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 I 
 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 OF SOME OF THE 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA, 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CHEROKEES, AM THE AUTHOR. 
 
 /O 
 
 K 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 D . APPLETON AND COMPANY, 
 
 346 & 34S BROADWAY. 
 
 LONDON: 16 LITTLE BKITAIN. 
 
 Jf.D'CCC'.LV. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1854, hy 
 
 D. APPLETON & CO., 
 
 in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New -York. 
 
TO 
 
 WHOSE 
 
 THE VIRGINIANS, NORTH CAROLINIANS, 
 
 AND THEIR DESCENDANTS, 
 
 INDUSTRY AND ECONOMY, HONESTY AND ENERGY, 
 HAVE MADE GEORGIA 
 
 THE MOST PROSPEROUS OF STATES, 
 
 Ij i s look 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 

 
 
 
 / 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It may be proper to say a word or two about the contents of 
 this book, and why it was written. The Author is an old man, 
 who has passed his sixty-fourth year. Continued ill health ren- 
 dered him unable for a long while to undergo labor, or bear 
 much jostling from others. He has endeavored to pass cpuetly 
 on. by getting into an untrodden track. Scribbling, when tired 
 of reading, he found to be a pleasant relief from the tedium of 
 unoccupied time. He wrote until he disliked to lose his labor. 
 He publishes his scribblings with the hope that others may 
 think that he did right in not throwing them away. 
 
 The first part of his book is an account of the settlement 
 made by a number of Virginia families on Broad River, imme- 
 diately after the revolutionary war. In tracing the causes of 
 the present happy condition of the people of Georgia to the 
 character of the settlers, the Author infers that low, impotent, 
 beggarly men and women had not the strength, activity, enter- 
 prise, nor spirit, to separate themselves from their accustomed 
 haunts, their kindred and country, to encounter untried and un- 
 known difficulties in a new land beyond a vast ocean. And that 
 the strong, the brave, the determined to be free, must have made 
 up the emigrating class from Europe to the Colonies. He shows 
 how the descendants of these emigrants, operated upon by the 
 desire of going on bettering their condition, left the old States 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to form settlements in the new. IIow the Harvies, Meriwethers, 
 Taliaferros, Gilmers, Mathewses, Barnetts, Crawfords, Johnsons, 
 Jordans, and McGeliees removed, with their families, from Vir- 
 ginia to Broad River at different times from 1783 to 1790. 
 That they were descendants from the most vigorous and indus- 
 trious class of the Irish, Scotch, English, and Welsh, and how 
 the Dutch, French, and Italian blood added to the crossings which 
 cave value to the stock. He describes how these settlers formed 
 the most intimate friendly social union ever known among the 
 same number of persons ; how exceedingly active they were in 
 business ; economical in their expenditures ; honest in their 
 dealings, and their prospering beyond example. He hopes that 
 though now scattered widely apart through the southern and 
 southwestern States, his book may unite them together once 
 more in the kind feelings of kinsfolk. 
 
 The second part describes the settlement made by the North 
 Carolina people in that part of Georgia which is now included 
 in the counties of Wilkes and Lincoln. The Author shows that 
 some of them were prominent among the southern people in their 
 struggle for independence,, and that many have filled the highest 
 offices of the State since that struggle ended successfully. He 
 mentions as particularly distinguished for what they did, Clarke, 
 Dooly, Hart, Jack, and Dabney. 
 
 The third part describes the Creek and Cherokee Indians ; 
 the relations between them, Georgia, and the United States ; 
 the causes and manner of their removal to the west of the Mis- 
 sissippi, and such incidents in the private and public life of the 
 Author as may amuse, or suggest to the reader something 
 worth thinking about. 
 
G E 0 R G I A N S . 
 
 PART I. 
 
 The war of the Revolution left the people of Virginia 
 penniless in purse and restless in spirit. They had 
 made great exertions and sacrifices to secure their coun- 
 try’s independence. Most of their luxuries, and many 
 of their necessaries, had before the Revolution been 
 derived from abroad in exchange for their tobacco. 
 The war cut off commerce. Virginia merchants owned 
 but few trading vessels, and these their country could 
 not protect from capture. 
 
 The hope that great blessings would be derived 
 from the right of self-government, stimulated the people 
 to make the exertions necessary to obtain it. When 
 the Independence of the States was acknowledged by 
 Great Britain, the advantages which the people had 
 expected to follow were so deferred as to appear for a 
 while to be delusive. The capital with which trade 
 had been carried on was exhausted by the war, and it 
 required time to create it anew. The means of making 
 money were obstructed by Great Britain, through re- 
 strictions upon the trade of the States. The people, 
 immediately after the acquisition of national freedom, 
 
8 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 had fewer of the good things of life than when they 
 paid the stamp-tax. How to improve their condition 
 was the question which they most anxiously sought to 
 solve. The restless and dissatisfied spirits of the old 
 States found relief by emigrating to the new. Georgia 
 held out to emigrants very seductive offers of land. 
 The absence of all undergrowth in the woods, the large 
 trees, and the luxuriant grass, caused the most favorable 
 opinion to be formed of the productiveness of the land 
 by the officers and soldiers who had passed over it. 
 
 General Mathews had served in Georgia during the 
 war. He made preparations soon after for removing to 
 a tract of land, then and yet known as the Goosepond, 
 a disputed title to which he had purchased for a very 
 small consideration. He was well known in Augusta 
 and Albemarle Counties, in Virginia. Influenced by 
 his judgment, Francis Meriwether, Benjamin Taliaferro, 
 and one or two others, visited Georgia in 1784. They 
 went to the neighborhood of the Goosepond, were 
 pleased with the land, and purchased. They and many 
 of their friends and relations removed to Georgia with 
 their families immediately afterwards. They formed a 
 society of the greatest intimacy — mutual wants making 
 the surest foundation for the interchange of mutual 
 kindness. 
 
 The sketches of the Broad River people, which fol- 
 low, have been drawn chiefly from the author’s intimate 
 social intercourse with his kinsfolk and neighbors. He 
 has found but few written documents to aid him in his 
 work ; some of the biographies are therefore very 
 limited. Those that are most so, may yet describe 
 what may be worth remembering, and which might 
 otherwise be unknown or forgotten. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 9 
 
 THE GILMERS. 
 
 George Gilmer was born near Edinburgh, in Scot- 
 land. After acquiring the usual fund of medical 
 knowledge for the commencement of practice, he went 
 to London, as was the fashion then of young Scotch 
 
10 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 physicians who were eager for fame and fortune, where 
 he connected himself in professional business with Dr. 
 Ridgway. Not long afterwards, he was employed 
 by the London Land Company to go to Virginia to 
 manage the affairs of the firm. He and the daughter 
 (the only child) of Dr. Ridgway had been previously 
 interchanging tender looks and soft words. Their im- 
 aginations so magnified the extent of the oceaii which 
 would separate them, and the unknown dangers of 
 the distant land, that they could not part without 
 being united for life. They were married privately in 
 the presence of Mrs. Ridgway. When Dr. Gilmer 
 returned to London he found his wife dead. Lie went 
 back to Virginia, and settled in Williamsburg, the 
 capital of the colony, where he practised physic, and 
 supplied the people of the colony with medicines. 
 Dr. Gilmer’s second wife, Mary Peachy Walker, was 
 the sister of Dr. Thomas Walker, a citizen of the col- 
 ony, distinguished by the high offices which he filled, 
 and the large estate which he acquired. After the 
 death of his second wife, Dr. Gilmer married Miss 
 Harrison Blair, the sister of Dr. Blair, the principal 
 founder and the first President of William and Mary 
 College, the head of the Episcopal Church, and at one 
 time acting Governor of the colony of Virginia. Dr. 
 Gilmer had lost his third wife, and was engaged to be 
 married to Miss Ambler for his fourth, when he died. 
 
 Dr. Gilmer left London for Williamsburg in 1731. 
 He died there in 1757. He left three sons, Peachy 
 Ridgway, and George, by his second wife, and John 
 by his third. 
 
 The copy of the coat-of-arms given below, was ob- 
 tained by Mr. Frank Gilmer, when he was in Europe. 
 The gentleman upon whom it was conferred, was cer- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 11 
 
 tainly not an ancestor of any of the Gilmers of Virginia 
 on Broad Biver. Their relationship to him must there- 
 fore have been very distant, if any at all. It is inserted 
 here to gratify those who may be curious to know some- 
 thing of heraldry, about which so much is written in 
 modern times. 
 
 Extract from the Register of Armorial Bearings for Scotland. 
 
 “ The right worshipful Sir Charles Gilmer, of Craig Miller, 
 Baronet, bears azure, a cheveron, between two fleur de lis in 
 chief or ; and in base, a writing pen, full feathered argent, with 
 the badge of Nova Scotia as Baronet. Crest, a garland of laurel 
 proper. Motto, ‘ Perseveranti dabitur.’ Matriculated 18th 
 Dec., 1735.” 
 
12 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Copied from the family Bible of Dr. George Gilmer, 
 my great-grandfather, now in my possession : 
 
 “Mary Peachy Walker, daughter of Thomas and Susan 
 Walker, of King and Queen, was married by the Rev. Mr. Jno. 
 Skaife, at his house, her Stepfather, to George Gilmer, May 
 13th, 1732.” 
 
 “March 6th, 1737-8. A son born, christened the 20tli by 
 the Rev. Mr. Hith, by the name of Peachy Ridgway, Maj. 
 Nicholas and William Prentis, Godfathers, and Miss Robertson, 
 Godmother- — now Mrs. Lidderdale.” 
 
 “ Jan. 19th, 1742-3. A son born, christened the 30th inst. 
 by Mr. Thomas Dawson, George. Walter King (and Jms. Har- 
 mer by proxy) Godfathers, Miss Elizabeth Pratt, Godmother — 
 afterwards Mrs. King.” 
 
 “ October 1st, 1745. Mary Peachy Gilmer, the mother of the 
 above dear children, after a severe but short fit of sickness, de- 
 parted this life to the great loss of her said children, but more 
 immediately to her Husband, who had experienced her Christian 
 life and fondness for him.” 
 
 “ Dec. 11th, 1745. George Gilmer was married to Miss Har- 
 rison Blair, at her Brother’s, the Plon. Jno. Blair, by the Rev. 
 Mr. Thomas Dawson, Rector of Bratoro, in Williamsburg.” 
 
 “ April 26th, 1748. Mrs. Gilmer brought to bed of a son, 
 between six and seven in the morning. 27th. Was christened 
 by the Rev. Mr. Thomas Dawson, by the name of John. The 
 Hon. Jno. Blair and Mr. John Blair, Godfathers, and Mrs. Blair, 
 Godmother. — God preserve him.” 
 
 “May 22d, 1753. Mrs. Gilmer delivered of a Boy, about five 
 o’clock in the morning ; apprehending danger, had him chris- 
 tened in the afternoon, by the name of William, my Father’s 
 name. Armstead Burwell and John Holt, Mayor, Godfathers ; 
 Miss Sally Blair, Godmother. This poor babe died the 30th, 
 and was buried the 31st, by the Commissary, in a grave so close 
 to my dear former wife that his coffin touched hers.” 
 
 “ Nov. 2d, 1755. Mrs. Gilmer, after a severe and long pain- 
 ful illness, departed this life, Sunday evening, between 8 and 9.’’ 
 “ Dr. George Gilmer departed this life, Jan. 15th, 1757.” 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 13 
 
 Peachy Ridgway Gilmer, the oldest son of Dr. 
 George Gilmer, of Williamsburg, was blunt spoken, 
 open-hearted, and careless about the accumulation of 
 riches. He accompanied Frank Meriwether, his college 
 crony, to Albemarle, when Bracldock’s expedition 
 against the French and Indians suspended for a while 
 William and Mary College. Whilst at Frank Meri- 
 wether’s home, he and Frank’s sister, Mary, fancied each 
 other, and married. The Meriwethers were then, as 
 they are now, plain people in manners and dress. 
 Peachy Gilmer, from being the most dashing beau of 
 the metropolis of the colony, became as unpretending 
 in his appearance and manners as any of his new rela- 
 tions. To make his home accord with this change, he 
 settled in Rockingham, in the midst of the Dutch, at a 
 place still called Lethe, from the forgetfulness of care 
 by its owner and his numerous Low Country visitors. 
 He lived to old age, without troubling himself about 
 any thing. The Lethe tract of land was large and fer- 
 tile. He had many negroes, kejA fat horses and cattle, 
 and lived bountifully upon the products of his farm, 
 selling only what was sufficient to pay his taxes, and 
 buy sugar and coffee in the small quantities then used. 
 His wife was a most notable housekeeper, managed the 
 children and servants, made their clothing, and provid- 
 ed furniture for the house. Peachy Gilmer’s unruffled 
 temper, frank manners, and unrestricted hospitality, 
 made his house the collecting-place of old and young, 
 who were fond of frolic and fun. He was his father’s 
 executor, and so negligent in collecting the debts of th 
 estate, that large sums were never collected at all. 
 
 Peachy R. Gilmer had two sons, Thomas Meriwether 
 and George, and four daughters, Mary Peachy, Elizabeth 
 Thornton, Lucy, and Frances Walker. 
 
14 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Thomas M. married Elizabeth Lewis before he was 
 twenty-one. He removed to Georgia, the year after, 
 and settled on Broad River, at the place marked on the 
 map as his. Tie had small hands and feet, his features 
 were regular, his head large, his nose straight and well- 
 formed, his eyes very gray, and his teeth good. He 
 was somewhat under the common height. His frame of 
 body was small, and his limbs of proper proportions 
 and much muscular strength. He was very fat from 
 childhood, weighing at eighteen two hundred pounds. 
 He floated on water without any effort except straight- 
 ening his legs. The school to which he went when a 
 boy, was up the Shenandoah River, a mile or two from 
 his father’s. During the summer months he went home 
 by floating and swimming down the river, to save him- 
 self from walking. The current of the river was so 
 continued and strong that he could easily outstrip the 
 usual speed of his school companions. He was insensi- 
 ble to cold, but could not bear heat. The doors of his 
 house were never closed day or night, summer or win- 
 ter. He continued to grow more and more corpulent, 
 until he weighed upwards of three hundred pounds. 
 He was an excellent rider, sitting his horse so easily 
 that few men could ride as far in the day. Though he 
 never worked himself, he impressed the habit very 
 strongly upon his children and negroes. He had gov- 
 erning manners and temper, so that his children never 
 disobeyed him. He managed all his affairs with ad- 
 mirable judgment. He had eight negroes, a small tract 
 of land, and some money, when he settled on Broad 
 River. He left at his death an estate of near seventy 
 negroes, a large tract of land, a considerable sum of 
 money, a large amount in notes due him, besides having 
 previously provided liberally for his children who were 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 15 
 
 married. The estates which they have accumulated 
 are equal together at this time to more than a million 
 of dollars. They are all planters except one. The 
 lawyer and politician is the poorest of them all. 
 Thomas Gilmer was a man of good sense, aided hut lit- 
 tle by reading. He was punctual in the discharge of 
 every requirement of law. He attended musters and 
 juries, though at great inconvenience. He w r as a justice 
 of the peace for some time, and was once elected a 
 member of the legislature. He was trustful and up- 
 right. I have often heard him mention that he never 
 but once loaned money at more than the legal interest. 
 He was induced to do so then by the borrower being a 
 negro trader. The mistake was corrected by the diffi- 
 culty he met with in collecting any part of the loan. 
 He never suffered his children to harass or hunt birds 
 or beasts. I recollect a cousin, who was about my own 
 age, instructing me during the idleness of Sunday how 
 to prepare a chicken-cock for fighting by cutting off his 
 comb. My father finding out our employment, took 
 me between his knees, and pulled my own comb until 
 I scarcely knew whether the crown of my head had hair 
 left upon it. 
 
 He bought what he wanted, and sold what he 
 wished to part with. He had a great dislike to chaffer- 
 ing and swopping, considering that the habit of such 
 trading generally ended in the habit of lying. He ex- 
 pressed his thoughts and purposes without equivocation. 
 He had great contempt for foppery of all sorts. When 
 I first went abroad to school, I found most of the boys 
 occasionally wearing fine clothes, and expressed to him 
 on my return home, my desire to do as they did. His 
 answer was, that boys neither learned more nor were 
 less wicked by being dressed fine ; that when I grew 
 
16 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 up, it would be well enough to attend to dress, because 
 it would influence many persons’ opinion of me, and 
 thereby increase my capacity for usefulness. After go- 
 ing through school without shoes in the summer, or a 
 broadcloth coat at any time, I was immediately, upon 
 quitting, dressed in the very best which hi* merchant’s 
 store could supply. 
 
 During his youth, he performed a tour of militia 
 duty under the Marquis La Fayette. He had previous- 
 ly gone out with a militia company to disperse or make 
 prisoners of some Tories, who occasionally met in the 
 North Mountain. The company caught a Tory, or, 
 what was the same to the prisoner, one suspected by 
 the Whigs. He was carried to a distillery, underwent 
 examination, and was punished by being put head fore- 
 most into a large hogshead of water. He kicked his 
 feet free from those who held him, and was about 
 drowning in the confused and failing efforts to draw 
 him out, when a half-witted fellow standing by, turned 
 over the hogshead, letting out the Tory and the water. 
 
 My father was temperate in the use of all liquors 
 except water. He was never even slightly intoxicated 
 but once, and that was when he was a boy. Like most 
 of the Gilmers, he loved good eating. He was subject 
 to violent attacks of fever. At one time his physician 
 thought it absolutely necessary to take blood from him. 
 No vein could be found. The temple artery was cut. 
 He had a violent cough, which, whenever he lay down, 
 threw off the pressure from the artery, and covered the 
 room with blood before the pressure could be reapplied. 
 He was compelled to sit up in a chair for six or seven 
 weeks, sleeping when he could by leaniug his head 
 upon a table before him. He died July, 1817, at his 
 residence on Broad River. He was a member of the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 17 
 
 Methodist Church from 1S09 until his death. He left 
 a widow and nine children. 
 
 Elizabeth Lewis, the w r ife of Thomas M. Gilmer, 
 was the daughter of Thomas Lewis and Jane Strother. 
 She has now passed her 89th year, and been a widow 
 more than thirty-five. Her ceaseless industry and un- 
 tiring care have aided to make her children rich. She 
 still enjoys the good things of life with a pleasant relish. 
 She has endured its evils with unfailing patience. Ma- 
 lice and envy seem never to have found a resting-place 
 with her for a moment. Cheerfulness constantly shines 
 in her face, and is heard in her voice. Her gentle spirit 
 never reproaches. Necessity alone limits the extent of 
 her kindness. Charity covers the faults of others from 
 her sight, whilst gratitude is ever filling her heart for 
 forgiveness of her own. 
 
 Peachy Pidgway, the oldest son of Thomas Gil- 
 mer, is social, hospitable, and free-spoken, like his grand- 
 father, after whom he was named, with the industrious 
 habits which the necessities of a new country and his 
 father’s control forced upon him. He is the best rider, 
 the best shot, and most successful hunter of the country. 
 He married Mary Boutwell, daughter of Daniel Hafvie, 
 of Broad River — a guileless, pretty, modest woman, 
 whom it was impossible to know and not to love. Af- 
 ter her death, he married Mrs. Caroline Thomas, w r hose 
 goodness made her a suitable successor to his first wife. 
 He has lost all his children, except his youngest daugh- 
 ter, the widow of Dr. Grattan. He is a capital planter, 
 and has acquired great wealth. His present residence 
 is in the State of Alabama, near the City of Mont- 
 gomery. 
 
 Mary Meriwether, the oldest daughter, is a wo- 
 man of good capacity. She married successively two 
 
18 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 very indolent, inefficient men, whom by lier industry 
 she saved from poverty. The first was Warner Talia- 
 ferro, brother of Col. Benjamin Taliaferro ; the second, 
 Nicholas Powers, a handsome Irishman. She is now a 
 widow with ten children — four by her first husband, 
 and six by her last. 
 
 Thomas Lewis, the second son, is a frugal, industri- 
 ous planter. He was well educated, and had com- 
 menced the study of medicine, when he found Nancy 
 Harvie more attractive than the doctor’s shop. She 
 was not very pretty in the eyes of others, but all agreed 
 with her husband that she made a good wife. Since 
 her death, he has recently married Mrs. Anne Harper. 
 He has six children. 
 
 George Rockingham, the third son, married Eliza 
 Frances Grattan. Though he has had no children, he 
 is as happy as any man ever was wdio had. His resi- 
 dence is within twenty miles of where he was born. 
 He hopes to have the pleasure of giving in this book 
 some further particulars of his wife and himself. 
 
 John, the fourth son, is clear-headed, sharp-witted, 
 attentive to his interests, and thriving:. He married 
 Lucy Johnson, the daughter of Col. Nicholas Johnson, 
 of Broad River. She was very pretty, and acted her 
 part well as a wife. After her death, he married Mrs. 
 Susan Gresham, the daughter of Mr. Joel Barnett, a 
 sensible, economical woman. He is very wealthy. He 
 resides in Mississippi, not far from the town of Colum- 
 bus. He has three children by his first wife, and four 
 by his last. 
 
 William Benjamin Strother, the fifth son, is a 
 judicious planter, and a very kind, good man. He is 
 very wealthy, and gives his money freely to his kin, 
 and those who need his assistance. He takes special 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 19 
 
 delight in educating poor, clever young ladies, and giving 
 them such other advantages as may add to their useful- 
 ness and success in life. He married Elizabeth Marks, 
 the daughter of Meriwether Marks, and great grand- 
 daughter of Gov. Mathews. He resides in Alabama, 
 near West Point, in Georgia. 
 
 Charles Lewis, sixth son, is kind, truthful, and 
 honest. He has been all his life devoted to books, but 
 has not yet learned to be wise in the ways of the world. 
 He never cheats, but has been very often cheated. He 
 does not believe in the maxim, “ fallitur fallentem non 
 est fraus."’ Fortunately, his brother William has always 
 taken special concern in his moneyed affairs. When 
 the receipts of the year are not ecpial to his expendi- 
 tures, William usually squares them. He married Miss 
 Nancy Marks, and after her death, Mrs. Matilda Kyle. 
 The first was modest and unjDretending, and the last is 
 yet acting her most difficult part in the most exemplary 
 way. Fie has six sons and one daughter by his first 
 wife, and two sons by his last. He resides in the City 
 of Montgomery, Alabama, 
 
 Lucy Ann Sophia, the second daughter, is a most 
 notable housekeeper, a very loving wife, fond mother, 
 and efficient member of society. FXer husband, B. S. 
 Bibb, of Montgomery, Alabama, the present senator 
 of that county, is a gentleman of wealth and great re- 
 spectability. They have five children. One of their 
 daughters married a descendant of the Indian Princess, 
 Pocahontas. 
 
 James Jackson, the seventh son, was named after 
 General Jackson, of Georgia, whom every body admit- 
 ted to be a brave man and devoted patriot. This 
 youngest son missed the training to work which his 
 brothers received, and yet has escaped the spendthrift 
 
20 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 habits which usually follow idleness. He is a success- 
 ful planter, and one of the wealthy men of Alabama. 
 He married Elizabeth, daughter of Reuben Jordan, a 
 descendant of the Indian Princess, Pocahontas. They 
 have five children. 
 
 George, the second son of Peachy Ridgway Gil- 
 mer, had regular features, and an erect, perfectly-formed 
 person. His father never sent him from home to school, 
 or to mix in society. His modest diffidence was never 
 worn off. He sought for a wife only among his cousins, 
 because they were free in their intercourse with him. 
 They happened always to be engaged. His under- 
 standing was capable of great things ; but its exercise 
 was confined to a very limited circle of observation. 
 His discernment was quick and clear, and his judgment 
 unequalled for correct conclusions upon all matters 
 within his examination. His temper and feelings were 
 as simple, sincere, and affectionate as a child’s. He 
 never bought or sold for profit. He inherited the 
 valuable Lethe land, upon which he lived, spending its 
 products in hospitality and kindness, without seeking 
 or making any accumulation. His truthfulness and in- 
 tegrity were never doubted. His kindness to his 
 negroes was without limit. His man, “ Great Billy,” 
 owned three horses through his master’s means. After 
 “ Great Billy ” lost his first wife, he courted a young- 
 girl at Lethe, and tempted her to marry him, by offer- 
 ing to keep a gig for her to ride in. When he died, his 
 master sold his horses, and paid the proceeds of the 
 sale, amounting to between tsvo and three hundred 
 dollars, to Great Lilly’s children, the negroes of a 
 neighbor. Sterne’s description of Uncle Toby was 
 realized in my uncle George’s character. Not a fly 
 ever perished by his thoughtlessness or cruelty. Lor 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 21 
 
 the last twenty years of his life, he rode a noble horse 
 of his own raisins;. Sorrel never was in harness. He 
 carried his master wherever he went, especially once a 
 week during the summer months across the Shenandoah 
 River, to the top of the Blue Ridge Mountain, where 
 he salted his cattle. Sorrel was never known to leave 
 him, though often left without confinement. When his 
 master died, Sorrel was carried from Lethe to Major 
 Grattan’s, where he continued to be served by Major 
 Grattan’s children as if he were akin to them. None 
 but the youngest were ever put upon his back. When 
 they were, he would walk about with as much care as 
 if he knew the preciousness of w r hat he carried. Occa- 
 sionally he would leave his pasture, and go to Lethe, as 
 if in search of something he had lost. He was always 
 sent for as soon as missed, lest he should suffer for the 
 want of food. Sorrel lived to be thirty-seven years old. 
 When he died, he was buried with the greatest affection 
 by Major Grattan’s children and grandchildren, as if 
 he had been the last remnant of their good uncle. 
 
 George Gilmer continued to indulge his negroes as 
 long as he lived. During the last years of his life he 
 was unable to attend to his farm. His negroes were so 
 idle that he was obliged to buy corn and meat to feed 
 them. He died a bachelor beyond seventy years, with- 
 out having been once drunk, or done one act of stin- 
 giness. 
 
 Mary Peachy, the oldest daughter of Peachy R. 
 Gilmer, was a round-faced, full-personed, black-eyed 
 brunette. Pier cheerfulness, unaffected simplicity, kind 
 manners, and affectionate temper, made her a universal 
 favorite. Her want of guile was beyond the belief of 
 the bad. She loved father, mother, brothers, sisters, 
 uncles, aunts, and cousins, so much, that there was no 
 
22 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 spare place in her heart for suitors. She was more 
 courted than any young lady of the country. Andrew 
 Lewis loved her from her youth to his death. He lost 
 an arm whilst he was an officer under General Wayne, 
 in his campaigns against the western Indians, where he 
 also confirmed his habit of drinking whiskey, which he 
 had formed when young. He was intelligent, and 
 would have been handsome but for his want of an arm. 
 He had too much respect for Peachy Gilmer, when so- 
 ber, to ask her to marry him. He never failed pressing 
 her to do so if he saw her when drunk. 
 
 Peachy Gilmer had neither the taste nor capacity 
 for investigating sectarian controversies. She was by 
 inheritance an Episcopalian. When she died, she left 
 part of her estate to build a church in Mississippi, for 
 the special use of the Episcopalians. 
 
 Elizabeth Thornton, the second daughter of Peachy 
 R. Gilmer, married Major Robert Grattan. She is 
 described elsewhere. 
 
 Lucy, the third daughter of Peachy R. Gilmer, was 
 clear-minded, strong-willed, and high-principled. She 
 was not handsome. She was seldom courted w T hen 
 young. When she was beyond thirty, she met Burton 
 Taliaferro, a handsome, agreeable man, who pressed her 
 with such an appearance of earnest love to marry him. 
 that her heart yielded before her judgment was in- 
 formed. He was known by her friends to be such a 
 selfish, profligate fellow, that when she told her sister 
 Peachy that she intended to marry him, she fell faint- 
 ing at her feet. Upon being convinced of his unworthi- 
 ness, she rejected him. But the effort came near tak- 
 ing her life. When I went to Virginia three years 
 after, I found my aunt but a shadow of what she had 
 been. She ventured one day, when wm were alone, to 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 23 
 
 ask me what had become of Burton Taliaferro ? I told 
 her that, immediately after his visit to Lethe, he had 
 married an old maiden miser, and that before their 
 marriage, she had secured her property to her own use, 
 permitting her husband to have only sufficient for good 
 eating, drinking, and dressing, and that his appearance, 
 when I had seen him a short time before, indicated that 
 he would soon eat and drink himself to death. My 
 aunt made no comments upon my information. She 
 gradually recovered her health from that time. It was 
 long, however, before she ceased to remember unpleas- 
 antly those who had opposed her will to marry Burton 
 Taliaferro. Her affection for Major Grattan and his 
 family had always been very great. It became more 
 and more engrossing, until she almost ceased to care for 
 any body else after the death of her brother George. 
 She loved her niece, Lucy Grattan, as if she had been 
 her own child — petting her, and doing whatever she 
 could to please her as long as she lived. 
 
 The last years of Lucy Gilmer’s life were passed in 
 great bodily suffering. The consolations of religion, the 
 devoted love of her niece, Lucy Grattan (now Mrs. Dr, 
 Harris), the never-tiring patience and care of Robert 
 Grattan and his admirable wife, and the affection of 
 their children, made the last years of my aunt as toler- 
 able as possible. 
 
 Frances Walker, the fourth daughter of Peachy R, 
 Gilmer, was ten years younger than the nest youngest 
 child. She was the petted and humored one of her 
 family. She married Richard Taliaferro. They had 
 seven children. Their daughter Elizabeth married 
 Gov. Brown, of Mississippi, now Senator in Congress 
 from that State. They are all dead but one, Mrs. Mary 
 Adams, of Mississippi. 
 
24 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Richard Taliaferro was near six feet high, full and 
 well-proportioned, with black curling hair, handsome 
 features, easy, graceful manners, and an abundant sup- 
 ply of agreeable chit-chat. He belonged to an Italian 
 family, who were famous for fighting in the times of 
 chivalry. Richard Taliaferro was the relation of Presi- 
 dent Monroe, and connected by marriage with Presi- 
 dent Madison, and, through Achille Murat, with the 
 Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, 
 
 George Gilmer, the second son of Dr. George Gil- 
 mer, of Williamsburg, availed himself fully of the 
 advantages afforded by William and Mary College, 
 then the best classical school in the colonies. He 
 studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. Thomas Walker, 
 and afterwards attended the Medical College in Edin- 
 burgh. He married his first cousin, the daughter of 
 Dr. Walker. He practised his profession for some time 
 in Charlottesville, and afterwards at Penpark, his resi- 
 dence in the country. His reputation as a physician 
 was unsurpassed. His habit was to devote himself ex- 
 clusively to each case of doubtful issue until its termi- 
 nation. A father once left a child under his care so 
 hopelessly ill, that upon meeting the doctor before he 
 got home, he asked how long his child had lingered be- 
 fore its death, and was told to his astonishment that he 
 had recovered. Dr. Gilmer’s temper was ardent, his 
 habits social, and his taste literary. He was occasion- 
 ally called upon to speak during the revolutionary 
 war, and the first formation of parties under the Con- 
 stitution. The old people who remember these ad- 
 dresses, report them to have been unequalled in elo- 
 quence. He was the neighbor and intimate friend of 
 Mr. Jefferson, and a decided republican in politics. He 
 loved conversation and good eating, and died of para- 
 lysis. He left a numerous family of children. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 25 
 
 Walker, the oldest son of Dr. George Gilmer, studied 
 medicine with his father, and attended the medical col- 
 lege in Edinburgh. His extraordinary genius and ac- 
 quirements were exciting in his friends the most flatter- 
 ing hopes of his future greatness when he died. 
 
 Peachy Ridgway, the secoud son, was a lawyer, 
 and remarkable for agreeable conversation and social 
 habits. He married the niece of Mrs. Trist, the friend 
 and correspondent of Mr. Jefferson, whose grandson 
 was lately United States Commissioner to Mexico. 
 Peachy R. Gilmer loved good eating, like his father, 
 and like him died of paralysis. His daughter Emma, a 
 very charming young lady, married a son of General 
 Brackenridge. AVilliam, his oldest son, is unrivalled as 
 a wit. His son George is one of the Judges of the Cir- 
 cuit Court of Virginia, and a man of very great worth. 
 
 George Gilmer, the third son, was the only male 
 member of Dr. Gilmer’s family who was not distin- 
 guished for talents. He was a man of truth and prob- 
 ity, of unrivalled amenity of manners, and great kind- 
 ness. He married Miss Hudson, whose taste, cultivation, 
 superior intellect and piety, made her an admirable 
 mother to fit sous for usefulness and greatness. 
 
 Thomas Walker, the oldest son of George Gilmer, 
 entered upon the business of life without the advantages 
 of wealth or thorough education. He labored however 
 with his might, after the best ends, by the best means 
 he could command. His success proved that his talents 
 were equal to his energy. Plis profession was the law. 
 Whilst engaged in practice, he edited a newspaper. He 
 assailed what was wrong with such hearty, vigorous 
 blows, that he brought upon himself the violent enmity 
 of the bad, and had to fight for his life. As soon as his 
 merits became publicly known, the people of Albe- 
 
26 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 marie (the comity of his birth and residence) chose 
 him for their representative in the State Legislature. 
 His industry and eloquence soon made him the most 
 prominently useful member of the house in which he 
 served. He was elected its Speaker. Each ascent 
 showed more and more obviously his fitness for elevated 
 station. He was made Governor of the State. His 
 duty required him to enforce the rights of the citizens 
 of Virginia against violators in other States. He made 
 a demand of the Governor of Hew York for the deliv- 
 ery up of a fugitive slave, wdio declined doing what 
 the Constitution and his official oath required him to 
 do — cloaking his refusal under the mantle of conscience 
 — a covering ivliicli the dishonest find but little diffi- 
 culty in stretching to suit their wicked purposes. 
 Walker Gilmer advised the Legislature to retaliate 
 upon the citizens of New York, until justice should be 
 done to the citizens of Virginia. The Legislature de- 
 clined following the advice. He resigned. Lie was 
 soon after elected a member of Congress, and was 
 shortly afterwards appointed by the President of the 
 United States Secretary of the Navy. Whilst he was 
 attending to his official duty, by endeavoring to increase 
 the efficiency of the navy, he lost his life by the burst- 
 ing of a cannon. 
 
 He was eminently suited for public station, and still 
 more so for the walks of private life. He was the staff 
 of his father, and the joy of his mother. He sought a 
 wife who could think, feel, and act with him and for 
 him. He found her without fortune, but above all 
 price. He died in the prime of life. What his in- 
 domitable energy would have done, strengthened and 
 directed as it was by purity of purpose, and clear, 
 strong, vigorous intellect, none can say. Judging by 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 27 
 
 what lie did, lie would, if lie liad lived, have been the 
 first man of his country, as he was of his name. 
 
 A gentleman walking on the banks of the Potomac 
 River, early on a Sunday morning, whilst W alker Gil- 
 mer was Secretary of the Navy, saw a crowd standing 
 with their hats off, listening most attentively. Ap- 
 proaching, he found Walker Gilmer on his knees, pray- 
 ing with the fishermen. 
 
 John, the fourth son of Dr. Gilmer, was silent and 
 reserved in manners, of good understanding, and excel- 
 lent character. He was a physician. Pie married Miss 
 Minor. His daughter Lucy, his only child now living, 
 is married to Mr. Frank Minor, her first cousin. 
 
 James and Harmer, the fifth and sixth sons of Dr. 
 Gilmer, were clever and talented. Both died young 
 and unmarried. 
 
 Frank, the youngest son, was the most talented of 
 this talented family. His genius, extraordinary capa- 
 city, great industry, sober habits, and ambition, would 
 have made him one of the most distinguished of his 
 countrymen, if his life had been spared long enough. 
 He wrote one or two numbers of “The Old Bachelor,” 
 several articles in the Virginia Evangelical Magazine, 
 and published a volume of essays whilst he was yet a 
 youth. He was an enthusiastic admirer of John Ran- 
 dolph’s elocpience. He used to leave his school in 
 Georgetown, when a boy, to listen to Mr. Randolph 
 whenever he knew that he was about to speak. The 
 peculiar thoughts, and emphatic manner of expressing 
 them by the orator, made so ineffaceable an impression 
 upon him, that he could repeat whatever he heard from 
 him in his own words. He studied law with Mr. Wirt, 
 his brother-in-law, and continued through life upon the 
 most intimate terms with him. His love of science was 
 
28 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 as great as liis devotion to literature. He travelled 
 through the Western and Southern States in company 
 with the Abbe Couria, when a young man, that he 
 might be assisted in his investigations by the learning 
 of that great naturalist. When the University of Vir- 
 ginia was about going into operation, he was employed 
 by Mr. Jefferson and its Board of Trustees, to go to 
 Europe and select its professors. As he returned home, 
 after executing his commission very satisfactorily, he 
 suffered so much from a violent storm, to which the 
 vessel in which he sailed was exposed, that his health 
 was wrecked though the vessel was saved. He was 
 appointed Law Professor of the University, but died 
 before he commenced the discharge of his duties. 
 
 Dr. Gilmer’s daughter, Mildred, was a cheerful, 
 frank, sensible woman. She married William Wirt, 
 whose glossy curling hair, fine person, and expressive 
 features, made him one of the handsomest of men ; — 
 whose clear, strong, melodious voice, extraordinary 
 taste, and admirable execution in music, ready wit, 
 humor, and hilarity, made him the most charming com- 
 panion ; — whose talents, learning, and graceful address, 
 made him the equal of the most celebrated American 
 orators. 
 
 Lucy, Dr. Gilmer’s second daughter, was a most ex- 
 cellent lady. She married Peter Minor, of Albemarle, 
 a planter of wealth and respectability. Their son 
 Frank has the industry, mental capacity, and learning 
 of his grandfather, Dr. Gilmer, with equable temper 
 and firm physical constitution. Although he is a gen- 
 tleman of wealth, he devotes his time and talents to 
 training the promising youth of his country for future 
 usefulness — conduct worthy of the highest honor, and 
 will not be forgotten when his country counts its 
 jewels. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 29 
 
 John Gilmer, the third son of Dr. George Gilmer, 
 of Williamsburg, was a very handsome, gay, gallant 
 man, whose person and purse were at the service of 
 every pretty woman who would command them. He 
 went to Scotland to receive the fortune left him by his 
 grandfather Blair. He indulged in the pleasures of 
 European society until he spent more than his Scotch 
 inheritance. Soon after his return to Virginia, he mar- 
 ried Mildred Meriwether, whose industry and economy 
 prevented her husband’s generous wastefulness making 
 his children destitute. He was an officer under the 
 Marquis La Fayette at the siege of York, and perform- 
 ed his duty well. Soon after the termination of the 
 war, he removed to Georgia, and settled on Broad 
 Fiver. He had a large family of children. Sober re- 
 flection, and the hard realities of frontier life, made an 
 altered man of him. He became pious, and died at the 
 place marked on the map as his in 1790. 
 
 Thornton, the oldest son of John Gilmer, married 
 Martha ILarvie. He was a very handsome, honorable, 
 upright man, well educated for the practice of physic, 
 and devoted to it. He did not succeed, however, as 
 most of the Broad River people did, in acquiring riches. 
 He was like a musical instrument strung too high for 
 the room in which it is played. His lofty, gentlemanly 
 bearing did not move in unison with those upon whom 
 he depended for practice. He removed to Kentucky, 
 and afterwards to Illinois, where he still lives very 
 much respected. 
 
 Nicholas, the second son, married Amelia Clark, 
 the daughter of Micajah Clark. He is a kind-hearted, 
 truthful, honest man, with uncommon capacity for me- 
 chanism. He removed to Kentucky more than thirty 
 years ago, where he still resides. His wife became de- 
 
30 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 ranged as her mother had been. His trials have been 
 the hardest to which good people are ever subjected. 
 His patience in bearing them has been most exemplary. 
 
 Francis Meriwether, the third son, married Mar- 
 tha Barnett, daughter of William Barnett, of Broad 
 River. lie removed to Montgomery, Alabama, where 
 he still resides. Fie is very industrious, and has ac- 
 quired great wealth. Flis wife is a sensible, energetic 
 woman. They have five children. 
 
 George Oglethorpe, fourth son, was a man of de- 
 cision, enterprise, and good understanding. He re- 
 moved to Kentucky, then to Alabama, and afterwards 
 to Louisiana, where he died. He married Martha 
 Johnson, daughter of Nicholas Johnson, of Broad River. 
 He acquired great wealth. His oldest sou, James Blair 
 Gilmer, married Eliza Gilmer, daughter of Peachy R. 
 Gilmer, and after her death, the Widow Picket, of Red 
 River, the daughter of Dr. Graftenried, of South Caro- 
 lina. He is enterprising to recklessness, and very de- 
 termined in his purposes. He is possessed of one of 
 the largest planting estates in the United States. His 
 crop of cotton last year exceeded three thousand bags. 
 
 David, fifth son of John Gilmer, married a daughter 
 of Micajali Clark. She became deranged like her mo- 
 ther and sister. He now resides in Arkansas. 
 
 Harrison Blair, oldest daughter of John Gilmer, 
 married Gabriel Christian, a Methodist preacher, whom 
 scarcely any one ever heard from inclination the second 
 time. Though he was wanting in the powers to per- 
 suade others to become Christians, he followed faith- 
 fully the straight and narrow path- himself. Mrs. 
 Christian was a mild, amiable, patient woman. They 
 had children. 
 
 Betsey, the second daughter, married Tom McGehee, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 31 
 
 the oldest son of Micajah McGeliee. They resided on 
 Goosepond Creek, at the place marked as his on the 
 map of the Broad River Settlement. Tom was a rough, 
 truthful, hard-working man. His wife, though pretty, 
 was very attentive to her domestic affairs. 
 
 Sally, the third daughter, married Burton Talia- 
 ferro, the brother of Col. Benjamin Taliaferro. She 
 died within the year afterwards, leaving a daughter, 
 who died whilst a child. 
 
 Jane, the fourth daughter, married Tom Johnson, 
 the nephew of Nicholas Johnson, of Broad River, and 
 after his death, Abner McGehee, now of Montgomery, 
 Alabama. She was a stirring, bustling woman, and 
 made herself very acceptable to both her husbands. 
 
 THE GRATTANS. 
 
 John Grattan was a native of Ireland, and remark- 
 able for those qualities which make the better class of 
 the Irish the cleverest of European people. He and 
 Henry Grattan, the most eloquent man of modern 
 times, belonged to the same family stock. 
 
 The first act which tradition makes known of John 
 Grattan, was his going into Scotland, and, Irishman-like, 
 falling desperately in love with a beautiful young lady, 
 whom he accidentally met wdth at a boarding-school, 
 asking her father to let him marry her, and upon his 
 consenting only upon condition that his daughter should 
 first finish her education, courting 1 her until she married 
 him without the required delay. The bold, ardent 
 spirit with which he commenced life, led John Grattan 
 
32 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 to emigrate to America. He remained in Philadelphia 
 a few years, and then settled wliere the great road from 
 the west to the north crosses the Shenandoah Eiver. 
 He was a merchant, and continued for most of his after 
 life to supply that part of the valley with foreign goods. 
 In the contest between liberty and power, he, like most 
 of his countrymen, took the side of the weak and the 
 oppressed. He was an actor in the meeting in Staun- 
 ton, in 1775, when the people declared their determi- 
 nation to “ devote themselves to the support of the 
 measures for the preservation of American liberty.” 
 Though he was too old for soldiering; when the light 
 for Independence commenced, he did the work of a 
 good Whig, by encouraging others to do so. He built 
 the first good manufacturing flour-mill in the Shenan- 
 doah Valley, and contributed from it a portion of the 
 two hundred barrels which were sent by the people of 
 Augusta County to the relief of the inhabitants of 
 Boston when besieged by the British army. 
 
