three  warehouses  at  Augusta,  which  were  known 
respectively  as  Call's,  Richmond,  and  Augusta,  and  were  in  active  operation 
prior  to  1791,  did  the  bulk  of  the  business.  The  inspection  season  opened  on 
the  1st  day  of  October  in  each  year,  and  closed  on  the  31st  day  of  July  follow- 
ing. The  grades  at  first  established  were  three  in  number,  called  respect- 
ively Oronoco,  Sweet  Scented  Leaf,  and  Stemmed  Leaf.  Subsequently  the 
classification  was  in  four  grades,  called  grade  one,  two,  three,  and  four.  If 
the  inspectors  found  the  leaf  "  good,  sound,  merchantable,  and  clear  of  trash," 
they  were  to  weigh  the  same  and  see  it  packed,  or  repacked,  in  hogsheads  or 


438  History  of  Augusta 


casks  not  to  exceed  forty-nine  inches  in  length  and  thirty-one  inches  in  the 
raising  head,  to  be  well  coopered  with  at  least  six  hoops,  and  to  weigh  at  least 
950  pounds  net.  The  inspectors  were  to  brand  the  cask  "  Georgia,"  and  mark 
thereon  the  name  of  the  warehouse  where  inspected,  the  quality  of  the  leaf,  the 
net  weight,  and  tare.  Hogsheads  thus  passed  were  called  "full  crop;  "  if  of  less 
than  the  required  weight  were  marked  "light  crop."  All  tobacco  failing  to  pass 
inspection  was  to  be  burned  or  otherwise  destroyed.  The  inspector's  fees  were 
two  shillings  per  hogshead,  and  the  coopers  were  entitled  to  one  shilling  and 
sixpence.  Where  it  was  necessary  to  pick  over  tobacco  in  order  to  save  that 
of  standard  quality,  the  pickers  were  entitled  to  a  salvage  of  ten  per  cent. 
There  was  also  what  was  known  as  "  transfer  tobacco,"  that  is,  tobacco  deliv- 
ered at  the  warehouse  by  the  planter  to  order  of  his  creditor.  This  was  in- 
spected and  casked  in  the  ordinary  manner,  and  delivered  to  the  creditor  on 
production  of  his  transfer  receipt,  less  a  commission  of  eight  per  cent,  for 
"cask,  shrinkage,  and  prizing  the  same,"  prizing  being  the  addition  of  sufficient 
tobacco  to  "  light  crop  "  hogsheads  to  bring  the  same  up  to  the  standard  of 
950  pounds  net.  The  inspectors  and  pickers  were  sworn  to  a  faithful  perform- 
ance of  duty,  and  were  subject  to  prosecution  if  they  purchased,  or  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  tobacco  while  in  office.  Much  of  the  tobacco  was 
brought  to  market  by  the  unique  device  of  "  rolling  hogshead,"  that  is  by  a 
hogshead  stoutly  coopered,  to  which  a  pole  or  shafts  were  attached,  so  that 
the  cask  was  trundled  along  by  horse- power  like  a  large  garden  roller. 

With  the  rise  of  cotton  culture  that  of  tobacco  decreased.  The  present 
square  cotton  bale  fastened  with  iron  ties  was  then  unknown.  Cotton  came  in 
in  round  bags  of  from  200  to  250  pounds  weight,  about  ten  feet  long  and  eight- 
een inches  in  diameter.  A  strip  of  bagging  about  ten  feet  long  was  cut  off  and 
sewn  together  at  the  side  and  bottom.  Into  this  the  lint  cotton  was  packed  and 
pounded  as  closely  as  possible  and  the  top  then  sewn  up,  not  forgetting  that  at 
the  top  and  bottom  ears  or  lugs  were  made,  and  ordinarily  filled  with  cotton 
seed,  for  convenience  in  handling.  With  the  rise  of  the  cotton  crop  it  became 
necessary  to  wagon  the  bales  to  market,  and  hence  great  attention  was  paid  to 
the  making  of  roads.  Law  after  law  was  enacted  with  a  view  to  good  roads, 
and  the  wagon  trade  of  Augusta  became  something  immense.  We  have  heard 
old  citizens  say  that  they  have  seen  Broad  street  so  closely  packed  with  cotton 
wagons  during  the  season  that  from  market  to  market,  a  distance  of  a  mile,  one 
could  walk  on  the  top  of  the  bags.  Six  mules  or  horses  was  the  ordinary 
equipment  of  a  wagon,  and  the  lead  animals  were  not  thought  well  harnessed 
unless  each  had  a  chime  of  bells  attached  to  his  collar.  The  drivers  of  these 
long  caravans  had  also  further  music  to  beguile  the  way.  It  was  considered  an 
accomplishment  to  be  able  to  crack  the  whip  so  as  to  keep  a  sort  of  time,  and 
as  at  the  end  of  his  long  journey  the  jehu  drove  into  town,  it  was  his  pride  to 
come  down  the  street  snapping  the  lash  first  on  one  side  of  him  and  then  on 


1'ransportation.  439 


the  other  in  a  perfect  fusilade  of  pistol-like  reports.  PVom  this  peculiarity 
some  have  supposed  the  name  'cracker"  has  its  origin,  but  this  is  a  mistake. 
The  "Cracker"  was  known  in  Georgia  as  far  back  as  Colonial  times,  and  in  the 
interesting  work  of  Anthony  Stokes,  royal  chief  justice  of  the  province,  there 
is  a  curious  account  of  those  then  known  by  the  term.  It  is  by  no  means  com- 
plimentary, and  was  doubtless  deeply  colored  by  the  recollections  of  the  roy- 
alist judge  of  the  deadly  work  of  the  "crackers"  rifle  in  the  war  against  King 
George.  He  says:  "The  Southern  States  are  overrun  with  a  swarm  of  men 
from  the  western  parts  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  "Crackers."  Many  of  these  people  are  descended  from  convicts  that 
were  transported  from  Great  Britain  to  Virginia  at  different  times,  and  inherit 
so  much  profligacy  from  their  ancestors  that  they  are  the  most  abandoned  set 
of  men  on  earth,  few  of  them  having  the  least  sense  of  religion.  When  these 
people  are  routed  in  the  other  provinces  they  fly  to  Georgia,  where  the  win- 
ters are  mild,  and  the  man  who  has  a  rifle,  ammunition  and  a  blanket  can  sub- 
sist in  that  vagrant  way  which  the  Indians  pursue  ;  for  the  quantity  of  deer, 
wild  turkeys,  and  other  game  there  afibrds  subsistence;  and  the  country  being 
mostly  covered  with  woods,  they  have  it  always  in  their  power  to  construct 
temporary  huts,  and  procure  fuel.  The  eastern  coast  of  Georgia,  in  which  they 
plant  rice,  is  at  this  time  thinly  settled  on  account  of  the  emigration  of  loyalists, 
and  the  greatest  portion  of  the  inhabitants  are  negro  slaves;  whereas,  in  the 
western  parts  the  inhabitants  are  numerous,  and  daily  increase  by  the  acces- 
sion of  the  Crackers  from  the  other  provinces;  and  it  is  highly  probable  that 
these  people  will  in  time  overrun  the  rice  part  of  the  country  as  the  Tartars  in 
Asia  have  done  by  the  fruitful  cultivated  provinces  in  the  southern  parts  of 
that  country.  What  induces  me  the  rather  to  think  so  is  that  during  the 
king's  government  these  Crackers  were  very  troublesome  in  the  settlements 
by  driving  all  gangs  of  horses  and  cattle  to  Virginia,  and  committing  other 
enormities.  They  also  occasioned  frequent  disputes  with  the  Indians  whom 
they  robbed  and  sometimes  murdered;  the  Indians  in  return,  according  to 
their  custom,  murdered  the  first  white  man  they  met  by  way  of  retaliation.  . 
.  .  During  the  civil  war  the  Americans  lost  much  of  that  apprehension 
which  they  formerly  entertained  of  the  Indians,  for  the  Crackers  who  are  des- 
titute of  every  sense  of  religion  which  might  withhold  them  from  acts  of  per- 
fidy and  cruelty,  have  been  discovered  to  outdo  the  Indians  in  bearing  hunger 
and  fatigue,  and  as  they  lead  a  savage  kind  of  life,  they  are  equally  skilled  in 
the  arts  of  bush-fighting  and  discovering  the  enemy  by  their  tracks.  These 
men  will  naturally  settle  fast  in  the  western  part  of  North  Carolina  and  Geor- 
gia, and  as  the  Indians  dwindle  away  before  them,  they  certainly  threaten  ruin 
to  the  civilized  parts  of  the  rice  colonies,  which  have  not  now  a  common  par- 
ent to  call  to  their  assistance." 

As  if  resenting  the  ill  character  thus  given  the  Georgia  Cracker  by  Chief 


440  History  of  Augusta. 


Justice  Stokes,  though  they  had  doubtless  never  heard  of  such  a  person  or  his 
diatribe,  the  wagoners  felt  highly  insulted  if  called  crackers,  and  we  have  heard 
of  one  instance  from  an  old  citizen  which  illustrates  their  detestation.  Dur- 
ing one  cotton  season  while  the  town  was  full  of  wagons,  a  lady  had  occasion 
to  ask  a  store-keeper  if  he  had  any  crackers.  Quite  a  number  of  wagoners, 
also  intent  on  trade,  were  in  the  store,  and  never  having  seen  or  heard  of 
such  an  article  of  food  as  crackers  in  all  their  lives,  took  up  the  idea  that  the 
city  dame  intended  to  insult  them  by  insinuating  that  they  were  Crackers,  and 
in  high  dudgeon  one  began  to  flourish  his  whip,  declaring  with  a  round  oath 
he  would  teach  the  saucy  hussy  what  sort  of  crackers  they  were.  The  alarmed 
storekeeper,  the  half-fainting  lady,  and  the  irate  wagoner  formed  a  striking  pic- 
ture ;  but  after  many  explanations  the  dealer  convinced  the  man  of  the  back- 
woods that  there  was  not  the  slightest  intention  to  offend  him. 

To  accommodate  this  trade  huge  wagon  yards  were  established  throughout 
the  city,  the  dismantled  remains  of  some  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen.  In  the 
central  court-yard  the  wagons  were  packed,  and  in  sheds  along  the  walls  the 
stock  was  stabled,  while  the  wagoners  were  lodged  and  boarded  in  buildings 
at  the  front.  Ordinarily  a  general  store,  selling  provisions  and  forage  was  an 
adjunct  of  the  yard,  not  forgetting  a  bar-room  attached.  The  once  enormous 
wagon-trade  of  the  city  has  now  dwindled  down  to  a  shadow  of  its  former  self 
Once  in  a  while  from  some  remote  section  one  of  the  old-time  vehicles  lum- 
bers heavily  in  with  bells  ringing  and  whip- cracking  as  of  yore,  but  the  sight 
is  unusual.  The  wagon- yards  have  ceased  business,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  in  the  outskirts  for  the  accommodation  of  drovers  and  a  small  country 
trade  in  vegetables,  fruits,  etc. 

.  To  carry  off  the  products  brought  in  by  wagons  the  Savannah  River  was 
the  sole  reliance.  This  magnificent  but  grossly  neglected  waterway  has  had 
the  misfortune  from  the  earliest  period  of  not  having  had  its  great  natural  ad- 
vantages improved.  Some  years  since  Major  Harry  Hammond,  a  South  Car- 
olina planter,  who  resides  on  the  bank  of  this  noble  stream  near  Augusta,  and 
has  given  the  history  of  the  river  long  and  close  study,  prepared  a  paper  on  the 
subject  of  great  value  and  importance,  from  which  we  cannot  do  better  at  this 
point  than  make  some  extracts.  Major  Hammond  says:  "In  one  of  the  regions 
of  heaviest  rainfall  in  North  America  the  three  States  of  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  touch.  And  here,  near  where  the  great  Appalachian 
chain  takes  a  western  curve  before  reaching  its  southern  terminus,  as  if  lifting 
its  skirts  to  shake  the  waters  from  them,  innumerable  springs  burst  from  the 
mountain  slopes.  East  and  west  for  a  hundred  miles  spread  out  like  a  great 
fan,  the  water  leaps  from  crag  and  cliff,  uniting  into  mountain  streams  and 
swelling  rapidly  to  rivers — the  Toxoway,  Keowee,  Seneca,  Tugaloo,  Tallulah, 
Toccoa — finding  issuance  at  last  in  the  broad  Savannah.  Notice  their  Indian 
names,  for  here  as  elsewhere  the  world  over,  the  oldest  languages  linger  long- 


Transportation.  441 


est  in  the  names  of  rivers,  themselves  the  oldest  features  of  all  countries. 
Older  are  they  than  the  everlasting  hills,  for  their  floo.ls  have  given  to  moun- 
tain, hill  and  plain  their  shape  and  bounds,  and  while  hourly  molding  these 
anew,  bear  in  their  currents  the  life  of  the  region.  Southeastward  the  Savan- 
nah seeks  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  reverse  slope  feeds  the  sources  of  the  Ten- 
nessee, whose  waters  find  exit  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  So  narrow  is  the 
divide  between  the  river  systems  whose  sources  here  interdigitate,  that  early 
in  this  century  General  Millar,  of  Rabun  county,  worked  on  a  canal  to  connect 
the  navigable  waters  of  the  Tennessee  and  Savannah.  In  1873  water  was 
drawn  from  Black  Creek,  a  tributary  of  the  Tennessee,  to  Izell's  Mills  on  an 
affluent  of  the  Savannah.  So  that  before  the  days  of  railroads  the  construc- 
tion of  a  canal  here  was  one  of  the  plans  for  a  great  transcontinental  highway. 

"Ascending  the  Savannah  and  then  the  TugalojtJ  River  for  fifty- four  miles 
above  Augusta,  there  was  found  to  be  an  average  depth  of  five  feet  at  low  wa- 
ter. But  in  forty-three  places  the  depth  was  interrupted  and  reduced  to  less 
than  three  feet  by  ledges  of  rock  crossing  the  stream  at  nearly  right  angles. 
The  length  of  these  interruptions  varied  at  different  localities  from  ten  yards 
to  one  mile,  aggregating  in  all  about  ten  miles.  Below  these  ledges  shoals  of 
gravel  sometimes  occur,  obstructing  the  channel  for  a  greater  or  less  length, 
and  amounting  in  all  for  the  entire  distance  to  some  four  miles  of  such  obstruc- 
tions. The  river  here  varies  in  width  from  200  yards  to  one  mile,  the  imper- 
vious slate  across  which  it  passes  preventing  the  current  from  scouring  out  a 
channel  and  thereby  confining  the  volume  of  its  waters.  The  total  fall  is  about 
380  feet,  giving  an  average  slope  of  two  and  one  half  feet  per  mile.  The  aver- 
age velocity  is  given  as  from  three  to  seven  miles  an  hour,  but  it  is  very  varia- 
ble, long  stretches  of  deep  still  water  being  interrupted  by  shallow  rapids. 

"The  removal  of  these  obstacles  and  the  development  of  a  channel  open 
at  all  stages  of  the  water  for  navigation  has  always  been  considered  of  great 
importance.  Surveys  have  been  made  and  experts  have  repeatedly  reported 
that  the  execution  of  this  work  was  practicable  at  comparatively  small  cost. 
As  early  as  1 795  the  Carolina  Legislature  licensed  a  lottery  to  raise  ;^  1,200  to 
improve  the  navigation  from  Augusta  to  Vienna.  In  1805  the  same  body 
made  an  appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  this  purpose.  And  an  act 
was  passed  in  1825  looking  to  the  joint  action  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
for  the  improvement  of  the  river.  Mr.  Carson,  of  the  United  States  Engineer 
Corps,  in  conformity  with  an  act  of  the  Federal  Congress,  made  a  survey  of  this 
portion  of  the  river  in  1879.  In  his  excellent  and  detailed  report  he  recom- 
mends as  practicable  the  opening  of  a  steamboat  channel  three  feet  deep  and 
thirty  yards  wide  for  lOOt  niiles  above  Augusta,  at  an  estimated  cost  of  $133,- 
000,  and  the  opening  of  a  channel  for  pole  boat  navigation  fifty  and  one- half 
miles  further,  at  a  cost  of  $126,000  additional 

"When  the  Savannah  River  crosses  the  last  ledge  of  rocks  just  above  the 

56 


442  History  of  Augusta. 


city  of  Augusta  it  deepens  its  channel  through  the  soft  sands,  clays  and  marls 
of  the  middle  and  lower  country.  Everywhere  there  is  a  depth  exceeding  five 
feet  at  low  water  for  273  miles  to  Savannah  except  in  the  first  sixteen  miles 
below  Augusta  to  Twiggs  Bar,  where  shoals  of  sand  and  gravel  13,750  feet  in 
length  occur,  which  show  barely  two  and  one-half  feet  at  extreme  low  water. 
There  are  other  shoals  of  lighter  sands  in  the  remainder  of  its  course  aggre- 
gating 3,595  feet  in  length,  showing  barely  four  feet  depth  at  extreme  low  wa- 
ter. Men  now  living  remember  when  these  shoals  did  not  exist.  Their  growth 
has  been  caused  by  clearing  off  the  hillsides  of  the  upper  country.  The  soil 
thus  exposed  and  loosened  by  the  plow  is  transported  by  rains  and  floods  in 
vast  quantities  into  the  swift  current  of  the  stream.  When  the  gentle  slope 
below  the  falls  retards  the  current  this  detritus  of  sand  and  gravel  stops  and 
chokes  up  the  channel.  The  growth  of  these  shoals  has  been  greatly  accele- 
rated in  recent  years,  and  year  by  year,  as  wider  areas  are  brought  under  the 
plow,  their  growth  will  be  more  and  more  rapid  until  they  permanently  obstruct 
the  navigation  unless  removed.  In  later  years  the  increase  of  these  obstructions 
has  caused  enormous  losses  to  farmers  by  elevating  the  bed  of  the  river  so  that 
at  moderate  high  water  lands  are  flooded  that  have  hitherto  been  the  most  pro- 
ductive cornfields  on  the  Savannah,  if  not  in  the  whole  South.  The  average 
slope  of  the  stream  from  Augusta  to  Savannah  is  about  one-half  foot  per  mile. 
Fortunately  between  Augusta  and  Silver  Bluff",  where  the  most  formidable  ob- 
structions exist,  the  fall  is  one  and  one- fourth  feet  per  mile,  producing  a  cur- 
rent, if  properly  confined  and  directed,  powerful  enough  to  scour  out  these 
shoals.  From  Silver  Bluff" to  Hayne's  Cut,  the  slope  is  one  foot;  thence  to  Steel 
Creek  one-third  of  a  foot,  and  thence  to  Savannah  four-tenths  of  a  foot." 

Besides  t|ie  advantages  held  out  as  a  navigable  stream,  the  Savannah  fur- 
nishes the  water-power  that  makes  Augusta  the  great  manufacturing  center  of 
the  South.  The  6,800  square  miles  above  Augusta  drained  by  the  river  and 
tributaries,  is  a  region  of  great  water  powers.  A  rapid  reconnoisance  under  the 
auspices  of  the  United  States  Engineer  office,  made  known  the  existence  here  of 
120,000  available  horse-power.  The  following  are  some  of  the  localities  where 
more  than  5,000  horse-power  maybe  obtained:  Augusta  22,500  ;  Trotter's 
Shoal,  21,750;  Long  Shoal,  18,000;  McDaniel's,  6,100;  Anthony's,  6,000; 
Bluejacket,  5,800;  Portman's,  5,620.  There  are  good  reasons  for  believing 
that  a  more  complete  survey  would  show  the  existence  here  of  400,000  horse- 
power, about  equaling  the  aggregate  of  this  description  of  power  employed  in 
manufacturing  throughout  the  New  England  States. 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  as  a  waterway  the  Savannah  River  has  been 
much  neglected.  The  causes  of  this  neglect  were,  first,  the  failure  of  Georgia 
and  South  Carolina  to  co  operate  for  its  improvement,  and,  secondly,  the  rise 
and  growth  of  the  railway  system.  In  the  first  epoch  such  eff'orts  as  were 
made  were  made  by  Georgia,  but  after  much  expenditure  of  money  that  State 


Transportation.  443 


ceased  its  exertions  about  sixty  years  ago.     What  has  been  done  since  has  been 
done  by  the  general  government  but  in  a  stinted  and  unsatisfactory  manner. 

The  history  of  the  first  era  is  much  more  interesting  than  that  of  the  latter 
period.  It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  by  the  royal  charter  of  1732  there  was 
granted  to  the  trustees  for  Georgia  all  that  part  of  South  Carolina  "  which  lies 
from  northern  stream  of  a  river  there  commonly  called  the  Savannah,"  etc.,  etc. 
The  ambiguity  of  this  description  led  to  frequent  disputes  as  to  boundary  be- 
tween Georgia  and  South  Carolina.  Disputes  also  arose  as  to  that  portion  of 
Georgia  lying  to  the  north  of  a  due  west  line  from  the  junction  of  the  Tugalo 
and  Kiowee  Rivers  and  as  to  that  portion  south  of  the  Altamaha.  Some  four- 
teen or  fifteen  years  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolution  these  differences 
were  in  full  bloom,  and  though  the  king  in  council  in  1763  sought  to  compose 
them,  the  colonists  considered  the  question  far  from  settled.  Scarcely  was  the 
Revolutionary  War  over  than  the  controversy  was  reopened.  The  Articles  of 
Confederation  provided  that  disputes  between  States  touching  their  territory  or 
boundaries  should  be  adjusted  as  follows  :  On  presentation  to  Congress  by  any 
State  of  its  petition  to  Congress,  stating  its  case,  and  praying  a  hearing,  notice 
was  to  be  given  by  order  of  Congress  of  such  petition  to  such  other  State, 
and  a  day  assigned  for  the  appearance  of  the  parties  by  their  agents.  When 
met,  the  agents  were  to  select  judges  for  the  hearing  and  determining  of  the 
mattter  in  controversy.  Should  the  agents  not  be  able  to  agree,  Congress  was 
to  name  three  persons  out  of  each  State,  and  from  this  list  each  party  was  al- 
ternately to  strike  one,  the  petitioning  State  having  the  first  strike,  until  but 
thirteen  were  left,  out  of  which  not  less  than  seven  nor  more  than  nine,  as  Con- 
gress might  determine,  were  to  be  drawn  by  lot,  and  those  drawn,  or  any  five 
of  them,  were  to  form  the  court.  If  a  State  refused  to  attend,  or  strike,  the 
secretary  of  Congress  was  to  strike  for  such  State.  The  judgment  of  the  court 
was  to  be  final,  and  to  bind  the  defendant  State  whether  it  appeared  or  not_ 
The  judges  were  to  be  sworn  "  well  and  truly  to  hear  and  determine  the  mat- 
ter in  question,  according  to  the  best  of  his  judgment,  without  favor,  affection, 
or  hope  of  reward,"  and  the  judgment  was  to  be  transmitted  to  Congress  and 
lodged  among  the  acts  thereof. 

Pursuant  to  this  provision  South  Carolina  petitioned  the  Continental  Con- 
gress in  March,  1785,  for  a  Federal  Court  to  determine  a  dispute  concerning 
boundaries  between  that  State  and  Georgia,  and  on  the  first  of  June  in  that 
year,  the  committee  to  which  the  petition  had  been  referred,  reported  a  form 
of  notice  to  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  recommended  that  the  agents  of  that 
State  and  of  South  Carolina  be  required  to  meet  for  the  selection  of  judges  on 
May  8,  1786,  which  was  adopted  and  so  ordered.  At  the  appointed  time  the 
matter  was  by  mutual  consent  continued  to  May  15,  and  thence  again  post- 
poned to  September  4,  1786,  when  John  Kean,  Charles  Pinckney,  and  John 
Bull  appeared  and  produced  their  credentials  as  agents  for  South  Carolina,  and 


444  tlisTORY  OF  Augusta. 


William  Houstoun,  George  Walton,  and  William  Few  did  the  like  for  Georgia, 
whereupon  Congress  directed  them  to  proceed  to  the  selection  of  judges.  On 
September  1 1,  the  South  Carolina  agents  reported  that  they  had  not  been  able 
to  agree  with  the  agents  of  Georgia  upon  the  appointment  of  judges,  or  time  and 
place  of  trial,  and  thereupon  prayed  Congress  to  proceed  "  to  strike  a  court 
agreeable  to  the  confederation,"  Congress  ordered  the  agents  of  Georgia  to 
be  furnished  with  a  copy  of  the  report  and  prayer  of  the  agents  of  South  Caro- 
lina, and  on  the  13th  the  former  answered  that  by  the  act  appointing  them  the 
agents  for  South  Carolina  were  appointed  with  plenary  powers  to  adjust  all 
questions  of  boundary  with  such  commissioners  as  Georgia  might  appoint  with 
like  powers,  and  only  in  default  of  Georgia  appointing  such  commissioners  were 
the  agents  of  South  Carolina  to  proceed  to  apply  for  a  court  according  to  the 
Articles  of  Confederation.  It  was  therefore  submitted  that  the  agents  for  South 
Carolina  could  not  legally  move  for  a  court,  as  sufficient  opportunity  had  not 
been  allowed  the  State  of  Georgia  to  decide  whether  she  would  appoint  com- 
missioners and  thus  avoid  the  necessity  of  a  Federal  Court.  After  putting  in 
this  answer  the  agents  for  Georgia,  with  apparent  inconsistency,  moved  the 
selection  by  Congress,  of  a  Federal  Court,  which  was  granted.  On  motion  of 
South  Carolina  it  was  voted  that  nine  names  should  be  drawn,  and  in  presence 
of  Congress  the  following  gentlemen  were  selected  by  lot  as  judges,  namely  : 
Alexander  Contee  Hanson,  James  Madison,  Robert  Goldsborough,  James 
Duane,  Philemon  Dickinson,  John  Dickinson,  Thomas  McKeon,  Egbert  Ben- 
son, and  William  Pynchon.  The  court  was  then  ordered  to  meet  in  the  city 
of  New  York  on  the  third  Monday  in  June,  1787. 

The  court,  however,  never  assembled.  South  Carolina  seems  to  have  re- 
verted to  her  original  idea  of  settling  the  matters  in  controversy  without  the  in- 
tervention of  a  Federal  Court,  and  Georgia,  acceding  to  the  same  view,  by  act 
of  February  10,  1787,  appointed  John  Houstoun,  John  Habersham,  and  Lach- 
lan  Mcintosh  as  commissioners,  with  plenary  powers  to  settle  and  adjust  all 
matters  of  boundary  betweeh  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  with  such  commis- 
sioners as  the  latter  State  might  appoint  with  like  powers.  South  Carolina  ap- 
pointed on  her  part  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  Andrew  Pickens,  and  Pierce 
Butler,  and  these  three,  with  Messrs.  -Habersham  and  Mcintosh,  of  Georgia, 
Mr.  Houstoun  declining  to  concur,  concluded  the  famous  Convention  of  Beau- 
fort, at  Beaufort,  in  South  Carolina,  on  April  28,  1787.  The  convention  was 
duly  reported  to  and  ratified  by  the  States  of  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  thus 
finally  closing  up  the  vexed  question  of  boundary.  On  looking  at  this  con- 
vention we  see  at  least  one  reason  why  South  Carolina  preferred  the  adjust- 
ment of  matters  by  an  inter-State  commission  rather  than  by  a  Federal  Court. 
The  articles  of  confederation  required  the  State  applying  for  a  court  thereunder 
to  specify  its  claim,  and  that  alone  the  court  was  competent  to  try.  Now,  in 
stating  her  case  to  Congress,  South  Carolina  confined  herself  to  the  differences 


Transportation.  445 


which  had  arisen  as  to  the  northern  and  southern  Hmits  of  Georgia,  that  is  to 
the  portions  north  of  a  due  west  Hue  from  the  junction  of  the  Tugalo  and  Kio- 
wee  and  south  of  the  Altamaha.  Nothing  was  said  as  the  vexed  question  of 
the  Savannah  River,  or  eastern  boundary  of  Georgia,  South  CaroHna  claiming 
ad  fihim,  or  to  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  Georgia  to  the  eastern  bank.  In  the 
appointment  of  commissioners  this  omission  was  rectified,  both  States  instruct- 
ing their  deputies  to  adjust  all  and  singular  the  differences,  controversies,  or 
disputes  existing  relative  to  boundary. 

The  convention  of  Beaufort  is  in  six  articles,  the  first  of  which  provides  that 
the  Savannah  to  the  Tugalo  and  then  the  Tugalo  to  its  intersection  with  the 
northern  boundary  line  of  South  Carolina  should  be  the  boundary  between  that 
State  and  Georgia,  reserving  all  the  islands  in  both  rivers  to  Georgia.  Article 
second  declares  the  Savannah  and  Tugalo  equally  free  to  the  citizens  of  both 
States,  neither  to  impose  any  duty  or  toll,  or  offer  any  hindrance,  molestation,  or 
interruption  to  the  citizens  of  the  other.  Articles  third  and  fourth  quitclaim  all 
rights  the  contracting  States  may  respectvely  have  on  the  other  side  of  the 
boundary  above  established.  Article  fifth  confirms  grants  theretofore  made 
between  the  forks  of  the  Tugalo  and  Kiowee,  on  ratification  of  such  grants  by 
Georgia  and  the  recording  of  such  ratification  in  South  Carolina  within  twelve 
months  after  the  date  of  the  convention.  The  sixth  article  reserves  all  rights 
which  may  have  accrued  by  South  Carolina  grants  south  of  the  Altamaha,  this 
reservation  being  by  South  Carolina  only,  the  Georgia  commissioners  consid- 
ering they  had  no  authority  to  negotiate  in  this  particular. 

The  convention  of  Beaufort  is  commonly  regarded  as  having  conceded  to 
Georgia  the  exclusive  ownership  of  the  Savannah  River.  In  the  year  1783  the 
Legislature  passed  an  act  which  declares  "  that  the  limits,  boundaries,  jurisdic- 
tion, and  authority  of  the  State  of  Georgia  do  and  did,  and  of  right  ought  to 
extend  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  Savannah,  along  the  north  side  thereof,  and 
up  the  most  northern  stream  or  fork  of  the  said  river  to  its  head  or  source  ;"  and 
the  general  impression  is  that  this  was  conceded  in  the  convention.  There  is 
great  reason  to  doubt  this.  The  first  of  the  articles  of  that  agreement  says  that 
the  islands  in  the  Savannah  are  "  reserved  "  to  Georgia.  Why  reserve  them  if 
the  whole  river  to  the  further  shore  was  conceded  to  Georgia?  Again,  in  the 
second  article  the  navigation  of  the  Savannah  from  the  mouth,  "and  from 
thence  up  to  the  bed,  or  principal  stream  of  the  said  river,"  is  made  equally  free; 
and  then  it  is  said  that  "  all  the  rest  of  the  river  Savannah  to  the  southward  of 
the  foregoing  description  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  exclusive  right  of  the  State 
of  Georgia."  In  the  light  of  these  citations,  it  is  pretty  evident  that  the  con- 
vention of  Beaufort  made  the  middle  of  the  main  channel  the  boundary,  save, 
always,  that  the  islands  belonged  wholly  to  Georgia. 

The  general  belief,  however,  has  been  and  still  is  that  Georgia  owns  to  the 
further  bank  of  the  Savannah.      Owing  to  this  persuasion  it  was  for  many 


446  History  of  Augusta. 


years  in  the  early  history  of  the  river  a  received  maxim  that  Georgia  must  take 
care  of  her  own.  It  was  long  before  South  Carolina  would  co  operate  in  the 
improvement  of  the  stream,  and  when  she  finally  agreed  to  do  so  it  was  but  a 
few  years  before  the  rise  of  the  railway  system,  and  in  anticipation  of  much 
greater  benefit  from  this  instrumentality  the  co-operation  was  withdrawn  alto- 
gether. 

As  early  as  1 786  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  passed  an  act  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  Savannah  River  froni  Rae's  Creek,  just  above  Augusta,  to  Tugalo 
Old  Town,  by  the  terms  of  which  commissioners  were  appointed  to  clear  out 
the  river.  To  supply  them  with  funds  a  tax  was  laid  on  the  inhabitants  along 
the  river,  and  it  was  further  provided  that  all  sums  which  had  been  subscribed 
as  well  in  this  State  as  in  South  Carolina  for  the  improvement  of  the  river,  should 
be  vested  in  the  commissioners.  After  clearing  or.t  the  river  they  were  to  put  a 
lock  at  the  lower  falls  and  levy  a  toll  of  five  shillings  per  hogshead  on  all  Carolina 
tobacco,  unless  made  by  a  subscriber  who  had  paid  in  his  contribution  for  the 
improvement  of  the  river.  In  the  next  year  the  convention  of  Beaufort  for- 
bade this  discriminating  duty  on  South  Carolina  shippers,  and  in  the  same 
year  the  Legislature  passed  an  act  remitting  the  home  tax,  so  that  the  commis- 
sioners had  no  funds  wherewith  to  work. 

In  1799  renewed  efforts  were  made  to  improve  the  navigation  of  the  river. 
By  act  of  February  14  the  Savannah  Navigation  Company  was  incorporated 
with  a  capital  of  $40,000  in  $100  shares.  Subscriptions  were  limiied  to  thirty 
shares  and  made  payable  in  three  years  in  four  equal  payments  "  in  gold,  sil- 
ver, or  bank  bills  of  the  United  States."  The  affairs  of  the  body  were  to  be 
managed  by  nine  directors,  and  when  the  company  had  so  far  improved  the 
navigation  of  the  Savannah  between  Augusta  and  Petersburg  as  to  allow  boats 
carrying  fifteen  hogsheads  of  tobacco  (weighing  at  the  then  standard,  14,250 
pounds)  to  safely  pass  with  the  water  at  common  height,  it  was  authorized  to 
charge  toll  on  all  traffic  up  and  down  the  river  at  the  following  rates:  On  each 
hogshead  of  tobacco,  37^  cents  ;  each  barrel  of  flour,  4  cents  ;  lumber,  per 
thousand  feet,  10  cents  ;  all  other  articles,  per  hundred  weight,  2  cents.  For 
non-payment  of  toll,  the  vessel  and  cargo  were  subject  to  be  seized  and  held 
until  payment.  The  operation  of  this  act  was  made  dependent  upon  the  pas- 
sage by  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  of  an  act  incorporating  the  company 
as  a  Carolina  corporation  with  the  same  franchises  as  in  the  Georgia  act.  No 
such  legislation  being  had  by  South  Carolina  the  act  never  went  into  effect. 

By  act  of  February  18,  1799,  another  attempt  was  made  to  enlist  South 
Carolina  in  the  work  of  improvement.  In  order  to  remove  obstructions  to  nav- 
igation between  Augusta  and  Savannah,  it  was  provided  that  the  corporate 
authorities  of  Augusta  and  Savannah  should  each  appoint  three  commissioners, 
to  form,  with  such  like  officers  as  might  be  appointed  by  South  Carolina,  a 
board  for  the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the  Savannah,  from  Augusta 


Transportation.  447 


to  Savannah,  with  power  to  collect  tolls  at  Savannah,  as  a  fund  for  operations. 
The  toll  list  aftbrds  an  insight  into  the  staples  of  that  day,  the  rates  being,  each 
hogshead  of  tobacco,  50  cents;  on  each  barrel  of  corn  or  wheat  flour,  I2-|- 
cents ;  on  each  barrel  of  pork,  6\  cents  ;  on  every  1,000  feet  of  plank  or  lum- 
ber, 6-j  cents;  on  every  100  bushels  of  corn,  50  cents;  on  every  hundred 
weight  of  clean  cotton,  12^  cents.  Here  again  the  sister  State  failed  to  co- 
operate, and  the  scheme  came  to  naught. 

In  1802  an  act  was  passed  which  recites  that  "  the  keeping  open  the  Sa- 
vannah River  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  citizens  of  the  back  country, 
as  well  in  consequence  of  navigation  as  tlie  advantage  resulting  to  the  citizens 
generally,  by  having  an  annual  supply  of  fish  therefrom,"  and  that  the  river 
above  Augusta  has  been  almost  totally  blocked  up  by  numerous  dams,  where- 
fore it  was  enacted  that  it  should  be  unlawful  for  any  person  to  dam,  stop,  or 
obstruct  the  river  trom  Augusta  to  the  junction  of  the  Tugalo  and  Kiowee, 
and  up  the  Tugalo  to  Hatton's  Ford,  "but  that  the  one-third  part  of  the  said 
river,  including  the  main  sluice,  is  hereby  declared  to  remain  and  continue 
open  for  a  free  passage."  All  dams  then  in  the  river  encroaching  on  the  por- 
tion thus  ordained  to  be  left  open  were  to  be  removed  by  January  i,  1803,  un- 
der a  penalty  of  $20  for  each  day's  failure,  and  a  like  penalty  was  imposed  on 
all  thereafter  erecting  dams  on  the  reserved  portion. 

In  1809  it  was  enacted  that  the  main  current  of  the  river  above  Augusta 
should  forever  remain  open  for  boats  and  fish,  and  that  no  dam,  fish  trap,  or 
other  obstruction  should  extend  over  more  than  one  third  of  the  river.  Vio- 
lations of  this  act  were  made  indictable  offenses,  punishable  by  a  fine  of  $100 
per  day,  and  commissioners  were  appointed  for  the  counties  of  Richmond, 
Columbia,  Lincoln,  Elbert,  and  Franklin  to  view  any  obstructions  then  exist- 
ing in  the  river  opposite  their  respective  counties,  with  authority  to  remove 
the  same  if  found  in  violation  of  the  act  and  to  call  out  the  />osse  coDiitahis,  if 
necessary,  to  aid  them.  The  commissioners  for  Richmond  were  George  Pear- 
son, Holland  McTyre,  and  John  D'Antignac. 

In  18 1 2  still  another  act  of  like  general  purport  was  passed.  It  recites  that 
the  acts  previously  passed  had  failed  of  their  purpose,  and,  for  remedy,  enacts 
that  a  board  of  commissioners  from  the  counties  of  Richmond,  Columbia,  Lin- 
coln, Elbert,  and  Franklin  be  appointed  with  authority  in  said  commissioners 
or  any  one  of  them,  to  examine  the  Savannah,  or  any  part  thereof,  from  Au- 
gusta to  the  junction  of  the  Tugalo  and  Kiowee  and  determine  if  any  such 
obstructions  as  these  specified  in  preceding  acts  existed.  If  so,  the  commis- 
sioner, or  commissioners,  had  authority  to  order  the  owners  thereof,  or  their 
agents  or  manager,  to  remove  the  same  in  two  days,  and  if  not  done,  to  call 
out  the  militia  for  that  purpose.  Half  of  any  penalty  imposed  was  to  go  to 
the  commissioner  or  commissioners  lodging  information  of  a  violation  of  the 
law. 


448  History  of  Augusta. 


In  1815  an  effort  was  made  for  concerted  action  with  the  State  of  South 
Carolina  looking  to  the  improvement  of  tiie  Savannah  above  Augusta.  The 
act  of  that  year  opens  with  a  preamble,  that,  "Whereas,  the  improvement  of  the 
inland  navigation  of  every  country  is  of  the  first  importance  to  its  inhabitants 
in  facilitating  and  extending  conmierce ;  and,  whereas^  the  clearing  out  and  re- 
moving the  obstructions  on  Savannah  River,  would  greatly  conduce  to  the 
convenience  and  interest  of  the  inhabitants  settled  in  the  north  and  north- 
western parts  of  this  State  ;  and,  whereas,  the  State  of  South  Carolina  did,  many 
years  past,  make  an  appropriation  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  the  navigation  of  said  river  whenever  the  State  of  Georgia  should 
make  a  similar  appropriation."  The  act  then  appropriates  $10,000  for  im- 
proving the  navigation  of  the  Savannah  River  and  the  headwaters  thereof,  said 
appropriation  to  be  conditional  on  South  Carolina  keeping  her  offer  of  a  like 
sum  open.  Andrew  Irwin,  Richard  Gray,  John  Watkins,  William  Jones,  and 
Dridzel  Pace,  sr.,  were  appointed  commissioners,  to  confer  with  such  commis- 
sioners as  might  be  appointed  by  the  State  of  South  Carolina  a  board  of  com- 
missioners for  improving  the  navigation  of  the  Savannah  River.  The  commis- 
sioners were  to  appoint  a  superintendent  of  the  work  and  were,  to  begin  oper- 
ations at  Augusta  and  thence  proceed  up  the  river.  .\ 

In  1816  a  new  set  of  commissioners  for  the  counties  of  Richmond,  Colum- 
bia, Lincoln,  Elbert,  and  Franklin  were  appointed  to  view  obstructions  in  the 
Savannah  from  Augusta  to  the  Indian  line,  so  far  as  the  same  prevented  the 
free  passage  of  fish,  the  penalty  for  continuing  such  obstructions  after  notice 
being  fixed  at  $30  per  day.  James  Primrose  and  George  Pearson  were  the 
commissioners  for  Richmond. 

In  1 8 17  James  R.  Wiley  was  added  to  the  board  of  commissioners  appointed 
by  the  above  mentioned  act  of  1815  toco-operate  with  commissioners  from 
South  Carolina  for  the  improvement  of  the  Savannah  above  Augusta,  and  a 
further  appropriation  of  $5,000  was  made  for  improving  the  river  from  Au- 
gusta to  Savannah.  The  same  act  increases  the  appropriations  for  the  river 
above  Augusta  $20,000,  conditioned  that  South  Carolina  appropriate  a  like 
amount.  In  the  next  year  the  restriction  was  removed  and  the  appropria- 
tion of  $20,000,  as  also  the  prior  one  of  $10,000,  was  made  absolute.  In  the 
same  year,  18 18,  the  Legislature  directed  that  these  sums  should  be  applied  as 
follows:  From  Augusta  to  Petersburg,  $1 5,000 ;  from  Petersburg  to  Ander- 
sonville,  $8,000  ;  and  from  Andersonville  to  the  mouth  of  Panther  Creek  on 
the  Tugalo,  $7,000.  For  the  Augusta  division,  Thomas  Murray,  Ezekiel 
Dubose,  Peter  Lamar,  William  Gumming,  Henry  Shultz,  Archer  Avery,  and 
Marshall  Keith  were  appointed  commissioners.  The  various  commissioners 
were  empowered  to  receive  any  private  subscriptions  that  might  be  made  to- 
ward improving  the  river,  and  directed  to  distribute  the  same  in  the  above 
mentioned  proportions.      It  was  also  provided  that  the  commissioners  might 


Transportation.  449 


co-operate  with  such  like  officials  as  South  Carolina  might  appoint  in  event 
she  contributed  money  to  the  common  purpose.  In  the  next  year  the  gover- 
nor was  requested  to  correspond  with  the  executive  of  South  Carolina  for  the 
purpose  of  procuring  a  speedy  co-operation  of  the  two  States  in  the  improve- 
ment of  the  river. 

At  the  next  session,  that  of  1820,  the  governor  informed  the  Legislature 
that  he  had  addressed  a  communication  to  the  governor  of  South  Carolina  in 
conformity  with  this  request,  and,  while  he  had  received  no  answer,  had  been 
informed  by  the  commissioners  in  charge  of  the  river  from  Augusta  to  Peters- 
burg that  the  Board  of  Internal  Improvements  of  South  Carolina  would  co- 
operate with  them.  At  a  later  period  in  the  session  he  reports  that  the  com- 
missioners have  furnished  him  with  a  map  of  a  survey  of  the  river  which  was 
then  in  his  office.  It  may  be  here  mentioned  that  at  this  session  Judge  Dooly, 
so  famous  for  his  wit,  was  made  a  member  of  the  board  of  commissioners.  In 
this  year,  1820,  it  appears  that  upon  the  invitation  of  South  Carolina,  delegates 
were  appointed  to  confer  with  delegates  from  that  State  on  some  common  plan 
of  action  for  the  improvement  of  the  Savannah,  but  we  do  not  find  their  names 
nor  any  report  of  their  action  until  some  years  later. 

In  1822  the  commissioners  appointed  to  improve  the  Savannah  from  Au- 
gusta to  Petersburg  report  no  further  necessity  for  expenditures  on  that  part 
of  the  stream,  and  were  accordingly  directed  to  turn  over  to  the  State  Treasury 
the  unexpended  balance  of  their  appropriation  of  $15,000,  the  same  being 
$4,556.46. 

In  1823  the  governor  informed  the  Legislature  that  he  had  received  a  letter 
from  the  governor  of  South  Carolina  indicative  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  that 
State  of  CO  operating  with  Georgia  in  the  improvement  of  the  Savannah.  It 
appears  that  the  delegates  of  the  two  States  had  agreed  upon  a  plan  of  action 
in  the  shape  of  a  treaty  or  convention,  and  the  executive  of  South  Carolina 
presented  this  as  a  fit  basis  of  union.  The  convention  which  was  subsequently 
ratified  by  the  two  States  is  in  seventeen  articles.  The  substance  of  these  ar- 
ticles was  as  follows :  The  governor  of  each  State  was  to  appoint  one  commis- 
sioner ;  these  commissioners  were  within  one  year  after  the  ratification  of  the 
convention  to  make  a  full  survey  of  the  Savannah  and  Tugalo  Rivers  and  pre- 
pare estimates  of  the  cost  of  their  improvement.  They  were  also  to  report 
plans  for  such  improvement,  and  each  State  was  to  appropriate  $500  for  the  ex- 
penses of  this  preliminary  work  and  to  compensate  its  own  commissoner.  The 
actual  work  of  improvement  was  to  be  under  the  charge  of  two  superintend- 
ents, one  appointed  by  each  State,  who  were  to  be  a  body  corporate  in  both 
States  under  the  name  and  style  of  "The  Superintendents  of  the  Savannah  In- 
land Navigation."  The  superintendents  had  full  power  to  make  any  contracts 
deemed  by  them  necessary,  which  were  to  be  binding  on  each  State  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  appropriations  made  by  it.  They  were  also  empowered  to  appoint 
57 


450  History  of  Augusta. 


and  remove  at  pleasure  such  engineers,  agents,  toll  collectors,  and  other  officers 
as  might  be  necessary  for  completing,  repairing,  or  protecting  the  works  or  for 
the  collection  of  tolls;  to  establish  rates  of  toll,  always  provided  that  no  dis- 
crimination should  be  made  in  favor  of  or  against  the  boats  or  trade  of  either 
State  ;  and  provided,  further,  that  in  case  there  should  be  worked  in  either 
State  any  mine  of  iron,  lead,  or  coal,  or  any  quarry  of  lime,  gypsum,  marble, 
or  other  building  stone,  the  State  in  which  such  mine  or  quarry  was  situate 
was  to  have  the  exclusive  right  of  fixing  the  toll  on  the  products  thereof; 
and  to  make  all  rules  and  regulation  they  might  deem  proper  for  the  prosecu- 
tion and  management  of  the  work.  The  superintendents  were  authorized  to 
purchase  such  lands  on  the  river  as  might  be  necessary  for  their  purposes,  the 
State  in  which  such  land  was  situate  to  retain  jurisdiction  thereof.  If  the  super- 
intendents and  owner  of  the  land  sought  could  not  agree  on  price,  the  law 
court  of  the  county  or  district  in  which  it  was  situate  was  to  appoint  five  com- 
missioners to  value  the  same,  and  at  that  valuation  they  were  to  vest  in  the 
superintendents.  If  the  superintendents  failed  to  agree  on  any  question  the 
principal  engineer  was  to  act  as  umpire  in  the  matter,  and  if  a  vacancy  oc- 
curred in  the  office  of  either  superintendent  was  to  act  as  superintendent  until 
such  vacancy  was  filled.  Each  State  was  to  fix  the  term  of  office  and  to  pay 
the  salary  and  expenses  of  its  superintendent. 

The  expense  of  improving  and  rendering  navigable  the  river  was  to  be 
borne  equally  by  the  two  States,  but  each  was  to  be  at  liberty  to  make  such 
appropriation  as  it  might  see  proper,  provided  that  the  smallest  appropriation 
by  either  State  was  to  be  one-half  of  the  total  amount  to  be  raised.  In  other 
words  if  South  Carolina  appropriated  $20,000  and  Georgia  $30,000,  the  total 
appropriation  was  to  be  $40,000,  and  Georgia  was  only  to  be  called  on  for 
$20,000. 

All  tolls  collected  were  to  be  used  first  for  repairs  and  current  expenses, 
and  secondly  in  making  such  improvements  as  the  Legislatures  of  the  two 
States  might  direct.  If  none  were  ordered  the  tolls  were  to  be  reduced  so  as 
only  to  bring  in  funds  enough  to  repair,  renew,  and  kept  in  order  the  works. 

Payments  for  work  done  were  to  be  by  draft,  signed  by  both  superinten- 
dents on  the  State  treasury;  any  draft  drawn  on  one  State  to  have  a  counter- 
part draft  for  an  equal  amount  drawn  on  the  other.  Neither  State  was  to  be 
responsible  for  drafts  drawn  on  the  treasury  of  the  other. 

It  was  further  provided  that  the  State  in  which  any  canal  might  be  cut,  or 
work  erected,  under  the  convention,  should  not  cause  or  permit  the  same  to  be 
demolished  or  impaired  without  the  consent  of  the  other  State,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  was  to  enact  such  laws  as  might  be  necessary  for  its  protection  and 
maintenance. 

It  is  unfortunately  the  case  that  this  convention,  like  all  the  other  eftbrts 
at  co-operation  between  the  States,  came  to  naught.     True,  the  Legislature  of 


Transportation.  45 1 


Georgia  ratified  it  on  December  20,  1823,  and  the  Legislature  of  South  Caro- 
lina on  December  20,  1825,  but  here  another  obstacle  interposed.  The  con- 
vention was  an  agreement  or  compact  between  two  States,  and  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  declares  that  no  State  shall  without  the  consent  of 
Congress  enter  into  any  agreement  or  compact  with  another  State.  It  was, 
therefore,  necessary  to  obtain  the  consent  of  Congress  before  the  convention 
could  become  legally  operative,  and  this  assent  was  never  given.  It  is  stated 
that  by  reason  of  a  want  of  concert  between  the  delegations  of  the  two  States 
in  Congress,  no  application  was  ever  preferred  the  general  government  for  its 
assent.  Probably  the  matter  had  dragged  so  long  that  public  interest  therein 
had  died  out,  or  new  administrations  had  come  in  not  sufificiently  acquainted 
with  the  unfinished  business  of  their  predecessors,  but,  whatever  the  cause,  the 
effort  failed. 

Not  forseeing  this  untoward  result,  and  apparently  in  confident  anticipation 
of  good  results  to  flow  from  the  convention,  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  in  1826 
appropriated  $20,000  for  the  improvement  of  that  part  of  the  river  lying  be- 
tween Andersonville  and  Augusta,  the  same  to  be  conditional  on  a  like  appro- 
priation from  South  Carolina.  By  the  same  act  the  sum  of  $20,000  was  ap- 
propriated "  for  the  purpose  of  removing  obstructions  in  the  Savannah  River 
below  Augusta,  and  of  improving  and  deepening  the  channel  of  that  river  so 
as  to  render  it  at  all  times  navigable  for  steamboats."  This  appropriation  was 
unconditional,  but  the  commissioners  for  that  part  of  the  river  were  directed 
to  proceed  with  or  without  the  co-operation  of  South  Carolina  as  they  might 
deem  best.  This  same  year  the  governor  was  requested  to  co-operate  with 
the  executive  of  South  Carolina  in  all  matters  tending  to  the  successful  opera- 
tion of  the  convention  between  the  States  relative  to  the  improvement  of  the 
Savannah. 

At  this  point  we  may  pause  in  this  historical  sketch  and  trace  the  results 
of  the  appropriations  which  had  been  made.  It  will  be  remembered  that  un- 
der the  various  acts  above  cited,  appropriations  had  been  made  as  follows  for 
the  improvement  of  the  river  :  Below  Augusta,  $20,000  ;  from  Augusta  to 
Petersburg,  $15,000;  from  Petersburg  to  Andersonville,  $8,000;  and  from 
Andersonville  to  the  mouth  of  Panther  Creek  on  the  Tugalo,  $7,000  ;  a  total  of 
$50,000. 

Up  to  1829  the  commissioners  for  that  part  of  the  river  below  Augusta 
had  expended  $9,860.80,  and  had  on  hand  $10,139.20  in  money,  and  one  pile 
driving  machine,  one  Augusta  boat,  one  Petersburg  boat,  and  some  $200  worth 
of  cordage,  lumber,  tools,  etc.  The  Legislature  expresses  its  "  unqualified  ap- 
probation of  the  conduct  of  the  commissioners,  as  evidenced  in  their  report, 
and  the  spirit  of  enterprise,  tempered  with  discretion,  perseverance,  and  economy 
which  it  exhibits."  They  were  directed  to  use  the  unexpended  balance  in 
their  hands  in  their  discretion,  and  with  $4,630.20  completed  their  task. 


452  History  of  Augusta. 


In  1822  the  commissioners  for  the  Augusta  and  Petersburg  division  re- 
ported that  they  had  successfully  completed  the  work  assigned  them  at  a  cost 
of  $10,443.54,  and  turned  over  the  balance  of  their  appropriation,  to  wit,  the 
sum  of  $4,556.46  into  the  State  treasury. 

In  1824  the  commissioners  for  that  part  of  the  river  from  Petersburg  to 
Andersonville  reported  that  with  their  appropriation  of  $8,000  they  had  put 
their  section  in  such  order  that  boats  carrying  eighty  bales  of  cotton  could 
pass.  The  weight  of  the  bale  then  being  about  half  that  of  the  average  bale  of 
the  present  day,  it  follows  that  boats  of  at  least  nine  tons  burden  were  then  able 
to  navigate  that  part  of  the  Savannah. 

As  to  the  last  division,  or  that  from  Andersonville  to  the  mouth  of  Panther 
Creek  on  the  Tugalo,  it  appears  that  up  to  1823  the  commissioners  had  ex- 
pended $4,575.47  out  of  their  appropriation  of  $7,000.  Out  of  this  balance  of 
$2,424.53,  they  had  expended  the  further  sum  of  $1,415,25,  leaving  a  balance 
of  $1,009.28  then  on  hand.  This  seems  to  have  been  sufficient  to  complete  the 
work  which  the  Legislature  ordered  done  as  soon  as  practicable. 

From  181 5  to  1826  the  total  appropriations  made  by  Georgia  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  river  aggregated  $50,000,  and  the  expenditure  of  $39,- 
934.54  sufficed  to  put  the  entire  stream  in  satisfactory  order,  leaving  a  surplus 
of  $10,065.46.  This  much  having  been  accomplished  and  a  convention  hav- 
ing been  concluded  with  South  Carolina  whereby,  after  many  years  of  effort 
the  co-operation  of  that  State  seemed  assured,  it  looked  as  if  the  work  of  im- 
provement was  on  a  solid  and  durable  basis,  but  a  new  obstacle  to  united  effort 
arose. 

In  a  special  message  to  the  Legislature  of  1828  Governor  Forsyth  informed 
that  body  that  after  South  Carolina  had  ratified  the  River  Convention  her  del- 
egation in  Congress  in  1826  proposed  to  apply  to  that  body  for  its  assent  to 
the  compact  but  that  no  application  was  made  because  the  Georgia  delegation 
would  not  unite  with  them.  At  the  session  of  1827  the  Georgia  delegation 
were  instructed  to  concur  in  such  application,  but  at  that  time  the  South  Car- 
olina delegation  declined  to  unite  with  them  on  the  ground  that  they  had  no 
instruction  so  to  do.  In  consequence  of  this  game  of  cross  purposes  no  appli- 
cation had  been  made  for  congressional  consent.  Despite  this  failure  Gover- 
nor Forsyth  says  he  would  have  renewed  his  instructions  to  the  Georgia  del- 
elegation  were  it  not  that  he  was  in  receipt  of  information  from  the  governor 
of  South  Carolina  which  satisfied  him  that  that  State  did  not  desire  the  con- 
vention to  become  operative.  From  the  information  before  him  it  would  be 
seen  that  "a  project  is  in  the  course  of  execution  to  divert  by  a  railroad  from 
Hamburg  to  Charleston  the  whole  trade  of  this  State  above  Augusta,  from 
Savannah  to  Charleston.  The  right  of  South  Carolina  to  improve  all  its  re- 
sources, and  draw  from  a  neighboring  State  a  portion  of  its  trade  is  not  denied, 
nor  is  the  exercise  of  that  right  a  cause  of  just  complaint ;   but  in  this  scheme 


Transportation.  453 


South  Carolina  is  to  have  the  benefit  of  the  engineer  of  the  United  States;  the 
skill  and  science  under  the  command  of  the  Union,  and  the  money  of  the  gen- 
eral government — our  money — is  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  in  the  ex- 
ecution of  a  scheme  which  if  successful,  will  seriously  injure,  if  not  destroy  our 
most  flourishing  seaport."  In  view  of  this  project  he  says  :  "  It  cannot  now  be 
desired  by  South  Carolina  to  have  the  convention  ratified,  and  that,  if  it  was,  it 
would  be  unwise  on  our  part  to  fetter  ourselves  by  its  obligations,  as  South 
Carolina's  design  will  prevent  any  expenditure  of  money  on  the  most  import- 
ant part  of  the  Savannah  River,  that  below  Augusta." 

The  message  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  the  state  of  the  Republic, 
which  reported  that  the  failure  to  obtain  congressional  sanction  for  the  conven- 
tion did  not  cause  them  any  regret.      The  report  then  continues  : 

"Recent  indications  exhibited  in  South  Carolina  evidence  very  clearly  not 
only  the  unwillingness  but  the  inability  of  that  State  to  aid  in  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  proposed  undertaking.  The  governor  of  South  Carolina  in  a  letter 
addressed  to  the  executive  of  this  State  frankly  admits  'that  the  incorporation 
of  a  company  to  erect  a  railroad  from  Hamburg  to  the  city  of  Charleston, 
which  it  seems  will  be  carried  into  effect,  will  render  the  State  averse  to  ex- 
pending any  money  on  the  river  below  Augusta.'  In  another  part  of  the  same 
letter  he  says,  'it  is  not  likely  that  in  any  short  time  this  State  will  make  any 
appropriation  for  clearing  the  river  above  Augusta;  in  favor  of  this  course  we 
have  one  unanswerable  argument,  the  low  state  of  the  treasury.'  This  confes- 
sion impresses  your  committee  with  the  belief  that  should  the  complete  ratifi- 
cation of  the  convention  be  obtained,  it  would,  under  existing  circum-stances, 
be  inoperative  or  of  no  avail.  Georgia,  we  apprehend,  would  be  unwilling  to 
fetter  herself  by  a  positive  pledge,  when  there  was  a  strong  probability,  if  not 
absolute  certainty,  that  all  the  disbursements  necessary  to  effectuate  the  pro- 
posed object  were  to  emanate  exclusively  from  her  own  treasury.  Should, 
however,  the  resources  of  the  other  contracting  party  ever  enable  her  to  co- 
operate with  us  in  the  prosecution  of  the  work,  a  collision  of  opinion,  engen- 
dered by  a  diversity  of  interests,  would  unquestionably  prevail  in  regard  to  the 
portion  of  the  river  upon  which  the  joint  fund  should  be  expended.  It  would 
be  a  paramount  consideration  with  Georgia  to  render  perfect  the  navigation  of 
the  river  below  Augusta,  while  South  Carolina,  with  all  the  facilities  afforded 
by  her  railroad,  could  feel  no  interest  whatever  in  its  improvement.  She  would, 
of  course,  bestow  all  her  care  and  attention  upon  the  river  above  Augusta, 
which  to  us  would  be  an  object  of  secondary  importance.  These  considerations 
impel  your  committee  to  recommend  for  adoption  the  following  resolution  : 

''Resolved,  That,  under  present  circumstances,  it  is  impolitic  on  the  part  of 
Georgia  to  attempt  to  procure  a  full  and  entire  ratification  of  the  convention 
with  South  Carolina  relative  to  the  navigation  of  the  Savannah  and  Tugalo 
Rivers." 


454  History  of  Augusta. 


Report  and  resolution  were  adopted,  and  this  was  the  end  of  co-operation 
between  South  Carohna  and  Georgia  for  the  improvement  of  the  navigation  of 
the  Savannah  River. 

In  1829  the  Legislature  appointed  commissioners  for  the  counties  of  Rich- 
mond, Columbia,  Lincoln  and  Elbert,  one  for  each,  and  made  it  their  duty  to 
survey,  determine,  and  lay  off  the  main  channel  of  the  Savannah,  beginning  at 
the  first  shoal  above  Augusta,  and  thence  upward  to  the  mouth  of  Lightwood 
Log  Creek,  in  KIbert  coimty.  They  were  also  to  see  that  the  channel  was  kept 
clear,  and  that  no  dam,  trap,  or  other  obstacle  stretched  over  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  stream.  The  commissioner  from  Richmond  county  was  Benjamin 
H.  Warren.  From  some  subsequent  legislation  it  appears  that  a  survey  was 
made  of  the  river  under  this  act,  and  beacons  and  other  marks  designating  the 
channel  established,  but  this  is- the  last  statute  of  any  note  looking  to  the  im- 
provement of  the  navigation  of  the  Savannah.  Following  the  example  of  South 
Carolina,  Georgia  looked  to  the  new  instrumentality  of  railroads  for  transpor- 
tation, and  ceased  even  the  fitful  efforts  she  had  up  to  that  time  made  for  the 
improvement  of  her  great  water  way.  A  number  of  subsequent  statutes  rel- 
ative to  the  Savannah  followed  that  of  1829,  but  their  main  object  was  to  pro- 
tect fish  and  fisheries. 