 When John Grattan settled in Western Virginia, 
 but little coin circulated there. Trade was managed in 
 the old way of barter. The goods bought of the mer- 
 chant were paid for in cattle, ginseng, pink-root, bear 
 and deer skins. These articles were disposed of in 
 Philadelphia. This part of John Grattan’s business 
 was usually transacted by his wife. She went to Phil- 
 adelphia on horseback, directed the drovers, sold the 
 roots, cattle, and pelfries, and bought the goods for her 
 husband’s stores. She was frequently accompanied by 
 one of her daughters, most usually Catharine, who was 
 afterwards Mrs. Gamble, of Iiichmond. Her Irish 
 friends in the city enabled her and her daughter to 
 pass what time they had to spare for pleasure very 
 agreeably in the best society. The old lady, smart as 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 33 
 
 she was, made one trade still remembered freshly by the 
 family. She was in Philadelphia during the revolu- 
 tionary war, selling her stock of cattle for a stock of 
 goods, when some trader offered her scrip, or conti- 
 nental paper money, for cattle, at the rate of two dol- 
 lars for one of coin. "When she left home, the depreci- 
 ation was but fifty per cent. The apparent profits were 
 too large to be resisted. Paper was bought instead of 
 goods. The lady speculator set off for home, exulting 
 in her financial shrewdness. Each day’s travel lowered 
 her anticipations of profit, until she reached home, when 
 three dollars in scrip were worth only one in specie. 
 But an Irishman’s heart is ever fuller of love for woman 
 than money. John Grattan removed the depression 
 from his wife’s feelings by impressing his love upon her 
 lips. 
 
 John Grattan was a Scotch -Irish Presbyterian, of 
 the old Covenanters’ faith and practice. He sung Da- 
 vid’s Psalms in long metre. Nothing gave him more 
 the temper to swear, than to hear in church, upon a 
 sacramental occasion, a Methodist spiritual song sung 
 in short measure. According to the fashion of his peo- 
 ple, he prayed long prayers with his family before they 
 went to bed, especially on Sabbath evenings. On one 
 occasion he was unusually prolix. When he got up 
 from his knees, one of the boys remained in his praying- 
 posture. The old lady went to him, patted him softly 
 on the head, saying, “Johnny, Johnny ! I thought Fa- 
 ther Grattan was long enough ! ” Though J ohn Grat- 
 tan’s residence was on the frontiers, he retained the 
 manners and dress of the old-time gentleman, wearing 
 always a full suit of black, and powdered wig, when he 
 went into company. Mrs. Grattan was one of the most 
 beautiful women of the country. She retained until 
 
Si 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 old age the cliarms which so captivated her husband 
 when he first saw her. She was a warm patriot in the 
 time of the Stamp Act and duty upon tea. The anti- 
 tea resolutions of the patriot ladies of the Colonies dis- 
 turbed her very much. She had acquired such a 
 strong love for it, that she could not dispense with its 
 use. So she discarded the tea-pot from the table, drew 
 her tea in a pitcher, and drank it as usual, letting it 
 pass for a decoction of medicinal herbs, then very much 
 in use for various complaints. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Grattan had seven children. They 
 desired to marry their daughter Catharine to a rich old 
 Philadelphia merchant, who, seeing her in company 
 with her mother in one of her trading expeditions, fan- 
 cied and followed her in a fine carriage to Virginia. 
 The Scotch-Irish rule of obedience to parents was too 
 implicit in those times to permit a daughter to say nay. 
 So Catharine ran away, and concealed herself in the 
 house of a friend, until the man of money lost his pa- 
 tience and returned home. Her will was strengthened 
 by the entreaties of Robert Gamble, a neighbor, and 
 her devoted admirer, whose merits she discovered be- 
 fore her father and mother. Their consent was at last 
 given, and the young lovers married. Robert Gamble 
 was an officer in the Revolutionary Army, very early 
 in the war for Independence, and continued to serve to 
 its close. He was always with the main army, and un- 
 der the immediate command of General Washington. 
 Once in every two years he visited his wife on furlough. 
 At each succeeding visit he found a prattling babe to 
 add to the pleasures of his renewed visit. Immediate- 
 ly after the war ended, Col. Gamble removed from his 
 residence in the county near the old stone church, to 
 Staunton, where he commenced his continued vocation 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 35 
 
 afterwards of buying and selling goods. His sound 
 sense, constant application to liis employment, integrity 
 and aptness at securing the confidence of those with 
 whom he dealt, soon rendered him so prosperous, that 
 he removed to Richmond, as a theatre more suitable 
 for his enlarged capacity. He became one of the prin- 
 cipal traders to Europe in that city. Whilst he was 
 yet hale in health, active in his pursuits, and becoming 
 more and more respected and confided in by his coun- 
 trymen, he was hilled by being thrown from his horse. 
 Mrs. Gamble survived her husband many years. She 
 is still remembered as one of the most sensible, pious, 
 efficient women, who has ever influenced the society of 
 the City of Richmond. Their son John, was educated 
 at the best schools of the county, and graduated at 
 Princeton with the first honor of his class. He was 
 Chief Justice Marshall’s Secretary, when he was United 
 States Minister at the Court of France. He married 
 Miss Duncan, the daughter of a wealthy English gen- 
 tleman ; and after her death, Miss Greenup, the daugh- 
 ter of Governor Greenup, of Kentucky. He and his 
 brother Robert continued the mercantile business of 
 their father, until they lost most of their inherited 
 wealth from the embarrassments created by the re- 
 stricted policy of Mr. Jefferson’s administration, and the 
 war that followed. 
 
 Robert, their second son, married the daughter of 
 Gen. Brackenridge, of Virginia. The brothers have 
 removed to Florida, where they are distinguished for 
 their generous hospitality. 
 
 Haney, their oldest daughter, is a most excellent 
 lady. She married William IT. Cabell, who was Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia at an age when other aspiring men 
 are mounting the first round of ambition’s ladder. He 
 
36 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEROGIA. 
 
 was Judge of the Court of Appeals for forty years, and 
 its President when he died. Conjugal affection was 
 never seen in a more pleasing aspect, than when the 
 eyes of the old President of the Court of Appeals met 
 his aged wife’s. 
 
 Elizabeth, the second daughter of Col. and Mrs. 
 Gamble, married William Wirt, wdio was Attorney- 
 General of the United States — a beautiful writer, tal- 
 ented lawyer, and eloquent public speaker. She is one 
 of the most accomplished and intellectual ladies who 
 has ever figured in the cabinet coteries of Washington 
 City. 
 
 John Grattan’s daughter Elizabeth married Col. 
 Samuel Brown, of Greenbrier. Samuel Brown and his 
 brother John w'ere, when boys (in 1764), made pris- 
 oners by the northwestern Indians, and carried by them 
 to their wigwams, near the lakes. Samuel was restored 
 to his family in Virginia after five years captivity. His 
 brother John married an Indian woman, and became 
 a great chief. He acted quite a conspicuous part in the 
 last war with Great Britain. 
 
 Samuel Brown was a quiet, good man, who thought 
 every thing his wife said and did, right. 
 
 John Grattan’s daughter Agnes married Col. Eli- 
 jah Page. They removed to Kentucky, and settled 
 within a mile or two of Lexington. Two of their sons 
 volunteered to serve against the Indians and British in 
 1812, when the oldest was too young to be drafted. 
 At Winchester’s defeat, they stood by the gallant Ma- 
 jor Madison, fighting until all other resistance ceased. 
 They were made prisoners. Having been greatly heat- 
 ed in the fight, when the battle was over they became 
 very cold. The old chief to whom they surrendered, 
 seeing their sufferings, took the blanket from his own 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 37 
 
 shoulders, and threw it over the youngest. When they 
 arrived at the wigwam of their captor, they were or- 
 dered to cut wood and make a fire. Whilst they were 
 obeying, they observed the young squaws laughing at 
 them for doing squaws’ work. They threw down the 
 axes, and refused to cut any more. The Indian to 
 whom they belonged was delighted at their spirit. 
 After remaining prisoners for several months, they 
 made their escape, through many wonderful adventures, 
 to Detroit, from whence they were sent home. Mrs. 
 Page was one of the most beautiful women of our coun- 
 try, and as sensitive and affectionate as she was good- 
 looking. Her brother, Major Grattan, visited the 
 western country, and went into her house without her 
 expecting him. The sight of her beloved brother, 
 whom she had not seen for years, so overcame her, that 
 she fell to the floor senseless. Alexander Herring, who 
 knew her w r ell when in her youthful beauty, said, after 
 a visit she made to her friends in Virginia when sbe 
 was old, that “she had lost more beauty than any other 
 woman ever had.” And when thus old and deprived 
 of her beauty, Dr. Speese said, that her countenance 
 was one of the most interesting he had ever looked at. 
 
 John Grattan’s daughter Margaret married Samuel 
 Miller, of Miller’s Iron Works — a powerful, cheerful, 
 sensible man, whom most men feared in anger, and all 
 loved who met him in kindness. Mrs. Miller was an 
 open-hearted, free-spoken, fearless woman. When her 
 husband was about fighting a pitched battle, soon after 
 their marriage, according to the custom among neigh- 
 bors at that time, she advised him not to strike too 
 high, saying that a blow in the face might disfigure, 
 but one about the short ribs would shorten the combat. 
 
 John Grattan’s son John was a promising young 
 
38 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 officer in one of the Virginia regiments in the Revolu- 
 tionary Army. He died in service, near Sunbury, 
 Georgia. 
 
 Robert Grattan, the youngest child of John Grat- 
 tan, was the pet and indulged one of his old age. Every 
 one did some work in former times. When Robert 
 was a boy, and employed in minding the gap whilst 
 the grain was hauled from the field, his mother had a 
 counterpane stretched over him, to keep off the sun, 
 whilst he scratched on the fiddle in the shade. He 
 commenced business with a good estate, in co-partner- 
 ship with his frugal brother-in-law, Col. Gamble. His 
 open-handed liberality and generous hospitality less- 
 ened it more than it was increased by the profits of 
 trade. He commanded a splendid company of cavalry 
 against the whiskey insurgents of Pennsylvania. His 
 intercourse with General Washington during the time, 
 made the strongest impression upon his excitable na- 
 ture. One of the incidents of this service which he 
 used to tell, was of a bet made by Harry Lee, the most 
 impudent of men, that he could tap General Washing- 
 ton on the shoulder, look him in the face, and ask him 
 an impertinent question. How when General Lee 
 went up to the side of General Washington, then stand- 
 ing on the parade ground directing the movements of 
 the army, and placed his hand familiarly on the gen- 
 eral’s arm, the great chief turned upon him his stern 
 commanding look, until Lee shrunk away, and paid his 
 bet— the only kind of debts he ever paid. 
 
 Major Grattan’s health failed from the unsuitable- 
 ness of storekeeping to his quick, active spirit. He 
 returned to his farm on North River, where he resided 
 until his death. He had all the admirable qualities of 
 the Irish race, to which he belonged. His house was 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. c9 
 
 open to every one. His kindness was ever pressing 
 hard upon liis means. He resided near the public road 
 from Staunton to Winchester. For twenty years the 
 stage never passed by his gate without some kind of 
 refreshments being sent to the passengers, and to Bog- 
 get, the old crippled soldier of the Revolution, who 
 owned and usually accompanied it. 
 
 The cordial affection and unlimited confidence be- 
 tween Major Grattan and George Gilmer was scarcely 
 ever equalled. Their entire trust in each other used to 
 renew the impressions made by my early reading how 
 Damon stood composedly at the place of execution, ex- 
 pecting his friend, yet more than willing to die for him, 
 and how, soon after, a shout away beyond the crowd 
 was heard, and Pythias seen with arm uplifted, press- 
 ing with might and main towards the place of execution, 
 to save his friend from death by dying himself. 
 
 Ho one ever doubted Major Grattan’s word who 
 looked at him, or listened to him. His face, voice, and 
 every thing about him, declared his sincerity. He had 
 a fine commanding person, six feet high, gray hair when 
 young, and dark bright eyes. His spirit of command 
 was so natural and easy, that his children never thought 
 of disobedience. All his household reverenced and 
 loved him without measure. He was devoted to his 
 wife, and as kind a father as ever lived. 
 
 I was often at Major Grattan’s during a visit I made 
 to Virginia, in 1813, for the recovery of my health. 
 He invited me to become a citizen of Virginia, proffer- 
 ing, if I would settle in Rockingham, to do his best to 
 send me to Congress, Democrat as I was. And yet, 
 when I tried to ask him for his daughter nine years af- 
 ter, I found it one of the most difficult matters I had 
 ever undertaken to do. When I at last was able to 
 
40 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 say, by bis assistance, wbat I desired, be answered that 
 be preferred me for bis daughter’s husband to any one 
 in the world. Ilis only distress in our after intercourse 
 was, that be could not do enough for me. 
 
 Mrs. Grattan was the daughter of Peachy R. Gil- 
 mer, of Rockingham. She survived her husband many 
 years. Her temper was firm, and her understanding 
 vigorous. Her clear perception of right, and sensitive 
 conscientiousness of duty, made her entire life a pattern 
 of excellence for all who knew her. Her precepts 
 and example are exciting her children to do for them- 
 selves, their families, and society, what riches could not 
 do for them. Her sons are making their way to for- 
 tune and to fame along the road opened to them by 
 the constant labor and perseverance of their mother. 
 Her daughters, acting from the impulse of early im- 
 pressions, are diffusing happiness around them, so that 
 they may truly call their mother blessed. The devo- 
 tion and purity of the mother have placed a talisman 
 in the bosom of her children to charm away evil, and a 
 bright star of hope to lead them on to a common home- 
 in heaven. 
 
 Robert and Elizabeth Grattan left at their death 
 five children — three sons and two daughters. 
 
 Eliza Frances, the oldest, is written about so much 
 hereafter, that it would be out of place to say any thing 
 of her here. 
 
 Robert, their oldest son, was educated for the bar,, 
 and had commenced practice, when his father’s health 
 failed so entirely, that his presence became necessary to 
 take care of him and his affairs. He quitted his law- 
 office, and devoted himself to the discharge of the- 
 duties of a son. After his father’s death, he continued 
 his services to his aged mother and an infirm blind 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 41 
 
 aunt. When lie took charge of his father’s plantation, 
 it was overrun with bushes and briers, and yielding but 
 little profit. It is now covered with clover and stock, 
 and is one of the most beautiful and productive farms 
 in the valley. In all his efforts to improve his condi- 
 tion, he has been aided by his cheerful, industrious, 
 sensible wife. They have a house full of promising 
 children, whose future success is provided for in the 
 best way, by constant employment on the farm, in the 
 school-room, and at whatever else may tend to the for- 
 mation of habits of industry and usefulness. 
 
 Peachy Ridgway, the second son, is a lawyer, and 
 has been constantly from his youth devoted to his pro- 
 fession. His capital understanding and untiring indus- 
 try have placed him upon an equality with the most 
 distinguished men of the Richmond bar. His truthful- 
 
 O 
 
 ness, integrity, love of his wife, children, friends, coun- 
 try, and sincere piety, make him a friend worth having, 
 and a kinsman to be proud of. He married at twenty- 
 one, Elvira Furgerson, a descendant of the Bollings, of 
 the Pocahontas stock. She is ivell informed, neat, and 
 agreeable. They have so many sons and daughters, as 
 to impose upon their father the necessity of most inces- 
 sant and laborious exertions to educate and provide for 
 them. His fate looks hard; but the young Grattans 
 are so pretty and promising, that what would otherwise 
 be very heavy, loses its weight in the buoyancy of hope 
 for their future success and happiness. 
 
 Lucy Gilmer, Major Grattan's second daughter, is 
 said to be very much like her beautiful grandmother, 
 Elizabeth Brown. She married Dr. George W. Harris, 
 of Goochland, Virginia, who is as good a husband as 
 any woman ever was blessed with. She devotes herself 
 to flowers, home affairs, visiting the sick, and doing 
 
42 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 whatever she can to add to the happiness of others. 
 She is indeed too good to be described truthfully to 
 those who do not know her as I do. 
 
 John, the youngest son of Major Grattan, studied 
 medicine, and upon being prepared for practice, settled 
 n Morgan County, Georgia. He afterwards removed 
 to Columbus, Mississippi, where he died when the pros- 
 pect was opening of profitable practice, and of great 
 professional reputation. He had the gay, cheerful 
 spirit of his father, and the clear perceptions of his mo- 
 ther, — ivas truthful and upright. He married Martha, 
 the daughter of his kinsman, Peachy 11. Gilmer. She 
 now lives with her three children near her father, in 
 Montgomery, Alabama. She is a fond mother, an 
 affectionate daughter, and a kind kinswoman. 
 
 THE LEWISES. 
 
 John Lea-vis was a native of the County of Dublin, 
 in Ireland. His grandfather, or some still more re- 
 mote ancestor, removed from Wales to Ireland duilng 
 the civil wars of the time of Charles the First. Sev- 
 eral accounts of the Lewises have been written of late 
 years, in which they are said to have been descended 
 from a family of French Huguenots, who were driven 
 to England by the Edict of Nantz. My mother is in 
 her eighty-ninth year. I read aloud to her when a 
 small boy Hume’s History. When listening to the 
 account of the conquest of Wales, by Edward the First, 
 I recollect her saying that she had heard from her 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 43 
 
 father that the Lewellens were his kinspeople, and 
 that his ancestors had emigrated to Ireland from 
 Wales. She remembers Cromwell’s picture hanging 
 in his office-room, and his regarding it as a precious 
 relic of former times. The red hair and irascible tem- 
 per, which still continue to distinguish the Lewises, 
 indicate Welsh rather than French or English origin. 
 
 John Lewis married Margaret Linn. The biogra- 
 phers of the Lewises say that Margaret Limi was of 
 the Linns of Lock Linn, in Scotland. This sounds very 
 well, and may be so. But some circumstances, very 
 slight indeed, incline me to the opinion that the Linns 
 emigrated to Ireland from Wales, ivitli the Lewises. 
 
 In 1720, the Irish lord of whom John Lewis held 
 land, attempted to enforce some unjust demands upon 
 his tenant. An affray ensued, in which, according to 
 the account told of the affair by the Lewises, their an- 
 cestor performed wonderful feats of strength and cour- 
 age. It is certain that the attacking lord lost his life. 
 John Lewis took refuge in Portugal, with his brother- 
 in-law, Linn, a resident merchant there. Finding that 
 the power and influence of his enemies made his con- 
 tinuance in Lisbon unsafe, he crossed the Atlantic. 
 Upon being joined by his wife, he pushed into the in- 
 terior of Pennsylvania, and up the valley between the 
 first mountain ranges, until having passed beyond the 
 white settlements, he located near where the town of 
 Staunton now is, giving strong proof by his move- 
 ments that he dreaded Irish revenge more than Indian 
 massacre. The remains of an old stone house on Lew- 
 is’s Creek, a mile east of Staunton, still points out the 
 place where the white man first planted himself in 
 Western Virginia. 
 
 John Lewis was brave and enterprising. He sur- 
 
44 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 veyetl many tracts of valuable land, when fear of the 
 Indians deterred others from venturing into the back- 
 woods, and thus acquired sufficient territory in his 
 adopted country to have formed a principality in the 
 country from which he had fled in consequence of a 
 contest for a few acres. The Warm Springs, Sweet 
 Springs, and many other places of great value belonged 
 to him. His accounts to his friends and kinsmen in 
 Ireland of the advantages of New Virginia, attracted 
 to it the Alexanders, McDowels, Prestons, Pattons, 
 Mathewses, and others. 
 
 The frontier men of that part of the Colony of Vir- 
 ginia were but little restrained by law or the fear of 
 punishment. The Indian trail, which led from the 
 north to the south, and along which the warriors of the 
 northwestern Indians, the Clierokees, and Creeks, wend- 
 ed their way in attacks' upon each other, passed near 
 John Lewis’s house. They never failed in going by to 
 partake of his frontier Aire, and give him some token 
 of their friendship. 
 
 In June, 1754, a party of twelve Northwestern In- 
 dian warriors stopped at John Lewis’s on their return 
 from the South, where they had been satisfying their 
 revenge upon the Clierokees for some injury received. 
 Some of the neighbors happened to be there whose 
 families or friends had suffered from attacks of the 
 Indians. They insisted upon the party remaining 
 until night, and exhibiting their dances. Upon their 
 consenting, they left and employed the time until dark 
 collecting the neighbors who had suffered from Indian 
 murders. A beef was killed, and a large log fire made, 
 around which the Indians assembled, cooking and eat- 
 ing to their stomach’s content. They danced and 
 drank whiskey until their lookers-on were satisfied with 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 45 
 
 the display of their antics, and then went on their way 
 homeward as far as the Middle River, where they lodg- 
 ed in Anderson’s barn. As soon as they were sound 
 asleep, the whites were upon them with their axes, 
 knives, and guns. Only one escaped. For that night’s 
 doings many Virginia wives were made widows, and 
 mothers childless. The government of Virginia en- 
 deavored to punish the perpetrators. All fled to some 
 distant part of the extended frontier of the Colonies, 
 except one by the name of King, who lived a skulking 
 life for a long time, always keeping his gun near him. 
 He sometimes would go to the old Augusta Church, 
 the great assembling place for worship of the Scotch- 
 Irish of that part of the country, where, seated upon 
 the sill of the door with his inseparable companion the 
 rifle in his hand, he listened to the words of the 
 preacher, so necessary to the comfort of the Irish spirit, 
 whether Protestant or Catholic. He was suffered to 
 work out his own punishment, avoiding all men, and 
 avoided by all. 
 
 During the war which followed this outrage, John 
 Lewis provided for the defence of his family by forti- 
 fying his house. An attack was once made upon it by 
 a party of Indians, when his sons and men-servants 
 were absent. Though old and infirm, he stationed 
 himself at a port-hole, and kept up a constant shooting 
 at the Indians, whilst his wife reloaded the guns. His 
 sons and servants, hearing the repeated report of guns, 
 returned home and drove the Indians off. 
 
 John Lewis’s person was tall and muscular. He 
 had great strength, fearless spirit, hardy habits, and 
 was the best backwoodsman of his day. Being at 
 some public place, after the country about Staunton 
 was settled, he laid down his shillalah for a moment. 
 
46 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 A Tuckalioe, avIio was present, took it up to examine 
 its curious workmanship. John Lewis told him that 
 the custom in his country was, that he who took up 
 another’s cudgel must fight or treat. The people of 
 the old countries acquired, by coming to the colonies, 
 the spirit of doing, without restraint, what they pleased. 
 The Tuckalioe announced that he would not treat 
 through a threat. lie prepared for the cudgelling by 
 going into the woods close by and cutting a long hick- 
 ory stick, which he flailed in the middle until the two 
 ends could be brought together. He went back to 
 the company and announced himself ready to receive 
 the cudgelling. The Coliee and Tuckalioe stood up 
 near by, and facing each other, with the ends of their 
 sticks touching, as was the fashion of cudgel-playing. 
 When the word “ready” ivas pronounced by the 
 judges of the contest, the Tuckalioe drew back his 
 hickory cudgel and struck a blow with both hands and 
 all his might across the Cohee’s shillalah, then at the 
 scientific guard. The flailed part gave way, so that 
 the upper end came down Avith great force upon John 
 Lewis’s head and finished the fight. 
 
 John Lewis had four sons, Thomas, AndreAv, Charles, 
 and William. 
 
 Thomas, the oldest, was the Colonial Surveyor of 
 Augusta County, which then included within its limits 
 most of Western Virginia. A part of Gen. Washing- 
 ton’s great wealth Avas acquired by surveys of land 
 under his authority, or in common with him. After 
 the revolutionary war, Gen. Washington passed several 
 days at his house, arranging their land claims ; a visit 
 as well remembered as King Charles’s to Tillietudlum. 
 My father, then a youth of nineteen, returning from 
 my grandfather Lewis’s, where he had been visiting 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 47 
 
 my mother, met Gen. Washington fording the Shenan- 
 doah River, in the dusk of the evening. Gen. Wash- 
 ington asked him how he should go to Mr. Lewis’s. 
 My father, taking him for some big Dutchman of the 
 neighborhood who was poking fun at him for his fre- 
 quent visitings there, answered, “ Follow your nose.” 
 The people of Augusta County met in Staunton 
 the 22d of February, 1775, to take into consideration 
 the proceedings of the General Congress of the Colo- 
 nies in opposition to the unjust measures of Great Bri- 
 tain, and to appoint delegates to a Colonial Conven- 
 tion, to be held in Richmond. They chose Thomas 
 Lewis and Samuel McDowell. In their instructions to 
 their delegates, they say, “ Our rights we are fully re- 
 solved, with our lives and fortunes, inviolably to pre- 
 serve.” Thomas Lewis and Samuel McDowell address- 
 ed a letter to Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, 
 George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, 
 Benjamin Harrison, and Edward Pendleton, members 
 from Virginia to the General Congress, in which they 
 thank them for their maintenance of the cause of lib- 
 erty, and say, “May our hearts be open to receive, and 
 our arms strong to defend that liberty.” The Congress- 
 men reply : “ The assurance from the brave and spirit- 
 ed people of Augusta, that their hearts and hands shall 
 be devoted to the support of the measures for the pre- 
 servation of American liberty, gives us the highest sat- 
 isfaction, and must afford pleasure to every friend to 
 the just rights of mankind.” 
 
 Thomas Lewis was Commissioner of the Confedera- 
 tion, in 1777, to treat with the Indian tribes who had 
 been defeated at the battle of Point Pleasant. He 
 concluded a peace by which the best soldiers of the 
 Colony of Virginia were left at liberty to join the army 
 
48 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 under Gen. Washington, to fight for the independence 
 of their country, instead of remaining at home to de- 
 fend the frontiers from Indian massacres. 
 
 Thomas Lewis was a member of the Virginia Leg- 
 islature, when its proceedings gave tone to the public 
 voice throughout the Colonies. Lie was a member of 
 the Virginia Convention which ratified the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States, by a vote so nearly divided, 
 that the patriot yet rejoices at his country’s escape from 
 the anarchy which would have been the consequence 
 of a different result. Lie voted for ratification. 
 
 Thomas Lewis’s habits were studious, and his taste 
 literary. His library was large, and made up of classi- 
 cal books, when learning was a singular distinction in 
 Western Virginia. ILe married Jane Strother. They 
 had thirteen children. 
 
 Thomas Lewis’s three oldest sons, John, Andrew, 
 and Thomas, were officers in the revolutionary army. 
 John and Andrew were with Gen. Washington at Val- 
 ley Forge, and throughout the Jersey campaign. John 
 and Thomas were at the surrender of Cornwallis. An- 
 drew was an officer under General Wayne, in his ex- 
 pedition against the Western Indians, in If 9 5, and lost 
 an arm. 
 
 Thomas Lewis bequeathed most of his large estate 
 to his two youngest sons, Charles and Benjamin. 
 They lived near each other in Bockingham County, on 
 the Shenandoah River. They were very social, well 
 informed, respectable gentlemen. They were excluded 
 from office by their being federalists, when almost all 
 others in Rockingham were republicans. 
 
 Margaret Lewis, the oldest daughter of Thomas 
 Lewis, was a very sensible, well-informed woman. She 
 married Capt. McClannahan, who was afterwards killed 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 49 
 
 at the battle of the Point. Her second husband was 
 Col. Bowyer. 
 
 Agatha, the second daughter of Thomas Lewis, 
 married, when quite young, Capt. John Frog, her first 
 cousin. 
 
 About mid-day on the 10th of October, 1774, in 
 the town of Staunton, a little girl, the daughter of 
 John and Agatha Frog, and grand-daughter of Thomas 
 and Jane Lewis, was sleeping near her mother, when 
 suddenly she waked, screaming that the Indians were 
 killing her father. She was quieted by her mother, 
 and again went to sleep. She again waked, screaming 
 that the Indians were killing her father. She was 
 again quieted and went to sleep, and was waked up by 
 the same horrid vision, and continued screaming be- 
 yond being hushed. The child’s mother was very 
 much alarmed at the first dream. But when the same 
 horrid sight was seen the third time, her Irish imagi- 
 nation, quickened by inherited superstition, presented 
 to her the spectacle of her husband scalped by the In- 
 dians. ITer cries drew together her neighbors, who, 
 upon being informed of what had happened, joined 
 their lamentations to hers, until all Staunton was in a 
 state of commotion. 
 
 It so happened that the great battle of the Point, 
 between the Western Indians and the Virginians, was 
 fought on the very day when all Staunton was thus 
 agitated. And what was still more wonderful, John 
 Frog, the father of the child who saw in her dream the 
 Indians killing her father, was actually killed by the 
 Indians on that day. 
 
 Mrs. Frog’s second husband was Capt. John Stuart. 
 
 When, in 1752, Robert Dinwiddie came over as 
 Governor of Virginia, he was accompanied by John 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Stuart, Iris intimate friend. John Paul, son of Hugh, 
 Bishop of Nottingham, a partisan of the house of Stuart, 
 was killed at the siege of Dalrymple Castle, in 1745. 
 He left a widow and three children ; — John, who be- 
 came a Roman Catholic priest, and died on the Eastern 
 shore of Maryland ; Audley, who was for ten years an 
 officer in the British colonial forces in Virginia ; and 
 Ann, who married George Mathews, afterwards Gov- 
 ernor of Georgia. Mrs. Paul, formerly Margaret Linn, 
 of the Linns of Lock Linn, a niece of Mrs. John Lewis, 
 married John Stuart. They had two children ; John, 
 who married Mrs. Frog, and known as Col. Stuart of 
 Greenbrier; and Betsey, who became the wife of Col. 
 Richard Woods, of Albemarle County, Virginia. 
 
 Capt. John Stuart did great service for his country, 
 and acquired distinguished reputation by his courage 
 and skill at the battle of the Point. His fame and the 
 fame of the incident which connected the widow Frog 
 with the battle of the Point, created such a sympathy 
 between them that when they met they married. 
 
 Col. Stuart’s estate was estimated, when he died, at 
 $200,000. His son Lewis was for a long time clerk 
 of Greenbrier County, then one of the most lucrative 
 offices of Western Virginia. 
 
 His son Charles graduated at Yale College ; was a 
 very sensible, respectable gentleman, and for some time 
 President of the Board of Public Works of Virginia. 
 
 Felder, the son of a poor German Switzer, who set- 
 tled and died in Richland District, South Carolina, had 
 industrious habits, and the strong desire to improve his 
 ^condition in life. Upon his acquiring sufficient know- 
 ledge of the classics for admittance into college, he “tra- 
 velled on foot and on the top of wagons to Charleston, 
 and in the most economical way to New Plaven. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 51 
 
 When he arrived there he strolled into the yard of 
 Yale College, knowing nobody, and without letters to 
 any one. As he was walking about, at a loss what to 
 do, stared at and laughed at by the passing college 
 boys, his distress was noticed by Charles Stuart, then 
 belonging to the senior class. He accosted Felder in a 
 friendly way, and upon being informed that he wished 
 to be admitted into college, aided him in his purpose, 
 and kept him with him until his rawness was overcome. 
 I served in Congress with Felder in 1827-8-9. We 
 met at the White Sulphur Springs in the summer of 
 1845, and went together to Lewisburg, the seat of 
 justice of Greenbrier County, where we found Charles 
 Stuart presiding in the County Court. I witnessed 
 their meeting, and sympathized with Felder’s ’ great 
 pleasure from the grateful recollection of kindness re- 
 ceived when needed, and Charles Stuart’s for the suc- 
 cess of his uncultivated protege. 
 
 Col. Stuart’s only daughter married Col. Crocket,, 
 of Wythe County, Virginia, a wealthy and highly re- 
 spectable gentleman. Miss Frog, Mrs. Stuart’s daughter 
 by her first husband, married Mr. Estill. Their daughter 
 married Mr. Erskine, of Lewisburg. 
 
 In 1848, whilst I was at the White Sulphur Springs, 
 I saw my kinswoman, Mrs. Erskine, very frequently. 
 She was then very much chagrined at a strange freak 
 of her kind and affectionate husband. He had gone to 
 Mexico in search of fame. His imagination had be- 
 come so excited by the recollection of the impressions 
 which the adventures of the Lewises and Erskines, in 
 the Indian wars of former times, had made upon him 
 when young, that he could not be restrained from try- 
 ing to perform some great exploit himself. I heard 
 soon after I left the Springs that my kinswoman was 
 
52 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 in great distress. Her husband’s Don Quixotism had 
 terminated in his death. 
 
 In 1777, Cornstalk, the great chief of the Shawnees, 
 visited the fort at Point Pleasant to inform Capt. Stu- 
 art, then stationed there, that the Shawnees intended 
 to take part with the British against Virginia. The 
 officers detained him as a hostage. Ellenipsco, the son 
 of Cornstalk, hearing of his- father’s confinement, left 
 his nation to remain with him. The day after his arri- 
 val at the fort, two men crossed the Kenhawa to hunt. 
 A party of Indians killed and scalped one of them, and 
 pursued the other to the river. The company to which 
 the man who was killed belonged, became so enraged 
 that they marched in a body to the fort, crying out, 
 “ let us kill the Indians.” Capt. Stuart endeavored in 
 vain to prevent the execution of their murderous pur- 
 pose. The interpreter’s wife, who had been a captive 
 among the Shawnees, and had great affection for Corn- 
 stalk, ran to him and informed him that the men of 
 the fort were about to put him to death. Ellenipsco 
 was at first very much alarmed. But Cornstalk urged 
 him to meet death fearlessly, telling him that the 
 Great Spirit had sent his son to him that they might 
 die together. Immediately after, seven bullets passed 
 through the body of Cornstalk. Ellenipsco, seeing his 
 father die, met his own death with composure. 
 
 In 1778, Donnelly’s fort was attacked by the In- 
 dians. A white man and a negro held the door whilst 
 the Indians were endeavoring to push it open. They 
 let the door suddenly fly open, got an Ind ian into their 
 clutches, shut the door, and killed him. Whilst the 
 white man was holding the door shut with all his 
 might, the negro seized a gun and fired at the Indians, 
 which waked the men, women, and children who were 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 53 
 
 sleeping in another part of the fort in time to secure 
 all the entrances. Capt. Stuart, Capt. Arbuckle, and 
 Col. Samuel Lewis collected, in great haste, a body of 
 men and drove the Indians off. Virginia purchased 
 the freedom of the negro in reward for his services. 
 
 Jane, the third daughter of Thomas Lewis, married 
 Capt.. Hughs of the continental army. They removed 
 to Kentucky, where Mrs. Hughs died, leaving only one 
 child, an infant son. Her last request of her husband 
 was, that when her son was old enough, he should be 
 sent to my mother, to be brought up with her children. 
 He came to Georgia and remained some time with 
 Patrick Hughs, his uncle, a frolicking, card-playing 
 Irishman, who lived in Burke County. Young Hughs 
 soon acquired the habit of his kinsman. He came 
 as far as Washington, on his way to visit my mother, 
 where he fell in with a party of gamblers, and accom- 
 panied them to the western country. As he and 
 his companions were riding along a road which led 
 through a dense forest, he fell behind. Those before, 
 hearing the report of a pistol, looked back and saw 
 young Hughs falling from his horse, covered with his 
 blood and brains. 
 
 Mary, the fourth daughter, married Capt. McEl- 
 hany, of the continental army. 
 
 Elizabeth, my mother, the fifth daughter, married 
 Thomas M. Gilmer. 
 
 Ann, the sixth daughter, married Douthae, 
 
 fresh from Ireland, where he had learned, in the River 
 Shannon, to catch trout with unsurpassed skill. His 
 proficiency in fishing was too great to admit of excel- 
 lency in any other art. After his death, his widow 
 married Mr. Trench. They removed to Kentucky. 
 
 Fanny, the seventh daughter of Thomas Lewis, 
 
54 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 was very pretty and amiable. Slie married Col. Lay- 
 ton Yancey, who was an officer in the American army 
 during the revolutionary war, and was afterwards a 
 member of the County Court of Rockingham so long 
 that he enjoyed the perquisites of the sheriffalty twice 
 before his death. 
 
 Sophia, the youngest daughter of Thomas Lewis, 
 was one of the most agreeable of all the kin, and as 
 good and kind as she was witty. She married John 
 Carthrae, a very handsome, wealthy young man, who 
 kept so busy trading through all his life that he died 
 centless. Their daughter Mary married Col. Bank- 
 head, whose first wife was the daughter of Col. Tom 
 Man Randolph, and grand-daughter of Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 Andrew Lewis, second son of John Lewis, became 
 familiar with danger and accustomed to hardship in 
 early life. He was Major of the regiment commanded 
 by George Washington, whose special service was the 
 defence of the frontiers of Virginia from Indian in- 
 cursions. 
 
 The great events of the war for independence, and 
 their glorious results, so overshadowed the incidents 
 of the immediately preceding Indian war, that the 
 hair-breadth escapes, daring exploits, and fierce en- 
 counters of the officers and men of that regiment, — the 
 scalpings, burnings, and horrid massacres of the Indi- 
 ans, have been scarcely noticed in history. 
 
 For ten years previous to actual hostilities, Great 
 Britain had been passing laws to control her American 
 colonies. Lord Dunmore, a thorough Scotch tory, and 
 subtle agent of its will, was made Governor of Vir- 
 ginia. To force the colonies to acquiesce in its meas- 
 ures, or suppress opposition, Lord Dunmore contrived 
 to unite the western Indians in a combined attack 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 55 
 
 upon the frontier Irish people, who, being the readiest 
 to resist any violation of the liberties of the colony, 
 were therefore the first to feel the weight of British 
 domination. When troops were raised by the colonial 
 legislature to war with the Indians, he put himself in 
 command, and ordered two regiments, composed chiefly 
 of Western Virginians, to the most exposed part of the 
 frontiers, whilst he marched the disciplined forces in 
 another direction. These two regiments were under 
 the command of Gen. Andrew Lewis. They reached 
 the Ohio at Point Pleasant the 1st of October, 11 74, 
 where they encamped, waiting for reinforcements. On 
 the morning of the 10th, they were attacked by the 
 Western Indians, under the command of Logan, Corn- 
 stalk, and other distinguished chiefs. The battle lasted 
 all day, the officers and soldiers, the chiefs and warriors, 
 fighting hand to hand, with tomahawk and scalping- 
 knife, and from tree to tree, with rifles. In the even- 
 ing, whilst the contest was going on doubtfully, Gen. 
 Lewis ordered Capt. Stuart, Capt. Mathews, and Capt 
 Shelby to proceed with their companies up the Ohio 
 under cover of the thick undergrowth near its banks, 
 to Crooked Creek, and up it until they got into the 
 rear of the Indians, and then to attack them. This 
 order was executed so successfully that the Indians were 
 driven across the Ohio. Seventy-five of the Virgini- 
 ans were killed, and one hundred and forty wounded. 
 The Indians threw their killed into the river, so that 
 their numbers were never known. Gen. Lewis’s army 
 numbered eleven hundred ; the Indians were proba- 
 bly more numerous. 
 
 Gen. Lewis was appointed Brigadier General by 
 the Continental Congress in the war for independence. 
 Capt. Isaac Shelby was made Governor of Kentucky, 
 
56 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 and Secretary of War of tlie United States. Capt. 
 Evans Slielby, Governor of Tennessee, Capt. William 
 Campbell, and Jolm Campbell, became famous as the 
 heroes of Loner Island and King’s Mountain. Andrew 
 Moore was made Senator in Congress, and Col. William 
 Fleming Governor of Virginia. Capts. Stuart, Came- 
 ron, Tate, McKee, and others, were also honored for 
 their meritorious services on that day. 
 
 Andrew Lewis commanded the Virginia troops at 
 the commencement of the revolutionary war. His first 
 important service was to drive the Scotch Governor 
 Dunmore and his tory adherents from the State. His 
 military service was afterwards confined to the defence 
 of the country bordering on the Chesapeake Bay. His 
 mountain constitution gave way from the unhealthiness 
 of the climate. He resigned, set out for his home, but 
 died before he reached it. 
 
 John Lewis, the son of Gen. Andrew, was an 
 officer under his father at Grant’s defeat. He was 
 made prisoner, and carried to Quebec, and from thence 
 to France. Upon his liberation, he went to London. 
 His very tall, erect, handsome person, his colonial com- 
 mission, and suffering as a prisoner, attracted the atten- 
 tion of royalty sufficiently to procure for him a com- 
 mission in the British army. He belonged to a corps 
 stationed near London, either the King’s or Queen’s 
 Guards. After some years spent in acquiring the idle, 
 dissipated habits of the corps to which he belonged, he 
 resigned and returned to Virginia. Upon his arrival, 
 in Alexandria, he was greeted with a splendid balk 
 Very few Virginians had been honored with a com- 
 mission in the regular army of Great Britain, and still 
 fewer had been permitted to serve in the troops which 
 immediately surrounded royalty. His fine, manly per- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 57 
 
 sou, aided by courtly manners, and gallant spirit, cap- 
 tivated Miss Love, the most dashing belle of the town. 
 He married, and carried her to the home of his family 
 in the valley of Virginia. His residence abroad had 
 not deprived him of his inclination for enterprise. He 
 settled a farm upon the extreme of the Virginia fron- 
 tier. The negroes whom he carried with him, found 
 no associates in that western wilderness, and were con- 
 stantly frightened lest they should be massacred by 
 the Indians, or eaten up by the bears, panthers, or 
 wolves. Whilst at work with their master in the 
 woods, they killed him, with the belief that their mis- 
 tress would return with them to the part of the coun- 
 try from whence they had come. The body was not 
 discovered for some days. The few neighbors who 
 were scattered distantly around assembled to search 
 for it. They noticed that his dog absented himself for 
 a day or two before he returned home for food. They 
 followed his lead and found the body where it had 
 been covered with leaves, and guarded from the wild 
 beasts by his dog. 
 
 Charles Lewis, the third son of John Lewis, was a 
 noble fellow; generous, gallant, and fearless. He was 
 the readiest and most skilful of all the frontier Indian 
 fighters. Once he was captured by the Indians whilst 
 on a hunting excursion. After some days’ march, and 
 much suffering from their barbarous treatment, he 
 effected his escape. He was pursued and put to his 
 utmost speed in running. Leaping a prostrate tree, 
 which lay in his course, he fell. Finding himself con- 
 cealed by the tree, the grass, and weeds, and being 
 very much exhausted, he determined to remain still, as 
 he was just then out of sight of the Indians. His pur- 
 suers passed by, and on. When he ventured to look 
 
58 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 about, lie saw a large rattlesnake in liis coil, within 
 striking distance of his ear. He scarcely breathed lest 
 the movement might bring the fatal stroke. His sus- 
 pended breath got relief after a while by the rattle- 
 snake slowly uncoiling himself and moving away. 
 
 Charles Lewis commanded a regiment at the battle 
 of the Point. He led in the onset upon the Indians. 
 To encourage his men to deeds of daring in the fight, 
 he showed them his own indifference to danger by put- 
 ting on a red waistcoat and exposing himself every 
 where. His heroism cost him his life. Virginia per- 
 petuated its remembrance by naming a county after 
 him. His daughter wrote a song descriptive of the 
 battle, which was sung as long as Indians and their 
 warfare continued subjects of interest. 
 
 Many Charles Lewises are still to be found among 
 the descendants of the Western Virginians, named in 
 memory of the brave man who died in defence of their 
 mothers. 
 
 William Lewis, the fourth son of John Lewis, 
 though as powerful in person and brave in spirit as 
 either of his brothers, was less disposed to seek fame 
 by the sacrifice of human life. He served in the army 
 only when required. He was an officer under Brad- 
 dock, and was wounded at his defeat. He was an elder 
 in the Presbyterian Church, of the old covenanting 
 sort. His son Tom was an officer in Wayne’s army, 
 of high reputation for soldierly conduct. Soon after 
 his return home from service, he saw, on a Sunday 
 morning, wild ducks in the Sweet Spring Creek, which 
 ran near his father’s house. Taking a loaded gun in 
 his hand, he crept along a zigzag fence until he got 
 within shooting distance, and was about to fire, when 
 he felt the forcible application of a large brush to his 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 59 
 
 shoulders. Turning suddenly round to return the 
 blow, he saw descending a second stroke, and heard 
 from his father, “ I will teach you, sir, that you shall 
 not profane the Sabbath day here ! ” 
 
 William Lewis’s wife, was Ann Montgomery. 
 
 Among the stories told for a long time after the 
 dispersion of the Virginia Legislature, at Charlottesville, 
 by Col. Tarleton and his dragoons, was one, that Mr. 
 Jefferson concealed himself in Cartres mountain, and 
 another, that Patrick Ilenry, flying in the greatest tre- 
 pidation, met Mr. William Lewis in the streets of 
 Staunton, who, upon hearing him tell of the breaking 
 up of the Legislature, said to him, without knowing 
 who he was, that if the great Patrick Henry had been 
 there, the British never would have crossed the 
 Rivannali river. William Lends was sick in bed at the 
 time. His wife immediately called her three sons, the 
 oldest of whom was under one and twenty, ordered 
 them to take their rifles, be off immediately to Rock- 
 fish Gap, and see to it, that the valley was not polluted 
 by the foot of a British soldier. Tradition still tells 
 many stories of the stern pure life of William Lewis, 
 and the admirable qualities of his wife. Their union, 
 commencing in love, continued to grow closer and 
 closer, as they drew nearer and nearer to the end of life. 
 They lived to be old people. Mrs. William Lewis died 
 first. From his wife’s death, until his own approached 
 nigh, he went every day to her grave, where, seated by 
 its side, he read the Bible. 
 
 Their oldest son, John, was an officer in the revolu- 
 tionary war, and commanded a company at the battle 
 of Monmouth. He was reputed to be the most 
 athletic man in Virginia. He threw down and out- 
 jumped Andrew Jackson until the future hero had the 
 greatest admiration for him. 
 
60 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 He once visited his son-in-law Mr. Thompson, who 
 lived in the low country of South Carolina, where 
 bullfrogs abound. He mentioned jocularly in a com- 
 pany of aristocratic gentlemen, that he had seen a frog 
 six feet long in the mountains of Virginia, alluding to 
 John Frog, who married his cousin. He was insulted 
 by a very rude remark, for which his fighting Irish 
 spirit required ample amends. He married Mary 
 Preston, sister of Gov. Preston and aunt of Gov. 
 McDowell and of Gov. Floyd. One of his daughters 
 married Dr. Trent, of Cumberland, whose daughter 
 married Judge Robertson, of Richmond, a descendant 
 of the Princess Pocahontas. 
 
 William Lewis’s son, William T. Lewis, married 
 Miss Cabell, was a member of Congress, and only wanted 
 a vote or two of being elected Governor of Virginia. 
 
 THE STROTHERS. 
 
 The Strothers emigrated from England to Vir- 
 ginia in the early times of the colony. One of them, 
 who died thirty years ago, and was then near a hun- 
 dred years old, used to say, that she could trace her 
 descent through five Virginia grandmothers in a direct 
 line. They were connected by blood and marriage, 
 with many of the most respectable families of Virginia ; 
 have been distinguished for courage and talents; been 
 members of the State Legislature, officers of the army 
 and members of Congress. The first whig who died in 
 the cause of liberty in Georgia was a Strother. Wil- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 61 
 
 liam Strother, of Stafford, and his wife Margaret 
 Watts, had thirteen children, all daughters. 
 
 Jane, their oldest daughter, married Thomas Lewis, 
 my grandfather. 
 
 Margaret married Mr. Morton, a gentleman of 
 fortune, who dying soon after, left her a young wealthy 
 widow, unincumbered with children. Her second 
 husband was Gabriel Jones, a well educated Welsh- 
 man, the friend, kinsman, and executor of Lord Fair- 
 fax. His residence was in the valley of Virginia, on 
 the Shenandoah River, in view of mountains in every 
 direction, upon a farm of great fertility and extent, ad- 
 joining the farms of his three brothers-in-law, Thomas 
 Lewis, John Madison, and John Frog, and his friend 
 Peachy R. Gilmer. He was the most distinguished 
 lawyer of New Virginia. He was a member of the Con- 
 vention which ratified the Constitution of the United 
 States. He left a large estate to his descendants. 
 Mrs. Jones lived to the extended age of ninety-seven 
 years, and passed that long time in the uniform and 
 exemplary discharge of all the duties of her elevated 
 position in society. Her daughter Margaret married 
 Col. John Harvie. 
 
 The political contests, in the times of James the 
 First, Charles, Cromwell, and their immediate succes- 
 sors, induced a great many of the gentry of Great 
 Britain and Ireland, to make the colony of Virginia 
 their permanent abode. They formed many of the in- 
 stitutions of the colony, modelled its laws, and fashion- 
 ed its society. The fees upon the grants of the rich 
 alluvial lands on the rivers, were made so high, that 
 only those who had property could acquire them ; and 
 were, as intended, monopolized by the rich. The in- 
 troduction of African slaves, increased the separation 
 
62 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 between the wealthy, who owned them, and the poor, 
 who had none, and thus added to the aristocratic state 
 and temper of the highest class. British policy placed 
 the control of the colonial government in the same 
 class. With the selfishness which has ever distinguish- 
 ed it, the aristocracy of the colony made all the offices 
 which gentlemen would accept, very lucrative, and 
 retained the disposition of them in its own hands. 
 
 Whilst Mr. Jefferson was Governor of Virginia, 
 he used his influence to have Harvie of Albemarle, his 
 neighbor and friend, appointed Register of the land 
 office, one of the most lucrative offices of the State. 
 
 The high salaries attached to the most important 
 offices of the government of Virginia, and the wealth 
 and cultivation of the incumbents, made clerkships 
 under them the most improving school for the young 
 gentlemen of the country; the best introduction to 
 fashionable society ; and the most desirable means of 
 acquiring knowledge of business. Indeed, with the ex- 
 ception of William and Mary College, there were no 
 others well suited for that purpose. 
 
 Col. Harvie received into the Register’s office a 
 young gentleman by the name of Marshall, who proved 
 so acceptable, that he very soon became domesticated 
 in his family. 
 
 Gabriella Harvie, Col. Harvie’s oldest daughter, 
 was too young when Marshall became a member of 
 her father’s family, to be distrustful in her association 
 with gentlemen. She charmed him by her sprightli- 
 ness, whilst he engaged her regard, by many little 
 flattering attentions and kindnesses, and especially by 
 talking to her about what she read ; her vivid imagina- 
 tion making realizations of the heroes and heroines of 
 romance. The intimacy between Marshall and Ga- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 68 
 
 briella Harvie remained unrestrained, until the young 
 miss became a captivating woman. Before she or 
 Marshall were aware of it, the cords of love had bound 
 their hearts together so strong, that old time himself 
 found the tie hard to loosen. Afterwards Gabriella 
 Harvie’s quick grey eyes, en bon point person, and 
 sprightly elastic step, attracted the admiration of Col. 
 Tom Man Randolph, of Tuckahoe, and so revived in 
 the old gentleman the feelings of youth, that though 
 then a widower, with children and grandchildren, 
 he asked Col. Harvie for his daughter in marriage. 
 Col. Randolph was a descendant of the Princess Poca- 
 hontas, the head of one of the most aristocratic 
 families in Virginia, and as distinguished for wealth, 
 as nobility. Col. Harvie was a gentleman of high 
 character, proud bearing, and otherwise distinguish- 
 ed among his countrymen. Mrs. Harvie inherited 
 from her Welsh father a high appreciation of rank 
 and fortune. Both Col. and Mrs. Harvie were ex- 
 ceedingly gratified with Col. Randolph’s proposal, 
 and accepted it unhesitatingly for their daughter. 
 When Gabriella was informed by them that they had 
 provided a husband for her, whose greatness would 
 make her the first lady of the land, she surprised and 
 offended them beyond measure by her prompt refusal 
 of the proffered honor. Marshall had not proposed 
 marriage to Gabriella Harvie when Col. Randolph 
 made the offer of his hand. He had not even declared 
 in words how much he loved her. Indeed, neither 
 were perhaps aware until the trial came of the state of 
 their feelings. When Gabriella reported to him what 
 had passed between her parents and herself upon the 
 subject of Col. Randolph’s suit, they found themselves 
 in each other’s arms, plighting their love for life. Ga- 
 
64 
 
 FIKST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 briella’s ingenuous noble nature prompted her at once 
 to inform her father and mother of what had passed 
 between Marshall and herself. The prospect of the 
 marriage of their daughter with Col. Randolph was 
 too gratifying to yield up its indulgence willingly. 
 They insisted that the marriage should take place. 
 People of the present day know but little of the strong 
 rule which parents exercised over their children in the 
 Old Dominion in former times. It is yet strong. But 
 it was then as strong as it had ever been in Old Eng- 
 land. Gabriella and Marshall were at once hopeless. 
 Marshall was under so many obligations to Col. and 
 Mrs. Harvie, that he would not attempt to marry their 
 daughter against their will. Believing that his duty 
 to them demanded that his engagement to their daugh- 
 ter should cease, and that his and Gabriel la’s happiness 
 required that they should not continue to see each 
 other, he left Virginia for a foreign land. The young 
 lady’s high spirit would have prompted to a different 
 course. But it was not for her to act or direct on such 
 an occasion. Her self-esteem was offended at the tame 
 submission of her lover. She felt that in justice to 
 herself, she ought to forget him who had deserted her 
 and his country. Anger and pride made her desire to 
 show that she was above repining. So, after sighing 
 and crying had taken the color from her cheeks, and 
 the usual cheerful smile from her countenance, she 
 ended by doing as she was bid, going through the 
 ceremony of marriage with Col. Randolph. Col. Harvie, 
 though prompt in accepting Col. Randolph’s proposals, 
 and firm in insisting upon his daughter’s compliance 
 with his wishes, took care that she was well provided 
 for by a marriage contract. Col. Randolph settled 
 most of his large estate upon his affianced bride and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 65 
 
 her issue, to the exclusion of liis children by his pre- 
 vious marriage. The old fancy-stricken widower be- 
 came the husband of the high-spirited, gay, beautiful 
 young lady of eighteen. Marriage is a capital alembic 
 for testing the nature and value of the materials of 
 which the parties are made. Col. Randolph was soon 
 the same proud, irritable old man which he had been 
 before his excited imagination made him feel young 
 and courteous. Mrs. Randolph underwent a meta- 
 morphis greater, if possible, than her husband. The 
 haughty pride which she inherited from her lordly- 
 descended Welsh grandfather, and her old Virginia 
 aristocratic grandmother, which had been suppressed 
 before by her laughing, joyous temper, and her kind, 
 social affections, now became conspicuous in her inter- 
 course with her husband, and his own special associates. 
 Love and its kindred feelings had their place supplied 
 by ostentation and fashionable employments. Her 
 husband, having married her without seeking her re- 
 gard, obtained what usually follows marriage without 
 love between parties of unsuitable age. The pleasures 
 of society soon engrossed all her time. Her house, 
 furniture, carriage, horses, servants, dress, and other 
 paraphernalia were the most splendid in Virginia. 
 They were put into constant requisition. Her vivacity 
 and intelligence attracted around her at home, and 
 wherever she appeared, a coterie of the choicest wits 
 and most agreeable gentlemen of the country. Those 
 who knew but little of her character, and envied her 
 rank and fortune, sometimes vented their malice in 
 slanderous tittle-tattle. Her pride and conscious purity 
 made her despise all aspersions. The great orator, John 
 Randolph, was the special admirer of his kinsman’s wife. 
 He knew too well the extent of the sacrifice which she 
 
66 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 had made in marriage to condemn her for not feigning 
 love for her husband. Whilst Mrs. Randolph was 
 entertaining company by her pleasantry, wit, and 
 literary taste, her husband was often heard complain- 
 ing of his want of enjoyment. The agreeable social 
 qualities of the wife added but little to his happiness. 
 He fretted and fumed until he exhausted the little of 
 life that was in him. 
 
 The luxuries supplied by great wealth, the habits 
 of fashionable life, and the constant intercourse with 
 the most intelligent and refined society, created other 
 tastes and desires in Mrs. Randolph than those which 
 she enjoyed when Gabriella Harvie. When Marshall 
 heard that Mrs. Randolph was a widow, and at liberty 
 to follow her own inclination in marriage, he hastened 
 to see her. He addressed her at once upon the sub- 
 ject which had been so mutually interesting to them 
 when they parted. He was mortified beyond measure 
 at the apparent indifference with which he was listened 
 to. When he pressed Mrs. Randolph to be his wife, 
 he received an evasive answer. The widow had yet 
 fresh in memory the miseries she had suffered from 
 wedlock. She was not then tired of being freed from 
 them. She wanted to lose sight of the phantasmagoria 
 which she had been seeing before she tried the state a 
 second time. Her acquired waywardness added to 
 her disposition to delay indulging in what her heart 
 panted after. Marshall, overcome by the apparent 
 indifference of her whom he had loved so long and so 
 devotedly, and misunderstanding the influences which 
 controlled her conduct, quitted her for ever. When 
 Mrs. Randolph next heard of him he was married. 
 She had suffered the deepest mortification from his 
 abrupt departure. She was conscious that she had 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 67 
 
 trifled with his constancy and her own hopes of hap- 
 piness. But when she heard of his marriage, though 
 she suffered intensely for a short time, she was soon 
 herself again. 
 
 Mrs. Randolph was yet young and charming when 
 she acquired the right to dispose of herself according 
 to her own will. Her wealth and rare accomplish- 
 ments soon attracted suitors. Her experience enabled 
 her to know the folly of making rank and fortune the 
 sole inducements in selecting a husband. She had 
 convinced herself that fashionable gayeties afforded but 
 transient amusement. She determined to marry the 
 man of her choice, and to choose him for qualities 
 winch, would command her respect. From among her 
 many admirers she suited herself by accepting Dr. 
 Brokenbough, whose sound sense, high reputation, 
 excellent character, and social qualities, answered the 
 description she had made of him who was to be her 
 second husband. His proper appreciation of her 
 character and worth pleased her self-esteem, and his 
 merits secured her regard. 
 
 Dr. Brokenbough, after acting for a long time as 
 president of one of the banks of Virginia, and living 
 with his wife in a style fitting their fortune, found 
 himself ruined by the indebtedness which he had in- 
 curred for his social and political friends. He expected 
 to feel the disgrace of being unable to pay his debts. 
 He would not ask his wife to sacrifice her property 
 and accustomed enjoyments. He had not then learned 
 to understand fully her noble nature. She required 
 no asking. She parted wdth her fine house, furniture, 
 plate, carriage and horses, and as much of her other 
 property as saved his honor. Dr. Brokenbough kept 
 the Warm Springs and the lauds about it. Mrs. Bro- 
 
68 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 kenbough would not part with her family negroes. 
 With the profits arising from this most delightful 
 bathing-place in the United States, they passed their 
 old age in easy competence and social enjoyments. 
 The Doctor was a kind and considerate husband, and 
 Mrs. Brokenbough the most cheerful and agreeable 
 wife. 
 
 How short-sighted are the most knowing, when 
 they see objects through their selfishness ! How 
 greatly mistaken the old, when they disregard the 
 wishes and judgment of their children to acquire for 
 them and themselves distinction by their marriage ! 
 Riches and rank often take wings and fly away. Re- 
 ciprocal love, founded upon congeniality of temper, 
 taste, and character, never does. 
 
 Among the inducements which Col. Harvie had for 
 inattention to his daughter’s attachment for Marshall, 
 by marrying her to Col. Randolph, was the greatness 
 of Col. Randolph’s family. His son, Thomas Man 
 Randolph, was married to Mr. Jefferson’s daughter. 
 Mr. Jefferson had been Governor of Virginia, Minister 
 of the Confederation at the Court of France, and was 
 then Secretary of State under Gen. Washington. 
 Peyton Randolph had been President of the Congress 
 of the Confederation, and Edmund Randolph was then 
 one of the distinguished men of Virginia, and had been 
 President Washington’s Attorney-general. Mrs. Brok- 
 enbough lived to know that Mr. Jefferson died insol- 
 vent, after obtaining from Virginia the authority of 
 law to acquire money to pay his debts, by a lottery or 
 gaming scheme. Col. Thomas Man Randolph, Mr. Jef- 
 ferson’s son-in-law, and the son of Mrs. Brokenbough’s 
 first husband, after being a distinguished Member of 
 Congress, became so pennyless as to propose to eke out 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 69 
 
 Ms little means of support in bis last days by the trans- 
 lation of a book in French on the cultivation of the 
 vine. Mrs. Randolph, Mr. Jefferson’s daughter, had 
 her wants supplied by the liberality of the State of 
 South Carolina and of Congress. Edmund Randolph 
 was reduced to the necessity, in his old age, of prac- 
 tising law for whatever fees he could get. 
 
 The following extract of a letter received from Dr. 
 Brokenbough, on the subject of this sketch, may add 
 value to it : — 
 
 “ Col. Harvie, in early life, became a successful lawyer in the 
 County of Albemarle ; then a delegate in the Virginia House of 
 Burgesses; and was appointed, jointly with Mr. John Walker, 
 a commissioner to treat with the Indians at Fort Pitt. On his 
 return, he w r as chosen a member of the old Congress, and re- 
 mained in that place until he was elected Register of the Land 
 Office of the Commonwealth — then a very laborious, but a very 
 lucrative office — which he held several years ; and, after his re- 
 signation, was elected by the City of Richmond a member of the 
 House of Delegates, but only served one or two years, when he 
 retired to private life, and died at his seat, Belvidere, near Rich- 
 mond, in the year 1 807, leaving a family of seven children, of 
 whom none remain but Hen. Jaqueline Harvie and Mrs. Brok- 
 enbough. now in the 7 8th year of her age. 
 
 u Mr. Jones, as you know, was a very distinguished and in- 
 fluential lawyer in Western Virginia. Mrs. Jones, who survived 
 her husband many years, was a most exemplary woman in all the 
 relations of life. She possessed a fine mind, was well informed, 
 benevolent, charitable, and pious. All who knew her loved and 
 respected her. 
 
 “ Col. Harvie’s son Lewis died young, after exciting in his 
 friends the strongest hopes of his success. 
 
 “ Col. Harvie’s son John married his cousin Miss Hawkins. 
 He was a man of education and accomplished manners. 
 
 u His son General Jaqueline Harvie married the only daugh- 
 ter of Chief J ustice Marshall. 
 
70 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 “ His son Edwin married Miss ILardeway. He died from 
 injuries received from the burning of the Richmond theatre. He 
 left two sons, who are gentlemen of merit and distinction. 
 
 “ Mrs. John Harvie survived her husband many years. Her 
 family were among the principal sufferers from the burning of 
 the Richmond theatre in 1811 . 
 
 “ Mrs. Jones’s daughter married John Lewis, a distin- 
 
 guished lawyer of Fredericksburg, whose brother married Betty, 
 the sister of General Washington. 
 
 “ Another daughter of Mrs. Jones married Hawkins. 
 
 They removed to Kentucky. 
 
 “ Strother Jones, the only son of Mrs. Jones, was an officer 
 in the revolutionary war. He died young, leaving one son, who 
 married Miss Marshall, a niece of Chief Justice Marshall, a most 
 charming woman.” 
 
 Agatha Strother, sister of my grandmother, Mrs. 
 Thomas Lewis, and of Mrs. Gabriel Jones, married John 
 Madison, who held the clerkship of Augusta County, 
 then one of the most profitable offices of Virginia. He 
 was distinguished among other qualities for his love of 
 practical jokes. An Irish showman, by the name of 
 Curry, once obtained his permission to exhibit his per- 
 formances in the Court House in Staunton. Whilst 
 Curry was taking his supper, and before the company 
 assembled to witness his exploits, John Madison placed 
 a pile of powder under the table upon which Curry 
 was to stand, and laid a train from it to his office. Just 
 as he Avas exhibiting the Devil — his phiz, tail, claws, 
 and cloven foot — the train Avas fired. It blowed the 
 poor devil Curry sky high, and made the lookers on 
 imagine that Old Nick was actually present in propria 
 persona. John Curry’s descendants still acknowledge 
 their obligations to John Madison for making a good 
 citizen of their mountebank ancestor. Col. Frog was 
 well known for his sivelling agricultural pretensions. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 71 
 
 John Madison, who was his brother-in-law, procured 
 from his Low Country friends a large quantity of the 
 seed of the Jamestown weed, which he presented to 
 Col. Frog for clover seed. He sowed them upon his 
 richest Shenandoah bottom-land, and, for some days af- 
 ter they came up, exultingly exhibited the product of 
 his field as the broadest-leaf clover that had ever been 
 seen. 
 
 John Madison’s son James was a churchman of ac- 
 complished education, and for a long time President of 
 William and Mary College. He was appointed Bishop 
 of Virginia. He went to England to receive the inves- 
 titure of that dignity. Upon being presented to the 
 King, then George the Third, as a Virginian who had 
 come across the Atlantic to receive the Bishop’s ring, 
 he cried out in wonder, “ What ! what ! what ! ” as hu- 
 morously described by Peter Pindar. 
 
 Mrs. Madison’s son George removed to the State of 
 Kentucky. He commanded a battalion in the cam- 
 paign against the British and Indians in 1812-13. 
 When Winchester was defeated, he and his battalion 
 stood their ground, and continued fighting until long 
 after all others of the army had surrendered or been 
 dispersed. He was afterwards Governor of Kentucky. 
 
 One of John Madison’s sons married the daughter 
 of the great orator, Patrick Henry; another, Miss 
 Preston, the kinswoman of William C. Preston, the 
 eloquent senator of South Carolina, and lately President 
 of Columbia College. Roland, another son, married 
 the daughter of Gen. Andrew Lewis, and was the 
 father of Captain Madison, of the United States Army. 
 
 Miss Madison, granddaughter of Mrs. John Madi- 
 son, married Howe Peyton, a distinguished lawyer of 
 Western Virginia. 
 
72 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The Lewises, Strothers, and Madisons, are gone 
 hither and thither, and most of their large landed 
 estates into other hands. General Samuel Lewis and 
 his sons still own and occupy a part of the large tract 
 which belonged to Thomas Lewis, our common grand- 
 father. He has removed from the house in which his 
 father, Col. Charles Lewis, my mother, and himself 
 were born, to a handsome brick edifice, which he has 
 built about half a mile distant, on the first elevation 
 from the Shenandoah towards the Blue Ridge Moun- 
 tains. He has surrounded it with orchards and mea- 
 dows. The view from the front portico takes in the 
 course of the river, numerous fertile fields, and extend- 
 ed elevated mountains. When the painter’s art does 
 justice to the beautiful and sublime scenery of the 
 romantic valley of the Shenandoah, this place will be- 
 come celebrated as one of the most desirable in our 
 country. 
 
 General Lewis married, when a youth, his cousin, a 
 daughter of John Lewis, of Bath. His wife’s mother 
 had so many children, that she counted them at night 
 when she put them to bed, to be certain that none had 
 been eaten by the bears during the day. They num- 
 bered fifteen. 
 
 After the death of his first wife, General Lewis 
 married Miss Lomax, the daughter of Judge Lomax. 
 He has filled his house with children. One of his sons 
 by his first wife has married a daughter of Daniel 
 Sheffey, the great genius of Western Virginia. 
 
 General Lewis is a man of talent, education, and 
 general information. He has represented Rockingham 
 County in the Legislature, been for a long time a mem- 
 ber of the County Court, and is now its President. 
 
 His tall person, marked features, florid complexion, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 73 
 
 ardent temper, and fearless spirit, prove him to be a 
 true scion from the old Irish Lewis stock. 
 
 JOHN MATHEWS. 
 
 John Mathews with many others of his country- 
 men, emigrated from Ireland to Western Virginia, 
 about the year 1737, in pursuance of the advice of 
 John Lewis, who had located himself some years be- 
 fore, in the neighborhood of Staunton. His son 
 George was yet a youth, when lie became familiar 
 with danger, from constant contact with the wild 
 beasts, and savage men of the forest. The Indians 
 west of the Ohio River, the most warlike of all the 
 aborigines of America, carried on a predatory and 
 scalping warfare against the British colonies from 1754 
 to 1763. George Mathews was ever ready for any 
 foray, in resisting, attacking, and pursuing them. 
 
 In 1761, a family not far from his father’s residence 
 was massacred. He and two or three youths, sup- 
 posing from the firing that there was a shooting match 
 at the place, went to join in the sport. Upon riding 
 up, they saw dead bodies lying in the yard. Per- 
 ceiving at once their mistake, they turned their homes 
 and fled. The Indians rose from their concealment, 
 and fired their rifles at them, as they passed in full 
 speed. A ball grazed the head of George Mathews, so 
 as to cut off his cue. Stimulated by the danger he 
 had escaped, and the murder of his neighbors, he col- 
 lected a party, put himself at their head, pursued the 
 Indians, overtook them, and killed nine. At the great 
 
74 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 battle of the Point, he commanded a company, and 
 contributed much by his bravery and military skill, to 
 the victory gained by the Virginians over the Indians. 
 The fighting commenced at sunrise, and had continued 
 until evening without any decided advantage ; when 
 Capt. Mathews, Capt. Shelby and Capt. Stuart, with- 
 drew with their companies from the fighting, out of 
 sight of the combatants, got into the bed of Crooked 
 Creek, then very low in water, and concealed by the 
 banks, obtained a position in the rear of the Indians, 
 from whence they attacked them so unexpectedly, that 
 they succeeded in driving them across the Ohio. 
 
 Soon after the commencement of the Kevolutionary 
 war, George Mathews received substantial proofs of 
 the high estimation in which he was held by his coun- 
 trymen, for the efficient services he had rendered the 
 frontier people. He was, in 1775, appointed Lieut. 
 Colonel of the Ninth regiment of the Virginia troops : 
 and was soon after, with his regiment, placed by Con- 
 gress on the continental establishment. For near two 
 years, he and his regiment were stationed on the 
 Chesapeake Bay, under the command of Gen. Andrew 
 Lewis. The malaria proved more destructive of the 
 mountain men and their officers, than the rifles of the 
 enemy. 
 
 General Washington knew well the value of Col. 
 Mathews as an officer ; his own knowledge of war, 
 having been principally acquired on the frontiers of 
 Virginia, fighting Indians. When the contest with 
 the mother country became a war for life and liberty 
 in earnest, he ordered Col. Mathews to join the main 
 army. Col. Mathews did good service at the battle of 
 Brandywine. At the battle of Germantown, he attack- 
 ed witli his regiment, the British troops immediately 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 75 
 
 opposed to him, pushed them triumphantly back, and 
 had just captured them, when h and his command 
 became so embarrassed by the density of the fog which 
 enveloped the place, that in the confusion which fol- 
 lowed, he was attacked, knocked down, and a bayonet 
 driven through his body. He was made prisoner, sent 
 to the British prison ship in the harbor of Hew York, 
 where he was confined for a Ions’ time, and suffered 
 cruelties and deprivations, which British officers never 
 impose, except upon offending rebels. He appealed to 
 his government for relief. Mr. Jefferson, then Gover- 
 nor of Virginia, wrote to him : “ We know that the 
 ardent spirit and hatred of tyranny which brought you 
 into your present situation, will enable you to bear up 
 against it, with the firmness which has distinguished 
 you as a soldier, and to look forward with pleasure to 
 the day, when events shall take place, against which 
 the wounded spirits of your enemies will find no com- 
 fort, even from reflections on the most refined of the 
 cruelties with wffiich they have glutted themselves.” 
 
 Col. Mathews was not exchanged, until near the 
 termination of the war; when he joined the army 
 under Gen. Green, as commander of the Third Vir- 
 ginia regiment. Whilst in the south, he purchased the 
 Goosepond tract of land on Broad River. He removed 
 to it with his family in 1784. 
 
 The high reputation acquired by Col. Mathews 
 during the war, and the readiness with which he ever 
 claimed what he was entitled to, made him at once the 
 principal man in Georgia. He was elected Governor 
 in 1786. He was the first representative of the people 
 of Georgia, in the Congress of the United States, 
 under the present Constitution. He was again Gover- 
 nor of Georgia in 1794-5. The policy adopted by the 
 
76 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 State, during and immediately after the revolutionary 
 war, of encouraging emigration to it, by grants of land 
 gratis, excited among its people the greatest greedi- 
 ness for the acquisition of that kind of property. The 
 State came to be considered but the agent for the dis- 
 tribution among them of what the peojfie claimed to 
 be theirs. Many schemes were devised, and attempted 
 to be executed, for transferring the public domain to 
 individuals, at a mere nominal price. Each defeat 
 showed the gathering strength of the people’s advocates. 
 In 1795, a majority of the members of the Legislature 
 were found favorable to the parting with its territory 
 by the State in some way. The speculators of the day 
 had been looking on, preparing the means for seizing 
 upon what they considered their proper prey. An 
 act was passed by the Legislature, usually called 
 the Yazoo fraud, for selling for five hundred thousand 
 dollars to several companies, upwards of forty millions 
 of acres in that part of the territory of Georgia, which 
 now makes the States of Alabama and Mississippi. 
 All the members of the Legislature who voted for the 
 act, secured shares, or money, in the companies except 
 one. The Governor had been opposed to all the pre- 
 vious schemes for disposing of the public land. It was 
 with great difficulty that his consent was obtained to 
 put his signature to the act for its sale. The morning 
 after it was rumored that his scruples had been over- 
 come, his secretary, Urquhart, endeavored to arrest his 
 intended signature through his inherited Irish supersti- 
 tion. He dipped the pen which was used by the Gov- 
 ernor into oil. Though startled by his pen obstinately 
 refusing to make a mark, he was not thus to be deterred 
 from his purpose. He directed his secretary to make 
 another pen, with which he signed his approval. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 77 
 
 The bribery was noised abroad by rumor’s hundred 
 tongues. The disappointed in getting a share of the 
 public land for little or nothing, united with the honest 
 and patriotic in raising such a clamor of indignation as 
 had never been heard before. Stout as the Governor’s 
 spirit was, he had to yield to the storm. He quitted 
 Georgia, never afterwards to make it his home long at 
 a time. 
 
 In 1811, runaway rogues and all sorts of lawless 
 men got the upper hand of the old Spanish inhabitants 
 in Florida. They called themselves patriots. Some 
 one described them as having so strong a habit of 
 appropriating what did not belong to them, that a 
 patriot could scarcely turn his back, but his blanket 
 was taken possession of by a brother in arms. They 
 threw off the Spanish rule, declared themselves free, 
 and put themselves under their own government. They 
 petitioned the United States to make Florida one of 
 its territories. Gen. Mathews was appointed by Mr. 
 Madison, then President, Agent, to negotiate with the 
 constituted authorities of Florida for the annexation of 
 the country to the United States. The military leader 
 of the patriots, who had shortly before disappeared 
 from the upper part of Georgia without leave or 
 license, and their civil head, Col. McIntosh, made a 
 contract with Gen. Mathews, that Florida should be 
 annexed to the United States. Gen. Mathews’s treaty 
 was strongly remonstrated against by the Spanish 
 government, and finally disavowed by the President, 
 as not having been made with the constituted autho- 
 rities, according to the terms of Gen. Mathews’s in- 
 structions. This quibble upon the words, constituted 
 authorities, was so unintelligible to Gen. Mathews’s 
 unbookish mind, and so entirely different from what 
 
78 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 lie supposed to be the intentions of tlie government 
 from bis conversations with its officers, that he became 
 enraged beyond measure, and set off for Washington 
 City to subject the President to personal chastisement ; 
 swearing that it was Mr. Madison’s cowardly demo- 
 cratic fear of Spain and Great Britain, and not his 
 Agent’s doings, that occasioned his disavowal of what 
 had been done ; and that he would expose to the world 
 the whole affair. This high state of excitement, added 
 to the fatigue and exposure which he had undergone 
 in Florida, brought on a fever, whilst on his way to 
 Washington City to thrash the President, of which he 
 died in Augusta, Georgia, March, 1812 . 
 
 General Mathews was a short, thick man, with 
 stout legs, on which he stood very straight. He carried 
 his head rather thrown back. His features were full 
 and bluff; his hair, light red; and his complexion, fair 
 and florid. His looks spoke out that he would not fear 
 the devil, should he meet him face to face. He ad- 
 mitted no superior but Gen. Washington. He spoke 
 of his services to the country as unsurpassed but by 
 those of his great chief. He loved to talk of himself, 
 and spoke as freely and encomiastically as enthusiastic 
 youths do of Alexander and Caesar. His dress was in 
 unison with his looks and conversation. He wore a 
 three-cornered cocked hat, fair top boots, a full ruffled 
 shirt at the bosom and wrists, and occasionally a long 
 sword at his side. Qualities were united in him which 
 are never found in one person, except an Irishman. 
 To listen to his talk about himself, his children, and 
 his affairs, one might have thought he was but a puff 
 of wind ; trade with him, he was found to be one of 
 the shrewdest of men ; fight him, and he never failed 
 to act the hero. He was unlearned. When he read, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 79 
 
 it was always aloud, and with the confidence which 
 accompanies the consciousness of doing a thing' well. 
 He pronounced fully the l in “would,” “should,” (fee., 
 &c., and ed at the termination of compound words 
 with a long drawling accent. He spelled “ coffee,” 
 Kaughphy. He wrote “ congress ” with a k. When 
 Governor, he dictated his messages to his secretary, 
 and then sent them to James Mason Simmons, the Irish 
 schoolmaster, to put them into grammar. His memory 
 was unequalled. Whilst he was a Member of Con- 
 gress, an important document, which had been read 
 during the session, was lost. He was able to repeat its 
 contents verbatim. Previous to the Revolutionary 
 War, he was Sheriff of Augusta county, and had to 
 collect the taxes from the inhabitants. He recollected 
 for a long time the name of every tax-payer. His me- 
 mory, and sharpness in trade, enabled him to make 
 lucrative speculations in the most unusual way. He 
 used to go from Philadelphia to Ohio with three or 
 four horses for his capital in trade. He knew all the 
 officers of the Revolutionary Army entitled to land in 
 Ohio. He found that men would take a horse for an 
 uncertain claim who would refuse to sell at all if money 
 were offered, from the opinion that money, which was 
 very scarce, would not be given but for what was 
 known to be very valuable. He acquired a large 
 estate in lands, principally by this kind of traffic. 
 Mr. Adams, when President, nominated him to the 
 Senate for Governor of the Mississippi Territory, and 
 afterwards withdrew the nomination upon finding the 
 opposition to his appointment very great. Mr. Adams’s 
 conduct coming to Gen. Mathews’s knowledge, he im- 
 mediately set off for Philadelphia, where Congress then 
 assembled, to chastise the President. Upon his arrival 
 
80 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 in Philadelphia, he rode directly to Mr. Adams’s house, 
 hitched his horse, and went to the door, his revolu- 
 tionary sword at his thigh, his three-cornered cocked 
 hat on his head, and gave a thundering knock. Upon 
 a servant opening it, he demanded to see the President. 
 He was told that he was engaged. He said to the 
 servant : “ I presume your business is to carry messages 
 to the President. Now, if you do not immediately 
 inform him that a gentleman wishes to spake to him, 
 your head shall answer the consequences.” The ser- 
 vant bowed, retired, and informed the President that 
 a very strange old fellow, who called himself General 
 Mathews, wished to see him, and would take no denial. 
 Mr. Adams directed that he should be admitted. 
 Upon entering the room where the President was, he 
 said : “ I presume you are Mr. Adams, President of 
 these United States. My name is Mathews, some- 
 times called Gov. Mathews ; well known at the battle 
 of Garmantown as Col. Mathews, of the Virginia line. 
 Now, Sar, I understand that you nominated me to the 
 Senate of these United States to be Governor of the 
 Massassappa Tarratory, and that afterwards you took 
 back the nomination. Sar, 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, Sar, unless you can 
 satisfy me, your station of President of these United 
 States shall not screen you from my vaugance.” Mr. 
 Adams accordingly set about satisfying him, which he 
 did with the more good will on account of the General 
 being a stanch federalist. Upon inquiring after Gen. 
 Mathews’s sons, and receiving a most laudatory descrip- 
 tion of them, he promised to appoint John supervisor 
 of the public revenue in Georgia. Upon which the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 81 
 
 General expressed himself content, saying: “My son 
 John is a man of about my inches, with the advantage 
 of a labral education, and for his intagrity I pledge 
 my head.” 
 
 The first business before the Legislature of 1795-6, 
 after its organization, was to determine whether Gover- 
 nor Mathews was to be considered in office. Whilst 
 engaged in the discussion, the Clerk of the House went 
 into the Executive office. The Governor accosted him, 
 saying, “ What are those fellows about that they do 
 not let me know that they are organized and ready to 
 receive my massage ? ” The Clerk told him that the 
 members were discussing the question whether he was 
 constitutionally Governor. “ By the Atarnal,” he ex- 
 claimed, “ if they don’t, I will cut an avanue from this 
 office through them.” 
 
 General Mathews married Miss Woods, of Albe- 
 marle County, the half-sister of Col. John Stuart, of 
 Greenbrier. 
 
 After her death, he married Mrs. Reed, of Staunton. 
 A year or two afterwards Mrs. Mathews, accompanied 
 by two of her husband’s daughters by his first wife, 
 visited his and her relations and friends in Virginia. 
 When the time had passed allowed for her visit, she 
 wrote to her husband to come or send for her. He 
 answered that she had gone without him, and might 
 return in the same way. She replied that she would 
 not again travel so far without his protection. The 
 case was referred to the legislature. A divorce was 
 granted, though he and his wife had never quarrelled, 
 had parted in kindness, and had no intention at the 
 time of continuing to live apart. He married for his 
 third Arife Mrs. Flowers of Mississippi. Though he 
 married three wives, he cared too much for himself to 
 6 
 
82 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 be very devoted to either of them. Most of his time 
 was passed from home, in the service of the public or 
 in busy speculation. 
 
 General Mathews’s residence on Broad River was 
 in a cabin of small logs, with the sides scalped off, the 
 openings between them chinked with puncheons, and 
 daubed with red mud. It had one room and an entry, 
 through which there was a way upstairs, where the 
 young ladies slept. His sons occupied round log, un- 
 scalped, clapboard cabins in the yard. These cabins 
 were made to accommodate the family until the Gover- 
 nor left Georgia, his son George went to Mississippi, 
 and Col. Charles was about to marry Miss Lucy Early, 
 the sister of Gov. Early, when they gave place to a 
 fine house. 
 
 “ At Brandywine and Germantown, 
 
 His flowing blood from many a wound, 
 His country’s freedom seal’d ; 
 He’s gone — but left bis glorious name 
 Engraved on the rolls of fame, 
 
 In council and in field.” 
 
 John Mathews, the oldest son of Gen. Mathews, 
 whilst employed in learning Latin and Greek at an 
 academy in Western Virginia, fell in love with a pretty 
 cousin and married her. He returned to Georgia, and 
 was authorized, by an Act of the Legislature, to prac- 
 tise law. There was some peculiarity in the Mathewses 
 which prevented their success at the bar. Many tried ; 
 not one ever succeeded. They were either too proud, 
 too passionate, or too much devoted to other pursuits, 
 to secure the confidence of those who Avanted the aid 
 of lawyers. John Mathews, getting along rather badly 
 at the bar, procured, through his father, from President 
 Adams, the office of supervisor of the revenue. The 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 83 
 
 cousin whom he married, though a very pretty woman, 
 did not prove a very good helpmate. They had a 
 large family of children. They, as the children of 
 cousins are apt to do, showed that those who are so 
 near akin ought not to marry if they can do otherwise ; 
 that crossing the breed is as important for man as other 
 animals. 
 
 William Mathews, second son of Gen. Mathews, 
 married Elizabeth Meriwether, daughter of Mr. Frank 
 Meriwether, an exceedingly clever woman, as she 
 proved in her after life by the admirable manner in 
 which she discharged all the duties of wife, mother, 
 friend, and relative. William Mathews never studied 
 Latin or Greek, was a planter, and succeeded very well. 
 He never held any higher office than captain of the 
 militia of his district, and that was rather forced upon 
 him than sought. Militia musters were great bores to 
 many of the Broad River people. It was a subject 
 of long contest in the company, which included most 
 of them, whether much mustering or no mustering 
 should be done. Upon a vacancy occurring in the 
 captaincy, the musterers and anti-musterers had a trial 
 of strength. The musterers put up William Mathews 
 for their candidate, supposing that his father’s great 
 fame in war would enable him to put down opposition. 
 The anti-musterers showed their thorough contempt 
 of the practice of taking men from their useful em- 
 ployments, to be made stand in the sun, run about the 
 old fields, and get drunk, by putting up in opposition 
 a mulatto free negro. The most active and noisy elec- 
 tioneering was carried on by the parties. The result 
 is not recollected. I am inclined to think that the 
 negro got the most votes, but that the Governor com- 
 missioned William Mathews, upon the decision that a 
 
84 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 negro conlcl not hold a commission from tlie State. 
 William Mathews survived the contest but a short 
 time. 
 
 I was the innocent cause of the final triumph of the 
 anti-musterers. A poor young fellow, by the name of 
 Mar, of the Goolsby gang, performed a tour of militia 
 duty during the war with Great Britain. He got to 
 be sergeant, and acquired a great spirit of parade. 
 Soon after the close of the war, he was rewarded for 
 what he had done by being elected Captain. I was at 
 my father’s at the time, in very bad health. Captain 
 Mar applied to me for the use of my sword. I gave 
 him my coat and epaulettes. Mar had never been fine 
 before. He showed off to the company by mustering 
 the men to death. Once on a hot summer day, being 
 a little lame, he mounted a horse, and carried the com- 
 pany through all Steuben and Duane’s evolutions. An 
 insurrection broke out the next muster day. The 
 company resolved that Captain Mar was a nuisance, 
 and militia mustering all humbuggery. Mar’s com- 
 mand ceased from that time until now, the Broad 
 Biver people having refused to elect any one captain 
 who would have made them muster. 
 
 William Mathews lived at the Goosepond until his 
 death. His family soon after removed to the planta- 
 tion which had been owned by General Blackburn, in 
 Albert County. 
 
 George Mathews, third son of General Mathews, 
 was a man of talent and literary taste. He was a law- 
 yer, but loved his ease better than practice, and so got 
 none. He resided for many years with his brother 
 William, and afterwards with his brother Charles, at 
 the Goosepond. He was apjiointed by the President 
 Judge of the Mississippi Territory. He married soon 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 85 
 
 after Miss Flowers, the daughter of his father’s last 
 wife. He afterwards removed to Louisiana, and be- 
 came one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of that 
 State. He loved good eating and drinking, became 
 fat, and died long before he arrived at his threescore 
 years and ten. He was very moderate in his expendi- 
 tures, and died very wealthy. His daughter is married 
 to Major Chase, of the United States Army. During 
 the last summer, my wife and myself were seated for 
 several days at dinner opposite to Major Chase, his 
 wife, and little daughter, in the Astor House, New 
 York. I had never seen either of them, and yet there 
 was something about Mrs. Chase and her child that 
 constantly drew my eyes to them. I met with Major 
 Chase and his family afterwards in Washington City. 
 I made their acquaintance, and found out that the 
 attraction was the resemblance of Mrs. Chase and her 
 little daughter to Judge Mathews, whose appearance 
 continued impressed upon my memory though I had 
 not seen him for fifty years. 
 
 Charles Lewis Mathews, the youngest son of Gen- 
 eral Mathews, was a man of good understanding, well 
 improved. His temper was sociable, and his character 
 honorable. I was but a boy when he returned to 
 Georgia from Virginia, where he had been at school 
 and college. There was a large party of neighbors en- 
 joying a Christmas frolic at my father’s, given upon his 
 removing into a new frame-house from the old log 
 structure. The young people were all excitement 
 dancing in one room, and the old drinking and playing 
 whist in another. Politics was then a very exciting 
 subject of conversation. The contest between Mr. 
 Jefferson and Mr. Adams had set the whole country 
 into a blaze. The Yazoo af&ir still added fuel to the 
 
86 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 flames. Charles Mathews, William Barnett, and two 
 others were playing. William Barnett, who was a 
 very active politician of the Democratic party, said 
 something disparaging of the Federalists and Yazoo- 
 ites. The Irish blood of Charles Mathews was imme- 
 diately in full gallop, tie swore an oath, and made at 
 Barnett. Their partners kept them apart. Every one 
 present became agitated, and most talked as fast as 
 they would have fought. Dancing and whist stopped, 
 and all ivas hubbub. Charles Mathews was my mo- 
 ther’s kin, and William Barnett my father’s. Charles 
 Mathews found himself without backers. No one 
 thought with him, or felt with him, except my mother. 
 The McGehees wanted, as they said, to thrash Feder- 
 alism out of him. The next day brought talks about 
 challenges. The quarrel gradually subsided into a 
 fixed dislike between the Mathewses on one side and 
 the Barnetts and McGehees on the other. 
 
 Charles Mathews married Lucy Early, the sister of 
 Gov. Peter Early. He owned and lived at the Goose- 
 pond until his wife’s death. Some yearn after he 
 removed to Alabama, and settled near Cahaba, where 
 he died, in' 1 84-, one of the wealthiest planters in the 
 United States. 
 