We  may  here  give  some  account  of  the  legislation  of  South  Carolina  for 
the  improvement  of  the  river.  In  1791  it  was  portioned  out  into  three  divis- 
ions, from  Augusta  to  Long  Cane  Cretk,  from  Long  Cane  Creek  to  the  old 
boundary  line,  and  from  thence  to  Fort  Prince  George  on  the  Kiowee,  and 
commissioners  appointed  for  each  division,  who  were  authorized  to  require  all 
male  inhabitants  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  fifty  residing  in  their  re- 
spective divisions  within  six  miles  of  the  river,  to  work  thereon  ten  days  in  each 
year.  The  commissioners  were  also  authorized  to  receive  all  donations  or  sub- 
scriptions made  for  the  improvement  of  the  river. 

In  1795  seven  commissioners  were  appointed  to  conduct  a  lottery  for  the 
purpose  of  raising  ;^i,200  to  be  devoted  to  the  removal  of  obstructions  in  the 
Savannah  between  Campbelton  and  Augusta;  and  in  1805  a  board  of  fourteen 
commissioners  was  appointed  to  co-operate  with  any  commissioners  that  might 
be  appointed  by  Georgia  to  clear  out  the  river  from  Campbelton  to  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Tugalo  and  Kiowee,  and  the  sum  of  $10,000  appropriated  for  such 
purpose,  conditioned  on  Georgia  appropriating  a  like  sum.  No  concurrent  ac- 
tion having  been  had  by  Georgia  th's  proposition  came  to  nothing.  The  ap- 
propriations made  by  the  general  government  up  to  a  half  century  since  were 
as  follows:  In  1826,  $50,000;  in  1829,  $24,490;  in  1832.  $25,000;  in  1834, 
$30,000;  in  1835,  $20,000;  and  in  1838,  $15,000;  total,  $164,490.  The  great 
bulk  of  this,  however,  if  not  in  fact  all,  was  devoted  to  the  improvement  of  nav- 
igation at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  but  one  appropriation,  that  of  1838,  being 
generally  for  the  improvement  of  navigation  without  specifiying  any  particular 


Transportation.  45$ 


locality.  Before  the  war  the  South  was  opposed  to  internal  improvements  by 
the  general  government,  the  idea  being  that  it  was  the  function  of  the  States 
to  carry  on  such  operations  and  that  it  was  not  within  the  constitutional  prov- 
ince of  Congress  to  use  the  common  fund  for  the  benefit  of  any  special  locality. 
In  a  letter  written  by  Hon.  George  T.  Barnes,  member  of  Congress  for  the  Au- 
gusta district,  to  the  Savannah  Valley  Convention,  to  be  hereafter  mentioned, 
the  political  views  for  many  years  entertained  on  this  subject  are  very  clearly 
expressed,  and  we  here  quote  what  he  says  : 

"A  river  of  such  magnitude  as  the  Savannah,  forming  the  boundary  line 
between  two  States,  with  such  a  capacity  as  a  highway,  not  only  for  local  com- 
merce, but  commerce  between  the  States  and  even  for  foreign  commerce  be- 
tween other  countries  and  our  own,  is  legitimately  within  the  purview  of  that 
provision  of  the  constitution  under  which  appropriations  for  the  improvement 
of  rivers  and,  harbors  have  been  made.  Both  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  Webster 
derived  the  right  to  make  such  appropropriations  from  the  power  of  Congress 
'to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  among  the  several  States,  and 
with  the  Indian  tribes.' 

"Mr.  Calhoun  would  have  restricted  the  exercise  of  that  power  to  such  riv- 
ers, the  Mississsppi  for  example,  as  formed  tlie  boundary  line  between  several 
States.  But  Mr.  Webster  held  that  the  question  in  such  cases  is  not  whether 
the  expenditure  be  local,  but  whether  the  purpose  be  general,  a  national  pur- 
pose and  object.  A  river,  said  he,  flowing  between  two  States — and  two  States 
only —  may  be  highly  important  to  the  commerce  of  the  whole  Union.  The 
river  and  harbor  bills  passed  by  Congress  for  many  years  have  followed  the 
construction  of  Mr.  Webster,  and  even  those  which  have  been  subjected  to  exec- 
utive criticism  or  veto  have  been  on  the  ground  that  appropriations  made  were 
for  other  purposes  than  those  fairly  contemplated  by  that  construction.  This 
appears  from  President  Grant's  message  of  1876,  approving  the  bill  of  that 
year,  and  President  Arthur's  veto  on  the  bill  of  1882.  President  Cleveland 
signed  the  bill  of  1886,  but  failed  to  sign  the  bill  of  1887.  But  Mr.  Webster's 
construction  of  that  clause  of  the  constitution  may  be  now  regarded  as  settled. 
The  improvement  of  the  Savannah  River  is  not  only  clearly  within  the  pur- 
poses of  the  constitution  so  construed,  but  would  come  within  the  purposes  of 
a  much  narrower  and  more  restricted  construction." 

After  the  war  the  old  anti-internal  improvement  theory  was  abandoned, 
but  the  overshadowing  importance  of  the  railroad  interests  caused  but  little  at- 
tention to  be  paid  to  river  navigation.  The  railroads  having  a  practical  mo- 
nopoly of  transportation  imposed  such  rates  as  were  felt  to  repress  develop- 
ment, and  attention  was  once  more  directed  to  the  waterways. 

On  December  20,  1887,  the  Augusta  Chronicle  initiated  a  movement  look- 
ing toward  a  general  and  systematic  improvement  of  the  river  in  a  very  able 
editorial,  a  portion  of  which  we  here  subjoin:      "  Liberal  appropriations  should 


456  .  History  of  Augusta, 


be  secured  from  Congress  for  the  river.      The  people  of  the  Savannah  Valley- 
are  interested  in  the  removal  of  obstructions  from  the  stream. 

"The  Augusta  Exchange,  it  seems  to  us,  would  do  well  to  call  a  convention 
in  this  city  at  an  early  day  for  the  purpose  of  taking  this  matter  in  hand.  All 
the  counties  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  on  either  side  of  the  river  which 
have  any  interest  in  it,  should  be  invited  to  send  delegates  to  the  convention. 
As  the  result  of  this  convention  we  would  secure  the  active  co-operation  of  the 
senators  and  congressmen  from  two  States,  who  in  response  to  the  petitions  of 
their  constituents,  would  work  actively  for  an  appropriation  large  enough  to 
do  all  the  work  needed. 

"  We  do  not  ask  for  an  appropriation  to  pump  water  into  a  creek,  but  for 
the  improvement  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  rivers  of  the  United 
States.  The  small  sums  heretofore  doled  out  by  Congress  have  been  practi- 
cally of  no  avail.  What  we  need,  and  what  we  should  have  and  can  nave  by 
proper  concert  of  action,  is  an  appropriation  to  do  the  work  properly  and 
promptly. 

"A  convention  of  the  people  of  the  Savannah  Valley  for  the  purpose  stated 
is  the  one  thing  needful.  Let  the  Augusta  Exchange  take  the  matter  in  hand 
and  call  a  convention  at  an  early  day,  say  in  January.  The  importance  of  the 
river  as  the  great  natural  highway  to  the  sea  for  the  products  of  a  large  and 
rich  area  of  two  States  will  be  fully  ventilated  and  demonstrated. 

"Let  committees  be  appointed  by  this  convention  to  go  to  Washington  to 
lay  this  matter  before  Congress.  They  will  enlist  the  active  influence  of  the 
representatives  from  both  States.  In  this  way  the  claims  and  advantages  of  a 
navigable  river,  choked  with  sand-bars,  stumps  and  debris,  on  account  of  neg- 
lect and  non-use  for  twenty-five  years,  will  be  properly  presented,  and,  we  be- 
lieve, appreciated  by  Congress." 

In  accordance  with  this  suggestion,  a  meeting  was  held  at  the  Exchange 
on  December  28,  1887.  Mr.  James  Tobin,  president  of  the  Exchange,  was 
called  to  the  chair,  and  stated  that  the  object  of  the  meeting  was  to  call  a  con- 
vention of  the  people  on  both  sides  the  Savannah  for  the  purpose  of  concert- 
ing measures  for  the  improvement  of  that  river. 

Hon.  Patrick  Walsh,  editor  of  the  Chronicle,  being  called  on,  said  :  "  The 
object  of  the  meeting,  as  has  been  stated  by  the  chair,  is  to  call  a  convention  to 
be  held  in  this  city  of  the  people  of  the  Savannah  Valley,  to  urge  upon  Con- 
gress the  necessity  of  the  improvement  of  the  Savannah  River. 

"  We  realize  that  we  have  in  Congress  a  gentleman  fully  able  to  take  charge 
of  our  interests  and  to  present  our  claims  for  an  appropriation,  but  they  can  be 
advanced  by  enlisting  the  support  of  a  number  of  congressmen.  The  active 
CO  operation  of  the  six  congressmen  on  each  side  of  the  river,  with  the  sena- 
tors of  the  two  States,  and  possibly  the  co-operation  of  the  entire  delegation 
from  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  will  be  certain  to  secure  the  necessary  ap- 
propriation for  the  river. 


Transportation.  457 


"  Let  the  exchange  call  this  convention,  and  one  of  the  good  results  will  be 
the  improvement  of  the  Savannah  River.  Major  Barnes  has  been  the  first 
member  of  Congress  in  many  years  who  has  taken  an  active  interest  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  district,  and  looked  particularly  after  the  improvement  of  the  river. 
By  means  of  this  convention  his  hands  will  be  greatly  strengthened,  and  our 
just  claims  will  be  recognized  and  our  just  demands  will  be  granted  by  Con- 
gress." 

Hon.  George  T.  Barnes,  member  of  Congress  for  the  Augusta  district,  be- 
ing called  on,  said  he  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the  movement,  and  thought 
the  convention  of  representatives  from  both  sides  of  the  river  was  calculated 
to  do  a  great  deal  of  good,  but  in  order  to  obtain  anything  in  the  way  of  an 
appropriation  they  would  have  to  be  guilty  of  a  little  importuning. 

He  exhibited  a  pamphlet  containing  the  proceedings  of  a  convention  (held 
in  Columbus)  of  delegates  from  along  the  Chattahoochee  and  Flint  Rivers. 
Delegates  from  Georgia,  Florida  and  Alabama  were  present.  The  attention 
of  the  Georgia  Legislature  was  called  to  this,  and  resolutions  memorializing 
Congress  were  adopted. 

Major  Barnes  urged  the  meeting  not  to  stop  at  showing  the  local  benefit  to 
be  derived  from  improving  the  Savannah,  but  to  go  further  and  show  the  na- 
tional importance  of  the  Savannah  River.  He  alluded  in  a  flattering  manner 
to  the  valuable  statistics  and  information  as  to  our  river  from  the  pen  of  Major 
Harry  Hammond,  and  referred  to  the  greatness  of  our  river.  He  showed  how 
little  it  would  take  to  put  the  river  in  a  first-class  navigable  condition,  and  said 
that  even  now  it  was  navigable  a  greater  distance  than  the  Hudson,  and  if 
properly  improved,  would  make  Augusta  the  great  distributing  point  of  the 
East  and  West. 

He  said  that  the  engineers  must  be  shown  by  the  home  committee  what 
was  wanted.  The  river  has  a  great  advantage  for  heavy  freights.  This  point, 
if  the  river  was  improved,  would  become  the  great  distributing  point  for  East- 
ern, Western,  West  India  and  South  American  freights.  The  God  of  nature 
had  placed  at  our  disposal — right  at  our  feet — a  great  river;  that  nothing  is  the 
matter  with  it  except  that  right  at  the  bar  it  has  filled  up  with  debris  that 
comes  from  the  Piedmont  escarpment.  Eighteen  miles  from  Augusta  there 
was  no  place  where  the  water  was  not  five  feet  deep,  the  only  trouble  being 
the  snags. 

Mr.  W.  C.  Sibley  spoke  of  what  the  Savannah  was  when  he  was  a  boy,  and 
even  later  when  its  banks  were  lined  with  freight  for  the  boats.  He  spoke 
earnestly  of  the  great  benefits  of  river  navigation  and  urged  strongly  the  pro- 
posed convention,  and  introduced  the  following  resolution,  which  was  unani- 
mously adopted  : 

^'Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  meeting  that  a  convention  of  the  citi- 
zens of  the  counties  bordering  on  the  valley  of  the  Savannah  River  be  held  in 
58 


458  tiistoRY  OF  Augusta. 


this  city  on  Wednesday,  the  25th  of  January,  1888,  for  the  purpose  of  placing 
before  Congress  the  importance  of  improving  the  navigation  of  the  said  river." 

Hon.  John  S.  Davidson,  president  of  the  State  Senate,  spoke  strongly  in 
favor  of  the  proposed  convention  and  the  great  benefits  to  be  derived  from  the 
improvement  of  the  river. 

Mr.  William  Dunbar  movetl  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  five,  with 
President  James  Tobin  as  chairman,  to  arrange  for  the  convention,  and  to  invite 
delegates  from  the  counties  of  the  Savannah  Valley.  Unanimously  adopted. 
Under  the  resolution  of  Mr.  Dunbar,  President  Tobin  appointed  the  following 
eommittee  :  James  Tobin,  William  Dunbar,  W.  C.  Sibley,  Patrick  Walsh,  Z.  W. 
Carwile,  and  J.  J.  Dicks. 

The  call  for  the  convention  met  a  very  general  and  enthusiastic  response, 
and  at  the  appointed  time  the  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Hon.  Patrick 
Walsh,  and  Mr.  E.  B.  Murray,  of  Anderson,  S.  C,  elected  temporary  chairman, 
who,  on  taking  the  chair,  said:  "  The  object  for  which  this  body  meets  to-day 
is  one  which  cannot  fail  to  attract  not  only  the  attention  of  the  counties  which 
lie  along  the  banks  of  the  Savannah  River  but  the  whole  southern  country. 
Our  people  in  this  section  of  the  union  have  not  received  the  attention  from 
the  national  government  which  the  importance  of  the  interests  involved  here 
merit.  There  is  scarcely  a  stream  throughout  the  great  North  and  West  that 
has  not  been  improved  to  its  utmost  capacity,  while  throughout  the  southland 
are  neglected  streams  which  the  expenditure  of  a  few  thousands  of  dollars 
would  make  an  inestimable  blessing  to  the  people  of  our  country.  Among 
these  there  is  perhaps  none  more  conspicuous  by  the  neglect  of  its  great  ad- 
vantages than  the  Savannnh  River,  a  stream  which  has  advantages  for  com- 
merce which  would  supply  an  area  of  country  stretching  hundreds  of  miles  be- 
yond the  banks  of  the  stream.  It  seems  to  me  it  should  have  received  the  at- 
tention of  our  government  long  before  this,  but  there  is  an  old  adage,  "  the 
gods  help  those  who  help  themselves,"  and,  inasmuch  as  we  have  done  noth- 
ing towards  calling  attention  of  congressmen  to  the  necessity  and  importance 
of  the  stream,  perhaps  we,  ourselves,  are  as  much  to  blame  as  anyone  else." 

After  an  address  of  welcome  by  Hon.  John  S.  Davidson,  of  Augusta,  re- 
sponded to  by  Hon.  W.  C.  Benet,  of  Abbeville,  S.  C,  the  roll  of  delegates  was 
called,  and  123  were  found  present,  41  from  South  Carolina  and  82  from  Geor- 
gia, Edgefield,  Hampton,  Aiken,  Barnwell,  Anderson,  Abbeville,  and  Laurens 
counties  being  represented  from  the^  former,  and  Columbia,  Burke,  Wilkes, 
Lincoln,  Chatham  and  Richmond  counties  from  the  latter  State.  A  per- 
manent organization  was  then  effected  with  Mr.  John  H.  Estill,  of  Savannah, 
as  chairman,  and  Mr.  M.  V.  Calvin,  of  Augusta,  as  secretary.  A  commit- 
tee of  one  from  each  State  at  large,  one  from  each  county  represented, 
two  from  Augusta,  and  two  from  Savannah  was  then  appointed  to  memo- 
rialize Congress,  as  follows  :    From   the  State  of  Georgia-at- large,  F.  Edge- 


Transportation.  459 


worth  Eve,  of  Columbia  county;  from  the  State  of  South  CaroHna-at- 
large,  James  Aldrich,  of  Aiken  county ;  city  of  Augusta,  John  S.  David- 
son and  James  Tobin;  city  of  Savannah,  D.  I.  Mclntyre  and  Bierne  Gor- 
don ;  Georgia  counties :  Burke,  J.  M.  Rodgers ;  Chatham,  Alexander  H. 
McDonald;  Columbia,  M.  I.  Branch  ;  Lincoln,  T.  H.  Remsen;  Richmond,  Pat- 
rick Walsh  ;  Wilkes,  T.  C.  Hogue  ;  South  Carolina  counties:  Abbeville,  W.  C. 
Benet ;  Aiken,  D.  S.  Henderson  ;  Anderson,  E.  B.  Murray  ;  Barnwell,  L.  W. 
Youmans  ;  Edgefield,  J.  T.  Bacon  ;  Hampton,  M.  B.  McSweeney  ;  Laurens,  J. 
J.  Pluss.  This  committee  was  also  ordered  to  act  as  a  committee  on  business, 
and  reported:  "That  a  permanent  organization  be  effected  by  this  convention, 
to  be  known  as  the  "  Savannah  River  Association,"  the  officers  of  which  shall 
be  a  president,  secretary  and  treasurer,  with  vice-presidents  from  each  county 
represented  in  the  convention,  or  that  may  be  represented  in  subsequent  con- 
ventions, and  an  executive  committee  of  nine,  to  be  appointed  by  the  president. 
The  president  and  secretary  and  treasurer  to  be  the  members  of  the  executive 
committee.  The  main  object  of  the  permanent  organization  shall  be  the  im- 
provement of  the  Savannah  River.  It  is  to  continue  in  existence  until  the 
work  for  which  this  convention  has  been  called  shall  have  been  accomplished. 
The  duty  of  the  executive  committee  shall  be  to  collect  information  and  sta- 
tistics in  reference  to  the  water-power,  agricultural  products,  mineral  resources, 
manufactures  and  population  of  the  Savannah  Valley,  and  to  present  the  same 
in  the  shape  of  a  memorial  to  Congress  asking  for  such  speedy  consideration 
and  substantial  aid  from  the  general  government  as  will  accomplish  the  long 
delayed  but  needed  improvement  of  the  navigation  of  the  Savannah  River. 
The  executive  committee  can  present  such  an  array  of  vital  statistics  concern- 
ing the  Savannah  Valley  country  as  to  leave  no  doubts  as  to  the  justice  of  our 
petition  for  a  large  appropriation  for  the  improvement  of  a  river  of  inter-State 
importance. 

"This  convention  represents  a  territory  of  1 1,500  square  miles,  a  population 
of  450,000,  an  annual  agricultural  product  of  $20,000,000  and  an  aggregate 
capital,  in  town,  city  and  county  property  of  over  $100,000,000.  According 
to  Major  Harry  Hammond,  in  his  admirable  paper  on  the  Savannah  River,  the 
official  reports  on  file  in  the  chief  engineer's  department  at  Washington,  show 
that  the  navigable  rivers  on  the  Atlantic  Slope,  including  tide-water,  embrace 
in  round  numbers  2,500  miles,  of  which  the  Savannah  River  represents  one- 
sixth.  Exclusive  of  tide-water,  there  are  only  800  miles  of  river  navigation, 
of  which  the  Savannah  River  represents  one- third,  or  270  miles.  The  gov- 
ernment has  expended  over  $10,500,000  to  improve  river  navigation  in  other 
States,  while  it  has  appropriated  only  the  meager  sum  of  $90,000  for  the  Sa- 
vannah River." 

The  report  was  adopted,  and  a  permanent  organization  of  the  Savannah 
River  Association  was  effected  with  the  following  officers :    President,  Hon. 


460  History  of  Augusta. 


Patrick  Walsh;  secretary  and  treasurer,  Hon.  M.  V.  Calvin.  Vice-presidents, 
G.  T.  Tolley,  Anderson;  M.  L.  Bonham,  jr..  Abbeville;  J.  J.  Pluss,  Laurens; 
W.  J.  Ready,  Edgefield  ;  James  Aldrich,  Aiken  ;  L.  A.  Ashley,  Barnwell  ;  M. 
B.  McSweeney,  Hampton  ;  D.  C.  Wilson,  Beaufort;  J.  H.  Estill,  Chatham;  H. 
Gregg  Wright,  Effingham  ;  J.  T.  Wade,  Screven  ;  James  Tobin,  Richmond  ; 
J.  T.  Smith,  Columbia ;  T.  H.  Renisen,  Lincoln  ;  T.  B.  Breen,  Wilkes  ;  T.  W. 
Swift,  Elbert;  John  B.  Benson,  Hart;  A.  R.  Yow,  Franklin.  Executive  com- 
mittee, James  Tobin,  Z.  W.  Carwile,W.  C.  Benet,  L.  W.  Youmans,  D.  S.  Hen- 
derson, W.  W.  Gordon  and  E.  B.  Murray,  and  the  president  and  secretary  ex 
officio. 

In  taking  the  chair.  President  Walsh  said,  among  other  things  :  "Whatever 
differences  may  have  existed  in  the  past  between  the  two  great  parties  which 
are  striving  for  the  control  of  this  government  in  reference  to  internal  improve- 
ments, both  parties  have  decided  that  it  is  a  wise  policy  to  devote  the  money 
of  the  government  to  the  work  of  internal  improvements,  and  especially  to  im- 
proving the  water-ways  of  the  country.  And  the  only  reason  this  great  work 
has  been  so  long  neglected,  is  because  we  have  never  before  had  a  convention 
to  urge  our  just  claims.  Colonel  Davidson  yesterday  presented  some  wonder- 
ful figures,  and  I  believe  I  can  say  I  never  before  heard  dry  figures  so  enter- 
tainingly and  eloquently  presented.  He  told  you  that  the  counties  interested 
in  this  work  represent  a  total  production  from  their  farm  lands  of  6,860,000 
bushels  of  corn,  wheat  and  oats,  and  226,000  bales  of  cotton,  and  that  the  peo- 
ple represent  a  wealth  of  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  From  the  elaborate 
and  valuable  paper  of  Major  Hammond  we  learn  that  the  Savannah  River  is 
eighth  in  length  in  North  America  ;  that  it  has  more  miles  of  navigable  water 
than  any  stream  on  the  Atlantic  Slope  from  Florida  to  Canada;  of  the  total 
navigable  length  of  all  the  streams  on  the  Atlantic  Slope  it  represents  one- 
si.xth,  and  subtracting  tide-water  navigation  it  represents  one  third.  We  find 
further  this  unjust  discrimination — I  say  it  is  unjust,  because  our  great  national 
interests — that  is  our  commerce — have  been  neglected  by  our  government;  we 
find  that  ten  millions  and  a  half  have  been  expended  on  these  streams  by  the 
government,  while  the  Savannah  River,  representing  one-third  of  the  navigable 
water  embraced  in  the  whole,  has  received  but  the  insignificant  sum  of  ninety- 
four  thousand  dollars.  As  Mr.  Benet  has  said,  if  this  noble  river  ran  through 
a  Northern  State  it  would  have  been  made  navigable  to  its  utmost  capacity; 
it  would  not  only  be  made  navigable,  but  the  property  of  the  people  living 
along  its  course  would  be  protected  from  inundation.  When  we  go  to  Con- 
gress with  the  backing  and  support  of  this  worthy  and  commanding  constitu- 
ency we  go  not  only  knowing  and  asking  our  rights,  but  demanding  them. 
We  represent  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars,  as  compiled  from  the  census  of 
1880;  but  I  have  a  yet  more  remarkable  statement  to  make  than  any  that  has 
yet  been  made  on  this  floor,  and  that  is  that  we  have  represented  in  this  con- 


Transportation.  461 


vention  in  commerce,  trade,  manufactures,  etc.,  two  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars annually.  I  make  this  statement  advisedly  ;  I  think  I  can  prove  it.  Sa- 
vannah, which  enterprising  and  prosperous  city  is  so  ably  represented  here, 
does  a  business  representing  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars  ;  Augusta  last  year 
did  a  business  of  fifty  five  millions  of  dollars.  I  am  certainly  within  bounds 
when  I  claim  that  the  rest  of  the  country  embraced  in  the  Savannah  Valley 
will  complete  the  magnificent  sum  of  two  hundred  millions.  The  reason  we 
have  not  received  just  recognition  at  the  hands  of  Congress  is  because  we  have 
not  demanded  it  as  we  should." 

The  memorial  to  Congress,  prepared  and  presented  by  the  convention, 
is  as  follows : 

"  Memorial  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

Augusta,  Ga.,  February  i,  1888. 
"  To  the  Honorable  the  Meynbers  of  the  House  of  Representatives,   Washington,  D.  C.  : 

"  Gentlemen. — Your  memorialists,  representing  the  Savannah  Valley  As- 
sociation, which  was  organized  for  the  furtherance  of  the  improvement  of  the 
Savannah  River,  respectfully  direct  attention  to  the  fact  that,  while  the  Sa- 
vannah Valley  Convention,  held  in  this  city  on  the  25th  and  26th  ult,  was 
composed  of  delegates  from  counties  in  Georgia  and  South  Carolina  immedi- 
ately contiguous  to  the  river,  the  subject  of  this  petition  is  not  a  local  matter, 
but,  in  the  higher  acceptation  of  the  term,  a  question  of  national  importance. 
"The  respectful  and  earnest  petition  of  the  people  in  the  Savannah  Valley 
is  that  Congress  will  at  once  appropriate  for  the  improvement  of  the  Savannah 
a  sum  sufficient  to  make  the  river  navigable  to  steamboats  the  year  round. 
A  glance  at  the  maps  will  reveal  a  large  area  of  country,  distant  from  the  pres- 
ent head  of  navigation  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  that  will  be 
directly  benefited  by  the  improvement  that  will  result  from  a  reasonable  ap- 
propriation. 

"  The  character  of  the  people  who  ask  for  this  appropriation,  and  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  belt  of  country  which  awaits  that  which  will  so  greatly  benefit  it 
— low  rates  of  freight — can  be  judgr.d  by  the  exhibit  made  by  thirty-five  coun- 
ties in  Georgia  and  twelve  counties  in  South  Carolina.  Facts  of  a  later  date 
might  be  given,  but  we  have  chosen  those  developed  by  the  census  of  1880 
and,  for  convenience,  we  will  use  round  numbers. 

Thirty-five  Counties  in  Georgia. 

5,800,000  bushels  of  corn  valued  at %  2,900,000 

1,500,000  bushels  of  oats  valued  at ...  600,000 

800,000  bushels  of  wheat  valued  at 800,000       , 

Orchard  products 160,000 

250,000  bales  cotton 12,500,000 

Farm  values,  including  buildings,  etc 32,000,000 

Farming  implements 1,700,000 

Value  of  live  stock  on  farms 6,900,000 


462  History  of  Augusta. 


Twelve  Counties  in  South  Carolina. 

5,200,000  bushels  of  corn  valued  at $     2,600,000 

1 ,600,000  bushels  of  oats  valued  at 640,000 

700,000  bushels  of  wheat  valued  at 700,000 

Value  orchard  products 50,000 

250,000  bales  cotton 1 2,500,000 

Farm  values  includin<^  l)uildings,  etc 32,000,000 

Farming  implements i , 500,000 

Live  stock  on  farms 5,250,000 

A  total  of $1 16,300,000 

Add  30  per  cent 34,890,000 

And  you  have  a  more  correct  estimate f  1 51,190,000 

"We  come  to  you  with  an  interest  representing  $150,000,000,  in  the  rural 
districts  alone. 

"  In  connection  with  this  wealth  of  20,000  square  miles,  consider  that  we 
have  a  population  of  quite  one  million  thrifty  souls  ;  that  the  two  cities,  which 
are  respectively  the  termini  of  navigation  on  the  Savannah,  transacted  business 
in  1887  represented  by  $155,000,000;  that  this  city  has  seven  million  dollars 
invested  in  manufacturing  enterprises,  and  that  her  cotton  factories  consumed 
fully  twenty- five  per  cent,  of  all  the  cotton  manufactured  in  the  South  during 
1887  ;  that  the  cotton  receipts  at  this  point  this  year  will  be  200,000  bales,  of 
which  the  factories  in  and  near  this  city  will  consume  fifty  per  cent. — consider 
all  these  facts  and  3/ou  will  have' a  clear  conception  of  the  urgency  of  our  ap- 
peal, and  you  will  readily  grant  that  the  government  ought  not  to  hesitate  in 
extending  us  a  liberal  hand  in  the  advancement  of  a  work  which  will  health- 
fully affect  a  territory  so  rich  in  possibilities  and  so  much  in  need  of  the  com- 
plete utilization  of  one  of  the  finest  rivers  on  this  continent. 

"  We  cite  an  additional  fact,  namely,  that  exclusive  of  tidewater,  the 
Savannah  River  constitutes  one- third  of  the  river  navigation  of  the  Atlantic 
States. 

"  Of  the  $10,500,000  expended  by  the  government  in  river  improvement, 
the  Savannah  has  received  up  to  date  only  $90,000. 

"The  Savannah  River,  above  the  city  of  Augusta,  is  capable  of  supplying 
400,000  horse-power,  equal  in  extent  to  the  entire  water-power  of  New  Eng- 
land. 

"  The  proceedings  of  the  Savannah  Valley  Convention,  hereto  attached, 
show  the  deep  interest  which  our  people  feel  in  the  early  improvement  of  the 
navigation  of  the  Savaimah  River.  The  proceedings  will  interest  you,  and  the 
reports  which  were  submitted  to  the  Convention  cannot  fail  to  convince  you 
that  our  petition  is  reasonable  and  ought  to  be  granted  immediately. 

"  And  your  petitioners  will  ever  pray,  etc." 


Transportation.  463 


From  the  extremely  interesting  and  valuable  paper  of  Major  Harry  Ham- 
mond, referred  to  in  these  proceedings  we  have  heretofore  liberally  quoted,  but 
may  here  make  a  further  extract.  Major  Hammond  says:  "We  are  informed 
by  Maury's  maps  that  the  Savannah  is  the  eighth  river  in  length  in  North 
America,  not  excepting  the  Yukon,  while  the  Hudson  is  ninth ;  what  concerns 
us  now  is  not  the  length,  but  the  navigable  length,  and  this  means  not  what 
might  be  done  in  the  way  of  navigation,  but  what  has  been  accomplished,  to 
what  distance  has  freight  as  a  commercial  venture  been  habitually  transported 
up  the  river  ?  Mills's  statistics  of  South  Carolina,  1 826,  says,  "  boats  of  ten  ton 
ascend  the  Tugalo  to  Pulaski,  at  the  mouth  of  Brasstown  and  Panther  Creeks." 
Mr.  Carson  confirming  this  tells  us  that  the  mouth  of  Panther  Creek  is  154 
miles  by  water  from  Augusta.  In  the  annual  report  of  the  chief  engineer  of 
the  United  States  for  1885  the  distance  from  Augusta  to  Savannah  is  stated  to 
be  273  miles  ;  in  all  427  miles  that  is  navigated.  No  river  on  the  Atlantic  slope, 
from  Florida  to  Canada,  has  this  extent;  the  Santee,  with  184  miles,  and  the 
Hudson  with  165  miles,  comes  nearest  to  it.  If  the  total  navigable  length  of 
all  the  rivers  of  this  slope  be  added  together,  including  the  Savannah,  it  will  be 
be  2,516  miles  of  navigable  waters.  Of  this  total  the  Savannah  River  fur- 
nishes one-  sixth.  If  we  subtract  tidewater  navigation  there  will  be  found  a 
total  of  790  miles  of  navigable  stream  for  all  the  rivers  of  the  Atlantic  slope, 
and  if  eighteen  miles  of  tidewater  above  Savannah  be  deducted,  the  river  from 
that  point  to  Augusta,  the  head  of  steamboat  navigation,  will  furnish  very 
nearly  thirteen  of  all  the  navigable  streams  above  tide  water.  On  the  improve- 
ment of  all  these  rivers  the  government  had  expended  to  the  30th  of  June, 
1885,  the  sum  of  $10,558,289,  or  about  $4,196  per  mile.  There  has  been  ex- 
pended on  the  Savannah  $94,000,  or  $220  per  mile." 

Shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Savannah  Valley  convention,  the 
Chronicle  sent  one  of  its  reporters,  Mr.  E.  B.  Hook,  on  a  steamer  trip  down 
the  river  in  order  to  ascertain  the  present  condition  of  the  stream,  and  from  his 
extremely  well  written  account,  we  make  some  extracts.  "  After  leaving  Au- 
gusta the  river  passes  for  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  bet^veen  fertile  plantations." 
Then,  says  Mr.  Hook,  "Going  into  the  pilot-house  we  look  out  on  the  river, 
and  the  scene  has  changed.  The  fields  on  either  bank  have  given  way  to 
dense  woods  of  cypress,  ash,  gum,  sycamore,  maple  and  oak  which  extend  to 
the  water's  edge,  and  every  tree  is  festooned  with  long  wreaths  of  gray  moss. 
The  river  wends  its  silent  way  between,  and  the  magnificent  solitude  is  broken 
only  by  the  throbbing  of  our  engines  or  the  splash  of  our  water  wheel.  The 
sky  has  cleared  overhead,  and  its  blue  canopy  is  reflected  in  the  river  below. 
The  sun  shines  out  brightly  and  throws  a  golden  sheen  across  the  water.  As 
we  turn  a  bend  in  the  river  a  flock  of  wild  ducks  are  startled  at  our  approach, 
and,  with  discordant  quacks,  go  scurrying  over  the  face  of  the  water  in  front 
of  us.     When  they  find  themselves  closely  pursued  by  the  speeding  boat  they 


464  History  of  Augusta. 


circle  up  high  in  the  air,  and  soon  disappear  in  the  distance.  Occasionally  a 
wild  turkey  is  frightened  from  an  oak  where  he  was  feeding  on  the  young  buds, 
and  with  outstretched  neck  and  awkward  flight  scuds  off  into  the  deeper  forest. 
Perhaps  several  miles  will  be  traversed  without  the  sight  of  a  living  thing,  when 
the  stillness  will  be  broken  by  a  huge  blue  crane,  six  or  seven  feet  from  beak 
to  toe  and  from  tips  of  wings,  flapping  from  the  marsh  on  our  left  and  with 
heavy  flight  crossing  the  river  in  advance  of  us,  his  long  legs  trailing  behind 
him  as  though  he  were  riding  a  stick  horse.  Now  and  then  a  squirrel,  drink- 
ing at  the  river's  edge,  is  startled  by  our  approach  and  goes  scampering  up  a 
neighboring  tree  to  disappear  in  its  branches. 

"  But,  while  we  have  been  contemplating  the  beautiful  scene,  our  boat  has 
been  covering  the  miles  and  we  find  ourselves  among  the  'Seven  Points.' 
Technically  speaking,  a  '  point'  in  a  river  is  a  place  where  it  takes  a  sudden 
turn,  sometimes  at  right  angles,  sometimes  almost  doubling  straight  back  upon 
itself,  so  that  your  boat  has  to  turn  almost  completely  and  travel  in  nearly  an 
opposite  direction.  The  inside  bank,  which  the  stream  rushes  around,  and 
around  which  your  boat  must  turn,  is  a  'point'  I  give  this  much  river  lore 
to  you  as  a  pointer.  '  Seven  Points'  is  a  collection  of  these  sharp  turns  which 
follow  close  upon  each  other,  and  you  have  hardly  rounded  one  safely  before 
you  are  upon  another.  An  idea  of  the  light  in  which  these  points  are  re- 
garded by  the  steamboatmen  may  be  gained  from  the  nomenclature  of  the 
river,  and  I  give  you  a  few  of  the  names  that  you  may  judge.  Taking  them 
at  random  we  have  Wild  Cat,  Saucy  Boy,  Cat  Finger,  Ring  Jaw,  Whirligig, 
Devil's  Elbow  and  Little  Hell.  Experiences  that  could  have  produced  such  a 
nomenclature  will  give  you  some  idea  of  the  tight  times  that  a  steamboat  cap- 
tain and  pilot  have.  Around  some  of  these  points  the  river  dashes  in  a  nar- 
row channel  with  a  swift  current,  and  the  utmost  skill  must  be  used  in  steering 
and  heading  and  backing  to  prevent  being  swept  pell  mell  against  the  banks  or 
into  the  trees  that  line  them.  Some  of  the  worst  of  these  points,  though,  could 
be  remedied  at  little  expense  and  by  very  simple  means. 

"  In  cases  where  the  river  doubles  back  on  itself,  flowing  at  an  acute  angle 
around  a  narrow  bank  that  is  covered  with  trees,  and  juts  out  a  hundred  yards, 
all  that  would  be  necessary  would  be  to  cut  a  canal  five  or  six  feet  deep  straight 
across  for  a  hundred  feet,  and  let  the  river  run  through  it  instead  of  around  it, 
and  in  a  little  while  it  would  eat  away  the  point,  or  the  first  freshet  would  blow 
it  completely  out.  If  the  government  can  once  be  interested  in  this  river  it 
can  be  made  a  safe  and  easy  highway  for  much  larger  boats. 

"  Forty  miles  from  Savannah,  on  a  red  bluff  that  overlooks  the  river,  we 
came  in  sight  of  a  rock  church  about  a  hundred  yards  from  the  river  bank  in  a 
grove  of  trees.  This  is  called  Ebenezer  Church,  and  is  given  out  by  the  river 
men  to  be  the  oldest  church  in  the  United  States.  As  Jamestown,  Va.,  had 
been  settled  a  century  and  a  quarter  before  this  section  was,  they  could  hardly 


Transportation.  465 


establish  this  claim.  However,  it  is  no  new  fledgeling.  This  church,  which 
now  remains  as  the  solitary  relic  of  a  once  flourishing  town,  is  the  "Jerusalem" 
church  of  1744.  Not  far  from  it,  I  am  informed,  is  an  ancient  cemetery;  and 
as  this  stately  old  house  of  God,  with  its  steeple  pointing  to  heaven,  faded  away 
in  the  distance,  I  thought  it  seemed  to  stand  as  a  divinely  preserved  finger- 
board for  the  spirits  of  those  brave  builders  of  long  ago,  to  direct  their  flight 
when  the  great  awakening  shall  come  at  the  sounding  of  the  last  trump  on  the 
eternal  morning. 

"  From  this  point  on  the  river  increased  in  beauty,  the  banks  being  lined 
with  stately  live  oaks,  decked  with  long  streamers  of  gray  moss.  Twenty-five 
miles  from  Savannah  we  passed  Purysburg,  on  the  Carolina  side.  This  old 
town  is  beginning  to  put  on  new  life  and  to  build  up  again  its  waste  places. 
Soon  after  this  we  began  to  meet  tide  water.  Further  down  we  entered  the 
land  of  rice,  the  fields  stretching  out  on  either  side  of  the  river,  with  their 
ditches  intersecting  them  at  right  angles  every  few  hundred  yards.  Soon  we 
had  left  South  Carolina  off  to  our  left  beyond  the  backwater  arm  of  the  river, 
which  empties  into  the  stream  again  below  the  city  of  Savannah,  and  were 
traveling  between  Heard's  Island  and  the  main  land.  Then  came  Rabbit  Is- 
land and  the  city  of  Savannah  below  us  on  the  right.  As  we  neared  our  wharf 
the  city  clock  marked  the  hour  of  5:30  P.  M.,  showing  that  our  actual  running 
time  from  Augusta  to  Savannah  had  been  ten  minutes  less  than  twenty  hours, 
or  twelve  and  a  half  miles  per  hour,  an  unusually  fine  run." 

In  a  communication  from  the  pilots  and  steamboatmen  to  the  convention 
indicating  the  points  on  the  river  needing  attention,  we  find  many  names  equally 
as  euphonious  as  those  which  attracted  Mr.  Hook's  attention.  After  leaving 
Augusta  the  principal  points,  in  order  named,  are  as  follows  :  Kirk's  Bar,  Sand 
Bar,  Blue  House,  Cooney  Gut,  Miller's  Bar,  Rifle  Cut,  Buggs'  Bar,  Guinea 
Bar,  Haines  Cut,  Hancock's  Landing,  Robinson  Round,  Steele  Creek,  Seven 
Points,  Cunningham  Bars,  Stony  Bluff,  White  Woman's  Point,  Ring  Jaw  Point, 
Brown's,  Burton  Ferry,  King  Creek,  Mills'  Landing,  Matthews'  Bluff,  Cook's 
Field,  Brier  Creek,  Cut  Finger  Cut,  Poor  Robin,  Upper  Cut,  Blanket  Point, 
Hudson  Ferry,  Hog's  Nose  Round,  Parachucla,  Frying  Pan,  Hickory  Bend, 
Flat  Dish,  and  Beck's  Ferry.  At  Blanket  Point  the  ribs  of  an  old  steamboat 
still  whiten  in  the  stream. 

With  this  much  as  to  the  history  of  the  efforts  which  have  been  made  for 
nearly  a  century  past  for  the  improvement  of  the  Savannah,  we  may  resume 
the  thread  of  narration  as  to  the  methods  of  transportation  employed.  It  has 
been  seen  that  for  many  years  boats  of  some  nine  to  ten  tons  burden  navigated 
the  river  to  and  fro  as  far  as  154  miles  above  Augusta.  These  were  propelled 
by  the  brawny  arms  of  pole-men,  and  the  vessels  employed  in  the  trade  on 
that  part  of  the  river  between  Augusta  and  Savannah  differed  only  in  being  of 
greater  size,  though  we  have  found  mention  of  sail-boats  being  in  use  in  this 
&9 


466  History  of  Augusta, 


trade.  In  reference  to  these  boats  several  regulative  acts  were  passed  from 
1806  to  1836.  The  first  of  these  statutes  prohibits  any  slave  or  free  person  of 
color  from  acting  as  commander,  or  "patroon,"  as  the  act  styles  it,  of  any  boat 
engaged  in  the  transportation  of  goods,  wares,  merchandise,  or  produce  be- 
tween Augusta  and  Savannah.  In  18 15  the  owners  or  agents  of  boats  en- 
gaged in  traffic  from  Augusta  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Savannah,  were  re- 
quired to  furnish  the  patroon  at  time  of  starting  on  his  voyage  witii  a  certificate 
or  bill  of  lading,  showing  the  destination  of  the  boat,  its  cargo,  and  the  names 
of  patroon  and  consignee,  which  bill  of  lading  was  to  be  open  to  the  inspection 
of  any  white  person  demanding  it. 

In  1 8 16  another  act  was  passed  which  required  boat- owners  and  patroons 
to  prohibit  any  slave,  whether  boat-hand  or  not,  from  carrying  in  their  boats  be- 
tween Augusta  and  Savannah  any  corn,  cotton,  peas,  or  other  produce  as  their 
property  for  sale,  default  being  made  an  indictable  offence.  In  the  next  year 
the  provisions  of  this  act  were  extended  to  boats  navigating  above  Augusta, 
and  as  late  as  1836  the  prohibition  wa;  extended  to  live  stock  and  poultry, 
and  the  act  of  1 8 1  5  relative  to  bills  of  lading  was  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  Sa- 
vannah. But  while  the  boat  trade  still  flourished  a  half  century  ago,  the  steam- 
boat had  then  become  the  great  instrumentality  of  commerce  below  Augusta. 

In  considering  the  history  of  the  steamboat  on  the  Savannah  we  may  well 
begin  with  some  sketch  of  Mr.  William  Longstreet,  its  inventor,  and  may  here 
reproduce  what  we  have  said  of  him  on  another  occasion.  "  In  St.  Paul's 
Churchvard,  Augusta,  Ga.,  about  midway  down  the  walk  on  the  western  side 
of  the  church,  is  a  venerable  tombstone,  with  the  following  inscription :  "  Sacred 
to  the  memory  of  William  Longstreet,  who  departed  this  life  September  i, 
1 8 14,  aged  54  years,  10  months  and  26  days.  '  All  the  days  of  the  afflicted 
are  evil,  but  he  that  is  of  a  merry  heart  hath  a  continual  feast.'  " 

This  stone  marks  the  last  resting  place  of  one  who  may  be  justly  claimed 
as  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat.  Mr.  Longstreet  was  born,  as  the  above  de- 
scription indicates,  on  October  6,  1/59,  and  seems  early  in  life  to  have  discov- 
ered the  secret  of  steam  navigation.  In  "  Watkins's  Digest  of  Georgia  Laws," 
page  382  ,we  find  that,  on  February  i,  1788,  the  General  Assembly  passed  "  an 
act  to  secure  Isaac  Briggs  and  William  Longstreet,  tor  the  term  of  fourteen 
years,  the  sole  and  exclusive  privilege  of  using  a  newly  constructed  steam  en- 
gine, invented  by  them."  The  digest  does  not  give  the  text  of  this  statute, 
but  from  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Longstreet  to  the  governor  of  the  State  in 
1790  we  learn  that  the  engine  referred  to  must  have  been  for  use  in  a  steam- 
boat.    This  letter  is  still  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  State,  and  is  as  follows: 

Augusta,  September  26,  1790. 
Sir:  I  make  no  doubt  but  you  have  often  heard  of  my  steamboat,  and  as  often  heard  it 
laughed  at.     But  in  this  1  have  only  shared  the  fate  of  all  other  projectors,  for  it  has  uniformly 
been  the  custom  of  every  country  to  ridicule  even  the  greatest  inventions  until  use  has  proved 


Transportation.  *  467 


their  utility.  In  not  reducing  my  scheme  to  practice  has  been  a  little  unfortunate  for  me  I  con- 
fess, and  perhaps  the  people  in  general ;  but  until  very  lately  I  did  not  think  that  either  artists 
or  material  could  be  had  in  the  place  sufficient.  However,  necessity,  that  grand  science  ot  in- 
vention, has  furnished  me  with  an  idea  of  perfecting  my  plan  almost  entirely  with  wooden  ma- 
terials, and  by  such  workmen  as  may  be  got  here,  and  from  a  thorough  confidence  of  its  suc- 
cess I  hav^e  presumed  to  ask  your  assistance  and  patronage. 

Should  it  succeed  agreeable  to  my  expectation,  I  hope  I  shall  discover  that  source  of  duty 
which  such  favors  alwavs  merit  ;  and  should  it  not  succeed,  your  reward  must  lay  with  other 
unlucky  adventures. 

For  me  to  mention  to  you  all  the  advantages  arising  from  such  a  machine,  would  be  tedious 
and  indeed  quite  unnecessary,  therefore  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  state  in  this  plain  and  hum- 
ble manner  my  wish  and  opinion,  which  I  hope  you  will  excuse,  and  I  shall  remain  either  with 
or  without  approbation,     Your  Excellency's  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant. 

To  Governor  Telfair.  Wm.  Longstreet. 

The  reader  will  perceive  in  this  letter  how  Mr.  Longstreet  seems  to  smart 
under  the  ridicule  accorded  his  invention.  He  speaks  feelingly  of  having  been 
laughed  at  for  his  pains,  and  all  his  consciousness  of  having  done  the  w^orld  a 
service  seems  inadequate  to  console  him.  Tradition  relates  that  he  and  his 
steamboat  were  made  the  subject  of  a  contemporary  comic  song,  a  verse  or  two 
of  which  we  have  heard  from  a  venerable  citizen  of  Augusta : 

"  Can  you  row  the  boat  ashore, 

Billy-boy,  Billy-boy  ? 
Can  you  row  the  boat  ashore,  ,^       ^ 

Gentle  Billy? 
Can  vou  row  the  boat  ashore, 
Without  a  paddle  or  an  oar, 

Billy-boy?" 

Despite  this  ill  reception,  however,  Mr.  Longstreet  never  ceased  to  experi- 
ment upon  his  idea  until  he  made  it  a  success  some  years  after.  For  a  time, 
while  engaged  in  perfecting  his  main  invention  of  the  steamboat,  he  applied 
steam  to  other  uses,  and  at  a  very  early  period  in  this  century  we  find  him 
operating  in  Augusta  at  one  time  a  steam  cotton  gin,  and  at  another  a  steam 
saw- mill. 

Thus,  in  the  Augusta  Herald,  of  December  23,  1801,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing: "On  Sunday  morning  last,  about  two  o'clock,  fire  broke  out  in  the  house 
containing  Mr.  Longstreet's  steam  machine.  The  fire  had  attained  a  consider- 
able height  before  it  was  discovered,  but  the  exertions  of  the  citizens,  who 
turned  out  with  their  usual  alacrity,  prevented  its  extending  to  any  neighbor- 
ing tenements.  The  building,  however,  in  which  the  fire  originated,  together 
with  a  considerable  quantity  of  cotton,  which  it  contained,  we  are  sorry  to  say, 
was  entirely  consumed,  and  the  whole  ginning  machinery  was  destroyed. 
This  accident  seems  to  have  been  peculiarly  unfortunate,  as  the  ingenious  pro- 
prietor of  the  works  had,  we  understand,  the  day  before  completed  a  new 
boiler,  which  had,  on  trial,  been  found  to  equal  his  utmost  expectations,  and 


468  History  of  Augusta. 


enabled  him  with  a  single  gin,  and   with  a  very  trifling  expense  of  fuel,  to  gin 
from  800  to  1,000  weight  clean  cotton  per  day." 

In  the  same  paper  of  June  30,  1802,  a  correspondent  writes  :  "I  have  been 
several  times  to  see  the  operation  of  the  new  steam  saw-mill,  recently  con- 
structed by  Messrs.  Longstreet  &  Griffin,  and,  from  its  simplicity  am  persuaded 
it  may  be  rendered  extensively  useful,  and  be  applied  with  great  ease  and  con- 
veniency  to  all  kinds  of  heavy  machinery.  This  mill,  though  in  miniature,  ap- 
pears to  have  all  the  necessary  machinery  for  saw-mills,  and  strikes  about  one 
hundred  times  per  minute,  without  the  aid  of  any  wheel  whatever,  except  the 
fly-wheel.  So  far  as  my  judgment  extends,  and  from  the  observations  I  have 
made,  I  have  no  doubt  that  an  engine  constructed  on  the  plan  of  this  mill  may, 
in  almost  any  situation,  be  rendered  highly  advantageous,  and  particularly  so 
in  those  places  where  there  may  be  plenty  of  timber,  but  few  watercourses  on 
which  mills  can  be  erected.  As  this  machine  is  quite  portable,  I  understand 
the  proprietors  intend  taking  it  to  Savannah  and  Charleston;  and,  as  it  may 
be  rendered  obviously  important  to  the  lower  country  in  this  and  the  adjoin- 
ing State,  it  is  presumable  their  ingenuity  \yill  be  duly  appreciated  and  patron- 
ized. Mr.  Longstreet,  who,  I  presume,  is  the  principal,  and  to  whom  I  have 
heard  the  patent  belongs,  does  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  he  can  construct  a 
mill  on  this  principle  to  saw  or  grind  to  almost  any  extent." 

We  have  seen  it  stated  that  in  1806  Mr.  Longstreet  finally  obtained  suffi- 
cient means  to  construct  a  steamboat  according  to  his  ideas,  and  successfully 
operated  it  on  the  Savannah  River  opposite  Augusta,  but  have  not  been  able  to 
verify  the  information.  In  1808,  however,  it  is  beyond  question  that  he  did 
so,  and  in  the  Augusta  Herald  oi  November  10,  1808,  we  find  the  following 
editorial  mention  of  the  fact:  "We  are  happy  to  announce  that  Mr.  Long- 
street's  experiments  with  his  new  invented  steamboat  have  answered  his  most 
sanguine  expectation.  The  lovers  of  the  arts  in  this  place,  and  the  spectators 
have  been  extremely  gratified  by  the  different  essays  he  has  made,  and  no 
doubt  remains  on  their  minds,  but  his  labors  will  be  crowned  with  success,  and 
that  it  will,  were  it  necessary,  add  another  proof  that  Americans  are  endued 
with  genius."  From  the  reference  here  to  "  the  different  essays  he  has  made," 
taken  in  connection  with  the  letter  above  quoted  of  1790,  it  is  quite  likely  that 
the  statement  of  his  having  successfully  operated  a  steamboat  on  the  waters  of 
the  Savannah  in  1806  is  correct.  If  so,  he  is  indubitably  entitled  to  the  honor 
of  being  the  inventor  of  the  steamboat,  Robert  Fulton's  successful  trial  trip  up 
the  Hudson,  in  the  Clermont,  dating  from  August  7,  1807.  If  Mr.  Long- 
street's  boat  was  not  on  the  water  till  1808,  so  that  Fulton  is  entitled  to  the 
credit  of  having  first  operated  the  invention,  the  honor  of  excogitating  the  idea 
of  steam  navigation  is  still  with  the  former,  since,  as  we  have  seen,  he  receives 
a  patent  from  the  Georgia  Legislature  in  1788,  and  in  1790  mentions  the 
steamboat  by  name  as  an  invention  of  his,  then  well  known,  and  it  was  not 


Transportation.  469 


until  ^1790  that  Robert  Fulton  left  the  United  States  for  Europe  in  order  to 
perfect  his  education.  After  his  return  to  the  United  States  he  became  ac- 
quainted with  Chancellor  Livingston,  who  had  paid  great  attention  to  the  sub- 
ject of  steam  as  a  motor,  and  in  1798  obtained  from  the  New  York  Assembly 
the  exclusive  right  to  apply  it  to  the  propulsion  of  vessels.  From  this  time 
Fulton  began,  in  conjunction  with  the  chancellor,  a  series  of  experiments 
which  culminated  in  the  ClcvDiont  in  1807.  Considering  that  something  over 
nineteen  years  elapsed  from  the  time  of  the  Georgia  statute  up  to  Fulton's 
final  experiment,  and  that  Longstreet  never  relinquished  his  idea  in  all  that 
period,  but  constantly  kept  it  before  the  public,  it  is  not  at  all  improbable  but 
that  in  that  prolonged  period  intelligence  of  the  ingenious  Georgian's  idea  ex- 
tended throughout  the  then  Union.  In  fact,  we  know  that  in  1789  John  Ste- 
vens made  some  experiments  towards  steam  navigation  in  New  York,  and  that 
in  1790  John  Fitch  is  said  to  have  put  a  species  of  steamboat  on  the  Delaware, 
circumstances  tending  to  show  Longstreet's  idea  had  been  noised  abroad. 
This,  of  course,  is  but  inference  ;  but,  however  it  may  be,  one  thing  in  the 
history  of  steam  navigation  is  perfectly  well  established,  and  that  is  that  in  1788 
William  Longstreet,  of  Georgia,  had  conceived  the  idea  of  the  steamboat,  and 
either  before,  or  about  contemporaneously  with,  the  famous  trip  of  the  Clermont, 
had,  by  the  mighty  agency  of  steam,  made  a  vessel  walk  the  water  like  a  thing 
of  life. 

Mention  has  several  times  been  made  in  this  work  of  Judge  John  Schley,  of 
Augusta  as  a  gentleman  prominent  in  all  matters  of  development  and  progress 
in  this  vicinage  in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century.  As  might  have  been 
expected  Judge  Schley  took  great  interest  in  the  steamboat,  and  at  one  time 
had  in  one  of  his  storage  yards  the  machinery  of  one  of  Mr.  Longstreet's  boats. 
Mr.  Robert  Schley,  a  son  of  the  judge,  very  well  remembers  the  incident  from 
having  while  a  boy  in  playing  with  his  companions  about  the  yard,  frequently 
seen  these  relics  Not  having  paid  any  special  attention  to  the  nature  of  the 
machinery  Mr.  Schley  could  not  in  answer  to  our  inquiries  give  any  special  de- 
scription, but  remembers  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  it,  and  that  it  was  of 
iron,  a  circumstance  going  to  show  that  Mr.  Longstreet  was  not  reduced  to 
the  expedient  mentioned  in  his  letter  of  1790  to  Governor  Telfair  of  construct- 
ing it  of  wood.  Mr.  Schley  also  informs  us  that  he  remembers  \er}'  distinctly 
his  father  telling  him  that  Mr.  Longstreet's  idea  was  to  propel  his  boat  by  a 
series  of  poles  so  arranged  that  as  the  shaft  revolved  the  poles  would  alternately 
strike  the  bottom  of  the  river  and  thus  push  the  boat  forward.  The  paddle- 
wheel  seems  to  have  been  first  used  on  Fulton's  Clermont  on  the  Hudson. 

In  18 14  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  passed  "an  act  to  encourage  an  im- 
proved mode  of  transporting  merchandize  upon  the  waters  of  the  State  of 
Georgia,"  which  recites  as  the  reason  of  its  enactment  "  that  Samuel  Howard, 
of  the  city  of  Savannah,  hath  presented  his  memorial  to  the  General  Assembl}-, 


470  History  of  Augusta. 


in  which  he  proposes  to  adopt  a  new  and  improved  mode  of  transporting  mer- 
chandize upon  the  waters  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  by  towing  and  warping  the 
ships,  vessels,  boats,  and  rafts,  in  and  upon  which  the  same  may  be  laden,  by 
means  of  other  boats  or  vessels  impelled  by  the  aid  of  steam,  and  it  is  right 
that  those  who  bestow  their  time  and  money  upon  enterprises  of  public  utility 
should  be  secured  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  fruit  of  their  exertions  and  experi- 
ments." It  then  proceeded  to  enact  that  the  exclusive  right  to  use  steam  in 
the  manner  above  specified  should  be  vested  in  Samuel  Howard  and  his  asso- 
ciates on  certain  specified  terms,  to  wit:  Within  three  years  from  the  passage 
of  the  act.  Howard,  his  assigns,  or  associates  were  to  have  at  least  one  such 
machine  in  operation  and  within  ten  years  at  least  one  on  each  river,  except 
that  as  to  the  river  Savannah  the  grant  was  not  to  be  operative  until  the  Leg- 
islature of  Carolina  had  made  a  like  grant.  If  there  was  a  failure  to  continue 
operations  at  any  one  time  for  the  space  of  a  twelvemonth  the  grant  was  to 
cease  and  determine.  It  was  also  made  lawful  for  the  grantee  to  remove  any 
obstructions  in  the  Savannah,  and  place  them  on  the  banks  thereof,  and  to 
place  marks  or  buoys  on  any  obstructions  he  did  not  see  fit  to  remove.  All 
goods  transported  on  the  Savannah  by  the  grantee's  machines  were  to  be 
exempt  from  tolls  imposed  by  the  commissioners  of  navigation  of  that  river. 
Any  person  infringing  the  privilege  granted  was  to  forfeit  $500  for  each 
offense  and  all  his  boats  and  machinery,  and  any  person  obstructing  the  gran- 
tec's  machines  or  removing  his  beacons  was  to  be  fined  $100. 

By  act  of  December  21,  18 14,  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  concurred 
in  the  action  of  Georgia  and  vested  Howard  and  his  associates  with  exclusive 
right  to  tow  and  warp  vessels  by  steam  on  the  Savannah  for  twenty  years. 
From  this  act  we  learn  that  one  John  L.  Sullivan  had  taken  out  a  patent  for 
towing  by  steam,  and  that  Howard  was  his  assignee.  It  does  not  appear  that 
Howard  began  operations  under  this  act  of  18 14,  but  he  seems  to  have  en- 
listed quite  a  number  of  associates,  and  in  18 17  the  Legislature  incorporated 
them  as  "The  President,  Directors  and  Company  of  the  Steamboat  Company 
of  Georgia,"  confirmed  to  them  all  the  privileges  originally  granted  Howard, 
and  gave  them  the  exclusive  privilege  of  navigating  the  rivers  and  other 
waters  of  the  State  with  boats  or  vessels  propelled  by  steam,  whether  employed 
alone  or  for  the  purpose  of  warping,  towing,  or  otherwise  impelling  other  boats 
or  vessels,  rafts,  floats,  or  arks.  The  capital  stock  was  fixed  at  $200,000  in- 
creasable  by  a  two-thirds  vote  to  $800,000.  Within  seven  years  the  company 
was  to  have  a  steamboat  in  operation  on  each  and  every  river  under  penalty 
of  a  loss  of  its  exclusive  privilege  thereon  ;  a  like  penalty  to  be  visited  on  the 
failure  for  a  twelvemonth  to  operate  a  boat  on  any  river  after  once  beginning 
so  to  do,  after  the  seven  years.  The  company  was  made  liable  for  all  losses 
caused  by  fire  or  steam,  if  occasioned  by  their  negligence  or  that  of  their  ser- 
vants or  agents,  and  were  entitled  to  insure  freights.      Any  infringement  was 


Transportation.  47 1 


punishable  by  a  fine  of  $1,000  and  forfeiture  of  the  infringing  vessel  and  her 
machinery.  The  incorporators  were  Albert  Brux,  William  Gumming,  John 
McKinne,  Samuel  Hale,  Andrew  Erwin,  Henry  Shultz,  Benjamin  Sims,  Shel- 
don C.  Dunning,  William  Scarborough,  Jonathan  Meigs,  John  Gurnin,  Samuel 
Howard,  Robert  Isaac,  Abraham  Twiggs,  Augustin  Slaughter,  Oliver  Sturgess, 
William  Hart,  William  Taylor,  Gharles  Labuzan,  Benjamin  Burroughs,  Will- 
iam Sims,  Samuel  P.  P.  Fay,  Jared  Grose,  Elias  Reid,  Samuel  Lark,  Charles 
Howard,  Basil  Lamar,  Barna  McKinne,  Joseph  Grant,  James  Erwin.  James  G. 
O.  Wilkinson,  Thomas  Talmage,  Walter  Crenshaw,  Augustus  Brux,  and  David 
McKinne,  a  very  large  number  of  whom  were  citizens  of  Augusta.  In  the 
same  year  in  which  the  Steamboat  Company  was  incorporated  the  Legisla- 
ture appropriated  the  sum  of  $250,000  as  a  permanent  fund  for  the  improve- 
ment of  internal  navigation  in  Georgia,  and  directed  the  governor  to  invest 
the  same  in  bank  or  other  profitable  stock,  the  interest  from  the  fund  to  be  ap- 
plied as  directed  by  the  Legislature. 