 Anne Mathews, oldest daughter of Gen. Mathews, 
 married Samuel Blackburn, who was of Irish descent, 
 if not an Irishman. He was a classical scholar, and for 
 some time after his removal to Georgia, principal 
 teacher of the academy in Washington, Wilks County. 
 Whilst thus employed, he prepared himself for the 
 practice of the law. After his marriage, he settled in 
 Elbert County, on Broad River, where he commenced 
 the life of a lawyer. He was advancing successfully in 
 his profession and political influence, when the Legisla- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 87 
 
 ture met in 1795. He was a member. His conduct in 
 relation to the Yazoo Act, was such as to excite 
 suspicion, that he held with the hare whilst he ran 
 with the dogs. Though he voted against the act, it 
 was alleged that he spoke for it, and would have voted 
 the same way if it could not have otherwise passed, 
 and that his voting against it was done by consent of 
 the speculators, to save the Governor, his father-in-law, 
 from suspicion of being concerned in the purchase. 
 The allegations against the integrity of General Black- 
 burn were founded upon the most trivial circumstances. 
 They were, however, so noised abroad among his con- 
 stituents, that he quitted Georgia, and settled in Staun- 
 ton, Virginia, and afterwards upon his plantation, called 
 the Wilderness, in Bath County. He several times 
 represented Bath County in the Virginia Legislature. 
 His fine voice, expressive features, noble person, perfect 
 self-possession, keen wit, and forcible language, directed 
 by a well-cultivated and powerful intellect, made him 
 one of the most eloquent men 'of his time. He was a 
 Federalist in politics. His strong abusive denunciations 
 of the Bepublicans, when he was a member of the Vir- 
 ginia Legislature, made him long remembered by ' the 
 parties of the State. 
 
 In 1812, I met with him at the Warm Springs, 
 where he was attending the session of the County 
 Court of Bath. I left the Springs in his company, to 
 pass a few days at his house, where Mrs. Charles 
 Mathews, my neighbor in Georgia, then was. He was 
 excited by drinking, and poured forth as we travelled 
 along the most violent philippic against my friends and 
 relations on Broad River, for their suspicions of his 
 integrity. We did not reach his house the evening 
 that we left the Springs. The next day he was sober, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 and sufficiently respectful in his conduct to enable me 
 to make the visit to his family with great pleasure. 
 
 I afterwards met with him at Rockingham Court, 
 and heard him defend with great power a criminal, 
 eighty years old, who had, when in the poor-house of 
 the county, killed a beggar like himself, of about the 
 same age, in a fight about a cucumber. The witness to 
 prove the facts was ninety. Such a trial, of such a 
 criminal, for such an offence, proved by such a witness, 
 and advocated by such a lawyer, made a strong impres- 
 sion upon my memory. He and my oldest brother 
 met at Major Grattan’s, as he was going to Rockingham 
 Court. They both drank very freely. The presence 
 of Georgians made General Blackburn feel the old 
 sore. He charged Col. Taliaferro with setting afloat 
 the rumor which had driven him from Georgia, and 
 began to abuse him. My brother’s wife was Col. Talia- 
 ferro’s niece. Naturally waspish, the whiskey which 
 he and the general had been taking together, made his 
 temper ungovernable. They fell to fighting. 
 
 THE MERIWETHERS. 
 
 During the persecution of the people of Wales in 
 the time of Charles the Second, three brothers, Nicho- 
 las, William, and David Meriwether, all young unmar- 
 ried men, avoided the oppression of the government 
 by emigrating to the colony of Virginia. The Meri- 
 wethers were too frank and sincere to be formalists, 
 and too sensible to be bigoted, and were, therefore, 
 neither Roman Catholics nor Episcopalians in Wales, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 89 
 
 nor conformists to the government cliurcli in the col- 
 ony of Virginia. As long as religion was forced upon 
 them, they seemed to be infidels. When the revolu- 
 tion permitted every one to worship God according to 
 the dictates of his own conscience, many of them be- 
 came distinguished for piety. They brought more 
 wealth with them to Virginia than was usual for emi- 
 grants in the seventeenth century. Most of them were 
 peculiar in manners and habits ; low and stout in sta- 
 ture, with round heads, dark complexion, and bright 
 hazel eyes; were very industrious and economical, and 
 yet ever ready to serve the sick, and those who needed 
 their assistance. They were too proud to be vain. 
 They looked to their own thoughts and conduct rather 
 than to what others misfiit be thinking of them. The 
 stock must have come from some singular union. Their 
 long intermixture with other families has not yet de- 
 prived them of their uniqueness. No one ever looked 
 at, or talked with one of them, but he heard or saw 
 something which made him listen, or look again. They 
 were slow in forming opinions, and obstinate in adher- 
 ing to them ; very knowing ; but their investigations 
 were minute and accurate rather than speculative and 
 profound. Mr. Jefierson said of Col. Nicholas Meri- 
 wether, that he was the most sensible man he ever 
 knew ; and William H. Crawford made the same re- 
 mark of Mr. F rank Meriwether. 
 
 David Meriwether, the Welshman, had one child, 
 who married, and died without descendants. 
 
 William Meriwether, David’s brother, had one 
 daughter, who married Skelton. From them de- 
 
 scended Meriwether Jones, of Richmond, celebrated as 
 a political writer fifty years ago; Gen. Walter Jones, 
 the distinguished lawyer, of Washington City; Gen. 
 
90 
 
 FIEST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Roger Jones, of the regular army; and Commodore 
 Catesby Jones, of the navy, whose son was lately 
 wounded by the cannonade upon the people in the 
 streets of Paris, devilishly ordered by Louis Napoleon 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 Nicholas, the Welshman, married Elizabeth, the 
 daughter of David Crawford, of New Kent County. 
 Most, if not all, in the United States who are called 
 Meriwether are descended from them. They had two 
 sons, William and David, and several daughters. 
 
 William’s children were John, Thomas, Richard, 
 Jane, Sarah, and Mary. 
 
 David’s children were Nicholas, Francis, James, 
 and William. 
 
 Jane, daughter of Nicholas the elder, married Ro- 
 bert Lewis. From them descended most of the Lew- 
 ises of Virginia, Georgia, and Kentucky, who are not 
 descended from the Irishman, John Lewis, my great- 
 grandfather. Another daughter of Nicholas married 
 
 Johnson, whose descendant, Chapman Johnson, 
 
 was the most eminent of the lawyers of Virginia. An- 
 other daughter married Littlepage, of a highly 
 
 respectable family. 
 
 Nicholas Meriwether died at a very advanced age, 
 in It 44, having outlived all his children. He acquired 
 very great wealth, which he distributed among his 
 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He owned 
 many fine horses, some plate, a great many negroes, 
 and several tracts of land, one of which contained 
 17,952 acres. 
 
 One of Nicholas Meriwether’s great-granddaughters 
 married Col. Syme, a travelled gentleman of rank and 
 fortune, whose name is still freshly remembered from 
 the delicious, tender, white-rinded, red-meat watermelon 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 91 
 
 which he brought to this country from the islands of 
 the Mediterranean. Col. Syme’s widow married Dr. 
 Thomas Walker, the grandfather of Mrs. W. C. Rives. 
 Another of Nicholas Meriwether’s great-granddaugh- 
 ters married Maj. Hughes of the neighborhood of 
 Louisville, Kentucky. She had twenty-six children, 
 fourteen of whom arrived at maturity, who have 
 stocked the western country with Meriwether de- 
 scendants by doing as their progenitress did. 
 
 Nicholas Meriwether’s grandson, Col. James Meri- 
 wether, the son of David, married Judith Burnly. 
 From them descended Gen. David Meriwether of 
 Georgia, who married Miss Wingfield, the sister of 
 Mrs. Hope Hull. He was distinguished for plain dress 
 and manners, truth, probity, and sound sense. He 
 was a meritorious officer in the army of the revolution. 
 After the close of the war he removed from Virginia 
 to Georgia. He was often a member of the Legislature, 
 several times a member of Congress, and performed 
 important public service by the skill and success with 
 which he treated with the Creeks and Cherokees for 
 the relinquishment of their occupant right to the terri- 
 tory of the State. 
 
 John, his oldest son, married young and removed 
 to Alabama. 
 
 James, his second son, was a graduate of Franklin 
 College ; one of its trustees ; captain of a company 
 under Gen. Floyd in the expedition against the Creeks 
 in 1818-14; a Commissioner to hold treaties with the 
 Creeks and Cherokees, and a member of Congress. 
 He removed to Tennessee, and settled near Menqffiis, 
 where he died. 
 
 Dr. William, Gen. Meriwether’s third son, was a 
 graduate of Franklin College. Finding himself, after 
 
92 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 trial, unable, from feeble health, to undergo the fatigue 
 of medical practice, he studied law, and was admitted 
 to the bar. His consumptive constitution alone pre- 
 vented great success in his new profession. He married 
 Miss Sarah Malloy, and died in the prime of life, leav- 
 ing his excellent wife a widow, and two promising 
 children. His daughter, a very clever young lady, 
 died young and unmarried. His son has married 
 Bishop Andrews’ daughter. 
 
 Gen. Meriwether’s only daughter married the Rev. 
 Mr. Henning, a method ist preacher, and very success- 
 ful planter. 
 
 His sons Frank, George, and David removed to 
 Alabama and Tennessee before they were old enough 
 to have performed any distinguished public service in 
 Georgia. 
 
 Nicholas Meriwether’s grandson Francis, the son of 
 David, married the sister of John Lewis, the son-in-law 
 of Gabriel Jones, the great lawyer of the valley of Vir- 
 ginia. He removed to South Carolina, where he left a 
 large family. 
 
 David, another son of David, married Miss Weaver 
 in England. His brother James volunteered at the 
 commencement of the revolution, when a youth of sev- 
 enteen. He continued to serve to the end of the war 
 with great distinction, first as a militiaman, in what 
 was called the silk-stocking company of Richmond, and 
 afterwards as captain in the Virginia Continental line. 
 Whilst serving in the Southern States, he was associated 
 with the gallant Col. William Washington, and formed 
 an intimate friendship with him. At the close of the 
 war, he settled in Georgia, where he married Miss 
 Susan Hatcher. He was Secretary of the Executive 
 Department, Comptroller General, and held other offi- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 93 
 
 ces of high trust continuously for twenty years. He 
 had two sons, Alexander, now “ Ordinary ” of Dooly 
 County, and James, who was a man of education, ta- 
 lent, and integrity ; Judge of the Superior Court, a 
 member of Congress, frequently a member of the Leg- 
 islature, and more than once Speaker of the House 
 of Representatives. One of his sisters married Col. 
 Thomas M. Berrien, brother of Senator John M. Ber- 
 rien ; one Dr. Robins, and another Mr. Patterson, who 
 had two daughters ; one married Eleazer Early, the 
 brother of Gov. Peter Early ; and the other Daniel 
 Sturges, Surveyor General of Georgia. 
 
 Thomas Meriwether, the grandson of Nicholas, the 
 Welshman, and son of William, w r as a man of excellent 
 character, and great wmalth. He married Elizabeth 
 Thornton, who belonged to one of the most respecta- 
 ble of the untitled families of England. Her sister 
 Mildred married Samuel Washington, brother of Gen. 
 George Washington. Thomas Meriwether had ten 
 children. His rank in society may be estimated by 
 his intimate friends, the executors of his will. They 
 were, Col. Joshua Fry, Peter Jefferson, Dr. Thomas 
 Walker, and Col. John Thornton. Col. Fry was the 
 brother-in-law of Dr. George Gilmer. He was Colonel 
 Commandant of the first Virginia troops raised to act 
 against the French and Indians in the war of 1756-63, 
 usually known in Virginia as Braddock’s. George 
 Washington w r as his Lieutenant-Colonel, and succeeded, 
 upon his death, to his command. Peter Jefferson was 
 the father of President Jefferson. Dr. Thomas Walker 
 was the brother-in-law of Dr. George Gilmer, and 
 grandfather of Mrs. Rives, wife of the American Min- 
 ister at Paris ; Commissioner with Thomas Lewis to 
 hold treaties with the western Indians, after their 
 
94 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 defeat at the Point, and Commissioner to run the line 
 between Virginia and North Carolina. He performed 
 other public services, and was distinguished for his 
 wealth and private virtue. Col. Thornton was the 
 brother of Mrs. Meriwether. 
 
 Nicholas, the oldest son of Thomas Meriwether, was 
 brave in danger, and self-possessed in the most diffi- 
 cult situations. He was one of the four Americans 
 who bore the wounded Braddock from the field of 
 battle at his disastrous defeat. A gold-laced, embroid- 
 ered coat, sent him from Ireland, by Gen. Braddock’s 
 sister, remained for a long time a curiosity in his plain 
 household. He once descended a nearly perpendicular 
 precipice of the Humpback Mountain by the use of 
 his fingers and toes, and drank water which issued 
 from its side, whilst his brother Frank tremblingly 
 looked on, expecting him to be dashed to pieces on 
 the rocks below, imagining that nobody would believe 
 him when he told what his sensible brother had done. 
 His wife, Margaret Douglas, was the sister of Parson 
 Douglas, a learned Scotchman, and distinguished in the 
 annals of Albemarle County as one of its remarkable 
 men. Mrs. Meriwether never lost the consciousness 
 that she was descended from the most chivalrous of 
 the gallant men of the old world. Their son Charles 
 was a very handsome, accomplished man. He perfect- 
 ed his medical education by attending the College of 
 Physicians at Edinburgh. He removed to Tennessee, 
 where he married and left a family of children. Wil- 
 liam Douglas, another son, continued to live at Meri- 
 wether’s place until he died, upwards of eighty years 
 old. He had the characteristics of the Meriwethers ; 
 simplicity of manners and dress, truth, and honesty. 
 
 Frank Meriwether, the second son of Thomas Meri- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 95 
 
 wether, attended William and Mary College. He 
 studied medicine for some time afterwards. The war 
 between France and England prevented his going to 
 Edinburgh. He therefore declined practising profes- 
 sionally. He married Martha Jamieson, the sister of 
 Colonel Jamieson, of the Virginia Continental line. 
 He removed to Georgia in 1784-5. Within the circle 
 of his acquaintances, he was thought the best man in 
 the world. The first settlers of upper Georgia suffered 
 very much from sickness. He laid out a portion of the 
 proceeds of his crop every year in medicines, and 
 devoted as much of his time as was called for in attend- 
 ing upon the sick without charge. The equanimity of 
 his temper, kindness of heart, and clearness of under- 
 standing, enabled him to do in the best manner all that 
 duty and benevolence required of him. He had no 
 pride or vanity. His house was the collecting-place for 
 the poor and ignorant, the rich and learned. He made 
 himself equally acceptable to every one. His truth 
 and integrity were so obvious in his countenance, and 
 in all that he said and did, that no one ever questioned 
 either. He once sold a horse he had to spare to a 
 neighbor who wanted one. His son Thomas, coming 
 up after the sale was completed, by the payment of the 
 price, asked his father what he had received for the 
 horse. He answered, seventy dollars. “ Why,” says 
 Tom, “ I do not think, father, that the horse is worth 
 more than sixty.” “ Well, son, if you think so, I am not 
 willing to take more ” — and returned ten to the pur- 
 chaser. This was a sample of the conduct of his whole 
 life. His wife seemed to think, that if there was not 
 more stir in the family than her husband made, all 
 would go to the dogs. She was constantly in a state 
 of restless anxiety. Her face was drawn to a pucker 
 
96 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 by the small-pox, which she caught when the British 
 Army scattered it through Virginia. She was con- 
 stantly afraid that the boys would be shot when hunt- 
 ing, or drowned when fishing. A stranger riding up 
 to the house one day, and hearing her crying, Where 
 is V al X Where is Nick ? was greatly distressed, imagin- 
 ing that the Indians might have carried off some of the 
 children, and was amusingly relieved upon finding that 
 her alarm was about two grown sons, who had not re- 
 turned to the house at the usual time. 
 
 The intermixture of the inherited qualities of the 
 children of Frank Meriwether and his wife was very 
 striking. Tom, the oldest, had his father’s aptitude for 
 knowledge, truthfulness, and integrity, and his mother’s 
 restless, uneasy disposition, lie was very industrious 
 and economical. He built his own house and chimneys, 
 and made and mended his farming tools. He was 
 a militia soldier in the revolutionary war. When 
 he was old, he loved to tell how he served under the 
 Marquis La Fayette ; — how that great general and 
 good man selected him from all his army, as its best 
 rifleman, to fire upon Cornwallis’s lookout at an impor- 
 tant place of observation ; and how, after his fire, the 
 soldier disappeared : and then a twinge could be seen 
 in his face, as if he felt that a human beiug might have 
 died by his hand. Though brave, he was near fainting 
 in the ranks, upon seeing a wounded soldier pass by on 
 a white horse, showing very plainly the trickling blood 
 as it flowed from a mortal wound. He was ouce in a 
 skirmish, when the detachment to which he belonged 
 was obliged by superior force to fly. He refused to 
 run until he got into woods close by, where he could 
 run without being seen by the British. The only fear 
 he seemed sensible of, was the fear of doing wrong. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 97 
 
 His scrupulousness subjected him to many difficulties. 
 He would not administer upon estates, nor perform the 
 duties of a justice of the peace, lest he might not do 
 exactly what the official oath required. 
 
 He was so modest and diffident when young, that 
 he found it difficult to address any young lady upon 
 the subject of marriage. Yet he was constantly in 
 love. Rebekah Mathews, the daughter of Governor 
 Mathews, had the shrewdness to divine his wishes, 
 when she became the object of his devotion, and said 
 yes, whilst the question was sticking in his throat. 
 His worth was not set off by fine clothes, nor very 
 polished manners. He put on a cloth coat when he 
 married the Governor’s daughter. It was the first and 
 the last time that he ever wore any thing which looked 
 like finery. He worked with his own hands very 
 industriously from early youth to his death. He com- 
 menced life with two or three negroes and a small tract 
 of land. He died worth sixty thousand dollars. He 
 never speculated, was exceedingly social and kind in 
 his temper, and ardent in his feelings. He talked with 
 enthusiasm about all thing’s in which he took an inter- 
 est, and especially politics. He was a Federalist, and 
 idolized General Washington as the ancients used to do 
 their deceased great men, whom they made gods of. 
 He hated Mr. Jefferson with a perfect hatred. His 
 Fourth of July toast was, Jefferson, Madison, and the 
 Devil, a trio of similar character and common purposes, 
 lie and his brother-in-law, William Barnett, the mem- 
 ber of Congress, attended together the sale of James 
 Olive’s property, their brother-in-law. Among other 
 things, they bought a bed for Olive’s wife. William 
 Barnett, the leading democrat of the country, sent for 
 a negro to carry the bed to Olive’s dwelling. Tom 
 
98 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Meriwether took the bed upon his own shoulders, and 
 carried it. to show how much of pretence there was in 
 the assertions of the Democrats, that pride was mono- 
 polized by the Federalists. 
 
 He valued knowledge very much, but was too con- 
 stantly employed in labor, and the performance of 
 social and domestic duties, to become very learned. 
 What he read he understood well and relished greatly. 
 He was familiar with the rudiments of geography, his- 
 tory, mathematics, and astronomy. His kindness was 
 only limited by the extent of his capacity to relieve 
 those who stood in need of his services. He never 
 knew any one in sickness or difficulty whom he did not 
 assist if he could. 
 
 In old times, when Georgia settlements were new, 
 tobacco was the staple production of the State. The 
 roads were very bad. It was difficult for the planters 
 to get their crops to market. Tom Meriwether was 
 usually delayed with his, by the time which he gave to 
 others, in aiding them to get their wagons and rolling 
 hogsheads out of the mud and up the hills. He had 
 the greatest reverence for truth, and never violated its 
 spirit, knowingly, in the least. A man who never pre- 
 varicated, was always dressed in the oddest fashion, 
 wore a long cue, and talked enthusiastically, was an odd- 
 ity in society, and could not mingle freely with it. He 
 was therefore almost unknown, except to his kin and 
 neighbors. No one ever followed with more constancy 
 the golden rule of doing unto others as you would they 
 should do unto you. He was an affectionate father, 
 obliging neighbor, and kind master. He took great 
 pleasure in giving delight to children, shooting and 
 hunting with them when they desired him. His love 
 for his wife was without intermission, and extended to 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 99 
 
 the extent of his loving nature. His gallantry equalled 
 his love. When she tired of sleeping on one side, and 
 turned on the other, he alway crossed over, if awake, 
 that they might be ever face to face. Only one time 
 in his life did he ever put any constraint upon her. 
 They were attending preaching at a camp-meeting, 
 where there was a great religious excitement. It was 
 Sunday, and the altar before the stand for the preach- 
 ers became filled with shouting converts and devoted 
 believers. Mrs. Meriwether looked upon their glow- 
 ing, happy faces, until she began to sympathize with 
 them. Tom Meriwether became alarmed, lest his 
 wife’s love might be drawn away from him, and placed 
 upon w r hat he took no interest in. He seized her arm, 
 and led her forcibly away. His matter-of-fact, demon- 
 strative mind, was unable to arrive at truth through 
 the imagination. 
 
 Col. Fleming Jordan, Dr. David Eeese, Dr. George 
 Meriwether, and David Meriwether, Tom Meriwether’s 
 sons and sons-in-law, settled in Jasper County. Tom 
 Meriwether’s affectionate temper could not bear the 
 separation from his children. He and his wife left 
 their happy home to follow after them. When Mrs. 
 Meriwether died, he distributed his property among 
 his descendants, reserving for himself only a small tract 
 of land, and two old faithful negroes ; where and with 
 whom he labored day by day, never forgetting for a 
 moment the absence of her who had been by his side 
 for more than forty years. 
 
 Ann, Tom Meriwether’s oldest child, married Col. 
 Fleming Jordan, now of Jasper. She was the most in- 
 dustrious of housekeepers, and yet found time to visit 
 all the sick and suffering about her, and to do for them 
 whatever her kindness and medical skill suggested. 
 
100 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Frank, Tom Meriwether’s oldest son, married Miss 
 Butler. 
 
 Dr. George, liis second son, married, first, Miss Jor- 
 dan, a sister of Col. F. Jordan, and after lier death, Miss 
 Watkins, a niece of Governor Early. 
 
 Mary, his second daughter, married Dr. Reese, who 
 has been for a long time a trustee of Franklin College, 
 frequently a member of the Legislature, and is now a 
 member of Congress. Fie is a man of kind temper, 
 good sense, and excellent character. 
 
 David, the youngest son of Tom Meriwether, was one 
 of the electors of President and Vice-President in 1840, 
 has married his fourth wife, and is one of the wealthy 
 planters of Georgia. He is a man of industry, truth 
 and probity. 
 
 Valentine, the second son of Frank Meriwether, 
 married Barbara Cosby. He has been at all times 
 exceedingly industrious and economical, and is as 
 remarkable for his skill and success in planting, as his 
 father and brother Nick for doctoring diseases. He is 
 so careful in selecting seed, tending, picking, and gin- 
 ning his crops, that a sample of his cotton has been 
 kept for many years in New York, as the test by which 
 to determine the quality of other cotton. His, and his 
 son Frank’s crops of the last year, sold in the Augusta 
 market, the best up-country market in the United 
 States, half a cent for the pound higher than any other 
 crops. Valentine Meriwether has his mother’s anxious 
 temper. He is often alarmed lest his family should 
 starve, though his corn-cribs are always the fullest in 
 his neighborhood. 
 
 Nick, the third son of Frank Meriwether, has his 
 father’s kindness and constitutional aptness for under- 
 standing and curing diseases. He devoted his time, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 101 
 
 day and night for several years, to attending the sick 
 without pay, and until his friends prevailed upon him 
 to take a doctor’s degree, and practice as a professional 
 physician. 
 
 Mary, Frank Meriwether's oldest daughter, married 
 William Barnett. She was so devotedly attached to 
 her husband, that upon being informed that his recovery 
 from the sickness then afflicting him was hopeless, be- 
 came frantic and died. 
 
 Mildred, the second daughter of Frank Meriwether, 
 married Joel Barnett, the brother of William. 
 
 Elizabeth, the third daughter, married William 
 Mathews, son of Governor Mathews. 
 
 Lucy married Groves Howard. 
 
 Margaret, Dr. John Bradle y. 
 
 Nancy, William Glenn ; and 
 
 Sarah, James Olive. James Olive was very apt at 
 acquiring knowledge. He used to say that much more 
 credit was given to General Washington than he was 
 entitled to, and that he could himself have done much 
 greater things if he had had the same advantages, 
 though he never did any thing of the least value with 
 those which he had. 
 
 David Meriwether, the third son of Thomas, and 
 brother of Frank, was a very quiet, upright man. He 
 sold his plantation in Amherst, Virginia, now worth 
 forty or fifty thousand dollars, to follow his kinsfolk to 
 Georgia, where he bought land worth now less than 
 one thousand dollars. He married Mary Harvie, a 
 very sensible, good woman, and one of the best of 
 wives. She was so fat when old, that she seldom left 
 the house. Her husband was usually found by her 
 side. She weighed between three and four hundred, 
 and was tall in proportion. He was low in stature, 
 
102 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 and weighed about one hundred and twenty. Her 
 seat was a broad split-bottom chair. When she rose, 
 she put each hand upon the opposite knobs and ascend- 
 ed so gradually, and for so long a time, that she looked 
 as if she would never stop. They had but one child, 
 a daughter, who was beautiful, sprightly and intelli- 
 gent. She married Col. Benjamin Taliaferro. 
 
 Thomas Meriwether’s daughter, Mildred, married 
 John Gilmer. 
 
 Mary married Peachy Ridgeway Gilmer. 
 
 Elizabeth married Thomas Johnson, of Louisa, 
 Virginia, called Sheriff Tom. They had a large family 
 of children. Nicholas, the oldest, moved to Georgia. 
 David, Frank and Tom, married and continued to live 
 in Virginia until their deaths. Each of them had a 
 family of children. They were social and respectable 
 men. I knew them all so slightly that I am unable to 
 give any particulars of tlieir lives, 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Johnson’s daughter, Lucy, married 
 William Quarles. They were exceedingly industrious 
 and economical. Having no children, they worked, 
 saved and accumulated, until they were worth two 
 hundred thousand dollars. 
 
 Mrs. Quarles had such an abhorrence of dirt, that 
 the little left by the feet of their few visitors annoyed 
 her very much. She kept the fences about her house, 
 and to the far gate in front, whitewashed. The little 
 negroes were usually employed in picking up straws, 
 twigs, and feathers. William Quarles was devoted to 
 his wife. He died first, and left her all his estate, ex- 
 cept some small legacies to his own relations at her 
 request. Fifty thousand dollars of his estate was in 
 United States Bank stock, and prized so highly by her 
 that she continued to hold on to it, until it became 
 valueless. . 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 103 
 
 Mary Johnson married Harry Winston, and Re- 
 bekah, Joseph Winston. No particulars are known 
 of them, except that one had a large family of very 
 pretty daughters. I passed a day with them when I 
 was nineteen. 
 
 Elizabeth married the Rev. John Poindexter. 
 Their nephew, George Poindexter, Governor of the 
 State of Mississippi and its Senator in Congress, was 
 nurtured and educated by them. 
 
 Sally married Richard Overton. They lived on 
 the side of Monticello, and high enough to command 
 a beautiful view of the country about Charlottesville. 
 Mrs. Overton was a cheerful, chatty, stirring woman, 
 as she was entitled to be by inheritance from her Meri- 
 wether mother. Mr. Overton lolled about the house 
 more than he attended to business. They moved to 
 Tennessee. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Johnson’s daughter, Nancy, married 
 Charles Barret. 
 
 Sally Meriwether, daughter of Thomas and sister of 
 Frank, married Michael Anderson. Their children 
 were Thomas, Reuben, Pouncey, Richard, and Nancy, 
 who married Edmund Thompson. 
 
 Nancy Meriwether, another daughter of Thomas, 
 married Richard Anderson. Their children were Jas- 
 per, Nicholas (who moved to Kentucky), David, 
 Elizabeth (who married Waddy Thompson), Sarah 
 who married William Clark (who moved to Ken- 
 tucky), Cicely, who married William Kerr in Ken- 
 tucky, Nancy, who married, first Mr. Watson, and 
 afterwards Dr. Lends Carr, and removed to Kentucky. 
 
 Many of the descendants of Sally and Nancy 
 Meriwether have been distinguished for wealth and 
 
 O 
 
 worth, but the knowledge of them is too indistinct to 
 be written about. 
 
104 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Lucy Meriwether, another daughter of Thomas, 
 married William Lewis, and after his death, John 
 Marks, each distinguished officers in the revolutionary 
 army. Ller person was perfect and her activity be- 
 yond her sex. She was sincere, truthful, industrious, 
 and kind without limit. She removed from Virginia 
 to Georgia with her second husband, along 1 with her 
 brother Frank and other relatives. Soon after her 
 husband’s death she returned to Virginia, and resided 
 at the place at which she had lived Avith her first hus- 
 band, about seven miles west of Charlottesville, on an 
 elevation of the south-west mountains, Avhere she con- 
 tinued to reside to a very old age, serving every body 
 whom she could, who stood in need of her assistance. 
 
 Meriwether Lewis, Mrs. Marks’s oldest son by 
 her first husband, inherited the energy, courage, acti- 
 vity, and good understanding of his admirable mother. 
 He acquired in youth hardy habits and a firm constitu- 
 tion. lie possessed in the highest degree self-posses- 
 sion in danger, the great quality of great generals. 
 
 From 1790 to 1795, the Cherokee Indians were 
 very troublesome to the frontier people of upper 
 Georgia ; stealing their negroes and horses ; occasion- 
 ally killing defenceless women and children, and 
 exciting alarm lest more extensive mischief might be 
 perpetrated. During the restless, uneasy state of the 
 people, created by the constant apprehension of attack, 
 a report reached the Virginia settlement on Broad 
 River, that the Cherokees Avere on the war path for 
 Georgia. Men, women and children collected together. 
 It was agreed that the house where they were could 
 not be defended, and might easily be burnt. They, 
 therefore, sought safety in a deep secluded forest. 
 Whilst they were assembled round a fire at night, pre- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 105 
 
 paring something to eat, the report of a gun was 
 heard. Indians ! Indians ! was heard from every 
 tongue. Mothers clasped their infants in their arms, 
 whilst the older children hung around them. The 
 men seized their guns — all were in commotion and dis- 
 may. There belonged to the company a boy, who 
 alone retained any self-possession. When every one 
 was hesitating what to do, the light of the fire was 
 suddenly extinguished by his throwing a vessel of 
 water upon it. When all was dark, the sense of 
 safety came upon every one. That boy was Meri- 
 wether Lewis. When he arrived at maturity his love 
 of action and enterprising spirit led him into the 
 regular army. ITe was the private secretary of Pre- 
 sident Jefferson, when the government determined to 
 have the territory of Louisiana explored, which had 
 shortly before been purchased of France. His known 
 intrepidity and habit of perseverance in the execution 
 of his determinations, pointed him out as the fittest 
 person to head an expedition for that purpose. By 
 the permission of Mr. Jefferson he selected for his aid 
 and companion his friend Capt. Clark of the army. 
 He passed from St. Louis, through difficulties which 
 few men would have undertaken, and still fewer could 
 have overcome ; and acquired for his country by the 
 possession ivhicli he took of the Pacific coast, the title 
 which was acknowledged to be the best to the Oregon 
 Territory in the late controversy with Great Britain. 
 In his expedition to the Pacific he discovered a gold 
 mine. The fact was not made public, nor the place 
 pointed out at the time, lest it might become known 
 to the Indians and Spaniards, and thereby be a public 
 injury instead of a public benefit. He informed his 
 friends, upon his return home, of the discovery which 
 
106 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 he had made, and his intention of making out such a 
 description of the place, that it might he found if he 
 should die before the information could be made use- 
 ful to the country. As he was travelling from St. 
 Louis, the seat of government of the Missouri Terri- 
 tory, of which he was then Governor, to Washington 
 City, he stopped for the night at a little inn on the 
 roadside, somewhere in Tennessee, hi the morning 
 his throat was found cut, and he dead ; whether by his 
 own hand, or others in search of his account of the 
 place where gold was to be found, is not certainly 
 known. 
 
 Reuben Lewis, the second son of Mrs. Marks, was 
 too irritable and impatient tempered to be very suc- 
 cessful in seeking public distinction. He was Indian 
 Agent in the far West for a while. Lie married his 
 first cousin, Mildred Dabney, a very estimable woman. 
 They had no children. 
 
 Jane, Mrs. Marks’s only daughter by her first hus- 
 band, was a very worthy woman. She married her 
 first cousin, Edmund Anderson, whose drunken, spend- 
 thrift habits brought his family to poverty. 
 
 Mrs. Marks had two children by her second hus- 
 band. 
 
 Her son, Dr. John Marks, was very intellectual, 
 but so defectively organized that he went deranged, 
 and died in a lunatic asylum. Her daughter Mary 
 married William Moore, a man of fortune, the son of 
 Mr. and Mrs. Moore of Broad River, and adopted son 
 of Mrs. Davenport, his aunt. 
 
 Jane, the youngest daughter of Thomas Meriwether, 
 was very pretty, very rich, and very much courted. 
 Going through a forest, searching for a stick, it is so 
 difficult to find one perfectly straight and free from knots, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 107 
 
 that a crooked one is taken from necessity as the out- 
 skirts are left. Jane married Samuel Dabney. The 
 cleverness of their mother has been shown in the 
 talents and success of her children. They were Wil- 
 liam, Samuel, Thomas, Frank, Elizabeth, George, 
 Charles, Richard, Edmund, John, and Mildred. 
 Richard was the most intellectual poet of Virginia. 
 He w r as so severely burnt in the Richmond theatre, 
 in the winter of 1811 - 12 , that he never recovered. 
 Frank was a captain in the regular army in the last 
 war with Great Britain. Charles married Elizabeth 
 Price, of Hanover. Mildred married her cousin, 
 Reuben Lewis. Edmund and John married Ann and 
 Eliza Blount, the near kinswomen of Governor Blount 
 of Tennessee. 
 
 THE BIBBS. 
 
 Miss Sally Wyatt was a native of Charlotte 
 County, Virginia. Her brother, Joseph Wyatt, repre- 
 sented, in the Senate of Virginia, for more than twenty 
 years, a part of Mr. John Randolph’s congressional 
 district. Sally Wyatt, and a cousin of the same name, 
 married, at the same time, two cousins by the name of 
 Bibb. Both the ladies were talented and aspiring. 
 The first-born of each was a son. Mrs. Sally Bibb and 
 her husband moved to Georgia. Her cousin and her 
 husband to Kentucky. In their after-correspondence 
 each of the ladies dw r elt with great delight on the 
 beauty and promising genius of her son, predicting that 
 he would, before he died, be President of the United 
 States. 
 
108 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Mrs. Sally Bibb’s son was afterwards wel 1 known 
 as Dr. William Wyatt Bibb of Georgia; lier cousin’s 
 as Mr. George Bibb of Kentucky. Each for a long 
 time showed by his rapid strides ahead of others, that 
 he might be the foremost man of his country in the 
 race for office. William Wyatt Bibb acquired his 
 professional education at the Medical School in Phila- 
 delphia, then decidedly the best in the United States, 
 where he graduated with distinguished reputation. 
 He located himself in the town of Petersburg, and 
 practised physic until the demands of the people re- 
 quired him to devote his talents to the public service. 
 Pie married Miss Mary Freeman, the only daughter 
 of Col. Holman Freeman, then the beauty of Broad 
 River. My first knowledge of Dr. Bibb was his res- 
 cuing me and several other boys, scholars of Dr. Wad- 
 dell, from an old tumbling down warehouse in Peters- 
 burg, into which we had retreated upon the approach 
 of a terrible hurricane. Shortly after his marriage. 
 Dr. Bibb removed to a plantation in Wilks County, a 
 mile or two from Broad River, and a few miles from 
 the residence of Col. Taliaferro. 
 
 Dr. Bibb was a member of the Georgia Legislature 
 at a very early age for entrance iuto public life. 
 William H. Crawford and John Forsyth had, perhaps, 
 more of the confidence of the authorities of the State 
 than Dr. Bibb. George M. Troup alone rivalled him 
 in the love of the people. He was elected a member 
 of the House of Representatives in 1806, and, some 
 years after, Senator in Congress. He was a very influ- 
 ential member during the restrictive commercial policy 
 of Mr. Jefferson’s administration, and afterwards one of 
 Mr Madison’s most confidential advisers. The passage 
 of the compensation law excited the indignation of the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 109 
 
 people to such fury that all the members of Congress 
 from Georgia, except one, were turned out of office, 
 though the measure was not voted for by some of 
 them ; because, as the people said, they talked at all 
 times upon every subject, but objected not a word 
 against getting increased pay per day. Mr. Madison 
 soothed Dr. Bibb’s mortification for this withdrawal of 
 their confidence by his constituents, by appointing him 
 Governor of Alabama Territory. He accepted the 
 appointment, and removed to Huntsville. Two years 
 after the people of Alabama organized a State Govern- 
 ment. Dr. Bibb was their first Governor. During 1 
 
 O 
 
 the summer of 1820, whilst riding rapidly to escape 
 from a shower of rain, his horse stumbled, and injured 
 him so that he died. 
 
 Dr. Bibb was a tall spare man, with head and 
 features admirably expressive of his mild, benevolent 
 temper, his sincere upright character, and good under- 
 standing. He was in the prime of life at the time of 
 his death. Had he lived on without accident he might 
 have realized his mother’s hopes and won her bet. 
 He was the intimate friend and political associate of 
 W m. IT. Crawford. He had two children, a son and 
 a daughter. George Baily, his son, acquired the ele- 
 ments of his education at the Pestilozzian school, which 
 was established and sustained for some years in Georgia 
 through the influence and patronage of Vm. H. Craw- 
 ford and his father. He resides in Alabama, and is 
 one of the richest men of the South. Dr. Bibb’s daugh- 
 ter married Mr. Alfred Scott of Montgomery, a gentle- 
 man of talents, education, and great wealth. Mrs. Bibb, 
 who was so charming when young, still lives a good- 
 looking widow. Dr. Bibb, though not of the blood of 
 the Broad Biver people, resided among them, and was 
 
110 
 
 FIRST 0 SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 related to them by the marriage of bis mother, after 
 his father’s death, to Mr. Win. Barnett, and the mar- 
 riage of his youngest brother, B. S. Bibb, to my 
 youngest sister. 
 
 Dr. Bibb had five brothers : Thomas, Peyton, John 
 Dandredge, Joseph and Benajah Smith; and two sisters, 
 Dolly and Martha. Thomas was a man of talents, energy, 
 and possessed of great wealth. He married a daughter 
 of Capt. Thompson of Petersburg, and soon after re- 
 moved, along with his father-in-law and several other 
 family connections, to the valley of the Tennessee 
 Elver, in Upper Alabama. He was a member of the 
 Legislature, President of the Senate, and, for a while, 
 Governor of the State. 
 
 Peyton was an honest, warm-hearted, enthusiastic 
 man. He occasionally became so devoted to aiding 
 others on in what he believed, without doubting, to be 
 the straight way to heaven, as to give himself up to 
 preaching. Pie married a great niece of Old Tom 
 Cobb, who lived, according to some accounts, one 
 hundred and twenty years, according to others, only 
 one hundred and eleven, and married, when one 
 hundred and ten, a young woman of eighteen. Mrs. 
 Bibb inherited, or received by way of legacy, a part 
 of his estate. 
 
 John Dandredge married a daughter of Mr. John 
 Oliver of Petersburg, whose wealth enabled him to 
 quit the profession of law for planting. He removed 
 to Alabama, and died before he arrived at middle 
 age. 
 
 Joseph was a very worthy man. He was educated 
 for a physician, but became so deaf that he declined 
 practice. He married Miss Dubose, a sister of Mrs. 
 Bobert Toombs, and, after her death, Miss . 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Benajali Smith married L. A. Sophia Gilmer, and 
 soon after moved to Alabama. Ide is an industrious, 
 intelligent, wealthy planter. He has been frequently 
 a member of the Legislature, and is now Senator from 
 Montgomery County. Though he is not a lawyer by 
 profession, the Legislature showed its great confidence 
 in his integrity and capacity by making him Judge of 
 the County Court of Montgomery. 
 
 Hr. Bibb’s oldest sister married Alexander Pope, a 
 gentleman of taste and intelligence. He moved from 
 Georgia to Alabama, where he held, for many years, 
 some office under the Government of the United 
 States. 
 
 Martha married Fleming Freeman, son of Col. 
 Holman Freeman, who was one of the first settlers on 
 Broad Elver, and a Whig leader under Gen. Elijah 
 Clark.1 
 
 , NANCY HART. 
 
 A high hill at the northwest corner of my father’s 
 plantation jutted into and overlooked a long stretch of 
 Broad Rive]’. The strong current of the river, when 
 swelled by heavy rains, formed a passage at its base. 
 That pass-way was called, in former times, Kennedy’s 
 gate, from the last Broad River beaver-trapper, whose 
 hut remained standing close by when I was a small 
 boy. I have often seen from the top of that hill the 
 wreck of a cabin lodged against the trees on the oppo- 
 site side of the river, by the great freshet of 1795. It 
 originally stood a mile or more up the river, and nearly 
 opposite the residence of Governor Mathews. It was 
 
112 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 built and first occupied by Nancy Hart and her bus- 
 band. The cabin was called Nancy Hart’s, because her 
 husband was nobody when she was by. Nancy Hart 
 was one of the North Carolina emigrants. She was a 
 tall, muscular, red-headed, cross-eyed woman. In the 
 contest between the Whigs and Tories, in the revolu- 
 tionary war, she proved herself every inch a Whig. 
 One of the mistakes of the Mother Country, in her 
 measures for exercising absolute dominion over her 
 American Colonies, was taxing tea, the use of which 
 was considered by the women a mark of gentility. 
 The patience with which they bore the burdens of the 
 war, and their determined spirit in urging the men to 
 perseverance in its struggle, contributed greatly to its 
 final success. Nancy Hart’s confident courage stirred 
 into patriotic action many vacillating, British-fearing 
 men of the times. When the Whigs of upper Georgia 
 were flying from the murdering and plundering of the 
 Tories and their superiors, she stood her ground, ever 
 disposed and ready to defend herself and hers from her 
 country’s foes. 
 
 One of the stories told about her after she left the 
 country, was, that the human bones said to have been 
 found under her cabin, when it was washed away by 
 the freshet, had belonged to Tories, whom she had 
 killed. The tale was not true, and did great injustice 
 to Nancy Hart : but its belief by many of her neigh- 
 bors showed their opinion of her slaying capacity. All 
 agreed that she knew no fear, and that she was untir- 
 ing in attacking the Tories. 
 
 One of my father’s negroes, when dying with the 
 consumption, imagined that apples, such as he used to 
 •eat at Lethe, his old master’s place in Virginia, would 
 cool his fever. The only place where apples could be 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 113 
 
 had in the neighborhood was Nancy Hart’s. My mo- 
 ther, supposing that she could procure them more 
 certainly than any one else, went to Nancy Hart’s 
 cabin for that purpose. Soon after she was seated, two 
 men rode up, and asked for apples for their longing 
 wives. Nancy cursed them and their wives — swearing 
 that every woman in the country got into the family- 
 way when her apples were ripe Though apples w r ere 
 given to the men, my mother was deterred by Nancy’s 
 rudeness from asking for any. But she was as kind as 
 she was rude. She took my mother into the orchard, 
 and filled her pockets, which, according to the custom 
 of the times, were two little bags attached to a belt 
 around the body, for holding every thing she had use 
 for in keeping house. 
 
 Nancy Wilder, another of the North Carolina emi- 
 grants, was a lone woman, who lived in the slashes of 
 Long Creek, did the weaving of the neighborhood, and 
 other things appropriate for lone single women to do. 
 Nancy Wilder had a web of cloth to weave for Nancy 
 Hart, which she had more than once promised to finish. 
 Nancy Hart, going for her cloth when she was assured 
 she should have it, went into Nancy Wilder’s cabin, 
 found her absent, and the web still in the loom. She 
 commenced cutting from the loom what was woven, in- 
 tending to leave the unfinished part for Nancy Wilder’s 
 toll. Whilst thus employed, Nancy Wilder returned, 
 and, seeing what she was doing, made at her. Solomon 
 Jennings just then rode up with the warp and filling 
 for a web of cloth, and, hearing a great noise in the 
 cabin, jumped off his horse, and ran in. He found the 
 hands of each of the women clenched in the other’s hair, 
 and they butting, biting, and swearing with all their 
 might. 
 
114 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The restless temper and fearless spirit which had 
 urged Nancy Hart to fight for liberty, made her the 
 best backwoods woman after the war ended. She 
 traced the bee to its tree, and the deer to its lair, 
 among snakes and wild beasts, with unequalled success. 
 