In  18 18  Governor  Rabun  informed  the  Legislature  that  bank  stock  com- 
manded too  great  a  premium  to  warrant  inve.stment,  but  that  he  had  pur- 
chased two  hundred  shares  in  the  stock  of  the  Steamboat  Company  for  $100,- 
000,  being  par.  By  the  terms  of  the  contract  of  purchase  the  company  was  to 
secure  the  State  by  a  mortgage  on  real  estate  for  the  $100,000  and  eight  per 
cent,  interest  thereon.  By  the  next  year  the  company  appears  to  have  begun 
operations  on  the  Savannah  River,  the  joint  committee  on  internal  improve- 
ments reporting:  "With  regard  to  the  Savannah  River  from  Augusta  down, 
we  have  the  pleasure  of  stating  that  an  efficient  use  of  machinery  appears  to 
have  been  introduced  into  their  system  of  operations." 

By  1823  the  Steamboat  Company  was  in  full  operation  on  the  Savannah, 
and  possibly  on  other  rivers.  At  the  same  time  there  was  a  steamboat  line 
operating  from  Hamburg  to  Charleston.  While  the  distance  from  Hamburg 
to  Charleston  was  about  twice  as  great  as  from  Augusta  to  Savannah,  the 
freight  on  the  Charleston  line  was  no  more  than  that  charged  on  the  other. 
The  consequence  was  that  the  cotton  of  Upper  South  Carolina  went  7'ia  Ham- 
burg to  Charleston,  to  the  detriment  of  Augusta  and  Savannah.  Between 
Hamburg  and  Charleston  competition  in  the  steamboat  business  was  free,  and 
this  competition  had  forced  rates  down.  The  monopoly  enjoyed  by  the 
Steamboat  Company  of  Georgia  enabled  them  to  fix  their  own  rates  between 
Augusta  and  Savannah.  Recognizing  the  advantage  given  her  by  this  state 
of  affairs  South  Carolina  fostered  the  commerce  of  Hamburg  in  every  way.  In 
1 82 1  the  town  was  exempted  for  five  years  from  taxation  and  at  a  later  per- 
iod it  is  stated  that  a  bounty  of  $100,000  was  voted  to  sustain  it  in  its  compe- 
tition with  Augusta.  It  was  not  long  before  memorials  begun  to  pour  in  upon 
the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia,  which  appointed  a  special  joint  committee 
to  consider  the  grievances  complained  of  by  Augusta,  Savannah,  and  Darien. 


472 


History  of  Augusta. 


This  committee  made  a  voluminous  report  which  begins  by  saying  that  the 
commerce  of  those  cities  lias  wofuUy  fallen  off,  that  rents  have  suffered  an  un- 
precedented diminution,  notwithstanding  which  half  the  houses  are  vacant, 
that  real  estate  has  diminished  in  value  one-half,  and  that  the  income  of  all 
classes  dependent  on  commerce  is  constantly  decreasing.  The  causes  of  this 
decline,  the  committee  then  proceeds  to  consider.  One  prominent  cause  it 
finds  in  the  monopoly  enjoyed  by  the  Steamboat  Company  as  respects  steam 
transportation  between  Augusta  and  Savannah.  While  it  is  admitted  that 
freights  have  been  reduced  by  the  use  of  steam,  as  compared  with  what  they 
were  before,  it  is  found  that  they  are  not  as  low  as  they  would  be  if  there  were 
no  monopoly,  and  for  proof  of  this  it  is  shown  that  freights  by  the  Charleston 
line  where  competition  was  free  are,  proportionate  to  distance,  but  half  as  much 
as  those  on  the  Georgia  line.  The  report  says  on  this  subject :  "  The  bounty 
of-Providence  has  given  us  a  noble  river.  The  ingenuity  of  man  has  taught 
us  to  navigate  it  by  steam,  and  we  have  marred  these  blessings  by  closing  it 
against  individual  enterprise.  The  waters  of  the  Savannah,  which  every  prin- 
ciple of  sound  policy  required  us  to  preserve  as  free  as  the  breezes  of  the  moun- 
tains from  whence  they  flow,  are  hermetically  sealed  by  legislative  enactment 
against  the  adventurous  spirit  of  our  citizens  The  rights  which  have  been 
granted  must  be  respected.  The  plighted  faith  of  the  State  must  be  preserved. 
But  if  it  shall  appear  to  the  Legislature  that  the  existence  of  these  rights  is 
injurious  to  the  commercial  and  agricultural  interest  of  the  State,  that  the  in- 
jury which  they  operate  is  not  confined  to  the  inhabitants  of  Savannah  and 
Augusta,  but  extends  to  all  who  deal  in  the  markets  of  these  cities,  that  it  is 
not  limited  even  to  them,  but  embraces  also  the  inhabitants  of  Darien,  and 
that  portion  of  our  citizens  who  dwell  on  the  waters  of  which  it  is  the  outlet  to 
the  ocean  ;  that  the  aggregate  of  this  loss  amounts  up  to  a  sum  more  than  suf- 
ficient to  extinguish  this  chartered  claim  with  tlie  full  and  free  consent  of  the 
proprietors  ;  that  the  means  are  within  the  control  of  the  State,  without  the  ad- 
vance of  a  dollar  from  its  treasury,  then  it  is  respectfully  suggested  by  the 
committee  that  the  duty  to  do  so  is  imperative,  that  it  is  demanded  by  a  due 
regard  to  the  interests  of  the  people  of  Georgia.  The  Steamboat  Company  is 
indebted  to  the  State  in  the  sum  of  $100,000.  It  is  understood  that  the  stock- 
holders will  be  willing  on  the  release  of  this  debt  to  relinquish  all  claim  under 
their  charter.  Can  it  be  doubted  that  sound  policy  requires  the  adoption  of 
the  measure?"  The  committee  therefore  offered  the  following  among  other 
resolutions  looking  to  the  improvement  of  the  commercial  status :  "That  it 
would  greatly  conduce  to  the  interest  of  the  State  at  large,  and  would  essen- 
tially promote  its  commerce,  if  the  rivers  of  the  State  were  open  to  the  indi- 
vidual enterprise  of  its  citizens,  to  accomplish  which  it  is  necessary  to  obtain 
the  voluntary  surrender  of  the  chartered  rights  of  the  Steamboat  Company  of 
Georgia;  and  it  being  understood  that  the  stockholders  in  the  said  company 


Transportation.  473 


will  be  willing  to  surrender  their  claims  under  said  charter  on  being  released 
from  the  debt  due  by  them  to  the  State,  it  is  expedient  to  release  the  said  debt 
on  the  condition  of  receiving  such  surrender,  and  his  excellency  the  governor 
be  authorized  and  requested  to  take  the  necessary  measures  for  carrying  this 
into  effect." 

These  recommendations  passed  in  the  shape  of  a  resolution,  "  That  his  ex- 
cellency the  governor  be  requested  to  ascertain  from  the  Steamboat  Company 
of  Georgia  the  lowest  terms  on  which  the  said  company  will  surrender  its  char- 
ter to  the  State  and  that  he  be  requested  to  communicate  the  result,  together 
with  such  information  as  he  may  be  able  to  obtain,  tending  to  show  the  expe- 
diency or  inexpediency  of  the  State's  making  the  said  purchase  to  the  next 
Legislature." 

In  1824  the  Steamboat  Company  memorialized  the  Legislature  to  rescind 
the  contract  of  1820,  whereby  $100,000  of  the  internal  improvement  fund  had 
been  invested  in  its  stock.  While  called  an  investment,  the  transaction  seems 
to  have  been  a  sort  of  conditional  loan  to  the  company,  of  which  it  had  then 
repaid  $32,000,  and  the  answer  to  the  memorial  was  that  if  the  company  would 
in  six  months  thereafter  pay  into  the  treasury  $68,000,  and  surrender  its  exclu- 
sive right  of  steam  navigation  of  the  rivers  of  the  State  the  State  would  re- 
turn the  company  its  stock  and  mortgages,  rescind  the  original  agreement  of 
loan  and  give  the  company  an  acquittance  in  full  of  all  demands.  The  next 
year  the  company  tendered  the  governor  the  sum  of  $68,000  in  bills  of  the 
Bank  of  Darien,  which  his  excellency  declined  to  receive  on  the  ground  that 
he  construed  the  resolution  to  mean  gold  and  silver,  or  specie  funds. 

After  this  we  find  no  trace  of  any  effort  to  deprive  the  Steamboat  Company 
of  its  exclusive  privileges.  To  the  contrary,  in  1833.  the  company  was  au- 
thorized to  run  a  railroad  or  canal  from  Augusta  to  such  point  below  the 
shoals  and  obstructions  near  the  city  as  it  might  deem  advisable,  and  for  this 
purpose  was  authorized  to  condemn  such  land  as  might  be  necessary  for  the 
road  bed  or  canal,  and  for  three  hundred  feet  on  either  side.  No  other  canal 
or  line  of  rail  was  to  be  constructed  within  ten  miles  of  the  route  selected  by 
the  company,  without  its  consent.  For  twenty-five  years  the  company  was  to 
have  the  right  to  use  its  railroad  or  canal,  and  at  the  expiration  of  that  time 
the  State  was  to  have  an  option  upon  it  at  par  value,  but  if  not  then  bought 
the  property  and  franchise  were  to  remain  to  the  company  forever.  In  the 
same  year  the  Central  Railroad  was  incorporated,  and  in  1838  the  Augusta 
and  Waynesboro  road,  now  the  Augusta  and  Savannah,  and  the  completion 
of  these  connecting  systems  was  probably  the  cause  of  no  action  being  taken 
by  the  Steamboat  Company. 

In  1834  the  charter  of  the  Steamboat  Company  was  extended  for  twenty 
years  after  December  19,  1837,  the  termination  of  its  original  charter,  but  with- 
out the  exclusive  privilege  originally  granted.     The  act  declares  that  after  De- 


474  History  of  Augusta. 


cember  19,  1837,  tlie  exclusive  franchise  section  of  the  charter  shall  stand  re- 
pealed, but  it  is  evident  that  some  years  before  that  the  company  had  intimated 
its  acquiescence  in  the  chartering  of  other  steamboat  lines.  The  first  of  these 
charters  being  in  the  year  1834  when  the  old  company's  charter  was  granted, 
there  was  probably  some  tacit  understanding  whereby  in  consideration  of  an 
extension  the  company  was  not  to  enforce  its  exclusive  franchise  against  new 
lines. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  in  1835  sundry  citizens  of  Augusta  and  Savannah,  namely 
Amory  Sibley,  Gazaway  B.  Lamar,  John  Bones,  Moses  Roff,  Charles  Lippitt, 
John  M.  Adams,  David  W.  St.  John,  James  Hubbard,  William  P.  Rathbone, 
Samuel  D.  Corbitt,  and  David  L.  Adams,  were  incorporated  as  the  Iron  Steam- 
boat Company,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $100,000.  in  shares  of  $iOO  each,  in- 
creasable  by  a  two-thirds  vote  to  $400,000.  The  company  was  authorized  by 
steamboats,  or  any  other  kind  of  vessels,  to  navigate  any  of  the  waters  of  Geor- 
gia for  passenger  or  freight  traffic,  and  to  insure  freights  against  fire  or  marine 
loss.  There  were  to  be  twelve  directors,  seven  resident  in  Augusta  and  five  in 
Savannah.  The  main  office  was  to  be  in  Augusta,  and  the  Savannah  direct- 
ors  were  to  manage  the  business  at  that  end  of  the  line. 

In  1836  the  Savannah  and  Augusta  Steamboat  Company  was  incorporated 
with  a  capital  of  $80,000,  increasable  by  a  two-thirds  vote  to  $150,000.  This 
company  was  authorized  to  navigate  any  of  the  waters  of  the  State  with  ves- 
sels propelled  by  steam,  either  employed  alone,  or  in  warping,  towing,  or  oth- 
erwise impelling  other  boats  and  vessels,  rafts,  floats,  or  arks.  The  incorpora- 
tors were  Samuel  H.  Parkman,  William  Duncan,  Henry  Harper,  J.  and  W.  Har- 
per, John  P.  King,  G.  B.  Cumming.  Benjamin  Burroughs,  Edward  Padelford, 
P^ay  &  Co.,  Adams  &  Burroughs,  Samuel  D.  Corbitt,  Daniel  Kirkpatrick,  and 
John  S.  Combs. 

In  1 85  I  George  W.  Garmany,  Moses  A.  Cohen,  Jeremiah  W.  Stokes,  Or- 
lando A.  Wood,  Joseph  J.  Claghorn  and  John  Cunningham,  jr.,  (Wood,  Clag- 
horn  &  Co.),  Alexander  Thomas,  James  Skinner,  Andrew  Burnside  and  Ed- 
ward J.  Jones  and  Samuel  N.  Papot  (Jones  &  Papot),  were  incorporated  as  the 
Union  Steamboat  Company  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  for  the  purpose 
of  conducting  a  carrying  trade  by  steam  and  other  boats  on  the  Savannah 
River,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $21,500,  increasable  to  $100,000.  From  run- 
ning between  Hamburg,  Augusta  and  Savannah,  this  line  was  often  called  the 
Augusta  and  Hamburg  Steamboat  Company. 

In  1859  James  J.  Field,  Eliel  Lockhart,  Drury  B.  Cade,  Joel  T.  Lockhart. 
Foster  Blodgett,  jr.,  and  William  Gibson  were  incorporated  as  "The  Augusta. 
Petersburg  and  Savannah  River  Steam  and  Pole  Boat  Navigation  Company  of 
Northeastern  Georgia,"  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  increasable  to  $i,ooo,000. 
The  object  of  this  company  was  the  opening  and  clearing  out  a  channel  in  the 
Savannah  and  Tugalo  Rivers  to  the  Georgia  boundary  line  so  as  to  admit  the 


Transportation.  475 


passage  of  light  steam  and  pole  boats  of  at  least  fifty  tons  burden.  The  office 
was  fixed  at  Augusta,  but  the  company  did  not  get  into  operation,  the  war 
soon  afterwards  breaking  out. 

By  act  of  September  22,  1887,  Zachariah  McCord,  James  Tobin,  James  J. 
Dicks,  Joseph  H.  Day,  and  Benjamin  H.  Smith,  jr.,  were  incorporated  as  the 
Augusta  Steamboat  Company.  The  previous  incorporation  of  this  company 
under  the  general  navigation  act  of  1881  was  confirmed,  and  it  was  declared 
that  as  the  charter  was  granted  to  secure  water  navigation  and  the  benefit  of 
competition,  any  contract  by  it  with  any  railroad  company  intended  to  defeat 
competition  or  encourage  monopoly  should  be  void,  and  the  stock  of  any  offi- 
cer or  stockholder  concerned  in  such  agreement  should  be  ferfeited,  and  to  that 
end  any  stockholder,  or  any  merchant  in  Augusta,  or  any  member  of  the  Au- 
gusta Exchange  might  institute  proceedings. 

This  closes  the  list  of  incorporated  steamboat  companies  doing  business  on 
the  Savannah  from  Augusta,  and  it  but  remains  to  trace  the  history  of  the  ves- 
sels employed. 

The  first  use  to  which  steam  was  put  was,  as  has  been  seen,  in  towing  or 
warping.  The  early  steamboats  were  mere  tugs  of  small  power,  which  pain- 
fully towed  the  ordinary  river  boats,  or  arks,  along  the  straight  stretches  of  the 
river,  and  warped  them  around  the  bends.  The  next  step  was  that  the  steam- 
boats were  made  longer  and  stronger,  and  with  a  barge  lashed  on  either  side 
plowed  their  way  up  and  down  the  stream.  Then  the  third  era  was  entered 
on  and  the  steamboat  itself  carried  the  freight.  During  all  this  while  the  side- 
wheel  was  used,  and  it  was  considered  a  very  startling  and  useful  innovation 
when  Mr.  John  Moore  adopted  the  idea  in  vogue  for  some  years  prior  on  the 
Western  rivers,  and  employed  one  large  stern  wheel,  thus  enabling  the  width 
and  consequent  carrying  capacity  of  the  vessel  to  be  greatly  increased. 

The  names  of  most  if  not  all  the  steamboats  navigating  the  river  have  been 
preserved  to  us,  and  we  have  pretty  full  accounts  of  the  catastrophes  closing 
some  of  their  careers.  The  Steamboat  Company  of  Georgia  had  at  various  pe- 
riods some  thirteen  boats:  the  Enterprise,  Sam  Howard,  Savannah,  Augusta, 
(No.  i).  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Tugalo,  Cherokee,  Tennessee,  T.  S.  Metcalf, 
D.  L.  Adams,  A7igusta(No.  2),  Chatham.  The  boats  named  Augusta  had  ill- 
luck,  the  Augusta  No.  i  being  destroyed  by  fire  at  the  city  bridge,  and  the  Au- 
gusta No.  2  burned  at  Gray's  Point.  The  D.  L.  Adams,  was  sold  for  use  on  a 
South  American  river,  and  the  Chatham  was  captured  while  running  the  block- 
ade during  the  war. 

The  Iron  Steamboat  Company  ran  six  boats  :  the  Free  Trade,  John  Ran- 
dolph, Lamar,  Hamburg,  Sibley,  and  W.  H.  Stark.  The  Hamburg  was  burnt 
at  Hager  Slager,  and  the  Stark  sunk  at  Silver  Bluff. 

The  Savannah  and  Augusta  Steamboat  Company  had  three  boats,  the  Ogle- 
thorpe, which  blew  up  at  Beck's  Ferry ;  the  Elbert,  which  was  burned  at  Buz- 
zard's Bay,  and  the  Hamburg. 


4/6  History  of  Augusta. 


The  Steamboat  Company  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  commonly  called 
the  Augusta  and  Hamburg  line,  had  two  boats,  the  H.  L.  Cook  and  the  Oregon. 
The  latter  sunk  in  1854. 

The  Augusta  Steamboat  Company  of  1887,  has  two  boats,  the  Progress  and 
the  Advance,  both  built  at  Augusta. 

Besides  the  incorporated  companies  there  were  a  number  of  private  lines. 
Gazaway  B.  Lamar  ran  eight  boats,  the  William  Gaston,  built  at  Augusta;  the 
Governor  Taylor,  G.  B.  Lamar,  Free  Trade,  John  Randolph.  Mary  Snmviers, 
De  Rosetto.,  and  Lamar.  The  Free  Trade  and  Lamar  were  Iron  Steamboat 
Company's  vessels.  The  G.  B.  Lamar  ^z^s  burnt  at  Savannah;  the  Free  Trade 
blew  up  at  Baldnaker's  Point ;  the  John  Randolph  was  destroyed  at  the  bom- 
bardment of  Charleston,  and  the  Lamar  was  captured  running  the  blockade. 
The  Mary  Summers  was  used  in  the  Mexican  War. 

Samuel  Moore  and  Thomas  N.  Philpot  ran  the  Fashion  line  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war,  consisting  of  the  John  A.  Moore,  burnt  afterwards  on  the  Edisto 
River;  the  Talomico,  sunk  at  Blanket  Point,  and  the  Columbia. 

There  were  some  twenty  odd  other  boats  running  at  various  times  before 
the  war  between  Savannah  and  Augusta,  many  of  which  were  the  subject  of 
disaster.  The  Christopher -wdi?,  burnt  at  Blanket  Point;  the  Governor  Troup,  at 
Half  Moon;  and  the  Ell  Cell,  on  the  South  Carolina  coast;  the  Sylvan  was 
burnt,  as  also  the  R.  H.  May,  which  was  burnt  a  short  distance  below  Augusta. 
It  was  the  first  steamboat  from  Augusta  to  Savannah  after  the  cessation  of  hos- 
tilities. The  Amazon  was  sunk  at  Sand  Bar  ferry;  the  Elize,  at  Old  Keefe's 
Point ;  the  Leesbnrg,  at  Gray's  Point;  the  Hard  Times,  at  Kirk's  Bar;  and  the 
R.  E.  Lee,  within  a  mile  of  Savannah  ;  the  Eclipse  blew  up  at  Mill  Stone  Land- 
ing ;  and  the  J.  G.  Lawton,  at  Gum  Stump  Landing.  The  vessels  which  lived 
out  their  lives  were  the  Washington,  on  which  La  Fayette  visited  Augusta;  the 
Tvanhoc,  Forester,  Santee,  LLancock,  Fashion,  Columbia,  Union,  Express,  Inez, 
St.  Claire,  and  Baudry  Moore. 

The  Charleston  line,  or  the  one  plying  between  Hamburg  and  Charleston, 
had  fifteen  boats:  The  Henry  SJinltz,  which  blew  up  at  the  Augusta  bridge 
from  an  explosion  of  powder  in  her  hold;  the  William  Lowndes,  burnt  at  Flour 
Gap;  Cain,  burnt  at  the  foot  of  Campbell  street,  near  the  present  location  of 
the  Riverside  Mills;  the  Caledonia,  sunk  about  the  same  place;  St.  John,%\\\'iV 
at  Gray  Point ;  Edgefield,  sunk  at  Burton's  Ferr}' ;  Duncan  McCraig,  blown 
up  at  dock  ;  the  Pendleton,  Liberty,  Andrew  Jackson,  John  D.  Morgan,  John 
Stoucy,  William  Scabrook,  Charleston,  and  Augusta  of  Charleston. 

It  will  be  seen  that  about  seventy  steamboats  navigated  the  Savannah  from 
about  1820  to  1865.  As  many  as  fifteen  in  a  week  would  arrive  and  depart, 
but  the  dangers  of  the  voyage  were  many.  About  thirty  were  destroyed,  some 
thirteen  burned,  six  blown  up,  and  eleven  sunk.  Three  were  lost  at  Gray's 
Point,  two  at  Blanket  Point,  the  rest  scattered  along  the  river. 


Transportation.  477 


Since  the  war  the  boats  put  on  the  river  hav^e  been  the  PV.  T.  Wheless,  burnt 
at  Savannah;  the  Alice  Clark,  lost  on  the  CaroHna  coast;  the  Mary  Fisher, 
sunk  at  Parachucla;   the  Katie,  the  Ethel,  Neiv  South,  Progress,  and  Advance. 

Before  passing  from  the  subject  of  the  Savannah  River  we  must  give  some 
account  of  the  bridge  over  that  stream  at  Augusta,  the  same  having  been  a 
great  highway  of  traffic  with  the  city  for  about  one  hundred  years.  In  1768 
the  Colonial  government  established  a  ferry  from  tl>e  center  of  the  city  to  the 
blufif  just  opposite,  on  the  Carolina  shore.  In  1790  this  ferry  franchise  was 
lodged  by  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  in  Wade  Hampton,  of  South  Carolina, 
with  the  further  right  to  build  a  bridge  over  the  river  at  or  near  the  ferry  site. 
The  bridge  was  to  be  at  least  sixteen  feet  in  width,  and,  as  a  rent  therefor, 
Hampton  was  annually  to  pay  to  the  commissioners  of  Augusta  fifty  pounds 
sterling,  securing  such  rental  by  a  mortgage  of  the  bridge  and  one  acre  of  land 
on  the  South  Carolina  side,  on  which  the  bridge  abutted.  The  master,  pro- 
fessors, and  all  students  for  the  time  being,  of  Richmond  Academy  were  for- 
ever to  pass  free,  but  on  all  others  Hampton  was  empowered  to  levy  a  toll 
according  to  rates  specified  in  the  act:  Foot  passengers,  threepence;  man  on 
horseback,  sixpence;  four- horse  wagon,  loaded,  four  shillings  and  eightpence, 
etc.  The  bridge  was  to  be  ready  for  use  February  17,  1791,  and  this  condition 
seems  to  have  been  complied  with.  The  "Yazoo  Freshet,"  of  1796  swept  it 
away,  and  in  the  next  year  the  Legislature  renewed  Hampton's  grant  and  gave 
him  two  years  in  which  to  replace  the  structure.  It  appears  that  in  1799  this 
was  done,  but  some  years  later  this  new  bridge  was  destroyed,  and  in  1809  the 
Legislature  empowered  Walter  Leigh  and  Edward  Rowell  to  construct  another 
with  following  tolls  :  Foot  passengers,  six  and  one-fourth  cents;  hogshead  of 
tobacco,  twenty-five  cents  ;   four- horse  wagon  loaded,  $i,  etc.,  etc. 

This,  too,  was  destroyed,  and  in  1814  the  Legislature  granted  the  bridge 
franchise  to  John  McKinne  and  Henry  Shultz.  In  1813  the  Legislature  of 
South  Carolina  had  granted  Henry  Shultz  and  Lewis  Cooper  the  right  to  build 
a  toll-bridge  from  the  South  Carolina  bank  to  Augusta.  Cooper  assigned  his 
interest  to  John  McKinne,  and  hence  in  18 14  the  above  stated  Georgia  grant. 
At  the  time  this  was  made  McKinne  and  Shultz  had  already  constructed  "  a 
strong,  elegant,  and  substantial  bridge."  Tlie  Carolina  and  Georgia  grants 
agreed  in  their  rate  of  toll,  which  was  as  follows :  Wagon  and  team,  or  four- 
wheeled  carriage,  seventy-five  cents;  two-wheeled  carriage  or  c.irt,  thirty- 
seven  and  one -half  cents  ;  rolling  hogshead,  twenty- five  cents;  man  and  horse, 
twelve  and  one-half  cents;  foot  passenger,  si.K  and  one-fourth  cents  ;  cattle,  six 
and  one-fourth  cents;   hog,  sheep,  or  goat,  four  cents. 

Prior  to  1823  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia  had  become  the  owner  of  the 
bridge,  the  same  having  been  sold  on  execution  against  McKinne  and  Shultz, 
and  in  that  year  the  legislative  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  causes 
of  Augusta's  then  commercial  decline,  found  as  one  of  the  reasons  that  business 


478  History  of  Augusta. 


was  driven  away  by  tlie  tolls  levied  at  the  bridge.  They  therefore  reported 
"  that  it  would  greatly  conduce  to  the  prosperity  of  the  commerce  and  agricul- 
ture of  the  State,  by  preventing  the  diversion  of  the  former  from  Augusta  and 
Savannah  to  Hamburg  and  Ciiarleston,  to  purchase  the  bridge  over  Savan- 
nah River  between  Augusta  and  Hamburg,  and  to  render  it  free  under  proper 
regulations  to  persons  trading  with  Augusta.  And  that  the  same  may  be  done 
without  any  advance  of  money  from  the  treasury,  either  by  the  transfer  of  stock 
held  by  the  State  in  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  the  present  proprietors 
of  the  bridge,  or  by  a  pledge  of  the  taxes  of  the  county  of  Richmond  for  a  term 
of  years  equal  to  that  during  which  the  citizens  of  Hamburg  are  exempted 
from  taxation  [/.  e.  five],  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia  having  signified  its 
willingness  to  transfer  the  same,  at  cost,  for  the  purpose  aforesaid."  The  report 
was  tabled,  and  matters,  therefore,  so  far  as  the  bridge  was  concerned,  remained 
as  before. 

In  1830  the  Legislature  of  South  Carolina  renewed  to  the  Bank  of  the  State 
of  Georgia  the  bridge  franchise  granted  to  Shultz  and  Cooper  in  1813,  for  the 
period  of  fourteen  years  after  the  expiration  of  the  old  franchise  in  December, 
1 834,  and  in  1 833  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  renewed  to  the  Bank  for  ten  years 
the  franchise  given  by  it  to  Shultz  and  McKinne. 

In  1834  the  Legislature  conferred  on  J.  K.  Kilburn,  James  Harper,  Jona- 
than Meigs  and  William  Harper,  their  associates  and  assigns,  the  right  to  build 
a  bridge  across  the  Savannah  at  the  western  end  of  the  city  from  the  end  of 
McKinne  or  Mill  street,  and  to  charge  the  same  rates  of  toll  thereon  as  were 
allowed  at  the  lower  bridge.    This  bridge  was  swept  away  in  the  freshet  of  1 840. 

In  1838  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia  sold  the  lower  bridge  to  Gaza- 
way  B.  Lamar,  and  in  1840  Lamar  and  the  then  owners  of  the  upper  bridge 
sold  both  to  the  city  council  of  Augusta. 

In  1840  the  Legislature  confirmed  this  purchase,  and  enacted  that  council 
should  thenceforth  "have  all  the  powers,  authority,  and  privileges  vested  by 
law  in  the  late  ov\  ners  of  said  bridges,  and  the  exclusive  privilege  of  building, 
erecting,  and  keeping  up  bridgt-s  across  the  Savannah  River  at  Augusta  within 
the  corporate  limits  of  said  city  (which  are  hereby  extended  on  the  north  over 
said  river  to  the  boundary  line  between  this  State  and  South  Carolina),  with 
power  to  collect  the  toll  now  authorized  by  law,  in  relation  to  the  bridges  stand- 
ing at  the  time  of  such  purchase.  Provided  that  nothing  in  this  act  contained 
shall  be  so  construed  as  to  impair  the  right,  title,  claim,  or  interest  of  any 
person  or  persons  in  and  to  the  lower  bridge,  commonly  called  the  Augusta 
bridge." 

Out  of  this  act  grew  an  acrimonious  controversy  as  to  the  true  boundary 
line  between  South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  The  whole  question  supposed  to 
have  been  settled  by  the  convention  of  Beaufort  was  reopened,  and  while  the 
right  of  the  city  council  of  Augusta  to  maintain  and  operate  the  lower  bridge 


Transportation,  479 


was  established  in  the  Htigation  which  ensued,  it  appears  that  this  result  was 
arrived  at  on  principles  which  left  the  boundary  question  still  open. 

In  18 1 3  South  Carolina  granted  Shultz  and  Cooper  the  right  to  operate  a 
toll-bridge  over  the  Savannah  for  twenty- one  years,  or  till  1834.  Shortly 
thereafter  Cooper  assigned  his  interest  to  John  McKinne.  In  18 14  Georgia 
granted  Shultz  and  McKinne  a  similar  right  for  twenty  years,  or  until  the  same 
period  as  the  Carolina  grant,  to  wit :  1834.  The  bridge  was  built  by  Shultz 
and  McKinne  under  these  concurrent  grants,  and  about  1823  became  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Bank  of  the  State  of  Georgia  by  purchase.  In  1830  South  Caro- 
lina renewed  the  Shultz-Cooper  grant  to  the  Bank  for  fourteen  years  after  the 
expiration  of  that  grant,  or  till  1848.  In  1833  Georgia  renewed  its  Shultz- 
McKinne  grant  to  the  bank  for  ten  years  after  its  expiration,  or  up  to  1844. 
In  1838  the  Bank  sold  the  bridge  to  Gazaway  B.  Lamar,  who  in  1840  conveyed 
to  the  city  conncil  of  Augusta.  In  the  same  year  Georgia  confirmed  this 
purchase  and  granted  the  council  the  exclusive  right  to  maintain  bridges  across 
the  river  within  the  corporate  limits.  Up  to  1843  the  city  held  as  assignee 
of  Lamar  and  under  the  South  Carolina  renewal  of  1830  and  the  Georgia 
renewal  of  1833.  After  1843  and  up  to  1848,  the  expiration  of  the  Carolina 
renewal,  the  city  held,  so  far  as  South  Carolina  was  concerned,  under  that  re- 
newal, but  1848  arrived,  the  Carolina  renewal  expired,  and  the  war  began.  In 
1845  South  Carohna  had  vested  the  bridge  franchise  in  the  South  Carolina 
Railroad  Company  from  and  after  1848,  but  in  1848  this  grant  was  withdrawn 
and  the  franchise  granted  to  Shultz  and  McKinne  with  the  proviso  that  they 
should  not  collect  toll  until  the  litigation  then  pending  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  as  to  the  right  of  the  city  to  the  bridge  was  determined. 
It  was  there  held  that  the  city  had  the  rights  of  the  State  Bank,  and  was  there- 
fore a  grantee  under  South  Carolina  till  1848.  In  1849  South  Carolina  granted 
the  bridge  franchise  to  Shultz  and  McKinne  with  the  right  to  take  toll,  the 
idea  being  that  the  grant  to  the  city  council  had  come  to  an  end  in  1848.  As 
matters  then  stood,  the  city  had  a  Georgia  grant  and  Shultz  and  McKinne  had 
a  Carolina  grant.  It  was  claimed  that  the  Georgia  grant  was  all  sufficient  upon 
the  ground  that  the  jurisdiction  of  Georgia  extended  to  the  northern  bank  of 
the  Savannah.  South  Carolina  denied  this  and  a  voluminous  correspondence 
ensued  between  the  officials  of  the  two  States.  The  South  Carolina  Legislature 
denounced  the  levy  of  tolls  at  the  bridges  as  an  "obstruction  to  the  commerce  and 
intercourse  between  the  people  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina."  Colonel  I. 
W.  Hay ne,  attorney- general  for  South  Carolina,  presented  an  extended  report  to 
Governor  Means  of  that  State,  going  to  show  that  the  jurisdiction  of  Georgia 
only  extended  to  the  middle  of  the  stream.  A  copy  of  this  was  transmitted 
to  Governor  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  who  claimed  that  his  State  owned  to  the 
north  bank,  Attorney- General  Hayne  rejoined,  and  Governor  Cobb  laid  the 
matter  before  the  Georgia  Legislature.      After   a   time  the  controversy   died 


480  History  of  Augusta. 


down,  but  no  one  can  read  the  official  correspondence  without  recognizing  that 
the  real  boundary  was  left  as  unsettled  as  it  was  found.  The  present  laws  of 
South  Carolina  say  the  Savannah  River  is  the  boundary  between  that  State  and 
Georgia,  "the  line  being  low- water  mark  at  the  southern  shore  of  the  most 
northern  stream  of  said  river  where  the  middle  of  the  river  is  broken  by  islands 
and  middle  threads  of  the  stream  where  the  river  flows  in  one  stream  or  volume." 
The  present  laws  of  Georgia  say:  "The  boundary  between  Georgia  and  South 
Carolina  shall  be  the  line  described  as  running  from  the  mouth  of  the  River 
Savannah,  up  said  river  and  the  rivers  Tugalo  and  Chattooga  to  the  point  where 
the  last  named  river  intersects  with  the  thirty-fifth  parallel  of  north  latitude, 
conforming  as  much  as  possible  to  the  line  agreed  on  by  the  commissioners  of 
said  States,  at  Beaufort  on  the  28th  of  April,  1787."  What  was  agreed  on 
remains,  as  has  been  seen,  disputed. 

In  1827  the  Legislature  of  Soutli  Carolina  authorized  the  formation  of  a 
company  to  construct  a  canal  or  railroad  between  Charleston  and  Hamburg, 
which  is  the  origin  of  the  South  Carolina  Railroad,  one  of  the  oldest,  if  not  the 
oldest  in  the  United  States.  In  1833  it  was  in  operation  between  Charleston 
and  Hamburg,  and  in  1836  entered  Augusta.  With  the  success  of  this  then 
novel  experiment  the  railroad  history  of  Augusta  begins. 

In  May,  1828,  the  first  company  was  organized,  and  the  next  )'ear  one 
hundred  feet  of  railroad  track  were  laid  in  Charleston  along  Wentworth  street, 
and  the  first  car  drawn  by  a  mule.  In  June,  1829,  the  stockholders  directed 
the  beginning  of  the  road  between  Charleston  and  Augusta.  The  first  mile 
of  the  road  was  built  in  1830,  and  the  cars  were  propelled  by  large  sails.  The 
first  steam  locomotive  ran  over  the  road  in  1831  ;  capacity  of  freight  cars,  6,000 
pounds;  seating  capacity  of  coaches  thirteen  persons.  In  1836  Augusta  and 
Charleston  were  connected.  The  Columbia  branch  was  completed  in  1842, 
and  shortly  afterwards  the  two  roads  were  consolidated  under  the  name  of  the 
South  Carolina  Railroad  Company.  It  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  longer  upon  the 
early  history  of  the  road  or  to  more  than  mention  its  many  vicissititudes  during 
the  war  and  immediately  after.  The  company  lost  heavily  by  the  war,  and  was 
left  in  a  most  deplorable  condition  financially  and  otherwise.  It  managed  to 
struggle  along,  however,  until  1878,  when  the  old  road  was  put  into  the  hands 
of  a   receiver. 

Shortly  after  this  event  the  road  was  bought  by  its  present  owners,  and 
became  the  South  Carolina  Railway  Company,  when  as  by  the  touch  of  a 
magic  wand  there  sprang  up  palace  cars,  swift  locomotives,  steel  rails,  mogul 
engines  capable  of  hauling  fifty  cars,  freight  cars  of  forty  thousand  pounds  ca- 
pacity, immense  wharves  and  warehouses  at  tide  water  where  ships  can  unload 
directly  into  the  cars,  neat  and  improved  stations  all  along  the  line,  and  a  gen- 
eral air  of  thrift  everywhere,  demonstrating  that  the  new  life  infused  in  the  cor- 
poration affected  all  with  which  it  came  in  contact. 


Transportation.  48 1 


The  wharves,  as  mentioned  above,  of  the  South  CaroHna  Railway  now  run  to 
tide  water,  where  they  have  a  wharf  frontage  of  one  thousand  feet.  The  depth 
of  water  at  low  tide  is  twenty-five  feet.  The  largest  ships  can  come  alongside 
at  any  time,  and  eight  or  nine  vesels  can  be  loaded  or  unloaded  at  one  time. 
There  are  two  warehouses  with  storage  room  for  fourteen  thousand  tons  bulk 
guano ;  a  storehouse  for  general  merchandise  of  three  thousand  tons  capacity,  and 
four  other  storehouses  of  two  thousand  tons.  There  are  one  hundred  thousand 
square  feet  in  wharf  room.  An  automatic  railroad  runs  from  the  edge  of  the 
wharf  back  into  the  ^varehouses.  Bulk  guano  is  unloaded  from  the  ships  by  a 
derrick  which  projects  from  the  elevated  road  directly  over  the  ship.  Great 
iron  buckets  are  lowered  and  raised  from  this  derrick  by  steam,  the  buckets 
descending  rapidly  into  the  hold  of  a  ship,  where  they  are  filled  and  immediately 
hoisted  up  to  the  automatic  car.  As  soon  as  the  car  is  loaded,  it  moves  off  by 
its  own  weight,  rushes  along  the  railroad  and  disappears  into  the  warehouse, 
where  its  load  is  dumped  into  bins,  and  the  cars  return  like  a  flash  to  the  starting 
point,  ready  for  another  load.  All  this  work  is  done  automatically.  Freight 
is  loaded  and  unloaded  from  ships  by  an  endless  movable  platform,  something 
on  the  order  of  a  treadmill.  The  boxes  and  packages,  placed  on  one  end,  are 
carried  smoothly  along  without  the  slightest  jar  to  the  place  where  they  are  to 
be  taken  off.  The  whole  is  worked  by  steam.  Cotton  shipped  from  Augusta, 
for  foreign  or  domestic  ports,  can  be  unloaded  from  the  cars  into  the  ships. 

The  success  of  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  stimulated  like  enterprises  in 
Georgia.  In  1831  the  Legislature  authorized  "the  formation  of  a  company 
for  constructing  a  railroad  or  turnpike  from  the  city  of  Augusta  to  Eatonton, 
and  thence  westward  to  the  Chattahoochee  River,  with  branches  thereto." 
The  company  was  to  be  called  the  Augusta  and  Eatonton  Turnpike  and  Rail- 
road Company.  Its  capital  was  fixed  at  $1,000,000,  with  liberty  to  double 
the  same,  and  subscriptions  were  to  be  taken  under  the  superintendence  of 
commissioners  at  Eatonton,  Milledgeville,  Sparta,  Warrenton,  Monticello,  Mad- 
ison, Greensborough,  and  Augusta,  the  commissioners  at  the  latter  place  be- 
ing William  Gumming,  Samuel  Hale,  and  P.  H.  Smead.  On  $350,000  of  stock 
being  subscribed  the  company  was  ipso  facto  to  be  formed,  and  an  election  was 
then  to  be  held  for  a  president  and  twelve  directors.  In  this  election  share- 
holders were  to  vote  by  the  following  scale  :  i  to  2  shares,  i  vote  ;  3  to  4,  2  ; 
5  to  6,  3;  7  to  8,  4;  9  to  II,  5;  12  to  15,  6;  16  to  20,  7  ;  21  to  26,  8;  27  to 
33.  9;  34  to  40,  10;  and  for  each  10  over  40,  i  vote.  The  charges  were  fixed 
at  not  to  exceed  fifty  cents  per  one  hundred  weight,  and  twenty-five  cents  per 
cubic  foot  on  articles  of  measurement,  for  each  one  hundred  miles,  and  six 
cents  per  mile  for  passengers.  The  company  was  exempted  from  taxation  for 
ten  years,  and  given  the  right  to  farm  out  its  franchises.  This  seems  the  first 
railroad  act  in  Georgia,  and  while  never  becoming  operative,  having  been  re- 
pealed two  years  after,  serve  to  show  that  Augusta  first  contemplated  railway 
transit  in  the  State  of  Georgia. 


482  History  of  Augusta. 


In  1833  there  was  passed  "an  act  to  incorporate  the  Georgia  Railroad  Com- 
pany, with  powers  to  construct  a  rail  or  turnpike  road  from  the  city  of  Augusta, 
with  branches  extending  to  the  towns  of  Eatonton,  Madison,  in  Morgan  county, 
and  Athens,  to  be  carried  beyond  those  places  in  the  discretion  of  said  com- 
pany." The  company  to  be  organized  under  this  act  was  directed  to  confine 
its  first  efforts  to  the  completion  of  a  railroad  communication  between  the  city 
of  Augusta  and  some  point  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  to  be  determined  by 
the  stockholders,  and,  on  the  completion  of  such  communication,  which  was  to 
be  called  the  Union  Railroad,  to  construct  three  branch  roads,  one  to  Athens, 
one  to  Eatonton,  and  one  to  Madison,  and  if  it  deemed  proper,  to  continue  the 
Athens  branch  to  the  Tennessee  River.  For  thirty-six  years  the  company 
was  to  have  the  exclusive  right  of  constructing  railroads  to  Augusta  from  any 
point  within  twenty  miles  of  said  main  line  and  branches.  The  stock  of  the 
company  was  fixed  at  15,000  shares  of  $100  each,  and  the  organization  was  to 
be  completed  on  this  basis,  but  thereafter  was  increasable  to  such  amount  as 
the  company  might  think  its  necessities  required. 

To  open  subscriptions  commissioners  were  appointed  in  the  following  places 
for  the  shares  of  stock  mentioned,  namely:  Athens,  2,500;  Eatonton,  2,500; 
Madison,  2,000 ;  Greensborough,  1,500  ;  Warrenton,  500;  Crawfordville,  500; 
Washington,  Lexington,  Appling,  and  Sparta,  each  1,000;  and  Augusta,  1,500, 
Thomas  Gumming,  William  H.  Turpin,  William  C.  Micou,  and  John  W.  Wilde 
being  the  commissioners  at  that  point.  The  books  were  to  be  opened  on  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1834,  and  remain  open  ten  days,  at  the  end  of  which  time  the  lists 
were  to  be  sent  the  Athens  commissioners,  William  Williams,  James  Camak, 
Stephens  Thomas,  and  William  Bearing,  who  were  to  aggregate  the  subscrip- 
tions, and  if  five  thousand  shares  had  been  taken,  were  to  call  a  general  meet- 
ing of  stockholders  for  organization,  the  residue  of  the  stock  to  be  sold  subse- 
quently. Each  stockholder  was  entitled  to  one  vote  for  each  share,  and  a  pres- 
ident and  twelve  directors  were  to  be  elected,  to  serve  twelve  months.  The 
company  on  being  organized  was  to  be  known  as  the  Georgia  Railroad  Com- 
pany. It  was  authorized  to  condemn  such  land  as  might  be  necessary  for  its 
purposes  and  was  empowered  to  build  railroads,  or  common  roads  for  the  use 
of  steam  carriages  thereon,  in  its  discretion.  It  was  given  the  exclusive  right 
to  transport  freight  and  passengers  over  its  lines,  provided  the  tariff  did  not 
exceed  fifty  cents  per  hundred  weight  on  heavy  articles,  and  ten  cents  per 
cubic  foot  on  articles  of  measurement  for  each  hundred  miles,  and  five  cents 
per  mile  for  passengers.  (This  clause  of  the  charter  has  been  construed  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  as  giving  no  right  to  the  company  to  fix 
its  own  charges,  not  exceeding  the  maximum  stated,  but  as  granting  simply 
the  exclusive  right  to  transport,  leaving  the  State  free  to  fix  charges  in  its  dis- 
cretion by  means  of  a  railroad  commission  or  otherwise.)  After  the  expiration 
of  thirty-six  years  from  the  completion  of  any  of  the  roads  mentioned  in  the 


Transportation.  483 


charter  to  Augusta,  the  exclusive  right  of  the  company  to  build  and  use  rail- 
roads within  twenty  miles  of  its  lines,  was  to  lapse,  but  as  to  its  own  works  the 
charter  was  perpetual.  The  stock  was  exempt  from  taxation  for  seven  years 
after  completion  of  any  of  the  lines,  and  thereafter  was  only  to  pay  a  tax  of 
one  half  of  one  per  cent,  on  net  income.  This  clause,  also,  has  been  before  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  and  by  that  tribunal  held  to  be  a  contract 
between  the  State  and  company,  which  forever  inhibits  the  former  from  any 
other  or  higher  rate.  It  was  further  provided  that  whenever  the  holders  of  as 
many  as  three  thousand  shares  should  unite  to  build  any  of  the  branch  roads, 
they  should  become  a  separate  company  or  companies,  and  be  called  respect- 
ively the  Eatonton  Railroad,  the  Greensborough  and  Madison  Railroad,  and 
the  Athens  Railroad,  but  such  separate  companies,  if  formed,  might  unite  with 
each  other. 

This  act  was  the  result  of  the  successful  completion  of  the  South  Carolina 
Railroad.  On  July  4,  1833,  that  line  was  in  full  operation  between  Charleston 
and  Hamburg,  and  its  stock  which  up  to  that  time  had  been  a  drug  in  the 
market,  was  quoted  at  105.  The  fare  for  the  full  trip,  136  miles,  was  $6.75, 
with  an  allowance  of  75  pounds  of  baggage  ;  for  less  distance,  five  cents  per 
mile.  The  company  had  five  engines,  the  "  Best  Friend,"  having  four  wheels, 
received  December  i,  1830,  and  costing  $4,000;  the  "West  Point,"  four  wheels, 
received  April  2,  1831,  and  costing  $3,250;  the  "South  Carolina,"  having 
eight  wheels,  received  January  3,  1832,  cost  $5,000;  the  "  Charleston,"  eight 
wheels,  received  March  4,  1833,  cost  $5,750,  and  the  "  Edisto,"  eight  wheels, 
received  June  5,  1833,  cost  $5,750.  On  May  10,  1833,  its  receipts  were  from 
freight,  $67.22;  passengers,  $49.65;  total,  $116.87;  ^"^  ^or  the  week  end- 
ing May  10,  it  reports  400  passengers  carried,  showing  an  annual  carriage  of 
some  20,000  passengers,  and  a  gross  revenue  of  about  $43,000,  small  figures 
now,  but  great  then. 

In  Augusta  a  public  meeting  to  consider  the  building  of  a  railroad  from  Au- 
gusta to  Athens,  was  called  for  July  20,  1833,  by  Samuel  Hale,  W.W.  Montgom- 
ery, James  M'Laws,  William  T.  Gould,  and  John  P.  King,  and  at  the  meeting 
Henry  H,  Gumming,  W.  W.  Montgomery,  James  Harper,  James  W.  Davies, 
and  William  C.  Micou  were  appointed  a  committee  to  organize  a  company. 

The  result  was  the  act  above  mentioned.  The  line  from  Augusta  to  Athens 
first  received  attention  and  sometimes  was  called  the  Athens  Railroad  Com- 
pany, as  in  an  act  of  1834  in  which  the  city  council  of  Augusta  and  trustees  of 
Richmond  Academy  were  empowered  to  convey  to  the  company  ten  acres  of 
the  town  common  lots,  but  in  1835  a  healing  act  was  passed  in  which  it  was 
declared  that  the  true  name  was  the  Georgia  Railroad  Company,  and  confirmed 
to  that  corporation  all  conveyances  under  the  other  style. 

In  1835  the  charter  of  1833  was  amended.  The  amendatory  act  opens 
with  a  recital  "  that  the  people  of  the  West  have   in  contemplation  to  make  a 


484  History  of  Augusta. 


communication  between  the  city  of  Cincinnati  and  the  Southern  Atlantic  coast, 
by  means  of  a  raih'oad,  and  the  best  route  for  said  communication  is  beUevcd 
to  be  through  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  the  building  of  the  Georgia  Railroad 
is  now  in  progress,  and  will  be  an  important  link  in  the  line  of  said  communi- 
cation." The  stockholders  of  the  Georgia  Railroad  Company  were  incorpo- 
rated as  the  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company.  The  stock  was  fixed  at 
$2,000,000,  one-half  of  which  might  be  applied  to  banking  purposes  (one-half 
of  such  part  to  be  in  gold  and  silver  coin)  until  the  completion  of  the  road  to 
Athens  and  one  of  the  southern  branches  through  Greensborough,  after  which 
time  any  unemployed  capital  might  be  used  in  banking.  A  history  of  the 
banking  adjunct  of  the  Georgia  Railroad  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  work 
in  the  chapter  on  banking,  and  we  need  here,  therefore,  only  briefly  recapitu- 
late the  further  provisions  of  the  act  as  to  this  particular  franchise ;  the  com- 
pany was  authorized  to  establish  branch  banks,  not  exceeding  three  in  num- 
ber, at  such  points  in  the  State  as  it  might  deem  best,  always  first  obtaining 
the  consent  of  the  municipal  authorities  ;  the  debt  of  the  company  was  never 
to  exceed  three  times  the  amount  of  its  capital  stock,  and  on  a  failure  to  pay  its 
bills  on  demand  in  specie  a  penalty  often  per  cent,  in  addition  to  the  usual 
ate  of  interest,  was  to  accrue  ;  for  the  redemption  of  such  notes  the  stockhold- 
ers were  individually  liable  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  shares  by  them  held 
respectively. 

Apart  from  the  banking  franchise,  the  act  of  1835  had  the  following  provi- 
sions :  The  principal  office  was  located  at  Athens,  and  all  elections  and  stock- 
holders' meetings  were  to  be  held  there  unless  the  directors  should  otherwise 
order  on  special  occasions  ;  the  Union  Railroad,  or  main  branch,  was  to  be 
completed  in  four  years  from  the  date  of  the  act,  or  by  December  18,  1839,  and 
the  Athens  branch,  and  one  of  the  Southern  branches  through  Greensborough, 
to  be  designated  by  the  stockholders  was  to  be  completed  in  six  years,  or  by 
December  18,  1841,  and  upon  default  the  banking  franchise  was  to  be  forfeited  ; 
if  the  main  road  was  completed  by  the  time  ordered  that  franchise  was  to  con- 
tinue for  twenty-five  years  thereafter.  Nothing  in  the  charter  was  to  prevent 
the  State  from  chartering  a  railroad  from  Macon  to  the  Tennessee  line,  or  one 
crossing  the  Georgia  road  at  any  point  west  of  Eatonton,  Madison,  or  Athens. 
Finally  it  was  provided  that  no  foreigner  should  directly  or  indirectly  own  stock 
in  this  company  on  pain  of  forfeiture  thereof  to  the  State.  This  act  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  stockholders  on  January  12,  1836. 

A  few  days  after  this  act  another  was  passed  allowing  the  company  to  build 
a  branch  of  its  railroad  to  Warrenton  and  thence  to  Sparta,  or  to  allow  others 
to  do  so  and  connect  with  the  Georgia  road,  which  act  was  accepted  by  the 
stockholders  May  10,  1836. 

In  1836  the  company  was  relieved  from  producing  its  books  in  court  in  any 
case  in  which  it  might  be  a  party,  and  its  officials  were  excused  from  attend- 


Transportation.  485 


ance  as  witnesses  in  like  case,  it  being  provided  that  the  testimony  required 
should  be  taken  by  a  commission.  In  the  same  year  the  company  was  empow- 
ered to  build  a  branch  road  from  Washington,  Wilkes  county,  to  intersect  its 
main  line  at  some  point  in  Taliaferro  county,  and  to  increase  its  capital  stock 
$200,000  for  that  purpose.  In  this  year  the  company  declared  its  first  divi- 
dend. The  capital  stock  was  then  $858,615,  and  dividend  No.  i  paid  in  No- 
vember, 1836,  was  $26,018. 

In  1837  the  company  was  authorized  to  extend  its  road  from  Madison  via 
Covington  to  the  State  road,  which  amendment  to  its  charter  was  accepted 
May  15,  1838. 

In  1839  the  road  was  in  operation  to  Greensborough,  trains  leaving  Au- 
gusta at  6  A.  M.  and  reaching  Greensborough  at  i  P.  M.,  or  eighty-three  miles 
in  seven  hours;   fare,  $4.25. 

In  1840  the  restriction  on  foreigners  holding  stock  was  modified  so  as  to 
allow  not  exceeding  one-third  of  the  stock  to  be  so  held,  which  amendment 
the  company  accepted  May  11,  1841. 

In  1 841  the  principal  office  and  place  of  holding  elections  was  transferred 
from  Athens  to  Augusta;  accepted  May  10,  1842. 

In  1843  the  company  was  empowered  to  receive  its  own  stock  in  payment 
of  debts  due  it,  provided  that  the  capital  was  not  thereby  reduced  below 
$2,000,000,  and  a  summary  method  was  directed  for  the  collection  by  the  com- 
pany of  debts  due  it  by  stockholders  by  levy  on  their  stock  as  in  cases  of  fore- 
closure of  mortgages  on  personal  property.  In  this  year  the  main  line  was  con- 
structed to  Atlanta,  and  two  years  later  the  branch  roads  were  built. 

In  1850  the  company  was  allowed  to  increase  its  capital  stock  to  $5,000,- 
000,  provided  the  banking  capital  of  $1,000,000  should  not  be  increased,  and 
was  empowered  to  subscribe  for  $250,000  stock  in  the  Nashville  and  Chatta- 
nooga Railroad.  The  right  to  construct  a  branch  road  to  Washington  which 
had  lapsed,  was  renewed.  In  this  same  year  the  Washington  Railroad  and 
Plank  Road  Company  was  authorized  to  construct  a  rail  or  plank  road  from 
Washington  to  the  line  of  the  Georgia  Railroad,  and  in  1852  this  company  was 
consolidated  with  the  Georgia  Railroad. 

In  1858  the  company  was  authorized  to  construct  a  branch  road  from 
Greensborough  or  Madison  to  Eatonton,  and  increase  its  capital  stock  suf- 
ficiently to  enable  it  so  to  do,  but  in  the  next  year  the  act  was  repealed. 

The  company  had  now  been  in  existence  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  from 
its  earlier  reports  we  gather  much  interesting  information  as  to  its  establish- 
ment. 

The  building  of  the  road  was  slow  work.  On  November  i,  1837,  it  was 
opened  for  business  with  twenty  miles  of  track,  the  northern  terminus  being 
Berzelia.  The  progress  from  that  time  may  be  seen  by  the  following  tabular 
statement  of  miles  in  use  : 


486 


History  of  Augusta. 


Miles  in  Use. 

From  November  i ,  1 837,  to  May  i ,  1 838 40 

From  May  I,  1838,  to  May  I,  1839 75 

May  1 ,  1 839,  to  April  i ,  1 840 88 

From  April  I,  1840.  to  April  I,  1841 105 

For  year  ending  April  i ,  1 842. . . 1 47 

For  year  ending  April  i,  1843 148 

For  year  ending  April  i ,  1 844 148 

For  year  ending  April  1,  1845 155 

For  year  ending  April  i,  1846 ' 195 

For  year  ending  April  i,  1847 213 

For  year  ending  April  i,  1848 213 

For  year  ending  April  i,  1849 213 

The  213  miles  completed  in  1847  comprised  the  main  line  from  Augusta  to 
Atlanta  171  miles  and  the  Athens  branch  39  miles.  Not  until  1847  was  the 
Athens  branch  run  by  steam  ;  in  that  year  a  small  engine  weighing  3,36  tons 
was  put  on,  relieving  the  horse-power  which  had  up  to  that  time  been  em- 
ployed at  a  cost  of  $1,280  per  annum.  The  rolling  stock  consisted  in  1847  of 
13  passenger  cars,  8  with  8  wheels,  and  5  with  4  wheels,  149  freight  and  stock 
cars,  65  flat  cars,  3  8-wheel  baggage  and  mail  cars  and  23  locomotives.  The 
names,  weight,  and  commencement  of  service  of  these  engines  are  given  by 
John  Edgar  Thomson,  the  chief  engineer  of  the  road  at  that  time,  as  follows: 

Name.  Weight,  Tons.       Commencement  of  Service. 

Pennsylvania  1 3.08 

Georgia ii-59 

Florida 1 1.50 

Alabama 11.50 

Louisiana ii-33 

Tennessee 14.40 

William  Bearing 12.90 

Virginia 1 2,96 

Mississippi 1 2.90 

Kentucky 1 2.90 

William  Gumming 12.35 

James  Camak 12.35 

Athenian 1 1 .08 

Cherokee 1 5-6o 

South  Carolina 1 5.68 

North  Carolina 1 5.70 

Eagle, 13.14 

Oothcaloga 1 5-6o 

Maryland 1 5-70 

Fairy 3-36 

Besides  the  "  Fairy"  were  three  other  light  weights  named  "Chinkapin," 
"Dart"  and  "Swallow."  The  largest  locomotive  then  in  use  on  the  road, 
called  by  the  chief  engineer,  "eight- wheel  passenger  engine,"  cost  $7,500  laid 
down.     Of  the  22  engines  in  1847  ^2  were  on  the  road  in  active  use  and  good 


May 

5. 

1837 

May 

5. 

t837 

Dec. 

27. 

1837 

Jan. 

12, 

(838 

Feb. 

2, 

838 

May 

29, 

838 

Nov. 

6, 

[838 

Dec. 

24. 

[838 

Dec. 

28, 

[838 

Mch. 

24. 

1839 

Dec. 

14. 

1839 

Dec. 

23. 

•839 

Jan. 

3. 

1845 

Apr. 

28, 

1845 

Nov. 

I, 

1845 

Nov. 

4. 

[845 

Dec. 

5. 

1845 

Oct. 

28, 

1846 

Jan. 

2, 

1847 

Mch. 

16, 

1847 

Transportation.  487 

order,  5  were  in  round-house  in  complete  order  and  ready  for  use,  and  4  were 
under  repair.  The  total  cost  of  repairs  to  locomotives  during  the  eleven  years 
the  road  had  then  been  in  operation  was  $71,591.42.  The  "Pennsylvania," 
the  first  engine  put  on  the  road,  had  cost  for  repairs  $6,804.59,  O""  ^^  average 
of  $618.59  per  annum. 

The  names  of  the  stations  then  on  the  main  line,  their  distance  in  miles  and 
decimals  from  Augusta,  and  height  above  sea  level  we  condense  from  some 
valuable  tables  in  the  chief  engineer's  reports  : 

Station.  Distance,  Miles.     Above  Sea-Level,  Feet. 

Augusta I47-40 

Belair i  o.  323.92 

Berzelia 20.845  5i7-30 

Dearing 28.954  489.30 

Thomson 37. 530  530.60 

Camak 46.930  6 1 3.40 

Cumming 58.853  647.20 

Crawfordville 64.039  617.80 

Union  Point 76.001  673  55 

Greensboro 83.197  626.80 

Buckhead 95-659  641.50 

Madison ...  103.310  695. 

Rutledge. 112. 192  728.56 

Social  Circle 1 19.389  890.30 

Covington 129.919  762.88 

Conyers   140.347  909. 

Lithonia 146.723  954. 

'      Stone  Mountain 1 55.002  1,054.78 

Decatur 164.641  1,054.80 

Atlanta 170.701  1,050.13 

The  chief  engineer  reports  the  cost  of  a  "close  freight-car,"  or,  as  now  termed 
box-car,  $600,  and  says  20  additional  ones  have  been  ordered  to  supply  in- 
creased demand  for  transportation,  and  that  another  passenger  engine  is  needed. 
A  new  round-house,  to  accommodate  16  engines,  is  under  way.  The  road  was 
then  laid  with  the  plate  rail,  which  was  considered  too  light,  and  700  tons  of 
iron  of  the  form  of  an  inverted  [\,  had  been  ordered  to  relay  that  part  of  the 
road  between  Augusta  and  Belair. 

The  average  number  of  passengers  per  day  had  increased  to  92,  as  against 
66  in  1846,  and  the  whole  number  carried  was  33,354.  The  number  of  cotton 
bales  transported  was  94,897,  an  increase  of  38,076  over  the  year  previous. 
The  cost  of  carriage  of  a  passenger  per  mile  was  reported  as  2.05  cents  and  of 
freight  if  cents  per  ton  per  mile.  The  rate  on  produce  for  the  full  length  of 
the  line,  171  miles,  was  from  16  to  25  cents  per  cwt.  From  this  report  we 
learn  that  the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad  was  then  at  Dalton,  that  the 
Nashville  and  Chattanooga  road  had  been  determined  on,  and  that  the  Mont- 
gomery road  was  being  extended  to  tap  the  Western  and  Atlantic. 


488 


History  of  Augusta. 