 When civilization began to extend its gentle influ- 
 ences over the frontier people of upper Georgia, Nancy 
 Hart left her accustomed haunts for the West. She 
 settled for a while on the Tombigbee. A great rain 
 flooded the river, destroyed her crop, and inclosed her 
 house within its overflowing. She had no love for the 
 Spaniards, nor for the ways of the French, her neigh- 
 bors. She returned to Georgia, and, finding her old 
 residence occupied by others, settled in Edgefield, 
 South Carolina. 
 
 When the preached word was heard instead of the 
 drum, and the people’s thoughts began to be occupied 
 about the result of their final account, instead of send- 
 ing others to the judgment-seat unprepared, Nancy 
 Hart’s conscience became troubled about her future 
 state. A Methodist Society was formed in her neigh- 
 borhood. She went to the house of worship in search 
 of relief. She found the good people assembled in 
 class-meeting, and the door closed against intruders. 
 She took out her knife, cut the fastening, and stalked 
 in. She heard how the wicked might work out their 
 salvation, — became a shouting Christian, fought the 
 Devil as manfully as she had fought the Tories, and 
 died in good fellowship with the saints on earth, with 
 bright hopes of being admitted into communion with 
 those in heaven. 
 
 I was a member of Congress in 1828-9. General 
 Jackson’s successful election to the Presidency put the 
 ambitious members all agog to attract his favorable 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 115 
 
 notice. One of the means used, was proposing to fill 
 the vacant nitches in the Rotunda with paintings 
 descriptive of the Battle of New Orleans, and his other 
 great victories. I prepared a resolution, as an addition 
 or substitute, to fill one nitch with a painting of Nancy 
 Hart wading Broad River, her clothes tucked up under 
 one arm, a musket under the other, and three Tories 
 ahead, on her way to the camp of the Whigs, to deliver 
 them up to the tender mercies of Col. Elijah Clark. 
 
 THE JOHNSONS. 
 
 Nicholas Johnson was the son of Thomas John- 
 son, of Louisa County, Virginia, and Ann Meriwether, 
 the daughter of Thomas Meriwether, of Albemarle 
 County. Whilst acting as deputy sheriff he rendered 
 himself liable to arrest for some act of violence. To 
 escape the danger, he left Virginia for the Broad River 
 settlement, where he appeared in more dashing style 
 than had ever been seen in that hard-working, econom- 
 ical, simple-habited frontier community. He «was at- 
 tended by a well-dressed servant, rode a fine blooded 
 horse, his servant another, and a third followed for the 
 relief of the other two. His dress was a blue coat, red 
 waistcoat, and buff pantaloons. He used to say that 
 when a young man went into a crowd so dressed, 
 every body made way for him, and he heard, as he 
 passed along, Who is that ? Who is that ? His person 
 was stout, his features full and round, his complexion 
 fair and florid, his voice well modulated, and his ad- 
 dress exceedingly civil. He was a constant and very 
 
116 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 plausible talker. He united grand scheming with suc- 
 cessful doing in a very unusual and often amusing way. 
 When he went to any public place, a crowd might 
 generally be seen gathered about him, listening to his 
 fervent account of some danger which threatened the 
 nation, or some new fashion of planting corn, tobacco, 
 or cotton. His land was very poor, and his plantation 
 very large, with granite rocks scattered about over it. 
 He described to some acquaintances in Augusta the 
 beauty of the native flowers and shrubs, and the wild 
 scenery of the rocky hills about him, in such glowing 
 terms, that they planned a special visit to enjoy the 
 pleasure of the sight. 
 
 He once told his neighbor, Dr. Bradly, a very 
 bookish planter, in seemingly earnest terms, how to 
 make a fortune by raising hogs. The Doctor was nigh 
 losing the entire profits of a year’s labor by following 
 the plan. 
 
 He married Mary Marks, daughter of James Marks, 
 of Broad Biver. He lived in log cabins for twenty 
 years after his marriage, in the plainest style. The 
 public road passed through his land, and not far from 
 his residence. He fell in one day with a pompous fel- 
 low, travelling along his lane, who inquired where he 
 could get his breakfast, and descanted largely upon 
 the unfitness of the accommodations on the road for a 
 gentleman. Col. Johnson told him that he could be 
 served at his house. The fellow said that he would 
 turn in and see if he could get any thing to suit his 
 taste. Col. Johnson accompanied him, held his stirrup 
 whilst he alighted, ordered the best to be got for his 
 breakfast, waited upon him at table, and never ceased 
 pressing him to eat until he could eat no more. When 
 the fellow asked for his bill he was made to pay a clol- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 117 
 
 lar, when Mr. Pomposity opened his eyes in astonish- 
 ment. Col. Johnson advised him to be more modest 
 in future when he went among strangers. 
 
 It was difficult to keep good fences around his large 
 fields of poor land. He comforted himself for the 
 many inconveniences which he suffered from bad in- 
 closures, by the advantages he enjoyed in the great 
 number of rabbits which he caught by the rails sink- 
 ing down so close to each other, that they could not 
 slip through and escape from the dogs. When he dis- 
 covered a hog in a cornfield, he found the place of en- 
 try, and stopped it so that the hog could not get out, 
 and show the whole stock the way in. Every traveller 
 called at his house who chose, and partook of his wife’s 
 good fare without charge, if found worthy of hospi- 
 tality. A peddling merchant once stopped, sold 
 many of his tin things, and finding plentiful food for 
 his horses, and good eating for himself, staid during 
 the remainder of the day, and all night. Col. Johnson 
 saw him go to his wagon after dining with his family, 
 and eat apples, wdiich were at the time a great rarity, 
 without giving his children any. He made him pay 
 twenty times the value of his apples for what he would 
 otherwise have had for nothing. 
 
 Whenever a monkey or other show passed by his 
 house, he sent into his fields for his negroes and treated 
 them to the exhibition. His oldest children were 
 daughters. He was so pleased when his first son was 
 born that he planted in the fence corners of his exten- 
 sive fields, a hundred thousand walnuts. According to 
 his count, by the time the infant arrived at manhood, 
 each of the walnuts would be grown into a tree, and 
 be worth a dollar, which would make a fortune for 
 him worth talking about. 
 
118 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Col. Johnson’s plantation and Col. Mathews’s rich 
 Goosepond tract adjoined. He was riding along the 
 public road, Avhich passed through both, when he fell 
 in with a traveller, who, after inquiring the names of 
 the owners of the two places, said that he had heard 
 that Col. Mathews was very rich, and that Col. John- 
 son was richer ; that he owned five hundred sheep, 
 Now he would say, see what a man of genius can do 
 with small means. But little supplies our wants. We 
 work for reputation. I, who do not own the fourth 
 part of the wealth of Col. Mathews, have the credit of 
 being the richest of the two. Men judge by com- 
 parison. If a man worth fifty thousand dollars usually 
 keeps fifty sheep, how much must he be worth who 
 keeps ten times that number ? 
 
 He used to shirtee his fields along the public road 
 with cow-pens, so as to make the corn which was seen 
 in passing by exhibit a very luxuriant appearance, and 
 so create the opinion in the lookers-on that his land 
 was very productive. His orders to the cowboys were, 
 that the cattle must never leave the pen in the morning 
 until they had added to its fertility. A neighbor pass- 
 ing by found a boy running a cow, and crying as if his 
 heart would break. Being a very kind man, he stopped 
 to inquire what was the matter, and received for an- 
 swer that Brownee would not do what master ordered. 
 
 When a daughter married, he gave to her husband 
 five hundred dollars, in addition to what he would 
 otherwise have given, if he removed to a new country, 
 where fertile lands were to be had ; saying, that it 
 would mortify him to see his children laboring hard for a 
 pittance, or coming about the old people to carry home 
 on Sunday evenings a wallet of little family necessities. 
 
 Col. Charles Mathews, Col. Johnson’s friend and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 119 
 
 neighbor, was very ambitious of being a member of 
 the Legislature, offered several times, and was not 
 elected. Col. Johnson accounted for his want of suc- 
 cess, by saying that Col. Mathews on public days rode 
 his big horse to the court-house, stood stiff in his stir- 
 rups, alighted at the tavern, and ordered with authority 
 his horse to be taken, seated himself in the parlor, 
 talked sensibly upon public affairs with the select few, 
 instead of calling upon Mrs. Crossroads Smith, inquiring 
 about the price of eggs and chickens, taking a drink of 
 cider, and kissing the children. 
 
 Col. Johnson was a man of truth, in the liberal sense 
 of the word. He never invented any thing, nor in- 
 tended to deceive. But his fertile imagination and 
 strong excitable temperament, led him constantly to 
 exaggerations in his descriptions of things that were 
 in any way remarkable. 
 
 Returning home from his harvest held one day, he 
 found a partridge nest very full of eggs. Upon meet- 
 ing his wife, he told her that he had found a partridge 
 nest with a bushel of eggs in it. His wife, who saw 
 things very clearly and as they were, exclaimed, It is 
 not possible, husband, for a partridge nest to hold a 
 bushel of eggs. Pshaw, wife, I only intended to give 
 you an idea. 
 
 He was for a long time addicted to strong drink, 
 was often drunk, and was always very violent when he 
 was. On one occasion he alarmed his family by some 
 threatened violence. His wife sent for the overseer 
 and negroes, and directed them to confine him. Upon 
 their coming into the room where he was, he put on 
 an air of sorrow and submission, telling his negroes, in 
 a plaintive voice, that he supposed that they had come 
 to tie their master, who had always been very kind to 
 
120 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 them. He continued to address them in the sweetest 
 and most insinuating way, until, finding them worked 
 up to his purpose, lie suddenly stamped his foot, and 
 cried out, “ The rascal shall die who attempts to tie 
 me ! ” ordered the negroes to seize the overseer, and 
 made at him himself. His house stood on the brow of 
 a hill. There was a long, wide passage through it, 
 inclosed on one side by a high railing, to prevent the 
 children from breaking their necks by falling over. 
 The overseer, comprehending fully his danger, leaped 
 over the railing. He was without coat or waistcoat. 
 As he descended, Col. Johnson grabbed his shirt at 
 the back of his neck, the collar flew open, the overseer 
 threw up his arms and slipped through. He darted, 
 shirtless, for Col. Mathews’s. Col. Johnson raised his 
 highest halloo, and ordered the negroes to catch him. 
 The whole posse of thirty or forty gave chase. It was 
 a run for life. The foremost negro was about to seize 
 hold of the over-seer’s breeches, when, breathless and 
 exhausted, he stood before Mrs. Mathews, and implored 
 her protection. In another drunken spree, Col. John- 
 son threw one of his daughters on the floor, and made 
 such a plausible feint that he intended to take her life, 
 by sticking his knife into the floor near her head, that 
 his wife interfered to save her child. He immediately 
 let go his daughter, and attempted to seize his wife. 
 She fled from the house to Broad River, about half a 
 mile distant. Whilst seated over the water, consider- 
 ing the question whether it were better to be or not 
 to be, she was suddenly precipitated into the river, and 
 turning her head, saw that her husband’s hand had 
 done the deed. As soon as he perceived that his 
 wife’s life was in imminent peril, his whole nature 
 underwent a sudden revulsion. He was sober in a 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 121 
 
 moment. Unable to swim, to have jumped into tlie 
 water would have been certain destruction to both. 
 He looked around with the quickness of thought for 
 means to save her. He found nothing at hand but a 
 long weed. Extending it at once towards her, he spoke 
 gently, and begged her to take hold. The voice of 
 love never fails to find a vibrating chord in woman’s 
 heart. Her clothes had held her up for a moment. 
 She saw the change in her husband’s feelings, and did 
 as she was implored to do. He drew her slowly to 
 him, reached down, pulled her into his arms, carried 
 her upon the bank, set her down, threw himself on his 
 knees before her, and called upon God witli the utmost 
 solemnity to witness his promise never to be drunk 
 again. That promise was never violated. 
 
 Mrs. Johnson inherited her father’s wit and her 
 mother’s clear understanding. Though she read but 
 little, and her intercourse with general society was 
 limited, her conversation was very agreeable and her 
 knowledge accurate. She and her husband were both 
 great talkers, and very excitable. Their animated con- 
 troversies went sometimes beyond what was pleasant 
 to listeners, especially when Col. Johnson was drinking. 
 
 Mrs. Johnson’s table was the most profuse of home 
 productions of any ever sat down to. Two hams of 
 bacon, a large piece of beef, vast dishes of fowls and 
 vegetables, were frequently seen at a family dinner. 
 She had seven houses for her chickens. A bushel of 
 corn was usually strewed around the yard every morn- 
 ing. Col. Johnson kept forty cows, five hundred sheep, 
 and countless hogs, to supply his wife’s table with 
 butter, milk, fat beeves, mutton, pigs, Ac., Ac. 
 
 O. H. Prince and A. G. Clayton, the rival wits of 
 the Georgia bar, expressed the opinion, in a social 
 
122 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 assemblage of lawyers, when Scott’s poetry was first 
 spouted by every body, that the rhyme was but 
 doggerel, and could be written by any versifier. The 
 conversation excited interest, and the assertion of the 
 wits opposition. To prove the correctness of their 
 criticism, Mr. Prince wrote off at once a string of lines 
 ending in words of similar sound, to which Judge 
 Clayton added a note after Scott’s fashion. The subject 
 was Brownee and the little negro cowboy. The rhyme 
 and note appeared soon after in a paper published by 
 Mr. David Hillhouse, in Columbia, South Carolina. 
 Col. Johnson, when he heard of the pasquinade, only 
 laughed, when he understood why it was written. Not 
 so Mrs. Johnson. She asked a kinsman, who was a 
 lawyer, to induce Mr. Prince to call in passing by to 
 the court, that she might teach him a lesson on good 
 behavior. 
 
 After Mrs. Johnson’s death, which occurred in 
 1814-15, Col. Johnson removed with his unmarried 
 children to Lauderdale County, Alabama, where he 
 married again. When all his children left him, he 
 indulged in love for dogs and cats, keeping about 
 seventy of each. 
 
 Nancy, Col. Johnson’s oldest daughter, married 
 Beuben Jordan. 
 
 Betsy, his second daughter, Louis Bourbon Tali- 
 ferro. 
 
 Martha, George Oglethorpe Gilmer. 
 
 Lucy, John Gilmer. 
 
 Barbara, Fraser. 
 
 Bebekah, Charles Jordan. 
 
 Sarah, Morgan Smith. 
 
 Ilis sons, Frank and James, died young and un- 
 married. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA, 
 
 J23 
 
 Edward, the youngest, was a youth of fine promise. 
 Whilst on a visit to his brother-in-law, George O. Gil- 
 mer, in Montgomery, Alabama, he joined a party who 
 were going deer hunting. All passed through a gate 
 on their w r ay to the forest ; Edward w r as the last. The 
 gate was heard to shut, and a gun to go off. Those 
 who were before looked round, and saw Edward fall- 
 ing from his horse. He was dead when they got to 
 him. He had pushed the gate to its place with the 
 butt end of his gun. It had gone off, and its load into 
 some vital part. 
 
 WILLIAM H. CEAWFORD. 
 
 William H. Crawford, was born 24th of Feb. 
 1772, in Amherst, a part of Virginia unsurpassed for 
 good water, pure atmosphere, and the healthiness and 
 heartiness of its inhabitants. Spencer off that county 
 was reputed to be the largest man in the world. The 
 nine Martins were as remarkable for height as Spencer 
 was for weight. The Crawfords were both stout and 
 tall. William H. wms six feet three inches high, his 
 brothers Charles and Joel about as tall, and Bennet, 
 Robert and David, but little lower. The elevated, 
 rough, productive mountains of his nativity seemed to 
 have impressed their characteristics upon his constitu- 
 tion. His family were Scotch, and claimed kindred 
 with the lairds of that name. He was a lad at the 
 close of the revolutionary war, and grew up with the 
 hardy habits of those scuffling times. He carried with 
 him to his highest station a little of the rudeness of 
 
124 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 his mountain raising. Soon after peace his father 
 removed to Columbia County, Georgia. William H. 
 labored on the plantation with his brothers until Dr. 
 Moses Waddell commenced his school in the neighbor- 
 hood. He attended it, and soon learned to appreciate 
 his extraordinary capacity. He had arrived at man- 
 hood before his education extended beyond the rudi- 
 ments of learning. His quick apprehension and reten- 
 tive memory enabled him to master the Latin and 
 Greek languages in the shortest possible time, and to 
 comprehend and enjoy with peculiar zest the beauties 
 of the best ancient writers. He never lost his relish 
 for Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Xenophon and Homer. 
 He continued to attend the examinations of academies 
 and colleges, to enjoy the pleasure of renewed ac- 
 quaintance with these old favorites. And yet he was 
 above the vanity of display, and entirely free from 
 pedantry. His father lost most of his property by 
 some singular casualty before William LI. derived any 
 advantage from it. He knew when he commenced 
 life’s struggle that his success would be unaided by 
 fortune, and made his exertions correspond with his 
 necessities. As soon as he was qualified, he accepted 
 the place of assistant to Charles, afterwards Judge 
 Tait, then principal of the Augusta Academy, a con- 
 nection which led to some of the most important events 
 of his future career. Whilst engaged in teaching and 
 studying law, he and Miss Gardine became attached to 
 each other, and agreed to marry. The contract was 
 consummated as soon afterwards as a competency was 
 provided for housekeeping, which was so long, that 
 one less honorable and steadfast than Mr. Crawford 
 might have forgotten the obligation, unattended as it 
 was by the inducements of wealth and rank. Mrs. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 125 
 
 Crawford was an excellent wife. She still lives to keep 
 fresh in the memory of her children the admirable 
 qualities of their fond and indulgent father. 
 
 Mr. Crawford was in 1799 appointed, in conjunc- 
 tion with Id. Marbury, to digest the laws of Georgia. 
 He settled about the same time in Lexington, OMe- 
 thorpe County, to pursue his profession. Whilst he 
 was compiling the laws, being then unmarried, he 
 passed most of his time at William Barnett’s, his kins- 
 man, who lived in Elbert County, on Broad River, 
 immediately opposite my father’s residence. His 
 plain dress, frank manners and decided straightfor- 
 ward way of speaking and acting, rendered him very 
 acceptable to all the Broad River people. My father 
 specially admired and confided in him. He obtained 
 his promise that as soon as I was old enough he would 
 make a lawyer of me. When I was about to com- 
 mence preparation for the profession, he acknowledged 
 the obligation ; but advised me to go into Mr. Upson’s 
 office, on account of his long absence from home attend- 
 ing Congress. 
 
 When Mr. Crawford commenced the life of a 
 lawyer, many of the profession were engaged in the 
 land speculations which at the time disgraced the State. 
 An effort was made to induce him to act in unison 
 with them. His refusal brought upon him the united 
 opposition of the unprincipled clique. Finding his 
 talents and integrity very much in the way of their 
 success, a conspiracy was entered into to kill, or drive 
 him away. Van Allen, an impudent fellow from Hew 
 York, a first cousin of President Van Bureu, was 
 chosen to play the bully. He challenged Mr. Craw- 
 ford and was killed. Gen. Clark, who having fought 
 with fame at the battle of Jack’s Creek, and distin- 
 
126 
 
 FIKST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 guished himself by the active part which he took in 
 the brawls common in those days, thought his efforts 
 might be attended with better success. A challenge 
 was sent to Mr. Crawford and accepted. On the day 
 of the meeting, Clark and his second harassed him 
 with quibbles and controversies until he was out of 
 temper, and off his guard. When he took his position 
 his disengaged arm was forgotten, and suffered to 
 hang outside of his body, so that Gen. Clark’s ball 
 struck his wrist, which would otherwise have passed 
 harmlessly by. Clark’s hatred was increased, instead of 
 being appeased by his accidental success. He renew- 
 ed his challenge without any renewed offence, and 
 continued as long as he lived in Georgia, to obstruct 
 by all the means which he could command, the way of 
 Mr. Crawford’s political advancement. 
 
 Mr. Crawford was elected a member of the Legis- 
 lature by the people of Oglethorpe, for several succes- 
 sive years. His vigorous intellect and active industry 
 entitled him to the first place among the members, a 
 position which he was not slow in assuming. 
 
 He was elected to the United States Senate in 
 1807, and was soon considered one of the great men of 
 that most select of the legislative bodies of the world. 
 He had the confidence of Mr. Jefferson, and was one 
 of Mr. Madison’s most influential advisers. He show- 
 ed his fearlessness in the discharge of public duty, by 
 attacking Mr. Madison’s Delphic-like recommendations, 
 when decisive measures were required by the state of 
 the country. He was rewarded for his independence 
 by being sent Minister to France. His tall command- 
 ing person figured conspicuously among the diminutive 
 Frenchmen, whilst his noble features and gallant tem- 
 per rendered him a great favorite in Parisian society. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 127 
 
 When lie returned home, polished by intimate associa- 
 tion with the highest class of the politest nation, his 
 appearance and manners made him the most imposing 
 gentleman who had ever been seen in Georgia. He 
 indeed surpassed in personal appearance Mr. Clay, Mr. 
 Calhoun, Mr. Lowndes, and General Jackson, his rivals 
 for the Presidency, though each one of them would 
 have attracted attention among a million. 
 
 I was a member of Congress, whilst Mr. Crawford 
 was Secretary of the Treasury, and had frequent oppor- 
 tunities of observing his singular capacity for business ; 
 his contempt for pretences ; his excellent memory, and 
 the sagacity which enabled him to bring into the service 
 of his department the best assistants which could be 
 had for the performance of what was to be done. 
 Rascals received no countenance from him. He em- 
 ployed none knowingly, and when he was deceived, he 
 told them so, and dismissed them. 
 
 The improper use of lobelia by Mr. Crawford for 
 an attack of erysipelas through the advice of an un- 
 skilful physician, whilst he was temporarily absent 
 from Washington City, brought on paralysis, from 
 which he never entirely recovered. The electioneer- 
 ing for the Presidency was then goiug on very active- 
 ly. He was never sensible of the injurious effects of 
 the disease upon his mind, and refused to withdraw 
 from the canvass. The ambitious men of his party 
 had committed themselves to his support, and opposi- 
 tion to his rivals, before his enfeebled condition was 
 known, so that their hopes of distinction through the 
 favor of the President, rested upon him. There was 
 no getting at the true state of his case during the 
 pendency of the election. His chance for success was 
 considered best of all the candidates, until the votes 
 
128 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 which determined the election were counted out. 
 Complaining long afterwards to Mr. Crawford’s most 
 intimate friend, who was one of the ablest and most 
 honorable citizens of our country, of this concealment of 
 Mr. Crawford’s condition from the country, he replied, 
 that such was his confidence in the integrity of Mr. 
 Crawford, and his thorough knowledge of men and 
 measures that he believed he would, though paralyzed, 
 have made a better President than either of his 
 rivals. 
 
 Mr. Crawford quitted office in 1825, poorer than 
 when he went Minister to France. He had no love 
 of money for its own sake. When his children grew 
 up, married, and stood in need of more property than 
 he could give them, he would sometimes exjiress re- 
 gret that he had not followed his profession and 
 acquired wealth, as Mr. Cobb and Mr. Upson had 
 done, Avho succeeded to his practice. 
 
 He was appointed Judge of the Superior Court by 
 Governor Troup, in 1827, to fill the vacancy occasioned 
 by the death of Judge Dooly, and was elected to the 
 same office by the Legislature, in 1828. He made 
 a better judge than seemed to be possible to those who 
 were familiar with his paralyzed state. His clear and 
 conscientious sense of right, and extraordinary recollec- 
 tion of wffiat he had known in early life, kept him in 
 the straight course. 
 
 He was violently opposed to the nullification move- 
 ment, considering it but an ebullition excited by Mr. 
 Calhoun’s overleaping ambition. 
 
 Every one drank whiskey whilst Mr. Crawford was 
 growing up. Elis mind and body were but little 
 affected by this habit until he was paralyzed. Fie ' 
 continued to use the accustomed quantity, often lost 
 
FIEST SETTLEBS OF UPPEE GEOBGIA. 
 
 129 
 
 bis self-control, and would talk of the rascality of the 
 men of former times in mixed companies, to the great 
 annoyance of some, and amusement of others. He 
 retained his social temper and admirable conversational 
 talents to the end of his life. He loved to tell anec- 
 dotes, and told them well. He saw the knob, and 
 made others feel it. He was a capital laugher, and 
 cared not a fig, when at his greatest elevation, for 
 artificial dignity. He was as affectionate to his chil- 
 dren as a father could be, loving them heartily, and 
 learning them to treat him familiarly and confidingly. 
 To his children, friends, and neighbors, he was what 
 they liked best and admired most. With but limited 
 learning and unpolished manners, he was found upon 
 trial equal to any demands which his country could 
 make upon him. He retained through life his love for 
 his Broad River friends. He died among them, at the 
 house of Mr. Valentine Meriwether, on his way to 
 Elbert Court, of a disease of the heart. 
 
 Joel Crawford was tall and stout, like his distin- 
 guished brother, William H. The resemblance extend- 
 ed no further. He married his first cousin, Haney, the 
 daughter of old Nat. Barnett. The only public office 
 which Joel Crawford ever held, was tobacco-inspector 
 for the little towu of Petersburg. His wife, never 
 having associated with society before her marriage, 
 when she went into company afterwards was as restless 
 as if she was on thorns. They had only one child, a 
 daughter, who married a man by the name of Mc- 
 Daniel. 
 
 Joel Crawford lived in a small hewed log-house, 
 near Falling Creek, about two miles north of Broad 
 River, in Elbert County, and near his brother-in-law, 
 William Barnett. 
 
 9 
 
130 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 THE BARNETTS. 
 
 Nat. Barnett must have been of English descent, 
 being brave, obstinate, and perverse, without the cal- 
 culating temper of the Scotch, or wit of the Irish. He 
 was a native of Amherst County, Virginia. He mar- 
 ried Miss Crawford, a neighbor’s daughter, and aunt of 
 William H. Crawford. The match was very suitable 
 in many respects. Both were perfectly content with 
 their clothes if they covered their nakedness, and their 
 house if it sheltered them from the weather. Fancy 
 was not a quality of their natures, and mental taste not 
 known to them at all. And yet they were not al- 
 together alike. Nat. was active and supple of body, 
 and not very strong of understanding ; his wife was 
 firm and sensible. Nat. accompanied his relations, the 
 Crawfords, in their removal from Amherst County, 
 Virginia, to Columbia County, Georgia, about the 
 beginning of the revolutionary war. The British 
 troops, and their friends the Tories, drove, by their 
 murderous warfare, most of the Whigs from upper 
 Georgia. Nat., his two sons, William and Joel, and 
 two of the young Crawfords, their kinsmen, determined 
 to remain and war to the knife ivith them. Nat. was 
 made prisoner, and confined in Augusta jail. When 
 the Whigs, under Clark, attacked Augusta, and drove 
 out the Tories, Nat. was liberated. Having been 
 whilst confined in constant expectation of being put to 
 death, when he felt himself free he leaped into the air, 
 struck his feet three times together, threw his wool-hat 
 aloft, and cried out at the top of his voice, “ Liberty for 
 ever ! liberty for ever ! liberty for ever ! ” Ac. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 131 
 
 William and Joel Barnett, and the two Crawfords, 
 to avoid beina; burnt in the houses of their fathers, or 
 captured and hung, took possession of a thicket of 
 cedars, which grew near the centre of a great extent of 
 otherwise bare rocks, some miles above Augusta. 
 From this place they could see the approach of ene- 
 mies, prepare for flight or fight, and choose the most 
 favorable times for breaking up lodgments of the 
 Tories. 
 
 Joel Barnett, the youngest of the four, especially 
 distinguished himself by his daring adventures. He 
 once crossed Savannah River, into Edgefield district, 
 South Carolina, where the Tories had the upper hand 
 at the time, and burnt the tippling-house in which they 
 were accustomed to assemble before going forth to 
 plunder and murder. He was tarrying to see the fire 
 under way, when he heard a party of Tories making 
 for the place in the greatest haste. He mounted his 
 horse and fled. There was no fort nor friends near 
 to give him protection. The British and their allies 
 were in possession of Augusta, the only place where a 
 boat could be had for crossing the Savannah River. 
 It was a run for life on the part of Barnett. With 
 might and main the pursuers and the pursued urged on 
 their horses. When Barnett reached the river he 
 plunged in. Lying on the water, he struck manfully 
 into it with eager love of life. He had got just beyond 
 gunshot when the Tories arrived at the bank. They 
 vented their rage by firing their guns at him. 
 
 Joel Barnett’s health gave way from constant 
 exposure. Reduced to feebleness by fever and ague, 
 he sought relief by taking shelter in the cabin of a poor 
 Whig woman near by, who, in accordance with the 
 spirit of her sex, loved her country and her countrymen 
 
132 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 who fought to defend it. One morning, whilst Joel 
 Barnett was at breakfast with his hostess, he saw, 
 through the opening between the logs of her cabin, a 
 party of Tories rapidly approaching. Having no 
 ability or means to fly, he passed out of the cabin on 
 the opposite side, climbed over a fence which inclosed 
 a little field near by, and dropped into some weeds and 
 grass, which his quick eye saw would conceal him. He 
 heard the curses of his enemies, and their threats of 
 vengeance upon the woman, when they found that he 
 had escaped, and their whoops of encouragement to each 
 other, as they parted to meet on the opposite side of 
 the little field. As soon as they were out of sight, go- 
 ing on in the direction which they supposed he had 
 fled, Barnett eased his held-in breath, reclimbed the 
 fence, passed through the cabin, shook the hand of the 
 kind woman, and was off in the opposite direction. 
 
 The two Barnetts and two Crawfords, after a while, 
 were obliged to leave Georgia. The two Barnetts 
 went to Virginia, where the Marquis La Fayette and 
 Cornwallis were exercising their military skill in efforts 
 to get the advantage of each other. They joined the 
 militia company from Amherst County, were in the 
 conquering American army at the siege of York, saw 
 the British commander-in-chief yield his sword to an 
 inferior American officer, and joined in the general 
 exultation of their countrymen, when they knew that 
 the struggle for freedom had ended successfully. 
 
 Joel Barnett returned to Georgia soon after, and 
 married his first cousin, Miss Crawford. After her 
 death he married Mildred Meriwether, the daughter 
 of Mr. Frank Meriwether, and settled in Oglethorpe 
 County, a little off from Broad River. Joel Barnett 
 was firm to obstinacy. He never did favors for the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OP UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 133 
 
 sake of gaining favors, nor palavered any body. He 
 did not talk mucb. Whatever lie said lie believed to 
 be strictly true. He joined the Baptist Churcli upon 
 his conscience becoming impressed with the force of 
 religious truths ; but found it impossible to conform 
 himself to its rules, and withdrew, or was turned out. 
 He was upright, and retained the confidence of the 
 people of Oglethorpe County as long as lie lived among 
 them. He represented them frequently in the Legis- 
 lature. He was industrious and economical. He re- 
 moved to the State of Mississippi, where be died some 
 years after, worth $200,000. He had one child by 
 bis first wife and eight by bis last. 
 
 Joel was like the children of poor cousins are apt 
 to be. 
 
 Susan married John Gresham ; secondly, John Gil- 
 mer. 
 
 Charles married Eliza Gresham. 
 
 Frank married Susan Ponder. 
 
 Nathaniel married Eliza Goolsby. 
 
 Mary married William H. Smith. 
 
 married Crawford. 
 
 Emily married Craven W. Totten ; secondly, 
 
 Stewart. 
 
 Ann married ■ Burke. 
 
 Rebekah married Michael Johnson. 
 
 William Barnett married Mary Meriwether, the 
 daughter of Mr. Frank Meriwether. He lived for a 
 short time in Columbia County, and then settled on 
 Broad River, in Elbert County. He was kind, plausi- 
 ble, and agreeable. Though his education and read- 
 ing were very limited, his observation was close, and 
 perceptions clear. New settlements are necessarily 
 very sickly in warm climates. William Barnett’s 
 
134 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 kind disposition, and singular capacity for profiting 
 by experience and observation, made him a good phy- 
 sician. His skill was exerted freely for the benefit of 
 those who could not procure a doctor, or were without 
 the means to employ one. He became the most popu- 
 lar man of his county. The first ofiice which he held 
 was the sheriffalty. His efficiency was soon put to a 
 very severe trial. 
 
 Beverly Allen carried on the business of merchan- 
 dise in the County of Elbert in 1794-5. His store- 
 house and residence was on the hill rising from Beaver- 
 dam Creek, on the side of the road leading from the 
 Fishdam ford on Broad River to the Cherokee 'ford on 
 the Savannah. He was young and handsome, with a 
 fine voice, and ardent temperament. He came to 
 Georgia an enthusiastic Methodist preacher. Without 
 any of the learning of Whitfield, he had much of his 
 inspiring elocpience. Episcopalianism had passed away 
 from the country with the loss of titles. It was long 
 before its place was supplied by the faith of the Bap- 
 tist and the devotion of the Methodist. Preaching 
 was a rarity when Beverly Allen settled in Georgia. 
 Men’s souls were stirred within them when they 
 heard vivid descriptions of the punishment in the 
 lower world for sin, and the happiness in heaven of 
 those who died in the faith, and left their good works 
 to follow them. When Beverly Allen held forth upon 
 these subjects, the whole population crowded together 
 to hear him. Some time during the year 1795, he 
 went to Augusta to buy goods with the money which 
 he had, and the credit which he could obtain. Whilst 
 there, the foreign merchant, of whom he had purchased 
 his first stock, found him buying goods of others, in- 
 stead of discharging the debt due to himself. He 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 135 
 
 caused a ca. sa. writ to be issued for Allen’s arrest, re- 
 turnable to the United States District Court. Being 
 informed of his liability to arrest, he armed himself, took 
 possession of a room in a public house, and fastened the 
 door. The marshal, who was the father of the cele- 
 brated John Forsyth, pursued him, broke open the 
 door, and was, upon his entrance, shot dead. Allen 
 was arrested upon a charge of murder, escaped, and 
 fled to his home in Elbert. William Barnett, upon 
 receiving the warrant, assembled a guard and went in 
 search of him. He ascertained that Allen was con- 
 cealed in his house. After many fruitless attempts to 
 get him out, the house was set on fire and kept burn- 
 ing until he delivered himself up. He was confined in 
 the jail of the county. The news spread among the 
 people with electric quickness, that their favorite 
 preacher was in jail for resisting the process of the 
 United States Court, the object of which had been to 
 take from him his liberty, and separate him from his 
 home, friends, and flock. The process of the Circuit 
 Court of the United States was then very unpopular 
 on account of the violent political contest between the 
 democrats and federalists, in which the power of the 
 United States Courts made one of the subjects of party 
 disagreement. In those days the people were a law 
 unto themselves. The restraints of government had 
 been very slight during the dominion of Great Britain. 
 They were scarcely felt at all on the frontiers of Geor- 
 gia at the time of the arrest of Allen. Voluntary as- 
 sociations, called Lynch men, afforded some protection 
 against thieves. Personal rights were defended by the 
 first. Liberty, and especially liberty of person, was, 
 from the habits of speaking, acting, and feeling of the 
 times of the revolution and immediately after, consid- 
 
13B MUST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 ered by many the chief good. In such times, among 
 such people, operated upon by such causes, it was not 
 wonderful that the imprisonment of Allen produced 
 popular commotion. The sheriff, finding that the res- 
 cue of his prisoner would be attempted, set off with 
 him for Washington, Wilks County. He was headed 
 on the road and compelled to return. He increased 
 his guard to sixteen men. One or more of them 
 proved to be friends of the prisoner. On the night 
 after William Barnett’s return from this attempt to 
 secure the criminal in Wilks jail, the jail of Elbert was 
 attacked by two hundred men, the doors forced open, 
 and Allen permitted to escape. The friends of the 
 prisoner had, previous to the attack, taken the powder 
 from the locks of the guns of all the guard from whom 
 any danger was apprehended, except one. He was 
 held so that he could not fire. Beverly Allen fled to 
 the most distant western frontier of the United States. 
 
 William Barnett was a member of the Legislature 
 for a long time, and for several years President of the 
 Senate. He and Mr. Forsyth were candidates for 
 Congress, each for the first time, to fill a vacancy. 
 Wm Barnett’s popularity was proven by his success 
 over the most talented man of the time. He con- 
 tinued a member of Congress for some years. He 
 received many other proofs of his countrymen’s con- 
 fidence. He and his first wife were devoted to each 
 other. They had a large family of children. Mrs. 
 Barnett’s love was subjected to a test which proved too 
 much for her capability of endurance. He was so 
 dangerously ill of fever that his life was despaired of. 
 His wife became frantic, and died. He recovered, and 
 years after married Mrs. Bibb, the mother of Dr. Wil- 
 liam W. Bibb. Though Mrs. Barnett was very sensible 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 137 
 
 and agreeable, it was not possible for lier to make her- 
 self acceptable to a man who had lived most lovingly 
 from his youth to advanced age with a wife who was 
 altogether devoted to him, and had died for love of 
 him. Each of them had children, most of whom were 
 married. They had no common property. They 
 began to separate in visiting their children, until they 
 finally ceased to live together. He removed to Ala- 
 bama, and died shortly after. He had six children by 
 his first wife ; none by his last. 
 
 Thomas Meriwether Barnett, the oldest child of 
 William Barnett, inherited his mother’s temper. He 
 was instinctively industrious, frugal, truthful, and 
 honest. He had none of the plausibility nor agreea- 
 bleness of his father. He never electioneered, pa- 
 lavered, nor asked favors of any body, sought for nor 
 held any office. He had no time to spare from his 
 home employments to listen to the idle chat of others, 
 and never took time to talk himself. For many years 
 after he was a man he attended to both his father’s 
 plantation and his own, though they were several miles 
 apart, walking daily from one to the other, and over 
 each. He seldom visited ; never sung, danced, nor 
 attended frolics of any sort. He showed, when he was 
 dressed in his best, that he did not expect to please by 
 the cut of his coat nor the tie of his cravat. How he 
 got married no one knows, except his wife. He had 
 lived to be a bachelor of some standing, and never 
 courted even a cousin, when a lady, who was herself 
 considerably beyond her teens, became a frequent 
 visitor at her sister’s, who lived near by Tom Barnett’s. 
 She was social, and often very much in want of com- 
 pany. Some accident brought the maiden and bachelor 
 together. The backwardness of the unpolished bachelor 
 
138 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 was overcome by the free and easy manners of the low 
 country Virginia lady. Where there is a will there is 
 a way. They married. Providing for children in- 
 creased the motives which had made Tom Barnett 
 exceedingly industrious and frugal. Though he never 
 bartered nor trafficked he had clear perceptions of the 
 value of money, and understood very well the best 
 means of making it. He left his post oak, black-jack 
 lands, near Broad River, in Elbert County, for the rich 
 prairie lands of Montgomery, Alabama. He has gone 
 on, working continually, and adding to his property, 
 until he is now one of the wealthiest planters of the 
 Southern States, probably the very richest whose 
 patrimony was only five negroes and a tract of land 
 of a few hundred acres of common quality. He is the 
 owner of upwards of sixty thousand acres of rich land, 
 many negroes, and much other valuable property. He 
 is near seventy years old, and is as industrious, frugal, 
 honest, truthful, shabby in dress, and abstemious in 
 talk, as he was in early life. 
 
 Martha, the next oldest of the living children of 
 Wm. Barnett, married Francis M. Gilmer, originally 
 of Broad River, now of Montgomery, Alabama. Her 
 industry, smartness, and economy, has made her hus- 
 band rich. 
 
 Mary, the second daughter, married David Talia- 
 ferro, son of Col. Ben. Taliaferro. She was left a 
 widow, with several young children. She has proved 
 herself a match for any man in the management of 
 property, and, iudeed, superior to most in most other 
 matters. 
 
 Nat., the second son, married Miss Hudson, and 
 moved to the far Southwest. 
 
 Lucy, the third daughter, married George Mathews, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 139 
 
 grandson of Gov. Mathews. She was a clever woman, 
 and her husband one of the best of all the Broad River 
 kin. 
 
 , fourth daughter, married Ross. 
 
 Peter Barnett, the youngest son of Old Nat., never 
 made the effort or failed to overcome the unrestrained 
 rudeness of his youth. He married Miss Saffold, of 
 Wilks County, whose peculiarities were found to agree 
 so badly with his own that he left her to live among 
 the Creek Indians with a squaw. 
 
 THE HARYIES AND ANDREWS. 
 
 The Harvies were the most numerous family of 
 the original settlers on Broad River. They were of 
 Scotch descent. Their name is distinguished from the 
 English and Irish of the same sound by its being spelled 
 Harvie instead of Harvey. 
 
 John Harvie, their last European ancestor, was 
 born at Gargunnock, in the shire of Stirling, North 
 Britain. He removed from Scotland to Virginia, and 
 settled in Albemarle County, about forty years before 
 the revolutionary war. His wife’s maiden name was 
 Gaines, a name which her relative, Edmund Pendleton, 
 has rendered quite famous. Her husband being dead, 
 she accompanied her children in their move from Vir- 
 ginia to Broad River, where she died when in her 
 eighty year. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Harvie had nine children, four, sons 
 and five daughters. When Mr. Jefferson was in 
 
 O 
 
 France, Ambassador for the Confederation, he found 
 
140 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 the opinion prevalent there and elsewhere in Europe, 
 that animal nature deteriorated iu America. One of 
 his purposes in writing Notes on Virginia was to cor- 
 rect this mistake. Whilst engaged in the work, he 
 applied to Col. John Harvie for the weight of himself, 
 his brothers, and sisters. Col. Harvie so indignantly 
 refused giving him the information asked for, that 
 Mr. Jefferson made no reference in his book to their 
 great weight. The nine weighed about twenty-seven 
 hundred pounds ; the four brothers, a little less than 
 twelve hundred, and the five sisters, somewhat more 
 than fifteen hundred. Daniel Harvie reached near 
 four hundred, and exceeded other men as much in 
 strength as he did in size. It was said that he righted 
 the corner of a mill-house, which had been put out of 
 its place by a freshet ; that he raised a heavy hogshead 
 of tobacco over the ground-sill through the door of the 
 tobacco house ; and that he could hold up for some 
 time two men of ordinary size, one on each hand, with 
 his arms extended their full length from his body. 
 He was stronger than Francisco. Indeed he had the 
 reputation, among his acquaintances, of beiug the 
 strongest man in the world. Daniel Harvie’s muscle 
 was better fitted for the exertion of strength than 
 conveying the materials for thought to the brain. 
 Fortunately for society, Providence usually orders that 
 men of great strength shall be very good-tempered. 
 Daniel Harvie was never angry. He married Sally 
 Taliaferro, of Amherst County, Virginia, sister of 
 Col. Benjamin Taliaferro, whose capital good sense 
 supplied what her husband was most deficient in. 
 They removed to Georgia along with their kin, and 
 settled on the eastern side of Fong Creek, two miles 
 from Broad Fiver. Daniel Harvie, in displaying his 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 141 
 
 great strength to his neighbors, in hauling a drag for 
 fish in Long Creek, became so much heated by oyer- 
 exertion that he took cold and died. Mrs. Harvie was 
 left a widow in the prime of life, with five children, 
 four daughters and a son. She devoted herself to 
 them in the spirit of self-sacrifice, which men admire 
 but seldom imitate. Though her estate was small, by 
 great industry and economy, she sent them to the best 
 schools in the country, and, when they arrived at the 
 proper age, introduced them into its most polished 
 society. 
 
 • Martha Harvie, Daniel Harvie’s oldest daughter, 
 was very pretty, amiable, and clever. She married 
 Dr. T. Thornton Gilmer, the handsomest of all the 
 Broad River men. 
 
 Daniel Harvie’s second daughter, Mary Boutwell, 
 married Peachy Ridgway Gilmer. 
 
 His third daughter, Nancy, married Thomas Lewis 
 Gilmer. 
 
 His fourth, Frances, had more strength of intellect 
 than either of her sisters. She married in Kentucky, 
 whilst on a visit at Dr. Gilmer’s, a rough specimen of 
 humanity by the name of Bostwick, and never after- 
 wards lived on Broad River. 
 
 Daniel Harvie’s son Daniel inherited some of the 
 strength and much of the kindness and good temper 
 of his father. The great care of his mother could not 
 entirely prevent his showing the disposition to impro- 
 visation which he inherited from his Italian ancestors. 
 He removed to Mississippi, where he died a bachelor. 
 