The  treasurer's  report  for  the  year  ending  March  31,  1847,  showed  receipts 
$409,935.46,  and  expenses  $157,902.36,  a  net  profit  on  the  road  of  $252,- 
033.10.  That  the  Georgia  road  was  managed  with  great  skill,  is  shown  by  a 
comparison  with  some  of  the  then  leading  lines  in  the  United  States.  The 
table  showing  this  is  curious  and  interesting,  and  is  here  subjoined  as  affording 
a  view  of  railroading  some  forty  years  ago. 


Railroad. 


(Georgia 

South  Carolina 

Boston  and  Lowell 

Boston  and  Maine 

Boston  and  Providence. 
Boston  and  Worcester. . 

Fitchburg . 

Western 

Baltimore  and  Ohio   ... 
Central  of  Georgia 


Ratio  of 

Expenses  to 

Gross  Receipts 


■38 
•51 

•55 
•51 
•47 
•5' 
.41 

•47 
•48 
.56 


Cost  Per  Mile 
of  Train. 


!  61 

87 
I  05 

65 
85 
96 

58 

72 
64 
67 


Receipts. 


*409,935  46 
589,081  52 
384,102  29 
349.136  56 
360,375  03 
554,712  46 
286,645  36 
878,417  89 
895,315  22 
303.439  96 


Expenses. 


1157,902  36 
302.369  72 
212,233  62 
179.734  83 
169,679  48 
283,876    II 

117,447  34 
412,679  80 
429,100  28 
170,236  90 


The  gross  receipts  of  the  road  for  1847  were  made  up  as  follows:  Passen- 
gers, $136,559.69;  freight,  $232,891.24;  United  States  mails,  etc.,  $40,484.- 
53;   total,  $409,935.46. 

The  expenses  were:  Conducting  transportation,  $36,933.75;  motive  power, 
$45,066.08  ;  maintenance  of  way,  $57,508.29  ;  maintenance  of  cars,  $18,394.- 
24;  total,  $157,902.36.  Some  of  the  items  of  expenditure  were:  For  con- 
ductors, $4,891.65;  engineers  and  firemen,  $10,582.42  ;  wood,  $12,099.99  ; 
road  hands,  $19,170. 15  ;  overseers,  $3,954. 17  ;  cross-ties,  $16,295.43.  During 
the  year  1847  the  company  paid  two  dividends,  one  in  April  of  $45,783.99  ; 
one  in  October  of  $68,675.99.     The  capital  stock  was  $2,289,199.92. 

In  1849  the  president,  Hon.  John  P.  King,  the  presiding  officer  of  this  com- 
pany from  its  inception,  reports  that  the  receipts  were  $608,130.48,  and  the 
expenses  $282,290.55  ;  net  profits  $325,839.93.  The  number  of  bales  of  cot- 
ton carried  was  157,502,  an  increase  of  70,768  over  the  preceding  year.  The 
Memphis  Branch  Railroad,  from  Kingston  to  Rome  had  been  completed  and 
was  in  full  operation.  The  Nashville  and  Chattanooga  would  be  completed 
ere  the  close  of  the  year,  and  the  State  road  and  the  Nashville  and  Chatta- 
nooga were  being  vigorously  pushed.  Appended  to  his  report  the  president 
gives  a  very  valuable  and  interesting  report  by  F.  C.  Arms,  superintendent  of 
transportation.  There  were  25  engines,  one,  the  best  of  them  all,  he  says, 
built  at  the  company's  shops  in  Augusta  at  a  cost  of  $7,000,  16  in  use  on  the 
road,  4  in  shop,  ready  for  use,  and  9  under  repairs.  The  "  Pennsylvania,"  the 
oldest  engine  on  the  line,  is  reported  on  the  road  in  complete  order,  and  is  de- 
scribed as  a  six- wheel  engine  with  two  drivers,  and  credited  with  a  service  of 
243,945    miles.     There   were    14  passenger  cars,  3  baggage  and  mail  cars,  10 


Transportation. 


489 


stock  cars,  136  box  cars,  and  79  platform  cars.  To  accommodate  increasing 
business  4  new  freight  engines,  50  box  and  25  platform  cars  had  been  ordered; 
conductors  cost  $5,642.49;  engineers  and  firemen,  $14,959.75;  wood,  $14,- 
57373  ;  keeping  of  track,  $66,054.99. 

At  this  time  Mr.  L.  P.  Grant  was  chief  engineer.  He  speaks  of  the  n 
shaped  rail  having  displaced  the  flat  bar  rail,  but  as  being  itself  displaced  by  a 
rail  of  the  x  shape,  weighing  58  pounds  per  lineal  yard,  to  be  laid  on  cross 
ties  two  feet  and  three  inches  apart.  He  says  :  "  In  changing  the  plan  of  track 
from  that  now  in  use  with  the  flat-bar,  no  loss  will  accrue  in  cross- ties  and 
stringers.  The  former  can  be  turned  on  their  edges  and  moved  sufficiently  to 
one  side  to  avoid  the  gains,  and  the  latter  can  be  cut  into  cross-tie  lengths, 
supplying  about  the  number  that  will  be  needed,  in  addition  to  those  now  in 
the  track."  The  total  length  of  bridges  is  reported  as  7,900  feet,  but  it  is  said 
that  by  earth  embankments  this  can  be  reduced  to  3,000  feet. 

For  the  year  1850  the  receipts  were  $676,966.10,  and  expenses  $291,- 
299.91,  leaving  a  net  income  of  $385,666. 19.  The  president  reports  that  the 
State  Road  had  opened  to  Chattanooga  in  November,  1849,  but  from  the  dif- 
ficulty of  passing  the  tunnel  had  not  as  yet  gotten  fairly  into  operation.  The 
Montgomery  and  West  Point  line  would  be  completed  in  a  few  months  and  the 
Nashville  and  Chattanooga  and  Georgia  and  East  Tennessee  roads  were  making 
satisfactory  progress.  In  June,  1849,  the  management  had  reduced  the  fare 
to  three  cents  per  mile,  which  appeared  to  work  well.  Negotiations  were  in 
progress  looking  to  a  branch  road  to  Washington.  Mr.  Arms,  superintendent 
of  transportation,  reports  65,438  passengers  carried,  making  179  per  day,  an 
increase  of  Ji  over  the  preceding  year.  Owing  to  the  partial  failure  of  the 
cotton  crop,  but  133,810  bales  had  been  carried,  a  falling  ofl"  of  23,692  bales. 
The  rolling  stock  was  29  locomotives  (nineteen  on  the  road  and  six  ready  for 
use),  16  passenger  cars,  3  baggage  and  mail  cars,  14  stock  cars,  165  box  cars, 
and  79  flats.  A  site  for  a  new  freight  warehouse  had  been  purchased  on  Camp- 
bell and  Walker  streets,  and  the  passenger  depot  needed  enlargement. 

The  chief  engineer's  report  for  this  year  dwells  on  the  necessity  of  heavier 
rails  and  larger  locomotives.  It  states  that  the  work  of  relaying  the  track  from 
Augusta  to  Union  Point  had  cost  $226,467.66,  and  that  when  this  work  was 
complete  the  company  would  have  about  1,500  tons  of  old  flat-bar  iron  for  sale, 
the  quality  of  which  was  superior.  Not  so  much  could  be  said  of  much  of  the 
new  iron.  English  manufacturers  had  thrust  an  inferior  grade  of  railroad  iron 
on  the  market,  and  the  report  advocates  the  establishment  of  an  American  roll- 
ing mill  convenient  to  the  railroads  of  the  State.  The  increase  in  the  weight 
of  engines  has  led  to  a  strengthening  of  the  bridges  on  the  road.  The  report 
enters  at  large  on  the  subject  of  the  deterioration  of  iron  rail.  It  is  said  that 
this  question  has  not  received  the  attention  it  requires,  and  that  owing  to  the 
fact  that  so  many  diflbrent  makes   and   weights  of  rail  had  been  used  on  the 


490  History  of  Augusta. 


road,  it  was  extremely  difficult  to  obtain  reliable  data.  The  weight  of  iron  on 
the  main  line  is  considered  to  average  68  tons  per  mile,  and  on  the  branches  25 
tons,  making  the  total  about  12,700  tons.  Of  this  3,000  tons  had  been  in  use  ten 
years  ;  4,200  for  five  years,  and  5,500  for  a  year.  The  average  limit  of  service 
is  put  at  twelve  years,  and  loss  of  weight  by  lamination  15  per  cent,  on  which 
data  the  value  of  deterioration  is  estimated  at  $33,000  per  annum.  From  this 
year's  report  it  appears  that  the  South  Carolina  road  was  then  the  longest  in 
the  country,  240  miles,  and  the  Georgia  next,  with  213  miles.  The  Central 
had  191,  and  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio,  179. 

From  the  reports  of  185  I  it  appears  that  the  State  had  no  equipment  of  its 
own  on  the  Western  and  Atlantic  road,  and  that  the  Georgia  road  used  its  own 
rolling  stock  thereon,  much  to  the  detriment  of  that  stock,  some  fifty  miles  of 
the  State  Road  being  laid  with  the  old  plate  rail,  or  flat  bar,  which  was  much 
broken  and  worn.  It  was  then  in  contemplation  to  relay  this  part,  as  also  to 
furnish  a  sufficiency  of  cars  for  the  road  to  do  its  own  local  business.  As  mat- 
ters then  stood,  connecting  roads  were  obliged  to  furnish  cars  for  both  through 
and  local  traffic  on  the  State  Road.  The  outfit  of  the  Georgia  road  this  year 
was  35  locomotives,  17  passenger  cars,  4  baggage  and  mail  cars,  14  stock  cars, 
181  box  cars,  and  109  flats,  and  200  more  freight  cars  had  been  ordered. 
The  company  had  issued  $250,000  bonds  to  aid  in  paying  its  subscription  of 
$500,000  to  the  Nashville  and  Chattanooga  and  Atlanta  and  La  Grange  roads. 
The  former  was  nearing  completion,  and  25  miles  of  the  latter  were  in  opera- 
tion. The  Montgomery  and  West  Point  Road  was  complete,  and  the  Mem- 
phis and  Charleston  and  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia  progressing.  The  re- 
ceipts were  $784,408.64,  and  expenses  $363,523.25,  a  net  income  of  $420,- 
885.39.  ^^  t^^^  ^''"^  ^^^^  various  railroad  companies  of  the  county  had  held  a 
convention  to  correct  the -abuse  of  dead-heading,  and  the  Georgia  road  had 
assented  to  the  resolution  adopted  by  that  body  that  no  free  tickets  should 
be  granted  except  to  directors  or  employees,  and  that  employees  should  not 
ask  or  accept  free  passes  on  other  lines.  During  this  year  91,237  passengers 
were  carried  and  132,800  bales  of  cotton.  The  chilled  iron  tire  was  used  en 
the  driving-wheels  of  some  of  the  engines  and  found  to  give  satisfaction,  and 
as  many  as  eighty-six  freight  cars  were  built  at  the  company's  shops.  In  this 
year,  also,  the  chief  engineer  recommends  the  adoption  of  what  he  terms  the 
"  compound  rail,"  that  is  so  laid  that  the  joints  on  one  side  of  the  track  did 
not  correspond  with  the  joints  on  the  other,  as  up  to  that  time  had  been  the 
case.      He  also  recommends  ballasting. 

In  1852  President  King  reports  receipts,  $859,472.45  ;  expenses,  $438,- 
384.52;  net  profits,  $431,087.93.  This  year  heavy  repairs  were  made.  The 
timber  beyond  Madison  having  been  in  use  since  1845-46  needed  replacing, 
but  for  the  first  time  in  its  history  the  road  is  reported  as  being  perfectly 
equipped  in  all  respects.     The  road  was  all  laid  in  heavy  iron  and  all  machin- 


Transportation.  491 


ery  and  appliances  in  excellent  condition.  It  is  stated  tliat  since  1849  the  fol- 
lowing subscriptions  had  been  made  to  the  stock  of  other  roads,  namely:  At- 
lanta and  LaGrange,  $279,700;  Nashville  and  Chattanooga,  $210,000;  Geor- 
gia and  East  Tennessee,  $10,000.  During  the  year  not  a  single  run  off  or 
other  accident  had  occurred,  but  the  road  had  suffered  some  from  fires  sup- 
posed to  be  incendiary. 

Mr.  F.  C.  Arms,  the  general  superintendent,  reported  111,091  passengers 
carried,  and  139,769  bales  of  cotton  ;  passengers  income,  $265,201.27;  freight, 
$486,498.41.  A  disastrous  fire  had  occurred  at  Camak,  supposed  to  be  the  work 
of  an  incendiary,  whereby  three  cars,  two  loaded  with  cotton,  and  the  depot  had 
been  consumed,  and  four  platform  and  two  box  cars  had  been  burned  near 
Stone  Mountain.  The  rolling  stock  consisted  of  346  cars;  passenger,  20;  mail, 
5;  stock,  32;  box,  289;  and  flats,  181  ;  and  40  locomotives.  Some  of  the  new 
engines  were  the  "California,"  "Oregon,"  "Ohio,"  "Indiana,"  "Hercules," 
"Richard,"  "Peters,"  "Augusta,"  "Atlanta,"  "Union,"  "Constitution,"  "Fire 
Eater,"  "A.  J.  Miller,"  and  "Howell  Cobb."  Four  locomotives  and  214  cars  had 
been  added  during  the  year,  141  of  them  built  in  the  company's  shop.  A  j^  rail, 
weighing  59  pounds  per  yard,  in  bars  24  feet  long  had  been  adopted,  to  be  laid  on 
cross  ties  two  feet  apart,  with  a  bottom  splice  four  feet  long  at  each  joint,  riveted 
to  the  flanges  of  the  rail.  This  method  had  been  advised  by  Mr.  L.  P.  Grant, 
the  chief  engineer,  but  was  subsequently  found  to  have  also  occurred  to  some 
other  parties  who  had  patented  the  same.  In  the  report  of  this  year  the  names 
of  the  directors  are  first  given;  they  were  Hays  Bowdre,  B.  H.  Warren,  Jo- 
seph C.  Fargo,  William  D.  Conyers,  John  Cunningham,  James  W.  Davies, 
William  M.  D'Antignac,  John  Bones,  Thomas  N.  Hamilton,  Elijah  E.  Jones, 
Antoine  Poullain,  A.  J.  Miller,  Pleasant  Stovall,  Paul  F.  Eve,  and  Charles 
Dougherty. 

For  1853  the  receipts  were  $1,030,01 1.42;  expenses,  $559,578.23;  net  in- 
come, $470,433.19.  The  dividend  was  raised  from  seven  to  eight  per  cent. 
The  Nashville  and  Chattanooga,  and  Atlanta  and  LaGrange  roads  were  re- 
ported as  near  completion,  and  looked  forward  to  as  valuable  feeders.  With 
the  South  Carolina  Railroad  the  company  had  made  arrangements  for  the  lo- 
cation of  a  depot  in  Augusta  about  600  yards  from  its  own,  the  Georgia  road 
contributing  $30,000  to  the  expense.  Eight  new  engines  had  been  ordered 
at  a  cost  of  $64,000,  and  passenger  depots  at  Augusta  and  Atlanta  had  been 
contracted  for,  the  latter  being  a  union  depot  with  other  lines.  The  Wash- 
ington branch  would  be  complete  by  August. 

The  superintendent  reports  117,621  passengers,  and  194,742  bales  of  cot- 
ton carried  ;  also  that  the  rolling  stock  consisted  of  43  locomotives  and  565 
cars.  The  new  plan  of  laying  rails  had  removed  the  old  evil  of  clattering 
joints,  and  had  worked  admirably  in  all  respects.  From  the  locomotive  statis- 
tics it  appears  there  had  been  a  marked  increase  in  the  weight  of  engines  from 


492  History  of  Augusta. 


II  to  13  tons  to  18,  19,  and  20  each.  At  this  period  conductors  called  for 
$11,971.89,  engineers  and  firemen  $31,957.32;  keeping  of  the  way  $150,957.- 
66.     Asbury  Hull  was  added  to  the  directors. 

For  1856  the  receipts  were  $1,176,644.21,  expenses  $587,327.06,  net  in- 
come $589,317.15.  The  wheat  crop  of  this  year  was  enormous  and  taxed  the 
capacity  of  the  road  to  its  utmost.  In  1854,  the  heaviest  prior  year,  429,486 
bushels  had  been  hauled;  this  year,  1,172,331,  nearly  three  times  as  much  ; 
flour,  which  had  not  previously  exceeded  30,000  barrels,  showed  60,514  car- 
ried, and  the  heaviest  freight  ever  known  of  cotton,  205,503  bales,  was  super- 
added, making  a  volume  of  produce  which  called  into  incessant  service  every 
engine  and  car.  The  rolling  stock  was  48  locomotives,  16  passengers,  32 
freight,  and  704  cars,  and  6  more  engines  had  been  ordered.  This  year  the 
directors  were  John  Bones,  Samuel  Barnett,  William  M.  D'Antignac,  John 
Cunningham,  Asbury  Hull,  George  T.  Jackson,  Thomas  B,  Phinizy,  Richard 
Peters,  Hays  Bowdre,  William  D.  Conyers,  James  W.  Davies,  Thomas  N.  Ham- 
ilton, Elijah  E.  Jones,  Antoine  Poullain,  and  Benjamin  H.  Warren,  with  one 
vacancy. 

In  1857  the  old  wooden  way  stations  were  replaced  by  brick  and  stone. 
The  increased  length  of  engines  and  tenders  necessitated  new  turnouts.  There 
is  great  complaint  of  the  very  inferior  quality  of  railroad  iron  then  manufac- 
tured. The  annual  wear  and  tear  of  rails  is  estimated  at  $50,000,  and  to  .show 
that  the  quality  manufactured  has  deteriorated  instead  of  improved  with  time, 
the  president  instances  that  the  last  lot  put  upon  the  road  is  in  the  worst  con- 
dition, and  that  some  twenty- five  miles  which  had  then  been  about  sixteen 
years  in  use  was  the  best  on  the  line.  The  other  railroad  stocks  held  by  the 
company  had  begun  at  last  to  pay,  the  Nashville  and  Chattanooga  three  per 
cent,  and  the  rest,  with  the  exception  of  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia,  eight 
per  cent.  Atlanta  and  LaGrange  had  paid  a  bonus  of  thirty  per  cent.  The 
Memphis  and  Charleston  road  had  opened,  and  the  Nashville  and  Northwest- 
ern was  well  under  way.  The  receipts  were  $1,314,563.48,  expenses  $785,- 
188.54,  net  profits  $i;20,374.94.  The  banking  adjunct  was  at  this  time  pay- 
ing about  one-sixth  the  gross  receipts,  and  making  handsome  profits.  Nine 
new  locomotives  were  bought  during  the  year,  making  54  in  all  ;  there  were 
706  cars  and  40  additional  freight  cars  ordered.  George  W.  Evans  was  added 
to  the  directory  this  year. 

In  1859  the  president  reports  the  bonded  debt  as  $373,060,  all  incurred 
for  stock  in  other  roads,  and  urges  its  extinction  at  maturity,  and  the  adoption 
of  the  policy  of  a  fixed  rate  of  dividend  rather  than  a  fluctuating  rate,  now  high, 
now  low.  A  fixed  rate  of  seven  per  cent,  he  thinks  attainable,  all  over  to 
extinguish  the  debt  and  relay  the  track.  The  road  paid  $1,154,621.08  and 
the  bank  $134,324.20,  total  $1,288,945.28,  expenses  $672,747.40,  net  profits 
$616,197.88.     Mr.  George  Yonge  was  now  superintendent,  and  pays  a  high 


Transportation.  493 


tribute  to  the  faithfulness  and  efficiency  of  the  company's  engineers.     Ferdi- 
nand Phinizy  and  Massilon  P.  Stovall  were  made  directors. 

In  i860  President  King  warns  the  stockholders  that  new  roads  are  seri- 
ously threatening  their  business.  The  Virginia  line  and  Charleston  and  Sa- 
vannah road  are  already  competitors,  and  a  line  from  Griffin  I'ia  Newnan  to 
North  Alabama,  and  an  extension  from  Eatonton  to  Madison  will  still  further 
affisct  the  company.  As  a  remedy  roads  were  suggested  from  Warrenton  to 
Macon,  from  Madison  to  Barnesville,  from  Covington  to  Griffin,  from  Atlanta 
and  Marietta  to  Jacksonville.  There  were  56  engines  and  634  cars.  The  fer- 
tilizer traffic  began  to  loom  up,  4,529.791  pounds  having  been  hauled,  the  com- 
putation not  being  by  tons  at  that  date.  Edward  R.  Ware  was  added  to  the 
directory. 

In  1 86 1  the  pinch  of  war  began  to  be  felt.  The  road  earned  $860,460.81, 
the  bank  $185,209.30,  a  falling  off  in  the  former  of  $298,727.41,  and  in 
the  latter  $66,321.67,  a  total  of  $365,049.08,  or  just  $1,000  per  day. 
The  Milledgeville  road,  to  which  the  company  had  subscribed  $200,000, 
and  paid  $124,000,  was  progressing.  The  future  of  the  road  none  could 
foresee. 

In  1862  the  president  says:  "  But  little  produce  has  been  moved,  and  the 
purchase  and  consumption  of  goods  for  domestic  purposes  has  been  small. 
Travel  and  traffic  have  been  diverted  from  the  usual  channels,  and  regular 
commerce  and  the  trade  connected  with  it  have  been  broken  up  or  greatly  de- 
ranged. The  business  therefore  has  been  derived  from  unusual,  and  often  un- 
expected sources.  The  heaviest  class  of  transportation  has  been  in  arms,  mil- 
itary supplies,  and  munitions  of  war.  Also  heavy  groceries  from  New  Orleans, 
the  two  Carolinas  and  Virginia  have  been  forced  over  our  road  by  the  block- 
ade of  the  coast.  For  travel  we  have  been  mainly  dependent  on  the  transpor- 
tation of  troops,  and  travel  connected  with  the  movements  of  the  army,  and 
refugees  from  an  invaded  coast  have  furnished  no  inconsiderable  item."  The 
figures  of  receipts  and  disbursements  being  in  a  depreciated  currency  cannot 
be  justly  compared  with  those  of  preceding  years.  Such  as  they  were,  receipts 
were  $997,612.12;  expenses,  $566,071.55;  net,  $431,540.57.  To  meet  the 
depreciation  of  the  currency  the  superintendent  urges  an  increase  of  ten  per 
cent,  in  fares,  and  from  ten  to  twenty  in  freight.  All  through  rates  were  abol- 
ished and  all  transportation  charged  for  at  local  rates.  To  meet  the  antici- 
pated scarcity  of  railroad  supplies  purchases  of  material  had  been  made  to  the 
amount  of  $167, 1 8 1 .43.  To  the  Confederate  States  the  bank  had  loaned  $500,- 
000,  to  the  State  of  Georgia  $300,000.  The  stocks  in  which  the  company  had 
then  invested  were  Nashville  and  Chattanooga  Railroad  Company,  $250,000; 
Rome  Railroad  Company,  $123,150;  East  Tennessee  and  Georgia  Railroad 
Company,  $10,600;  Atlanta  and  West  Point  Railroad  Company,  $464,000 ; 
Georgia  Western  Railroad  Company,  $2,500;  Milledgeville  Railroad  Company, 


494  History  of  Augusta. 


$124,000;  steamship  companies,  $40,120;  other  stock,  $500;  total,  $1,014.- 
870;   Confederate  State  treasury  notes  in  hand,  $407,525. 

For  1863  the  receipts  were  $1,555,404.63;  expenses,  $512,439.54;  net 
profits,  $1,042,965.09.  Two  dividends  aggregating  fourteen  per  cent,  were 
paid.  This  apparent  prosperity  was  only  due  to  the  temporary  impulse  of  the 
war.  The  reliable  business  of  the  country  was  small.  Much  of  the  rolling 
stock  had  been  ordered  by  the  Confederate  government  on  other  roads  and 
into  other  States.  Moreover  the  government  had  taken  possession  of  the  roll- 
ing-mill at  Atlanta,  which  the  company  in  conjunction  with  some  others,  had 
started  a  few  years  prior  to  the  war,  and  thus  deprived  it  of  the  opportunity  to 
have  its  old  iron  re-rolled.  In  fact  a  quantity  which  had  been  sent  there  had 
been  impressed  for  military  purposes. 

The  superintendent  reports  that,  so  fir,  the  supplies  laid  in  in  advance  have 
been  able  to  keep  the  road  up,  but  that  next  year  difficulties  must  be  encountered 
from  the  scarcity  of  material  even  at  the  enhanced  prices.  He  says  in  partic- 
ular that  all  of  the  good  pig-iron  needed  for  wheels  is  being  cast  into  ordnance. 
He  recommends  an  increase  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  in  the  rates  of  transpor- 
tation. 

In  1864  the  president  reports  the  road  as  running  at  a  heavy  loss,  and  says: 
"  It  has  made  no  real  profit  for  the  last  two  years,  and  is  making  nothing  now. 
The  more  business  it  does  the  more  money  it  loses,  and  the  greatest  "  favor  that 
could  be  conferred  upon  it,  if  public  wants  permitted,  would  be  the  privilege 
of  quitting  business  till  the  end  of  the  war."  To  explain  this  he  says  that  the 
ruined  condition  of  the  road  and  rolling  stock  from  hard  usage  in  govern- 
ment service  is  such  that  it  would  take  much  more  than  all  reported  profits  to 
put  it  in  the  condition  it  was  in  1861.  The  low  rates  paid  for  government 
transportation,  the  fact  that  rates  for  private  business  have  only  been  increased 
ninety  per  cent.,  and  the  increase  in  cost  of  every  element  of  working  and  main- 
taining the  road  to  an  average  of  3,865  per  cent,  are  also  adverted  to.  The 
banking  department  is  reported  as  having  made  little  since  the  loan  of  its 
credits  and  effects  to  the  government  in  1861,  and  what  it  has  made  has  been 
required  for  taxes.  The  banking  charter,  the  president  reminds  the  stock- 
holders, is  to  expire  in  December,  1864,  and  as  the  Legislature  declines  to 
grant  a  renewal  except  on  onerous  conditions,  he  advises  that  it  be  permitted 
to  lapse  without  further  effort.  The  receipts  from  the  road  were  as  follows  : 
From  Confederate  government,  $818,689.72;  from  others,  $1,456,665  25;  total, 
$2,275,354.97  ;  expenses,  $1,916,348  ;  net,  $359,006.97. 

The  superintendent,  Mr.  George  Yonge,  reports  that  he  cannot  keep  the 
road  up  at  all  on  the  government  exemption  from  military  service  of  one  man 
per  mile  ;  also  that  it  is  not  possible  to  increase  fare  and  freight  to  a  figure 
which  will  be  commensurate  with  the  increased  price  of  railway  supplies. 
From  some  tables  given  by  Mr.  Yonge  may  be  seen  how  prices  rose. 


Transportation. 


495 


Pig  iron 

Railroad  iron 

Coal 

Bar  iron 

Boiler  iron 

Spring-  steel 

Cast  steel 

Sheet  iron 

Ingot  copper 

Sheet  copper 

Block  tin 

Lead 

Zinc 

Spelter  solder 

White  lead 

Nails 

Railroad  spikes 

Tallow 

Leather  belting  ..    .... 

Oil 

Linseed  oil 

Varnish    

Files 

Charcoal 

Bacon 

Corn , 

Wood 

Ties 

Lumber 

Negro  Hire  (with  keep) . 

Paper  

Spirits  turpentine 

Shoes  


.  per  ton  . . 
.per  pound 

.  per  gallon 

It  u 

. per  dozen 
.per  bushel 
.per  pound 
.per  bushel 
.  per  cord  . 

. each 

.per  1,000. 
per  year. . 
.per  ream 
.per  gallon 
.per  pair.  . 


i860. 


25  00 
50  00 
8  00 
04 
07 
07 
20 
06 
25 
25 
25 
05 
03 
25 
08 

05 

03 

10 

20 

I  50 

I  50 

3  00 

7  GO 

08 

ID 

I  00 

I  25 

40 

12  50 

350  GO 

3  50 

25 
I  50 


1863. 


1864. 


$  225  GG 

150  OG 

20  00 

50 
I  50 

90 

6  00 

I  5G 

75 

I  50 

5  00 

75 

50 

I  50 

50 

I  OG 

30 

80 

3  OG 

8  GG 

18  OG 

2G  GG 

70  OG 

30 


15  GO 


350  00 

5GG  GO 

150  GG 

3  OG 

3  OG 

3  50 

20  GG 

3  00 
3  00 

3  OG 
2G  GO 

3  00 

3 
3 

4 
2 
2 
4 

30  GO 
2G  GO 
65  00 
50  00 
90  00 

1  00 

4  00 
12  00 
10  00 

2  00 
75  00 

1,400  00 

2G  GO 

6  00 


00 
GO 
00 
00 
00 
GO 


The  expenses  for  working  the  road  from  April  i,  1863,  to  April  i,  1864,  were 

as  follows : 

Conducting  Transportation. 

Wages  of  conductors,  train,  hands,  meals  and  labor,  for  freight. . . .   $104,456  59 

Wages  of  conductors,  train  hands,  passengers  and  mail 52,228  29 

Wages  of  conductors,  agent's  clerks,  (including  line  road) 66,021   33 


Loss  and  damage 

Stock  killed 

Stationery  and  printing.  . 
Repairs  depot  buildings. 
Overcharges 


46.263  08 

22.264  01 
6,164  80 
8,480  18 
2,140  96 

$308,019  24 


Motive  Power. 


Wages  engineers  and  firemen $187,910  50 

Expenses  water  stations 19.469  33 

Wood  for  engines 144,424  87 

Repairs  of  engines 369,192  87 

Oil  and  tallow  for  engines  and  cars 212,827  33 

Machinery 50,020  14 — $< 


53,845  09 


496  History  of  Augusta. 

Maintenance  of  Way. 

Men's  wages  and  provisions $297,985  61 

Railing  and  cross  ties 1 10,536  80 

Iron,  tools,  spikes  and  castings 33.664  93 

Repairs  bridges  and  culverts 22,204  73 — $464,392  07 

Maintenance  of  Cars. 
Repairs  cars $160,091  60 

$1,916,348  00 

The  expenses  incurred  in  working  road  from  April  i ,  1859,  to  April  i ,  1 860, 

were  : 

Conducting  Transportation. 

Wages  of  conductors,  train  hands,  meals  and  labor  for 

freight $56,485  34 

Wages  of  conductors,  train    hands,  passengers   and 

mail 23,42 1  06 

Wages  of  conductors,  agents  and  clerks,  (including  line 

of  road) 37,68461 

Loss  and  Damages 11, 61 2  84 

Stock  killed 5,648  27 

Stationery  and  printing 5,001  34 

Repairs  depot  buildings 3.985   17 — $143,838  63 

Motive  Power. 

Wages  engineers  and  firemen $58,504  22 

Expenses  water  stations ,  12,552  ']'] 

Wood  for  engines 37.424  6 1 

Repairs 66,253  9^ 

Oil  and  tallow  for  engines 13-749  42— $188,495  °o 

Maintenance  of  Way. 

Men's  wages,  provisions,  etc $80,803  24 

Railing  and  cross-ties 34.643  47 

Tools,  spikes  and  castings  including  deterioration  of 

iron 31.403  47 

Repairs  bridges  and  culverts 2,618  10 — $149,468  28 

Maintenance  of  Cars. 
Repair  of  cars $59,691  71 

I544.493  62 

In  the  spring  of  1865  the  war  came  to  a  close,  and  for  the  year  ending 
April  I,  1865,  the  loss  was  $389,177.06.  The  road  west  of  Greensboro  had 
been  destroyed  and  was  so  left  by  the  company,  but  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment had  placed  that  part  in  condition  for  at  least  temporary  use.  No  con- 
vention of  stockholders  was  held  in  1865,  but  in  1866  the  usual  annual  con- 
vention was  held,  and  in  the  reports  then  presented  we  find  a  very  clear  and 
interesting  account  of  the  history  and  operations  of  the  road  during  the  fiscal 
years  1864  and  1865. 


Transportation.  497 


In  the  latter  part  of  1864  all  the  improvements  at  Atlanta,  and  the  road, 
depots  and  bridges,  from  Atlanta  to  the  Oconee  were  destroyed,  partly  by  the 
Federal  and  partly  by  the  Confederate  forces.  The  company  did  not  think  it 
to  its  interest  to  rebuild  that  portion  until  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  but  the 
Confederate  government  did  so  in  a  superficial  and  temporary  manner.  Some 
of  the  iron  used  in  this  work  was  taken  by  force  from  other  roads,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  war  these  demanded  restitution  of  their  property.  In  addition  to 
the  destruction  of  eighty  miles  of  track,  the  depots  at  Atlanta,  Decatur,  Lith- 
onia,  Conyers,  Rutledge,  Buckhead,  Stone  Mountain,  Social  Circle  and  Cov- 
ington were  burned,  and  some  three  hundred  cars  had  been  carried  off  and  lost 
on  other  roads,  or  destroyed.  The  lapse  of  the  banking  franchise  in  Decem- 
ber, 1864,  had  left  the  company  without  that  once  profitable  auxiliary,  and 
$400,000  of  the  old  banking  bills  then  in  circulation  were  to  be  paid.  The 
negroes  belonging  to  the  company,  valued  at  $26,255,  were  emancipated. 
There  were  on  hand,  and  worthless.  Confederate  bonds  to  the  amount  of  $653,- 
100;  in  Confederate  notes,  $339,842.51  ;  Georgia  war  bonds,  $150,000  ;  Geor- 
gia treasury  notes,  $195,587.60.  On  the  exchange  of  old  Confederate  cur- 
rency for  new  there  had  been  a  loss  of  $113,617.87  ;  an  account  of  $674,- 
245.29  against  the  confederate  government  for  transportation  was  valueless, 
and  in  short  the  losses  all  told  amounted  to  $2,732,522.71,  of  which  $500,000 
was  in  damage  done  to  the  road  and  its  outfit,  estimated  on  a  gold  basis. 
There  were  left  22  engines  in  running  order  and  29  needing  repairs,  and  378 
cars,  many  utterly  worthless. 

On  the  cessation  of  hostilities  the  Georgia  Road  transported  to  their 
homes,  free,  nearly  100,000  Confederate  soldiers,  paroled,  or  prisoners  of 
war  released  from  Northern  prisons.  On  October  i,  1865,  Mr.  E.  W.  Cole 
was  made  superintendent,  and  his  report  of  operations  of  the  road  from 
May  15,  1865,  when  the  accounts  began  once  more  to  be  kept  in  Federal 
currency,  showed  that  from  that  period  to  March  31,  1866,  the  receipts  were 
$1,155,397.92,  and  the  expenses  $640,478.95,  showing  a  net  profit  of  $514,- 
918.67. 

This  encouraging  showing  was  due  to  ephemeral  causes,  however.  There 
was  an  immense  amount  of  traveling  just  after  the  war  by  refugees  and  others 
returning  to  their  homes  ;  then  all  the  hoarded  cotton  of  the  country  was  seek- 
ing export,  and  owing  to  the  destruction  of  several  competing  lines,  the  Geor- 
gia road  had  a  more  than  normal  trade.  From  passengers  there  was  received 
$362,548.13;  freight,  $761,974.37,  and  from  the  United  States  government 
for  transportation,  $30,875.42.  The  work  of  restoration  was  at  once  begun. 
Some  500  tons  of  new  rails  were  at  once  laid,  and  271  more  tons  ordered. 
The  machine  shop  at  Atlanta  was  rebuilt,  as  also  many  of  the  depots.  Among 
the  locomotives,  the  "  South  Carolina,"  which  had  been  on  the  road  since  No- 
vember I,  1845,  and  the  "  Oothcalooga,"  from  October  28,  1846,  survived  all 
63 


498  History  of  Augusta. 


the  many  perils  of  time  and  war,  and  in  1866,  after  twenty  and  twenty-one 
years  service,  respectively,  were  reported  as  in  running  order.  Both  were 
Baldwin  engines. 

The  board  of  directors  in  1866  was  John  Bones,  James  S.  Hamilton,  Ben- 
jamin H.  Warren,  George  T.  Jackson,  Richard  Peters,  Samuel  Barnett,  John 
Cunningham,  James  W.  Davies,  Nathan  L.  Hutchins,  George  W.  Evans,  Will- 
iam D.  Conyers,  Elijah  J.  Jones,  Antoine  Poullain,  Massilon  P.  Stovall,  and 
Edward  R.  Ware. 

By  1867  the  company  had  put  in  283,900  new  cross-ties,  built  two  new 
bridges  of  iron,  and  nine  new  depots,  and  increased  its  cars  from  the  70  which 
came  out  of  the  war  to  399,  and  its  engines  from  12  to  28,  and  paid  for  all  out 
of  the  profits.  In  addition  to  this,  $756,806  of  the  old  bills  had  been  redeemed. 
Still  this  left  much  of  war's  ravages  unrepaired.  Of  the  700  cars  on  hand  at 
the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  but  70  had  been  left  at  the  close  of  the  war  as  stated, 
and  many  of  these  were  worthless.  Of  the  50  locomotives,  but  12  could  be 
trusted.  The  track  had  run  down  so  as  not  to  be  safe  even  with  a  schedule  of 
10  miles  per  hour. 

In  1867  work  on  the  Augusta  and  Macon  road,  connecting  with  the  Geor- 
gia road  at  Caniak  by  the  Warrenton  branch,  was  pushed  forward  vigorously. 
But  55,714  bales  of  cotton  were  transported,  about  one-fourth  of  the  quantity 
hauled  in  i860. 

By  1868  the  war  debt  of  $1,000,000  had  been  pretty  well  extinguished. 
The  bills  had  been  redeemed  until  but  $129,476.12  was  outstanding.  In  this 
report  President  King  dwells  upon  the  idea  that  local  business  must  be  the 
main  reliance  of  railroad  companies.  Despite  many  drawbacks  the  planting 
interest  had  recovered  ground,  and  the  cotton  freight  was  1 12,708  bales,  or 
about  double  that  of  the  preceding  year.  Two  new  engines  were  the  first  in 
eight  years.  The  cars  had  been  increased  to  473,  of  which  23  were  passen- 
ger. Stevens  Thomas  and  Thomas  J.  Burney  were  added  to  the  directory 
this  year. 

In  1869  the  grain  freight  of  the  road  began  to  rise  into  new  importance. 
This  year  1,059,043  bushels  were  brought  from  the  West  against  487,828  the 
year  before.  This  year  an  office  of  discount  and  deposit  was  opened  with 
agencies  at  Atlanta  and  Athens.  The  net  earnings  increased  to  $83,542.60 
over  those  of  1868,  owing  to  the  local  business  improving.  The  Macon  and 
Augusta  Railroad,  though  unfinished,  was  about  paying  its  own  expenses. 
Between  417  and  418  miles  of  road  had  been  relaid  with  new  iron.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1868,  Mr.  E.  W.  Cole,  superintendent,  accepted  the  office  of  president  of  the 
Nashville  and  Chattanooga  Railroad,  and  Mr.  S.  K.  Johnson,  assistant  superin- 
tendent, acted  as  superintendent.  For  the  fiscal  year  1869  the  earnings  of  the 
Macon  and  Augusta  Railroad  were  $45,123.52;  expenses,  $47,282.47.  The 
United   States  tax   on   dividends  was  a  heavy  burden  at  this   period,  being 


Transportation,  499 


$16,624  this  year.      L.  M.  Hill,  D.  E.  Butler,  and  Green  Moore  were  added  to 
the  directory. 

The  receipts  for  1870  were  $1,456,183.85;  expenses,  $1,027,197.13;  net, 
$428,986.72.  The  passenger  receipts  this  year  were  unusually  heavy,  which  the 
president  attributed  to  the  emigration  of  a  suffering  and  discontented  population 
from  the  old  planting  States  to  the  Southwest  There  were  indications,  how- 
ever, of  a  revival  of  prosperity  in  Georgia,  prominent  among  which  was  the 
heavy  traffic  in  guano,  as  evidencing  a  large  scope  of  agricultural  operations, 
31,609,513  pounds  being  hauled  this  year.  The  president  notes  that  a  sort  of 
railroad  mania  had  at  this  era  seized  upon  the  public  mind,  and  observes  that 
some  of  the  very  serious  burdens  imposed  on  railroad  enterprises  seem  to  have 
been  overlooked.  Among  them  he  refers  to  the  accumulated  taxes,  two  and 
one  half  per  cent,  on  passenger  gross  receipts,  five  per  cent,  on  cost  of  equip- 
ment with  additional  excise  and  tariff  charges,  five  per  cent,  on  income,  and 
State  and  county  taxes  superadded.  Still  in  addition,  the  deadhead  abuse,  and 
a  multiplicity  of"  damage  suits."  The  United  States  government  tax  this  year 
was  $27,15  1.06.  This  year  miscellaneous  freight  exceeded  the  cotton  trans- 
portation three  to  one,  and  the  total  receipts  of  the  road  were  $198,841.33  in 
excess  of  the  most  favorable  year  before  the  war,  namely  1859.  This  year 
the  Green  Line  was  in  operation,  the  principle  being  that  all  connecting  com- 
panies should  provide  a  set  of  cars,  the  property  of  the  combination,  and  trans- 
port them  over  their  lines,  each  company  receiving  a  pro-rata  of  the  entire 
freight  sale.  The  completion  of  the  Augusta  and  Port  Royal  Railroad  is  an- 
nounced and  considered  a  great  gain  to  the  company. 

The  question  of  substituting  steel  for  iron  rails  was  then  agitating  the  rail- 
road world,  and  as  showing  the  tenacity  of  the  former  it  is  mentioned  that  a 
section  of  rail  on  the  Erie  Road  which  had  been  in  use  for  twelve  months  on 
an  8 5 -foot  grade,  and  over  which  3,000,000  tons  had  passed,  showed  wear  of 
only  one  thirty-second  part  of  an  inch.  A  thousand  tons  of  iron  rails  were 
this  year  ordered,  but  the  superintendent  recommends  that  thereafter  only  steel 
rails  be  used.  By  this  year  all  the  bridges  had  been  put  in  order,  and  a  round- 
house built  in  Augusta  at  a  cost  of  $40,000.  Josiah  Sibley  was  added  to  the 
directory  this  year. 

In  October,  1873,  Mr.  John  P.  King,  so  long  the  president,  informed  the 
directors  that  bodily  affliction  disqualified  him  from  giving  proper  attention  to 
the  duties  of  his  office,  and  Mr.  James  W.  Davies,  a  veteran  director,  was  ap- 
pointed president  pro  tern.  Mr.  King,  while  acknowledging  the  compliment 
conveyed  in  still  retaining  him  in  the  presidency,  declared  it  was  necessary  his 
wishes  for  retirement  should  be  respected,  and  a  new  presiding  officer  elected. 
In  this  year  the  net  profits  of  the  road  were  $526,578.29.  There  were  52 
locomotives  and  791  cars.  The  guano  freight  was  39,171,240  pounds;  cotton, 
273,293  bales;  grain,  1,107,382  bushels. 


500  History  of  Augusta. 


The  year  1875  was  a  bad  year.  No  dividend  was  declared,  and  salaries 
and  wages  were  reduced  twelve  and  a  half  per  cent.  The  Supreme  Court  of 
Georgia  so  construed  the  tax  clause  of  the  charter  as  to  make  all  the  property 
of  the  company  taxable,  which  at  one  swoop  cut  off  $82,125.90.  As  has  been 
heretofore  remarked,  this  decision  of  the  State  Court  was  reversed  by  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  which  held  that  the  taxing  power  of  the 
State  was  limited  to  the  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  on  net  income  stipulated  in 
the  charter. 

The  annual  reports  from  which  we  quote  the  summary  now  in  hand  are 
replete  with  many  sagacious  observations  on  the  railroad  business,  and  among 
others  in  this  of  1875  President  King  lays  it  down  as  an  axiom  that "  side  lines 
are  always  troublesome,  and  short  branches  are  generally  a  dead  weight  upon 
the  main  line."  In  his  long  experience,  dating  from  the  infancy  of  railroading, 
Mr.  King  had  gained  much  valuable  knowledge,  and  his  reports  are  well  worth 
careful  study  in  this  important  field. 

The  year  1876  manifested  little  improvement  over  1875.  The  receipts  of 
the  road  were  $1,194,324.07,  and  the  expenses  $641,677.93.  The  heavy  ex- 
penditures for  repairing  the  ravages  of  war  began  to  draw  to  a  close.  The  su- 
perintendent, Mr.  S.  K.  Johnson,  again  urges  the  propriety  of  steel  rails,  last- 
ing twenty  years  over  iron,  iron  lasting  only  five.  In  this  year  an  unusual  acci- 
dent occurred,  namely  the  explosion  of  a  passenger  locomotive.  The  change 
of  engines  from  wood  to  coal  burners  was  also  mooted.  Two  had  been 
so  changed,  and  shortened  the  time  between  Atlanta  and  Augusta  thirty  min- 
utes. There  were  53  locomotives  and  856  cars.  The  cotton  freight  was  206,- 
255  bales,  a  considerable  falling  off  from  that  of  the  few  preceding  years.  Of 
guano  57,094,045  pounds  were  hauled. 

The  report  for  1877  shows  the  financial  stringency  still  continuing,  but 
that  the  road  was  managed  with  close  economy,  and  that  its  operating  expenses 
were  56^  per  cent,  of  gross  earnings,  as  against  62  per  cent,  on  the  Central 
Railroad,  61^  on  the  Atlanta  and  West  Point,  61  on  the  Charlotte,  Columbia 
and  Augusta,  and  57^  on  the  South  Carolina.  There  were  48  locomotives 
and  831  cars.  The  policy  of  coal-burning  engines  was  fully  approved,  and 
thereafter  as  fast  as  locomotives  were  overhauled  they  were  converted  into 
coal-burners.  The  use  of  steel  rails  was  also  permanently  determined  on.  The 
iron  rails  would  not  last  over  five  years,  and  frequently  only  two,  while  the 
steel  seemed  to  show  no  appreciable  wear,  and  the  cost  of  laying  was  the  same. 
The  cotton  freights,  owing  to  the  prevalence  of  yellow  fever  in  Savannah, 
which  forced  this  product  over  the  Georgia  road,  was  272,602  bales  ;  the  guano 
freight  was  74,415,168  pounds,  or  some  37,000  tons  ;  receipts  were  $1,1 43,- 
128.24;  expenses,  $643,110.30;  net,  $500,017.94.  This  year  the  Legislature 
empowered  the  road  to  issue  $1,000,000  of  six   or  seven  per  cent,  bonds  to 


Transportation.  501 


take  up  outstanding  bonds  and  obligations,    and  authorized  it  to  buy  or  lease 
the  Macon  and  Augusta  and  the  Port  Royal  Railroad. 

In  1878  dividends  were  passed.  A  combination  to  control  the  Port  Royal, 
and  thus  cut  the  Georgia  road  off  from  the  sea  was  discovered,  and  to  secure 
a  controlling  interest  in  the  stock  of  that  road  so  as  to  prevent  the  success  of 
this  hostile  move,  the  directors  determined  to  indorse  the  bonds  of  the  Port 
Royal  for  $1,000,000.  This  year  the  operating  expenses  rose  to  7iyper  cent, 
of  gross  earnings.  The  policy  of  inclosing  the  tract  with  wire  fence  was  initi- 
ated this  year.  Cotton  receipts  were  220,540  bales  ;  guano,  72,339,587  pounds. 
This  year's  report  is  the  last  made  by  Hon.  John  P.  King,  president  of  the 
road  from  its  inception  in  1838.  General  E.  P.  Alexander  became  his  succes- 
sor, with  the  following  board  of  directors  :  James  W.  Davies,  James  S.  Hamil- 
ton, Stevens  Thomas,  M.  P.  Stovall,  George  T.  Jackson,  L.  M,  Hill,  Josiah 
Sibley,  H.  D.  McDaniel,  George  Hillyer,  John  Davison,  William  M.  Reese, 
Charles  H.  Phinizy,  John  H.  James,  Joel  A.  Billops,  N.  L.  Hutchins,  and  H. 
H.  Hickman.  The  operating  expenses  fell  to  66  per  cent.  The  reports  for 
this  year  give  very  full  details  of  the  operations  of  the  company,  but  present 
no  special  points  of  general  interest. 

In  1880  there  are  intimations  of  trouble  with  the  railroad  commission 
on  the  subject  of  rates,  the  commission  claiming  the  right  to  fix  rates  and 
the  company  denying  the  same,  relying  on  the  provisions  of  its  charter. 
After  lasting  some  time  this  controversy  was  finally  decided  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  against  the  road.  The  earnings  this  year  were 
$1,169,524.14;  expenses,  $766,448.93.  Cotton  freights  decreased,  but 
guano  reached  82,817,538,  an  increase  over  the  year  previous  year  of  some 
14,000  tons. 

At  the  convention  for  the  fiscal  year  1880,  Colonel  Charles  H.  Phinizy  was 
elected  president  of  the  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company.  The  re- 
port for  this  year  shows  gross  receipts,  $1,369,964.42  ;  expenses,  $955,442,- 
51.  The  haul  of  cotton  and  guano  was  unprecedented,  being  295,849  bales, 
and  58,277  tons.  About  ninety  miles  of  track  had  been  laid  with  steel  rails, 
with  rails  enough  on  hand  to  lay  the  rest  of  the  main  track.  There  were  49 
locomotives  and  938  cars. 

In  this  year  the  road  was  leased  to  the  Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Com- 
pany of  Georgia  at  an  annual  rental  of  $600,000,  the  bank  continuing  its  oper- 
ations separately.  The  road  is  still  conducted  under  the  lease,  and  it  only  re- 
mains to  add  that  the  railway  equipment  and  management  of  this  venerable 
company  are  unsurpassed  for  excellence. 

We  here  subjoin  a  statement  of  gross  receipts,  expenses,  cotton,  grain, 
and  fertilizer  freight  of  this  time-honored  company  from  1838  to  April  i, 
1889  : 


502 


History  of  Augusta. 


Years. 

Miles  of  Road. 

Receipts. 

Expenses. 

Bales  Cotton. 

Bushels  Grain. 

Tons  Guano. 

1838 

40 

35.753 

19,367 

8.627 

•839 

75 

134.929 

63.362 

25.5'3 

1840 

88 

184,603 

70,246 

47.235 

184I 

105 

152.225 

67,283 

20,878 

1842 

147 

224.255 

97.518 

49,61 1 

•843 

148 

248,026 

109,819 

63.276 

•844 

148 

248.096 

100,573 

70,754 

■845 

155 

271,750 

I  17,212 

77,948 

1846 

'95 

315.342 

136,204 

56,821 

18.223 

1847 

213 

409,935 

157,902 

94.897 

•49.993 

1848 

213 

477.053 

175.553 

86,734 

278.651 

1849 

213 

582,015 

195.785 

157,502 

176.278 

1850 

213 

526,807 

228,282 

138.810 

65.847 

•851 

213 

728.923 

302,437 

132.800 

42.768 

'852 

2J3 

795.811 

355.508 

139.769 

70,706 

•853 

213 

934.124 

477,655 

194,742 

310,696 

"854 

231 

931.767 

588,552 

154,727 

429,486 

1855 

231 

906,694 

600.289 

165,895 

219.899 

1856 

231 

1,068,202 

750,713 

205,503 

1,172,331 

•857 

231 

1,109,681 

720,217 

177.427 

633,706 

1858 

231 

1.036,572 

710.401 

122.707 

1,058.490 

'859 

231 

1. 1  54.624 

610.258 

219,218 

916.291 

i860  

231 

1,159,188 

631.144 

219,774 

353.241 

1861 

231 

860,460 

704.751 

127,663 

209,497 

1862 

231 

859,598 

521.390 

37,219 

273.446 

1863 

231 

1,120,313 

469.836 

12,672 

27.338 

1864 

231 

2,275.354 

1,916.348 

1865 

231 

3.342,017 

3.056,949 

1866 

242 

1. 155-397 

640.478 

107,276 

1867 

242 

1,136,141 

623,073 

55.714 

265,241 

1868 

231 

1,003,723 

511.834 

112,708 

665,662 

1869 

231 

1,104,521 

575.458 

104,372 

1,407.326 

1870 

231 

1,352,029 

748.11  I 

138,567 

643,129 

15.805 

1871 

231 

1,500,098 

832,559 

170,267 

553,069 

9.315 

1872 

231 

1,334.012 

806,235 

162.470 

887,531 

15.773 

'873 

231 

1,623,456 

976,830 

294.300 

1,897,640 

28.860 

1874 

231 

1. 571. 785 

887.451 

273,293 

1,107,382 

19,586 

•875 

231 

1,281,907 

826.098 

219.533 

1.851,733 

20.637 

1876  

231 

1. 194.324 

641,678 

206,255 

1,366.897 

28,547 

■877 

231 

1,143,128 

643,110 

272,602 

1,667,529 

37.708 

1878 

231 

1,103.712 

727.700 

220,540 

1.480,505 

36,170 

1879 

275 

997,718 

659.325 

267,552 

1. 061. 305 

28.109 

1880 

307 

1,169,524 

766.448 

229,336 

1 .040.074 

41.409 

1881 

307 

1,369,964 

955.442 

395.849 

2,434,460 

58.277 

1882 

307 

1,326.052 

977.485 

254,760 

2,638.690 

51,289 

1883 

307 

1. 314.482 

851.453 

293.480 

1.826,167 

54,946 

1884 

307 

1,324.246 

846.701 

260,207 

2.506,796 

67,293 

1885  

307 

1.286,485 

820.240 

269,211 

3.160.022 

74.251 

1886 

307 

1. 322. 818 

861.502 

280,1 13 

2.532.569 

77.123 

1887 

307 

1.367.733 

903,836 

280,363 

3.43'. 148 

76.810 

1888 

307 

1,514.272 

957,645 

252.228 

2.581,826 

95.3'o 

1889 

307 

1.565.954 

1,042,613 

216,933 

3-521.391 

107,463 

The  history  of  the  banking  operations  of  this  company  will  be  found  in  the 
chapter  on  banks  and  banking  of  this  work.  The  present  status  of  the  road 
may  be  thus  summarized  :  It  embraces  372  miles  of  track,  and  the  terminal 
points  are  Augusta,  Atlanta,  Macon,  Athens,  Gainesville,  Washington,  Monroe 


Transportation.  503 


and  Warrenton.  It  has  immense  machine  shops  in  Augusta,  where  it  works 
from  160  to  175  hands;  pays  $i  10,000  of  wages  annually,  and  turns  out  yearly 
freight  and  passenger  cars,  and  repairs  its  engines,  manufacturing  often  200 
cars  in  a  year.  It  has  a  grain  elevator  with  a  capacity  of  150,000  bushels  of 
wheat  and  corn.  It  passes  through  and  into  twenty  counties  of  the  State,  the 
richest  and  most  fertile,  taking  them  as  a  whole,  having  an  aggregate  of  $98,- 
838,879  of  wealth,  arid  $37,316,280  of  city  property. 

The  road  is  run  in  the  most  progressive  manner.  It  has  its  entire  main 
line  laid  with  steel  rails,  and  largely  ballasted  with  rock.  It  runs  accommoda- 
tion trains  at  terminal  points,  and  lightning  trains  on  a  fast  schedule,  of  171 
miles  in  a  little  over  five  hours.  Its  cars  are  elegant  and  comfortable,  and  its 
yellow  trains  have  become  the  symbol  of  traveling  safety  and  luxury.  Every- 
thing is  kept  up  to  perfection.  Whatever  science  furnishes  for  railway  im- 
provement this  model  railroad  utilizes.  And  its  freedom  from  accident,  due 
to  a  management  of  supreme  ability,  is  something  remarkable. 

The  Central  Railroad  system  is  the  vastest  single  instrumentality  of  Georgia 
advancement.  Its  splendid  scheme  of  commercial  links,  its  noble  ocean  steam- 
ers, its  massive  system  of  wharves,  elevators,  presses,  depots  and  structures,  its 
immense  facilities  for  the  easy  and  speedy  execution  of  a  prodigious  business,  the 
perfect  method  and  efficiency  of  its  management,  and  the  peculiarly  solid  char- 
acter of  its  stocks  and  securities,  make  it  a  wonderful  industrial  organization. 

The  Central  Railroad  was  chartered  December  14,  1835.  Colonel  Cruger 
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  president.  In  1836  it  began  work, 
and  was  completed  to  Macon  October  13,  1843,  ^  distance  of  190  miles,  on 
which  day  a  train  passed  over  the  whole  line  to  the  depot  at  Macon.  The 
first  report  was  made  May  20,  1838.  L.  O.  Reynolds  was  chief  engineer  of 
construction.  In  July,  1838,  passenger  trains  began  running  regularly  the 
first  26  miles.  The  first  report  of  business  for  August,  September,  and  Octo- 
ber, 1839,  shows  2,310  passengers,  paying  $5,244,  and  freight,  $20,232.  In 
1838  the  charter  of  the  branch  road  to  Augusta  was  granted,  and  Savannah 
subscribed  $100,000  to  that  branch. 

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,  in  1882,  the  Central  Railroad  Company,  in  grateful  recognition  of  Mr. 
Gordon's  great  service,  erected  a  beautiful  monument  to  his  memory  in  the 
Court  House  Square  on  Bull  street  in  Savannah. 

The  ninth  report,  made  March  29,  1844,  reports  the  completion  of  the  road 
at  a  cost  of  $2,581 ,723,  including  rolling  stock,  depots,  etc.  This  also  included 
$68,000  lost  by  freshet  of  1841.  The  road  had  14  engines.  The  receipts  of 
the  road  the  year  of  completion,  1843,  were  $227,531  of  which  $37,329  were 


504  History  of  Augusta. 


from  carrying   10,461   passengers.      Among  the  freight  were  47,133  bales  of 
cotton.     The  expenses  were  $134,341,  or  73.8  cents  a  mile,  leaving  a  profit  of 

$93,190- 

At  this  time  a  connection  with  Augusta  was  mooted.  As  chartered  in 
1833  the  company  was  called  "The  Central  Railroad  and  Canal  Company  of 
Georgia,"  and  empowered  to  construct  a  canal  or  railroad  from  the  city  of  Sa- 
vannah to  the  city  of  Macon.  In  1835  the  charter  was  amended  so  as  to 
change  the  name  to  "  The  Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Company  of  Geor- 
gia," the  canal  franchise  being  taken  away  and  a  banking  privilege  given  in  its 
stead.  The  railroad  franchise  remained  as  before,  namely  to  construct  a  rail- 
way between  Savannah  and  Macon.  This  charter  has  never  been  amended  so 
as  to  permit  the  Central  road  proper  to  enter  Augusta.  This  it  does  by  a 
lease  of  the  Augusta  and  Savannah  Railroad  Company.  The  Central  road 
was  constructed  from  Savannah  to  Macon  via  Millen  and  it  now  remains  to 
trace  the  history  of  the  road  from  Augusta  to  Millen. 

In  1838  a  railroad  company  named  the  Augusta  and  Waynesboro  Railroad 
was  incorporated  to  construct  and  operate  a  railroad  "  from  the  city  of  Au- 
gusta to  Waynesboro,  and  thence  to  some  suitable  and  proper  point  of  junc- 
tion with  the  Central  Railroad."  The  Augusta  and  Waynesboro  Railroad  was 
given  a  perpetual  charter  and  empowered  to  rent  or  farm  out  its  franchises  to 
any  individual  or  company.  In  1847  its  charter  was  so  amended  as  to  allow 
it  to  begin  construction  of  its  line  of  road  at  any  point  on  the  line  of  the  Cen- 
tral in  Burke  county,  and  thence  proceed  to  Waynesboro,  and  thence  to  Au- 
gusta. In  1850  the  charter  was  again  amended  so  as  to  authorize  it  to  con- 
tract with  the  city  council  of  Augusta  for  a  site  for  a  depot  in  the  city  of  Au- 
gusta and  the  right  of  way  thereto,  and  in  1852  the  right  of  way  was  granted 
as  also  the  land  bounded  by  Calhoun,  Washington  and  Hall  streets  and  now 
known  as  the  Central  freight  depot. 

In  1852  the  Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Company  was  empowered  "to 
lease  and  work  for  such  time  and  on  such  terms  as  may  be  agreed  on  by  the 
parties  interested,  the  Augusta  and  Waynesboro  Railroad."  In  1856  the 
name  of  the  Augusta  and  Waynesboro  was  changed  to  the  Augusta  and  Sa- 
vannah Railroad.  In  1862  the  Central  leased  the  Augusta  and  Savannah  and 
has  since  operated  it  under  authority  of  the  above  stated  act. 

The  war  put  its  destructive  hand  on  the  Central  Railroad.  Its  income 
was  reduced  at  one  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.  The  falling  off  was 
in  cotton,  hides,  copper,  lumber,  fertilizers,  and  there  was  an  increase  in  corn, 
lard,  bacon,  flour  and  wheat.  The  steamship  companies  in  which  the  road  in- 
vested wound  up  operations,  and  the  railroad  was  notified  that  the  amount  of 
$360,935  had  been  remitted  to  England  to  its  account 


Transportation.  505 


The  Central  road  patriotically  subscribed  to  various  charitable  and  war  funds. 
The  transportation  of  troops  ran  the  passenger  receipts  in  excess  of  freights,  and 
the  banking  profits  were  more  than  doubled.  Cotton  fell  off  to  almost  nothing. 
The  road  accumulated  over  a  million  and  a  quarter  of  Confederate  and  nearly 
three-quarters  of  a  million  of  Georgia  war  securities  and  money.  The  year 
1863  showed  increased  passenger  earnings,  diminished  freights  and  rolling 
stock,  and  increased  accumulation  of  war  securities  ;  shipments  of  tobacco,  ba- 
con and  corn  grew. 

The  year  1 864  is  a  blank.  From  Gordon  to  Savannah  1 39  miles  of  the  road 
was  destroyed  by  Sherman's  army,  and  for  40  miles  width  its  line  was  devas- 
tated. The  president.  Colonel  R.  R.  Cuyler,  died.  William  B.  Johnston  was 
elected  president.  The  thirtieth  report  was  made  December  i,  1865,  by  John 
W.  Anderson,  acting  president,  when  the  road  from  Macon  to  Eatonton,  58 
miles;  from  Augusta  to  Waynesboro  32  miles  ;  and  from  Savannah  to  No.  6^, 
66^  miles,  was  opened.  The  amount  of  $704,000  of  mortgage  bonds  was 
issued.  Colonel  William  M.  Wadley  was  elected  president,  and  started  ener- 
getically upon  the  rehabilitation  of  the  road,  which  was  in  a  bad  condition.  He 
made  report  March  i,  1866,  showing  63  miles  to  be  repaired,  cars  numbering 
539  and  scattered,  and  engines  reduced  to  44  in  number  in  bad  order,  with  14 
only  fit  for  use.  Railway  connection  with  Augusta  had  been  reopened.  On 
the  4th  of  December,  1866,  President  Wadley  made  the  thirty-first  official  re- 
port. Connection  with  Macon  was  made  June  12,  1866.  The  total  cost  of  re- 
constructing the  road  was  $1,068,632. 

The  year  1867  ^^^  the  Central  Railroad  well  re-established.  Its  capital 
stock  was  $4,661,800  representing  the  railroad  and  its  appurtenances,  worth 
$4,472,000  and  $869,803  of  stocks  and  bonds  in  other  companies.  The  loss 
by  war  in  bank  operations  had  been  $485,055.  The  expenditure  in  renewing 
the  railroad  was  $1,357,140.     The  cotton  business  grew  to   272,427  bales. 

In  1868  the  business  of  the  road  fell  off  $212,226.  Seeing  in  the  construc- 
tion of  rival  lines  and  the  loss  of  through  business  by  competition,  injury  to  his 
road,  Mr.  Wadley  began  that  far-reaching  plan  of  expansion,  which  resulted  in 
the  present  massive  and  profitable  railway  and  steamship  scheme  of  transpor- 
tation. Mr.  Wadley  projected  with  a  broad  generalship,  and  his  successor. 
Captain  Raoul,  executed  with  fine  ability  his  predecessor's  grand  ideas.  This 
year  of  1868  he  invested  in  the  Montgomery  and  West  Point  Railroad,  the 
Western  Railroad  from  Montgomery  to  Selma,  and  the  Mobile  and  Girard  Rail- 
road, and  a  through  freight  system  with  the  New  York  steamers  was  estab- 
lished. 

In  1869  the  Central  Railroad  leased  the  Southwestern  Railroad,  and  bank 
agencies  were  established  at  Macon  and  Columbus  as  well  as  at  Albany. 

In  1870  Mr.  Wadley  bought  for  the  company  the  Vale  Royal  Plantation, 
on  the  canal  next  to  the  river,  where  the  splendid  wharves  of  the  road  now  lie. 
64 


5o6  History  of  Augusta. 


In  1 87 1  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  1873,  by  act  of  Legislature,  the  Central  and  Macon  and  Western  roads 
were  consolidated.  The  road  had  been  capitalized  at  $5,000,000  the  previous 
year,  and  in  1873  the  capital  stock  had  been  increased  to  $7,500,000.  An  issue 
of  $5,000,000  of  bonds  by  the  road  was  authorized  by  the  Legislature  for  va- 
rious purposes.  Besides  the  road  and  its  appurtenances,  valued  at  $7,500,000, 
the  concern  owned  other  property  amounting  to  $4,104,990,  consisting  of  real 
estate,  stocks,  bonds,  steamers,  and  railroads.  The  road  owed  $5,179,000  of 
liability,  $3,686,500  on  bonds  as  principal,  and  $1,492,500  as  indorser. 

In  1875  the  Western  Raih'oad  of  Alabama  was  bought  by  the  Central  Rail- 
road and  Georgia  Railroad  for  $1,643,128  each. 

In  1879  the  Central  obtained  a  controlling  interest  in  the  Vicksburg  and 
Brunswick  Railroad  Company  and  the  Montgomery  and  Eufaula  Railroad  Com- 
pany. 

In  1 88 1  the  Central,  as  has  been  stated,  leased  the  Georgia  road  at  an  an- 
nual rental  of  $600,000,  the  lease  running  ninety-nine  years.  On  the  lOth  day 
of  August,  1882,  the  genius  of  this  magnificent  Central  system.  Colonel  Will- 
iam 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  :  Mileages, 
1,150  miles,  main  system,  estimating  steamship  company  at  250  miles.  Con- 
necting system,  458  miles;  total,  1,608  miles;  capitalized  at  $25,995,150  and 
stocked  at  $7,500,000,  making  an  aggregate  of  $33,495,150,  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  policy  of 
Mr.  Wadley  has  been  steadily  pursued  until  the  Central  Railroad  and  Banking 
Company  now  dominates  the  railway  system  of  Georgia. 

The  Augusta,  Gibson  and  Sandersville  Railroad  Company  extends  from 
Augusta  to  Sandersville  via  Gibson,  in  Glasscock  county.  It  traverses  Rich- 
mond, Glasscock,  Burke,  and  Washington  counties  and  lays  open  some  of  the 
finest  agricultural  lands  in  the  State.  The  aggregate  wealth  of  the  counties 
traversed  is  $36,500,000;  the  farm  lands  are  worth  $5,400,000,  and  the  crops 
$4,350,000.  The  cotton  yield  is  about  50,000  bales  yearly.  The  road  is 
seventy-five  miles  long,  and  is  a  narrow  guage.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time 
when  it  will  be  prolonged  in  an  air  line  to  Thomasville,  opening  up  the  im- 
mense timber  and  naval  store  resources  of  southern  Georgia. 

The  Augusta  and  Knoxville  Railroad  Company  owed  its  origin  to  a  desire 
for  direct  communication  between  Augusta  and  Knoxville.  It  was  completed 
as  far  as  Spartanburg,  South  Carolina,  and  then  passed  into  the  hands  of  the 


€'i,/i„/Ei^m/iiu' 


Transportation.  507 

Central  system  by  a  lease  to  the  Port  Royal  and  Augusta  Railway  for  ninety- 
nine  years.  From  Greenwood  it  was  extended  to  Greenville  and  is  now  known 
as  the  Port  Royal  and  Western  Carolina.  From  McCormick's  to  Anderson 
extends  a  branch  known  as  the  Savannah  Valley  road.  The  Augusta  and 
Knoxville  was  opened  in  1882. 

By  an  act  of  1864  the  Legislature  of  Georgia  incorporated  the  Columbia  and 
Hamburg  Railroad  Company  as  the  Columbia  and  Augusta  Railroad,  and  em- 
powered it  to  enter  the  city  of  Augusta.  In  1869  another  act  authorized  the 
consolidation  of  the  Charlotte  and  South  Carolina  Railroad  and  Columbia  and 
Augusta  Railroad  Companies  as  the  Charlotte,  Columbia  and  Augusta  Rail- 
road. This  road  extends  from  Augusta  via  Columbia,  to  Charlotte,  a  distance 
of  191  miles.  It  has  been  absorbed  by,  and  is  now  a  part  of  the  Clyde  syndi- 
cate, or  Piedmont  Air  Line  system.  A  brief  account  of  this  system  will  be  of 
interest. 

One  of  the  first  great  enterprises  in  the  country  to  strike  down  into  South- 
ern fields  for  fresh  business  domain  was  the  Richmond  and  Danville  Railroad. 
Years  ago  this  line  was  well  known  as  an  excellent  passenger  route,  then  bid- 
ding for  the  travel  to  the  North  and  East  from  this  section  over  the  "  Central 
Short  Line."  It  was  a  most  popular  way  to  the  North,  and  in  open  competi- 
tion distanced  all  competitors  in  Augusta.  As  time  progressed  the  command- 
ing importance  of  this  railroad  was  recognized  by  a  syndicate  of  Eastern  cap- 
italists, who  bought  liberally  of  its  capital  stock  and  identified  it  with  the  pow- 
erful Pennsylvania  Central  Railroad,  in  which  they  were  also  interested.  Such 
a  combination  threw  a  superb  trunk  route  from  the  Virginia  boundary  line, 
through  Richmond,  Washington,  Baltimore  and  New  York,  whose  influence 
was  irresistable  and  whose  enterprise  was  insatiable.  They  controlled  all  the 
rich  section  of  the  Virginia  Valley,  and  that  fair  country— onced  evastated  by 
civil  war — began  to  build  up  and  blossom  under  the  inspiration  of  railroad  in- 
dustry. All  formidable  rivalry  was  retired,  for  the  principal  routes  were  closed 
up  and  all  branches  and  connections  of  any  possible  value  or  importance  were 
absorbed  into  a  compact  system.  Nor  did  this  movement  stop  at  Danville. 
The  North  Carolina  Railroad,  extending  from  Danville  to  Charlotte,  was  soon 
controlled,  when  a  giant  stride  into  Augusta  over  the  Charlotte,  Columbia  and 
Augusta  Railroad,  which  they  also  secured,  was  not  a  difficult  matter.  Prac- 
tically owning  the  line  then  from  Charlotte  to  Augusta,  this  spreading  system 
turned  their  attention  down  the  Piedmont  belt  of  the  Carolinas  and  Georgia, 
and  finally  effected  a  lease  of  the  Atlanta  and  Charlotte  Air  Line  Railroad,  a 
route  of  270  miles  in  length.  What  a  system  to  contemplate.  The  terminus  in 
New  York ;  the  main  line  solid  and  unbroken  ;  perforating  the  South  Atlantic 
States;  the  mountains  of  the  AUeghanies  and  Blue  Ridge,  rimmed  with  stone 
and  steel — one  foot  of  a  great  angle  planted  in  Atlanta  and  one  in  Augusta, 
Ga.      Compared  to  the  seven  leagued  tactics  of  modern  railroads,  how  feeble 


5o8  History  of  Augusta. 

seem  the  engineering  of  Caesar  in  Gaul,  or  the  forced  marches  of  Napoleon  into 
Italy.  Such  a  system  as  the  Richmond  and  Danville,  or  the  Clyde  Syndicate, 
as  it  is  commonly  called,  cannot  easily  be  conceived.  Spanning  the  richest 
section  of  the  American  Union,  it  stretches  from  the  gray  coasts  of  Jersey  to 
the  flowing  Savannah — 

''  Whose  head  in  wintry  grandeur  towers, 

And  whitens  with  eternal  sleet. 
While  summer,  in  a  vale  of  flowers, 
Is  sleeping  rosy  at  its  feet." 

Once  in  control  of  these  main  lines  the  small  roads  and  branches  were  rap- 
idly assimilated.  Convinced  that  this  great  corporation,  was  potent  for  the 
development  of  the  South,  and  also  that  its  means  and  facilities  for  operating 
roads  and  building  unfinished  lines  were  unparalleled,  the  people  of  Georgia 
and  Carolina,  in  many  sections,  surrendered  their  stock  in  such  enterprises  upon 
guarantees  from  this  company. 

This  system  then,  is  composed  of  the  following  roads:  The  Richmond  and 
Danville  Railroad  proper,  141  miles;  the  North  Carolina  Division  to  Ciiarlotte, 
141  miles;  the  Goldsboro  Branch  from  Greensboro,  N.  C,  130  miles;  the  Salem 
Branch,  from  Greensboro,  28  miles  ;  the  Charlotte,  Columbia  and  Augusta  Rail- 
road, 191  miles;  the  Atlanta  and  Charlotte  Air  Line  Railroad,  269  miles;  the 
Elberton,  Ga.,  Air  Line  Railroad,  from  Toccoa  City  to  Elberton,  5  i  miles ;  the 
Hartwell,  Ga.,  Railroad,  connecting  with  the  Elberton  Air  Line  at  Bowersville, 
10  miles;  the  Lawrenceville  Georgia  branch,  from  Suwanee  on  the  A.  and  C.  A. 
L.  branch,  10  miles;  the  Northeastern  Railroad  of  Georgia,  from  Lula  to  Athens, 
40  miles;  the  Columbia  and  Greenville,  S.  C,  Railroad,  143  miles;  the  Abbeville, 
S.  C.  Branch,  from  Hodges,  on  the  Columbia  and  Greenville  Railroad,  12  miles; 
the  Laurens,  S.  C.  Railroad,  from  Newberry,  S.  C,  on  the  Columbia  and  Green- 
ville Railroad  to  Laurens,  S.  C,  30  miles  ;  the  Spartanburg,  Union  and  Col- 
umbia Railroad,  69  miles  ;  the  Blue  Ridge  Railroad,  from  Belton,  S.  C,  to  Wal- 
halla,  S.  C,  42  miles.  Besides  the  actual  Southern  lines  of  lease  given  above, 
and  which  aggregate  1,287  m'les,  south  of  Richmond,  the  Richmond  and  Dan- 
ville Railroad  management  operate  a  number  of  roads  in  the  well-known  "At- 
lantic Coast  Line  System,"  under  the  name  of  "  The  Associated  Railways  of 
Virginia  and  the  Carolinas."  Among  these  maybe  noted  the  Wilmington  and 
Weldon,  and  Wilmington,  Columbia  und  Augusta  Railroads  ;  the  Northeast- 
ern Railroad  of  South  Carolina  ;  the  Cheraw  and  Darlington,  and  Cheraw  and 
Salisbury  Railroads  ;  the  Richmond  and  Petersburg  Railroad  ;  the  Petersburg 
Railroad,  and  Virginia  Midland.  This  system  has  opened  a  vast  territory  to 
Augusta. 

The  Augusta  and  Port  Royal  Railroad  is  1 12  miles  long,  and  connects  Au- 
gusta with  the  magnificent  harbor  of  Port  Royal.  It  was  chartered  in  1856 
and  opened  in  1873.     The  importance  of  this  line  to  the  Georgia  Railroad  was 


Transportation.  509 


not  at  first  seen.  In  1872  the  president  reported  that  ever  since  the  charter- 
ing of  the  Port  Royal  frequent  applications  had  been  made  to  the  Georgia  road 
for  material  aid  to  that  enterprise,  but  upon  a  full  consideration  of  the  subject 
the  board  of  directors  had  come  to  the  conclusion  not  to  identify  the  Port 
Royal  with  the  Georgia.  The  reasons  were,  first,  lack  of  surplus  money  to  in- 
vest in  other  enterprises;  secondly  that  it  would  be  an  act  of  injustice  to  other 
roads  terminating  in  Augusta,  and  lastly,  and  the  most  weighty  reason  of  all, 
that  the  board  desired  to  avoid  any  appearance  of  hostility  to  the  interests  of 
Charleston  and  Savannah  or  the  railroads  connecting  those  cities. 

Early  in  1872,  however,  reports  reached  the  directory  that  an  unfriendly 
combination  was  engaged  in  purchasing  a  controlling  interest  in  the  South 
Carolina  Railroad  with  a  view  of  restricting  the  eastern  connections  of  the 
Georgia  road  to  other  points.  At  first  the  directory  was  incredulous,  but  in- 
vestigation disclosed  the  truth  of  the  rumor,  and  yielding  to  the  force  of  cir- 
cumstances it  accepted  a  proposition  which  had  been  previously  declined, 
namely  to  indorse  the  first  mortgage  bonds  of  the  Port  Royal  for  $1,000,000, 
and  secure  a  controlling  interest  in  its  stock.  In  1877  the  Georgia  road  was 
empowered  to  lease  or  buy  the  Port  Royal,  and  in  1878  it  was  reported  that 
the  indorsed  bonds  of  the  latter  had  been  practically  all  paid.  In  the  same 
year  on  June  6,  the  Port  Royal  road  was  brought  to  sale  and  was  bought  in  by 
the  Union  Trust  Company,  of  New  York,  trustee  for  the  benefit  of  all  bond- 
holders. On  June  22d  a  meeting  of  the  bondholders  was  held  in  New  York, 
and  a  reorganization  of  the  company  effected  under  the  name  of  the  Port  Royal 
and  Augusta  Railway  Company.  The  new  corporation  was  to  create  a  new 
stock  of  $750,000,  and  to  issue  $1,750,000  of  bonds,  so  as  to  make  the  aggre- 
gate amount  of  stock  and  bonds  $2,500,000,  or  an  amount  equal  to  the  entire 
bonded  indebtedness  of  the  old  company  The  stock  was  to  be  pro- rated 
among  the  holders  of  the  old  bonds  in  exchange  for  thirty  per  cent,  of  the 
principal  thereof.  The  bonds  were  to  re  twenty-year  six  per  cents,  secured 
by  mortgage,  and  to  be  of  two  classes,  one  of  $250,000,  to  be  called  the  Port 
Royal  and  Augusta  Railway  Company's  first  mortgage  sinking  fund  bonds, 
and  to  constitute  a  preferred  lien  upon  the  property  of  the  new  company. 
The  proceeds  of  this  class  of  bonds  were  to  be  used  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
foreclosure,  etc.,  in  discharging  such  liens  as  might  be  adjudged  liens  prior  to 
the  mortgage,  and  in  providing  new  outfit.  These  bonds  were  redeemable  in 
five  years  at  not  exceeding  105.  The  second  class  of  bonds  was  to  be  $1,500,- 
000  in  amount,  to  be  called  the  Port  Royal  and  Augusta  Railway  Company's 
general  first  mortgage  bonds,  and  were  to  be  a  lien  upon  the  property  second 
to  the  first  class.  The  bonds  were  to  be  distributed  pro  rata  among  the  origi- 
nal bond  holders  in  exchange  for  seventy  per  cent,  of  the  old  bonds  and  all 
accrued  interest  thereon.  A  sinking  fund  of  $10,000  per  year  was  provided 
for.      Under  this  arrangement  the  Georgia  road  received  $150,000  of  stock,  and 


5IO  History  of  Augusta. 


$300,000  of  the  second  class  of  bonds.  By  the  terms  of  the  agreement  the 
holders  of  the  new  bonds  were  entitled  to  cast  one  vote  for  each  $ioo  in  bonds. 
In  a  litigation  growing  out  of  these  bonds  in  1886  it  appeared  that  the  Central 
Railroad  was  owner  of  a  majority  of  these  bonds,  and  consequently  controlled 
the  Port  Royal  and  Augusta,  and  that  the  Port  Royal  and  Augusta  had  leased 
the  Augusta  and  Knoxville,  thereby  securing  control  of  that  road  also  to  the 
Central  system. 

The  Augusta  and  Summerville  Railroad  Company,  or  the  Street  Railroad 
of  Augusta,  is  not  to  be  forgotten.  This  company  was  chartered  on  March  20, 
1866,  with  a  capital  of  $100,000,  increasable  to  $200,000,  and  was  empowered 
to  lay  a  horse  railroad  from  the  lower  market-house  in  Augusta,  or  such  other 
point  as  the  directors  might  determine  on,  to  the  United  States  arsenal  in  the 
village  of  Summerville,  or  to  any  other  point  three  miles  from  the  city  limits. 
It  was  further  authorized  to  convey  passengers  or  freight  at  reasonable  rates, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  city  council. 

By  act  of  December  28,  1866,  this  charter  was  amended  so  as  to  allow  the 
company  to  run  dummy  cars  or  engines  on  that  portion  of  its  track  outside  the 
corporate  limits,  and  on  such  streets  in  the  city  as  the  cit}'  council  might  allow. 
The  same  act  exempted  the  capital  stock  and  earnings  of  the  road  from  all 
State  or  county  taxation  during  the  continuance  of  its  charter,  and  provided 
that  the  taxes  on  its  real  and  personal  property  should  never  exceed  the  rate 
imposed  on  the  property  of  individuals. 

On  September  24,  1866,  the  city  council  of  Augusta  and  the  Augusta  and 
Summerville  Railroad  Company  entered  into  a  contract  whereby  the  city 
granted  the  company,  for  the  term  of  its  charter,  the  exclusive  right  of  way 
over  all  the  streets  of  the  city  except  Monument  street,  and  empowered  it  to 
construct  its  main  line  on  Broad  street  with  such  branches  as  it  might  sec  fit, 
and  to  operate  the  branches  witii  horse-power,  with  the  option  of  using  dummy 
engines  on  the  main  track.  The  right  of  way  over  all  vehicles,  except  the 
city's  fire  apparatus,  was  given  the  company's  cars.  The  track  was  to  be  of 
uniform  guage  with  the  other  railroads  of  Georgia,  and  the  rates  were  not  to 
exceed  fifteen  cents  per  passenger  in  the  city  limits  and  seven  cents  per  hun- 
dred weight  on  freight.  The  capital  stock,  real  estate,  and  personal  property 
of  the  company  were  exempted  from  municipal  taxation  during  the  term  of  its 
charter.  No  tax  on  earnings  was  to  be  exacted  until  the  company  paid  a  seven 
per  cent,  dividend  and  then  not  to  exceed  two  per  cent,  on  the  excess. 

This  contract  embodied  the  terms  of  an  ordinance  of  the  city  council  of 
September  7,  1866.  On  January  19,  1867,  another  ordinance  was  adopted 
which  authorized  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  Company  to  connect  its  tracks 
with  that  of  the  Augusta  and  Summerville,  and  abrogated  that  part  of  the  con- 
tract of  August  10,  1852,  between  the  city  council  and  the  South  Carolina 
road  which  prohibited  the  latter  from  connecting  its  track  with  any  other  in 
the  city. 


Transportation.  ^  1 1 


By  another  ordinance  adopted  November  9,  1867,  the  Augusta  and  Sum- 
merville  was  empowered  to  use  locomotive  power  for  the  transportation  of  pas- 
sengers, baggage,  and  freight  during  the  term  of  their  charter,  along  Walker 
street  from  the  Georgia  Railroad  passenger  depot  to  Washington  street;  along 
Washington  from  South  Boundary  to  Reynolds  street,  along  Reynolds  to  Kol- 
lock,  along  Kollock  to  the  Georgia  Railroad  track,  along  Mcintosh  street,  be- 
tween Fenwickand  Walker,  and  along  their  track  crossing  Fenwick  near  Wash- 
ington, connecting  said  passenger  depot  with  the  depot  of  Augusta  and  Savan- 
nah Railroad.  The  speed  of  engines  was  not  to  exceed  five  miles  per  hour,  and 
all  freight  for  the  city  government  was  to  be  transported  free  of  charge. 

By  ordinance  of  March  13,  1868,  the  Augusta  and  Summerville  was  auth- 
orized to  contract  with  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  Company  for  the  use  of  its 
tracks  from  Reynolds  street  to  the  Georgia  Railroad  depot. 

By  act  of  October  26,  1870,  the  Legislature  ratified  and  confirmed  the 
above  mentioned  contract  of  September  24,  1866,  and  ordinances  of  Septem- 
ber 7,  1866,  January  19,  1867,  and  March  13,  1868,  and  empowered  the  city 
council  to  grant  the  company  the  right  to  use  steam  power  on  any  other  street 
in  the  city  besides  those  named  in  the  ordinances  at  its  discretion. 

It  will  be  thus  seen  that  the  Augusta  and  Summerville  Railroad  Company 
was  to  fulfill  two  functions,  first  to  operate  a  horse  railroad  in  the  city  and  to 
the  village  of  Summerville,  and  secondly  to  be  the  connecting  line  between  the 
various  railroads  entering  the  city.  In  pursuance  of  this  latter  function  the 
company  contracted  on  March  2,  1868,  with  the  Central  Railroad;  on  March 
16,  1868,  with  the  South  Carolina  Railroad  ;  on  July  5,  1869,  with  the  Char- 
lotte, Columbia  and  Augusta  Railroad,  and  on  June  4,  1873,  with  the  Georgia 
road.  In  these  contracts  the  following  rates  were  established  for  services  ren- 
dered by  the  Augusta  and  Summerville  :  Ten  cents  for  each  passenger,  fifteen 
cents  for  each  bale  of  cotton,  and  three  cents  per  hundred  weight  on  all  other 
freight.  By  subsequent  relinquishments  the  Augusta  and  Summerville  brought 
its  charges  down  to  one  and  one-half  cents  per  hundred  weight  on  through 
freight,  and  the  same  charge  on  local  freight  transported  from  the  depot  of  the 
company  receiving  it  to  any  other  depot,  or  warehouse,  foundry,  etc.  The 
passenger  tariff"  and  all  other  rates  were  abandoned.  In  1874  an  effort  was 
made  in  the  Legislature  to  abrogate  or  modify  the  charter  and  franchises  of 
this  company,  but  failed.  The  charter  expires  in  1896.  This  road  is  one  of 
the  best  in  the  county  as  regards  celerjty  and  regularity  of  trips,  and  is  unsur- 
passed for  the  excellent  condition  of  the  animals  employed. 

Some  of  the  railway  enterprises  to  reach  Augusta  in  contemplation  or  un- 
der way  may  be  briefly  mentioned.  The  Carolina,  Knojfville  and  Western  is 
intended  to  connect  Augusta  and  Knoxville  by  a  line  starting  from  Augusta 
midway  between  the  Charlotte,  Columbia  and  Augusta,  and  the  Port  Royal 
and  Western  Carolina,  and  thence  in  almost  an  air  line  to  Knoxville.  That 
city  has  voted  $100,000  to  the  scheme,. and  Greenville  has  also  subscribed. 


512  History  of  Augusta. 

The  Augusta  and  Chattanooga  Air  Line  is  contemplated  to  run,  7>ia  Gaines- 
ville from  Augusta  to  Chattanooga.  This  will  open  up  the  mineral  regions  of 
Georgia  to  those  cities  and  shorten  Augusta's  western  connections  about  one 
hundred  miles.  Chattanooga  has  subscribed  $I00,000,  and  many  miles  have 
been  graded. 

Another  projected  route  is  the  Augusta,  Thomasville  and  Gulf,  a  line  of 
some  three  hundred  miles  in  length,  intended  to  give  Augusta  a  direct  commu- 
nication with  the  Gulf,  and  open  up  rich  portions  of  Florida  and  Georgia. 

A  continuation  of  the  Augusta,  Gibson  and  Sanderville  from  the  latter 
point  to  Thomasville  is  also  in  contemplation,  with  a  prolongation  to  St. 
Thomas'  bay  in  the  Gulf 

The  Charleston,  Cincinnati  and  Chicago  route  is  intended  to  form  a  direct 
communication  between  those  points,  striking  Black's,  in  South  Carolina, 
whence  a  branch  is  to  reach  Augusta.  This  line  will  be  650  miles  in  length. 
Still  another  project  is  the  Augusta,  Elberton  and  Chicago. 

A  direct  e.xtension  of  the  Augusta  and  Port  Royal  Railroad,  northwest 
would  carry  us  to  Elberton,  connecting  with  the  Elberton  and  Toccoa  Rail- 
road already  built.  The  same  line  continued  from  Toccoa  to  Knoxville,  and 
joining  the  road  from  Knoxville  to  Cincinnati,  would  give  us  an  air  line  rail- 
way to  Cincinnati  from  Port  Royal,  125  miles  nearer  than  at  present. 

From  Augusta  to  Elberton  is  75  miles,  from  Elberton  to  Toccoa  is  51 
miles,  and  from  Toccoa  to  Maysville,  this  side  of  Knoxville,  and  connected 
with  that  city,  is  130  miles,  making  a  total  of  256  miles  from  Augusta  to  Mays- 
ville, of  which  80  miles  are  built  and  in  operation. 

The  Augusta,  Elberton  and  Chicago  line  of  75  miles  has  fully  10  miles 
graded,  and  the  whole  route  surveyed.  Work  on  this  road  has  been  tempora- 
rily suspended,  but  will  no  doubt  be  ultimately  completed. 


PART    II. 


BIOGRAPHICAL. 


ESTES,  Hon.  CHARLES.  There  is  no  safer  index  to  the  character  of  a 
man  than  his  face.  Here  we  have  a  face  in  which  is  clearly  written  will 
power,  force  of  character,  indomitable  energy  and  courage  of  conviction. 

Hon.  Charles  Estes  was  born  at  Cape  Vincent,  Jefferson  county,  N.  Y., 
February  2,  1819.  The  Estes  family  is  of  Prussian  extract,  and  the  name  ap- 
pears prominent  among  the  early  settlers  of  the  celebrated  Mohawk  Valley  in 
New  York  State.  Andrew  Estes,  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  one 
of  the  active  business  men  of  his  day,  albeit  he  died  without  estate. 

At  the  time  his  beloved  father  was  called  hence,  Charles  was  in  his  thir- 
teenth year.  Left  to  his  own  resources,  with  such  equipment  as  he  had  re- 
ceived in  the  common  schools  of  his  native  town,  he  turned  to  fight  for  him- 
self the  battle  of  life.  With  an  energy  which  has  characterized  every  act  of  a 
most  successful  and  useful  life,  Charles  addressed  himself  to  the  first  work  that 
offered — mastering  the  trade  of  watchmaker  and  jeweler.  This  soon  proved 
too  narrpw  a  field  for  his  active  and  aggressive  spirit,  and,  next,  we  find  him 
superintending  the  construction  of  a  section  of  the  Genesee  Valley  canal. 

From  Lockport  Mr.  Estes  went  to  New  York  city,  where  he  engaged  as 
salesman  in  the  wholesale  dry  goods  house  of  Doremus,  Suydam  &  Nixon. 
Devotion  to  every  detail  of  business  in  his  department  was  a  feature  in  Mr. 
Estes's  career  in  this  position.  In  1844  he  resolved  to  make  Augusta  his  home. 
Carrying  this  resolution  into  effect,  Mr.  Estes  embarked  at  once  in  the  dry 
goods  business  as  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Dow  &  Estes.  He  continued  in 
this  branch  of  trade  until  1850,  when  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness, and  straightway  entered  the  wholesale  grocery  trade,  in  which,  with  un- 
varying success,  he  remained  till  1866,  when  he  retired  from  active  business. 
Here,  as  in  every  department  in  which  he  has  figured,  Mr.  Estes  strictly  ob- 
served one  rule:  "  Never  leave  till  to-morrow  that  which  you  can  do  to-day." 
He  was  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season,  pursuing  his  work  with  unfaltering 
assiduity.       Had  he  a  note  due  at  bank,  on  a  given  day,  at  or  before  two 


History  of  Augusta. 


o'clock,  he  invariably  paid  it  not  later  than  12  o'clock  M.  Upon  his  with- 
drawal from  business  pursuits,  Mr.  Estes  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  city 
council,  and  honored  with  the  chairmanship  of  the  finance  committee. 

In  1870  Mr.  Estes  was  elected  to  the  chief  magistracy  of  the  city,  and  was 
annually  re-elected  until  1876.  It  was  during  his  occupancy  of  the  mayor's 
chair  that  the  enlargement  of  the  Augusta  canal  was  determined  upon.  As 
mayor,  he  was  charged  with  a  general  supervision  of  the  great  work  alluded 
to.  He  looked  after  the  work  generally,  and  after  the  ways  and  means  espe- 
cially. The  knowledge  gained  while  employed  as  construction  master  on  the 
Genesee  Valley  canal,  stood  him  admirably  in  hand  at  this  time.  To  Mr. 
Estes,  more  than  to  any  other  man,  are  the  citizens  of  Augusta  indebted  for 
that  which  has  made  their  beautiful  city  the  acknowledged  "  Lowell  of  the 
South." 

In  prosecuting  the  canal  enlargement  Mr.  Estes  encountered  the  most 
strenuous  opposition  of  many  well-meaning  citizens — gentlemen  who  honestly 
apprehended  that  the  "  experiment"  would  result  in  nothing  but  a  burden  of 
debt  to  the  people.  Mr..  Estes  was  imperturbable  and  irrepressible.  He  pegged 
away  energetically,  and  he  now  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  his  fellow- 
citizens  regard  the  canal,  as  enlarged,  the  chief  pride  of  Augusta.  Instead  of 
proving  a  burden  to  the  taxpayers,  the  canal  (1888)  is  paying  the  city  an- 
nually, in  water  rents  and  in  taxes  on  mills  and  manufactories,  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  addition  to  the  taxes  paid  by  property,  which  is 
practically  a  creation  of  the  canal  itself 

Mr.  Estes  has  always  figured  conspicuously  as  a  skilful  financier.  The 
cost  of  the  great  work  mentioned  is  but  another  tribute  to  his  careful  manage- 
ment. Think  of  a  canal,  quite  nine  miles  in  length,  raised  from  700  horse- 
power to  14,000  horse-power,  when  used  at  thirty-three  feet  fall,  at  a  total  cost 
of  $968,000,  $751,000  in  the  face  value  of  city  bonds,  and  $217,000  in  cash, 
derived  from  the  sale  of  certain  shares  of  Macon  and  Augusta  Railroad  stock 
owned  by  the  city.  The  sale  of  that  stock  was,  as  the  sequel  showed,  an  ab- 
solute gain  to  the  city. 

Mr.  Estes  was  one  of  the  most  earnest  and  active  friends  of  the  enterprise 
known  as  the  Augusta  and  Knoxville  Railroad.  He  it  was  who  suggested  the 
line  now  threaded  by  that  road,  following  the  bank  of  the  canal  and  skirting 
the  sites  of  Augusta's  great  cotton  factories.  He  it  was  who  inaugurated  the 
plan  by  which  the  company's  bonds  were  floated  to  the  perfect  satisfaction  of 
all  concerned. 

In  1 88 1,  at  the  solicitation  of  leading  citizens,  Mr.  Estes  took  the  initiative 
in  organizing  the  John  P.  King  Manufacturing  Company,  with  a  capital  of  one 
million  dollars.  He  is,  at  this  writing  (1888)  president  of  the  company,  presi- 
dent of  the  National  Bank  of  Augusta,  and  also  president  of  the  Augusta  Land 
Company,  which  latter  company  was  organized  for  the  purchase  and  improve- 


Biographical.  3 


ment  of  lands  in  the  western  portion  of  the  city.       All  that  section  is  building 
up  rapidly. 

It  may  be  said,  without  exaggeration,  that  among  the  many  energetic  and 
influential  citizens  of  Augusta,  not  one  stands  higher  or  has  a  more  enviable 
record  for  well-deserved  success  and  for  devotion  to  the  welfare  and  upbuild- 
ing of  the  city  and  its  varied  interests  than  the  Honorable  Charles  Estes. 


BAKER,  ALFRED,  was  born  in  Warren  county,  Ga.,  and  is  the  son  of 
Edwin  Baker,  who  for  a  number  of  years  represented  his  county  in  the 
Legislature  as  State  senator.  Young  Baker  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  Warren  county,  such  as  had  an  existence  in  the  earlier  history  of 
the  State.  In  October,  1829,  he  came  to  Augusta  and  took  a  position  in  the 
large  mercantile  house  of  Bridges  &  Gibson.  He  afterwards  became  associ- 
ated with  W.  P.  Rathbone  in  the  wholesale  grocery  business,  under  the  firm 
name  of  Rathbone  &  Baker.  They  did  a  large  and  successful  business  for 
many  years,  but  finally  retired  in  i860.  In  the  meantime  Mr.  Baker  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  flour,  and  was  proprietor  of  the  Paragon  Mills  until  they 
were  destroyed  by  fire  in  1863.  During  this  period  he  was  also  a  leading 
director  in  the  Mechanic's  Bank. 

In  1870  he  organized  the  National  Exchange  Bank  of  Augusta,  of  which 
he  has  since  been  president.  This  financial  institution  has  a  paid  up  capital 
of  $250,000,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  substantial  and  solid  bank- 
ing houses  in  this  part  of  the  country.  In  1875  he  established  the  Augusta 
Savings  Bank  for  the  benefit  of  small  depositors,  to  encourage  saving,  of  which 
he  has  also  been  president  since  its  organization.  This  is  the  only  savings 
bank  in  the  city,  and  it  has  enjoyed  a  remarkable  career  of  prosperity.  Be- 
sides his  interest  and  connection  with  the  corporations  named,  Mr.  Baker  is 
a  director  in  the  Enterprise  Manufacturing  Company,  and  a  director  and  large 
stockholder  in  the  Georgia  Chemical  Works. 

In  all  of  his  business  ventures  Mr.  Baker  has  achieved  well  deserved  suc- 
cess. He  possesses  excellent  business  judgment,  is  careful  and  judicious  in  the 
management  of  his  aflairs,  and  is  prompt  and  straightforward  in  all  things. 
He  enjoys  the  full  confidence  of  the  business  community  both  as  to  business 
ability  and  integrity  of  character.  Few  of  the  business  men  of  Augusta  have 
been  longer  in  business  life,  and  throughout  his  long  career  he  has  maintained 
an  unblemished  record.  For  several  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  religious  and  charitable  work  has  been  an  active 
spirit. 

Mr.  Baker  was  married  in  1844  to  Miss  Sarah  E.  Thayer,  daughter  of  Joel 
Thayer,  of  Boston,  Mass.  They  have  one  child,  Lizzie  F.,  wife  of  Dr.  John 
F.  Bransford,  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Navy. 


History  of  Augusta. 


CAMPBELL,  HENRY  ERASER.  No  history  of  Augusta  would  be  com- 
plete that  failed  to  give  prominent  place  to  a  sketch  of  the  renowned 
physician  and  surgeon  whose  name  heads  this  article.  Eor  many  years  he  has 
been  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  medical  fraternity  of  Georgia,  and  a  sketch  of 
his  career  cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest,  not  only  to  the  members  of  the  profes- 
sion he  so  worthily  adorns,  but  to  the  people  of  his  home,  where  he  is  honored 
and  loved,  it  will  possess  a  double  value. 

Henry  Eraser  Campbell  was  born  in  the  city  of  Savannah,  Ga.,  Eebruary 
ID,  1824.  His  father,  James  Colgan  Campbell,  at  the  time  a  merchant  in  that 
port,  was  a  native  of  County  Antrim,  Ireland,  and  belonged  to  a  family  of  the 
Presbyterian  Scotch-Irish  Campbells.  Dr.  Campbell  has  adhered  to  the  same 
faith — being  an  elder  in  the  P^irst  Presbyterian  Church  of  Augusta.  The  father 
died  in  early  manhood,  during  the  infancy  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  His 
mother,  Mary  R.  (Eve)  Campbell,  a  lady  of  fine  intellectual  endowments  and 
high  culture,  was  the  only  daughter  of  Joseph  Eve,  a  name  once  familiar  as 
connected  with  the  early  history  of  the  cotton-gin,  and  as  the  inventor  of  the 
"brush  and  roller  gin,"  now  used,  with  but  slight  modification,  for  the  ginning 
of  Sea  Island,  or  long-staple  cotton.  Like  many  a  child  of  genius,  this  mater- 
nal ancestor  of  Dr.  Campbell — inventor,  poet,  philanthropist  and  doctor — after 
many  heroic  struggles  with  adverse  fortune,  as  the  world  would  sum  it  up, 
"  failed  of  success  in  life  !"  His  epitaph,  written  on  his  death-bed  by  himself, 
is  a  simple  and  touching  epitome  »f  his  life.  It  is  copied  from  the  slab  over 
his  grave,  in  the  "Cottage  Grave  Yard"  near  Augusta: 

"  Here  rests  one  Fortune  never  favor'd  ; 

He  grew  no  wiser  from  the  past ; 
But  e'er  with  perseverance  labor'd 

And  still  contended  to  the  last ; 

In  reservation,  he'd  a  haven, 

With  constant  hope  still  kept  in  view, 
The  blest  abode— the  promised  Heaven 

Of  all  who  strive  God's  will  to  do  !" 

This  gentleman  was  the  father  of  the  late  Professor  Joseph  A.  Eve,  of 
Augusta,  and  of  the  late  Dr.  I^dward  A.  P"ve,  of  Georgia.  He  was  the  uncle 
of  the  late  distinguished  Professor  Paul  F.  Kve,  of  Nashville,  Tenn. 

In  intimate  association  with  these  near  relatives  and  active  laborers  in  the 
profession,  all  three  of  them  are  claimed  by  Dr.  Campbell  as  his  preceptors 
and  trainers  in  medicine  and  surgery,  in  the  earlier  periods  of  his  life.  His 
education  and  moral  culture,  with  that  of  his  only  brother.  Dr.  Robert  Camp- 
bell, were  carefully  superintended  by  his  mother,  generously  aided  by  his 
uncle,  the  late  Robert  Campbell,  of  Augusta. 

Having  received  a  very  thorough  academic  education,  supplemented  by  a 


A 


'"■S-  fiobson.  Piik  J'/ii-la  ■ 


(/(U^^i^      i/-    ^Cl^-^.^.^'iAZx^^^^ 


Biographical.  5 


classical  course  under  a  private  tutor,  and  having  begun  the  study  of  medicine 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  Dr.  Campbell  entered  the  Medical  College  of  Georgia 
(now  the  Medical  Department  of  the  University  of  Georgia),  in  November, 
1840,  and  was  graduated  thence  in  March,  1842,  at  the  age  of  eighteen.  The 
same  year  he  established  himself  in  the  general  practice  of  medicine  in  Au- 
gusta, where,  except  during  the  late  war  and  during  the  winters  of  1866-67 
and  1867-78,  he  has  since  remained. 

Though  engaged  in  a  consulting  practice,  in  all  the  branches,  over  a  widely 
extended  region  of  his  own  and  the  adjoining  States,  Dr.  Campbell  has,  for 
many  years  past,  made  specialties  of  surgery  and  gynecology.  Of  his  more 
notable  operations  may  be  here  mentioned  forty-seven  cases  of  lithotomy, 
forty- five  of  which  were  successful.  His  operation  on  the  male  has  been  inva- 
riably that  of  Dupuytren.  In  this  special  class  of  operations,  the  profession  is 
indebted  to  Dr.  Campbell  for  the  invention  of  the  grooved  tampon  en  chemise 
— an  instrument  which  vastly  lessens  the  danger  of  fatal  hemorrliage,  the 
great  source  of  mortality  in  adult  lithotomy.  We  find  also  recorded  by  him, 
sixteen  cases  of  gangrenous  inflammation  from  gun-shot  wounds,  arrested  by 
ligation  of  the  main  trunk.  The  first  of  these  "  curative  ligations  "  (which 
were  all,  except  one,  done  in  rapid  succession  during  the  war),  was  made  June 
5,  1862,  in  the  Military  Hospitals  at  Richmond.  These  ligations,  together 
with  the  cases  of  urinary  calculus,  above  referred  to,  will  be  more  fully  consid- 
ered in  connection  with  his  literary  contributions.  In  gynaecic  practice,  the 
sliding-hook  forceps,  for  the  operation  in  vesico- vaginal  fistula,  the  soft- rubber 
spring-stem  pessary  for  uterine  flexions,  the  cushioned  protean  pessary  for 
uterine  versions,  and  the  pneumatic  repositor  for  the  " self- replacement "  of 
uterine  dislocations,  are  all  well  known  inventions  of  Dr.  Campbell. 

As  a  teacher,  the  labors  of  Dr.  Campbell  have  been  quite  varied — he  hav- 
ing occupied  chairs  relating  to  some  five  or  six  different  branches  of  medicine, 
thus  accounting,  perhaps,  in  some  measure,  for  the  distinct  variety  marking  the 
subjects  which  have  engaged  his  earnest  investigation,  as  will  be  shown  in  the 
discussion  of  his  published  contributions.  They  may  be  thus  briefly  summar- 
ized :  From  the  date  of  his  graduation  in  1842,  to  1854,  he  was  Demonstrator 
and  Assistant  Demonstrator  of  Anatomy ;  from  185410  1857,  he  was  Professor 
of  Comparative,  Surgical  and  Microscopical  Anatomy;  from  1857  to  1866,  he 
was  Professor  of  Anatomy ;  and  from  1868  to  the  present  time,  he  has  been 
Professor  of  Operative  Surgery  and  Gynecology,  in  the  Medical  Department 
of  the  University  of  Georgia.  During  this  period  he  was  clinical  lecturer  in 
Jackson  Street  Hospital,  the  City  Hospital,  and  in  the  Freedman's  Hospital  of 
Augusta.  In  the  winter  of  1866-67  lie  was  Professor  of  Anatomy  ;  and  in 
the  winter  of  1867-68,  Professor  of  Surgery  in  the  New  Orleans  School  of 
Medicine,  and  Clinical  Lecturer  in  Charity  Hospital.  In  the  winter  of  1868- 
69,  he  was  Professor  of  Operative  Surgery  in  the  Medical  College  of  Georgia. 


History  of  Augusta. 


As  a  lecturer  he  is  ready,  facile  and  comprehensive — always  extemporaneous, 
without  even  a  note  either  to  systematize  or  to  prompt  the  course  of  his  dis- 
cussion. Attention  of  the  students  is  fixed  more  by  the  interest  he  himself 
takes  in,  and  gives  to  the  subject,  than  by  any  particular  grace  of  manner  or 
oratory  in  the  speaker. 

In  1852,  in  connection  with  his  brother,  Dr.  Robert  Campbell,  long  and 
intimately  associated  with  him  in  practice,  he  established  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  the 
Jackson  Street  Hospital,  an  institution  at  that  time  needed  for  the  treatment 
of  chronic  and  surgical  cases  among  the  negro  population  of  the  Southern 
States.  This  institution  was  founded  upon  the  most  liberal  principles;  it  had 
fifty  beds  and  an  ample  hall  for  clinical  lectures.  It  was  provided  with  every 
comfort — equal  to  those  of  the  best  hospitals  for  white  patients — and  while  its 
establishment  did  credit  to  the  benevolence,  as  well  as  good  judgment  of  its 
founders,  its  ample  patronage  and  support  well  vindicated  the  kindness  and 
humanity  of  the  Southern  people,  in  the  care  and  attention  they  were  willing 
to  secure,  at  liberal  cost,  for  the  sick  and  afflicted  among  their  dependents. 
Jackson  Street  Hospital  continued  in  active  operation  until  after  the  war,  when 
it  was  superseded  by  the  establishment  of"  Freedmen's  Hospitals"  in  every 
community,  and  which  are  supported  out  of  the  public  funds. 

During  the  Confederate  war,  immediately  after  the  first  battle  of  Manassas, 
Dr.  Campbell  repaired  to  Virginia  and  attached  himself,  as  a  volunteer  sur- 
geon to  the  extensive  hospitals  for  the  wounded  at  Culpeper  Court  House, 
Virginia.  He  was  commissioned  regularly  as  a  surgeon  of  the  Confederate 
Army,  September  2,  1861,  and  immediately^assigned  to  duty  as  medical  direc- 
tor of,  and  consulting  surgeon  of  the  Georgia  Military  Hospitals  in  Richmond, 
Va.  At  the  same  time  he  was  a  member  of  the  army  examining  board  for 
medical  officers.  In  these  two  capacities  he  continued  to  serve  until  the  end 
of  the  war.  During  this  service,  among  the  large  number  of  ligations  and 
other  operations  he  performed,  those  for  "  the  radical  cure  of  inflammation  " 
were  most  important.  Immediately  after  the  surrender,  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  chair  of  Anatomy,  in  the  New  Orleans  School  of  Medicine,  from  which 
chair,  in  the  winter  of  1867-68,  he  was  transferred  to  that  of  surgery.  Dur- 
ing his  connection  with  this  college,  besides  his  regular  clinical  lectures  in 
Charity  Hospital,  he  delivered  a  special  course  on  the  Anatomy,.  Physiology 
and  Pathology  of  the  Nervous  System,  in  that  institution. 

On  his  acceptance  of  the  second  call  to  New  Orleans,  his  colleagues  of  the 
Augusta  faculty,  in  filling  his  chair  of  Anatomy,  until  then  temporarily  sup- 
plied, created  an  eighth  chair,  to  which  no  duties  were  assigned.  Having  to 
resign  in  New  Orleans  on  account  of  impaired  health,  this  new  chair  was  of- 
fered Dr.  Campbell — operative  surgery  and  gynecology  being  given  as  the 
departments  of  his  own  selection.  In  these  two  kindred  branches  he  has  con- 
tinued, after  occupying  such  a  variety  of  positions,  to  serve  his  alma  mater  as 
professor  and  clinical  lecturer,  from  the  winter  of  1869  to  the  present  time. 


Biographical. 


Rather  perversely  determining,  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen,  while  still  far 
short  in  the  completion  of  his  academic  course,  to  begin  the  study  of  medicine, 
Dr.  Campbell  disappointed  the  generous  intention  of  his  friends  in  regard  to  a 
thorough  college  curriculum.  He  made,  however,  good  progress  in  the  classics 
under  an  able  private  tutor,  but  yet  entered  the  Medical  College  of  Georgia 
to  take  his  first  course  of  lectures  at  sixteen.  Having  become  prominent  as 
an  anatomical  student,  he  was  at  once  appointed,  on  his  graduation,  two  years 
after,  as  assistant  demonstrator ;  from  this  he  rose  to  demonstrator,  and  finally 
to  professor  of  anatomy  in  the  same  college.  In  the  exercise  of  these  several 
functions  of  teacher  and  lecturer,  but  especially  in  the  more  difficult  and  widely 
scanned  performances  of  essayist  and  journalist,  it  may  be  well  supposed  that 
the  youthful  doctor  had  reason  to  miss  the  systematic  training  and  stored  up 
erudition  of  the  college  course  he  had  put  aside  ;  and  to  regret  the  impulse 
which  had  projected  him  so  prematurely  into  the  profession.  Laborious  pri- 
vate study,  a  wide  scope  of  systematic  reading  and  unremitting  self- culture 
in  everything  subsidary  to  the  attainment  of  facility,  as  well  as  profundity  in 
both  speaking  and  writing,  soon  accomplished  for  him,  we  think,  far  more  than 
any  perfunctory  attendance  at  even  the  best  of  literary-  colleges  could  have 
done.  He  acquired  knowledge  as  it  was  wanted,  and  the  kind  he  had  need 
for — as  it  were,  making  for  himself  the  tools  he  required  for  his  work. 

Dr.  Campbell  must  have  begun  very  early  to  make  contributions  by  his 
pen  to  the  literature  of  the  profession  —  certainly  as  early  as  1845.  From  this 
time,  we  find  frequent  papers  sent  by  him  to  the  medical  press — his  favorite 
medium  at  that  time  being  the  Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,  pub- 
lished at  Augusta.  Of  this  journal  he  finally,  in  conjunction  with  his  brother, 
Dr.  Robert  Campbell,  became  the  senior  editor,  five  volumes  of  which  are  the 
creditable  result  of  their  joint  labors  —  fi-om  1857  to  1861. 

Of  the  literary  labors  of  Dr.  Campbell,  it  is  difficult  to  give  any  consistent 
or  systematic  presentation,  on  account  of  their  variety  and  of  the  unkind  red 
and  diverse  nature  of  the  subjects  discussed.  Few  medical  writers  in  this 
country  have  worked  in  so  wide  a  field,  or  presented  themselves  with  a  per- 
sonality recognizable  in  so  many  distinct  departments.  As  physiologist  and 
pathologist,  as  surgeon,  as  gynecologist,  and  finally  as  sanitarian,  we  find 
copious  contributions  from  his  pen — each  interesting,  to  a  certain  extent,  a 
distinct  class  of  readers,  to  whom  his  name  and  contributions  are  quite  familiar; 
while  by  the  others,  he  is  scarcely  recognized  as  the  same  man.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  give  a  resume  of  that  which  is  to  remain  as  the  life-work  of  our 
subject,  we  must  endeavor  to  condense,  under  these  several  distinct  heads, 
some  of  his  more  important  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  profession. 
Some  of  these  papers  involve  a  historic  discussion  not  long  since  quite  familiar. 

From  a  very  early  period  of  his  professional  life  Dr.  Campbell  has  devoted 
much  attention  to  the  study  of  the  nervous  system  as  the  controlling  influence 


History  of  Augusta. 


in  all  normal  and  pathological  action.  On  May  2d,  1850,  he  read  before  the 
Medical  Society  of  Augusta,  Ga.,  an  essay  on  "The  Influence  of  Dentition  in 
Producing  Disease."  The  article  was  published  in  the  Southern  Medical  and 
Surgical  Journal,  Vol.  VI  ,  June,  1850.  This  paper  was  prepared  in  answer 
to  the  question  then  before  the  society  :  "  Has  the  Process  of  Dentition  any 
Influence  in  the  Production  of  the  Diarrhea  and  other  Disturbances  in  the 
System  of  the  Infant,  Commonly  Attributed  to  'Teething,'  and  in  What  Man- 
ner is  such  Influence  Exerted?"  Always  a  student  and  most  ardent  admirer 
of  the  great  English  physiologist,  Marshall  Hall,  and  thoroughly  imbued  with 
his  investigations  relating  to  the  discovery  and  establishment  of  the  function  of 
reflex  motory  action,  our  essayist,  in  the  adoption  and  explanation  of  the  af- 
firmative side  of  this  question,  presented  a  clear  analogy  between  the  excito- 
motory  system  and  the  function  he  was  about  to  propose  in  explanation  of  the 
perverted  secretory  and  nutritive  action  characterizing  the  disturbances  of  den- 
tition. 

In  this  paper  Dr.  Cam[)bell  clearly  defined  the  original  doctrine  of  reflex 
vaso-motor  action,  referring  to  experiments  and  observations — old  and  new — 
from  those  of  Pourfour  du  Petit  on  the  dog  in  1732,  and  of  Dupuy  on  the  horse; 
to  those  of  John  Reid,  as  well  as  to  the  writings  of  Xavier  Bichat  and  of  J.  F. 
Lobstein,  down  to  the  time  of  Todd  and  Bowman  ;  all  showing,  most  clearly, 
that  wherever  the  processes  of  nutrition  and  secretion  are  effected,  it  is  alone 
by  the  entire  control  over,  and  agency  of  the  ganglionic  filaments  upon  the 
viovenients  of  the  blood-vessels. 

But  the  object  of  Dr.  Campbell  was  not  so  much  to  establish  the  instru- 
mentality of  the  ganglia  and  filaments  of  the  sympathetic  system  in  the  modi- 
fication of  vascular  movement,  and  thereby  in  the  control  of  nutrient  and  sec- 
retory action,  as  to  demonstrate  the,  until  then,  unrecognized  reflex  relation 
subsisting  between  the  sensory  branches  of  the  cerebro-spinal  system,  and  these 
same  vaso-motor  nerves  whose  function  in  controlling  the  blood-vessels  had 
long  been  conceded.  To  this  modifying  and  controlling  influence  of  the  one 
over  the  other,  he  gave  the  appropriate  name,  afterwards  adopted  by  Dr.  Mar- 
shall Hall,  of  London,  and  others,  of  The  Excito  Secretory  Function  of  the  Ner- 
vous System. 

Three  years  after  the  publication  of  these  views,  M.  Claude  Bernard,  of 
France,  alike  distinguished  for  his  profound  knowledge  of  all  that  pertains  to 
the  history  of  discovery  in  the  nervous  system,  as  well  as  for  the  ingenuity  and 
variety  of  his  own  experimental  investigations,  published  in  the  Gazette  Medi- 
cale,  volume  for  1853,  some  remarks  on  "The  Reflex  Actions  of  the  Nervous 
System,"  in  which  he  claimed  that  his  observation  and  presentation  of  the 
existence  of  such  a  reflex  relation  between  the  two  systems  was  "a  suggestion 
entirely  new." 

This  claim  of  M.  Bernard's  appearing  entirt;ly  to  ignore  the  investigations 


Biographical. 


of  Dr.  Campbell  on  the  same  subject,  published  just  three  years  before,  was 
fully  answered  by  Dr.  Campbell  in  a  brief  paper  read  before  the  American 
Medical  Association  at  its  sixth  annual  meeting,  held  in  New  York,  May  3d, 
1853.  The  title  oi  this  paper,  as  found  in  volume  VI.  of  the  Transactions  of 
American  Medical  Association,  is,  ''On  the  Sympathetic  Nerve  in  Reflex  Phe- 
nomena.'" In  their  reviews  of  the  volume  of  that  year,  The  American  Journal 
of  the  Medical  Sciences,  January,  1854,  and  The  New  York  Journal  of  Medi- 
cine, March,  1854.  both  decide  that  "priority  in  publication  of  the  views  in 
question  is  fully  demonstrated  to  be  with  Dr.  Campbell." 

The  courteous  and  friendly  correspondence  on  the  subject  of  priority  of  an- 
nountementin  regard  to  the  reflex  excito-secretory  function  between  Dr.  Mar- 
shall Hall,  of  London,  and  the  subject  of  the  present  sketch  will  be  remem- 
bered by  many  not  old  yet  in  the  profession.  In  the  American  reprint  of  The 
London  Lancet  for  March,  1857,  will  be  found  Dr.  Marshall  Hall's  announce- 
ment of  a  system  of  excito  secretory  nerves. 

On  the  reading  of  this  communication  from  Dr.  Hall,  Dr.  Campbell  pre- 
sented to  him  a  full  catalogue  and  resume  of  his  own  frequent  publications  on 
the  subject,  and  in  a  letter  which,  for  exemplary  courtesy,  and  for  profound 
and  affectionate  respect,  has  seldom  been  equalled  in  any  reclamation  made  by 
one  author  upon  another,  for  the  recognition  of  his  labors  in  a  common  field, 
he  called  attention  to  the  priority  of  his  claim. 

As  might  well  have  been  expected,  it  was  soon  clearly  revealed  that  the 
revered  and  noble  English  philosopher  and  philanthropist  had  never  been  cog- 
nizant of  the  contributions  of  his  American  co- laborer  in  a  portion  of  the  splen- 
did field  his  own  genius  had  had  opened  to  mankind.  Without  hesitation — 
even  while  the  shadow  of  death  was  beginning  to  darken  the  path  of  life  be- 
fore him,  he  made  haste  to  indite,  in  manly  and  cordial  terms,  but  with  a  de- 
cision equally  poised  and  doing  justice  to  the  last  degree  to  all,  a  letter  to  the 
London  Lancet  of  May  2d,  1857 — Dr.  Campbell  first,  to  Claude  Bernard  sec- 
ond, and  last  of  all  to  himself  Here  is  his  unselfish  and  impartial  adjudication 
of  the  tripartite  claim  : 

"  It  would  be  unjust  to  deny  that  Dr.  Campbell  has  the  merit  of  having  first  called  attention 
to  the  excito-secretory  sub-system  in  the  year  1850,  and  that  he  imposed  this  v^ery  designation* 
in  1853.  So  far  Dr.  Campbell's  claims  are  undeniable,  and  I  would  say,  ' palmam  qui  meruit 
ferat. 

"  I  arrive  at  this  conckision  :  the  ut^a  and  the  designation  of  the  excito-secretory  action 
belong  to  Dr.  Campbell,  but  his  details  are  limited  to  pathology  and  observation.  The  elab- 
orate experiinentat  demonstration  of  reflex  excito-secretory  action  is  the  result  of  the  experi- 
mental labors  of  M.  Claude  Bernard.     And  nozu  I  say,  '  steum  cuiqtie.' 

"  My  own  claim  is  of  a  very  different  character,  and  I  renounce  every  other.  It  consists  in 
the  VAS\.  generalization  of  the  excito-secretory  action  throughout  the  system. 

'*  There  is,  perhaps,  not  a  point  in  the  general  cutaneous  surface,  in  which  tetanus — an  ex- 
cito-motor  effect  —  may  not  originate  ;  there  is  scarcely  a  point  in  which  internal  inflammation 
an  excito-secretory  effect  may  not  be  excited.  Every  point  of  the  animal  economy  is  in  sol- 
idarite  by  reflex  excito-secretory  action  with  every  other  !  b 


lo  History  of  Augusta. 


'•  I  trust  Dr.  Campbell  will  Ije  satisfied  with  my  adjudication.  Tiiere  is  in  the  excito-secretory 
function,  as  applied  to  pathology,  an  ample  held  of  inquiry  fur  his  life's  career,  and  it  is  indts- 
pitlably  his  aivn.     He  first  detected  it,  gave  it  its  designation,  and  saw  its  vast  importance. 

I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

April,  1857.  Marshall  Hall 

The  above  fair  and  wise  adjudication,  respectively  recognizing  the  exact 
right  of  each  claimant  in  the  important  achievement,  must  have  been  most  satis- 
factory to  Dr.  Campbell.  During  the  same  year,  we  find,  in  the  volume  of  his 
collected  essays  on  the  Nervous  System,  the  following  dedication:  "To  Mar- 
shall Hall,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  Member  of  the  Institute  of  France,  and  author  of 
that  grand  induction  of  modern  physiology.  The  Principle  of  Reflex  Nervous 
Action,  this  collection  of  Essays  on  the  Secretory  and  Fxcito- Secretory  Sys- 
tem is  respectfully  inscribed,  in  high  admiration  of  his  genius,  and  in  heartfelt 
acknowledgment  of  his  liberality  By  the  Author." 

The  printed  letter  addressed  to  Dr.  Marshall  Hall  had  also  been  sent  to 
several  prominent  physiologists.  With  the  pamphlet  sent  to  Sir  Benjamin 
Brodie,  vice-president  of  the  Royal  Society,  a  private  note  had  been  added.  Sir 
Benjamin's  reply  being  brief  and  pertinent  to  the  claim  of  originality  in  the 
investigation,  we  here  transfer  the  exact  words. 

"  14  Saville  Row,  May  20th,  1857. 
"  My  Dear  Sir, — I  am  much  gratified  by  learning  that  you  have  found  something  to  interest 
you  in  my  little  volume.'     The  writing  it  has  been  the  amusement  of  my  leisure  hours  when  at 
my  house  in  the  country,  where,  during  the  last  few  years,  I  have  passed  several  months  an- 
nually. 

"  I  have  read  your  paper  on  the  Excito-Secretory  System  of  Nerves,  which  certainly  fully 
establishes  your  claim  to  originality  in  the  investigation. 