 William Harvie was social, kind-tempered, well 
 read, and conversable. His schemes were not always 
 very practical, but were sustained with never-failing 
 plausibility. His federal politics excluded him from 
 
142 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OP UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 holding office, except that of Justice of the Inferior 
 Court, which, having no pay attached to it, and yet 
 requiring intelligence and integrity for the proper 
 discharge of its duties, was filled by the patriotic, 
 whose services could be obtained without any investi- 
 gation about their opinions of Jay’s treaty or the 
 French revolution. He married Judith Cosby, the 
 sister of the celebrated Judge Cosby of Kentucky, and 
 of James Cosby of Elbert County, Georgia, a gentle- 
 man of great worth and intelligence. Mrs. Harvie was 
 a most amiable, excellent woman. Her pure and 
 blameless life left an impression upon her children* 
 which may yet be seen in their intercourse with the 
 world. Mr. and Mrs. Harvie joined the Methodist 
 Church during the great revival of religion among the 
 Broad River people in 1809, and gave ample evidence 
 through their after lives of their sincere piety. 
 
 William Harvie had no son. His daughter Lucy 
 was his darling pet child, who read to him, and talked 
 to him of what she read. He loved flowers, and culti- 
 vated them successfully when all others on Broad River 
 considered such labor lost. A rose bush in one corner, 
 and a hollyhock in another, was about as much as was 
 allowed room for in the Broad River gardens of the 
 things which could not be eaten. There is no training 
 of the affections in the social state like the impressions 
 made upon a daughter by the devoted love and care 
 of a fond father. William ITarvie’s daughter Lucy 
 continues to love and cultivate flowers, as if the plea- 
 sure derived from their fragrance and beauty was 
 increased by the knowledge of the enjoyment which 
 her father derived from the same sources. Lucy 
 Harvie married Asbury Hull, whom every body 
 has trusted from his youth with increasing confidence. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 143 
 
 They have six sons. Their oldest are men of genius 
 and of the greatest social worth ; their younger sons 
 promise to equal in merit their elder brothers. 
 
 William Harvie’s daughter Martha married West 
 Harris, a Methodist preacher. 
 
 His daughter Cfenette married Mr. Van Lenard, a 
 gentleman of fortune and respectability. 
 
 His daughter Margaret married Mr. Littelbury 
 Watts, who has been a member of the Legislature, and 
 received other evidences of the confidence of his fellow- 
 citizens. 
 
 His youngest daughter, Mary, married John T. 
 Groves, a graduate of Franklin College, who has de- 
 voted his life to the useful employment of educating 
 the youth of his country. 
 
 Richard Harvie, the elder brother of William 
 Harvie, never married. He was the only gentleman 
 of the Broad River people, who enjoyed otiurn cum 
 dignitati. His taste was literary, and his time devoted 
 to reading. His library was large and made up of the 
 best books. He, his mother, and brother William, 
 were one family until William’s marriage. They 
 lived at a beautiful place on Broad River, between 
 Mr. Frank Meriwether’s and Mr. Tom Meriwether’s. 
 
 Martha, the oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Har- 
 vie, was a worthy woman, and much beloved by her 
 family. She married, when very young, John Moore, 
 a handsome, light, fantastic man, who loved fiddling, 
 dancing, and drinking, better than work, and so passed 
 her days, with few of the comforts of life, and a very 
 meagre share of its pleasures. John Moore wrote a 
 fair hand, and from the scarcity of that qualification 
 for business among the early settlers, was, upon the 
 first organization of Oglethorpe County, made Clerk 
 
144 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 of the Superior Court. The confidence of the people 
 had ceased long before the expiration of the term of 
 his office. The unsuitableness of Mr. and Mrs. Moore 
 for sustaining the relation of husband and wife, was 
 shown in the unfortunate peculiarities of their children. 
 
 Harvie, the oldest, was but little removed from 
 idiocy. His memory was the only faculty which 
 performed its functions well. That was developed so 
 admirably, as to prove that one branch of the stock 
 from which he was descended had intellect. He could 
 repeat any sermon which he heard, word for word, 
 though he had no judgment to understand or appre- 
 ciate its merits. Mrs. Moore’s son William was 
 adopted by his aunt, Mrs. Devenport. He married 
 Mary Marks, the half sister of Meriwether Lewis. He 
 inherited a large estate from Mr. and Mrs. Devenport, 
 which he reduced to a pittance by his out of the way 
 efforts to increase it. 
 
 Mary Harvie married David Meriwether. Some- 
 thing has been already written, descriptive of her and 
 her only child, Martha, who married Col. Benjamin 
 Taliaferro. 
 
 Margaret Harvie married John Devenport, who 
 belonged to a numerous family, most of whom were 
 in the habit of fuddling their very good intellects by 
 drinking whiskey. John was, to his credit, a sober, 
 industrious man, who made a good estate. His chief 
 merit was to be found in his success in marrying a wife 
 of the most admirable qualities. 
 
 Genette Harvie married Reuben Jordan, one of the 
 descendants of the Indian Princess Pocahontas. She 
 was the largest of the Harvie sisters. When Mrs. 
 Jordan’s size became too great to visit, or go to 
 preaching in a carriage, she travelled in a wagon. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 145 
 
 She had great conversational talents, loved to talk, 
 had an inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, and was not 
 le^s remarkable for her wit, than for her weight. 
 
 Reuben Jordan’s black eyes, dark hair and com- 
 plexion, erect, active person, made him very handsome 
 when young. A rich old maid fancied him. Being 
 without fortune himself, he married her. After having 
 one child, she died, leaving him at liberty to choose 
 his second wife, according to his inclination. 
 
 Reuben Jordan’s taste followed his Indian blood. 
 When he could not hunt, he sought excitement from 
 cards, or whiskey; when neither hunting, cards, nor 
 whiskey, were accessible, he employed himself in pre- 
 paring to enjoy them when they were, by busying 
 himself often for days together, in fixing his guns. 
 
 Martha, the oldest daughter of Mrs. Jordan, was a 
 very pleasant, pretty girl. It was the rule of the 
 Broad River people, that their children should begin 
 to improve their condition at the earliest possible 
 time. As soon as girls began to advance in their teens, 
 a lookout was kept for a suitable husband. When 
 Martha Jordan arrived at sixteen, there was no Broad 
 River youth unmarried, who was in a fix, or old enough 
 to marry, so Martha was married to Dr. Bradley, who 
 was more than double her age, because marry she 
 must. Old Bradley, the father of the doctor, lived on 
 Savannah River, below Augusta, during the revolution- 
 ary war. He was an active whig, was made prisoner 
 by the British and tories, took the small-pox from an 
 infected soldier, and died in the camp of the enemy. 
 He left two sons. His widow married a Dutch doctor 
 by the name of De Yembert. James, the oldest of 
 the two, was educated at Mr. Wilson’s classical school, 
 in the Wax-Haw settlement, in South Carolina, and 
 10 
 
146 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 afterwards studied medicine with his stepfather. He 
 was the first regular bred physician who settled among 
 the Broad River people. Previous to his time they 
 had relied on the voluntary services of Mr. Frank 
 Meriwether, or the practical knowledge of the head of 
 each family. The sufferings of the inhabitants from 
 bilious fever and other diseases, created by extensive 
 clearings, a warm climate, Broad River, and its low 
 grounds, were very great. Dr. Bradley practised for a 
 long time, very acceptably. He was one-eyed, pot- 
 bellied, clumsy, and otherwise odd enough looking, to 
 give the people confidence in his skill at discovering the 
 hidden causes of diseases. His perceptions were quick, 
 his temper well disposed, and his character truthful 
 and honest. Idis frugal habits enabled him to acquire 
 a competency, and to quit practice, before he was very 
 old. He willed the liberation of his slaves, about 
 forty in number, at the death of his wife, provided 
 they chose to go to Liberia, and furnished them with 
 the means of going. All went, except a youth, who 
 could not leave the girl he loved behind him. Poor 
 fellow, his was a hard fate. He preferred the expect- 
 ed bliss from love, to the enjoyment of liberty. Pie 
 served for life, without obtaining his wished for wife. 
 
 Mrs. Bradley and the Doctor joined the Methodist 
 Church, during the great revival of religion among 
 the Broad River people in 1809, and were devout until 
 death. 
 
 Dr. Bradley’s residence was about two miles south 
 from Broad River, adjoining the plantation of old 
 Micajali McGehee. 
 
 Reuben, the oldest son of Mrs Jordan, is a talking, 
 sensible man, who, by constant and vigilant attention 
 to the main chance, has become wealthy. Pie has 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 147 
 
 been several times a member of the Legislature, and 
 held other public offices. His first wife was Haney, 
 the oldest daughter of Col. Nicholas Johnson, a ruild- 
 tempered and excellent woman. After her death, he 
 married a very beautiful young lady, the daughter of 
 Col. Williamson, and a niece of the wife of Gen. John 
 Clark. 
 
 Fleming, the second son of Mrs. Jordan, married 
 Anna, the oldest daughter of Mr. Thomas Meriwether, 
 of Broad River. He lived in Jasper County, which 
 he has frequently represented in the Legislature. 
 He is a man of intelligence and wealth. His wife, 
 now dead, was, when living, a pattern of excellence. 
 
 Margaret, the second daughter of Mrs. Jordan, 
 became a cripple when a child. With the usual fate 
 of such females, her lot in marriage was a husband 
 much below her in fortune, and quality. She was so 
 kind, patient, and good tempered, that she made her 
 husband love her. Her fortune and economy, aided by 
 his skill in planting, made them rich. 
 
 Betsey, the third daughter of Mrs. Jordan, mar- 
 ried Dr. George Meriwether, and died soon after. 
 
 Mortimer, the third son of Mrs. Jordan, married 
 the daughter of Hezekiah Grey, of Broad River, the 
 niece of Gen. John Scott. His Broad River habits 
 have made him wealthy. 
 
 Charles, the fourth son of Mrs. Jordan, married 
 Rebekah, daughter of Col. Hick Johnson. He re- 
 sides in Jasper County. He is cheerful and happy, 
 and like most lazy men, not very successful in acquir- 
 ing riches, or distinguished station. He has lost his 
 first wife, and married another. 
 
 Elizabeth Harvie, another of the nine, was very 
 large, weighing considerably over three hundred. She 
 
148 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 was one of the most cheerful, sensible, agreeable women 
 in any country, at any time, and as good and kind, as 
 she was agreeable. She married James Marks. He 
 was a little, low man, who weighed about one hundred 
 and twenty. He was so tough and lean, as to be in- 
 sensible to heat or cold. When the weather became 
 hot, it was the custom of his wife, who could not bear 
 heat, to double over upon him the blankets which 
 covered the bed in winter. He was shrewd, and sharp- 
 witted. The good things which he said, would, if 
 they could be collected, add to the merits of Comus. 
 He was very plain in dress, and economical in his ex- 
 penditures. A year or two after he settled on Broad 
 River, he bought, for the first time, a small quantity 
 of coffee, to luxuriate upon at breakfast on Sunday 
 mornings. One of the grains was dropt on the floor 
 by accident, and swept into the yard. A little negro 
 found it, and supposing it to be a young terrapin, put 
 it upon a chip, and carried it with great wonderment 
 to her mistress. James Marks was devotedly attached 
 to his wife. His desire to please her, made him often 
 do what no other motive could have done. Mrs. 
 Marks enjoyed pretty things, and loved comfort. Her 
 husband overcame his indisposition to spend money, 
 so far as to build for her the finest house on Broad 
 River. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Marks were the first of the Broad 
 River people who quitted the forms of the Episcopal 
 Church for the devotion of the Methodist. They were 
 the special friends of Bishop Asbury, who made their 
 house his home when he visited Georgia. The first or- 
 ganized Methodist congregation on Broad River was 
 formed in their neighborhood, and through their 
 influence. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 149 
 
 Their beautiful daughter Martha married, by their 
 entreaties, a Methodist preacher, named Guerry. The 
 sorry fellow had no love for his wife. He imagined 
 that he would, by the marriage, become rich. Upon 
 finding himself mistaken, he treated her like a brute, 
 and, a year or two after their marriage, abandoned her. 
 Standing at the window of her father’s fine new house, 
 looking out at the flashes of liuhtnins: durum a thunder- 
 
 o o o o 
 
 storm, wondering at the mystery of God’s ways, the 
 electric fluid passed through the window into her 
 heart, and ended her unhappy life. 
 
 The Markses were constitutionally perverse. James 
 Marks used to say in his old age, that he had been in 
 some respects the most unfortunate of men. That he 
 was a most devoted Methodist, and decided Democrat ; 
 and that all of his children, except his ill-fated daugh- 
 ter, who had the least cause to love him, were Infidels 
 and Federalists. 
 
 James Marks’s residence was on Broad River, 
 between Governor Mathews and Colonel Johnson’s 
 plantations. 
 
 John Marks, the oldest son of James and Elizabeth 
 Marks, was thick and clumsy in person, with a superb 
 head, set off by speaking gray eyes. When quite a 
 youth, he fell in love with Mary Tomkins, a very 
 pretty girl, the daughter of a rude, ill-tempered old 
 fellow of the neighborhood, wdio had nothing in com- 
 mon, in character, taste or feelings, with the Broad 
 River people. Jack’s father and mother did and said 
 whatever they could to prevent the match ; but Jack 
 had a large share of the quality mules are most re- 
 markable for. He would go his own way. His mar- 
 riage did not make his family like his wife. He loved 
 her but the more. Though he continued for a long 
 
150 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 time to belong to the Broad Biver settlement, he got a 
 little off from the kin. He had in a moment of excite- 
 ment, when a youth, joined the Methodist Church, of 
 which his father and mother were members. His 
 sharp intellect saw, or made him imagine that he saw, 
 so much that was unworthy of religion in its professors, 
 that he quit his connection with them, to indulge in 
 jesting through life against cant and hypocrisy. He 
 grew up in the political faith of the Democrats. His 
 father was a most enthusiastic admirer and follower of 
 Mr. Jefferson. Jack found so much palaver and pre- 
 tence of patriotism among those in power, that his 
 satire exercised itself against them until he was ranked 
 with the most confirmed Federalists. 
 
 There were no schools in the country when Jack 
 Marks was a youth. He could read, but it had to be 
 done slowly, and was accompanied with such defective 
 pronunciation, that a boy of six years old would now 
 be punished if he did not read better. But he under- 
 stood what he read as perfectly as any one. His humor 
 was constantly hunting materials for enjoyment. He 
 was once building a log-cabin in his yard for some 
 domestic purpose. He and several of his negroes were 
 upon the frame, when his wife came to the place, and 
 began objecting to the manner in which he was fashion- 
 ing what he was doing. He listened to her for some 
 time, and reasoned the matter with her ; but she still 
 insisted upon having the house made according to her 
 own notions. He pulled off his breeches, and threw 
 them down to her, telling her to put them on and wear 
 them. 
 
 As Tam O’Shanter made his way home from the 
 tippling-house on his mare Maggy, late on a dark 
 night, he saw lights streaming from the old church on 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OP UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 151 
 
 the road side. Being a brave fellow in his cups, he 
 ventured up, and, looking in, saw the Old Boy seated 
 on a three-legged stool, playing the bag-pipes to the 
 witches of the neighborhood. Recognizing one who 
 was younger than the rest, as she jigged a great whirl 
 about, he cried out in ecstacies at what he saw, “ Well 
 done, Cutty Sark ! ” If Tom had been passing by 
 when Jack’s dumpy person was standing aloft breech- 
 less, and had heard his speech to his wife, how he 
 would have hallooed out, “Well said, Short Shirt ! ” 
 
 Jack Marks’s father showed by his will that he had 
 not forgotten his son’s disobedience in his marriage — 
 his sarcasms at the Methodist people and their ways — 
 the Democrats and their policy. He left him a thou- 
 sand dollars only, giving the principal part of his estate 
 to his daughter, Mrs. Johnson, and his son Meriwether. 
 Jack was as stout as his father was unforgiving. 
 Though he was not rich, he made a donation of the 
 thousand dollars to Franklin College. 
 
 Jack Marks was capable of the greatest intellectual 
 efforts, and the highest attainments in science, philoso- 
 phy, and politics. Though he was without education, 
 his quick repartee, keen sarcasm, close extensive obser- 
 vation, made him one of the most sensible, agreeable 
 talkers of his day. 
 
 He removed from Broad River, in Madison County, 
 to Jasper, where he found a larger field for fun and 
 satire, better lands for cultivation, and more improved 
 society for his children. One of his daughters married 
 Judge Kenan, and another David Meriwether. 
 
 He was very industrious and economical, and ac- 
 quired a very good estate. He removed to Alabama, 
 where he died. 
 
 Meriwether Marks, the second son of Mrs. Marks, 
 
152 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 was. like his brother Jack, remarkable for quick, clear 
 mental perceptions, and successful disputation. He 
 married Ann Mathews, the daughter of William, and 
 granddaughter of Governor Mathews. He removed 
 from Broad Kiver, shortly after his marriage, to Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama, where he acquired a great extent of 
 the most productive lands, and died very wealthy. 
 His son William is now probably the richest man in 
 the United States of his age whose occupation has been 
 confined to planting. His daughter Elizabeth married 
 William B. S. Gilmer. His daughter Ann married 
 Thomas Scott, son of General Scott. His daughter 
 Martha married James Watkins, the son of Thomson 
 Watkins. His daughter Bebekah married George 
 Mathews, son of Charles, and grandson of Governor 
 Mathews. Samuel, his youngest son, married Miss 
 Crane, and is very rich. 
 
 Mary. dir. and Mrs. Marks's oldest daughter, mar- 
 ried Col. Mick Johnson. They are described elsewhere. 
 
 Mary Cosby, the sister of Mrs. William Harvie, 
 married John Andrew, a Methodist preacher. He 
 quit the circuit for his locality, which was on the Elbert 
 side of Broad Biver, opposite dir. William Harvie’s, 
 where he commenced the trade of merchandise with the 
 property which he got with his wife, and the very little 
 which he had himself. The spirit of trade and the 
 spirit of preaching never agree together. One or the 
 other will get the upper hand, if the unnatural union 
 is continued. It is certain that John Andrew failed in 
 trade, and found mauy stumbling-blocks in the way of 
 preaching. After all his property was taken to pay his 
 mercantile liabilities, and he and his wife left to labor 
 without assistance for their own and their children’s 
 support, he took to school keeping. The little ones are 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 153 
 
 pretty sure to have a sore time who learn ABC from 
 a harassed, broken trader. Many had knowledge 
 forced upon them by the switching looks of John 
 Andrew. Being very hard visaged, he appeared as if 
 he was always ready to cut the truant scholar in two. 
 The pay for school keeping was in early times, in upper 
 Georgia, the poorest pittance. The people wanted 
 their children for work, and kept them at it, except at 
 leisure times, and when schooling could be had cheap. 
 John Andrew, his wife and children, had to scuffle and 
 pinch to provide food, and oftentimes, with all their 
 exertions, found it scarce. It was then that the spirit 
 of devotion strengthened the spirit of the wife and mo- 
 ther in her cares, and comforted her in her troubles. 
 
 Mrs. Andrew had loved her husband, homely as he 
 was, with increased affection, because of the holy pur- 
 poses of his life. It is in sore trials and great suffering 
 that woman’s love shows its true value. Mrs. Andrew 
 made herself more precious than gold when her hus- 
 band’s purse became empty. With the strong faith of 
 the true Christian, she labored without ceasing during 
 her life, to perform all the duties of wife and mother. 
 The blessing of heaven never fails to follow the prayers 
 and industry of such a wife and mother. Her oldest 
 son James, excited by her spirit and example, worked 
 hard in the field during the day, collected light-wood 
 knots on his return home, and toiled by their light 
 after knowledge during the night. Nobody works in 
 vain who works aright. The light which enlightened 
 the world shined into the heart of James Andrew so 
 brightly, that he could not restrain his desire to be the 
 medium of communicating it to others. He was 
 licensed to preach. The brotherhood by whom the 
 license was granted, when they heard his first sermon, 
 
154 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 regretted what they had done, so hesitating and unsat- 
 isfactory was the young enthusiast’s effort. But the 
 right spirit was in him, though the knowledge and apt- 
 ness to communicate had not keen acquired. James 
 Andrew found the assistance, which in his devotion he 
 asked for, to aid his efforts to overcome the deficiencies 
 of ignorance and inexperience. He soon made himself 
 greatly superior in learning and the art of public 
 speaking to those who were most opposed to his being 
 licensed. And now the Methodist Church has no 
 member of greater usefulness, nor one more efficiently 
 devoted to the great purpose of its organization — the 
 making known, with power in simplicity, the truths of 
 the Gospel — than Bishop Andrew. 
 
 Herbert Andrew, the second son of Mrs. Andrew, 
 had his dependence as a child increased by disease, 
 which made him a cripple for life. His feet and legs 
 became so contracted as to rest on his body instead of 
 the ground. When other children were running 
 about, he was confined to his mother’s side. Whilst 
 thus seated, receiving her instruction how to read, he 
 heard from that fond, devoted, pious mother, how the 
 best and holiest of all had suffered without repining, 
 because it was the will of his Heavenly Father, until 
 there came upon the spirit of the deformed boy the 
 strongest desire to imitate his example. Herbert 
 Andrew struggled to do whatever was possible in aid 
 of his mother, in her hard effort to support her family, 
 and effected more than most imagined possible. When 
 he had learned what his mother could teach him, he 
 went to school, moving upon his hands instead of his 
 feet. By his mother’s assistance, some little schooling, 
 and his own untiring exertions, he qualified himsell for 
 teaching others. He has now been teaching near 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER. GEORGIA. 
 
 155 
 
 twenty years. His energy and ceaseless industry have 
 secured him the greatest success. Whilst keeping 
 school, he has acquired by his unassisted exertions such 
 knowledge of the various departments of learning, that 
 his scholars are admirably qualified for entrance into 
 college. His pure life, the strength of his determina- 
 tion in overcoming difficulties, and the energy of his 
 efforts in doing good, made such an impression upon 
 the people among whom he lived, that they gave him 
 some assistance by electing him to a public office, the 
 duties of which he could discharge without interfering 
 with the attention due to his school. 
 
 Mrs. Andrew’s burdens were increased by her care 
 for her husband’s deaf, blind, dumb brother, whose 
 filthy habits and irascible disposition added to the un- 
 bearableness of his idiocy. He put him into a hut in 
 the yard of the family cabin. Every morning the un- 
 fortunate came out by light, walked round the hut 
 twenty times ; then went to each of three trees close by, 
 and round them twenty times ; then to the cabin-door, 
 stepped on the sill with left foot foremost, and down 
 twenty times ; then with his right foot foremost, and 
 down twenty times ; then went into the cabin, put his 
 hand on the facing of the door, and thumped the upper 
 part twenty times ; and then thumped below twenty 
 times ; and then eat voraciously of what was prepared 
 for breakfast. This unvaried round was continued for 
 near twenty years, and until his death. When the 
 idiot became outrageous, as he often did, Mrs. Andrew 
 would lay her hand upon his arm. It quieted him, as 
 if he felt the force of sympathy coming from her kind 
 heart. He regarded nobody else. Cut off from so- 
 ciety by constant confinement at home — seeing there 
 at all times the most painful object which is ever 
 
156 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 looked upon — her children harassed — the scanty food 
 and clothing which she provided for them by her own 
 hard labor, divided with one who had no good quality, 
 was without hope, and incapable of being made better 
 — Mrs. Andrew never forgot to care for the idiot, and 
 to do for him all possible good — dims giving to the 
 world an example of love and charity, which the world 
 for its own sake should keep in perpetual remembrance. 
 Sir Philip Sidney, when dying of wounds on the field 
 of battle, took the cup of water from his own parched 
 lips, to cool the burning thirst of the soldier, then 
 struggling for life by his side. The divinity which 
 sometimes stirs man’s, abides in woman’s heart. 
 
 THE TALIA FERROS. 
 
 Surnames, which now belong to every body, were 
 originally acquired by our European ancestors through 
 remarkable traits of character, great feats at fighting, 
 or some personal peculiarity. The name Taliaferro 
 was derived from the Latin words tabs and ferrum, or, 
 as Mr. John Taliaferro says, from the Italian words 
 Tagliari and ferro ; both the Latin and Italian signify- 
 ing to cut with iron. This name indicates for what 
 virtue, as a Roman would say, the original stock of 
 Taliaferros got their cognomen. 
 
 Two brothers emigrated from Italy to Virginia in 
 the early colonial times, and settled in the neighbor- 
 hood of Williamsburg. Only one of them left male 
 descendants. They have increased and scattered, until 
 the name of Taliaferro is now known in most of the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 157 
 
 States south of the Potomac, their Italian blood not 
 suiting the climate of the north, nor their taste the 
 phleghm of the northern people. Individuals here 
 and there still show their origin by the practice of im- 
 provisation. Mr. Jefferson describes the family in Vir- 
 ginia as wealthy and respectable. Chancellor Wythe, 
 who signed the Declaration of Independence, and was 
 a great Virginian, married one of them. 
 
 Zack Taliaferro removed from the neighborhood of 
 Williamsburg to Amherst County, where he settled 
 and married. From the crossings of his immediate an- 
 cestors he had lost the beauty and effeminacy of the 
 original stock. Pie was as rough in looks and temper 
 as the face of the country of his new home. At the 
 time when he located in Amherst County, and for 
 some time after, disputes among the mountain men 
 were usually settled by the law of arms, in which fists 
 were the weapons of war. When champion pugilists 
 were about to fight, a ring was formed, with the com- 
 batants inside, and the crowd out. The contest fre- 
 quently ended with the loss of an eye, or an ear ; 
 scarcely ever without blacking or bluing the face and 
 ribs. Zack was a capital hand at such affairs, and 
 never backed out, however overmatched. lie was one 
 of the justices of Amherst County when the senior 
 justice was entitled to be sheriff for the county ; the 
 perquisites of that office being the only pay which the 
 justice received for even a life-time service. Old Zack 
 had much higher qualifications for acting sheriff than 
 judging. A little after the commencement of the year 
 when he became senior justice, and his sheriffalty was 
 to begin, but before he was sworn in, he met with a 
 notorious outlaw, who had been able previously to 
 avoid punishment for his misdeeds by avoiding arrest. 
 
158 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The outlaw took to his heels, and old Zack after him. 
 The pursued, finding that he was about to be over- 
 taken, plunged into a mill-pond near by, though the 
 January cold was then pinching severely, taking it for 
 granted that he would not be followed. He reckoned 
 without his host. Old Zack deliberately walked in 
 after him, took the scamp by the collar, drew him out 
 of the water, and then turned him loose, telling him 
 that he might know by what he had done what he 
 would do when he was sheriff. 
 
 Benjamin Taliaferro was the oldest son of Zack. 
 ITe had just begun to mix with men, when he was 
 challenged by a bully before a crowd in the court-yard 
 to a contest at fisty-cuffs. He was too proud to accept, 
 and was threatened with disinheritance by his father 
 for his supposed want of courage. That he was not 
 afraid to fight, when fighting was right, he proved in 
 many of the hardest fought battles of the Revolution. 
 He was appointed at the beginning of the war a lieu- 
 tenant in one of the Virginia regiments, which was 
 afterwards placed upon the Continental establishment. 
 He commanded a company under Gen. Washington 
 during the severe service in the Jerseys, in 1777-78. 
 At the battle of Princeton he captured, with his com- 
 pany, a British captain and his command. When the 
 British officer stepped forward in his dashing regimen- 
 tals to deliver up his sword, the proud barefooted cap- 
 tain ordered his lieutenant to receive it. At the call 
 of Gen. Washington he volunteered to join the south- 
 ern army, then under the command of Gen. Lincoln. 
 He served under Col. Lee, and took part in many of the 
 successful exploits of that dashing partisan officer. He 
 was made prisoner at the capture of Charleston, and 
 permitted to return home on parole. He was in the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 159 
 
 full vigor of young manhood, when he left the British 
 quarters to mis again with his neighbors in Amherst. 
 His person was six feet high, his features handsome, 
 and his understanding good. Army intercourse had 
 refined his manners and made his conversation agree- 
 able. 
 
 Martha Meriwether, the only child of David Meri- 
 wether, a neighbor of old Zack, was a blooming, 
 charming young woman, when Capt. Taliaferro re- 
 turned to Amherst. They soon met, admired, and 
 loved. Martha Meriwether had previously been en- 
 gaged to marry Zack Taliaferro, a brother of Capt. 
 Taliaferro. The struggle was hard on the part of the 
 army man of honor to resist the temptation to super- 
 sede his brother. But love conquers all. The red-coat 
 got the better of the gown. The brothers quarrelled 
 and parted, never again to meet in friendship. The 
 disappointed lover quitted his country for a residence 
 in Pendleton, South Carolina, where he remained a 
 bachelor until the bright hopes inspired by youthful 
 beauty were dissipated by the loose habits of frontier 
 society and the struggles of a lawyer’s life. 
 
 Capt. Taliaferro moved to Georgia in 178 f. He 
 became one of the leading men of the State ; was Pre- 
 sident of the Senate, member of Congress, and filled 
 many other high offices. He was a member of the 
 Legislature which passed the Yazoo Act, and resisted 
 all the efforts of the speculators to induce him to vote 
 for it. When the people of Georgia rescinded that 
 Act, and discarded from office those concerned in its 
 passage, Col. Taliaferro was made Judge of the Su- 
 perior Court, though he was no lawyer. The members 
 of the bar who had the law learning necessary for the 
 office, and were willing to accept it, had been con- 
 
160 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 cerned in some way or other with that disgraceful con- 
 tract. It became very important to the fraudulent 
 land jobbers, who were interested in land causes de- 
 pending in the courts of the circuit in which Col. Tal- 
 iaferro presided, to drive him from the bench. By 
 agreement among them, he was challenged by Col. 
 Willis, upon some frivolous pretence, to fight a duel, 
 upon the supposition that his army opinions would 
 compel him to fight, and therefore to resign his judge- 
 ship. They were mistaken. ITe accepted the chal- 
 lenge without resigning. The speculators tried a novel 
 expedient to effect their purpose. Judge Taliaferro’s 
 attachment to his wife was well known. Col. Willis 
 and his friends, to overcome the Judge’s determina- 
 tion to fight, made their preparations for the duel by 
 practising within sight and hearing of Mrs. Taliaferro, 
 intending thereby so to frighten her as to make it im- 
 possible for her husband to meet the challengers. They 
 were again mistaken. Whilst they were practising, 
 Mrs. Taliaferro was aiding the Judge to put in order 
 the horseman’s pistols which he had used when he be- 
 longed to Lee’s Legion. The Judge and his opponent 
 met. The pistol, which had been oiled by the wife, 
 sent its ball so near the speculator’s vitals that he de- 
 clined receiving a second shot. 
 
 Col. Taliaferro’s residence was on the south side, 
 and about half a mile from Broad Biver, and ten miles 
 from its junction with the Savannah. His house was 
 of the order called framed, in contradistinction to the 
 round and hewed log buildings in general use. It was 
 a story and a half high, with dormer windows, struc- 
 tures which projected from the sides of the roof of the 
 house, and were in fashion in that part of the Old Do- 
 minion, where Col. Taliaferro’s ancestors had lived be- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 161 
 
 fore his father moved to Amherst County. They were 
 designed to give air at night to the crowds who assem- 
 bled to frolic, and whose homes were too distant to 
 be reached for sleep after they left off dancing. A few 
 such windows are yet to be seen from the steamboats 
 which ply between Richmond and Norfolk in the anti- 
 quated houses which stand on the first hills above the 
 low grounds of James River, and are about the last 
 remnants of the times when social enjoyments were 
 more eagerly sought after than money. This story 
 and a half house, with its dormer windows, was con- 
 sidered for a long time the head-quarters of Broad 
 River gentility. 
 
 Colonel Taliaferro had nine children by his first 
 wife. After her death, he outraged the romance of 
 their strong attachment, by marrying a dependent 
 young woman of the neighborhood, of the name of Cos, 
 about whom any romance would have been ridiculous. 
 She had one child, a son. 
 
 Colonel Taliaferro' 's Children. 
 
 Emily married Isham Watkins. 
 
 Louis Bourbon (after Louis, the King of France) 
 married Betsy Johnson. 
 
 Betsy died unmarried. 
 
 Benjamin married Martha Watkins. 
 
 Martha married William McGehee. 
 
 David married Mary Barnett. 
 
 Thornton married Miss Green ; second wife, Mrs. 
 Lamar. 
 
 Margaret married Joseph Green. 
 
 Nicholas married Melinda Hill. 
 
 Zack married . 
 
 11 
 
162 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Sally, the oldest sister of Col. Taliaferro, married 
 Daniel Harvie. She was one of the most sensible, ex- 
 emplary women on Broad River. Her residence and 
 children are described in the account of the Harvies. 
 
 Richard Taliaferro was deformed — his less and 
 thighs being only a span or two long, whilst his body 
 was of ordinary length and size, and his head unusually 
 large. His mind was of good capacity, but his defor- 
 mity so soured his temper, and mortified his pride, as 
 to drive him from society. He never married, became 
 very penurious, and died without ever having enjoyed 
 the love or commiseration of any but his nearest kin. 
 His residence was near his brother-in-law, Thomas 
 Watkins. 
 
 Warren Taliaferro was tall, muscular, good-temper- 
 ed, very indolent and inefficient. He constantly re- 
 minded those who listened to his conversation of his 
 Italian descent. He married Mary M. Gilmer, daugh- 
 ter of Thomas M. Gilmer. He was a fond husband 
 and father. His residence was south of Broad River, 
 and between the dwellings of his brother-in-law, 
 Thompson Watkins, and his brother, Col. Taliaferro. 
 
 Burton, the youngest of the Taliaferros, was very 
 handsome — had the manners, and w r ore the dress, of a 
 well-bred gentleman. He read and enjoyed novels and 
 plays, and fashioned his habits accordingly. He mar- 
 ried Sally Gilmer, daughter of John Gilmer. He 
 resided, during the year that his wife lived, near Broad 
 River, on the land, and close by Thomas M. Gilmer. 
 He loved good eating, drinking, and fine clothes. His 
 property was not sufficient for free indulgence. After 
 the death of his first wife, he went to Virginia, and 
 married the miser, Miss Carter, who counted her gold 
 by stockings full, upon condition that she would allow 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 163 
 
 him enough of her treasure to enable him to feast his 
 animal appetites. 
 
 Nancy Taliaferro married Thompson Watkins. She 
 was a very industrious, economical woman. By her 
 exertions she made her husband a citizen of property. 
 They lived a mile or two from Broad River, and near 
 Mrs. Sally Harvie’s, Mrs. Watkins’s sister. They had 
 but two children. Zachariah, the oldest, married Edna 
 Bibb, the daughter of Mr. Peyton Bibb. James mar- 
 ried Martha Marks, daughter of Mr. Meriwether Marks. 
 
 Frances Taliaferro married Moses Penn. They re- 
 moved from Virginia many years after the first settle- 
 ment was made on Broad River by their relations, and 
 fixed their abode between the north and south rivers, 
 whose confluence make Broad River, where Mr. Penn 
 died soon after. Mrs. Penn was a good woman, a kind 
 wife, an affectionate mother, and most enthusiastic Meth- 
 odist. One of her daughters married the Rev. Dabney 
 Jones, whose long and continued efforts to lessen the evils 
 of drunkenness — the disgrace of our glorious country — 
 entitle him to be called one of its great benefactors. 
 
 Another of Mrs. Penn’s daughters married Mr. 
 Edward Ware, who proved himself a good husband 
 and kind father. 
 
 IBs. Penn’s son Richard was a very respectable 
 citizen. 
 
 THE McGEHEES. 
 
 Micajah McGehee was a native of Virginia, and 
 descended, as his name indicates, from a Scotch family. 
 He was broad-shouldered, short-necked, and showed by 
 
164 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 liis looks and ways that he was a tobacco planter of the 
 right sort. He knew nothing about books, and spoke 
 out what he thought directly, and in the plainest way. 
 Soon after he became his own man, he was employed 
 by Mr. Scott, a wealthy gentleman, of the family to 
 which Gen. Winfield Scott belongs, to do some planta- 
 tion business for him. According to Virginia fashion, 
 intercourse between employers and employed was 
 without restraint. Nancy Scott soon saw in the looks 
 of young McGeliee that she suited his fancy. It is not 
 in woman’s heart to be unmoved by admiration. She 
 looked in return at the hearty, hale, strong-built, rosy- 
 cheeked youth, until his image became so impressed 
 upon her imagination that she saw others very indiffer- 
 ently. When two such people have wills under such 
 influences, they are very apt to find a way to do as 
 they want. The gentility of the Scotts disposed them 
 to look down upon the working Micajah, and to oppose 
 the union. The young people, nevertheless, got mar- 
 ried. Not choosing to belong to the society of those 
 who thought themselves above them, they removed to 
 Georgia, and settled on Broad Tviver. Though Mica- 
 jah was wanting in polish, his father-in-law understood 
 his worth, as a man of industry, economy, and honesty. 
 He gave him liberally of his property. Micajah made 
 good use of it, by purchasing a large body of the best 
 land in Georgia, particularly suited for the production of 
 tobacco, then the staple of the State. He was an adept 
 at cultivating and packing it up in the best way. 
 Though he was without book-learning, he had the in- 
 stinctive capacity of the Scotch people and their de- 
 scendants for making and keeping money. He was the 
 first of the settlers who planted a peach-orchard on the 
 waters of Broad Eiver, turned its fruit into brandy, and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 1 ( 5 
 
 then into dollars. The habit of drinking what made 
 drunkenness was, in early times among the frontier 
 folks, almost universal. Brandy making and selling 
 was the most profitable of all employments. Micajah 
 McGehee made from his orchard sixteen hundred dol- 
 lars a year, when that sum purchased as much as five 
 thousand dollars does now. He had twelve children, 
 upon each of whom he enforced the habit of hard work. 
 He became rich through the labor of his negroes, his 
 children’s industry, and his own economy. He built 
 the first comfortable frame-house on Broad River. It 
 had four rooms below stairs, several above, was covered 
 with shingles, and painted red. It was a great place 
 for the old Virginia amusement of dancing. 
 
 Micajah McGeliee’s constitution was so strong, that 
 he battled with death, taking brandy until he was up- 
 wards of eighty years old. "When he was young, it 
 took drinking all day to make him drunk. When he 
 was old, he got drunk twice a day. He became a 
 member of the Methodist Church during the great 
 religious excitement of 1809-10-11. He still continued 
 to get drunk. When he was spoken to about it, he 
 said that the habit was so confirmed that he could not 
 live without the free use of brandy. He was requested 
 to say what quantity was necessary for his health. He 
 agreed to try to limit himself to a quart a day, but the 
 allowance failed to keep him alive. 
 
 Mrs. McGehee was exceedingly kind and hospitable. 
 It belonged to her Scott temper to be so. After her 
 marriage, she added to the genteel habits of her own 
 family the industry of her husband’s. She never stop- 
 ped or tired of working for her husband and children. 
 Her house was a place of hard work and of good eat- 
 ing. She had a very pressing way of urging her friends 
 
166 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 to partake of what she set before them. During the 
 early pinching times, when tempting food was reserved 
 for Sundays and friends, Mr. Thomas Meriwether called 
 one day when very hungry — the family meal over — 
 and was set down to what he liked very much. Mrs. 
 McGehee very politely urged him to eat, saying that 
 he was taking so little that he could not relish what 
 she had provided for him. His own candid temper 
 and way of talking made him suppose that Mrs. 
 McGehee might be hurt if he did not consume more 
 than he was disposed to do. He eat on until suffering 
 stopped him. 
 
 Mrs. McGehee once performed a feat of industry 
 which was hard to beat. She spun, wove, cut out, and 
 made up a petticoat in one day, and wore it the next. 
 
 Industrious as she was, she continued to have the 
 quality taste of her family for display. She induced 
 her husband to buy a carriage, when nobody else on 
 Broad River had one. It was a stick-backed gig. 
 Sunday was their visiting day. The next after the 
 purchase, the old gentleman and his wife came in it to 
 my father’s to dinner. The road had just before been 
 cut around a new-ground fence, and was very full of 
 stumps. The old man turned the gig over. When 
 they arrived at my father’s, the old lady complained of 
 great pain. The old man insisted that she ought not 
 to moan so, for that, when he found the gig going over, 
 he had spread himself, and caught her upon his back, 
 to prevent her being hurt. 
 
 Tom McGehee, the oldest son of Micajah, was a 
 very stout, coarse, strong man. He was industrious, 
 economical, straightforward, truthful, and honest. His 
 plantation was on Broad River, between the Goosepond 
 creek and the Goosepond plantation. It was very 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 167 
 
 fertile, and Tom grew ricli upon it. He and liis neigh- 
 bor, Col. Charles Mathews, never agreed after his threat 
 to thrash federalism out of him, when he and William 
 Barnett quarelled at my father’s. 1 hey met one day 
 in the public road, where they had an altercation about 
 hogs getting into corn fields. Tom McGehee made 
 some offensive speech, to which Col. Mathews replied 
 by a cutting Irish sarcasm, which so enraged Tom, 
 that he swore he could whip three such as he was, and 
 made at him. Col. Mathews drew out his penknife, 
 and presented it in a threatening aspect. Cold steel 
 kept off Tom’s big fist. 
 
 When Tom McGehee acquired more negroes than 
 he had land to cultivate, he was obliged to sell because 
 nobody else would whose land adjoined his. He re- 
 moved to Upper Alabama, where he died. His wife 
 was Betsey Gilmer, the daughter of my father’s uncle, 
 John Gilmer. Their children have all gone to Texas, 
 in search of what all the McGehees have peculiar 
 genius for finding. 
 
 James, the second son of Micajah McGehee, was 
 said by the old people to have been very smart when 
 a boy. A horse threw his head against a tree, which 
 so confused his brain that he was never smart again. 
 He once got the better of Gov. Mathews in a horse 
 trade, though the Governor was acknowledged by every 
 body to be the best judge of a horse in the whole 
 country. The feat was more prized by Jemmy than 
 if he had got the first honor of a college. 
 
 He married a busy, bustling, little woman, whose 
 name I do not recollect. He lived on the south of his 
 brother Tom, a mile and a half from Broad Biver. 
 He removed to Putnam County. My wife was with 
 me on my return home from serving in the Legislature 
 
168 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 of 1824. When we arrived at Garnen’s Ferry, the 
 Oconee was so high, from the great quantity of rain 
 which had fallen, that the ferryman would not put us 
 across. We had been so long from home that we were 
 very anxious to get through ; so we went below a mile 
 or two, with a large party, to a ferry kept by James 
 McGehee. In consideration of large pay he agreed to 
 ferry us over. The river was out of its banks on the 
 Green County side. It was sweeping, booming, and 
 dashing through the trees on the side where we were, 
 carrying off with its current great quantities of floating 
 timber. James McGehee, assisted by his sons and 
 several negroes, towed the boat up the river, along the 
 bank, by ropes, hooks, and the limbs of the trees. 
 My wife standing near by the workers, at the head of 
 the boat, quietly looked on. After going up some 
 distance, the head of the boat was turned, and being 
 worked manfully with oars, landed us in an open field 
 on the other side. James McGehee was afterwards 
 often heard to tell of what a wonderful woman his 
 neighbor’s son had married. 
 
 Frank, the third son, was very clever. He died 
 just after he reached manhood. 
 
 Abner, the fourth son, is social, polite, courteous 
 and affable, kind and hospitable. He settled on a high 
 hill, not far from Broad River, on the Elbert side,, 
 opposite his brother Tom. He turned his hand to any 
 thing to make money. He was a planter, tanner, and 
 
 general trader. The Legislature, in the year , 
 
 incorporated a company to improve the navigation of 
 Broad River. The company contracted with Abner 
 to do the necessary work. He went on for a week or 
 two, and quit upon finding that he had made a losing 
 bargain. The company sued him, and recovered the 
 full amount of his bond. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 169 
 
 He removed from Broad River to Montgomery, 
 Alabama, where bis untiring industry, money, and 
 credit, lias contributed most essentially to the building 
 of the railroad to West Point. Though his losses 
 have been very great, from his liberal expenditures 
 upon that important railroad, he has overcome them, 
 and is now possessed of a large estate. 
 
 His first wife was Miss Spencer, his first cousin. 
 His second, Mrs. Jane Johnson, the daughter of John 
 Gilmer. Plis third, Mrs. Graves. 
 