"  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  Dr.  Marshall  Hall  since  I  received  your  communica- 
tion. I  believe  he  is  staying  at  the  seaside  and,  I  am  sorry  to  add  that  he  is  laboring  under 
very  serious  disease.     I  am,  dear  sir,  your  faithful  servant,  B.  C.  Brodie. 

"Dr.  H.  F.  Campbell,  Augusta,  Ga.,  U.  S." 

A  copy  of  the  collected  Essays  on  the  Nervous  System  were  sent  through 
the  American  minister,  Hon.  F.  W.  Pickens,  to  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Med- 
icine at  St.  Petersburg.  The  following  extracts  from  the  letter  of  Mr.  Dou- 
bouvitsky,  the  president,  officially  reports  the  opinion  of  the  academy,  and 
their  endorsement  of  Dr.  Marshall  Hall's  adjudication. 

"  St.  Petersbourg,  March  28,  1859. 
"  Then,  as  to  this  last  opus  (Dr.  Campbell's  treatise  on  the  e.xcito-secretory  system  of 
nerves),  the  Academy  of  St.  Petersbourg  is  quite  of  the  opinion  of  the  celebrated  physiologist, 
Marshall  Hall,  as  to  the  discovery  of  the  intimate  '  nexus' [relation]  between  the  peripheric 
nerves  and  the  ganglionar  system,  which  connexion  explains  the  frequent  occurrence'of  secre- 
tory phenomena  from  external  stimuli  ;  and  though  \.\\t  facts  designated  by  Dr.  Campbell  are 
true  and  long  since  known,  the  explication  of  them,  and  the  very  proper  designation  of  the 
united  forces  from  different  energies,  by  'excito-secretory  system '  belongs  to  Dr.  Campbell  as 
a  most  useful  and  honorable  discovery." 

'  Psychological  Inquiries  as  to  the  Mental  Faculties.     London,  1856. 


Biographical.  1 1 


This  formally  expressed  contemporaneous  opinion  of  the  Imperial  Academy 
of  St.  Petersburg,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  authoritative  scientific  bodies  in 
Europe  was  the  strongest  kind  of  endorsement,  and  to  the  medical  world  was 
convincing  proof  of  the  validity  of  Dr.  Campbell's  claim. 

We  have  dwelt  at  some  length  upon  the  records  relating  to  these  two  pa- 
pers of  Dr.  Campbell,  as  upon  this  clear  presentation  must  rest  hereafter,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  the  permanent  recognition  of  his  claim  as  the  first  promul- 
gator of  knowledge  in  regard  to  a  most  important  function  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, never  before  recognized  clearly,  and  only  foreshadowed  in  the  vague  doc- 
trines of  sympathetic  action. 

Besides  the  three  papers  heretofore  discussed,  Dr.  Campbell  has  written 
several  other  communications  upon  the  reflex  excito-secretory  function.  At 
the  tenth  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  held  at  Nash- 
ville, May,  1857,  he  obtained  the  prize  offered  by  the  association — the  title  of 
this  paper  being  "  The  Excito-Secretory  System  of  Nerves:  Its  Relations  to 
Physiology  and  Pathology."  (  See  Transactions,  Vo\.  X.,  1857).  Among  other 
papers  on  this  same  subject  are  "  Classification  of  Febrile  Diseases  by  the  Ner- 
vous System."  Transactio7is  American  Medical  Association,  Vol.  X.,  1857). 
"Remarks  on  Meckel's  Ganglion — Its  Influence  on  the  Circulation  of  the  Eye- 
ball." {Southern  Medical  Surgical  Journal,  Y&hxvidixy,  1858).  The  Nervous 
System  in  Febrile  Diseases,  and  the  Classification  of  Fevers  by  the  Nervous  Sys- 
tem."    {Transactions  American  Medical  Association,  Vol.  XL,  May,  1858). 

In  this  last  discussion  of  the  nervous  system,  as  it  plays  its  role  in  febrile 
affections,  will  be  found  a  wider  application  of  the  excito-secretory  or  reflex 
vaso- motor  function,  than  has  ever  before  or  since  been  made,  either  by  our 
author  or  by  any  other  writer.  A  reprint  of  this  paper  was  also  sent  to  the 
Imperial  Academy  of  Medicine ;  and  the  careful  review  given  it  by  that  body 
will  be  found  in  the  following  official  letter  of  the  president  to  Hon.  Mr.  Pick- 
ens, the  American  minister.  It  appears  that  this  paper  secured  to  Dr.  Camp- 
bell his  corresponding  membership : 

"  St.  Petersburg,  March  17,  i860. 

"  Mr.  Doubouvitzky,  President  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Medicine  at  St.  Petersbourgh, 
has  the  honor  to  present  his  best  respects  to  Mr.  Pickens,  minister  of  the  United  States,  and 
entreats  him  to  express  to  the  Professor,  Dr.  Campbell,  in  his  own  name  as  well  as  from  the 
members  of  the  Imperial  Academy,  the  best  thanks  for  his  interesting  treatise  or  paper  on  the 
'  Nervous  System  in  Febrile  Diseases ;'  which  proving  the  high  controlling  influence  of  the 
nervous  system  overall  the  organic  processes  or  acfs  of  human  organism,  not  only  serves  as  a 
proper  basis  for  a  new  classification  of  febrile  diseases,  but  also  being  a  contemporaneous  doc- 
trine of  Neuropathology,  counteracts  in  a  proper  way,  the  too  material  tendency  which 
threatens  to  prevade  the  study  of  medicine.  Though  it  cannot  be  totally  denied  that  some 
processes  of  nutrition  are  completed  with  a  certain  degree  of  self-government,  in  the  system  of 
organic  cells,  which,  since  Schleiden  and  Swan,  have  acquired  a  more  important  signification  in 
the  physiological  and  pathological  changes  of  human  tissues.  Nevertheless,  the  Academy 
thinks  that  the  most  rational  analysis  of  the  influence  of  the  excito-secretory  functions  on  nu- 
trition, secretion,  thermal  and  chemical  changes,  and  the  different  alterations  of  the  blood — is 


12  History  of  Augusta. 


worthy  of  her  full  approbation  and  of  every  encouragement,"  and  adds.  "Dr.  Campl)ell  has 
been  elected  as  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Medicine,  and  we  are 
waiting  for  the  approbation  of  the  Minister." 

His  more  recent  publication  on  the  subject  of  the  excito-secretory  action,  as 
apphed  to  pathology,  is  referred  to  in  connection  with  one  of  his  surgical  es- 
says. Part  n.  of  this  paper  is  published  in  Volume  XXX  of  the  Transactioiis  of 
the  American  Medical  Association,  1879,  "  Etiology  and  Pathology  of  Urinary 
Calculus."  This  part  comprehends  the  "  neuro  dynamic  origin  of  calculus" — 
"Morbid  Excito-Secretory  Action,  the  True  Origin  of  the  Calculous  Diathesis." 
"  The  Relations  of  the  First  and  Second  Periods  of  Dentition  to  the  Origina- 
tion of  Calculus."  In  this  paper  he  proves  by  statistical  research  that  by  far 
the  largest  proportion  of  the  subjects  of  vesical  calculus  are  infants  having  uric 
acid  nuclei,  and  in  a  series  of  seven  propositions  he  indicates  the  neiiro-dyna- 
mic  origin  of  calculus. 

In  addition  to  the  above  eight  papers  in  one  of  the  earlier  volumes  of  the 
American  Trajtsactions,  May,  1853,  and  also  in  the  collected  essays  on  the 
nervous  system, ^  is  found  an  elaborate  essay  of  over  sixty  pages,  entitled  "An 
Inquiry  into  the  Nature  of  Typhoidal  Fevers,  Illustrating  the  Ganglionic  Path- 
ology of  all  Continued  Fevers,"  which  title  sufficiently  signifies  the  subject 
matter  of  the  discussion. 

By  the  foregoing  revievi^  of  Dr.  Campbell's  contributions  it  will  be  seen  that 
in  a  period  of  about  forty  years,  whatever  else  may  have  been  his  pursuits,  or 
in  whatever  other  field  of  labor  he  may  have  been  engaged,  the  ganglionic  or 
vaso-motor  system,  and  especially  its  reflex  relations,  as  applied  to  pathology, 
has  never  ceased  to  engage  his  most  earnest  and  active  attention.  He  has,  in- 
deed, made  good  the  prophetic  words  of  the  illustrious  Marshall  Hall,  "There 
is  in  the  excito-secretory  function,  as  applied  to  pathology,  an  ample  field  of 
inquiry  for  his  life's  career." 

Dr.  Campbell,  it  is  said,  has  been  heard  to  express  himself  as  practicing 
surgery  "  as  a  necessity  of  benevolence  and  bread,"  while  his  study  of  physi- 
ology has  been  for  "  love  and  happiness."  Such  an  announcement,  if  seri- 
ously made,  would  not  certainly  give  any  very  good  augury  for  either  activity 
or  success  in  the  practical  departments.  And  yet,  for  over  forty  years  he  has 
been  known  to  labor  day  and  night ;  to  traverse  weary  distances,  and  to  fore- 
go comfort  and  even  security  of  life,  in  peace  and  in  war,  to  labor  in  a  field 
which  was  not  his  choice.  From  his  earliest  youth  he  has  occupied  lecture- 
ships and  chairs  either  directly  or  secondarily  connected  with  the  teaching  of 
surgery.  Not  only  his  time  and  labor,  but  his  moderate  resources,  with  those 
of  his  brother  and  colleague,  were  early  taxed  to  found  an  institution,  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  principally  devoted  to  surgical  practice.      What  a  man 


'  The  Secretory  and  Excito-Secretory  System  of  Nerves  in  Relation  to  Physiology  and 
Pathology.     Philadelphia.     J.  B.  Lippincott  &  Co.    1857. 


Biographical.  13 


may  think  of  his  own  impulses,  or  whatever  others  may  saj^  of  him,  is  ever 
evanescent,  and  passes  away  with  the  decadence  of  .a  single  generation.  As 
the  writer  has  intimated  in  the  outset  of  the  present  sketch,  a  man's  life  is  to 
be  looked  for  hereafter  in  the  written  records  of  his  service.  There  only  can  it 
be  said  of  him,  "  he  rests  from  his  labors,  and  his  works  do  follow  him." 

Among  a  considerable  number  of  contributions  on  surgery  and  allied  sub- 
jects, the  three  following  papers  may  be  mentioned  as  perhaps  the  best  known: 
"Traumatic  Hemorrhage  and  the  Arteries."  This  paper  constitutes  chapter 
III.  of  T/ie  Manual  of  Military  Surgery,  prepared  by  the  order  of  the  sur- 
geon-general for  the  use  of  the  Confederate  army.  It  presents  a  most  careful 
and  particular  consideration  of  every  arterial  lesion  liable  to  result  from  gunshot 
wounds.  It  gives  in  terse,  but  comprehensive  language,  accurate  and  available 
directions  by  which  the  military  surgeon,  in  the  field  or  hospital,  may  be  guid- 
ed in  cutting  down  upon,  and  ligating  every  accessible  artery.  The  first  an- 
nouncement of  the  principle  of  ligating  the  main  arterial  trunk  of  a  limb  for  the 
radicalcure  of  inflammation,  and  for  the  prevention  of  gangrene,  is  made  in 
this  chapter.  Here,  also,  brief  notes  are  recorded  of  most  of  the  ligations  per- 
formed by  him  for  this  object.  The  chapter  on  Hemorrhage  occupies  over 
one  hundred  and  twenty  pages  of  the  Manual.  "The  Ilunterian  Ligation  of 
Arteries  in  Destructive  Inflammation,"  a  paper  published  since  the  war,'  con- 
tains a  fuller  description  of  the  fifteen  cases  of  ligation,  with  considerations  as 
to  the  applications  and  rationale  of  this  important  measure  of  treatment. 

Another  surgical  paper  is  found  in  volume  XXX.  of  The  Transactions  of  the 
American  Medical  Association  for  1879  on  "  Urinary  Calculus."  This  is  a  re- 
port of  some  forty  seven  cases,  and  is  a  study  of  the  disease  in  its  surgical, 
therapeutic  and  hygienic  relations,  ending  as  before  stated  in  part  II.  with  an 
investigation  of  the  etiology  and  pathology  of  calculus. 

In  the  Transactions  of  the  American  Gynecologlical  Society  and  elsewhere, 
are  to  be  found  various  contributions  by  Dr.  Campbell  to  this  important  branch 
of  medicine:  "  Pneumatic  Self-Replacement  of  the  Gravid  and  Non-Gravid 
Uterus  ;"  "  Calculi  found  in  the  Bladder  after  the  Cure  of  Vesico- Vaginal  Fis- 
tula;" "Rectal  Alimentation  in  the  Nausea  and  Inanition  of  Pregnancy."  This 
last  paper  might  be  termed  more  a  contribution  to  physiology  than  to  gynecic 
medicine.  By  observation  and  by  actual  experiment  the  conclusion  is  arrived 
at  that  the  physiology  of  rectal  nutrition  is  to  be  found  in  the  reversal  of  nor- 
mal peristaltic  action.  "  Position,  Pneumatic  Pressure  and  Mechanical  Appli- 
ance in  the  Uterine  Displacements,"  read  at  the  Medical  Association  of  Geor- 
.gia.  Savannah,  April,  1875  ;  Blood-letting  in  Puerperal  Eclampsia — Patholog- 
ical Therapeutics — The  Old  and  the  New,"  American  Journal  of  Obstetrics, 
vol.  IX.  August,  1876,  "  The  Widespread  Influence  of  the  Cerebro-Spinal  Cen- 

'  See  Southern  Journal  of  t lie  Medical  Sciences,  N.  C.  August,  1866,  also,  article  "  Infla- 
ma.\\ox\,"  Cooper  s  Surgical  Dictionary.     London.     1872.     P.  18. 


14  History  of  Augusta. 

tres  over  the  Ganglionic  Plexuses,"  Virginia  Medical  Monthly,  i88o;  "The 
Genu- Pectoral  Posture  -;—  its  value  in  Impeded  Reduction  and  in  the  Pro- 
longed Nausea  and  Vomitingof  Pregnancy,"  1885;  "Uterine Febroids  and  Other 
Pelvic  Tumors,"  1887;  "The  Infertility  of  Woman,"  1888,  are  the  titles  of 
other  papers  of  merit  contributed  to  medical  science  by  Dr.  Campbell. 

The  history  of  the  remarkable  and  widespread  epidemic,  dengue  fever,  as 
it  prevailed  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  was  prepared  by  Dr.  Campbell  ( Sonthern  Medi- 
cal and  Surgical  Journal,  185  ij.  In  regard  to  the  inland  prevalence  of  yel- 
low fever,  he  was  at  an  early  date  firmly  convinced  of  the  baleful  instrumen- 
tality of  railroads  in  transporting  the  disease.  At  the  seventh  annual  meeting 
of  the  Medical  Society  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  held  at  Macon,  April  9th,  1856, 
he  was  chairman  of  the  committee  to  investigate  the  question,  as  to  "  the 
means  by  which  the  extension  of  the  yellow  fever  into  the  interior  may  be  pre- 
vented." In  the  second  annual  report  of  the  board  of  health  of  the  State  of 
Georgia  will  be  found  a  report  on  "  The  Railroad  Transportation  of  Disease- 
Germs."  At  the  annual  meeting  of  tlie  Medical  Association,  of  Georgia, 
held  at  Rome,  April,  1879,  "The  Yellow  Fever  Germ,  on  Coast  and  Inland, 
with  a  consideration  of  Ship  and  Railroad  Quarantine,"  was  the  title  of  a  pa- 
per rtad  by  Dr.  Campbell.  "  The  Yellow  Fever  Quarantine  of  the  Future,"  a 
paper  advocating  strictest  quarantine  of  railroad  trains,  trunks,  clothing,  and 
all  porous  goods,  but  claiming  "  free  passport  and  refuge  ^or  persons — even  sub- 
jects of  yellow  fever — on  the  acknowledged  ground  that  the  disease  is  not  con- 
tagious," was  read  by  him  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Public  Health  As- 
sociation, held  in  Nashville  November,  1879. 

One  of  the  strongest  endorsements  of  Dr.  Campbell's  skill  as  a  physician, 
and  one  he  prizes  above  all  others,  came  from  that  great  surgeon,  the  evan- 
gelist of  healing,  the  late  Dr.  J.  Marion  Sims.  In  1883  an  invalid  in  South 
Carolina  wrote  to  Dr.  Sims  asking  if  he  could  not  secure  better  medical  attend- 
ance by  coming  to  New  York.  Dr.  Sims  in  answering  him  wrote  the  follow- 
ing letter: 

New  York,  Novembcri,  1883. 

Afy  Dear  Sir: — Dr.  Henry  F.  Campbell  of  Augusta  is  one  of  the  ablest  physicians  in  this 
country.  You  need  not  come  to  New  York,  Fhiladeljihia  or  Baltimore  in  search  ofhealth.  If 
Dr.  Campbell  can't  unravel  your  case  and  put  you  on  the  ri_t;ht  road  to  getting  well,  you  will 
not  have  much  to  hope  for  amongst  us  here.     Hoping  that  you  may  soon  get  well. 

Yours  truly.  J.  Marion  Sims. 

Other  letters  written  by  distinguished  members  of  the  medical  profession 
equally  strong  as  the  above  might  be  reprinted,  were  it  necessary,  to  prove 
the  high  professional  standing  of  Dr.  Campbell. 

In  noting  the  literary  contributions  of  Dr.  Campbell,  more  care  has  been 
given  to  his  earlier  records  than  to  those  of  recent  date,  and  consequently  more 
familiar  to  our  readers.      As  the  natural  result  and  well-earned  reward  of  a  life 


Biographical.  15 


of  assiduous  labor  and  patient  toil,  for  the  advancement  of  science  be  has  met 
with  many  gratifying  recognitions  at  the  hands  of  his  brethren.  Some  of 
these  have  been  but  kind  endorsements  of  his  faithfulness,  while  some  of 
the  others  have  been  coupled  with  the  imposition  of  higher  responsibility, 
and  sometimes  with  the  incentive  to,  if  not  the  exaction  of  an  increased 
amount  of  labor. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  American  Medical  Association,  of  which  he  was  vice- 
president  in  1858  ;  honorary  member  of  the  American  Academy  of  Medicine, 
and  a  member  of  the  Medical  Association  of  Georgia,  of  which  he  was  vice- 
president  in  1852,  and  president  in  1871.  He  was  elected  a  correspondent  of 
the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia  in  1858  ;  a  corresponding 
member  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Medicine  of  St.  Petersburg,  Russia,  in 
May,  i860;  a  fellow  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  American  Gynecological 
Society  in  1876;  a  member  of  the  Georgia  State  Board  of  Health,  elected  in 
1875  ;  a  member  of  the  Abingdon  Academy  of  Medicine,  elected  in  1879;  of  the 
Augusta  Medical  Society,  president  in  1877;  of  the  American  Public  Health 
Association,  on  the  Advisory  Council  in  1879,  vice  president  in  1880,  and  for- 
eign corresponding  member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Sweden,  elected  at 
Stockholm,  December  13,  1878. 

In  1884  he  was  elected  to  the  presidency  of  the  American  Medical  Associ- 
ation, the  very  highest  honor  which  can  be  accorded  an  American  physician. 
He  worthily  and  ably  filled  the  duties  of  this  position,  and  during  his  term  in- 
augurated the  bureau  or  section  known  as  the  Medical  Jurisprudence  Depart- 
ment of  the  work  of  the  association. 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  attempted  to  give  only  the  more  notable 
events  and  achievements  in  the  life  of  one  of  Augusta's  oldest  and  surely  most 
prominent  physicians — one  who  has  an  international  as  well  as  national  repu- 
tation in  the  diverse  fields  of  physiology,  gynecology,  surgery  and  sanitation. 
Of  late  years  he  has  withdrawn  as  far  as  possible  from  the  general  practice  of 
medicine,  and  endeavored  to  confine  his  practice  to  surgery  and  gynecology. 
In  these  two  fields  he  has  the  largest  and  most  extended  practice  of  any  phy- 
sician in  this  section  of  the  country.'  His  practice  is  largely  a  consultation  one 
in  all  the  branches,  he  being  frequently  called  to  all  sections  of  Georgia  ai.d 
South  Carolina.  As  a  physician  he  is  tender  and  gentle  as  a  woman,  inspiring 
the  sick  and  afflicted  with  kind  and  cheering  words.  No  physician  possesses 
the  confidence  and  love  of  his  patients  to  a  greater  degree  than  he. 

Gifted  with  smoothness  of  speech,  charming  manners  replete  with  per- 
sonal magnetism,  in  the  social  sphere  he  is  one  of  the  most  entertaining  of  men. 
A  great  reader,  he  keeps  fully  abreast  of  the  day  on  all  the  great  movements 
in  literature,  science  and  politics,  which  he  is  ever  ready  to  ably  and  originally 
discuss.  He  is  warm-hearted,  genial,  proverbially  good  natured,  and  one  of 
whom  it  may  in  truth  be  said: 


i6  History  of  Augusta. 


"  A  merrier  man, 
Within  the  limit  of  becoming  mirtli, 
1  never  spent  an  hour's  talk  withal." 

Dr.  Campbell  iiuirricd,  at  the  a^e  of  twenty,  two  years  after  his  graduation, 
Sarah  Bosvvorth,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Amory  Sibley,  esq.,  of  Augusta,  Ga. 
l^y  her  e.xalted  Christian  worth,  rare  intellectual  endowments,  and  refined  taste 
and  culture,  she  is  now,  and  has  been  through  life,  his  gentle  guide,  wise  coun- 
sellor and  best  friend.  Their  only  daughter,  Mrs  Caroline  Campbell  Doughty, 
and  her  two  children,  complete  the  household,  giving  additional  companion- 
shi[)  and  solace  to  the  "  hours  at  home." 


CALVIN,  Hon.  MARTIN  V.  The  Hon.  Martin  V.  Calvin  is  the  son  of 
James  B.  and  Elizabeth  Calvin,  and  was  born  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  Septem- 
ber 23,  1842.  He  had  early  and  liberal  educational  advantages  in  the  free 
school  of  Augusta,  under  Mr.  Thomas  Snowden,  the  classical  school  of  Will- 
iam Ernenputch,  and  was  finally  prepared  for  college  by  Rev.  James  T.  Lin. 
Entering  Emory  College,  at  Oxford,  Ga.,  he  rose  to  the  grade  of  senior  when 
the  civil  war  broke  out,  and  he  left  the  halls  of  learning  to  take  up  arms  in 
defense  of  the  South.  He  entered  the  Confederate  service  in  1861,  and  served 
throughout  the  war  in  the  western  army.  He  was  dangerously  wounded  at 
the  battle  of  Franklin,  Tenn.,  in  November,  1864,  and  was  ca[)tured  at  Colum- 
bia, Tenn.,  after  the  fall  of  Nashville. 

Mr.  Calvin  early  showed  an  aptitude  and  liking  for  newspaper  work.  At 
the  age  of  eighteen,  he  became  a  newspaper  correspondent,  writing  to  the  Au- 
gusta Constitutionalist  over  the  noin  dc phime  of  "  I^iuke."  During  the  war, 
while  serving  as  a  soldier,  he  corresponded  regularly  with  the  Constitutionalist, 
for  a  time  as  "  Mignonne  "  and  as  "Isaac  Allington  "  ;  later  with  the  Chron- 
icle and  Sentinel  as  "  Loraine."  He  used  the  last  novi  dc  plume  for  three  or 
four  years  after  the  war;  then  he  adopted  the  plan  of  writing  over  his  own 
signature,  but  of  late  years  he  has  most  frequently  used  simply  his  initials. 

Returning  home  after  the  war,  Mr.  Calvin  entered  journalistic  pursuits  and 
was  successively  editor  of  the  Augusta  Gazette,  associate  news  '^^ditor  of  the 
Constitutionalist,  and  news  editor  of  the  Augusta  Chrotiielc.  Newspaper 
work  was  a  field  in  which  his  natural  tastes  and  ability  as  a  writer  found  con- 
genial occupation,  and  the  young  editor  soon  arrested  public  attention  by  his 
clear  and  practical  ideas  upon  the  new  questions  which  then  confronted  the 
people  of  the  South.  He  was  among  the  first  to  urge  the  establishment  of  the 
public  school  system,  and  so  well  recognized  were  his  labors  in  behalf  of  edu 
cation  that  in  1867  he  was  elected  principal  of  the  Augusta  Free  School,  then 
of  the  Houghton  Institute,  and  a  similar  position  in  the  Peabody  Institute.  In 
November,  1872,  by  [popular  vote,  he  was  elected  for  a  term  of  three  years, 
with  Hon.  George  R,  Sibley  and  Mr.  James  G.  Bailie,  a  member  of  the  county 


Biographical.  17 


board  of  education  from  the  first  ward  of  Augusta,  where  he  then  resided. 
Under  this  board  the  present  admirable  system  of  pubHc  schools  was  inaugu- 
rated in  Richmond  county.  Mr.  Calvin  was  chosen  superintendent,  a  position 
at  the  time  novel  in  its  duties  and  of  great  responsibility.  He  accepted  con- 
ditionally, organized  the  system,  and  at  the  end  of  three  months  resigned,  thus 
giving  up  a  handsome  salary  to  return  to  his  place  on  the  board,  where  he  re- 
ceived practically  no  compensation.  Mr.  Calvin  served  for  three  terms,  or  nine 
years,  on  the  board,  and  during  all  this  time  the  public  school  system  had  no 
more  devoted  or  helpful  friend. 

Since  1871  Mr.  Calvin  has  had  charge  of  the  introduction  of  J.  B.  Lippin- 
cott  Company's  works  in  the  South,  a  most  important  position,  requiring  judg- 
ment and  executive  ability.  His  long  continuance  in  this  position  shows  his 
value  and  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held.  He  has  large  discretion,  being 
without  limit  or  instructions  in  the  management  of  the  great  business  intrusted 
to  his  care. 

It  is  as  a  legislator  that  Mr.  Calvin  is  most  widely  known.  In  1882  he 
was  elected  as  one  of  the  representatives  in  the  General  Assembly  of  Georgia 
from  Richmond  county;  re-elected  in  1884  and  in  1886,  and  for  a  fourth  con- 
secutive term  in  1888,  and  is  the  only  member  in  the  present  house,  serving 
a  fourth  consecutive  term.  He  was  made  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Education  upon  his  entrance  to  the  house,  continuing  in  that  position  till  the 
present  session  (1888-89),  when,  upon  being  unanimously  chosen  Speaker  pro 
tcvi  ,  he  went  to  Speaker  Clay  and  waived  all  claims  he  might  seem  to  have 
on  the  chairmanship  of  the  committee  on  education,  in  view  of  long  service, 
and  asked  if  he  was  to  be  accorded  a  chairmanship  to  be  given  the  most  mod- 
est one  in  the  house— one  long  regarded  as  a  dead  letter  —  the  Committee  on 
Immigration. 

Mr.  Calvin  has  developed  a  high  order  of  talent  as  a  legislator,  and  is  justly 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  useful  of  our  public  men.  He  has  rendered  par- 
ticularly valuable  service  to  the  cause  of  education,  while  the  general  welfare 
of  the  State  in  many  directions  has  been  promoted  by  his  well  directed  efforts. 
In  the  house  of  1884-85  Mr.  Calvin  introduced  a  resolution  suggesting  the 
propriety  of  employing  ladies  as  clerks  in  the  department  of  enrolled  and  en- 
grossed bills.  He  supported  the  resolution  in  an  earnest  speech  and  it  was 
adopted  and  put  into  execution  with  the  most  satisfactory  results.  This  move- 
ment had  in  the  State  at  large  the  effect  Mr.  Calvin  purposed  it  should  have, 
namely,  of  directing  public  attention  to  the  necessity  and  desirability  of  open- 
ing to  women  new  avenues  to  honorable  living.  During  the  same  session  Mr. 
Calvin  induced  the  house  to  order  printed  daily  an  abstract  of  the  journal 
which  enabled  members  present  or  absent  quietly  to  inform  themselves  as  to 
the  condition  of  the  work  before  them.  He  has  been  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Committee  on  Agriculture  since  1882,  and  has  taken  a  very  active  part  in 


1 8  History  of  Augusta, 


the  work  of  that  committee  in  the  house.  He  has  been  particularly  alive  to 
the  ay;ricultural  interests  of  the  State,  and  few  have  given  the  subject  more  in- 
telligent study.  At  the  fall  session  of  1888  Mr.  Calvin  drafted  the  bill,  which, 
becoming  a  law,  gives  to  tlie  farmers  of  Georgia,  through  their  representatives 
on  the  board  of  directors,  the  privilege  of  locating  and  controlling  the  agricul- 
tural experiment  station,  which  will  be  supported  by  government  funds  under 
the  Hatch  act.  As  member  of  the  committees  on  military  affairs  and  internal 
improvement  Mr.  Calvin  has  also  rendered  valuable  aid.  He  is  a  practical 
worker;  gives  earnest,  thoughtful  study  to  every  subject  which  comes  before 
the  house,  and  always  has  plain,  practical  ideas  to  advance  concerning  them. 
He  is  able  to  clearly  and  forcibly  present  his  views  upon  the  floor.  He  does 
not  pretend  to  oratorical  effect,  but  what  he  does  say  bristles  with  facts  and  is 
to  the  point.  His  fellow  members  regard  him  as  one  of  the  most  thoroughly 
equipped  workers  in  the  house,  and  testified  their  confidence  in  him  by  unan- 
imously electing  him  Speaker  pro  tern.,  a  distinction  and  an  honor  he  richly 
merited  for  his  able  and  conscientious  discharge  of  his  duties.  While  not  arro- 
gant in  expressing  them,  Mr.  Calvin  has,  in  an  eminent  degree,  "  the  courage 
of  his  convictions."  He  is  exceedingly  fond  of  politics,  and  is  a  close  student 
of  everything  pertaining  to  State-craft.  Few,  if  any,  men  in  Georgia,  or  in 
the  country  at  large,  have  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  public  men  and  pub- 
lic measures  than  Mr.  Calvin  is  acknowledged  to  possess. 

Since  the  close  of  the  war  Mr.  Calvin  has  been  active  in  every  movement 
which  has  tended  to  the  upbuilding  of  Richmond  county  .or  city  of  Augusta, 
contributing  his  time  without  limit  and  means  according  to  his  pecuniary  ability 
to  all  such  enterprises.  While  still  on  his  crutches,  suffering  from  a  wound  he 
received  in  fighting  for  the  cause  of  the  South,  Mr.  Calvin  addressed  the  St. 
James  Sunday-school  of  Augusta  upon  the  subject  of  raising  a  monument  to 
those  who  had  gone  out  from  the  school  and  died  in  the  defense  of  the 
South.  The  movement  he  inaugurated  resulted  in  the  handsome  cenotaph 
which  now  adorns  Greene  street  in  front  of  St.  James  Church.  This  was  in 
October,  1865,  and  it  is  a  query  whether  Mr.  Calvin  was  not  the  first  man  in 
tUe  South  to  lift  his  voice  in  favor  of  inaugurating  memorials  to  her  dead 
l%eroes. 

To  Mr.  Calvin  belongs  the  right  to  claim  a  full  share  of  the  credit  which  is 
now  so  freely  given  the  promoters  of  the  New  South.  He  prefers  to  call  it 
"the  Old  South  " — rehabilitated.  With  an  active  mind,  quick  comprehension 
and  extensive  knowledge,  he  has  ever  been  fertile  in  devising  means  whereby 
the  material  interest  of  the  community  could  be  advanced.  All  of  the  public 
improvements  which  have  been  accomplished  in  Richmond  county  during  the 
last  two  decades,  and  more,  have  been  warmly  advocated  by  him  with  voice 
and  pen.  The  columns  of  the  city  press  of  Augusta  within  this  period  bears 
the  strongest  testimony  to  this  fact.     The  people  have  learned  to  value  his 


Biographical.  19 


suggestions  on  any  question  of  public  policy.  His  numerous  contributions  to 
the  press  not  only  show  him  to  be  easy  and  agreeable  in  composition,  but  one 
of  the  most  practical  writers  in  the  State.  He  writes  because  he  has  some- 
thing to  convey  to  the  people.  He  never  indulges  in  the  flowers  of  rhetoric, 
but  in  facts  and  figures.  His  mind  is  practical  and  utilitarian.  Since  1879 
he  has  been  especially  interested  in  farming,  and  from  practical  experience 
upon  his  farm,  a  few  miles  from  the  city,  where  he  has  resided  since  the  date 
named,  and  by  careful  study  he  has  been  enabled  to  demonstrate  better 
methods  in  the  cultivation  of  the  land  and  the  advantages  of  a  diversity  of 
crops.  Among  his  more  recent  efforts  to  advance  the  interests  of  his  native 
State  was  his  advocacy  of  the  State  Technological  School  at  Atlanta,  an  insti- 
tution recently  put  into  operation.  He -was  conspicuous  among  the  supporters 
and  promoters  of  this  admirable  system  of  instruction  which  some  of  the  ablest 
and  most  practical  educators  in  the  country  have  predicted  will  be  far-reaching 
in  its  power  for  good  upon  the  industrial  development  of  the  State. 

Mr.  Calvin  is  a  man  of  high  character.  His  private  life  is  above  reproach. 
His  virtues  are  not  assumed.  They  are  real  attributes  that  go  to  make  up  a 
rounded  character.  While  practicing  an  exemplary  life,  he  is  full  of  toleration 
and  charity  for  the  foibles  and  frailties  of  others.  While  always  striving  to  do 
good  and  to  elevate  the  standard  of  education  and  morals,  he  is  never  intole- 
rant or  discouraged  in  his  labors  because  of  disappointments  or  partial  failures. 
While  he  may  or  may  not  be  a  believer  in  the  theory  of  human  perfection,  he 
so  acts  toward  others  as  though  he  believed  that  human  patience  should  never 
become  fatigued  in  its  efforts  to  improve  the  educational,  moral  and  material 
condition  of  his  fellow- citizens  of  every  class — without  regard  to  creed,  race, 
or  condition  of  life.  His  mind  is  stored  with  practical  knowledge  and  his  in- 
dustry never  flags  in  its  dissemination.  His  personal  integrity  and  his  exem- 
plary life,  combined  with  his  practical  talents,  render  him  among  the  most  use- 
ful, progressive  and  honorable  citizens  of  Georgia. 

Personally,  Mr.  Calvin  is  a  gentleman  of  winning  addsess,  with  pleasant, 
intellectual  face,  and  is  social  and  popular.  He  has  been  a  consistent  member 
of  the  Methodist  Church  since  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  is  thoroughly 
domestic  and  finds  his  chief  delight  in  his  home  life,  which  has  been  one  of 
singular  congeniality  and  happiness. 


JONES,  CHARLES  COLCOCK,  Jr.,  L.L.  D.,  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Savannah,  Ga.,  October  28,  1831.  His  paternal  ancestors  came  from 
England  and  settled  in  Charleston,  S  C,  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago. 
His  great-grandfather,  John  Jones,  was  the  first  of  the  family  to  become  an 
inhabitant  of  Georgia.  He  valiantly  espoused  the  cause  of  the  colonies  during 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  while  serving  as  a  major  in  the  Continental  army 
fell  before  the  British  hues  during  the  siege  of  Savannah,  on  October  9,  1779. 


20  History  of  Augusta. 


On  this  occasion  he  was  acting  in  the  capacity  of  aid-de-camp  to  Brigadier- 
General  Lachlan  Mcintosh. 

Rev.  Cliarles  C.  Jones,  D.D.,  the  father  of  Colonel  Jones,  a  well-known  and 
distinguished  Presbyterian  divine,  was  for  several  years  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Savannah.  In  1832  he  gave  up  active  pastoral  work  and 
removed  to  his  plantation  in  Liberty  county,  Ga.,  where  he  principally  devoted 
his  energies  to  the  religious  instruction  of  the  negroes.  He  was  a  man  of  high 
literary  attainment,  and  a  pulpit  orator  of  acknowledged  ability.  At  one  time 
he  was  professor  of  ecclesiastical  history  in  the  seminary  at  Columbia,  S.  C, 
and  for  several  years  occupied  the  position  of  secretary  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions  at  Philadelphia.  He  was  the  author  of  several 
works  on  the  religious  instruction  of  the  negro,  and  of  a  "  History  of  the 
Church  of  God." 

The  boyhood  of  Colonel  Jones  was  passed  at  the  paternal  homes — Monte 
Video  and  Maybank  plantations — the  former  being  the  winter  residence,  and 
the  latter  the  summer  retreat  of  the  family.  His  early  studies  were  pursued 
under  private  tutors,  superintended  by  his  father.  In  1848  he  entered  the 
South  Carolina  College  at  Columbia,  where  he  completed  the  course  of  study 
prescribed  for  the  freshman  and  sophomore  years.  He  then  entered  the  junior 
class  at  Nassau  Hall,  in  Princeton,  N.  J.,  graduating  from  this  institution  with 
high  honors  in  June,  1852. 

Determining  to  pursue  the  profession  of  law,  he  began  a  course  of  study  to 
that  end  in  the  law  office  of  Samuel  H.  Perkins,  esq.,  of  Philadelphia.  After 
spending  a  year  in  his  office,  he  matriculated  at  Dane  Law  School,  Harvard 
University,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  receiving  the  degree  of  L.L.  B.  in  1855.  While 
at  Cambridge,  besides  his  regular  law  course,  he  attended  the  lectures  of  Pro- 
fessor Agassiz,  Mr.  Longfellow,  Professor  Lowell,  and  Dr.  Holmes. 

He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  his  native  city.  Savannah,  Ga.,  on  May  24, 
1855,  and  in  due  time  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Georgia,  the  Sixth  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  the  District  Court  of 
the  Confederate  States,  and  subsequently  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States 

In  1857  he  became  the  junior  partner  in  the  law  firm  of  Ward,  Owens  & 
Jones.  While  Mr.  Ward  was  absent  as  United  States  minister  to  China,  Mr. 
Owens  retired,  and  Hon.  Henry  R.  Jackson,  late  minister  of  the  United  States 
to  Austria,  was  admitted  as  a  partner,  the  firm  continuing  as  Ward,  Jackson 
&  Jones  until  Mr.  Jackson  was  appointed  judge  of  the  District  Court  of  the 
Confederate  States  of  America  for  the  District  of  Georgia. 

Colonel  Jones  was  married  November  9,  1858,  to  Miss  Ruth  Berrien  White- 
head, of  Burke  county,  Ga.  He  was  married  the  second  time  to  Miss  Eva 
Berrien  Eve,  of  Augusta,  Ga.,  both  grand  nieces  of  Hon.  John  McPherson 
Berrien,  attorney-general  during  President  Jackson's  administration,  and  af- 
terwards United  States  senator  from  Georgia. 


Biographical.  21 


In  1859  Colonel  Jones  was  chosen  an  alderman  of  Savannah,  and  the  fol- 
lowing year  was  elected  mayor  of  that  city,  a  position  rarely  conferred  on  one 
so  young  by  a  corporation  possessing  such  wealth,  population,  and  commer- 
cial importance.  During  the  term  of  his  mayoralty  the  war  between  the  States 
began,  and  to  the  usual  duties  incumbent  upon  him  were  thus  added  many 
abnormal  questions,  demanding  for  their  solution  serious  consideration  and 
prompt  decision.  Colonel  Jones  was  a  Secessionist,  and  during  his  term  as 
mayor,  delivered  one  of  the  earliest  public  addresses  upon  this  subject. 

When  actual  hostilities  began,  he  declined  a  re-election  as  mayor,  and 
joined  the  Chatham  artillery — Captain  Claghorn  —  of  which  Hglit  battery  he 
was  senior  first- lieutenant,  having  been  mustered  into  service  July  31,  1861. 
In  the  fall  of  1862  he  was  promoted  to  the  grade  of  lieutenant-  colonel  of  Art il- 
lery  P.  A.  C.  S.  and  assigned  to  duty  as  chief  of  artillery  for  the  military  dis- 
trict of  Georgia  His  command  was  subsequently  enlarged  so  as  to  embrace 
the  artillery  in  the  Third  District  of  South  Carolina,  his  headquarters  being  at 
Savannah. 

Colonel  Jones  was  brought  into  intimate  personal  and  military  relations 
with  General  Beauregard,  Lieutenint  General  Hardee,  Major- Generals  Mc- 
Laws,  Gilmer,  Taliaferro  and  Patton  Anderson,  Brigadier-Generals  Mercer, 
Lawton,  and  others.  He  was  particularly  attached  to  the  artillery  branch  of 
the  service,  and  in  1864  declined  a  commission  as  brigadier-general  of  infantry. 
He  was  chief  of  artillery  during  the  siege  of  Savannah,  which  he  has  graphically 
described  in  his  work  on  that  subject,  and  figured  prominently  in  the  defense 
of  tiiat  city.  At  one  time  he  was  in  command  of  the  field  artillery  on  James 
Island  during  the  siege  of  Charleston,  and  at  another  time  was  chief  of  artil- 
lery on  the  staff"  of  Major- General  Anderson,  in  Florida.  Upon  the  fall  of 
Savannah  he  was  sun^moned  by  General  Hardee  and  assumed  the  position  of 
chief  of  artillery  upon  his  staff",  and  was  included  in  the  surrender  of  General 
Joseph  E.  Johnston's  army,  which  occurred  in  April,  1865. 

In  December,  1865,  Colonel  Jones  removed  with  his  family  to  New  York 
City,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  continued  with 
success  until  his  return  to  Georgia  in  1877.  While  in  New  York  he  enjoyed 
opportunities  for  study  and  literary  research  which  elsewhere  he  could  not 
have  so  conveniently  commanded.  Among  his  literary  labors  there  performed 
were  his  "  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Chatham  Artillery  during  the  Confederate 
Struggle  for  Independence,"  (1867);  "  Historical  Sketch  of  Tomo  chi-chi.  Mice 
of  the  Yamacraws,"  (1868);  "  Reminiscences  of  the  Last  D.i}'s,  Death,  and 
Burial  of  General  Henry  Lee,"  (1870) ;  "  Casimir  Pulaski,"  (1873)  ;  Antiquities 
of  the  Southern  Indians,  Particularly  of  the  Georgia  Tribes,"  (1873);  "The 
Siege  of  Savannah  in  1779,"  (1874);  "The  Siege  of  Savannah  in  December, 
1864  "  &c.,  (1874)  ;  Sergeant  William  Jasper,"  (1876);  and  a  "  Roster  of  Gene- 
ral Officers,   Heads  of  Departments,   Senators,   Representatives,   Military  Or- 


22  History  of  Augusta. 


ganizations,  etc.,  etc.,  in  the  Confederate  Government  During  the  War  Between 
the  States,"  (1876). 

On  liis  return  to  Georgia  in  1877  Colonel  Jones  located  at  "  Montrose,"  in 
Suinmerville,  near  Augusta,  where  he  still  resides,  his  law  office  being  in  the 
city  of  Augusta.  Aside  from  his  professional  labors  he  has  manifested  con- 
tinued activity  in  historical  research  and  literary  pursuits.  Among  the  pro- 
ducts of  his  pen  are  "  Life  and  Services  of  Commodore  Tattnall,"  (1878);  "Dead 
Towns  of  Georgia,"  (1880);"  De  Soto's  March  through  Georgia,"  (1880);  "Mem- 
orial of  Jean  Pierre  Purry,"  (1880);  "  The  Georgia  Historical  Society,  its  Foun- 
ders, Patrons  and  b^riends,"  (1881);  "The  Life  and  Services  of  ex  Governor 
Charles  Jones  Jenkins,"  (1884);  "  Sepulture  of  Major-Gencral  Nathanael  Greene 
and  Count  Casimir  Pulaski,"  (1885);  "The  Life,  Literary  Labors,  and  Neglected 
Grave  of  Richard  Henry  Wilde,"  (1885);  "  Biographical  Sketch  of  Major  John 
Habersham  of  Georgia,"  (1886);  "Biography  of  General  Robert  Toombs," 
(1886);  "The  Life  and  Services  of  the  Honorable  Samuel  Libert  of  Georgia," 
(1887);  "The  English  Colonization  of  Georgia,"  (1887);  "  Negro  Myths  from 
the  Georgia  Coast,"  (1888);  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  entitled  its  author  to 
be  called  the  Ma:aulay  of  the  South.  It  consists  of  two  volumes  illustrated  ; 
the  first  dealing  with  the  aboriginal  and  colonial  periods  of  Georgia,  and  the 
second  being  concerned  with  the  Revolutionary  epoch  and  a  narrative  of  the 
events  which  culminated  in  the  revolt  of  the  colony  and  its  erection  into  the 
dignity  of  an  independent  commonwealth.  This  work  represents  the  best 
labors  of  Colonel  Jones  in  the  historical  vein,  while  his  "  Antiquities  of  the 
Southern  Indians  "  illustrates  the  chief  fruits  of  his  labors  in  the  field  of  archre- 
ology. 

Colonel  Jones  is  a  forcible  and  graceful  speaker,  and  his  numerous  public 
addresses  give  abundant  evidence  of  a  very  high  order  of  literary  excellence. 
Among  his  printed  public  speeches  especially  deserving  mention  are  his  "  Ora- 
tion upon  the  Unveiling  and  Dedication  of  the  Confederate  Monument  in  Au- 
gusta, Ga.,"  (1878);  his  "Funeral  Oration  Pronounced  at  the  Capitol  of  Geor- 
gia over  the  Honorable  Alexander  H.  Stephens,"  his  address  entitled  "  The 
Old  South,"  (1887);  and  his  series  of  addresses  delivered  before  the  Confederate 
Survivors'  Association,  of  which  he  is  president,  and  which  is  largely  perpetu- 
ated through  his  endeavors.  The  latter  are  for  the  most  part  historical  in  their 
character,  and  constitute  studies  of  military  events  connected  with  Georgia  an- 
nals during  the  war  between  the  States. 

During  the  past  year  (1888)  in  addition  to  the  publications  mentioned, 
Colonel  Jones  has  written  two  memorial  histories  of  the  cities  of  Savannah  and 
Augusta  during  the  eighteenth  century.  He  has  been  twice  complimented  with 
the  degree  of  L.L.D.,  and  is  a  member  of  various  literary  societies  both  in  this 


Biographical.  23 


country  and  in  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.  Another  contribution 
to  the  literature  of  his  State  in  the  department  of  archaeology  is  his  "  Monu- 
mental Remains  of  Georgia,"  (Savannah,  1861).  Other  works  in  the  same  field 
are  his  "Indian  Remains  in  Southern  Georgia,"  (Savannah,  1859);  "Ancient 
Tumuli  on  the  Savannah  River,"  (New  York,  1868);  "Ancient  Tumuli  in  Geor- 
gia," (Worcester,  Mass.,  1861);  and  "Aboriginal  Structures  in  Georgia,"  (Wash- 
ington, 1878). 

In  a  recent  publication  by  Mr.  Alden  appeared  an  extended  biographical 
sketch  of  Cololel  Jones,  from  which  we  have  obtained  the  facts  for  the  prepar- 
ation of  the  foregoing  sketch  ;  and  in  several  instances  we  have  used  its  exact 
language.  The  following  pen  picture  of  Colonel  Jones,  with  a  description  of 
his  manner  and  method  of  work  and  personal  characteristics  is  taken  from  this 
admirably  written  article:  "  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  archae- 
ology have  presented  enticing  attractions,  and  in  that  direction  has  he  made 
most  of  his  'footprints  in  the  sands  of  time.'  Governor  Stephens  bore  testi- 
mony to  this  fact  when  he  said  :  '  He  has  not  permitted  the  calls  of  his  profes- 
sion, however,  to  absorb  all  his  time  and  energy.  By  a  methodical  economy  in 
the  arrangement  of  business,  peculiar  to  himself,  he  has  even  under  the  greatest 
pressure  of  office  duties  found  leisure  to  contribute  largely  to  the  literature,  as 
well  as  the  science  of  the  country,  by  his  pen.' 

"  Erect  in  carriage,  six  feet  high,  powerfully  built,  with  broad  shoulders, 
surmounted  by  a  massive  head  covered  with  a  wealth  of  ringlets  sprinkled  with 
grey,  with  genial  countenance,  handsome  features,  and  a  lofty  brow  overhang- 
ing a  pair  of  penetrating  blue  eyes.  Colonel  Jones  is  at  once  a  man  of  com- 
manding presence  and  the  soul  of  courtliness  and  grace.  Eloquent  in  utter- 
ance, wise  in  counsel,  decisive  in  action,  public-spirited,  liberal  to  the  extent 
of  his  means,  with  a  charity  and  sympathy  as  broad  as  the  race,  high  toned  in 
sentiment  and  act,  and  noble  and  generous  in  his  impulses,  he  presents  an  at- 
tractive portrait  of  unselfishness  and  earnest  devotion  to  duty,  challenging  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  all.  To  charming  social  qualities  of  a  high  order 
and  an  affable  address  he  unites  varied  and  comprehensive  knowledge,  a  re- 
tentive 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  literary  composition.  He  then  works 
with  great  rapidity,  seldom  revi^-ing  or  reading  his  manuscript  until  it  is  fin- 
ished. In  proof  of  this  assertion  we  may  instance  his  "  Siege  of  Savannah  in 
1864,"  which  was  written  in  seven  evenings  ;  the  two  volumes  of  his  "  History 
of  Georgia,"  which,  exclusive  of  the  preliminary  study  involved,  were  prepared 


24  History  of  Augusta. 


at  odd  intervals  during  seven  months  ;  and  his  Memorial  Histories  of  Augusta 
and  Savannah,  which  were  begun  and  completed  within  less  than  two  months. 
While  possessing  the  abiHty  of  rapid  com|)osition,  he  also  has  that  other  desir- 
able attribute  of  excellent  chorography.  His  penmanship  is  faultless,  and  his 
bold  liowiag  hand  is  not  only  L-gible  but  very  attractive. 

•"  It  is  not  an  exageration  to  affirm  that  Colonel  Jones  is  the  most  prolific  au- 
thor Georgia  has  ever  produced,  and  stands  at  the  head  of  the  historical  writers 
of  the  South  of  the  present  generation." 

Bjfore  concluding  this  notice  of  Colonel  Jones  it  is  proper  to  add  that  he 
has  been  an  extensive  collector  of  prehistoric  objects  illustrative  of  the  anti- 
quities of  the  Southern  Indians;  that  his  authograph  collections,  which  are  in 
themselves  a  treasure-house,  embrace  two  complete  sets  of  the  Signers  of  the 
Declaration  oflndependence  ;  and  that  he  possesses  a  large  and  valuable  library 
containing  many  privately  illustrated  volumes. 


McCOY,  WILLIAM  K  ,  was  born  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  on  November  14,  1840, 
and  is  the  son  of  Charles  and  Frances  A.  (Tutt)  McCoy.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  schools  of  Augusta,  but  early  in  life  began  a  mercantile  career  as 
a  clerk  in  one  of  the  business  houses  of  the  city,  and  when  the  war  between 
the  States  began  was  serving  as  bookkeeper. 

He  enlisted  in  the  Confederate  army  on  May  11,  1861,  as  a  private  in 
Company  A,  known  as  the  Clinch  Rifles,  of  the  Fifth  Georgia  Regiment.  He 
served  throughout  the  war,  and  upon  the  return  of  peace  returned  to  Augusta 
and  began  clerking  for  a  living.  His  first  experience  in  cotton  manufactur- 
ing was  as  bookkeeper  for  the  Graniteville  Manufacturing  Company  ^t  Gran- 
iteville,  S.  C,  in  January,  1868.  The  year  following  he  was  made  cashier  of 
that  company  and  stationed  in  Augusta,  in  the  office  of  the  president,  Mr.  H, 
H.  Hickman,  where  he  remained  until  April,  1878,  when,  having  resigned,  he 
removed  to  New  York  and  remained  there  until  January,  1879.  He  then  re- 
turned to  Augusta,  where  he  purchased  the  Augusta  Waste  Works,  which  he 
successfully  operated  until  October,  1881,  when  a  joint  stock  company  was 
formed,  the  name  of  the  new  company  being  changed  to  the  Riverside  Mills. 
Mr.  McCoy  was  elected  president  of  the  new  company,  a  position  which  he 
has  continued  to  fill  until  the  present  time.  The  growth  of  the  mill  under  his 
able  management  has  been  rapid  and  most  gratifying.  At  the  present  time 
about  two  hundred  and  twenty  five  hands' are  employed  in  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  batting,  machinery  waste  and  paper  stock,  being  the  only  concern  of 
its  kintl  in  the  Southern  States.  The  success  of  the  undertaking  is  largely  due 
to  the  exertions  of  Mr.  McCoy,  who,  from  the  beginning,  has  given  it  almost 
his  undivided  attention  as  well  as  watchful  care. 

Mr.  McCoy  is  also  interested  in  other  corporations,  being  a  member  of  the 


Biographical.  25 


board  of  directors  of  the  following  institutions :  The  John  P.  King  Manufac- 
turing Company,  Augusta  Land  Company,  Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking 
Company,  the  Manufacturers'  Insurance  Mutual  Aid  Society,  which  is  strictly 
an  insurance  company,  and  the  Southern  Manufacturers'  Association. 

Mr.  McCoy  is  a  member  of  St.  Paul  Church,  and  has  taken  an  active  part 
in  the  Masonic  order,  being  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason,  and  is  a  past  grand 
captain-general  of  the  Grand  Commandery  of  the  State  of  Georgia.  He  was 
married  in  1878  to  Mrs.  Katharine  Hammond  Gregg,  who  died  in  1882. 

Leaving  the  Confederate  ranks  in  the  spring  of  1865  a  penniless  soldier, 
Mr.  McCoy  has  by  his  energy,  his  persistent  and  determined  efforts  gained  a 
most  creditable  place  among  the  successful  business  men  of  Augusta.  He  is 
thorough  master  of  his  line  of  business  and  feels  a  justified  pride  in  its  progress. 
He  is  a  hard  worker,  methodical  in  his  methods,  and  possesses  executive  and 
administrative  ability  to  a  marked  degree.  High  minded  and  of  the  strictest 
integrity,  his  standing  in  this  community,  in  all  that  constitutes  good  citizen- 
ship, is  of  the  highest  order.  

PHINIZY,  CHARLES  H.,  of  Augusta,  was  born  January  15.  1835,  on 
what  is  known  as  the  Eve  plantation,  a  few  miles  from  the  city  of  Augusta, 
and  is  a  son  of  John  and  Martha  (Cresswell)  Phinizy.  His  early  education  was 
received  at  home  until  his  preparation  for  a  collegiate  course,  when  he  entered 
the  State  University  of  Georgia,  graduating  from  that  institution  in  1853.  He 
afterwards  took  a  course  of  scientific  study  under  D.  H.  Mahan,  professor  of 
engineering  at  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  For  some 
two  or  three  years  thereafter  he  was  employed  as  a  civil  engineer  during  the 
construction  of  the  Blue  Ridge  Railroad. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  between  the  States  he  entered  the  Confederate 
service  as  first  lieutenant  of  Company  B,  of  the  Tenth  Georgia  Regiment.  He 
was  soon  after  transferred  to  the  adjutant  general's  department  and  assigned  to 
duty  with  Brigadier-General  Alfred  Cummings.  In  the  consolidation  of  regi- 
ments in  1865  he  was  commissioned  as  colonel  of  the  Thirty- ninth  Georgia 
Regiment,  which  position  he  held  until  the  final  surrender  of  the  Confederate 
army.  He  Served  in  Battles  of  Williamsburg,  Seven  Pines,  Malvern  Hill, 
Sharpsburg.  siege  of  Vicksburg,  Hood's  campaign  in  Tennessee,  Missionary 
Ridge,  Jonesboro,  Powder  Springs  Road,  Bennettsville,  and  in  innumerable 
smaller  engagements,  and  surrendered  at  Greensboro,  N.  C. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  Colonel  Phinizy,  in  the  fall  of  1865,  embarked 
in  the  cotton  factorage  business  in  Augusta,  which  he  successfully  conducted 
until  1879,  when  he  retired  from  this  line  of  business.  In  the  meantime  he 
had  become  largely  interested  in  railroad  operation  and  construction,  and  soon 
after  his  retirement  from  the  cotton  business,  in  1879,  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  Georgia  Railroad  and   the   Georgia  Railroad  and   Banking  Company. 


26  History  of  Augusta. 


He  remained  as  president  of  the  Georgia  Railroad  until  it  was  leased  in  May, 
1 88 1,  since  which  time  he  has  been  one  of  the  six  commissioners  who  have 
general  charge  of  the  road.  He  is  still  president  of  the  banking  company,  a 
position  he  has  filled  most  creditably  to  himself  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  the  stockholders  and  directors.  In  1882  he  was  elected  president  of  the 
Augusta  Factory,  but  after  holding  this  position  for  five  years  he  resigned  in 
1887.  Since  July,  1888,  he  has  also  been  president  of  the  Atlanta  and  West 
Point  Railroad.  Besides  his  large  interest  in  the  corporation  named  he  is  a 
director  in  the  Central  Railroad  and  Banking  Company  of  Georgia,  the  Port 
Royal  and  Augusta  Railroad,  the  Port  Royal  and  Western  Carolina  Railroad, 
the  Western  Railroad  of  Alabama,  and  the  Augusta  Factory.  During  the  late 
Augusta  National  Exposition  Colonel  Phinizy  was  first  vice-president  of  this 
enterprise,  and  by  his  personal  efforts  largely  contributed  to  its  success. 

As  a  business  man  Colonel  Phinizy's  course  has  been  marked  by  rare  suc- 
cess. He  is  conservative,  possesses  excellent  judgment  and  a  high  degree  of 
administrative  ability.  His  business  ventures  have  all  been  in  the  legitimate 
line  of  trade  and  commerce,  and  his  success  has  been  won  by  fair  and  honor- 
able methods.  He  possesses  in  the  highest  degree  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  people  of  this  community,  where  the  entire  years  of  his  life  have  been 
passed,  and  where  few  names  are  better  known  than  his  own.  While  a  thor- 
ough business  man  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term,  he  is  social  and  affable  in  dis- 
position, and  in  his  home  dispenses  a  hospitality  typical  of  the  true  Southern 
gentleman.  Colonel  Phinizy  was  married  in  1885,  to  the  widow  of  F.  B. 
Phinizy,  and  daughter  of  Colonel  B.  C.  Yancey,  of  Georgia. 


SIBLEY,  JOSIAH,  the  eighth  in  lineal  descent  from  John  Sibley,  who,  in 
1629,  removing  from  St.  Albans  in  Hertfordshire,  England,  settled  first 
at  Naumkeag  (Salem),  and  afterwards  at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  was  born  at  Ux- 
bridge,  in  that  State  on  the  ist  of  April,  1808.  His  father,  Joel  Sibley,  was  a 
farmer,  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  the  third  of  four  sons.  His  mother, 
Lois,  was  the  daughter  of  h^zekiel  Wood,  of  Uxbridge,  Mass.  Until  1821  Jos- 
iah's  life  was  passed  at  home,  where  he  lent  a  helping  hand  to  the  agricultural 
employment  and  the  domestic  engagements  incident  to  the  conduct  of  his  fath- 
er's farm.  His  early  education  was  acquired  in  the  district  school  of  his  native 
town. 

When  only  thirteen  years  of  age  he  left  the  parental  roof  and  came  to  Au- 
gusta, Ga.,  where  his  elder  brothers — Amory  and  Royal — hsfci  established  them- 
selves in  business  and  were  conducting  a  thriving  trade.  His  first  employ- 
ment was  as  a  clerk  in  their  store.  The  compensation  allowed  was  small,  his 
brothers  agreeing  to  furnish  board  and  clothing,  and  permitting  him  to  retain 
as  a  salary  whatever  profit  was  realized  in  the  establishment  from  the  sale  of 
fishing  tackle  and  pocket  knives.      This  opportunity  for  personal  emolument 


Biographical.  27 


was  subsequently  enlarged  when  his  brothers  consented  that  he  should  deal  in 
oranges,  and  appropriate  to  his  own  use  whatever  pecuniary  benefits  might 
accrue  from  the  sale  of  this  fruit.  His  first  venture  in  this  line  was  in  associ- 
ation with  Mr.  Edward  Padelford,  of  Savannah. 