 William, the fifth sou, contrary to the cautious 
 habits of his family, entered upon the great ocean of 
 trade, and was stranded. He was a quiet, gentlemanly 
 man ; married first a daughter of Col. Taliaferro, and, 
 after her death, a daughter of James Watkins. He 
 built and occupied the white house on the Augusta 
 Road, between his father’s and the Goosepond. He 
 afterwards removed to Mississippi. 
 
 Edmund, the sixth son, was an active, finely pro- 
 portioned man, very courteous and affable, very indus- 
 trious, and of good understanding. His desire for 
 mental improvement was such, that he agreed to pay 
 his father, out of the property which he should receive 
 from him when he came of age, twelve dollars per 
 month for the time he went to school more than his 
 brothers had gone. Though he was very industrious, 
 and desirous of acquiring riches, he was liberal, kind- 
 hearted, and hospitable. He fell in love with and 
 married Miss Cosby, an exceedingly clever young lady, 
 but without fortune. He removed to Louisiana. The 
 last time I saw him was in Washington City, on his 
 way to place his daughter at Mrs. Willard’s school in 
 Troy. He is now reputed to be worth near a million 
 of dollars. He has given as much as five thousand 
 
170 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 dollars at a time to benevolent purposes. President 
 Taylor was liis near neighbor, and had so great con- 
 fidence in his financial capacity and honesty that he 
 made him his executor. 
 
 Zack, the seventh son, was not in the least bookish. 
 When at school he made such slow progress in arith- 
 metic that he seemed incapable of abstraction. But 
 he proved himself a perfect adept at calculation when 
 it was with sensible objects. He did addition and 
 multiplication with acres of land, negroes, and bags of 
 cotton, with as much certainty, and extending to as 
 large a quotient, as the most learned. 
 
 Zack married Melinda Hill, daughter of Miles Hill, 
 and settled in Wilks County, near Mallorysville, a few 
 miles south from Broad River. He afterwards moved 
 to Upper Mississippi, where he still resides. He told 
 me the other day that his oldest son, Miles, made last 
 year eleven hundred bags of cotton. Few Herman 
 princes have incomes equal to the proceeds from eleven 
 hundred bags of cotton. All the Broad River settlers 
 together did not make as much for many years after 
 their arrival in Georgia. 
 
 Abram, the eighth son, was about my own age. 
 At our first common school we had a contest, which 
 I mention here, because it shows the habits of the 
 times. The school-boys determined to turn out Wil- 
 liam P. Culbertson, the schoolmaster, for a day’s holi- 
 day. They assembled early in the morning, and barred 
 the entry into the school-house by filling the door with 
 the benches and other heavy things. The school-master 
 was then boarding with Abram’s father. He and all 
 his brothers took part with him against the boys. 
 They got to the school-house before Culbertson, and 
 commenced threatening the boys inside with the mas- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 171 
 
 ter’s hickory. They dared any boy inside to come out. 
 Those inside shoved me through the opening cut in a 
 log for lighting the writing bench, to accept Abram’s 
 banter. At it we went. I made a missing blow, 
 slipped, or somehow else got down on the ground, and 
 Abram on me. His brothers surrounded us, urging 
 Abram to give it to me well. This was too much for 
 the boys inside to bear. They tore away the fastenings 
 from the door, and rescued me from my perilous posi- 
 tion, put me upon my feet, and secured a fair fight. 
 Let any one set out when young, and go straight for- 
 ward, yielding to no obstruction, and resisting all 
 temptations to turn aside, lie will have gone no incon- 
 siderable distance by the time he arrives at sixty. 
 Abram, when a little boy, commenced buying fish 
 hooks and pins, and selling them for profit. He has 
 gone on unceasingly, buying and selliug at a profit, 
 until he is reputed to be worth four hundred thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 Hugh, the ninth and youngest son, was mild and 
 amiable. He married the daughter of Shelton White, 
 and settled on the Elbert side of Broad River, a little 
 below Webb’s Ferry, where his uncle Gray had lived. 
 He has removed to the upper part of the State of 
 Mississippi, where he has become very rich, and is re- 
 garded by every body as a very good man. 
 
 Betsey, the oldest daughter of Micajah McGehee, 
 married Abram Hill. My brother Peachy and Abram 
 Hill, lived upon equal parts of a tract of land which 
 had belonged to my father and Micajah McGehee, and 
 which they divided between the son of the one and 
 the son-in-law of the other. The centre tract contain- 
 ed 2100 acres. It had been bought at a Sheriff sale. 
 Old Bob Lumpkin, his sons and daughters, got posses- 
 
172 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 sion in a way tliat tliey could not be removed but by 
 a possessory writ. Old Bob was sued, and a recovery 
 had of him. He still refused to leave the land. The 
 Sheriff required the services of the posse comitatus to 
 aid him in giving possession to the successful litigants. 
 Upon the appearance of the Sheriff and his command 
 in great force, Old Bob and his sons were forced to 
 quit the house. His daughters declared that they 
 would themselves hold on. So the men bore them 
 away on their backs. 
 
 My brother and his family, and Mr. Hill and his, 
 having known each other familiarly, their neighborly 
 intercourse went on for some time in a very friendly way. 
 Mrs. Hill was an exceedingly nice woman, considering 
 a speck of dirt upon her floor or furniture, a great 
 stigma upon her character. My brother was a voro- 
 cious tobacco c-hewer. He found Mrs. Hill so much 
 annoyed by the stains he put upon her floor, hearth, 
 and very clean steps, that he was compelled to go out 
 of the house to spit. His visits became short and far 
 between, though he and his liked their nice neighbor 
 and her husband very much. 
 
 Mrs. Hill was exceedingly prim and formal. She 
 had no children for sixteen years. Afterwards she 
 had two, now Dr. Abram Hill and Mrs. Blanton Hill, 
 of Athens. 
 
 Sally, the second daughter of Micajah McGehee, 
 was the prettiest woman on the frontiers of Georgia, 
 according to frontier taste. Her eyes were large, 
 liquidly bright, with long dark eyelashes shading them 
 so as to add to their fascination. Her features were 
 regular, and her cheeks rosy. Her person was straight 
 and all the roundings of her limbs and chest beau- 
 tifully perfect. She had just begun to run all the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 173 
 
 young men crazy who saw her, when she and Tom 
 Hill fancied each other, and married. After the death 
 of Tom Hill, she married her brother-indaw Diony- 
 sius Oliver. They moved west, whither all her 
 children by her first marriage are gone. She had none 
 by her last. 
 
 Lucinda, the youngest child of Micajah McGehee, 
 married Dionysius Oliver, and died a few years after. 
 
 The likenesses of the Broad Elver kin which I 
 have been sketching, would be incomplete, without the 
 one which I am about to draw. Some may not be 
 pleased, at hanging side by side with a poor body, 
 entirely unknown to fame. But as he was kind, 
 truthful, and honest, and these qualities make up the 
 largest portion of human excellence, I cannot refuse 
 him a place among the Broad Biver people. I had an 
 affection for him which he returned heartily. But to 
 satisfy the squeamishness of others he shall be name- 
 less, though his name and probably his family, were 
 identical with one of the Presidents of the United 
 States. 
 
 He was a soldier from the beginning 1 to the end of 
 the revolutionary war. He fought without fear, in 
 many of its hardest battles ; but was so unambitious, 
 that he never rose above the rank and file of the 
 army. During his long citizen’s life, he did whatever 
 was required of him faithfully, but was so poke-easy, 
 that he never held any office as high as a constable. 
 
 Soon after the peace permitted every body to 
 attend to their own affairs, the soldier came across a 
 young woman in the Bagged Mountains of Amherst 
 County, Virginia, who considering him a good match, 
 married him. He found out when inquiry was useless 
 that she was as lazy and thriftless as himself. The 
 
174 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OE UPPER, GEORGIA. 
 
 soldier and liis wife followed liis commanding officers, 
 Gen. Mathews and Col. Taliaferro, to Georgia, and 
 settled in tlieir neighborhood, near Broad River. He 
 had only money enough to locate a warrant of survey, 
 and pay for the grant of a small piece of poor land. 
 ITe built upon it a round log cabin of one room, in 
 which he and his wife lived, until it was too small to 
 hold them and their children. The range and the 
 forest supplied them with milk and meat. The soldier, 
 his wife and children, never had abundance of any 
 thing else, and of these, only for part of the year. 
 What they had, was, however, always freely shared 
 with wanting neighbors, and needy new comers. 
 Neither husband nor wife ever loved to work, though 
 they filled their cabin to overflowing, with their pro- 
 geny. Next after idleness, the soldier’s greatest plea- 
 sure was in reading. He had no books. Mr. Richard 
 Harvie, who knew his taste and integrity, supplied 
 him with them, and I used, when a boy, to visit him 
 frequently. I loved to hear him talk of his cam- 
 paigning under General Washington. He described 
 the battles in which he fought, and the stirring in- 
 cidents of war, with such earnest, simple truthfulness, 
 that I often felt the desire to have been by his side. 
 
 The first change for the better in the old soldier’s 
 poor way of living, was effected by his lazy wife. By 
 some happy hit of good fortune, or peculiar adapted- 
 ness to the employment, she got the reputation of 
 skill in midwifery. Her services were so often called 
 for by the prolific frontier women, that money was 
 made by the handfull. After some years of successful 
 practice, the old soldier’s wife died. His oldest son, 
 when he became of age to act for himself, married a 
 wife who belonged to the meanest family who ever left 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 175 
 
 the Old World for the New ; a host of whom had 
 removed from Virginia to Georgia, and settled upon 
 every poor vacant piece of land in the Broad River neigh- 
 borhood. As many as ten of them lived within the limits 
 of the tract owned afterwards by Col. Nick Johnson. 
 Most of them would cheat for six and a quarter cents, 
 and sue each other for a quarter of a dollar. Horse 
 swopping was their favorite trade. There was but one 
 of them who rose to greatness even in rascality. He 
 was called Gentleman Will. One of his sons was a 
 professional gambler ; another was hung for negro or 
 horse stealing. 
 
 I once heard one of the sorry scamps of the clan, 
 bemdnof a Justice of the Peace of the district in which 
 they lived, for a warrant to arrest a kinsman, who had 
 given him a kick, or cuff. The fellow was called 
 Coony, from his climbing a tree after a coon, going 
 out on the limb upon which the animal was, cutting it 
 off between himself and the body of the tree, falling 
 among the dogs, and being bitten for the beast. 
 
 The old soldier’s married son was soon no better 
 than his wife’s kin. To save his younger sons from the 
 influence of their bad brother and his near relations, 
 the old soldier removed to a distant part of the coun- 
 try. They profited by the change. One of them is 
 now a Methodist preacher of some celebrity. 
 
 The old soldier passed the remainder of his life in 
 comparative comfort, beloved and respected by every 
 one who knew him. 
 
 I desired to conclude the biographies of the Broad 
 River settlers by showing the great amount of riches 
 which has been accumulated by their extraordinary 
 industry, economy, and honesty, and the honors con- 
 
176 
 
 FIE ST SETTLEBS OF UPPEB GEOBGIA. 
 
 ferred upon them on account of their patriotism and 
 integrity, so that my booh might do good, by stimu- 
 lating others to follow their example. It is not known 
 that any so small community of planting people, ever 
 created so much wealth, and filled so many offices 
 in so short a time. I endeavored for a year or two, to 
 ascertain the facts which would enable me to give an 
 exact account of what each one was worth. I have 
 failed, because those whom I asked for information, 
 thought it would look like bragging to answer my 
 questions. Others, that it might degrade them to let 
 it be known how little property their Broad River 
 ancestors brought with them from Virginia. I have 
 written, urged, and labored, with such slight success, 
 that I am obliged to be contented with making the 
 following general statement. 
 
 The descendants of George Mathews are now 
 worth several millions of dollars, so are the descend- 
 ants of Frank Meriwether, Natt Barnett, Micajah 
 McGehee, and Mrs. Idarvie. The descendants of 
 Nicholas Johnson are supposed to be worth two mil- 
 lions, those of John Gilmer about the same amount, 
 and those of Thomas Gilmer one million. 
 
 Not a descendant of any one of the Broad River 
 people is now known to be so poor, as to be dependent 
 on others for support. Not one has been lost to 
 society by continued gambling, drinking, or other 
 violations of morals and law. One of them has been a 
 prominent candidate for the Presidency. Three have 
 been Governors of States. Three have been Judges of 
 the highest courts. Two have been Presidents of the 
 Senate of Georgia ; many of them have been members 
 of the Legislature of Georgia and other Southern 
 States ; and many have been members of the Congress 
 of the United States. 
 
PART II. 
 
 In the part of Wilks County below Long Creek, and 
 extending southwardly from Savannah River, a settle- 
 ment was made before and during the revolutionary 
 war by the Clarks, Dooleys, Murrays, Waltons, and 
 others. They were from Bertie and the adjoining 
 counties of North Carolina, and were all connected 
 together by blood or intermarriages. Gen. Jackson 
 was their countryman, and Col. Benton their kinsman. 
 
 These North Carolina settlers lived upon game and 
 the milk of the cattle which they carried with them in 
 their emigration. Hogs, sheep, and poultry, were not 
 to be had, except in the fewest numbers. A sufficient 
 supply of these indispensables for a new country could 
 only be obtained from South Carolina, whither the 
 settlers went for that purpose when they had sufficient 
 money to purchase. Many years passed before they 
 owned hogs and sheep enough for bacon and clothing. 
 It was hard times, when the breakfast of the family 
 depended upon catching an opossum the over night or 
 a rabbit in the morning. The range was so unrestricted 
 that the cows often wandered away beyond returning 
 or finding, so that the children had no milk to wash 
 down their otherwise dry bread. The horses which 
 did the ploughing had to be turned on the wild grass 
 12 
 
178 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 to get their food. They strayed away beyond finding, 
 if their legs were not fastened together, so that the 
 art of hoppling was as important as the blacksmith’s. 
 Bells were put upon them, for the purpose of indicating 
 their whereabouts ; and then the Indians, if on the 
 frontiers, carried them off. It was difficult to clear of 
 its timber enough of land for corn and tobacco. The 
 term patch was for a long time used for the land sown 
 in wheat, because only a very small quantity was 
 allotted for that grain. Even these patches were not 
 seen for years after the settlement began, so that flour 
 could not be had at times for love or money. It was 
 a long time before the children had more than a bis- 
 cuit a-piece on Sunday mornings. Traps, snares, pens, 
 and other contrivances, were resorted to for catching 
 birds and turkeys. The end of a switch was twisted 
 in the hair of a rabbit, to draw him from his refuge up 
 in a hollow tree. Food was eaten then with the 
 greatest relish, which the lady descendants of the 
 settlers would be horrified to see on their tables now. 
 An opossum, with its full dish of gravy, occupied the 
 place of the sucking pig at present. There were no 
 tanneries then to prepare leather for shoes, nor well- 
 instructed shoemakers to manufacture them. Skins, 
 taken from the cattle killed for beef, and those that 
 died with the hollow horn, were hung in running 
 streams until the hair could be slipt off, and then put 
 into troughs with bark until they became what was 
 called fit for manufacture. Even this hard material 
 could only be had in sufficient quantities to allow shoes 
 to the children when the frost and snow made the cold 
 too severe for their bare feet to bear. Most went 
 without shoes the greater part of the year. 
 
 The first houses were log cabins, with dirt floors 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. J 7 
 
 and clapboard coverings. Vile toads and venomous 
 serpents were often found crawling over them, and 
 occasionally on the beds. Snakes abounded, until the 
 increase of hogs lessened their number. The rattle of 
 the rattlesnake and the cry of a panther often sent the 
 children home in a hurry from the woods when hunt- 
 ing the cows. The sheep had to be kept in inclosures 
 about the cabins, or there was no wool for winter use. 
 No school gave to the children an hour's play time. 
 After working all day, they sat around the hearth at’ 
 night, picking the lint from the cotton seed, to supply 
 the material for their clothing. There was no fruit in 
 the country to gratify their eager appetites, except 
 wild grapes, haws, and whortleberries. The boys had 
 no marbles nor tops, until their own labor added to 
 their fathers’ means to buy them. All work, little 
 play, no fruit, poor eating, thin clothing, open houses, 
 hard beds, and few blankets, made children hardy or 
 killed them. No novels, pianos, or idleness filled the 
 heads of the girls with vain imaginings. The singing 
 at the meeting-houses of the primitive Baptists tempted 
 but few to attend for the sake of the melody. The 
 great pleasure indulged in by the young people was 
 dancing at night. The married women sought recrea- 
 tion from their six days’ work by visiting their neigh- 
 bors on Sunday. The men went to musters, shooting 
 matches, and horse races, on Saturdays. Housekeepers 
 treated their friends and their own families to a pud- 
 ding for dinner when company came, and the man of 
 the house drew forth his bottle of whiskey. Many 
 a little fellow had a hearty cry when the last piece of 
 pudding disappeared before he got to the table. The 
 pretty girls, dressed in striped and checked cotton 
 cloth, spun and wove with their own hands, and their 
 
180 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 sweethearts in the sumach and walnut dyed stuff, made 
 by their mothers. Courting was done when riding to 
 meetings on Sunday, and walking to the spring when 
 there. Newly-married couples Avent to see the old 
 folks on Saturday, and carried home on Sunday even- 
 ings A\diat could be spared them. There was no ennui 
 among the women for Avant of something to do. If 
 there had been leisure to read, there were but few 
 books for the indulgence. Hollow trees supplied 
 cradles for babies. The fine voices which are now 
 heard in the pulpit and at the bar from the first native 
 Georgians had its practice begun by crying, when 
 infants, for the want of good nursing. 
 
 The preacher and the schoolmaster, the first to 
 commence the onward march of civilization, were very 
 slow in reaching outskirt settlements. Most who did 
 were drunken Irishmen or dissolute Virginians, who 
 found the restraints of society in the old countries too 
 binding for their comfort, and therefore moved to the 
 new. Newspapers were confined to the select few. It 
 appears from the record of the Court of Ordinary of 
 Wilks County, that five out of sixteen wills had the 
 makers’ mark put to them, instead of their signatures. 
 The proportion of those who could not write must 
 have been still greater among those who died intestate. 
 In the inventories of estates from 1777 to 1783, the 
 first five had only four books, and they valued at six 
 shillings. The next four had one entry of books, 
 coupled with sleighs, and both valued at four shillings. 
 In the next three there is but one book, an old testa- 
 ment. In the next three there is an entry of one parcel 
 of old books, valued at five shillings. In the next 
 eight no mention is made of books. In the next five 
 there is an entry of a prayer book. Then there are 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 lbl 
 
 three, in which there is one entry of an old bible and 
 hymn book. The next has an entry of a parcel of old 
 books, valued at seven shillings and sixpence. The 
 next thirteen have no entry of books. The succeeding 
 one has an entry of a tomahawk, prayer-book and tes- 
 tament ; the next, of a bible ; the next six, one bible ; 
 and the next fourteen are without any entry of books 
 at all. 
 
 The following inventories, given verbatim et liter- 
 atim, of the property of deceased persons, show the 
 kind and value owned by the first settlers of Wilks : 
 
 An Inventory of the Estate of Capt. John Stwart, dec’d., late of 
 the States of Georgia, Wilks County : 
 
 1 Negro boy, Pompey, 
 
 £50 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 1 Bead without Furniture, 
 
 0 
 
 7 
 
 0 
 
 1 Pail, 1 Pigin do. 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 1 Washing tub, 2 Keelers, 
 
 0 
 
 4 
 
 0 
 
 1 Sifter, 1 horse, 
 
 24 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 1 Bay Mare, Proved away since, . 
 
 1 
 
 15 
 
 0 
 
 1 Saddle, .... 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 1 Basor, 2000 acres of Land in Richmond 
 
 
 
 
 County, .... 
 
 50 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 1 Old Grey horse, 
 
 0 
 
 5 
 
 0 
 
 True Inventory of Goods and Chatties of Andrew Canndy, 
 late dec’d : 
 
 To 2 feather Beads, . . . £700 
 
 To 2 flax wheels, . . . 1 10 0 
 
 To 2 Pails and Churn, . . 0 8 0 
 
 To 8 Keelons and Pigan . . 0 4 12 
 
 To 1 Pot, to two howes and Culter Plow, 0 15 0 
 
 To 1 Desk and five Plates, to one horse Colt, 2 9 0 
 To 1 Gray Mare, to one Cow, . . 13 0 0 
 
 To 2 Year old heepher, . . 1 10 0 
 
182 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Appraisment of the Goods and Chatties of the Estate of John 
 Mackeney, dec’d, by Ruth Mackaney, administrator : 
 
 To Cash and Purse, 
 
 To a Person Bit, . 
 
 To a Rasor, 
 
 To one pare of Stockens, 
 
 To one Close Bolted Shirt, 
 To one old Coat, 
 
 To one wastcoat, 
 
 To one Blanket, 
 
 To one year old, 
 
 £0 5 
 0 1 
 0 1 
 0 5 
 0 8 
 0 1 
 0 1 
 0 5 
 0 5 
 
 Goods and Chatties of David McCullone, dec’d : 
 
 One Sorrill mar Prased to 
 One mare to 
 One horse to . 
 
 One horse Colt to 
 Six head of Cattle to . 
 
 One Negro Boy to 
 One Negro Girl to 
 One ax, Friang Pan and Pothooks, 
 One Linen -wheel to 
 One spice morter to 
 Books and Sleis to 
 Cury Comb, drawing knife, and 
 Old Puter, 
 
 One buter tub, 
 
 fore old Feather Beads to 
 
 One Pot, .... 
 
 £60 
 1 0 
 
 3 0 
 
 4 0 
 6 0 
 
 20 0 
 30 0 
 0 5 
 0 5 
 0 5 
 0 5 
 auger, 0 5 
 
 0 15 
 0 2 
 
 5 0 
 0 10 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 0 
 
 When the contest for independence commenced, 
 the North Carolina settlers in Wilks were so far re- 
 moved from the scene of action, and so ignorant of the 
 cause of the quarrel, that they took no jiart until the 
 British troops extended their operations into Georgia. 
 They were then very much divided in opinion as to 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 183 
 
 which side they should take. Following the course of 
 their friends in North Carolina, so 1 e were for the 
 country and some for the king. The united British 
 and Tory forces obliged the Whigs to retreat into the 
 adjoining States. The Tories thus obtaining the ascen- 
 dency in Wilks, plundered the property, burned the 
 houses, and put to death the women, children, and old 
 infirm men, who had been left behind. The battle of 
 King’s Mountain permitted the Whigs to return home 
 and take ample vengeance upon the Tories for the in- 
 juries which they had done them. The cruelty of the 
 Tories, and retaliation by the Whigs, may be imagined 
 by the following facts. Whilst the Tories were in the 
 ascendency they went to the house of Col. Dooly, the 
 father of Judge Dooly, found him concealed, and put 
 him to death without trial or resistance. When the 
 Whigs got the upper hand, they made nine Tories 
 prisoners. The son of the murdered Dooly, then but 
 a youth, sacrificed the nine without hindrance from his 
 officers. 
 
 The records of the Superior Courts of Wilks show 
 what acts were considered most criminal, and how im- 
 perfectly and in what strange ways justice was admin- 
 istered in both civil and criminal cases. 
 
 Until 1785 there was no court-house or jail in 
 Wilks County. The court consisted of the Chief Jus- 
 tice of the State and five Assistant Justices of the 
 County. They held court at some private dwelling, 
 or in some out-house. The jurors, when trying causes, 
 left tke house in which the court was held for some log 
 on the neighboring ground, where all seated in a row, or 
 squatted around when earnest debate broke up the 
 row on the log, they consulted eacli other in making up 
 their verdicts. Whilst a jury was once thus seated on 
 
18-1 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 a log, engaged in deliberating upon a case, a man who 
 was known to be a Tory came riding by. One cried 
 
 out, “ There goes a d Tory, let’s have him,” and 
 
 gave chase, which was joined in by most of his fellows. 
 
 Prisoners who were in the custody of the sheriff 
 were confined as means could be found, Avitli hickory 
 withs, cords, and chains, occasionally by putting their 
 heads between the rails of a fence, and sometimes by 
 putting them into pens. Prisoners who were treated 
 kindly escaped, so that most were roughly handled, 
 whether guilty or not. 
 
 The Tories had little chance for fair trials, if per- 
 mitted to be tried at all. Summary justice was usually 
 administered to them. They found the end of the laiv, 
 when they came within its control, at the end of a 
 rope. In f 7 7 0 the grand jury of Wilks presented as 
 a grievance twenty-six Tories (naming them) for being 
 permitted to run at large, and directed that they 
 should be apprehended and brought to trial. 
 
 At a court, in 1779, seven men were tried at the 
 same time, for high treason against the State, found 
 guilty, and hung. 
 
 About the same time, a man was indicted in the 
 same bill for treason, horse stealing, hog stealing, and 
 other misdemeanors. 
 
 An acquittal by a jury did not secure the accused 
 from another trial for the same offence upon the dis- 
 covery of other and better testimony. Men did not 
 then feel the force of forms. They thought that if it 
 were ascertained with certainty that a man was guilty 
 of a crime he ought to be punished, notwithstanding 
 that the verdict of a jury had found bim not guilty, 
 for want of testimony kept away, or which could not 
 be had at the time of trial. 
 
 Plorse stealing, next after Toryism, was the offen- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 185 
 
 sive crime of the times. It was easily committed, the 
 temptation was great, and escape easy. Death followed 
 conviction for it with more certainty than conviction 
 for murder. Men had no money to be murdered for. 
 Ill-will usually vented itself by fighting, so that if 
 death was the consequence, the crime was manslaughter 
 or excusable homicide. 
 
 A few years after the revolutionary war a horse 
 was stolen from Gen. Elijah Clark. He arrested some 
 trifling fellow in the neighborhood as the guilty person, 
 and had him charged with the offence before the grand 
 jury at the next Superior Court. The testimony was 
 insufficient for finding a true bill, and the prisoner was 
 discharged. Gen. Clark, not doubting his guilt, took 
 the discharged man into his own custody, marched him 
 to a convenient place, followed by the posse comitatus, 
 judge and jury, and was about hanging him to some 
 limb, when Judge Pendleton (the father of the mem- 
 bers of Congress of that name from Virginia and Ohio) 
 made so eloquent an address in favor of law and order 
 that he succeeded in doing by words what he could not 
 through the officers of the court. 
 
 The following copy of a part of the record of the 
 proceedings of the County Court of Wilks gives some 
 details which may be both novel and amusing to the 
 people of the present day : 
 
 April 1 1783 
 
 The Court met agreeable to Constitution 
 
 PRESENT 
 
 William Downs S. A. J. 
 Zachariah Lamar 
 Benjamin Catching 
 Absoltjm Bedell 
 Benj. Thomson 
 
 Assistant Judges 
 
186 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The following order was sent by the Assistant Justices to 
 the Chief Justice. 
 
 Ordered that the Sherriff wate on his honor the Chief Jus- 
 tice to know whether lie intends to take his seat as Chief Jus- 
 tice this Court. 
 
 The Honourable Chief Justice answered as follows. 
 
 To the Honourable the Assistant Justices of the County of 
 Wilks. 
 
 The under written having been appointed Chief Justice by 
 the Honourable the Legislature of this State intended to have 
 rode the circuit but his honour the Governor and the honourable 
 the council have seen cause to suspend him during the present 
 sessions he does not think himself enabled to act at present. 
 
 George Walton. 
 
 1784 
 
 The Honourable Chief Justice delivered the following: charge 
 
 O O 
 
 to the Grand Jury. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Grand Jury. 
 
 Fourteen or fifteen years ago I several times rode over this 
 Country when it was Wilderness and nothing to be seen but the 
 Savage and hiS Game of the Woods, The Indian line being 
 soon after mooved further out it began to settle, and altho it 
 has been Interupted by a seven or eight years war in which 
 the first settlers greatly distinguished themselves, it has in- 
 creased in number strength and cultivation to an astonishing 
 degree this rapidity of settlement is an Incontrovertable proof 
 of the Goodness of the climate the soil and Navigation as it 
 has been in the face of almost insuperable difficulties. &c. &c. 
 
 Friday April the first 1785 
 
 The following charge was delivered by his Honour the Chief 
 Justice to the Grand Jury at the opening of the Session. 
 
 Barred by unusual floods it was Impossible to execute my 
 Intention of a punctual meating, but there is yet sufficient time 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 187 
 
 I hope to administer private and publick Justice the object of 
 the circuite, it is not in my power to dispence with the duty of 
 going to Liberty court, and which being at the distance of two 
 hundred and twenty miles, will compell me to Leave this on 
 satterday afternoon the Intervel on my part shall be filled with 
 a pointed and patient attention and I trust that I shall experi- 
 ence a General disposition to expedite the business. Ac. Ac. 
 
 The following presentments of the Grand J ury of 
 Wilks County, describe the habits and manners of the 
 people in 1785 : 
 
 We also present Hezekiah Wheat for profain swearing Also 
 Stephen Brooks for profain swearing also John Boggs for pro- 
 fain swearing also William Yardiman for profain swearing 
 also Kobert Jackson also Andrew Frazer also Joseph 
 Purham also Thomas Morris also William Osborn also 
 Moses Harris also Peter Carnes also C. Z. William Moor 
 also Jefrey Early also William Thornton also Grant Taylor 
 also Richard Powell also Samuel Criswell also Daniel Young 
 also Peter Stubblefield also Joseph Cook also James Stwert 
 also B. Smith also Joseph Spradling also John Bragg for 
 fighting and Gambling Joseph Parham for Gambling also 
 Grant Taylor and William Osborne for fighting also Joseph 
 Ryan for profane swearing Richard Powell for Gambling also 
 James Williams for profane swearing Daniel Young for Gam- 
 bling and suffering it to be done in his house Peter Stubble- 
 field for Gambling Daniel Terondit for suffering; Gambling; in his 
 house also Owin Shannon for swearing; and Gambling' also 
 Thomas Shannon Jr. for Gambling also Fedrick Lipham for 
 suffering Gambling in his house also the Magestrates know- 
 ingly suffer the saboth to be Broke by Merchants dealing and 
 negroes and others playing fives and other vices, in particular 
 the Majistrates about town who see it frequently C. Z. Micajah 
 Williamson William Moor and Henry Mounger Esquires also 
 that the Militia officers in diferant districts do not keep up a 
 Patrole, from which the Inhabitance suffer Great damage by 
 negroes riding horses at night and many other Mischevious 
 acts also that people are suffered to Galop and run horses 
 
188 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 through the town of Washington also that there is never a fine 
 inflicted upon officers and privates for not obeying their orders 
 and for omiting their duties in the town of Washington also 
 in all other parts of the county and also that the constitution 
 as it stands debars us from some priviledge easements. 
 
 If you speak of a libel in a crowd of old Georgia 
 people they suppose that you are using a dandy phrase 
 for lye bill. Libel instead of being a writing abusive 
 of another, was in old times a writing acknowledging 
 that the writer had told a lye, and was given to him 
 whose character was slandered, and then put upon the 
 records of the court the more certainly to do justice to 
 the slandered. 
 
 The following is a copy of a recorded lye bill : 
 
 Georgia, ) Whereas on the seventh day of Decem- 
 Wilks County, j her one thousand seven hundred and eighty- 
 five in the Town of Washington ther hapened a Differrence 
 between myself and Micajah Williamson of the said Town in 
 the cource of said differance it is said how in the cource of said 
 differance By Good Authority I made use of language or words 
 very prejudicial to the Reputation of said Williamson By calling 
 him Rogue and several other unguarded Expressions which I 
 am certain I should not have done had I not been much Intoxi- 
 cated both in Excess of Drinking, and spirit or heat of passion 
 and I do further acknowledge that I do not of my own knowl- 
 edge nor know that any Other person knows any dishonest action 
 of said Williamson, which would authorize or induce me to make 
 use of such Expressions and so do agree to pay the cost of a suit 
 the said Williamson Entered against me on the Occasion, and to 
 dismiss and drop the Suit commenced against him for assault and 
 Battery Given under my hand this 20th November 1786. 
 
 Andrew Frazer. 
 
 It is agreed by the within Andrew Frazer and Micajah Wil- 
 liamson that the within Instrument of writing should be recorded 
 in court. 
 
 Andrew Frazer. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 189 
 
 The North Carolina settlers had been so stinted in 
 grants of land, whilst under the government of Great 
 Britain, that, when they became undisputed rulers to 
 do with the land as they pleased, they made amends, 
 by granting very largely to every body who wanted 
 and would use the means to get it. To increase the 
 value of what they secured to themselves, they held 
 out inducements, by their legislative enactments, to the 
 people of other States to settle among them. 
 
 The spirit of speculation became the ruling spirit of 
 the times. Soon after the adoption of the Constitution 
 of the United States, most of the States which had un- 
 settled territory conveyed their title to the soil to the 
 General Government, for the purpose of paying the 
 debts contracted in carrying on the war for Independ- 
 ence. The State of Georgia, which had the largest un- 
 settled territory of any of the States, refused to part 
 with what had become an object of desire to each, one 
 of her people. Various plans were formed for giving 
 every body a share of this great fund of public wealth. 
 It was found difficult to devise any measure which 
 would satisfy the highly excited cravings of the people. 
 The King of Great Britain had claimed all the un- 
 granted land in Georgia to be his. Many of the people, 
 when he was conquered by their fighting, thought that 
 the land which was his became rightfully theirs. 
 When they took the government of the State into their 
 own hands, they seemed to consider that the chief pur- 
 pose of legislation was to distribute the public lands 
 among themselves. They had but slight comprehen- 
 sion of government, and but little use for that which 
 they had, but as the instrument for satisfying their 
 desire for more land. All the territory which had 
 been acquired from the Indians by treaty was soon 
 
100 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 granted away. Scliemes were then devised, for getting- 
 titles to the remainder. 
 
 In 1794, General Clark and his special friends, 
 urged on by this spirit, took possession of the fertile 
 country between the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers, be- 
 fore the possessory title of the Indians had been ceded 
 to the State, and without any authority from the Legis- 
 lature. They established a government, and built forts 
 for their defence. It required the authority of General 
 Washington, then President of the United States, and 
 the energy of General Mathews, then Governor of the 
 State, to convince General Clark and his adherents 
 that they could not thus appropriate what did not be- 
 long to them. 
 
 The following extracts from the Public Documents 
 of the United States, upon the subject of this attempt 
 of the North Carolina Wilks settlers to appropriate 
 the public lands occupied by the Indians, and establish 
 an independent republic within the territory of Georgia, 
 are thought interesting enough to be given here at the 
 expense of some repetition : — 
 
 State House, Augusta, 19th August, 1194. 
 
 Sir, — I had the pleasure to receive your communication of the 
 28th ultimo this day, and it is with real regret that I inform you, 
 that the information therein contained is, in a great part, too true. 
 Some time in May, I learnt that settlements were making on the 
 southwest side of the Oconee. The supposition then was, that 
 the adventurers were part of those who had embarked in the 
 French interest, and that in a short time they would of them- 
 selves disperse ; hut. finding that not to be the case, and fearing 
 lest they might contemplate a serious settlement, I, on the 20th 
 of May, ordered General Irwin to direct the settlers immediately 
 to remove. Soon after I was informed the removal had taken 
 place. .On the 14th of July I received a letter from Lieutenant 
 Colonel Gaither, stating that Elijah Clark, late Major General 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 191 
 
 in the Militia of this State, with a party of men, had encamped 
 on the southwest side of the Oconee, opposite to Fort Fidius. 
 On the 24th, General Irwin sent a couple of officers to Clark, 
 with orders for him to move off immediately, which he positively 
 refused ; and on the 28th I issued a proclamation, forbidding 
 such unlawful proceedings. I also wrote to one of our Judges 
 to issue his warrant, and have Clark apprehended. At the Su- 
 preme Court, in Wilks County, I am informed, he surrendered 
 himself to the Judge, who, on consulting with the Attorney Gen- 
 eral, referred him to some of the justices of the county. A copy 
 of their decision is herewith inclosed, and from which, there is 
 reason to conclude, there are too many who think favorably of 
 the settlement ; but I still flatter myself a large majority of the 
 citizens are opposed to such lawless acts. &c., &c. 
 
 George Mathews. 
 
 State of Georgia, Wilks County: — 
 
 Whereas a proclamation was issued on the 28th day of July 
 last, by his Excellency George Mathews, Esquire, Governor of 
 this State, stating that Elijah Clark, Esquire, late Maj. General 
 of the Militia of this State, has gone over the Oconee River, with 
 an intent to establish a separate and independent government on 
 the lands allotted for the Indians for their hunting ground, and 
 commanded, in the said proclamation, all judges, justices, sheriffs, 
 and other officers, and all the other citizens of this State, to be 
 diligent in aiding and assisting in apprehending the said Elijah 
 Clark, and his adherents, in order that they might severally be 
 brought to justice. And whereas the said Elijah Clai’k, who is 
 the object of the said proclamation, hath this day personally ap- 
 peared before us, the undersigned, Justices of the Peace for the 
 County of Wilks, and surrendered himself into custody, and it 
 being our duty to do speedy justice to the said State, as well as 
 the party charged, we proceeded to the most mature considera- 
 tion of the cause, and, after an examination of the laws of the 
 State, and the treaties made, and the laws passed by the United 
 States, do give it as our decided and unanimous opinion, that said 
 Elijah Clark be, and is hereby, discharged. 
 
 R. Woosh am, J. P. 
 
 R. Christmas, J. P. 
 
 G. Wooldridge, J. P. 
 
 William Bell, J. P. 
 
FIRST SETTLE I' S OF UPPER, GEORGIA. 
 
 i ;>2 
 
 Fort Advance, 5th Sept., l^L 
 
 Gentlemen, — Your favor of the 3d instant is now before 
 me. Accept my thanks for your information and attention to 
 what may, if ever neglected so materially, injure our enterprise. 
 I consider myself honored by the unanimous voice of all the offi- 
 cers belonging to the different garrisons. I shall always endea- 
 vor to acquit myself worthy of the command committed to my 
 charge. The information you have received agrees with mine 
 from Augusta. The artillery of Augusta are ordered to be in 
 readiness to march in eight or ten days, and one third of the 
 militia are directed to be draughted. It has been tried in Burk 
 and Richmond Counties, but quite unsuccessful : the troops de- 
 clare that they will not fight against us. I am happy to find 
 the disposition of the people with you so exactly agrees with my 
 own friends here ; I believe it to be the general disposition of 
 every garrison. I am determinately fixed to risk every thing 
 with my life upon the issue, and for the success of the enterprise. 
 You will apply to the inclosed orders how to conduct yourselves 
 with inimical individuals. In case of a body appearing, you will 
 give me the earliest information. If you are summoned to sur- 
 render in the garrison, you must refuse with a firmness ever ac- 
 companying the brave. Inform those who apply, that if you 
 have done wrong, and the grand jury of the county have cogni- 
 sance of your crime, you will cheerfully submit to be tried by a 
 jury of your fellow-citizens. But you will consider any orders 
 from the Secretary of War as unconstitutional. The Governor’s 
 proclamation, as determined in Wilks, illegal, Ac., Ac. 
 
 Yours, Ac. 
 
 E. Clark. 
 
 Sir, — I have the pleasure to inform you, that the post oppo- 
 site to us, on the south side of the Oconee, has been taken and 
 destroyed by the militia, and that Clark and his adherents have 
 been removed. 
 
 Soon after the Governor’s proclamation was issued against 
 General Clark, he delivered himself up to the Superior Court of 
 the County of Wilks, who dismissed him, because it was their 
 opinion that he had not violated the laws of the State. This 
 decision greatly encouraged his party, and the settlements were 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 193 
 
 pushed with vigor. The measure had also become very popular, 
 and it was believed by him and his adherents that the militia would 
 never march against him. Under these flattering circumstances, 
 his works were completed, houses were erected within his forts, a 
 town was laid off at Fold Advance (the post opposite to us), Glen. 
 Clark was chosen Major General, and placed at the head of the 
 enterprise ; the members were elected for the general committee, 
 or committee of safety, and every thing bore the appearance of a 
 permanent settlement, Ac., Ac. 
 
 I have the honor to he, Ac., Ac. 
 
 Constant Freeman. 
 
 Extract from Judge Walton’s charge to the Grand 
 Jury of Richmond County 
 
 Should the spirit which generated the plan of this new settle- 
 ment still urge its pursuit, what mischiefs may it not produce to 
 the community. A young country, scarcely recovered from for- 
 mer ravages, but with means of progressive amplification and 
 aggrandizement, to he involved in a civil war, with all the evils 
 incident to it, will have the effect of arresting its progress, and 
 putting it back of any present calculation. 
 
 It is already known that the President of the United States 
 has directed, in the event of other means failing, that the settle- 
 ment should be suppressed by military coercion. And shall the 
 blood of citizens he spilled to support the pretensions of a small 
 part of the people, — pretensions without law, and resting not on 
 the foundations of justice ? But, it is said, they have expatri- 
 ated themselves. This is neither fact, nor capable of being made 
 so. The district, the object of their contemplation, is still Geor- 
 gia ; and they must be either citizens or insurgents. Would 
 that these new settlers might attend to the voice of reason, of 
 benevolence, and moderation, before they plunge themselves and 
 their country in distress and trouble. A little time will extend 
 our limits, and we shall then be all upon a footing. 
 
 But suppose that the State, from the recollection of the past 
 services of the principal in this adventure, and a tender regard 
 to his adherents (the United States out of view for the moment), 
 13 
 
194 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 should be disposed to wink at the establishment of this intended 
 settlement, is the extent of the precedent perceived ? The rich- 
 est jewel the State of Georgia possesses, and the real basis of 
 her future wealth and rank in the Union, is her western territory; 
 and if one set of men should be permitted to take possession, and 
 keep a part of it, without the consent of her government, will it 
 not he an example of right for any other set of men to do the 
 same with any other part or with the whole of it ? 
 
 Hence, I conclude, that, if General Clark has the same regard 
 for the State he has heretofore given so many proofs of, he will 
 desist from an enterprise so pregnant with evils to her. It is 
 not to he wished that the Federal Government should have occa- 
 sion to exert its power upon any such occasion. It might one 
 "day give color to pretensions not consonant with the interest of 
 •the State. There ought to exist no fears at present ; hut who 
 vcan keep pace with the progress of time and of revolution. 
 
 The failure of General Clark and the North Caro- 
 lina Wilks settlers, did not put an end to the trial of 
 -■©tilers having similar objects in view. An extensive 
 secret association was soon after formed, called the 
 Combined Society, whose members took an oath to 
 elect, if they could, a Governor and members of the 
 Legislature, who would dispose of the public land for 
 their special benefit. One of its most active members 
 was detected in his operations for success, stripped, tied 
 “to a tree, and whipped without mercy. The existence 
 and objects of the society becoming thus noised abroad, 
 the people succeeded in electing a Governor and a ma- 
 jority of the members of the Legislature pledged to 
 oppose them. They relied with confidence upon the 
 interposition of the Governor’s veto, should the specula- 
 tors succeed in influencing a majority of the Legislature. 
 The Governor elected had been in office before, and 
 vetoed an act passed by the Legislature for disposing 
 of the public lands for the following reasons 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 195 
 
 1st. I doubt whether the proper time has arrived for dispos- 
 ing of the territory in question. 
 
 2d. If it was the proper time, the sum offered is inadequate 
 to the value of the land. 
 
 3d. The quantity reserved for the citizens is too small in 
 proportion to the extent of the purchase. 
 
 4th. That greater advantages are secured to the purchasers 
 than the citizens. 
 
 5th. That so large an extent of territory being disposed of 
 to companies of individuals will operate as monopolies, which 
 will prevent or retard settlements, population, and agriculture. 
 
 6th. That if public notice was given that the land was for 
 sale, the rivalship in purchasers would most probably have in- 
 creased the sums offered. 
 
 7th. The power given to the Executive by the constitution, 
 the duty I owe the community, and the sacredness of my oath 
 of office, will, I flatter myself, justify this dissent in the minds of 
 the members of the Legislature, and of my other fellow-citizens. 
 
 The speculators made many members of the Legis- 
 lature and two of the Governor’s sons members of their 
 companies. This corrupt act passed, and was signed 
 by the Governor. 
 
 Whilst the bill was on its passage, the bribery em- 
 ployed was made known to the people. Companies of 
 men were embodying, and some on their way to the 
 seat of government to disperse the members of the 
 Legislature when they adjourned. 
 