The  dealings  begun  in  this  modest  way  between  these  lads  —  both  newly 
arrived  in  Georgia  —  developed  in  after  years  into  large  and  profitable  trans- 
actions covering  the  staple  commodities  of  this  region.  Both  of  them  became 
prominent  merchants,  and  accumulated  large  fortunes.  When  Mr.  Sibley  fixed 
his  home  in  Augusta  it  was  a  frontier  town  of  only  some  six  thousand  inhabit- 
ants. Its  trade,  however,  transcended  what  might  ordinarily  have  been  ex- 
pected from  a  population  of  that  size.  Communication  with  the  coast  was 
maintained  by  means  of  boats  ascending  and  descending  the  Savannah  River. 
Cotton  from  an  extensive  region  here  found  a  ready  market ;  and  from  this 
point  were  obtained  supplies  of  various  sorts  which  were  consumed  not  only  in 
Middle  and  Upper  Georgia,  but  also  in  Alabama,  Tennessee,  and  the  Caro- 
linas.  The  wagon  trade  with  distant  points  was  extensive.  The  commercial 
activity  of  Augusta  was  pronounced,  and  mercantile  ventures  were  generally 
remunerative.  Mr.  Royal  Sibley  dying  in  1822,  Mr.  Josiah  Sibley  continued 
with  his  brother  Amory  until  1828,  when  he  was  admitted  into  partnership  with 
him.  Under  the  firm  name  of  A.  &  J.  Sibley  these  gentlemen  opened  a  busi- 
ness establishment  as  wholesale  and  retail  merchants  and  dealers  in  cotton,  in 
the  town  of  Hamburg  in  South  Carolina.  For  many  years  after  its  completion 
that  village  formed  one  of  the  termini  of  the  South  Carolina  Railroad.  Great 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  obtaining  permission  for  that  corporation  to  cross 
the  Savannah  River  and  connect  with  Augusta.  Hamburg  was  then  a  thriv- 
ing town,  and  considerable  business  was  transacted  within  its  limits.  Between 
fifty  and  seventy  thousand  bales  of  cotton  were  annually  sold  in  its  streets. 
Taking  advantage  of  the  situation,  and  in  a  large  measure  monopohzing  this 
trade,  the  brothers  Sibley  for  several  years  conducted  a  large  and  lucrative 
business  at  this  point.  In  1849  Mr.- Amory  Sibley  who,  for  some  time,  had 
filled  the  office  of  president  of  the  Mechanics  Bank,  and  was  one  of  the  fore- 
most cotton  buyers  of  this  region,  died.  Prior  to  this  event  Mr.  Josiah  Sibley 
had  purchased  his  brothers  interest  in  the  concern  and  had  been  conducting  on 
his  own  account  the  business  which  had  been  built  up  by  the  firm  of  A.  &  J. 
Sibley.  In  1853  he  associated  in  partnership  with  himself  his  eldest  son,  Mr. 
William  C.  Sibley.  The  firm  was  then  known  as  J.  Sibley  &  Son.  Two  years 
afterwards,  Hamburg  having  entered  upon  a  period  of  decadence,  and  the  fa- 
cilities for  conducting  business  operations  being  superior  on  the  Georgia  side 
of  the  Savannah  River,  J.  Sibley  &  Son  removed  to  Augusta.  As  they  re- 
spectively attained  unto  manhood,  Samuel,  George,  and  Robert — sons  of  Mr. 
Josiah  Sibley — were  successively  admitted  as  members  of  the  firm,  which  was 
thereafter  known  as  Josiah  Sibley  &  Sons.      By  this  partnership  was  an  ex- 


28  History  of  Augusta. 


tensive  and  profitable  business  carried  on  in  purchasing  and  shipping  cotton, 
and  also  in  the  sale  of  that  commodity  on  commission.  No  mercantile  house 
in  Augusta  stood  in  higher  repute.  By  none  were  more  important  commer- 
cial transactions  negotiated. 

Mr.  Josiah  Sibley  retired  from  active  business  in  1874.  Until  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  the  village  of  Summcrville,  Richmond  county,  Ga.,  on  the 
7th  of  December,  1888,  he  gave  his  personal  attention  to  the  management  of  his 
large  estate,  and  to  supervising  his  planting  interests,  in  which  he  was  deeply 
concerned. 

In  association  with  Mr.  Langley  and  others,  he  was,  in  1870,  instrumental 
in  organizing  the  Langley  Manufacturing  Compan)^  As  a  leading  director  he 
always  manifested  the  liveliest  interest  in  the  success  of  that  establishment, 
over  the  fortunes  of  which  his  son.  Major  William  C.  Sibley,  presided  with  so 
much  ability. 

His  zeal  in  developing  the  material  interests  of  the  community  with  which 
he  was  so  long  and  so  intimately  associated  was  further  manifested  in  his  lib- 
eral contribution  of  time,  money,  and  influence  toward  the  erection  and  equip- 
ment of  the  Sibley  Cotton  Mill  in  Augusta,  than  which  there  is  no  more  sub- 
stantial or  attractive  manufacturing  establishment  in  the  South.  In  token  of 
the  universal  respect  and  esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  and  as  a  recognition  of 
his  valuable  aid  in  this  important  behalf,  this  extensive  and  beautiful  mill  was 
named  in  his  honor.  It  is  an  ornament  to  the  region  ;  and,  under  the  capable 
management  of  Major  William  C.  Sibley,  gives  promise  of  a  profitable  future. 

While  never  an  office  holder  or  a  seeker  after  political  preferment,  Mr.  Sib- 
ley was  always  public-spirited,  and  prompt  to  bear  his  share  of  the  responsi- 
bilities which  a  community  has  the  right  to  impose  upon  its  rich  and  influen- 
tial members. 

For  many  years  he  w-as  a  director  in  the  Mechanics'  Bank,  and  also  in  the 
Georgia  Railroad  and  Banking  Company.  In  1867  and  1868  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  city  council  of  Augusta,  and,  at  one  time  was  of  the  committee 
which  devised  the  scheme  for  retiring  the  bonded  indebtedness  of  the  city  of 
Augusta  by  means  of  a  sinking  fund.  With  the  enlargement  of  the  city  canal, 
with  the  conduct  of  the  Augusta  Land  Company,  and  with  the  administration 
of  the  affairs  of  the  Augusta  Orphan  Asylum,  he  was  closely  identified.  In  his 
religious  belief  Mr.  Sibley  was  a  Presbyterian,  and  his  charities  in  support  of  the 
ministrations  of  religion  and  the  promulgation  of  Christianity  were  constant  and 
liberal. 

The  distinguishing  traits  of  his  character  were  absolute  integrity,  inflexible 
honesty,  admirable  business  sagacity,  tireless  industry,  and  generous,  though 
discriminating  philanthropy.  He  neglected  no  obligation,  and  was  a  pillar  of 
strength  and  confidence  in  the  community.  His  influence  was  always  exerted 
in  the  support  of  justice  and  right,  and  he  has  left  an  impress  for  good  upon  his 
day  and  generation. 


Biographical.  .  29 


Mr.  Sibley  was  twice  married :  First  on  the  25th  of  July,  1 83 1 ,  to  Miss  Sarah 
Ann  Crapon,  the  daughter  of  William  and  Hannah  Crapon,  of  Providence,  R.  I. 
Eleven  children  were  the  fruit  of  this  marriage,  to  wit:  William  Crapon,  born 
May  3,  1832;  Henry  Josiah,  born  November  19,  1833,  died  July  25,  1864; 
Samuel  Hale,  born  September  9,  1835,  "^i^d  December,  1884;  Sophia  Matilda, 
born  October  16,  1837  '.  George  Royal,  born  July  19,  1839,  died  July,  1887  ; 
Fannie  Maria,  born  October  13,  1841,  died  December  20,  1842;  Mary  Lois, 
born  September  3,  1843,  diegl  February  23,  1864;  Alice  Maria,  born  February 
9,  1846;  Robert  Pendleton,  born  February  17,  1848;  Caroline  Crapon,  born 
February  21,  1850,  died  November  16,  1858,  and  Amor^^  Walter,  born  June 
19,  1852.  Mr.  Sibley's  second  wife  was  Miss  Emma  Eve  Longstreet,  of  Rich- 
mond county,  Ga.  To  them  four  children  were  born,  namely,  John  Adams, 
born  September  i,  1861 ;  James  Longstreet,  born  August  4,  1863;  Mary  Bones, 
born  March  29,  1865,  and  Emma  Josephine,  born  February  23,  1867. 

In  his  domestic  relations,  in  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow-man,  in  his  busi- 
ness transactions,  and  in  his  association  with  church  and  community,  Mr.  Sib- 
ley's conduct  was  marked  by  purity,  probity,  liberality,  public  spirit,  and  Chris- 
tian integrity.  He  was  emphatically  a  just,  an  honest,  an  influential,  and  a 
God  fearing  man. 

THOMPSON,  JP2SSE,  was  born  in  Camden,  South  Carolina,  July  19,  1843, 
and  is  the  son  of  Starling  and  Margaret  Thompson.  He  moved  with  his 
parents  to  Augusta  in  1854,  and  here  his  early  education  was  principally  re- 
ceived. His  father  was  a  carpenter  and  builder,  and  as  soon  as  his  son  was 
old  enough  to  engage  in  work  he  entered  the  employ  of  W.  H.  Goodrich,  a 
well  known  builder.  Before  he  had  made  much  advance  in  his  chosen  occu- 
pation, the  civil  war  began,  and  in  January,  1861,  he  entered  the  Confederate 
service  as  a  member  of  the  First  Carolina  Regiment,  and  remained  with  this 
command  until  the  end  of  its  period  of  enlistment.  He  then  re-enlisted  in 
Blodgett's  Artillery,  of  Augusta,  and  at  the  reorganization  of  the  army  in  1862, 
at  Yorktown,  he  was  made  a  first  lieutenant  of  a  company,  and  served  in  that 
capacity  until  the  war  closed 

After  the  war  he  returned  to  Augusta,  and  entered  the  employ  of  a  firm 
engaged  in  building  and  manufacturing  carpenter's  supplies.  In  1868  he  be- 
came a  member  of  this  firm  by  purchasing  the  interest  of  one  of  the  partners, 
the  firm  at  this  time  being  known  as  McMurphy  &  Thompson,  the  individual 
members,  besides  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  being  A.  M.  McMurphy  and  W. 
K.  Thompson.  W.  K.  Thompson  retired  in  1872,  when  G.  S.  Heindel  be- 
came a  partner  under  the  firm  name  of  Thompson  &  Heindel.  No  change 
occured  in  the  firm  until  about  five  years  ago,  when  Mr.  Heindel  died.  The 
present  firm  of  Jesse  Thompson  &  Co.  was  then  formed,  which  besides  the 
senior  partner,  is  now  composed  of  Louis  Thompson,  A.  G.  Sherman  and  Will- 
iam S.  Gregg,  all  three  of  whom  were  formerly  in  Mr.  Thompson's  employ. 


30  History  of  Augusta. 


During  the  earlier  years  of  the  existence  of  this  firm,  besides  dealing  in 
lumber  and  the  manufacture  of  sash,  doors  and  blinds,  contracting  and  build- 
ing represented  an  important  feature  of  the  business,  and  many  of  the  public 
and  private  buildings  in  the  city  were  erected  by  them,  but  of  late  years  their 
lumber  and  manufacturing  business  has  engrossed  their  entire  attention.  Their 
business  has  steadily  grown  from  year  to  year,  and  at  the  present  time  at  their 
well  equipped  plant  on  the  corner  of  ^plale  and  Centre  streets  about  ninety  men 
are  employed. 

Several  years  ago  they  established  a  saw- mill  in  Emanuel  county,  where  lum- 
ber for  their  factory  is  sawed.  For  the  purpose  of  bringing  their  supplies  to 
the  city  they  built  in  1880  a  railroad  since  known  as  the  Midville  and  Swains- 
boro  Railroad.  It  is  twenty-two  miles  in  length,  and  runs  from  Midland  on  the 
Georgia  Central  to  the  county  seat  of  Emanual  county.  As  the  country  along 
the  line  of  this  road  became  developed,  a  general  railroad  business  was  secured 
by  the  line.  Since  May,  1888,  it  has  been  operated  under  a  separate  charter, 
Mr.  Thompson  being  general  manager  and  principal  owner.  Three  saw- mills 
are  now  located  on  this  line,  the  one  operated  by  Jesse  Thompson  &  Co.  em- 
ploying about  sixty  men. 

In  the  development  of  the  business  with  which  he  has  been  so  long  con- 
nected, Mr.  Thompson  has  achieved  well  deserved  success  He  is  and  has 
been  for  years  the  main  factor  in  its  prosperity,  and  has  given  it  his  almost 
undivided  attention.  The  line  of  his  efforts  have  all  been  in  the  direction  from 
which  Augusta  has  reaped  substantial  reward,  and  his  success  has  been  to  the 
material  advancement  of  the  city.  As  a  business  man  he  has  the  entire  con- 
fidence of  the  business  community,  while  his  standing  as  a  citizen  both  in  pub- 
lic and  private  life  is  above  reproach.  In  1885  '^^  organized  the  Augusta  Ice 
Company  for  the  manufacture  of  ice,  of  which  he  has  since  been  president. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Augusta  National  Exposition.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  St.  James  Methodist  Church,  of  which  he  has  been  one  of  the 
Stewarts  for  the  last  four  years,  and  was  a  most  liberal  contributor  towards  its 
remodeling  and  construction  in  1888.  Often  solicited  to  enter  public  life  he 
has  steadfastly  declined  to  become  a  candidate  for  office.  Public  station  has 
no  charm  for  him,  while  his  private  business  commands  all  of  his  time  and 
energies. 

Mr.  Thompson  was  married  in  1868  to  Miss  Jane  Fulghum,  of  Augusta, 
who  died  in  April,  1885.  Seven  children  were  born  to  them,  all  of  whom  are 
living.  Mr.  Thompson's  present  wife  was  Miss  S.  A.  Stubb,  of  Augusta,  to 
whom  he  was  married  in  June,  1887. 


KING,  JOHN  PENDLETON.     Among  those   who   attained    an   exalted 
standard  of  excellence  in  the  community  in  which  they  resided,  who  pro- 
moted the  mental,  moral  and  material  development  of  their  age  and  State,  and 


Biographical.  31 


the  record  of  whose  lives  constitute  an  abiding  example  for  the  guidance  and 
emulation  of  the  coming  generations  was  the  Hon.  John  Pendleton  King,  of 
Augusta,  Ga.  His  career  was  adorned  by  purity,  honesty,  courage,  fidelity 
and  patriotism  ;  and  the  achievements  and  acts  of  a  life  dignified  by  a  con- 
stant and  illustrious  manifestation  of  these  cardinal  traits  are  eminently  worthy 
of  narration. 

He  was  born  April  3rd,  1799,  near  Glasgow,  Barron  county,  Ky.,  and  was 
the  son  of  Francis  King,  formerly  of  Hanover  county,  Va  ,  and  Mary  Patrick, 
of  Pendleton  District,  in  South  Carolina.  Soon  after  his  birth  his  father  moved 
to  Bedford  county,  l^enn.,  where  his  schooling  began  at  the  age  of  nine  years. 
He  boarded  at  the  school  during  the  week,  making  his  way  there  and  back  on 
horseback.  In  his  sixteenth  year,  provided  by  his  father  with  a  sufficient  sum 
of  money  and  a  good  horse,  he  set  out  for  Columbia  county,  Ga.,  the  home  of 
a  maternal  uncle.  On  the  way  he  crossed  Tennessee  River  at  Lowery's  Ferry, 
the  reservation  of  old  John  Lowery,  the  Cherokee  Chief,  and  was  so  struck 
with  the  beauty  of  the  place,  that  years  afterward,  when  it  was  on  the  market 
he  bought  it,  and  it  is  now  in  the  possession  of  his  son. 

After  a  short  sojourn  in  Columbia  county  he  went  to  Augusta,  where,  in 
18 17,  he  entered  Richmond  Academy,  one  of  the  oldest  institutions  of  learn- 
ing in  the  United  States,  and  by  unremitting  industry  he  was  enabled  to  ac- 
quire a  fair  education.  Upon  completing  his  academic  course  he  commenced 
the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Major  Freeman  Walker,  then  a  leading  lawyer 
and  accomplished  orator  in  Augusta,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  August, 
1819,  before  he  reached  his  majority.  The  young  attorney  rapidly  acquired 
a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  which  was  largely  augmented  soon  after  his 
admission  to  the  bar  by  Major  Walker,  who,  having  been  elected  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  showed  his  confidence  in  young  King  by  transferring  to  him  his 
own  practice. 

Money  came  to  him  easily.  Wealth  earned  for  him  ease,  and  at  a  time 
when  most  men  are  striving  to  redouble  their  fortunes  young  King  leisurely 
sailed  for  Europe  in  December,  1821,  where  he  spent  two  years,  and  added  to 
his  practical  knowledge  the  benefits  of  travel  and  the  study  of  language,  man- 
ners and  men.  He  was  at  a  receptive  age.  His  activity  had  not  been  im- 
paired by  long  drudgery  and  impending  age.  His  travel  was  worth  more  to 
him  than  it  could  ever  be  again.  He  mastered  systems  and  observed  methods. 
So  that  when  he  returned  to  his  home  in  Augusta  he  had  blended  with  his 
technical  training  and  professional  skill  a  wider  range  of  information.  In  Paris 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  General  Lafayette,  then  about  to  pay  a  visit  to 
the  United  States  as  the  invited  guest  of  the  American  Congress.  On  the 
ocean  voyage  he  sailed  on  the  same  vessel  with  Mr.  King,  and  during  the 
journey  they  became  intimately  acquainted  and  a  lasting  friendship  was  formed. 
After  the  distinguished  gentleman  had  made  a  trip  through  the  North,  visiting 


32  History  of  Augusta. 


Boston,  New  York,  Washington,  and  all  the  other  principal  cities,  he  visited 
Augusta  in  the  fall  of  1825.  Here  he  was  entertained  by  Mr.  King,  who  ac- 
companied him  through  the  cit\-,  where  he  was  received  with  the  highest  honors. 
On  the  occasion  of  his  reception  Mr.  King  was  selected  to  deliver  the  address 
of  welcome 

The  panic  of  1825  greatly  increased  litigation  and  enlarged  the  profits  of 
the  legal  profession,  and  after  a  few  years  successful  practice  Mr.  King  retired 
in  1829  to  give  his  whole  attention  to  his  large  estate  and  extensive  private 
interests.  He  showed  a  striking  aptitude  for  the  law  ;  his  mind  was  of  that 
clear  and  analytical  caste,  and  his  reasoning  powers  so  exact  and  incisive  as 
eminently  to  fit  him  for  the  discussion  of  legal  propositions.  If  he  had  adhered 
to  the  law  and  his  ambition  had  led  him  in  the  direction  of  professional  prefer- 
ment, he  could  have  reached  and  would  have  adorned  the  highest  judicial 
positions  in  the  land. 

In  1830  he  attended  a  convention  called  for  the  reform  of  the  State  Con- 
stitution, in  which  the  important  question  of  the  equalization  of  representation 
was  strongly  advocated  by  him.  It  was  opposed,  however,  by  so  many  local 
interests  that  it  failed  to  be  ratified  by  the  people. 

He  was  appointed  by  Governor  Lumpkin  in  1831  judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas,  a  position  he  held  but  for  a  short  time,  long  enough,  however, 
to  give  him  the  title  by  which  he  was  so  long  afterwards  known.  In  1833  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  Georgia  of  that  year. 
In  this  body  he  greatly  distinguished  himself;  he  was  a  Jackson  Democrat  and 
took  the  lead  of  that  party  in  the  convention  By  his  debates  in  the  conven- 
tion, and  especially  by  his  discussions  with  the  late  William  H.  Crawford,  he 
gained  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  eloquent  men  in  Georgia. 

In  the  fall  of  1833,  while  attending  to  some  private  business  in  Vicksburg, 
he  received  intelligence  that,  without  being  a  candidate,  he  had  in  his  absence 
been  elected  to  fill  the  vacancy  in  the  United  States  Senate  occasioned  by  the 
resignation  of  the  distinguished  statesman,  George  M.  Troup.  This  was  a 
great  compliment  to  Judge  King's  abilities  to  award  him,  unsought,  the  suc- 
cessorship  to  so  gifted  and  accomplished  a  gentleman  as  Governor  Troup,  but 
a  still  higher  one  when  at  the  termination  of  the  unexpired  term  of  two  years 
he  was  re  elected  for  the  full  term  of  six  years.  Appointed  to  this  high  office 
in  his  thirty-fourth  year  he  enjoyed  the  peculiar  privilege  of  being  the  young- 
est senator  of  his  time,  if  not  of  any  time  in  the  history  of  the  Senate.  In  those 
days  the  great  intellectual  gladiators  were  figuring  upon  the  floor  of  the  Amer- 
ican Senate;  Calhoun,  Webster  and  Clay,  Benton,  Wight,  Buchanan,  Bayard, 
and  Forsyth  were  there,  and  many  grave  questions  were  before  the  country 
demanding  wise  and  patriotic  .solution.  Andrew  Jackson  was  president,  of 
whom  it  was  aptly  said  "  his  every  step  was  a  contest,  and  every  contest  a 
victory."      It  was  at  a  time  like  this,  when  not  only  the  questions  of  currency 


Biographical.  33 


and  finance  springing  out  of  the  action  in  regard  to  the  National  Bank,  but 
also  the  questions  arising  upon  the  disposition  to  be  made  of  the  public  lands, 
the  removal  of  the  Indians  across  the  Mississippi,  internal  improvements  by 
the  general  government,  the  tariff,  the  French  spoliation  bill,  the  reception  ot 
abolition  petitions,  and  many  other  important  questions  were  demanding  set- 
tlement, that  Judge  King  entered  the  United  States  Senate  and  took  and 
maintained  a  high  position.  Speaking  but  seldom,  he  took  part  in  the  debate 
upon  most  of  these  grave  issues,  and  at  once  won  position  in  that  body  as  a  man 
of  fine  abilities  and  culture,  and  as  an  inductive  reasoner  and  logical  debater 
whose  powers  were  of  superior  order.  As  evidence  of  this  many  compliments 
from  senators  and  warm  discussions  maintained  with  him  by  the  ablest  in  that 
body  might  be  adduced.  But  it  will  suffice  for  this  purpose  to  mention  the 
fact  that  Thomas  H.  Benton  himself,  one  of  the  first  men  in  the  country,  and 
noted  alike  for  his  powers  as  a  logician  and  his  vast  and  varied  learning,  in  his 
speech  delivered  in  the  Senate  on  the  French  spoliation  bill,  took  occasion  to 
specially  compliment  the  speech  of  Judge  King,  delivered  in  the  Senate  on  the 
same  subject.  He  said,  among  other  things :  "  The  gentleman  from  Georgia 
(Mr.  King)  has  given  a  valid  and  able  picture  of  the  exertions  of  the  United 
States  government  in  behalf  of  these  claims.  He  has  shown  that  they  have 
been  paid,  on  our  part,  by  the  invaluable  blood  of  our  citizens.  Such  is  the 
fact,  etc."  But  in  his  most  interesting  and  readable  book,  entitled,  "Thirty 
Years  in  the  United  States  Senate,"  Mr.  Benton  pays  a  further  compliment  to 
Judge  King,  by  reproducing  in  it  a  short  debate  between  him  and  Mr.  Calhoun, 
and  which  is  adverted  to  here,  and  will  be  briefly  noticed  for  the  purpose  of 
illustrating  a  characteristic  trait  exhibiting  itself  through  the  whole  life  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.  Mr.  Calhoun  had  asked  for  the  appointment  of  a  special 
committee,  to  which  should  be  referred  so  much  of  the  president's  message  as 
related  to  mail  transmission  of  incendiary  publications.  This  was  opposed  by 
Mr.  King,  of  Alabama,  and  Mr.  Grundy,  the  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
post-offices  and  post-roads,  on  the  ground  that  that  was  the  appropriate  com- 
mittee for  such  reference.  Mr.  Calhoun  insisted,  however,  on  his  view  that 
the  committee  should  be  a  special  one,  and  be  appointed  mainly  from  that  sec- 
tion whose  security  and  rights  were  threatened  by  this  unlawful  use  of  the 
mails,  arid  the  Senate  yielded  to  his  wish  and  permitted  him  to  name  the  com- 
mittee, which  he  at  once  proceeded  to  do,  as  follows:  Mr.  Calhoun,  chairman  ; 
Mr.  King,  of  Georgia  ;  Mr.  Manguni,  of  North  Carolina  ;  Mr.  Davis,  of  Massa- 
chusetts ;  and  Mr.  Linn,  of  Missouri.  A  bill  and  report  was  soon  brought  in 
by  the  committee — a  bill  subjecting  to  penalties  any  postmaster  who  should 
knowingly  receive  and  put  into  the  mail  a  publication  or  picture  touching  the 
subject  of  slavery.  When  the  report  was  read  a  motion  was  made  to  print 
5,000  extra  copies  of  it.  This  motion  brought  several  of  the  committee  to 
their  feet,  among  them  Judge  King,  who  protested  that  some  of  the  views  (Mr. 


34  History  of  Augusta. 


Calhoun  had  injected  into  it  some  of  his  pccuHar  nuUification  views)  were  not 
concurred  in  by  him,  though  many  parts  of  the  report  had  his  hearty  concur- 
rence. It  was  also  the  view  of  Judge  King  that  by  giving  to  the  matter  such 
special  prominence,  excitement  would  be  engendered,  and  thus  produce  injury 
rather  than  benefit.  In  the  progress  of  the  debate  Judge  King  used  the  fol- 
lowing sententious  and  somewhat  severe  remarks,  to  wit :  "  That  positions  had 
been  assumed  and  principles  insisted  upon  by  Mr.  Calhoun  not  only  inconsis- 
tent with  the  bill  reported,  but  he  thought  inconsistent  with  the  Union  itself, 
and  which,  if  established  and  carried  into  practice,  would  hastily  end  in  its  dis- 
solution." Without  quoting  further  from  this  discussion  let  it  be  remembered 
that  the  sole  use  designed  to  be  made  of  the  quotation  given  is  to  present  in 
bold  relief  a  striking  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  which  has  ever  given  his 
opinions  and  position  commanding  weight  and  influence,  to  wit:  his  self- 
reliance  and  manly  independence  of  thought  and  will,  the  ever  sure  indicia  of 
strong  intellect  and  the  unfailing  harbinger  (when  wisely  restrained  in  limits 
of  prudence  and  modesty,  as  was  the  case  with  him)  of  usefulness  and  success. 

It  was  no  ordinary  compliment  for  Mr.  Calhoun  to  suggest  his  name  first 
on  that  special  committee.  Lesser  men  than  Judge  King  might  have  been  so 
flattered  by  it  as  not  to  have  been  conscious  of  a  subordination  of  their  own 
views  and  convictions  on  grave  questions  raised  in  committee  to  the  masterly 
power  and  will  of  this  truly  great  statesman.  Not  so  with  Judge  King.  Noth- 
ing could  bend  or  swerve  his  mental  independence,  and  the  debate,  which 
was  participated  in  by  Clay,  Webster  and  others,  will  show  with  what  vigor 
and  ability  he  boldly  dissented  from  the  great  Carolinian.  Many  and  very 
interesting  extracts  might  be  introduced  here  from  his  various  speeches  while 
in  the  Senate  on  the  questions  of  deep  public  concern  in  that  day,  that  would 
go  to  show  the  high  capacities  of  their  author  for  the  duties  then  devolved 
upon  him,  and  excite  regret  that  his  inclination  led  him  away  from  a  position 
of  so  much  distinction  and  responsibility,  and  for  which  he  was  so  eminently 
fitted.  He  had  no  toleration  for  injustice,  but  demanded  equality  and  equity 
in  all  matters,  and  he  ever  especially  opposed  the  practice  of  officials  taking 
liberties,  even  to  the  smallest  extent,  with  the  public  property  or  funds  en- 
trusted for  the  time  to  their  guardianship. 

In  his  speech  on  the  bill  to  prohibit  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  except  to 
actual  settlers,  the  question  before  the  Senate  being  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Clay 
to  strike  out  the  fourth  section,  which  contained  the  pre-emption  principles, 
he  said  he  viewed  the  bill  as  establishing  a  system  of  partiality,  plunder  and 
perfidy — a  system  in  which  those  who  had  the  least  merit  would  make  the  most 
profitable  speculations.  If  the  bill  passed  at  all,  he  was  indifferent  as  the  de- 
tails of  it ;  perhaps  it  would  be  better  for  the  country  if  it  should  pass  in  the 
worst  shape  in  which  it  had  been  presented.  It  was  not  surprising  that  it 
should  be  popular  with  those  who  were  to  be  greatly  benefited  by  it ;  but  that 


Biographical.  35 


those  whose  constituents  were  to  be  plundered  should  tamely  submit  was  not 
and  ought  not  to  be  expected.  But  he  was  much  mistaken  if  this  measure 
could  be  protected  from  the  discontent  and  indignation  with  which  the  great 
majority  of  the  United  States  always  visit  a  course  of  injustice  and  oppression. 
They  should  recollect  that  the  public  lands  were  public  treasure,  and  belonged 
as  much  to  the  whole  people  of  the  United  States  as  the  money  in  the  treas- 
ury, and  should  be  protected  precisely  in  the  same  way,  and  should  be  dis- 
tributed among  the  States  with  as  much  equality  as  possible.  A  very  large 
portion  of  the  property  was  acquired  by  the  common  blood  and  treasure  of  the 
old  thirteen  States,  and  the  other  portion  was  purchased  with  the  money  of  the 
whole  derived  from  the  taxation  on  the  consumption  of  the  country,  the  con- 
sumers being  principally  in  the  old  States. 

Senator  Bayard,  father  of  the  present  distinguished  senator  of  that  name, 
followed  Judge  King,  and  spoke  in  very  eulogistic  terms  of  his  speech,  com- 
mencing with  the  remark,  "  he  had  listened  with  great  delight  to  the  senator 
from  Georgia,  who  has  given  a  true  exposition  of  facts  as  connected  with  the 
speculation  going  on  in  public  lands  and  the  effects  which  would  result  from 
passing  the  bill." 

This  speech  was  one  of  the  ablest  dehvered  on  that  question,  and  no  man 
can  read  it  now  without  understanding  how  it  was  that  Judge  King  so  thor- 
oughly commanded  the  attention  of  the  senators,  as  he  always  did,  when  he 
went  fully  into  the  discussion  of  a  question. 

He  has  been  from  his  youth  up  an  eminently  practical  man.  One  short 
sentence  uttered  by  him  in  passing,  while  making  a  speech  of  much  power  in 
the  Senate  on  the  currency  question,  plainly  but  fully  illustrates  his  character 
in  this  particular.  Said  he  :  "  We  should  never  resort  to  theory  when  we  have 
the  lights  of  experience  to  guide  us." 

Soon  after  he  had  taken  his  seat  as  a  senator  from  Georgia,  alongside  of 
the  eloquent  and  powerful  Forsyth,  a  proposition  was  being  discussed  that 
Judge  King  instantly  condemned  as  being  an  unauthorized  attempt  to  bestow 
favor  upon  the  representatives  of  the  people  in  an  unconstitutional  way. 

The  resolution  authorized  the  purchase  of  thirteen  copies  of  the  American 
State  Papers,  and  Messrs.  Frelinghuysen  and  Ewing  explained  that  the  work 
was  indispensible  to  members  of  Congress  in  the  performance  of  their  legisla- 
tive duties  and  was  already  printed ;  and  the  object  was  only  to  supply  those 
new  senators  (Judge  King  was  one  of  them)  who  had  not  yet  obtained  them. 
Judge  King  opposed  the  resolution  on  constitutional  grounds,  "  that  it  was 
taking  money  out  of  the  treasury  for  the  purchase  of  books  for  private  libra- 
ries of  members  without  an  appropriation  by  law ;  and  that  any  other  works 
might,  with  the  same  propriety,  be  purchased,  and  to  any  amount  and  extent." 
He  admitted  "  that  works  might  be  purchased  which  were  necessary  for  the 
use  of  the  members  in  performance  of  their  public  duties ;  but  that  they  should 


36  History  of  Augusta. 


be  confined  to  the  office,  and  not  given  as  an  absolute  property  to  the  officer;  " 
and  he  moved,  though  unsuccessfully,  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table  for  the 
balance  of  the  session.  He  also  and  for  the  same  reason  opposed  the  clause  in 
the  appropriation  bill  for  the  purchase  for  members  of  Congress  of  the  "  Docu-j 
mentary  History  of  the  United  States."  He  said  he  should  vote  to  strike  out 
the  clause  from  the  bill,  and  should  thus  vote  against  the  amendment  of  his 
colleague.  He  thought  there  was  no  more  authority  in  Congress  to  set  up  a 
book  shop  tiian  to  set  up  a  millinery  shop,  to  buy  books  for  members  than,  to 
buy  bonnets  for  ladies.  He  referred  to  the  constitutional  powers  of  Congress, 
and  declared  from  none  of  them  was  the  authority  derived.  He  expressed 
the  belief  that  the  work,  if  authorized,  would  cost  the  government  three  or  four 
millions  of  dollars.  He  disclaimed  any  intention  to  cast  censure  upon  the  con- 
tractors, but  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  contract  was  erroneously  and  uncon- 
stitutionally entered  into ;  and  that  the  secretary  of  State  had  been  taken  in. 

This  has  been  a  fixed  principle  of  Judge  King's  whole  life  when  dealing 
with  funds  not  his  own,  as  many  will  admit,  who  know  with  what  pertinacity 
and  uncompromising  hostility  he  has,  as  president  of  the  Georgia  Railroad, 
opposed  any  and  every  species  of  deadheadism. 

Although  a  thorough  Union  Democrat  he  did  not  at  all  times  approve  and 
endorse  every  feature  of  party  policy  put  forth  by  those  who  claimed  to  be  the 
leaders ;  and  he  would  thus  sometimes  subject  himself  to  severe  criticism  anp 
censure  from  the  merely  partisan  press  and  politicians.  Even  in  those  days 
of  high  party  excitement  and  passion  he  differed  with  some  of  the  measures  of 
the  Jackson  administration,  for  then  as  ever  through  his  whole  life  he  was  op- 
posed to  what  he  considered  extremes,  and  always  had  the  fearless,  indepen- 
dent manhood  and  honesty  to  oppose  them,  even  when  advocated  by  his 
warmest  political  friends. 

But  the  jars  and  wrangling  and  constant  excitement  incident  to  political 
life  were  unsuited  to  his  tastes  and  habits  of  thought,  and  some  of  the  party 
press  of  the  State  having  censured,  unjustly  as  he  thought,  a  very  notable 
speech  he  made  against  some  of  the  leading  measures  of  Mr.  Van  Buren's  ad- 
ministration, he,  in  1837,  pi'omptly  resigned  the  trust  committed  to  his  charge 
and  retired  into  private  life.  "  No  like  abandonment  of  politics  from  personal 
disgust,"  says  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  "  has  ever  occurred  in  the  history  of  the 
United  States."  It  may  be  added  here  that  he  never  afterward  accepted  polit- 
ical preferment,  and  his  career  thus  exhibits  the  rare  distinction,  unparalleled 
perhaps  in  our  political  history,  of  having  held  but  one  political  office,  and  that 
the  highest — the  office  of  United  State  senator. 

Judge  King  had  served  throughout  as  a  Democrat,  but  never  as  a  dema- 
gogue. He  always  declined  to  be  a  partisan.  He  bitterly  opposed  the  nullifica- 
tion theories  of  Mr.  Calhoun;  he  did  not  justify  the  removal  of  bank  deposits  by 
President  Jackson ;  he  declined  even  to  sanction  the  efforts  of  his  own  colleague. 


Biographical.  37 


Forsyth,  to  furnish  the  Senate  with  important  documents  at  public  expense. 
He  fought  the  system  of  pre-emption  of  public  land,  and  made  a  record  against 
monopoly  and  money  power  in  every  form.  He  voted  with  his  party  when 
Democracy  seemed  right,  and  fought  them  openly  whenever  they  went  wrong. 
He  was  fearless,  honest,  unyielding  and  resourceful,  blunt,  candid  and  impetu- 
ous, and  was  always  practical  and  profound. 

The  monetary  affairs  of  the  country,  through  reckless  legislation,  were  at  this 
time  in  a  most  disordered  condition,  and  great  financial  misery  existed  every- 
where. Commercial  enterprises  in  Georgia  as  elsewhere  were  completely  par- 
alyzed, and  the  affairs  of  the  Georgia  Railroad  being  in  an  embarassed  state, 
he  was  pressed  by  the  shareholders  to  assume  its  management.  This  road  was 
commenced  in  1835,  and  was  projected  to  connect  Augusta  with  Atlanta  by 
way  of  Madison,  with  a  branch  line  to  Athens.  When  Judge  King  assumed  the 
management,  in  1841,  it  was  only  completed  as  far  as  Madison.  Having  agreed 
to  take  charge  of  its  affairs  for  a  period  of  two  years,  he  placed  his  own  pri- 
vate fortune  and  credit  at  the  command  of  the  company,  and  ere  long  by  good 
management  and  close  economy,  put  it  on  a  safe  and  remunerative  footing; 
He  completed  the  main  line  to  Atlanta  and  the  branch  to  Athens  without  call- 
ing upon  the  stockholders  for  a  dollar,  and  the  earnings  of  the  road  increased 
to  such  an  extent  under  his  management  that  besides  paying  large  dividends 
for  many  years  he  had,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  in  1861,  a  surplus  of  some- 
thing over  $1,000,000  in  hand.  During  the  war  the  rolling  stock  and  track  of 
the  road  was  almost  entirely  destroyed  by  Sherman's  raiders,  the  loss  aggre- 
gating nearly  $3,000,000.  The  restoration  was  necessarily  very  gradual,  and 
it  has  only  been  within  recent  years  that  it  has  been  put  in  as  good  condition 
as  before  the  war. 

In  his  first  report  to  the  stockholders  after  the  war  in  1866,  treating  of  the 
discouraging  outlook  and  of  the  political  restrictions  in  business,  Mr.  King 
says:  "The  question  occurs,  how  long  is  this  condition  to  continue  ?  The  di- 
rectors are  no  politicians  or  prophets,  but  they  will  venture  a  prediction,  which 
accords  with  their  hopes,  that  it  cannot  continue  long.  Our  hopes  rest  upon 
the  obvious  truth  that  the  interests  of  the  people  of  the  whole  United  States  are 
identified  with  our  own.  However  passion  and  prejudice  may  obscure  the  truth 
for  a  time,  it  will  soon  be  seen  and  felt  that  the  great  industrial  and  consuming 
classes  and  the  governing  class  are  in  a  position  of  antagonism  to  each  other. 
Every  material  condition  at  the  North  and  West  is  much  concerned  in  the  rapid 
restoration  of  Southern  industry.  To  the  navigating,  commercial,  financial, 
mining,  manufacturing  and  agricultural  interests  Southern  products  are  vastly 
important,  and  to  some  of  them  these  interests  are  almost  vital.  Let  convic- 
tion of  these  obvious  truths  penetrate  the  national  heart,  and  the  contest  can- 
not last  long." 

Banking  privileges  were  granted  by  the  State  to  the  Georgia  Railroad,  and 


38  History  of  Augusta. 


previous  to  the  war  it  was  a  bank  of  issue.  It  has  always  had  a  large  deposit 
and  discount  business,  and  from  the  status  given  it  by  the  wealth  and  standing 
of  its  stockholders,  ranks  probably  higher  than  any  other  banking  institution 
in  Georgia. 

Perceiving  the  necessity  of  connecting  the  Georgia  Railroad  with  the  south- 
western part  of  the  State,  Judge  King  in  the  early  years  of  his  connection  with 
railroad  operations  built  the  Atlanta  and  West  Point  Railroad,  and  under  his 
direction  as  its  president  it  became  one  of  the  most  profitable  railroad  enter- 
prises in  the  country,  though  like  other  Southern  roads  it  suffered  considerable 
losses  during  the  war. 

Judge  King  remained  in  active  control  and  management  of  the  Georgia 
Railroad  until  May,  1878.  During  this  long  period  —  over  a  third  of  a  cen- 
tury —  he  was  a  leading  spirit  in  the  railroad  development  of  the  South,  and 
to  no  one  is  the  State  of  Georgia  more  indebted  for  its  present  facilities  than 
to  him.  Commencing  with  the  incipient  stages  of  railway  transportation  in 
America  he  found  a  field  where  his  great  talents  could  be  more  congenially 
employed  than  in  the  political  arena,  and  with  all  the  energy  of  his  nature, 
unusual  executive  and  administrative  ability,  he  gave  himself  up  heart  and 
soul  to  the  material  development  of  his  State  and  section.  He  succeeded  in 
his  endeavor  as  he  had  succeeded  in  every  thing  he  undertook,  but  in  that  suc- 
cess the  people  of  the  whole  State  shared,  and  are  still  reaping  the  immeasur- 
able benefits  of  his  exertions. 

Judge  King  while  connected  with  railroad  management  studiously  abstained 
from  politics,  but  in  1865  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  take  a  seat  in  the  Constitu- 
tional Convention  of  that  year,  where  his  sound  judgment,  patriotism  and  emi- 
nently practical  wisdom  largely  influenced  its  action.  James  Johnson  was  the 
provisional  governor  of  Georgia  under  President  Andrew  Johnson's  plan  of 
reconstruction,  and  all  looked  forward  with  confidence  to  the  re-admission  of 
the  Southern  States  to  the  Union  on  the  known  liberal  terms  of  President  Lin- 
coln, but  the  dispute  between  President  Johnson  and  Congress  defeated  these 
moderate  measures,  and  rendered  the  work  of  the  convention  nugatory. 

Judge  King  was  one  of  a  few  public-spirited  citizens  of  Augusta  who  pro- 
jected the  Augusta  Canal,  which  was  commenced  in  1845,  ^"<^  ^^s  also  an  in- 
fluential stockholder  in  the  early  days  of  the  Augusta  factory. 

At  the  time  of  his  retirement  from  railroad  life  Judge  King  had  nearly  com- 
pleted his  four-score  years,  and  he  then  withdrew  from  active  business  into  the 
retirement  of  private  life.  For  nearly  forty  years  he  was  president  of  the  Geor- 
gia Railroad,  For  ten  years  he  had  been  living  a  retired  life.  His  winters  were 
passed  in  the  wooded  seclusion  of  the  Sand  Hills;  his  summers  sped  away  on 
the  heights  of  North  Carolina,  and  the  lengthening  shadows,  sloping  peacefully 
to  the  horizon,  seemed  to  trace  in  heroic  outlines  the  characters  of  a  remarka- 
ble life.  After  a  brief  illness  of  only  a  few  days,  he  died  of  congestion  of  the 
lungs  on  Monday,  March  19,  1887. 


Biographical.  39 


In  reviewing  the  career  and  achievements  of  Judge  King  we  find  in  his 
stately  and  symmetrical  character  much  to  admire,  much  that  is  worthy  of  em- 
ulation. By  his  own  energy,  integrity,  physical  and  mental  activity,  and  un- 
swerving devotion  to  justice  and  right  he  attained  a  high  place  in  the  confi- 
dence of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  might  have  won  a  still  higher  niche  in  the  tem- 
ple of  political  fame  had  not  his  tastes  and  inclinations  drawn  him  from  the 
political  arena  to  the  financial  world,  where  his  remarkable  abilities,  natural  and 
acquirec^,  could  find  fitting  scope.  He  was  a  close  student  and  a  vigorous  and 
forcible  writer,  as  his  numerous  contributed  articles  to  the  journals  of  the  day 
during  important  political  crises  so  clearly  revealed.  Well  versed  in  the  public 
affairs  of  his  own  country,  in  which  he  was  thoroughly  abreast  of  the  time,  he 
also  had  an  intimate  knowledge  of  political  affairs  in  the  old  world.  To  his 
high  courage  and  indomitable  will  were  added  many  of  the  social  virtues,  and 
while  ever  a  resolute  antagonist  when  occasion  demanded,  he  was  also  a  genial 
friend  and  warm  sympathizer  with  human  distress  and  suffering.  Through 
every  movement  of  his  business  and  private  Hfe  there  shone  a  rigid  and  un- 
flinching integrity  which  never  yielded  to  any  stress  of  circumstances,  and  was 
never  misled  by  any  plausible  consideration  of  policy.  In  his  public  career  and 
private  life  he  was  recognized  as  an  upright,  honest  man,  who  turned  aside 
with  manly  and  unwavering  detestation  from  the  devious  paths  into  which  the 
managers  of  great  business  enterprises  are  often  tempted,  and  he  passed  away 
at  an  age  allotted  to  few  men,  not  only  without  a  stain  on  his  professional,  public 
or  business  record,  but  conspicuous  among  all  who  knew  him  for  his  unbend- 
ing integrity. 

The  rector  of  St.  Paul's  beautifully  says  of  his  declining  years.  "  He  gath- 
ered a  library  such  as  none  but  a  man  of  wide  reading  and  rare  intellectual  taste 
could  ever  collect.  The  masters  of  the  world's  thought  in  literature,  in  history 
in  science  and  philosophy  looked  out  from  the  shelves  where  he  had  enthroned 
them  They  had  been  the  companions  of  his  life,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  in  his  office  or  in  his  home.  But  in  his  last  years  there  was  one  book 
which  seemed  to  separate  itself  from  all  other  books,  and  gradually  absorbed 
the  whole  study  of  his  later  life.  Day  after  day  and  sometimes  far  into  the 
night  in  the  soft  glow  of  the  lamp- light,  I  have  seen  him  with  his  New  Testa- 
ment before  him,  as  only  a  man  of  trained  mind  can  absorb  himself,  in  the  un- 
tiring study  of  that  book  of  good." 

Mr.  King  married  in  1842  the  only  daughter  of  Mr.  John  Moore  Woodward, 
of  New  York  City.  Their  eldest  daughter  married  (first)  in  1872,  the  Hon. 
Henry  Wodehouse,  of  the  British  Embassy  in  Paris,  who  died  the  next  year  in 
diplomatic  service  in  Athens,  Greece,  and  (second)  the  Marquis  of  Anglesey  in 
1880.  The  second  daughter  married  John  Berrien  Connelly  of  Burke  county, 
and  the  third,  Louise  Woodward  King,  died  unmarried  in  1879.  The  latter  was 
distinguished  at  home  and  abroad  for  her  active  efforts  on  behalf  of  dumb  ani- 


40  History  of  Augusta. 


mals.  She  obtained  the  enactment  of  a  State  law  for  the  prevention  of  cruelty 
to  animals,  and  organized  a  society  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  that  law.  She 
was  also  the  originator  and  founder  of  the  Louise  King  Home  for  Widows  in 
this  city.  The  only  son,  Henry  Barclay  King,  who  married  in  1884  a  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  O.  E.  Cashin,  of  Augusta,  graduated  with  honors  at  the  University 
of  Oxford,  England,  in  1867. 

YOUNG,  Wn.LIAM  B.,  of  Augusta,  was  born  in  Columbia  county,  Ga.,  in 
1838,  and  is  the  son  of  Allen  C.  and  Elizabeth  (Dye)  Young,  the  former 
of  English  and  the  latter  of  Irish  descent,  his  paternal  ancestors  being  among 
the  early  settlers  of  Maryland  and  Virginia.  In  1844  he  came  with  his  parents 
to  Augusta  where  his  early  education  was  received  in  the  Augusta  Eree  School. 
At  the  early  age  of  twelve  years  he  began  a  practical  business  career  as  a  clerk, 
serving  in  that  capacity  for  four  years.  He  then  was  employed  for  three  years 
in  the  car  shops  of  the  Georgia  Railroad.  Then  to  further  perfect  his  business 
education  he  attended  school  for  one  year,  after  which  he  became  bookkeeper 
in  a  grocery  store.  In  1859  he  became  a  partner  in  the  grocery  house  of 
James  A.  Ivey  &  Co.,  and  at  the  time  when  the  war  between  the  States  began 
was  conducting  a  successful  business. 

At  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  hostilities  Mr.  Young  was  a  member  of  the 
Richmond  Hussars,  a  well-known  military  company  organized  prior  to  the  war. 
This  company  volunteered  in  the  defense  of  the  Confederacy  in  the  early  part 
of  the  year  1861,  Mr.  Young  at  the  time  being  first  corporal.  It  was  assigned 
to  Cobb's  Georgia  Legion,  General  Hampton's  command.  General  Stuart's  corps 
of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  serving  in  this  department  of  the  army  dur- 
ing the  entire  progress  of  the  war.  Corporal  Young  was  promoted  to  rank  of 
first  lieutenant  in  1862,  and  in  1863  was  made  captain'of  the  company.  Captain 
Young  participated  in  all  the  severe  fighting  in  which  his  command  engaged 
until  his  capture  by  the  Federals  in  1864,  including  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines, 
engagements  around  Richmond  in  1862 — conspicuous  for  the  destructive  battle 
of  Cold  Harbor  and  Malvern  Hill;  second  battle  of  Manassas,  Harper's  Ferry  and 
Sharpsburg,  the  heavy  cavalry  fighting  by  General  Stuart  around  Fredericks- 
burg, which  included  the  battle  of  Brandy  Station  and  Culpepper.  This  ser- 
vice was  followed  by  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville,  General  Stuart's  almost  con- 
stant cavalry  fighting  between  Leesburg  and  the  Blue  Ridge  and  his  famous 
raid  through  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania.  The  battle  of  Gettysburg  and  the 
memorable  engagements  in  the  Wilderness  quickly  followed.  In  one  of  the 
cavalry  raids  in  the  Wilderness,  Captain  Young  was  captured,  and  for  fourteen 
months  was  confined  as  a  prisoner  of  war  at  the  old  capitol  prison,  Washington, 
D.C,  and  at  Fort  Delaware.  During  his  period  of  service  Captain  Young  was 
wounded  three  times,  but  was  never  incapacitated  for  duty.  For  the  first  three 
years  of  the  war  few  took  part  in  more  active,  continuous  field  service  than 


(^OU^ 


Biographical.     -  41 


Captain  Young.     Through  it  all  he  bravely  and  courageously  did  his  duty  and 
gained  a  record  as  a  soldier,  of  which  he  has  a  right  to  feel  a  justifiable  pride. 

After  his  release  as  prisoner  of  war  in  1865  Captain  Young  returned  to  Au- 
gusta and  secured  employment  as  bookkeeper,  continuing  in  such  service  until 
1873.  He  then  became  a  member  of  the  wholesale  grocery  firm  of  Young  & 
Hack,  retiring  in  1886  after  a  very  prosperous  career  in  this  line  of  trade. 

In  1870  Captain  Young  was  elected  a  member  of  the  city  council  of  Au- 
gusta, and  has  served  the  city  almost  continuously  in  this  capacity  ever  since. 
He  has  proved  a  most  valuable  member  of  the  city  government,  and  has  been 
foremost  in  advocating  all  public  improvements,  being  ever  ready  to  devote  his 
time  and  energies  to  whatever  has  promised  to  promote  the  best  interest  of  the 
people.  He  has  served  on  all  the  important  committees  of  the  council,  and  has 
been  chairman  at  different  times  of  the  committees  on  finance,  canals,  streets  and 
drains,  police,  health,  waterworks  and  engine.  His  long  experience  in  the 
management  of  city  affairs  has  made  his  services  especially  valuable,  and  few- 
are  more  often  consulted  concerning  questions  of  public  policy,  or  whose  sug- 
gestions are  more  favorably  received  by  the  people  He  has  also  taken  a  deep 
interest  in  the  cause  of  popular  education  and  for  the  last  ten  years  has  been  a 
member  of  the  board  of  education  of  Richmond  county. 

In  the  business  life  of  Augusta  for  several  years  Captain  Young  has  been 
an  important  factor.  In  1881  he  was  made  president  of  the  Richmond  Fac- 
tory, and  his  management  of  this  enterprise  since  has  been  highly  satisfactory. 
He  was  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Augusta,  Gibson  and  Sandersville  Rail-- 
road  from  the  inception  of  the  enterprise  until  it  was  completed,  and  has  since 
been  a  director.  He  was  a  director  in  the  Augusta  and  Knoxville  Railroad, 
and  now  holds  a  similar  relationship  to  the  management  of  the  National  Ex- 
change Bank,  the  Augusta  Savings  Bank,  and  is  a  director  and  secretary  of  the 
Augusta  and  Chattanooga  Railroad,  now  in  course  of  construction.  Since  1886 
he  has  been  cashier  of  the  Augusta  Savings  Bank,  his  duties  in  the  manage- 
ment of  this  institution  and  of  the  Richmond  Factory  principally  engaging  his 
time  and  energies. 

Since  1859  Captain  Young  has  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
and  has  taken  a  deep  interest  in  the  workings  of  this  ancient  order.  He  has 
held  various  offices  of  high  rank  and  has  been  grand  commander  of  Knight 
Templars  of  Georgia,  the  highest  position  in  the  State.  He  was  an  active 
worker  in  securing  the  erection  of  the  Masonic  Hall  in  Augusta,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  trustees. 

Captain  Young  is  one  of  the  most  liberal  and  progressive  citizens  of  Au- 
gusta, and  cheerfully  extends  his  aid  and  influence  to  all  deserving  public  enter- 
prises. As  a  business  man  his  career  has  been  highly  successful  and  in  every 
way  commendable.  His  personal  integrity  is  above  reproach,  and  his  con- 
nection or  identification  with  any  movement  insures  public  confidence  in  the 


42  History  of  Augusta. 


undertaking.  He  is  a  man  of  the  most  exemplary  habits,  agreeable  and  affable 
in  disposition  and  easily  wins  and  holds  his  friends.  His  life  has  been  an  active 
one,  and  his  career  is  alike  honorable  to  himself  and  worthy  of  imitation. 

He  was  married  in  1871  to  Miss  Key,  daughter  of  Rev.  Caleb  Key.  They 
have  three  children,  two  boys  and  a  girl.  Their  home  is  a  happy  one  and  here 
Captain  Young  finds  his  chief  source  of  happiness. 


WALSH,  Hon.  PATRICK.  Few  men  of  the  present  generation  have 
done  as  much  for  Georgia  as  the  Hon.  Patrick  Walsh,  of  Augusta  ;  and 
no  man  in  the  city  has  done  more  for  the  advancement  of  that  municipality. 
Alike  in  State  and  local  matters  Mr.  Walsh  has  for  years  been  a  safe  adviser 
and  steadfast  friend. 

Mr.  Walsh  was  born  in  Ballingary,  County  Limerick,  Ireland,  on  January 
I,  1840.  While  he  was  of  very  early  age  his  father  and  two  brothers  emigrated 
to  America  and  settled  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  where,  in  1852,  Mr.  Walsh  joined 
them  in  company  with  his  mother  and  sisters.  Here  the  future  editor  at  once 
went  to  work,  being  apprenticed  to  the  Charleston  Evening  Nezvs  to  learn  the 
printer's  trade.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  master  of  the  typographic  art, 
and  became  his  own  man  as  a  journeyman  printer.  The  press  he  adopted  as 
a  profession,  and  with  the  foresight  and  prudence  so  characteristic  of  his  nature 
at  once  devoted  himself  to  a  careful  preparation  for  the  manifold  requirements 
of  that  most  exacting  calling.  Like  so  many  other  men  who  have  wrought 
themselves  forward  into  honorable  prominence  in  the  grand  arena  of  life,  Mr. 
Walsh  was  confronted  at  the  outset  of  his  career  with  that  true  saying  : 

"Slow  rises  worth  by  poverty  oppressed." 

The  yearnings  of  the  lad  for  an  education  which  should  fit  him  for  the 
career  his  ambition  depicted  were  chilled  by  the  hard  necessity  of  daily  toil ; 
but  difficulty  is  only  a  spur  to  one  of  the  right  mettle,  and  Mr.  Walsh  fought 
the  battle  of  life  and  the  struggle  for  knowledge  simultaneously.  Just  as  Alex- 
ander H.  Stephens  taught  school  by  day  and  studied  law  by  the  glare  of  light- 
wood  knots  at  night,  just  as  Hugh  Miller  used  mallet  and  chisel  from  dawn 
to  dusk,  and  then  far  into  the  hours  of  darkness  wrought  out  the  geological 
secrets  of  the  earth,  so  during  the  academical  hours  of  the  day  Mr.  Walsh  was 
a  most  diligent  student  at  the  Charleston  High  School,  and  in  the  afternoons 
and  at  night  worked  as  a  compositor  in  the  newspaper  offices  of  the  city.  By 
this  untiring  double  industry  he  soon  found  himself  prepared  to  enter  college 
and  with  a  modest  fund  in  hand  to  sustain  him  while  further  pursuing  his 
studies,  and  in  1859  became  a  student  of  that  venerable  and  renowned  seat  of 
learning,  Georgetown  College,  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  His  progress  here 
was  rapid,  and  but  for  the  gathering  war-clouds  which  then  began  to  over- 
shadow the  country,  he  would  have  graduated  in  due  course  with  distinguished 


Biographical.  43 


honors.  But  in  December,  i860,  South  Carolina  seceded;  in  April,  1861, 
the  sullen  boom  of  the  opening  gun  reverberated  through  Charleston  Harbor; 
and  forthwith  closing  his  books  the  student  returned  home  and  joined  the 
Meagher  Guards,  one  of  the  companies  of  the  First  South  Carolina  Rifle  Regi- 
ment, then  on  duty  on  SulHvan's  Island.  On  the  reorganization  of  the  South 
Carolina  forces  the  Meagher  Guards  became  the  Emerald  Light  Infantry,  and 
Mr.  Walsh  was  commissioned  as  one  of  its  lieutenants  and  stationed  at  Castle 
Pinckney.  His  two  brothers  also  entered  the  Confederate  service.  Then  the 
blockade  becoming  established  the  pinch  of  want  became  felt  throughout  the 
unfortunate,  beleaguered  Confederacy.  An  aged  father  and  mother  and  two 
dependent  sisters  demanded  assistance,  and  on  Mr.  Walsh  as  the  youngest  son 
and  brother  was  devolved  the  sacred  task.  In  August,  1862,  he  came  to  Au- 
gusta in  search  of  employment,  and  became  a  printer  on  the  Constitutionalist. 
In  January,  1863,  he  was  promoted  to  be  local  and  night  editor,  the  latter  a 
most  responsible  position  in  those  times,  when  each  night  the  wires  brought 
news  of  life  and  death. 

In  1864  Mr.  Walsh,,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  L.  T.  Blome,  then  an  Augusta 
journalist,  and  afterward  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  valued  and  efficient 
clerk  of  the  city  council,  began  the  publication  of  the  Pacificator,  a  weekly 
paper  which  obtained  an  extended  circulation  throughout  the  South,  and  was 
continued  until  June,  1865.  In  founding  this  journal  Mr.  Walsh  foresaw  the 
approaching  end  of  the  struggle,  so  glorious  and  yet  disastrous,  and  with  his 
usual  sagacity  sought  to  outline  a  policy  which  might  secure  the  South  hon- 
orable terms.  For  months  he  was  so  far  in  advance  of  public  sentiment  that 
his  efforts  failed  to  meet  response,  and  when,  finally,  the  Confederate  govern- 
ment aligned  itself  upon  his  idea  and  sent  Vice-President  Stephens  to  negotiate 
at  the  famous  Hampton  Roads  Conference,  the  golden  moment  had  passed, 
and  nothing  remained  but  to  await  in  silent  heroism  the  bitter  end. 

Mr.  Walsh's  prescience  in  public  affairs  has  been  often  signally  manifest, 
but  this  early  manifestation  of  the  soundne.ss  of  his  judgment  is  almost  unknown. 
Had  his  views  been  acted  upon  promptly,  as  they  were  ultimately,  by  the  Con- 
federate government,  precious  blood  would,  in  all  human  probability,  have 
been  spared,  and  years  of  agony,  impoverishment,  and  retardation  averted. 

In  November,  1866,  Mr.  Walsh  severed  his  connection  with  the  Constitn- 
tionalist,  and  became  one  of  the  editorial  staff  of  the  Chronicle  and  Sentinel, 
then  published  by  Mr.  Henry  Moore,  and  edited  by  General  A.  R.  Wright. 
After  the  death  of  General  Wright,  Mr.  Moore  sold  his  interest  in  the  paper 
in  May,  1873,  to  Mr.  Walsh  and  Mr.  H.  Gregg  Wright,  son  of  the  general. 
Mr.  Wright  edited  the  paper  with  great  brilliancy  and  power,  and  Mr.  Walsh 
managed  its  affairs  and  directed  its  policy  so  wisely  and  so  well  that  in  1877  it 
absorbed  the  Constitutionalist,  its  rival  for  over  half  a  century.  Upon  the  con- 
solidation, the  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to  the  Chronicle  and  Constitu- 


44  History  of  Augusta. 


tiojialist,  but  in  1885,  the  centennial  of  the  Chronicle,  the  latter  portion  of  the 
name  was  dropped,  thereby  resuming  the  original  style  under  which  the  jour- 
nal first  appeared  in  1785.  The  career  of  the  Chronicle  from  1866  to  the  pres- 
ent time  is  well  known.  It  has  steadily  risen  in  dignity,  value  and  influence, 
until  at  this  hour  it  is  without  a  superior  in  the  field  of  Southern  journalism. 
From  1866  to  the  date  of  this  writing,  the  firm  and  cautious  hand  of  Mr. 
Walsh  has  been  at  the  helm,  and  while  in  the  vicissitudes  of  twenty-three 
eventful  years  there  have  at  times  been  divergencies  of  view  between  the 
Chronicle  and  current  public  opinion,  the  verdict  of  time  has  almost  uniformly 
been  in  favor  of  the  paper.  Sometimes  the  helmsman  sees  rocks  not  discerni- 
ble to  the  crew  ;  not  infrequently  the  sentinel  on  the  watch-tower  discerns  per- 
ils not  apparent  to  the  garrison.  The  record  of  the  CJironiclc  on  the  public 
questions  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  is  probably  unparalleled  for  wisdom 
of  position  and  accuracy  of  view. 

The  value  of  such  a  journal  to  the  city,  the  State,  and  the  whole  South  is 
beyond  estimation,  and  if  Mr.  Walsh  had  done  nothing  else  than  to  build  up 
so  potent  an  auxiliary  for  good,  his  life  would  be  a  benefaction  to  the  people 
whose  interests  he  has  watched  and  whose  welfare  he  has  guarded.  But,  to 
adopt  a  phrase  from  Shakespeare,  "the  people  know  a  good  man  when  they 
find  him,"  and  the  popular  favor  has  brought  Mr.  Walsh  forth  to  do  them  ser- 
vice in  other  than  journalistic  fields.  In  looking  over  the  history  of  the  past 
twenty  years  we  find  that  in  times  of  exigency.  State  or  municipal,  Mr.  Walsh 
has  been  looked  to  and  relied  on. 

In  1870,  when,  after  a  period  of  turmoil  and  distress,  the  government  of 
the  State  reverted  back  into  the  hands  of  its  own  people,  the  public  attention, 
no  longer  fixed  on  the  glitter  of  bayonets,  was  directed  to  measures  of  indus- 
trial improvement,  Augusta  in  particular  shared  this  impulse,  and  in  1870, 
and  again  in  1871,  and  in  1872  Mr.  Walsh  was  elected  a  member  of  the  city 
council.  In  this  body  he  strongly  favored  the  enlargement  of  the  Augusta 
canal,  a  work  which  was  carried  into  execution  some  few  years  later,  and  has 
made  the  city  one  of  the  most  important  centers,  if  not,  indeed,  the  most  im- 
portant cotton  manufacturing  city  in  the  South.  In  1872  Mr.  Walsh  was 
elected  to  the  Legislature,  re  elected  in  1874,  and  again  in  1876.  During  this 
extended  term  he  made  himself  prominent  by  much  legislation  of  general  in- 
terest. In  particular  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  securing  the  holding  of 
the  State  Constitutional  Convention  of  1877.  He  was  a  warm  and  effective 
supporter  of  every  measure  looking  to  the  development  of  the  mining  and  the 
manufacturing  interests  of  the  State.  He  favored  exempting  from  taxation  for 
ten  years  money  invested  in  woolen  mills,  cotton  factories  and  iron  furnaces; 
and  advocated  State  aid  to  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf,  the  Northeastern,  and  the 
Marietta  and  North  Georgia  Railroads.  He  was  in  favor  of  all  legislation  hav- 
ing in  view  the  furtherance  of  the  moral,  educational,  and  material  interests  of 


Biographical.  45 


the  State,  and  believed  in  the  poHcy  of  State  aid  to  pubHc  works,  when  it 
could  be  extended  with  a  due  regard  to  the  public  welfare. 

Mr.  Walsh  also  favored  the  State  granting  pensions  to  maimed  Confeder- 
ates ;  and  at  the  instance  of  some  benevolent  ladies  of  Augusta  had  a  statute 
enacted  which  makes  cruelty  to  animals  a  criminal  offense  —  humane  and  hon- 
orable legislation,  which  has  been  perfected  and  strengthened  in  late  legisla- 
tures, and  has  saved  man's  humble  friend  and  servant  a  world  of  agony  and 
torture. 

In  the  South  Carolina  campaign  of  1876  Mr.  Walsh  signally  manifested  his 
wisdom  as  a  political  leader,  and  his  power  as  a  political  writer,  by  his  course 
in  reference  to  the  conduct  of  the  canvass  in  that  State.  The  spectacle  of  this 
proud  State  of  his  early  home  bowed  down  between  negro  supremacy  on  the 
one  hand  and  Federal  bayonets  on  the  other  powerfully  appealed  to  his  heart. 
How  to  effect  deliverance  was  the  burning  question  of  the  day  in  which  Georgia 
took  almost  as  deep  an  interest  as  the  people  of  the  Palmetto  State  themselves. 
Mr.  Walsh  counseled  a  straight  out  ticket  and  a  square  fight  for  the  control 
of  the  State  by  its  own  citizens.  This  policy  was  advocated  by  the  Chronicle 
with  a  power  and  persistency  that  was  eloquence  itself  The  wisdom  of  this 
aggressive  course  under  the  then  peculiar  environments  of  the  State  was 
doubted  by  some,  but  as  usual  Mr.  Walsh's  sagacity  was  vindicated  by  re- 
sults. The  redemption  of  South  Carolina  from  misrule  became  an  accom- 
plished fact,  and  after  sixteen  long  years  of  turmoil  and  anxiety  the  State  was 
once  more  represented  in  Congress  by  her  own  sons. 

In  1880  Mr.  Walsh's  soundness  of  judgment  again  manifested  itself  in  a  sig- 
nal manner.  Governor  Colquitt  was  a  candidate  for  re-election  as  governor  of 
Georgia.  A  fight  unprecedented  in  the  political  history  of  the  State  was  made 
upon  him,  and  in  the  most  exciting  convention  ever  held  in  Georgia,  a  power- 
ful and  talented  body  of  delegates  steadily  resisted  his  candidacy,  iterating  and 
reiterating  that  he  was  not  the  people's  choice.  Mr.  Walsh  took  issue  with 
this  statement,  and  carried  the  majority  of  the  convention  with  him,  but  so 
bitter  was  the  contest  and  strong  the  opposition  that  no  regular  nomination 
was  made  Governor  Colquitt  was  re-elected  by  an  overwhelming  majority, 
and  Mr.  Walsh's  prescience  most  signally  manifested.  During  this  struggle 
some  of  the  most  influential  members  of  the  convention,  representing  the  min- 
ority, approached  Mr.  Walsh  and  tendered  him  their  support  if  he  would  con- 
sent to  become  a  candidate  for  the  nomination.  But  this  offer  was  declined,  as 
Mr.  Walsh  could  not  reconcile  it  with  his  duty  to  accept  a  nomination  if  ten- 
dered under  such  circumstances.  He  considered  that  it  would  be  the  betrayal 
of  a  trust  and  the  desertion  of  a  friend  who  had  placed  his  cause  in  his  keeping. 

In  1884  Mr.  Walsh  was  one  of  the  delegates  from  the  State  at  large  to  the 
Chicago  Convention.  He  was  made  the  member  of  the  National  Democratic 
Executive  Committee  from  Georgia,  and  had  his  advice  been  heeded  the  vie- 


46  History  of  Augusta. 


tory  ol  1SS4  woiikl  have  been  duplicated  in  1888.  With  all  his  power  he 
stro\H"  at^ainst  the  atloption  of  the  polic\-  outlined  in  the  Mills  Hill  as  certain  to 
result  in  disaster  to  the  National  DenuH'racy.  l\li".  Walsh  believes  in  the 
polic}'  of  protection  to  American  interests,  lie  thinks  that  the  tarifl"  should  be 
so  arranged  as  not  only  to  afford  the  necessar\-  revenue  for  the  support  of  the 
government,  but  to  protect,  at  the  s.inie  time,  all  le<;itimate  American  indus- 
tries. The  labor  ami  the  capital  of  the  country,  in  \vhate\'er  business  engaged, 
whether  in  agriculture,  manufactures  ov  mines,  is  entitletl  to  the  protection  of 
the  go\'eriinient  from  foreii^n  competition,  not  for  monopoh'  or  for  extortion, 
but  to  enable  our  people  to  recei\e  fair  ciMiipensation  tor  their  capital,  labor 
and  products. 

Mr.  Walsh  h.is  been  an  earnest  supporter  of  all  movements  looking  to  bet- 
ter government  for  the  Irish  people.  lie  consiilcrs  it  the  duty  of  American 
citizens  to  aiil  in  e\'ery  way  the  people  of  Ireland,  as  well  as  the  people  of 
other  countries  who  are  strugi^ling  tor  their  rights  against  the  oppressimi  and 
t\  ranny  of  numarchial  governments.  He  believes  that  the  agitation  of  Irish 
grievances,  ciMistant  ajipeals  to  the  intelligent  public  opinion  of  the  world,  and 
moral  su|)piMt  and  substantial  aid  from  the  Irish  and  their  sj-mpathizers  in  the 
United  States  will  result  in  the  triumph  of  those  principles  in  Ireland  essential 
to  the  peace  and  happiness  of  her  people. 

In  August,  i8()6.  Mr.  Walsh  niairied  Ann  Isabella,  daughter  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  John  1'^.  McDonald,  of  ICdgefield  District,  S.  C.  She  has  been  to  him  his 
best  counselor  and  dearest  friend.  Whatever  success  he  has  achieved  in  life 
has  been  due  kirgeU'  to  her  who  has  blessed  him  with  the  ad\ice,  the  aftection 
ami  the  lo\e  of  a  devoted  wife. 

In  appearance  Mr.  Walsh  is  a  striking  personage,  thick  set,  well  knit,  firm 
in  his  bearing.  He  has  a  kind,  friendly  face,  a  clear,  blue  eye.  and  a  counte- 
nance oi'Wn  illuminated  with  a  genial  glow.  In  speaking,  his  voice  is  strong, 
his  gestures  emphatic,  and  his  manner  so  earnest  and  impressive  as  to  com- 
mand attention.  He  writes  as  he  speaks,  with  dignit)',  decision,  candor  and 
strength.  His  integrit\-  is  spotless;  his  friends,  legion,  as  befits  a  character, 
which,  uuiler  e\ery  test,  luis  [)ro\en  the  pure  L;old  of  fitlelity  and   truth. 


M 


.  irClH'.LL,  ROIUCKT  M.,  was  born  at  Lynchburg,  Ya.,  on  April  12, 
''  1845,  and  is  a  son  of  Robert  M.  and  Mary  Mitchell.  His  parents  were 
of  Scotch  descent,  their  .incestiMS  ha\ing  emigrated  from  Scotland  and  settled 
in  America  in  1732.  The  youth  and  boyhood  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch 
were  piissed  at  home.  He  was  educated  at  the  cit\' schools  and  Lynchburg 
Military  College. 

When  he  left  the  school  room  the  greatest  war  of  modern  times  had  just 
begun,  and  he  immediatelx'  cast  his  fortune  with  the  people  of  his  section,  and 
on  April  17,  1861,  entered   the  Confederate  service  as  lieutenant  of  Company 


BlOC.RAl'IlICAL.  47 


A,  Eleventh  Virginia  Regiment,  Kempers  Brigade,  Picketts  Division,  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia,  and  served  in  all  the  memorable  engagements  of  this  com- 
maiul  until  the  surrender  at  Appomattox  Court  House,  including  the  battles  of 
Hull  Run,  First  Manassas,  Yorktown,  Williamsburg,  Seven  Pines,  Harrison 
Landing,  Second  Manassas,  l^oonsboro,  Antictam,  Plymouth,  Drnry's  Bluff, 
Fredericksburg,  Gettysburg,  and  Five  f\)rks.  He  was  four  times  wounded  in 
action,  and  dangerously  so  during  Grant's  left  flank  movement  on  Richmond. 
In  the  famous  charge  of  Pickett's  division  on  Cemetery  Heights,  at  (Gettys- 
burg, Captain  Mitchell  commanded  the  left  wing  of  the  regiment,  and  while 
leading  his  command  was  wounded  in  the  side  and  arm,  after  passing  the  his- 
toric rock  fence  where  the  storming  column  pierced  the  Federal  center.  Dur- 
ing this  destructive  battle  to  the  valiant  members  of  Pickett's  division,  he  es- 
caped capture  and  was  at  the  roll  call  of  the  division  on  the  night  of  July  3, 
1863,  when  only  400  men  of  the  5,500  who  entered  the  engagement  answered. 
There  are  few,  if  any  incidents  in  the  war  between  the  States  which  furnish  a 
more  inspiring  and  heroic  picture  than  the  daring  charge  of  "  Pickett's  men" 
on  this  occasion,  and  their  courage  and  valor  adds  one  of  the  brightest  pages 
to  the  military  annals  of  our  times.  Mr.  Mitchell  shared  all  the  dangers  and 
hardships  of  this  justl)'  distinguished  portion  of  the  Confederate  army,  and 
was  in  command  of  the  F.leventh  Regiment  until  the  battle  of  Five  Forks. 

i'^or  two  years  subsequent  to  the  war,  Mr.  Mitchell  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits,  but  in  1868  he  moved  to  California,  and  until  1870  was  engaged  in 
mining  operations  near  Yreka,  Siskiyou  county,  lie  then  passed  two  years  in 
Texas  and  Mexico,  but  in  1872  moved  to  Augusta,  Ga.,  from  Virginia,  where 
in  November  of  the  following  year  he  was  married  to  Miss  Lucie  Reaney,  the 
younger  daughter  of  Mr.  William  Reaney,  of  McDuffie  county.  They  have 
had  four  children  —  three  daughters  and  a  son  —  in  order  of  birth  as  follows: 
Marie  A.,  Hattie  R.,  Fannie  L.,  and  Robert  M.,  jr. 

For  five  years  prior  to  1883  Mr.  Mitchell  was  connected  with  the  staff  of 
the  Augusta  CJironicle  and  Constitntiotialist,  and  in  the  field  of  jom-nalism  dis- 
played unusual  ability,  but  it  was  not  the  kind  of  work  calculated  to  call  forth 
the  best  resources  of  his  nature.  That  opportunity  came  in  the  fall  of  1883, 
when  he  conceived  the  project  of  building  a  railroad  from  Augusta  to  Sander- 
sonville.  At  this  time  he  was  [jractically  without  capital,  and  many  doubted  the 
feasibility  of  the  plan.  But  with  unlimited  faith  in  the  enterprise  and  backed 
almost  solely  by  a  strong  determination  to  succeed,  he  went  to  work  with  all 
the  energy  of  his  nature.  He  enlisted  capital,  and  in  a  short  time  organized  the 
company  which  has  since  been  known  as  the  Augusta,  Gibson  and  Sanders- 
ville  Railroad  Company.  Work  was  soon  commenced,  and  during  the  period 
of  construction  all  of  the  financial  management  of  the  venture  fell  upon  Mr. 
Mitchell,  and  so  well  did  he  succeed  in  this  i)articular  that  when  the  road  was 
completed  and  opened  for  business,  in  December,  1886,  there   was  not  a  dol- 


48  History  of  Augusta. 

lar  of  debt  against  the  company  for  its  construction.  This  road  has  been  in 
successful  operation  since  ;  has  paid  its  way,  and  to-day  its  bonded  indebted- 
ness per  mile  is  perhaps  smaller  than  any  other  road  of  the  same  length  in  the 
country.  Mr.  Mitchell  was  elected  president  in  1883,  and  from  that  time  to 
the  present,  as  canvasser  for  subscription  to  the  original  capital  stock,  as  nego- 
tiator of  its  securities  and  as  general  manager  of  the  road,  he  has  shown  such 
good  business  judgment  and  such  excellent  administrative  ability  that  he  has 
annually  been  elected  to  the  presidency  of  the  company. 

In  1886  he  organized  the  Augusta,  Edgefield,  and  Newbury  Railroad 
Company,  afterwards  known  as  the  Georgia  and  Carolina  Midland.  He  was 
made  president  of  the  company,  and  under  his  administration  some  sixty-five 
miles  of  this  line  were  graded,  but  the  management  and  extension  of  roads  in 
Georgia  demanding  his  attention,  he  retired  from  the  presidency.  The  road 
was  then  consolidated  with  the  Charleston,  Cincinnati  and  Chicago  Railroad 
Company,  Mr.  Mitchell  declining  a  most  advantageous  offer  from  the  authori- 
ties of  the  consolidated  roads. 

The  completion  and  successful  operation  of  the  Augusta,  Gibson  and  San- 
dersville  road  has  but  feebly  demonstrated  to  Mr.  Mitchell  the  feasibility 
and  possibility  of  other  lines  which  he  has  projected,  using  the  present  road  as 
a  basis.  One  of  these  projected  lines  extends  through  Eatonton,  Monticello, 
and  Griffin,  to  Birmingham,  Alabama.  The  company  also  holds  a  charter  for 
a  road  through  Hawkinsville  and  Albany  to  St.  Andrew's  Bay,  and  the  same 
privilege  to  construct  a  line  from  Augusta  to  Thomasville. 

For  the  purpose  of  developing  and  building  up  towns  and  selling  land  on 
the  line  of  the  Augusta,  Gibson  and  Sandersville  road,  and  the  projected 
lines,  the  Central  Georgia  Land  Company  was  formed  in  1888,  with  an  au- 
thorized capital  of  $1,000,000.      Of  this  company  Mr.  Mitchell  is  president. 

As  a  railroad  builder  and  manager,  Mr.  Mitchell  has  shown  remarkable 
shrewdness  and  clear  business  foresight.  He  is  well  fitted  by  nature  for  the 
field  in  which,  in  a  brief  space  of  time  he  has  made  such  rapid  strides.  He 
possesses  in  a  large  degree  that  energy,  determination,  and  patience  which 
does  not  understand  defeat.  He  has  the  power  to  most  forcibly  impress  upon 
others  his  own  clearly  defined  views,  while  at  the  same  time  he  begets  their 
confidence  and  secures  their  co-operation.  What  he  has  already  accomplished, 
important  as  it  is  to  the  prosperity  of  Augusta,  is  but  a  foretaste  of  what  he 
hopes  to  achieve  for  the  upbuilding  of  the  city. 

Personally  Mr.  Mitchell  is  a  genial,  affable  gentleman,  easily  makes  and 
retains  friends,  is  fond  of  social  intercourse,  but  finds  his  chief  pleasure  within 
the  family  circle.  He  is  a  hard  worker,  enthusiastic  in  any  project  he  under- 
takes, and  when  once  embarked  in  an  enterprise  he  follows  it  persistently  un- 
til success  is  secured.  In  the  material  prosperity  of  Augusta  he  has  already 
become  an  important  factor,  and  in  the  years  to  come  his  career  promises 
much  of  good  to  the  State  and  city  of  his  adoption. 


INDEX. 


ACADEMIES,  endowment  of,  304. 
prosperhy  of,  313. 
Academy,  Richmond,  319. 
Acts,  oppressive,   of    the    British    parhament 

effect  of,  57. 
Address  of  citizens  to  Governor  Reynolds,  39 

et  seq.  . 

Agriculture,  improvement  in,  upon  the  mtro- 

duction  of  slavery,  35. 
'•  Algerine  law,"  the,  174. 
Arsenal,  United    States,    surrender  of,  177  et 

seq. 
Arrows,  manufacture  of  by  the  Indians,  22 
Article   of  association   adopted  by    provincial 

congress,  70 
Articles  of   capitulation  at  surrender  of  Au- 
gusta, 123. 
Assembly  of  1780,  inconsistency  of,  97. 
the  recalcitrant,  of  1772,  50. 
the  self-styled,  93. 
"  A  State  of  the  Province  of  Georgia,"  etc., 

25. 
Athletic  Association,  the,  294. 
Augusta,  abandonment  of,  by  the  British,  80. 
absence  of  courts,  at,  33 
act  of  incorporation  of,  161. 
after  the  surrender  of,  125. 
agriculture  and  trade  of,  in  1739,  27. 
amicable  relations  between  the  settlers  of, 

and  the  Indians,  33. 
and  Savannah  Town,  communication  be- 
tween, 25. 
at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  148. 
attack  upon,  in  1779,  73. 
Bartram's  description  of,  56. 
birthplace  of  the  cotton  gin,  388. 
changes  in  charter  of,  159. 
Augusta   Chronicle,  article  in,  on  Longstreet's 

steamboat,  146. 
Augusta,  city  of,  incorporation  of  the,  135. 
contradictory    statements  published  con- 
cerning the  progress  of,  27. 
danger  to  the  people  of,  through  French 

influence  with  the  Indians,  39. 
death  rate  of,  270. 
description  of,  about  1800,  148. 
designated  as  capital  of  the  state,  82. 
detailed  account  of  capture  of,  from  the 
British,  113  et  seq. 


Augusta,  earliest  accounts  of,  25  et  seq. 
early  bar  of,  224  et  seq. 
effects   of  the    Revolutionary  war  upon, 

152. 
enlargements  of  limits  of,  151. 
establishment  of  by  Oglethorpe,  25. 
evidences  of   prosperity   of,  at  an  early 

date,  29. 
first  appearance  of  the  drama  in,  144. 
first  church  built  in,  35. 
first  fort  built  at,  30. 
first  legislative  meeting  at,  83. 
first  military  body  at,  30. 
first  minister  in,  35. 
first  newspaper  in,  137. 
honorable  financial  record  of,  191. 
importance  of  as  a  cotton  center,  431. 
intendants  and  mayors  of,  136  (note),  191. 
legislation  affecting,  132  et  seq. 
letter  of  Oglethorpe  from,  31. 
loss  of,  to  the  British,  74. 
maintenance  of  the  garrison  at,  32.  _, 
Manufacturing  Company,  417. 
memorandum  of  Stephens  concerning,  32. 
named  in  honor  of  the  princess,  25. 
natural  advantages  of  the  country  at  the 

date  of  settlement  of,  30. 
occupation  of,  by  the  Bnti-sh,  102. 
only  visit  of  Oglethorpe  to,  31. 
"  Petersburg  and   Savannah  River  Steam 
and  Pole  Boat  Navigation  Company  of 
Northeastern  Georgia,  The,"  474. 
plan  of,  150  et  seq. 
population  of,  in  1791,  137. 

in  1845,  174. 
prevalence  of  fevers  at,  33. 
pseudo  charter  of,  157. 
removal   of    the    government    from,    to 

Heard's  fort,  98. 
representation    of,  in    the    Assembly    of 

1751,  35. 
representatives   of,  in    the   Assembly   of 

1772,50. 
selected  for  congress  of  Indian  tribes,  44. 
settlement  of,  begun  by  Kennedy  O'Brien, 

30. 
siege  of,  by  Colonel  Clarke,  104  et  seq. 
statements  and  affidavits  relating   to,  in 
1743,  27. 


50 


History  of  Augtsta. 


Augusta  Steamboat  Company,  475. 
town  of,  in  17G7,  49. 
trade  of  in  1790,  158. 
troops  in  the  Mexican  war,  175. 

in  the  Seminole  war,  172. 
visited  by  an  earthquake,  167. 
visit  of  La  Fayette  to,  170. 

Washington  to,  140  et  esq. 
water  communication  of,  441. 
wretched    condition   of  fort    at,  in   1755, 
37. 

BALDWIN,  Hon.  Abraham,  137. 
Baker,  Alfred,  biography  of,  part  II,  3. 
Bank  of  Augusta,  condition  of,  in  1835,  335. 

extension  of  charter  of,  in  1845,337. 

incorporation  of,  329. 

rules  governing,  330. 

stockholders  of,  in  1835,  335. 

the  National,  359. 
Citizens',  of  Augusta,  364. 
City  Loan  Association  and  Savings,  363. 
City  Loan  and  Savings,  of  Augusta,  363. 
City,  of  Augusta,  364. 
City,  the,  347. 
the  Commercial,  361. 
Georgia  Railroad,  359. 
Banking  and  Railroad  Company,  Georgia,  347. 
laws,  penal,  264  et  seq. 
system  as  regulated  by  law,  349,  et  seq. 
Bank.  Manufacturers',  of  Augusta,  364. 
Mechanics',  the,  344. 
Merchants'  and   Planters',  342. 
National  Exchange,  of  Augusta,  359. 
Planters'  Loan  and  Savings.  362. 
president's  annual  and  semi-annual  state- 
ments required  of,  332. 
reports,  annual,  333,  et  seq 
Savings,  of  Augusta,  363. 
Union,  the,  346. 
Banks,  ante  helium  338. 

in  Georgia,  in  1867,  356. 
State,  359. 
Baptists  in  Augusta,  377. 
Bar,  members  of  Augusta's  early : 

Baldwin,  Abraham,  224. 

Carnes,  Thomas  P.  and  Peter  J.,  228. 

Crawford,  George  W.,  239. 

Crawford,  William  Harris,  226. 

Gumming,  Colonel  Henry  H.,  241. 

Forsyth,  John,  236. 

Gould,  William  T.,  241. 

Holt,  William  W.,  243. 

Jenkins,  Charles  Jones,  239. 

Johnson,  Herschel  V.,  244. 

King,  John  P.,  235. 

Milledge,  John,  224. 

Miller,  Andrew  J.,  240. 

Schley,  William,  242. 

Shly,  John,  242 

Starnes,  Ebenezer,  240. 

Telfair,  Edward,  225. 

Walker,  Freeman,  234. 


Bar,  members  of  Augusta's  early  : 

Ware,  Nicholas,  236. 

Watkins,  Robert,  227. 

Wilde,  Ricliard  Henry,  237. 
Bar,  the  colonial,  210. 

Bart  ram,  William,  impressions  of,  in  1773,  56. 
Bench  and  bar,  members  of  the,  in  public  af- 
fairs, 246. 
Bicycle  Club,  the,  294. 
Biography  of : 

Baker,  Alfred,  part  II,  3. 

Calvin,  Hon.  Martin  V.,  part  II,  16.— 

Campbell,  Henry  Fraser,  part  II,  4. 

Estes.  Hon.  Charles,  part  II,  1. 

Jones,  Charles,  Colcock,  jr.,  part   II, 
19. 

King,  John  Pendleton,  part  II,  30. 

McCoy,  William  E.,  part  II,  24. 

Mitchell,  R.  M.,  part  II,  46. 

Phinizy,  Charles  H.,  part  II,  25. 

Sibley,  Josiah,  part  II,  26. 

Thompson,  Jesse,  part  II,  29. 

Walsh,  Patrick,  part  II,  42. 

Young,  William  B.,  part  II,  40. 
Blockade  of  Southern  ports,  182. 
Board  of  Health,  provided  for  by  the  Legis- 
lature, 265. 

work  of,  266  et  seq. 
Bowen,  Commodore  Oliver,  death  of,  at  Au- 
gusta, 165. 
Brick,  manufacture  of,  430. 
Broad  street,  rectification  of  lines  of,  160. 
Brown,  Thomas,  affair  of,  66. 

bitterness  against,  155  et  seq. 

inhumanity  of,   110. 
Brownson,  Dr.  Nathan,  elected  governor,  99. 
Burnet,  John,  rascally  conduct  of,  126. 

C  A  DOG  AN,  George,  representative,  35. 
Campbell,    Dr.,   views  upon   the  yellow 
fever,  263,  et  seq. 
Campbell,   Henry   Fraser,   biography  of,  part 

II,  4. 
Calvin,  Hon.  Martin,  biography  of,  part  II,  16. 
Cana',  Augusta,  174. 

completion  of,  188. 
effects  of  enlargement  of,  415. 
enlargement  of,  413. 
history  of,  401,  et  seq. 
litigation  over  the,  412. 
Carr's  Fort  and  Kettle  Creek,  result  of  the  bat- 
tles at,  79. 
Carr's  Fort,  the  operations  at  and  loss  of.  75. 
Catholic  church  in  Augusta,  380. 

Knights  of  America,  the  298. 
Catholics,  discrimination  against,  368. 
Charter,  surrender  by  the  trustees  of  their,  36. 
Chemical  works,  the  Georgia,  425. 
Cheering  prospects  of  1782,  101. 
Chief  Justices  John  Glen,  William  Stephens, 
219;    John  Wereat,  George    Walton,  220; 
Henry  Osborne,  221 ;  Nathaniel  Pendleton, 
223. 


Index. 


51 


Christian,  or  Church  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ, 

383. 
Church,  first  built  in  Augusta,  35. 

of  the  Atonement,  372. 
Civil  war,  labors  of  the  women  in,  180. 
opening  of,  177. 
troops  called  for,  for  the,  179. 
Clarke,  Colonel,  expedition  of,  to  regain  Au- 
gusta, 104. 

failure  of,  at  Augusta,  107. 
Colonization,  effect  of,  upon  the  Indians,  24. 

scheme  of  Oglethorpe  and  Percival,  153. 
Colored  churches,  385. 
Commercial  Club,  the,  292. 
Commissions  to  sell  city  lots,  152,  157. 
Committee  to  appoint  delegates  to  the  national 
congress,  84. 

to  send  relief  to  Boston,  59. 
Communication  between  Savannah  Town  and 
Augusta,  25. 

of    Douglass,    accompanying    address   of 

citizens  of  Augusta,  41. 
Governor  Reynolds  to  the  council,  42. 
Confederate  money,  fluctuations  of,  184. 

Survivors'  Association,  the,  297. 
Congress  of  Southern  Indians  at  Augusta,  in 

1763,  44. 
Congressional  districts,  division  of  State  into, 

140. 
Convention,  call  for,  to  oppose  British  oppres- 
sion in  1774,  57. 
Constitution,  federal,  ratification  of  the,  138  et 

seq. 
Constitutional  conventions  of  Georgia,  139. 
Convocation  favoring  independence,  June  21, 

1775,  65. 
Copp,   Rev.   Jonathan,    first  minister  in  Au- 
gusta, 35. 

missionary,  369. 
Copper,  use  of  by  the  Indians,  22. 
Cornwallis,  Lord,  circular  letter  of,  103. 

surrender  of,  129. 
Council  of  Safety,  ihe,  65. 
Counties,  division  of  State  into,  151. 
Cotton,  163, 145. 

center,  the  importance  of  Augusta  as  a, 

431. 
culture,  rise  of,  438. 
duties,  British  discrimination  in,  393. 
early  transportation  of,  440. 
factories,  establishment  of,  399  et  seq. 
factory,  Bellville,  396. 

The  Enterprise,  419. 
"futures,"  434  et  seq. 
gin.    Eve's,  145. 

evidence  that  Whitney  was  the  in- 
ventor of,  164. 
infringements  upon,  389. 
legislative,  action  concerning,  388. 
Whitney's,  387  et  seq. 
machinery,  first  in  the  State,  395. 

improvements      and       changes      in, 
395. 


Cotton    manufacture,    cheapness    of,    in     the 
South,  416. 

of,  by  Judge  Shly,  395. 
of,  in  the  South,  394. 
manufacturing    companies,  incorporation 

of,  397. 
market  from  1790  to  1810,  392. 
"  Cotton  mills,  the  Augusta,"  organization   of, 

175. 
Cotton  mills,  various,  420  et  seq. 

product  of  Augusta  and  vicinity,  433. 
trade,  growth  of,  165. 
Court,  general,  405. 

Court-house,  first  in  Richmond  county,  218. 
Court,    mayor's,  synopsis  of  history    of    the, 
247. 

of  admiralty,  208. 

of    Chancery,    excellence    of,   under   Sir 

James  Wright,  199. 
of  ordinary,  206. 
of  vice-admiralty,  208. 
regulations  and  rules,  details  of,   197  et 

seq. 
roll  of  Judges  of  the  city,  250. 
superior,  letters  patent  of,  204. 
Courts,  absence  of  records  of  early  Richmond 
county,  218. 
appeals  in,  209. 
common  law,  200. 

comparison  of  colonial  and  state,  217. 
distribution  of  law,  204. 
established   by  the  Provincial  Congress, 

213. 
establishment  of  early,  193. 
special,  207. 

superior,  under  act  of  1778,  214. 
under  the  State  constitution  of  1777,  213. 
■'  Cracker,"  the,  439. 
Cremation,  practiced  by  the  Indians,  21. 
Creeks,  depredations  of,  in  1767,  49. 

peaceful  attitude  of,  53. 
Crockett,  eulogy  upon,  172. 


DAVIE'S,    Myrick,   resolution    upon   the 
death  of,  100. 
Davis,  David,  fidelity  of,  128. 
Debts,  release  of,  against  Indians,  51. 
De  Lacey,  Roger,  Indian  trader,  30. 
Delegates  to  Congress  in  1781,  99. 
Deplorable  condition,    resultant   of    the  Civil 

war,  183  et  seq. 
Deutscher  Freundschaftsbund,  the,  292. 

Schuetzen  Club,  the,  292. 
Development  of  Augusta    under  Mayor  May, 

188. 
Dissensions,    eflForts   to   create,    in  the    body 

politic,  93. 
Distress  following  war  of  1812,  169. 
Douglass,  David,  communication  of,  regarding 
address  of  citizens  of  Augusta,  41. 
representative,  35. 
Drama,  the,  291. 


52 


History  of  Augusta. 


|j>CCLESlASTlCAL  regulations  established, 
lid  38. 

Education,  free,  benefactions  to,  318. 
Educational  board,  county,  310. 
early,  system,  301. 
fund,  310. 
Effects  of  the  capture  of  Augusta  upon  the 

contending  parties,  120. 
Egremont,  Earl  of,  explanatory  letter  to,  47. 

meeting  of  Indians  called  by,  through 
governors  of  provinces,  44. 
Election  of  January,  1780,  97. 

of  January,   1783,  131. 
Ellis,  Governor,  37. 
Emmet  Club,  the,  293. 
English  laws  adopted,  194. 
Episcopal  Church,  early  days  of  the,  in  Au- 
gusta, 370. 
faith,  preference  shown,  the,  309. 
Epitome  of  events,  in  1800-08,  100;   1809-12, 
107;    1814,    108;    1815-21,    109;   1823-20, 
170;   1827-33,    171;    1830,    172;    1837-47, 
173;    1848-54,   175;   1855-00,   176;    1801- 
60,  177  et  seq.;   1805,   180;   1800-71,    187, 
1872-83,  188  etseq. 
Estes,  Hon.  Charles,    biography  of,  part  II,  1. 
Eve,  Joseph,  letter  of,  concerning  cotton  gin, 

145. 
Excitement,  incident  upon,  the  opening  of  the 

Civil  war,  179. 
Executive  council,  appointment  of,  84. 

communication    of,    to  General  Lin- 
coln, 80  et  seq. 
organization  of,  85. 
powers  of,  85. 
Exposition  at  Augusta,  189. 

FEDERAL  forces,   arrival    of,  in  Augusta, 
180. 
Fee,  Thomas,  murder  of  Head  Turkey  by,  53 

et  seq. 
Fees,  chancery  court  officers',  198. 

chief  Justice's,  202. 
Fertilizers,  manufacture  of,  420. 
Finances,  condition  of  the  State,  82. 
Flouring  mills,  the  Augusta,  428. 
Fort  James,  52. 

Fort  Moore,  preservation  of,  25. 
(see  Savannah  Town). 
Forts,    erection    of,   on   Little  and    Savannah 

Rivers,  53. 
Freedmen's  Bureau,  the,  180. 
Free  School,  Augusta,  319. 
French  jealousy,  39. 
Freshet  of  1888,  189. 
Fulsom's  Fort,  contest  at,  81. 
"  Futures,"  cotton,  434  et  seq. 

GALPHIN,  Fort,    capture   of,  by    Colouel 
Lee,  113  et  seq. 
Galphin,  George,  Indian  agent,  53. 

influence  and  enterprise  of,  55. 
Garrison,  augmentation  of,  m  1741,  34. 


Georgia  Gazette,  report  of  public  dinner  iu  the, 

131,  59. 
Gentleman's    Driving   Park    Association    and 

Augusta  Jockey  Club,  the,  293. 
Georgia,  additions  to,  secured  by  the  treaty  of 
Paris,  43. 

erection  of  into  a  body  politic,  71. 

industries  of,  in  1700,  43. 

military  strength  of,  in  1755,  37. 

on  the  verge  of  political  death  in  1780,  98. 

peace   secured    to,    by    establishment    of 

fixed  boundaries,  43. 
peaceful  and  prosperous  condition  of,  in 

1701,  49. 
population  of,  in  1755,  37. 
Georgia   Scenes,    extract  from,   in   relation  to 

Springfield,  102. 
Georgia,  secession  of,  177. 

Society  for  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  An- 
imals the,  295. 
vote  of,  cast  in  favor  independence,  05. 
wealth  and   prosperity  of,  at  begining  of 
Civil  war,  179. 
Government,     difficulty     in     conducting     the 
State,  82. 

form  of,  under  the  charter,  162. 
officers  of  the  Indians,  20. 
oligarchical,  of  the  State,  80. 
perfected  organization  of  State  in  1781, 

100. 
promulgation  of  imperfect  plan  of,  83  et 

seq. 
reversion  of  to  the  crown,  195. 
State,    reorganization  of,  after  the    Civil 

war,  186 
the  colonial,  190. 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the,  298. 
Greene,    General,    operations  of   around  Au- 
gusta, 115  et  seq. 

relief  of  Georgia  by,  129. 
successful  operations  of,  113. 
Gun  Club,  the  Augusta,  293. 

HABERSHAM,  Hon.  James,  advocacy   of 
slavery  by,  35, 
Habersham,  Major,  Joseph,  arrest  of,  72. 
Hale,  Samuel,  mayor  for  ten  years,  171. 
Hall,  Dr.  Lyman,  delegate  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  03. 

elected  governor,  131. 
Hammond,    Majoi",    comments    of,    upon    the 
Savannah  River  as  a  means  of  transit,  440 
et  seq. 

extract  from    statement  concerning 
Savannah  River,  403. 
Hastings,  Captain  Theophilus,  24. 
Hayne  Circle,  the,  297. 
Hebrew  Church,  384. 
Hickman,  Colonel  H.  H.,  enterprise  of  in  the 

cotton  industry,  424. 
History  of  Georgia,  darkest  epoch  in  the.  99. 
Holt,  William  H.  170. 
Horrors  of  the  war,  102. 


Index. 


53 


Houghton  Institute,  318. 

Houghton,  John  W.,  benefactions  of,  to,  318. 

Howley,  Governor,  proclamation  of,  97. 

ICE  Companies,  the  Jackson  Street,  428. 
The  Polar  and  Augusta,  428. 
Immigration  retarded  by  Indian  outbreaks,  55. 
Incidents  of  the  Revolution,  epitome  of,  72. 
Incorporation,  act  of  1789,   158. 

of  Augusta,  act  of,  IGl. 
Indian  arrow  makers,  22. 

attack  on  Sherall's  settlement,  52. 
attacks  upon  newly  settled  districts,  53. 
chiefs  represented  at  the  treaty  of  1763, 

44. 
indebtedness  to  traders,  accumulation  of, 

50. 
medicine  men,  20. 
peace  congress  of  1774,  55. 
pottery,  23. 

population  of  Georgia  at  date  of    Eng- 
lish colonization,  18. 
trade,  transfer  of,  from  Savannah  Town  to 

Augusta,  25. 
tribes  occupying  the  lands  ceded  to  the 

whites,  17  et  seq. 
tribes,  territorial  domains  of  the,  19. 
warlike  strength  in  1708,  50. 
Indians,  address  to,  by  Captain  Stuart,  45. 
agricultural  methods  of  the,  19. 
cession   of   lands   by,  to  cancel   debts  to 

traders,  50. 
congress  of.  at  Augusta  in  17G3,  44. 
cremation  practiced  by,  21. 
danger  of  hostility  of,  averted  by   Ogle- 
thorpe's wise  policy,  33  et  seq. 
disruption  among,  caused  by  French  ma- 
lignancy, 39. 
effects  of  influx  of  foreigners  among  the, 

24. 
effects  of  French  jealousy  upon,  39. 
efforts  of  Oglethorpe   to   secure   treaties 

with,  29. 
entire  expartriation  of  the,  from  Georgia 

24. 
erection  of  tumili  by  the,  20. 
forbearance  of  the,  50. 
governmental  divisions  of,  20. 
habits  and  occupations  of  Southern,  18  et 

seq. 
introduction  of  small-pox  among,   by  Ca- 
rolina traders,  34. 
kindliness  of,  towards  the  settlers,  33. 
mission  of  Oglethorpe  to  the  Creek,  31  et 

seq. 
officers  of  government  of  the,  20. 
ornaments  of  the,  23. 
personal  appearance    and    characteristics 

of  the,  23. 
plantations  of,  19. 
rules  for  traffic  with  the,  29. 
stone  weapons  and  utensils  of  the,  22. 
towns  of  the,  19. 


Indians,  treaty  between  the,  and  the  Enghsh, 
November  10,  1763,  45. 

tribal  connections  of  the,  17  et  seq. 
unsatisfactory  relations  with,  143. 
use  of  copper  by  the,  22. 
wrath   of,  appeased   by    Governor   Rey- 
nolds, 42. 
written  and  sculptured  records  of,  21. 
Indigo,  cultivation  of,  437. 
Industrial  Home,  the,  296. 
Inhumanities     practiced    under    CornwaUis's 

sanction,  103. 
Institute,  Houghton,  318. 
Insurance  and  Banking   Company,  Augusta, 

339. 
Intendants  and  mayors  of  Augusta,  191. 
title  of,  changed  to  -'mayors,"   169. 

JACKSON'S  legion,  treason  in,  127. 
Jones,  Charles  Colcock,  jr.,  biography  of, 
part  II.  19. 
Jones,  Dr.  Noble  Wymberley,  50. 
Judges,  roll  of  superior  court,  246. 
Judicial  districts,  division    of  the   State  into, 

217. 

the  State  formed  into  three,  228. 
establishment,  the  present,  218. 
establishment  under  the  colonial  govern- 
ment, 197. 
powers,  assumption  of,  by  provincial  con- 
gress, 71. 
provisions  of  early  charters,  193. 
Judiciary,  meager  information   relative  to  the 

early,  192. 
Jurisdiction,  settlement  of  vexatious  question 

of,  172. 
Justice  court,  206. 

powers    of    a,    appointed  by    Governor 
Reynolds,  36. 

KENT,  Lieutenant,  complaint  of,  concern- 
ing the  civil  affairs  of  the  government, 
34! 
Kettle  Creek,  engagement  at,  77. 
King,  John  Pendleton,  biography  of,  part  II, 

30. 
Knights  of  Honor,  the,  299. 
of  Pythias,  the,  299. 
of  the  Golden  Rule,  the,  299. 

LADIES'  Memorial  Association  monument, 
180,  et  seq. 
La  Fayette,  visit  of,  to  Augusta,  170. 
Lands,  details  of  regulations  for  sale  of,  52. 
Lawlessness  and  rapine,  reign  of,  90. 
Laws,  obnoxious,  194. 

Lee.  Colonel,  brilliant  exploit  of,  113,  et  seq. 
Lee's  surrender,  effect  of,  in  Augusta,  186. 
Legislation  affecting  Augusta,  132  et  seq. 
paucity  of,  during  the  Revolution,  71. 
weak  attempts  at  royal,  92. 
Legislative  interest  in  religious  matters    after 
the  Revolution,  371. 


54 


History  ok  Auousta. 


LefjjisIaUire,  act  of  concerning  railroads,  of 
1827,  480;  18:51,  -181;  18;53,  48'2,  504; 
1835,  48.{,  r>0-\;  \KU;,  484;  1837-40-43- 
50-68,  485;  1838  52,  504;  1804,  507; 
1870,511  ;   1873.  5(ifi. 

a(!t8  of,  conconiiii^'    tlic    Angii.«ta  Canal, 

401,  ft  st'(i. 
acts  of  the,  necessitated  hy  tliodivii  war, 
182  ot seq. 
Lexington,    ellect   of    tlio    news    I'lom,    upon 

Georgia,  05. 
"  T-il)erty  lioys,"  GO,  155. 
Lil)erty  county,  putnolisin  of,  03. 
Limits,  addition  to  city,  lOi). 

extension  of  city,  170,  187. 
Lincoln,  (ieneral,  81  et  seq. 

censuicd  by  the  Legislature,  97. 
Little,  Williaiii,  Indiiui  ( ■onnnissioner,  30. 
Longstreet,  William,  "inventor  of  the  steam- 
boat," 140. 

sleamboat  o|)ciated  by,  100. 
Louise  Kmg  Widow's  Homo,  the,  2!)5. 
Loyalty   to   the  crown,  expressions  of,  in   the 
Ocori/ia  (iazette,  5!)  et  se(i. 
to  the  home  (Jovernnient,  reu.sous  for,  01. 
Lutheran  ('liur(;h,  384. 

McCALL,   Captain,    statement  of,   relative 
to  treason  in  Jackson's  legion,  128. 
McCoy,  William  10.,  liiograpliy  of,  part  II,  24. 
Machine  Works,  the  Augusta,  42'J. 

the  rendieton,  428. 
Mcintosh,  (ieneral,  80. 

dillerencea  between  and   Walton,  04. 
review  of  case  of,  by   tlu;   House  of 
Assembly,  00. 
Manufacturing  ('ompany,  the  Augusta,  417. 
the  John  P.  King,  421. 
the  Perkins,  430. 
the  Sibley,  420. 
Martm  John,  (fleeted  governor  in  1782,  101. 
Masonic  fraternity,  the,  298. 
Matthews  Ooveinor,  anecdote  of,  107;    death 

of  in  Augusta,  107. 
May,  Robert  II.,  188. 

''  Mechanics,  the  Augusta  Association  of,"  159. 
"Medical  Academy  of  (ieor(i;ia,"  252. 
Me<li(;al  College,  erection  of,  254. 
"  Medical  College  of  Georgia,  The,"  254. 
"  Me<Iical  Institute  of  the  State  of  Georgia, 

The,"  254. 
Medical  Society,  the  (irst,  252. 
"Medical  Society  of  Augusta,  Georgia,  The," 

incorporation  of,  252. 
Methodist  ('hurch  in  Augusta,  .37i>. 
Military  allairs,  state  of  in  1779,  90. 

forces,  deplorable  condition  of,  in  1779,  73. 
operations  along  the  Savannah  and   Little 
Rivers,  79  et  seq. 

resulting  in   (he  loss  of  Augusta,  74. 
organization  of  by  provincial  congress,  71. 
precaution.s,  39. 
Ministerial  As.sociation,  the,  29C. 


Money,  ridiculous  depre(;iation  of  paper,  98. 
Monument.sConfederate,  180  et  seq. 
Murder  of  Head  Turkey,  54. 

NEWSPAPKUS, 
Aui/nstii.  Chronicle,  The,  278. 
Avgusta  Oazetic,  The,  290. 
Auijusla  Herald,  The,  279,  287. 
lianner  of  the  tSouth,  The,  289. 
Chronicle,   The,  the  oldest  copy  ex- 
tant of,  281. 
Constitulionalisf,  The,  280,  287. 
hvening  Xeios,  The,  280,  289. 
Free  I'ress,  The,  289. 
Oeoryia  /iaptist.  The,  289. 
Clvhe  (did  Lance,  The,  290. 
Mirror,  The,  287. 
Pacijkator,  The,  289. 
/'ra</7-ess.  The,  289. 
llepuhlic.  The,  287. 
Sentinel,  The,  289. 

Southern  Field  and  Fireside,  The,  287. 
Soiit/iern  Medical  and  Surgical  Jour- 
nal, The,  289. 
Slaters  Rights  Sentinel,  The,  279,  280. 
Sunday  Phoenix,  The,  290. 
Newspaper  editors  and  publishers: 
H((van,  Joseph  V.,  279. 
IJunce,  John,  287. 
DriscoU,  Mr.,  279. 
Hobley,  William  J.,  279,  287. 
Jones,  James  W.,  279. 
Longstreet,  Judge,  278. 
McWhorter,  John  G..  288. 
Moore,  Henry,  280. 
Morse.  N.  S.,  280. 
Pcndtcrton,  A.  II.,  279. 
Kandali,  James  R.,  281,  287. 
Smith,  John  K.,  278. 
Smythe,  Colonel  James  M.,  280,  287. 
Stockton,  John   L.  290. 
Stovall,  Pleasant  A.,  281. 
Thom|)son,  Major,  288. 
Walsh,  lion.  Patrick,  281,  289. 
Weigle,  John   M.  289. 
White,  Rev.  W.  J.,  289. 
Wright,  General  Ambrose  R.,  281. 
Wright,  11.  Gregg,  281. 
Wright,  Prof.  R.  R.,  289. 
(irst,  in  Augusta,  137. 

O'HRIKN,  Kennedy,  statement  of,  29. 
settlement  of  Augusta  begun  bv,  30. 
Odd  Fellows,  the,  299. 

(Jgletliorpe,  conciliatory    intervention  of,   be- 
tween Carolina  traders  and   the  Indians,  34. 
ellbrts  of,   to  establish   treaties   with  the 

Indians,  29. 
establishment  of  the  town  of  Augusta  by, 

25. 
influence  of  with  the  Indians,  33. 
letter  of,  from  Augusta,  31. 
measures  of,  150. 


Index. 


55 


Oglethorpe,  mission  of,  to  tlie  Creek  Indians, 
31  et  seq. 
mission  to  the  Creek  Indians,  Spalding's 

comments  upon,  32. 
only  visit  of,  to  Augusta,  31. 
planting  of  the  colony  of  Georgia  by,  17. 
recommendation  of,  in  favor  of  O'Brien, 
30. 
Ornaments  of  the  Indians,  23. 
Orphan  Asylum,  the  Augusta,  296. 

PACK-IIOKSES  and  flat-boats,  430. 
parishes,  division  of  the  province  into, 
etc.,  in  1758,  37. 
Patriotism  of  the  people,  1 1 0. 
Peace  treaty  with  the  Indians  in  1774,  5.5. 
Penalty  for  counterfeiting,  in  rules  of  Bank  of 

Augusta,  332. 
Personal  daring,  instances  of,  80. 
Phini/.y,  Charles  IT.,  biograi)hy  of,  part  II,  2.5. 
Phini/.y,  John,  reminiscent  tostunony  of._  173. 
Physicians,  early,  in  Richmond  county,  2.51. 
Physicians,  eminent: 

Antony,  Dr.  Milton,  271. 
Carter,  Dr.  John,  272. 
Cunningham,  Dr.  Alexander,  272. 
Dugas,  Dr.  Louis  Alexander,  273. 
Eve,  Dr,  Joseph  Adams,  270. 
Fendall,  Dr.  .Jo.seph  II.  M.,  272. 
Ford,  Dr.  Lewis  Saussure,  275. 
Garvin  Dr.  Ignatius  P.,  273. 
Newton,  Dr.  George  M.,  273. 
Watkins,  Dr.  Auder.son,  272. 
Physicians,  leading,  followed  by  sons  and  rel- 
atives in  the  profession,  277. 
State  Board  of,  253. 
Pickens,  General,  ordered  to  Augusta,  113. 
Political  sentiments,  serious  divisions  in,  59. 
Pope,  General,  rule  of,  187. 
Pottery  made  by  the  Indians,  23 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Autrusta,  372  et  seq. 
Presidential  tours,  contrast  between,  143. 
Priber,  Christian,  attempt  of,  to  prejudice  the 

Cherokees  against  the  English,  34. 
Proclamation  announcing   the  sale   of    ceded 

lands,  51. 
Property,  .sequestration  of,  82. 
Protest,  a,  and  a  rejoinder,  61. 

of    the    inhabitants    of    St.    Paul    parish 
against  the  resolutions  of    August  10, 
60. 
"  Protestant  Episcopal   Society  of  the  county 

of  Richmond,"  incorporation  of,  371. 
Provincial    congress,     article     of    association 
by,  70. 

at  Savannah,  67. 

/QUAKERS,  the,  .52. 


R 


AILROAD  building,  interest  in,  172. 

Company,  Georgia,  482. 
the  Augusta  and  Knoxville,  506. 


Railroad,  the  Augusta  and  Summerville,  510.^ 
the  Augusta  and  Port  Royal,  .508. 
the  Charlotte,  Columbia  and  Augusta,  507. 
the    Augusta,    Gibson   and    Sandersville, 

506. 
the  Central,  503  et  seq. 
the  first,  480. 
the  first  in  America,  171. 
the  Georgia,  construction  and  equipment 

of,  485  et  seq. 
the  Georgia,  present  status  of,  502. 
the  Georgia,   statistics  of,  from   1837   to 
1889,  480  et  seq. 
Railroads,  beginning  of,  480. 
branch,  483. 
projected,  512. 
"  Rangers,"  37. 

Reconstruction,  congressional,  187. 
Records,  written  and  sculptured,  of  the  Indi- 
ans, 21. 
Red  Men,  Independent  Order  of,  299. 
Reid   Chief  Justice,    incidents  in  the   life  of, 

229  et  seq. 
Reid  Robert  Raymond,  170. 
Religious  freedom,  provisions  for,  367. 

services,  first  stated,  369. 
Resolutions  of   August   10,   1774,   expressing 
the  sentiment  of  Georgia,  57  et  seq. 

of  August  10,   criticisms  of  and  protest 

against  the,  59. 
of  the  provincial  congress,  67  et  seq. 
Revolutionary  measures,  progress  of,  71. 

movement,  i)rogress  of  the,  63. 
Revolt,  lack  of  cause  for,  by  Georgia,  64. 
Reynolds,  Captain  John,  appointed  Governor, 

30. 
Reynolds,  Governor  John,  address  of  the  citi- 
zens of  Augusta  to,  in  1756,  39  et  seq. 

communication  of,  to  the  coun- 
cil, 42. 
gifts  to  the  Indians  by,  36. 
miliLiiry  recominendations  of,'37. 
Richmoinl  Academy,  origin  of,  157. 
Richmond    county,    a    natural    manufacturing 
center,  398. 

population  of,  148. 

Poultry  and  Pet  Stock  Association, 
The,  294. 
Rivalry  between  Augusta  and  Savannah,  159. 
Riverside  Mill",  the,  421. 
Roll  of  chief  justice.s,  superior  court  judges, 

and  .solicitors-general,  240. 
Royal  sentiment,  strength  of,  155. 
Royalists,  expulsion  of,  156. 

flight  of,  88. 
Rum,  prohibition  of,  194. 

sale  of,  prohibited,  49. 
St.  John's  parish,  action  of,  62. 
'    St.  Paul,  the  parish  of,  368. 
'    St.  Paul's  church,  (note),  35. 
erection  of,  371, 
St.  Valentine  Society,  the,  292. 
I   Sanitary  measures,  early,  252. 


56 


History  of  Augusta. 


Savannah  and  Augusta  Steamboat  Company, 

474. 
Savannah,  capture  of,  by  the  British,  89. 

condition  of  the  Slate  upon  the  fall  of,  72. 
operations  of  General  Wayne  around,  129. 
powder  magazine,  seizure  of,  65. 
provincial  congress  at,  67. 
surrender  and  evacuation  of,  130. 
Savannah    River,  act  for  improvement  of  in 
1786,  446. 

act  of  1802  concerning  the,  447. 
act  of  1809  concerning  the,  447. 
act  of  1812  concerning  the,  447. 
act  of  1816  regarding  the,  466. 
act  of  1829  concerning  the,  454. 
act  to  encourage  use  of  steam  upon 

the,  469. 
appropriations  for,  in  1817,  448. 
as  a  medium  of  transport,  440. 
Association,  459. 
bridge  over  the,  at  Augusta,  477  et 

seq. 
combined    effort    of    South   Carolina 

and     Georgia     to    improve     the, 

448. 
commissions   appointed    in    1816   to   I 

view  obstructions  in,  448. 
disastrous  overflow  of,  174. 
dispute  over,  as  a  boundry  line,  443 

et  seq. 
efforts  to  improve  in  1799,  446. 
efforts  to  obtain  national  aid,  452. 
extract    from    statement   of    Mayor 

Hammond  in  relation  to,  463. 
extract  from   the    Chronicle's  report 

of  a  trip  down  the,  463. 
failure  of  Georgia  and  South  Caro- 
lina to  combine  for  improvement 

of,  453. 
frozen  over,  171. 
location  and  object  of  establishment 

of,  24. 
Georgia's  ownership  of,  445. 
history    of    Longstreet's    steamboat 

upon  the,  466  et  seq. 
legislation    by    South    Carolina  con- 
cerning 454. 
legislative    action    regarding    during 

1820-23,  449. 
meeting  to  discuss  improvement  of 

the,  456. 
memorial  to  congress  concerning  the, 

461. 
methods  of  transportation  upon  the, 

465. 
neglect  of  as  a  waterway,  442. 
post    helium    ideas    concerning   the, 

455. 
results  of   appropriations  made   for, 

451. 
the   Chronicle's  plan  of  improvement 

of,  the,  455. 
water-power  of,  442. 


Savannah  Town  and  Augusta,  communication 
between,  25. 

location  and  object  of  establishment 

of,  24. 
loss  of  prestige  of,  upon  settlement 

of  Augusta,  25. 
rapid  growth  of  trade  at,  24. 
transfer  of  Indians  from,  to  Augusta, 
25. 
Savannah  Valley,  convention  of  people  of,  458. 
Savings  Bank,  Augusta,  338. 
Savings  Institution,  the  Augusta.  362. 
Scholastic  year,  327. 
School  act  of  1843,  312. 
of  1852,  313. 
of  1858,  317. 
age,  change  of,  in  1859,  313. 
appropriations,  necessity  for,  313. 
Colored  High,  325. 
fund,  augmentation  of  in  1858,  313. 
funds,  report  of  Governor  Jenkins  upon, 
321. 

resolutions  regulating  use  of,  307. 
laws  digested  into  a  code  in  1800,  315. 
"  old  field,"  Judge  Longstreet's  anecdote 

of,  314. 
purposes,    appropriation    of     bank     divi- 
dends for,  304. 
reports,  senators  required   to  make,  305. 
statistics,  327. 

system,  change  in,  in  1840,  312. 
system,  disruption  of,  by  Civil  War,  317. 
system,  early  general,  303. 
system  in  1828,  308. 
system,  the  poor-,  304. 
teachers'  certificates,  method  of  procuring, 

325. 
teachers,  method  of  selection  of,  325. 
Tubman  High,  325. 

appropriations  for,  303.  i 

Augusta  public,  laws  regulating,  324. 
colored,  enactments  concerning,  321. 
division  of,  327. 
examinations  in,  326. 
Governor  McDonald  upon  the,  312. 
Governor  Scliley  upon  the,  310. 
house  committee  report  upon,  305. 
in  1830,  310. 
in  1839,  311. 
poor-.  307. 

poor-,    and    academies,    relieved    of 

university  supervision,  315. 
poor-,  clerk  of  the  court  of  ordinary 

made  sole  trustee  of,  308. 
poor-,  support  of,  310. 
private,  328. 
provisions   for,   in   constitution    of    1868, 

323. 
regulations  governing  admission  of  pupils 
to,  320 
Seminole  war,  Augusta  troops  in,  172. 
Senatus  Academicus,  the.  302. 
Settlements  increase  of,  52. 


Index. 


57 


Sheltering  Arms,  the,  296. 

Sherman,  preparations  to  repel,  185. 

Shly,  John,  introduction  of  cotton  manufacture 
by,  395. 

invention  of,  for  cleaning  cotton,  397. 

Sibley,  Josiah,  biography  of,  part  II,  26. 

Silver  Bluff,  home  of  George  G-alphin,  55. 

Slaves,  introduction  of  from  Carolina,  34. 

Slavery,  advocacy  of,  by  Whitefield  and.  Hab- 
ersham, 35. 

Societies,  colored,  300. 

Solicitors-general,  roll  of,  246. 

Southern  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal^    TJie, 
254,  271. 

SpaL'ing's  comments  upon  Oglethorpe's  mis- 
sion to  the  Creek  Indians,  32. 

Stamp  act,  the,  in  Augusta,  49. 

"  Steamboat  Company  of  Georgia,"  470  et  seq. 

Steamboat,  Longstreet's  invention  of  the,  146 
et  seq. 

article  in  Augusta  Chronicle  on  Long- 
street's,  146. 
evolution  of,  137. 

Steamboats,  list  of,  475. 

Stephens,   Colonel  William,  memorandum  of, 
32. 

Stokes,  Chief  Justice,  201. 
report  of,  154. 

Stone   weapons  and  tools  of  the  Indians,  22. 

Stuart  Captain,  address  of,  to  the  Indians,  45. 
superintendent  of  Indian  affairs,  44. 

Stuart  Hon.  John,  50. 

Summary  of  epochs,  190. 

^pAX,  colonial,  154. 

JL       Telfair,  Edward,  elected  governor,   140. 
Temperance  orders,  300. 
Thanksgiving,  pubUc,  140. 
Theater  Company,  Augusta,  292. 

first,  291. 
"  Thespian   Society  and   Library  Company  of 

Augusta,  The,"  291. 
Thompson,  Jesse,  biography  of,  part  II.  29. 
Thweatt,   Peterson,    comptroller,   educational 

report  of,  321. 
Tobacco,  144. 

cultivation  of,  437. 
Toleration    accorded    to    dissenting    religious 

bodies,  39. 
Tomo-chi-chi,  Indian  chief,  17,  29. 
Traffic,  rules  for,  witli  the  Indians,  29. 
Transportation,  early,  436. 
Travelers'  Protective  Association,  the,  298. 
Treaty  of  November   10,    1763,   between   the 

Indians  and  English,  articles  of,  45  et.  seq. 
Tumili,  erection  of  by  the  Indians,  20. 

UNION  STEAMBOAT  COMPANY,  474. 
Unitarian  church,  385. 
University,  State,   137. 

T/'OTERS,  first  registration  of,  176. 


WALKER,  FREEMAN,  169. 
Walton,  George,  bitterness  of  towards 
General  Mcintosh,  95. 

opinion  of,  regarding  Augusta,    132. 
Ware,  Nicholas,  169. 
Waterworks,  introduction  of,  176. 
Wayne,    General   Anthony,   Savannah,    occu- 
pied by,  130. 

Savannah,  watched  by,  129. 
Wereat,  President,  proclamation  of,  92. 
Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  advocacy  of  slavery 

by,  35. 
Whitney,  Eli,  387. 

ingratitude  of  the  South  towards,  391. 

inventor  of  the  cotton  gin,  163  et  seq. 

William.son,    General,    traitorous    conduct   of, 

102. 
Williamson,    Lieutenant-Colonel,    investment 

of  Augusta  by,  HI  et  seq. 
Woman's  Christian    Temperance   Union,   the, 

296. 
Woman's  Exchange,  the,  296. 
Wright,  Governor,  admission  of,  of  his  inabil- 
ity to  suppress  the  indications  of  revolt,  62. 
assurance  ot,  to  Lords  Commissioners, 

48  et  seq. 
decisive  stand  taken  by,  with  the  In- 
dians, 54. 
expression  of,  concerning  the  rebel- 
lion, 71. 
fidelity  of,  to  the  Crown,  64. 
flight  of,  72. 
letters  of,  upon  the  siege  of  Augusta, 

108. 
population  of  Georgia  at  inauguration 

of,  43. 
proclamation  of,  in  1774,  57. 
promulgation  of  trade  regulations  by, 

48. 
report  of,  upon  the  condition  of  the 

country,  89. 
successful  policy  of,  49. 
Wright,  Sir  James,  arrest  of,  72 . 
third  governor  of  Georgia,  32. 
Writ  of  error,  form  of,  209. 

"  "\rAZOO  Fresh,"  the,  160,  174. 

X       Yellow  Fever,  Dr.  Ramsay's  opinion 
concerning  the,  257. 

first  epidemic  of,  255. 

fundamental  principles  regarding  the, 

263. 
report  of  committee  appointed  to  in- 
quire into  the,  255  et  seq. 
reports  concerning,  from  various  cit- 
ies, 258  et  seq. 
resolutions  of  the  Augusta  Medical 

Society  regarding  the,  265. 
visitation  of.  in  1854,  261. 
Young     Men's     Christian     As.sociation,    the, 

296. 
Young,   William    B.,  biography    of,   part    II, 
40. 


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