 The constituents of one who was bribed, were ex- 
 cited to so great ferment that he became alarmed and 
 fled into South Carolina. He was followed by an en- 
 raged county man, found sitting alone in a cabin at 
 night, and shot dead. The sight of his death struggles 
 arrested the strong current of indignant feelings which 
 had led to the act. The avenger became the misera- 
 ble sinner. He returned home, shut himself up in a 
 
196 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 dark room from intercourse with the world for eigh- 
 teen years, begging as if for liis own life, that God 
 would pardon him for taking the life of another. 
 
 On the morning of the day of the first general 
 meeting of the people of Oglethorpe after the passage 
 of the Yazoo Act, a citizen who lived on the other side 
 of the Crabtree, stopped at the gate whilst Miles Jin- 
 nings made ready to accompany him to town. Old 
 Jinnings put a rope in his pocket. Upon being asked 
 by his companion what he intended to do with the 
 rope, he replied, “ Hang Musgrove ! 51 When they 
 arrived at the court-house from their distant part of 
 the county, all the people had assembled. Miles Jin- 
 nings hitched his horse, went into the crowd, pulled 
 from his pocket the rope, and holding it up at arm’s 
 length, cried out, “ Neighbors, this rope is to hang 
 Musgrove, who sold the people’s land for a bribe.” 
 The lashing of the surge upon the shore when the 
 ocean is driven by the most furious storm, was not 
 louder than the noise of the people excited into tumult 
 by old Jinnings’s words and the sight of the elevated 
 rope. No human power could have saved Musgrove 
 from hanging if old Jinnings’s neighbor had not given 
 him notice to make his escape. 
 
 The Governor, after the expiration of his term of 
 office, was never again trusted by the State. His son- 
 in-law, who voted against the act, was £o suspected of 
 favoring its passage, that he was unable to stand up 
 against the popular clamor, and left the State never to 
 return to it. 
 
 At the session of the Legislature subsequent to the 
 Yazoo fraud (as the act of sale to the speculators was 
 called), the people’s party was in power without oppo- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 197 
 
 sition. The Legislature made the following declara- 
 tion in the form of law : 
 
 Be it therefore enacted , That the said Act, passed on the 
 seventh day of January, in the year one thousand seven hundred 
 and ninety-five, be, and the same is hereby declared, null and 
 void, and the grant or grants, right or rights, claim or claims, 
 issuing, deduced, or derived therefrom, or from any clause, letter, 
 or spirit of the same, or any part of the same, is hereby also an- 
 nulled, rendered void, and of no effect ; and as the same was 
 made without constitutional authority, and fraudulently obtained, 
 it is hereby declared of no binding force or effect on this State 
 or people hereafter, but is, and are to be considered, both law 
 and grants, as they ought to be, ipso facto of themselves, void, 
 and the territory therein mentioned is also hereby declared to 
 be the sole property of the State, subject only to the right of 
 treaty of the United States to enable the State to purchase, 
 under its pre-emption right, the Indian title to the same. 
 
 And be it further enacted , That within three days after the 
 passage of this Act, the different branches of the Legislature 
 shall assemble together, at which meeting the officers shall 
 attend with the several records, documents, and deeds in the 
 Secretary’s, Surveyor-General’s, and other public otfices, and 
 v T hich records and documents shall then and there be ex- 
 punged from the face and indexes of the books of record of the 
 State, and the enrolled law, or usurped Act, shall then be pub- 
 licly burnt, in order that no trace of so unconstitutional, vile, 
 and fraudulent a transaction, other than the infamy attached to 
 it by this law, shall remain in the public oifices thereof. 
 
 All the documentary evidences of the act of sale 
 were accordingly burnt. The consuming flames were 
 kindled by drawing fire from the sun, so as to make 
 heaven aid in the purifying sacrifice. 
 
198 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 ELIJ.AH CLARK. 
 
 The struggle between liberty and loyalty bad gone 
 on for some time, and tlie States declared their inde- 
 pendence of Great Britain before much more was un- 
 derstood about the cause of the contest by the North 
 Carolina settlers in Wilks than what was learned from 
 passing rumor. When the British troops marched 
 into Upper Georgia and required the people to submit 
 to the power that would tax them, Elijah Clark felt 
 that his forte was fighting. His bold, fearless spirit 
 made him at once the chief of those who felt like him. 
 
 When Col. Boyd, the leader of the North Carolina 
 tories retreated into Georgia, Elijah Clark, at the head 
 of the Georgia whigs, and Col. Pickens, with the 
 whigs of South Carolina, pursued and overtook him 
 at Kettle Creek, in Wilks, where they drubbed him 
 and many of his followers to death, and dispersed 
 most of the remainder. 
 
 Shortly after the British troops and tories united 
 in such strength that Elijah Clark could not meet them 
 in the field. With the tact of the successful partisan, 
 he got out of the way, that he might fight more ad- 
 vantageously another day. He fled to the mountains, 
 taking wdtli him most of the whig old men, women, 
 and children, to secure them from the cruelties of the 
 poor tory scamps, who thought that the best way of 
 serving their king was to put to death those who re- 
 fused to swear allegiance to him. Placing his non-com- 
 batants in security, he marched at the head of the 
 fighters wherever the enemy were to be found. He 
 had no pretensions to be the great general who, standing 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 199 
 
 aloof from danger, directs and conquers by the skill of 
 his manoeuvres. He led in the fight, and ordered his 
 men to follow him. He was present, if he could be, 
 wherever fighting was to be done, until liberty was 
 won. 
 
 When the independence of the States was acknow- 
 ledged, and the people of the other States enjoyed 
 peace, there was no peace for the people of Georgia. 
 The tories fled among the neighboring Indian tribes, 
 and excited their warriors to plunder and murder the 
 frontier people, until Elijah Clark, aided by his son 
 Jack, frightened them away by the great victory which 
 he. obtained over them at Jack’s Creek. 
 
 Elijah Clark had but little scholastic learning, nor 
 had he been very accurately taught in early youth the 
 distinction between right and wrong, or the lessons 
 afterwards slipt from his memory. lie was very poor 
 when he took to soldiering. He was better off when 
 the war was ended. He thought, as many great men 
 have done, that those who fight against their coun- 
 try forfeit both life and property. He showed his 
 faith in his doctrine by letting tory prisoners live by 
 their letting him have what they had. He reversed 
 the law of kings, that the people and their property 
 are theirs, by his verdict, that what was claimed by 
 the king should belong to the people. King George, 
 whilst Georgia was a colony, granted his lands so stint- 
 ingly to his subjects, that when they became freemen 
 and the State under their government, they made 
 amends to themselves by granting to every one land 
 for little or nothing. The appetite for riches grows 
 upon what it feeds on. Elijah Clark, and the other 
 North Carolina settlers in Wilks, failing to get enough 
 to satisfy their voracity, took possession of the fertile 
 
200 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 territory between the Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers, 
 without regard to the occupant rights of the Indians, 
 established a republic, made Elijah Clark their chief 
 ruler, and were preparing to parcel out the lands, when 
 the militia, ordered into service by Governor Mathews, 
 and the regular troops by President Washington, 
 drove them off. 
 
 Elijah Clark had three sons; John, the general, and 
 Elijah and Gibson, the lawyers ; and three daughters, 
 
 Mrs. Thomson, Mrs. Josiah Walton, and Mrs. 
 
 Benajah Smith. One of the daughters of Mrs. Smith 
 married Eldrid Simpkins, a respectable lawyer of South 
 Carolina. Miss Simpkins married the Hon. Francis 
 Pickens, the grandson of Gen. Pickens, Elijah Clark’s 
 old associate in arms. 
 
 Elijah Clark’s residence was several miles north- 
 west of Washington, between the roads leading 1 from 
 
 0 7 O 
 
 Broad River and the Cherokee Corner to Augusta. 
 
 O 
 
 JOHN CLARK. 
 
 John Clark, the oldest son of Elijah Clark, was a 
 lad when his father removed with his family from 
 North Carolina to Wilks, Georgia. There were no 
 high schools, academies, or colleges in Wilks during 
 John’s youth, and if there had been, it is not probable 
 that he would have received much advantage from 
 them. All the learning which he ever acquired was 
 reading, writing, and ciphering in a small way. His 
 early youth was passed in his father’s camp, during the 
 plundering, murdering warfare between the whigs and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 201 
 
 tories. Though but a boy, he did the service of the 
 best soldier at the battle of Kettle Creek. When 
 fighting ceased, his camp habits received but little im- 
 provement from the association with the riotous North 
 Carolina settlers. He acquired no profession, followed 
 no trade, and never labored in the field. His time 
 was passed in rowdying. He knew no fear, and never 
 learned from his fighting with the tories to give quar- 
 ter to his enemies. In his brawls he used knives and 
 guns without regard to consequences. He once shot 
 so carelessly at some one in the streets of Washington, 
 with whom he was quarrelling, that the load took 
 effect upon a poor woman, and wounded her so badly 
 that she was for a lono; time disabled from clotl ling 
 her children. His drunken, restless ways kept him 
 perpetually in mischief. As long as the Indians con- 
 tinued to make inroads into the frontiers, he was ever 
 ready for the foray. At the battle of Jack’s Creek 
 between the frontier Georgians and the Creek Indians, 
 he was the conquering officer, though not the chief in 
 command. The reputation which he acquired by the 
 battles of Kettle Creek and Jack’s Creek, made him 
 feel that he was the cock of the walk wherever he 
 stalked, and he was sure to show it if any crowing was 
 done in his presence. Most persons yielded without 
 resistance to what he demanded authoritatively or 
 claimed pertinaciously. Every associate Avas obliged 
 to be for or against him. He suffered no one of any 
 consequence to occupy middle ground. He had the 
 temper of the clansman. He defended his friends, 
 right or wrong, and expected the same fidelity to him- 
 self. He patted eAmry young man on the back whom 
 he wished to make his adherent. If he showed him- 
 self offish, he proved himself his enemy. Whatever 
 
202 
 
 FIBST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 his hands found to do lie did with his might, and 
 would have been the best of men if his evil inclina- 
 tions had not got the better pf his good. He and his 
 father took part in the Yazoo sale, from some vague 
 notion that the conquerors were entitled to share 
 among them what had belonged to the conquered. 
 The State became divided into factions called the Ya- 
 zoo and anti- Yazoo parties. John Clark was then too 
 young and too little interested in these speculations 
 to be the leader of his party. He was, however, one 
 of its most efficient members. He backed Col. Willis 
 when he challenged Judge Taliaferro to fight a duel. 
 He belonged to the clique who put forward Van Al- 
 len to drive William H. Crawford from the bar. He 
 waylaid Judge Tait whilst he was travelling his circuit 
 in the discharge of his official duties, horsewhipped 
 him, and whipped his horse at the same time, so that 
 he could not jump from his carriage and defend him- 
 self, having a wooden leg. He committed this outra- 
 geous act of war upon society because an affidavit had 
 been taken before Judge Tait charging him with some 
 offence. He challenged Mr. Crawford because he was 
 the friend of Judge Tait. In the fight which followed 
 he shot Mr. Crawford through the wrist. Not satisfied 
 
 O 
 
 because he had not killed him, he sent another chal- 
 lenge, though they had had no quarrel. When Mr. 
 Crawford’s prospects for the presidency began to look 
 like success, he attempted to mar them by publishing a 
 defamatory pamphlet, which he circulated far and wide. 
 He felt that Mr. Crawford and his friends had thwart- 
 ed his ambitious designs, and never ceased struggling 
 for revenge. He was always in want of money ; ever 
 spending, and but seldom making. Upon the plea of 
 his public services, the Legislature relinquished five 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 203 
 
 thousand dollars due from him to tlie State for public 
 lands bought by him at much less than their real value. 
 He was jealous of the influence of Franklin College. 
 He felt the want of learning, and knew that the trus- 
 tees were beyond his control. Mr. Crawford was a 
 very influential trustee, and never failed attending the 
 board when he could. Athens was for a long time, 
 during the college commencements, the great assem- 
 bling place of the ambitious politicians of the State. 
 Gen. Clark could not therefore keep away, though 
 very few of the literati were of his party. In 1822 
 both he and William H. Crawford attended. He was 
 then Governor, and Mr. Crawford Secretary of the 
 Treasury. Dr. Waddell, the president of the college, 
 had been Mr. Crawford’s preceptor, and was very 
 proud of his scholar. In the procession of the college 
 officers, trustees, and students, through the campus to 
 their places in the chapel, Mr. Crawford, at the request 
 of the president, walked on his right hand and Gover- 
 nor Clark on his left. This appearance before the 
 great crowd assembled to witness the college exercises 
 in an inferior position to Mr. Crawford, made Clark, 
 harassed as he then was from other causes, feel as if 
 he would burst with rage. A vile practice was just 
 then in vogue of sending slanderous anonymous letters, 
 called buckets, to those whom the writers wished to 
 annoy. Soon after Gen. Clark arrived in Athens, his 
 known hostility to the college induced some of the 
 mischief-makers of the place to send him a number of 
 these buckets. Enraged at their contents, and sus- 
 pecting that their authors were college students, he 
 laid them before the Board of Trustees, with the re- 
 quest that the delinquents should be ferreted out and 
 punished. Mr. Crawford was present when the letters 
 
20t 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 were received, and called for their reading. He en- 
 joyed their satire greatly, and continued for a long 
 time after to repeat the expressions which were most 
 irritating to Clark. 
 
 Soon after I went to Lexington to reside, General 
 Clark and his daughter Nancy stopped at a public 
 house in the village. Miss Nancy was a charming 
 young lady. She and my youngest sister had been a 
 short time before at school together in Raleigh, where 
 I had met with her. Being then a bachelor, I went to 
 see her. Upon asking for Miss Clark, her father made 
 his appearance. After a few moments’ conversation, 
 he directed a servant to carry a candle to his room, 
 and asked me to follow him. Upon being seated, he 
 commenced talking about the introduction of negroes 
 from Africa into the State in violation of the laws, an 
 instance of which was then exciting public attention. 
 He charged Gen. Mitchel, the Creek Agent at Fort 
 Hawkins, with being concerned in the traffic. I told 
 him unhesitatingly that I had no doubt about the 
 impropriety of Mitchel’s conduct. Pleased that my 
 answer accorded so well with his wishes, he went on to 
 say that a man high in office at Washington City was 
 also implicated in the guilt, alluding very plainly to 
 Mr. Crawford. I answered that I did not believe it. 
 This prompt reply caused silence for a moment. Per- 
 ceiving that I had offended, I rose, bowed, and left the 
 room. It was the only tete-a-tete I ever had with 
 Gen. Clark. He never forgot it, and to do me what- 
 ever injury he could. 
 
 General John Scott was the special friend of Gen. 
 Clark. He found him one day in Milledgeville, pre- 
 paring himself, by getting drunk, for abusing or doing 
 some violence to his enemy, Gen. Mitchel, who was 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 205 
 
 then Governor of tire State. To prevent the execution 
 of his purpose, Gen. Scott endeavored to draw him 
 away by inviting him to dinner. Gen. Scott lived two 
 or three miles out of town. Clark insisted that he 
 should go on home, promising that he would follow 
 soon Scott, knowing that it would be useless to 
 attempt to control him, and that he would only incur 
 his displeasure by offering to do so, went home. He 
 delayed dinner until night. Apprehending that Clark 
 might have become so drunk as to have lost his way, 
 or suffered some other mishap, he went in search of 
 him, accompanied by many of his negroes, with torches. 
 He found him asleep upon a log which projected over 
 a precipice, where a turn the wrong way would have 
 precipitated him below, and probably killed him — the 
 recklessness of his temper and his desire to fight Mitchel 
 having put him into the humor to hunt for danger. 
 
 In the war of 1812 with Great Britain, Gen. Clark 
 wms appointed by Gov. Early to command the Georgia 
 militia. 
 
 After long seeking for high political distinction, he 
 was at last gratified by being elected Governor. The 
 people thought that the man who had fought for the 
 country in youth and in manhood, and whose father 
 had done capital service in securing the independence 
 of the States, was entitled to this evidence of their 
 gratitude. They, would have been undoubtedly right 
 if Gen. Clark had given sufficient proofs that he would 
 be the Governor of the State instead of the head of a 
 party. After being elected Governor twice, he was 
 defeated at the third election by Governor Troup. It 
 was the hardest and hottest battle ever fought by the 
 Georgia factions in their long war of words. Gen. 
 Clark was then an old man. Feeling that his connec- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 2 06 
 
 tion with public affairs was ended, there came over his 
 temper the most pleasant change ever experienced by 
 any one who had passed a long life in hot-headed 
 violence and evil-hearted hatred. With the exception 
 of William H. Crawford, he became friendly with all 
 the world. lie was in want of means to support the 
 elevation at which he had arrived. He and Gen. Jack- 
 son were born not far apart, had fought for their country 
 in youth in the same way, had belonged afterwards to 
 the same kind of rude frontier society, and were alike 
 fearless in tight and unrelenting in hostility. Gen. 
 Jackson, when President, showed his sympathy for 
 Gen. Clark, by appointing him keeper of the public 
 forests in Florida. The pay given by the Government 
 for his services afforded him a comfortable support in 
 his old age. He was hospitable and kind to every 
 body who went to his neighborhood in that new 
 country until his death. 
 
 General Clark’s faults proceeded from the vices of 
 the society to which he belonged in early life. His 
 virtues were his own. He was brave, firm, and patri- 
 otic. He married the daughter of Col. Micajah Wil- 
 liamson. Their only son died from the smallpox at 
 the house of their devoted friend Hr. Fort. Their only 
 daughter married Col. John Campbell. Mrs. Clark 
 was a worthy woman. One of her sisters married 
 John Griffin, a Virginia gentleman, a lawyer, and, for 
 a short time, a Judge of the Superior Courts. After his 
 death, his widow and Judge Tait indulged their old 
 age in a freak of fancy, to show the world what they 
 could do in reconciling the violence of the Clark and 
 Crawford factions by marrying. 
 
 Another of Mrs. Clark’s sisters married Peterson 
 Thweat ; one of whose daughters married Mr. Thacker 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 207 
 
 Howard, formerly Comptroller General of tlie State, a 
 most upright man and faithful public officer. Another 
 married Homer Howard, Secretary of the Executive 
 Department when Mr. Forsyth was Governor. Mr. 
 Peterson Thweat of Columbus is their brother. 
 
 Another sister of Mrs. Clark married Mr. Fitch, a 
 Yankee lawyer of some reputation. 
 
 Mrs, Clark’s youngest sister married Col. Duncan 
 G. Campbell. 
 
 DUNCAN G. CAMPBEFF. 
 
 Duncan G. Campbell was born in North Carolina, 
 and educated at Chapel Hill. His countrymen, the 
 Clarks, Dooleys, Waltons, and Murrays, were not his 
 kin. His father was a well-descended, respectable 
 Scotchman, who, contrary to the habits of his country- 
 men, contrived to throw away a large estate. His 
 descendants, though poor, contrived to show that they 
 were of gentle blood and quality raising. Duncan G. 
 Campbell, soon after his college graduation, removed 
 to Georgia, and settled in Washington, Wilks County. 
 His first employment was to teach the young ladies of 
 the town the elements of learning. Whilst thus occu- 
 pied, he devoted his spare time to the study of the 
 law, under the direction of Judge Griffin. After some 
 years’ attentive practice, he was elected Solicitor Gen- 
 eral of his circuit. He represented AVilks County 
 several times in the Legislature. He married Miss 
 Williamson, the sister of Mrs. John Clark, and was 
 from necessity a Clark man in politics. He w r as the 
 most influential of all the followers of his chief, the 
 most talented excepting Judge Dooly, and would have 
 
208 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 succeeded to John Clark’s party position had he lived 
 a few years longer. 
 
 Colonel Campbell and Major Meriwether were, in 
 1824, appointed to treat with the Indians of Georgia 
 for cession of their occupant rights. In 1825 they 
 made the treaty wdth the Creek Indians, which be- 
 came the subject of much altercation in Congress and 
 violent opposition on the part of the Northern people. 
 The pretence for sympathy for the Indians was, that 
 the Commissioners had done great wrong to them by 
 making presents to their chiefs. Its true object was, 
 to prevent the acquisition of territory and increase of 
 the population of the Southern States. Presents had 
 always been given to the Indians by the authorities of 
 Great Britain, the Colonies, and the States, when trea- 
 ties were made with them. Col. Campbell lived long 
 enough to feel most painfully the slanderous abuse 
 with which he was assailed, and died before he reaped 
 the rewards of public favor for the great services 
 which he rendered the State. He was a member of 
 the Board of Trustees of Franklin College for many 
 years, and took great interest in its advancement, and 
 the success of every measure designed to promote the 
 cause of education throughout the State. He died in 
 1828, in the prime of life. 
 
 Col. Campbell had none of the rowdy habits of the 
 North Carolina Wilks settlers. He avoided violence, 
 and was courteous and kind to every body. Though 
 his talents were not of the highest order, nor his pub- 
 lic speaking what could be called eloquent, he was 
 among the most successful lawyers at the bar, and use- 
 ful members of the Legislature. He was very indus- 
 trious, and ever ready to do the part of a good citizen. 
 The amenity of his temper was constantly shown, in 
 the delight which he derived from pleasing the young. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 209 
 
 His house continued, as long as he lived, to be one 
 of their favorite resorts. 
 
 Col. Campbell’s son, John, gave early proofs of the 
 extraordinary acumen, which has since made him the 
 great lawyer of the South. Whilst he was a student 
 of Franklin College, his father visited Athens, and was 
 invited to attend a meeting of the Demosthenian 
 Society, of which both father and son were members. 
 Col. Campbell held forth by request, upon the topic of 
 debate. When he was done speaking, John asked 
 leave to answer the gentleman, and so knocked all his 
 father’s conclusions into non sequiturs, that it was 
 difficult to tell which had the uppermost in the father’s 
 feelings, mortified vanity, or gratified pride. John 
 Campbell has lately been appointed an Associate Judge 
 of the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest 
 honor, except that of Chief Justice, which can be con- 
 ferred by the government upon a lawyer. All who 
 know him concur in the opinion that the office will be 
 well filled. 
 
 Col. Campbell’s daughter, Sarah, was remarkable 
 in early childhood for intellectual precocity, and in 
 womanhood for superior attainments. She married 
 Daniel Chandler, one of the handsomest and very 
 cleverest young men of Georgia. He removed to Ala- 
 bama, where he has long practised law with distin- 
 guished success. 
 
 JUDGE DOOLY. 
 
 Johx Murry Dooly was the intellectual superior 
 of the North Carolina whig settlers. His capacity 
 was sufficient for any attainment, if it had been pro- 
 14 
 
210 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 perly directed, and actively employed. Unfortunately 
 for himself, and for society, he was, when young, under 
 the constant influence of idle, drunken, gambling asso- 
 ciates. Though his estate was large, his education was 
 neglected. His scholastic knowledge was limited to 
 what he learned from the common schoolmasters of 
 his time. His person was erect, and of proper propor- 
 tions. His features were of the finest cast. His large 
 protruding black eyes indicated to every one who 
 looked into them his extraordinary genius. He was a 
 lawyer, and would have been the most successful at 
 the Georgia bar, if his habits had corresponded with 
 his talents. He was born, continued to live, and died 
 within the limits of Lincoln County. Its people were 
 always gratified when they could make him their 
 representative. He was a member of the Legislature 
 during the embargo and restrictive measures of the 
 General Government, and the war with Great Britain, 
 and successfully advocated the alleviating, thirding, 
 and stop laws then passed. His wit, keen satire, quick 
 perception, and extraordinary speaking capacity, were 
 never surpassed by any one in Georgia. Mr. Forsyth 
 was his only countryman who equalled him in polemic 
 party debate. They were never pitted against each 
 other, so that their debating powers could be com- 
 pared. 
 
 Judge Dooly was the neighbor and political fol- 
 lower of John Clark. Being destitute of the quality 
 which the Romans called virtue, he could not avoid 
 doing as his leader directed. John Clark ruled him 
 to his purposes, as long as they belonged to the same 
 community, through his determined will. His party, 
 when in power, made him judge. He had only occa- 
 sionally looked into the laws, as an advocate, in pre- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 211 
 
 paring cases for trial ; and yet, when causes came before 
 him, and were discussed by able counsel, his clear 
 perception and discriminating judgment enabled him 
 to comprehend the merits of the most intricate, and to 
 decide accordingly. His deficiency in the discharge of 
 his duty as a judge, proceeded from the control which 
 his early habits of drinking and gambling continued to 
 have over him. More than once after delivering a 
 strong charge against gambling to the Grand Jury at 
 ihe opening of the court, he went to the faro table at 
 night, and by his bold, hazardous playing, sent the 
 gamblers oft’ for the want of money, who had continued 
 to play in -defiance of his judicial authority. He 
 never went upon the bench drunk, but his red eyes 
 and trembling hands sometimes showed that he 
 had been in his cups the night before. Dissipation 
 and degrading practices prevented his seeking the 
 societv of ladies. His taste was never so refined as to 
 reform his low indulgences. He was advanced in life, 
 when he married a young woman, who knew him well, 
 and was satisfied with him as he was. He was kind, 
 and would have been good-tempered, but for the per- 
 petual excitement of whiskey. His agreeable social 
 qualities would have made him the delight of the best 
 society, if his vicious inclinations had not carried him 
 elsewhere. Nobody ever conversed with him or heard 
 him speak, who did not admire him, and regret that 
 his unfortunate fate had subjected him to temptations 
 too strong to overcome. He had the organization and 
 endowments of the greatest man of his age and coun- 
 try. As he was, he only played second fiddle to one of 
 the most ignorant and lawless. 
 
212 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 AUSTIN DABNEY. 
 
 Many years before the revolutionary war, a Vir- 
 ginia gentleman of the old school resided upon his 
 plantation not many miles from Richmond. He was a 
 bachelor of long standing, who indulged in card-play- 
 ing, drinking, horse-racing, and other dissolute prac- 
 tices. His wealth consisted in a large landed estate, 
 and many negroes. No white person lived with him, 
 except a little girl, whose parentage was unknown. 
 When the bachelor gentleman left home upon his 
 frolics, this little girl remained under the care of a 
 negro mammy. She grew up until she ceased to be a 
 child, knowing scarcely any one except the bachelor, 
 and the negroes of his household. Suddenly and 
 secretly the old gentleman left his plantation, taking 
 her with him. He went to North Carolina, where he 
 remained some time with a man by the name of 
 Aycock. Aycock afterwards removed to Georgia, 
 along with the emigrants from North Carolina, who 
 first settled Wilks County, carrying with him a mulatto 
 boy. 
 
 When the contest between the wings and tories 
 became a struggle for the lives and liberty of all who 
 favored the cause of freedom, Aycock was called upon 
 to do his part in defending his fireside. From the 
 time when he was required to fight, he saw a terrible 
 tory constantly pointing a loaded gun at him. Fear- 
 ing to face the danger, he offered as a substitute his 
 mulatto boy, then transformed into a stout lad. He 
 had previously passed as his slave. He acknowledged 
 that he was not, when he found that he would not 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 213 
 
 otherwise be received as a soldier. The mulatto was 
 accordingly enrolled in a captain’s company, by the 
 name of Austin Dabney. No soldier under Clark was 
 braver, or did better service during the revolutionary 
 struggle. In the battle of Kettle Creek, the hardest 
 ever fought in Georgia between the whigs and tories, 
 Austin Dabney was shot down, and left on the battle 
 ground very dangerously wounded. He was found, 
 carried home, and cared for, by a man of the name of 
 Harris. It was long before Austin Dabney recovered. 
 Gratitude for the kindness which he had received be- 
 came the ruling feeling of his heart. He worked for 
 Harris and his children, and served them more faith- 
 fully and efficiently than any slave ever served a 
 master. He moved with them from Wilks County to 
 Madison, soon after the latter county was organized. 
 He sent his benefactor’s oldest son to school, and after- 
 wards to college, by the hard earnings of his own 
 hands. He lived upon the poorest food, and wore old 
 patched clothes, that he might make young Harris a 
 gentleman. When his protege left Franklin College, 
 Austin Dabney placed him in the office of Stephen 
 Upson, then at the head of the legal profession in 
 Upper Georgia. When he was examined at the 
 Superior Court of Oglethorpe County, took the oath 
 for admission to the bar, and received the fraternal 
 shake of the hand from the members of the profession, 
 Austin Dabney was standing outside, leaning on the 
 railing which inclosed the court, two currents of tears 
 trickling down his mulatto face, from remembrance of 
 the kindness which he had received, and thankfulness 
 for the power which had been given him to do some- 
 thing in return. 
 
 Stephen Upson w r as a member of the Legislature 
 
214 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 when the surveys of public land, which were too small 
 to be drawn for in the lottery of 1819, were disposed 
 of by law. Austin Dabney had not been permitted to 
 have a chance in the lottery with the other soldiers of 
 the revolutionary war. Stephen Upson used his con- 
 trolling influence' in the Legislature to procure the pas- 
 sage of a law giving to Austin Dabney a valuable frac- 
 tion. One of the members from Madison County voted 
 for the law. At the next election, his constituents were 
 excited into the hottest party contest by this conduct 
 of their representative. They said that it was an in- 
 dignity to white men, for a mulatto to be put upon an 
 equality with them in the distribution of the public 
 land, though not one had done such lorn? and useful 
 public service. 
 
 The United States Government allowed Austin 
 Dabney a pension, on account of his thigh, which was 
 broken at the battle of Kettle Creek. He went once a 
 year to Savannah to draw what was due him. On one 
 occasion he travelled thither with Col. Wiley Pope. 
 They were very intimate and social on the road, and 
 until they entered the streets of Savannah. As they 
 were passing along through the city, Colonel Pope ob- 
 served to Austin Dabney, that he was a sensible man, 
 and knew the prejudices which forbade his associating 
 with him in city society. Austin Dabney checked his 
 horse, and fell in the rear, after the fashion of mulatto 
 servants following their masters. They passed by the 
 house of Gen. James Jackson, then Governor of the 
 State. He was standing in his door at the time. Col. 
 Pope passed on without notice. Recognizing Austin 
 Dabney, he ran into the street, seized him by the hand, 
 drew him from his horse, and carried him into his 
 house, where he continued his guest whilst business 
 kept him in Savannah. 
 
FIBST SETTLEES OF UPPEE GEOEGIA. 
 
 215 
 
 It was very strange that Austin Dabney, who never 
 knew- bis grandfather, should have inherited the taste 
 of the Virginia gentlemen for horse-racing. He owned 
 fine horses, attended the race-course, entered the list for 
 the stake, and betted with all the eagerness of a profes- 
 sional sportsman. 
 
 It was Austin Dabney’s custom to be at the tavern 
 when Judge Dooly arrived at Daniels ville to hold 
 Madison Court. He held the judge’s horse until he 
 got from his carriage, and then held his hand most 
 affectionately. The judge’s father had died in the 
 whig cause. Austin was always an adherent of the 
 son, without regard to party politics. In the evening 
 after the adjournment of court, he usually went into 
 the room occupied by the judge and the lawyers, where, 
 taking a low seat, he listened to what was said, or him- 
 self told of the stirring incidents of the struggle be- 
 tween the whigs and tories in Upper Georgia and 
 South Carolina. His memory was retentive, his under- 
 standing good, and he described what he knew -well. 
 
 Harris, Austin Dabney’s protege moved away from 
 Madison County. Austin Dabney went with him, and 
 continued to give him his devoted personal services and 
 his property as long as he lived. 
 
 FELIX GILBERT. 
 
 Felix Gilbert was a Scotchman, and, like most of 
 his countrymen who emigrated to the colonies, followed 
 trading in preference to agriculture. He married Miss 
 Grant, the daughter of Peter Grant, whose second wife 
 
216 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 was my great grandmother Strother. He lived among 
 the Strothers in Spotsylvania, for some time, and then 
 removed into the Shenandoah Valley, and settled at 
 the foot of the Peaked Mountain. His trade was in a 
 very small way until he went to London, and returned 
 with a large stock of goods. A story got into circula- 
 tion, accounting for this favorable change in the fortune 
 of Felix Gilbert, which is still occasionally heard about 
 the Peaked Mountain. The Dutch and Irish of the 
 valley have so great love for the wonderful, that it is 
 impossible now to ascertain what foundation in truth 
 there was for it. They say that Felix Gilbert saw, of a 
 dark night, high upon the Peaked Mountain, soon after 
 he settled near by, a bright sparkling object. His 
 Scotch incpiisitiveness forced him to try and find out 
 what it was. His superstitious dread of what was 
 mysterious, induced him to take a companion with him 
 when he went in search. He found a diamond, or 
 some other precious stone, embedded in a rock so large 
 that the two could not cany it away. They turned it 
 over to conceal the jewel. When the two afterwards 
 hunted for the rock, there were such vast numbers on 
 the mountain side like it, that they did not discover it. 
 The sum derived from the sale to the King of England, 
 or some nobleman in London, of what was found in the 
 rock which was so bright at night, made, according to 
 gossip, the great change for the better in the mercan- 
 tile business of Felix Gilbert. 
 
 The Peaked Mountain is a few miles from my 
 grandfathers’, Peachy Ik Gilmer and Thomas Lewis. 
 The young Gilberts, Lewises, and Gilmers, called each 
 other cousin, and the old people uncle and aunt. They 
 lived in the most intimate social way — meeting together 
 very often — dancing and frolicking with the unrestrain- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 217 
 
 eel freedom of the days before quality airs superseded 
 simple doings, and money-making idle jollity. 
 
 When the revolutionary war was over, and the 
 people became restless for want of excitement, many of 
 the Virginians sought to better their condition by emi- 
 grating to Georgia. Felix Gilbert followed the move- 
 ment, and settled in Wilks, a few miles northeast of 
 Washington. Though my father and mother loved 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert and their children as kinspeople, 
 the distance from Broad River to their residence was 
 too great to admit of much intercourse in those hard- 
 working times. The oldest daughter of Mr. Gilbert 
 married Henry Gibson. She and my mother were 
 very intimate friends when young. They did not meet 
 for twenty years. I was present when they did, and 
 saw the exciting embrace which hastened Mrs. Gibson’s 
 death, then declining with pulmonary consumption. 
 
 Ann Gilbert, the second daughter, married John 
 Taylor, of the family of President Taylor. He showed 
 the relationship by his bluntness and obdurate obsti- 
 nacy. He was a democrat, and called every one a fool 
 who did not believe in Mr. Jefferson. He told the 
 truth so roughly, that many would have preferred a 
 little palaver to his way of talking. My father and his 
 brother George were democrats, and early friends of 
 John Taylor. He never failed to visit them when he 
 went near enough. Mrs. Taylor was as agreeable and 
 conciliatory as her husband was short and huffy. Their 
 last residence was on the side of the southwest moun- 
 tains in the County of Orange, Virginia, and immedi- 
 ately opposite to the eminence on the side of which Mr. 
 Richard Taliaferro lived, who married my father’s 
 youngest sister. 
 
 John, the oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, married 
 
218 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Miss Foote, of the family of the interminable talking 
 member of Congress. He removed from Virginia to 
 'Western Alabama. 
 
 Gilbert, their second son, was a Methodist preacher, 
 and resided somewhere in Tennessee. 
 
 William, the third son, married Miss Booker, of 
 Wilks County, and moved to the Far West. 
 
 Elizabeth, Mrs. Gilbert’s third daughter, married 
 Gilbert Ilay, a physician of reputation, who resided in 
 the town of Washington, Wilks County, and practised 
 his profession there most of his life, and until his death. 
 He belonged to the Clark faction, and was second to 
 General Clark in his duel with William H. Crawford. 
 Mrs. Hay was a very worthy, sensible woman. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Hay had two sons and two daughters. Their 
 sons were gentlemen of talents and respectability. 
 Nancy, their oldest daughter, married Richard Long, 
 Esq., the oldest son of Col. Nicholas Long. She was a 
 very amiable woman. Her patience and fortitude un- 
 der suffering was put to the severest test, by years of 
 suffering from a cancer, which killed her. Maria, the 
 youngest daughter, married Joseph Worsham, a rela- 
 tive of Mrs. Hope Hull and Mrs. David Meriwether. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert’s daughter Maria married Mr. 
 Christmas, and, after his death, Andrew Shepherd, of 
 Wilks, a very respectable and wealthy Virginia planter. 
 They had one daughter, a beautiful young lady, who 
 passed a winter in Washington City with Dr. Laurie, 
 her uncle, mixed freely with the gay throng there, and 
 forced the conviction oh many bachelors and widowers, 
 that Southern beauties are very attractive. She mar- 
 ried the son of General Winder of Maryland. 
 
 Andrew Shepherd, after the death of his first wife, 
 married Miss Hillhouse, the sister of Mrs. Felix Gilbert. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 219 
 
 They liacl several children. Their three daughters, 
 Mrs. Weems, Mrs. Baker, and Mrs. Hansel, are our spe- 
 cial friends. 
 
 Andrew Shepherd showed the feelings of clanship 
 which united our families, by making me executor of 
 his will when he died, though I was then unmarried, 
 and did not live near him. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert had two sons. William, the 
 oldest by many years, was gay, good-looking, and 
 thoughtless. He was a merchant. The goods and the 
 money went in every way but accumulation, until he be- 
 came the copartner of his brother Felix. After the 
 death of his brother, his easy yielding temper induced 
 him to lend the use of his credit to two or three specu- 
 lating nephews, by whom he lost most of his great es- 
 tate. What was left, depended for its value upon the 
 uncertain issue of a lawsuit in Elbert Superior Court. 
 Col. Campbell and myself were his lawyers ; the cause 
 came on for trial, and the parties announced themselves 
 ready. Immediately after, Col. Campbell was sent for 
 to see a dying child, so that the management of the 
 case depended entirely upon me. Both the law and 
 the facts, which controlled the decision, were so doubt- 
 ful, that the result depended upon the manner in which 
 the jury might be influenced by the argument and 
 showing of the advocate. When Col. Campbell left, 
 Mr. Gilbert became pale and trembling, and willing to 
 compromise his rights for half the amount which he 
 claimed. I had great regard for him, and knew that 
 the loss of the suit would leave him dependent upon 
 others for his support in after life. My excitement be- 
 came intense. As I went on in the investigation and 
 pleadings, my confidence increased. I stood firm upon 
 my feet. My voice became strong and clear ; and my 
 
220 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 mincl without doubt as to the law and the facts. I had 
 been familiar with the Elbert people from my youth, 
 and addressed them with the freedom of friends. I 
 succeeded. 
 
 Felix Gilbert, the youngest brother, was one of the 
 cleverest men of Georgia. To great energy, industry, 
 and perfect integrity, he united vigorous intellect, en- 
 larged patriotism, benevolent temper, and high social 
 qualities. He was unrivalled in reputation among the 
 merchants of the upper country. He was a member of 
 the Legislature, and showed by the influence which he 
 exercised that his talents for politics were equal to his 
 knowledge of commerce. He died in the prime of life 
 with the constitutional disease of his family. 
 
 Felix Gilbert married Miss Hillhouse, the daughter 
 of David Hillhouse, and niece of James Hillhouse, the 
 great Senator of Connecticut. When Felix Gilbert 
 courted Miss Hillhouse, her father was dead. She re- 
 ferred him to Mr. James Hillhouse. He visited the 
 stern old puritan, in New Haven, and was questioned 
 very minutely and authoritatively about his ability to 
 take care of a wife, before the consent was given. Mr. 
 Gilbert only lived a few years. 
 
 I was Mr. Gilbert’s nurse one night, a few weeks 
 before his death. Whilst I was sitting by his bedside, 
 his daughter Sarah, his only child, then a little girl, 
 seven or eight years old, came into his chamber. 'When 
 she left the room, he told me that it would be a great re- 
 lief to his anxiety about her future fate, if he could know 
 that I was to be her husband. When I left him the 
 next morning, he called Sarah to him, and told her 
 that he wished her when she was old enough to marry 
 me. Sarah supposing that she was obliged to do what 
 her father enjoined upon her, cried herself to sleep the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 221 
 
 night after, because the man whom she was to marry 
 was so ugly. 
 
 Sarah Gilbert was intrusted by her father’s will to 
 her grandmother, Mrs. David Hillhouse, a very sensible, 
 well-informed, precise old lady, who had been left a 
 widow without property, and by her own exertions 
 sustained and educated a family of children in the very 
 best way. She had showed her independent spirit, and 
 strength of understanding, by the manner in which she 
 had edited the first newspaper published in the section 
 of the State in which she lived. The trust confided to 
 her by her son-in-law she discharged in the most faith- 
 ful and useful way. When Sarah became Miss Gilbert, 
 she travelled with her for her pleasure and information 
 to many cities and through several States. They 
 visited the Peaked Mountain, in Rockingham, Virginia, 
 the birth-place of Sarah’s father, and Major Grattan’s 
 residence, whose wife was a particular friend of his 
 family. Their son Peachy, a youth of sixteen, was 
 reduced to the poetical state by his love for the young 
 lady. Miss Gilbert’s education was perfected by passing 
 some time with her intellectual and highly cultivated 
 relations in New Haven, and the neighborhood. Mr. 
 Adam Alexander was then going through college. He 
 was the handsomest youth of his class, intelligent and 
 courteous, and like Miss Gilbert, a native Georgian. 
 The young gentleman had not in the three years he had 
 been in Yale, seen any one so beautiful and accomplished 
 as his countrywoman. He made their admiration mu- 
 tual, by the pleasing manner in which he pressed his 
 admiration upon her. They became more and more 
 attached to each other, until they felt that life would 
 be a lifeless life unless spent together. 
 
 I saw Miss Gilbert for the first time after girlhood 
 
222 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 at the Madison Springs, Avitli her uncle, Mr. William 
 Gilbert, and Mr. Alexander. I was then most happily 
 married, and very much gratified that the trust which 
 her father wished might be mine, was about to be 
 placed upon one so worthy of it. They were soon after 
 married. Mr. Alexander is now as distinguished for 
 his good understanding, cultivated taste, and excellent 
 character, as he was when a collegiate for his fine person 
 and regular features. He has done what few Southern 
 men possessed of great riches in early life ever did be- 
 fore, devote his time constantly and industriously to 
 laborious and useful employment. He was for a long 
 time cashier of the branch of the State bank at Wash- 
 ington. He has directed very attentively the manage- 
 ment of the large plantation on which he resides. He 
 has constantly either instructed or superintended the 
 education of his numerous family of children. He 
 founded, and has been the principal patron and director 
 of one of the best literary institutions of the State. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Alexander, their sons, and daughters, are 
 among our best friends. They have always visited us, 
 and treated us as their near kinsfolk. Distant as the 
 relationship is between Mrs. Alexander and my wife, 
 they are in some particulars singularly alike. Mrs. 
 Alexander is many years younger than my wife. Mr. 
 Alexander appreciates her beauty very highly, and was 
 a little slow in acknowledging the resemblance. It was 
 forced upon him in the most convincing way. We 
 visited him when Mrs. Alexander happened to be from 
 home. The nurse brought the youngest child to my 
 wife. The little one with joy put its arms around her 
 neck, and kissed her for its mother. 
 
 Their three oldest daughters are very happily mar- 
 ried to gentlemen of great respectability. The prettiest 
 and wealthiest is still unmarried. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 223 
 
 "William Felix, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander’s oldest son, 
 was educated at Yale College. He lias succeeded his 
 father in the casliiership of the bank at Washington. 
 He is married to the oldest daughter of the Honorable 
 Robert Toombs, whom he has loved and claimed for 
 his wife from early boyhood. It is a delightful sight 
 to see two young people after marriage making it their 
 controlling purpose to make each other happy. That 
 pleasure is enjoyed by the friends of Felix and Louisa 
 Alexander. 
 
 The Saxon Scotch emigrated in such numbers to 
 the fine country in the north of Ireland, during the 
 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as to form a dis- 
 tinct race from the native Celts. Their women were 
 the prettiest in person, and purest in character, of Eu- 
 ropean ladies ; and their men were equally distinguished 
 for enterprise, intellectual capacity, and love of liberty. 
 The inferior station assigned by the British government 
 to Irishmen in the public service, induced most of those 
 who could to emigrate to the American Colonies. In 
 the early part of the eighteenth century, several Scotch- 
 Irish Presbyterian congregations settled the fertile 
 territory in North Carolina, between the Catawba and 
 Yadkin Rivers. The arbitrary dominion of Great 
 Britain followed the emigrants to their new homes. 
 They were forbid to take the evidence of any existing 
 debt in the form of a promissory note, or buy a pound 
 of tea without first paying the government for the pri- 
 vilege. A large British army crossed the Atlantic to 
 compel them, and others like them, to do what they 
 
221 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 would not voluntarily. The colonists were obliged to 
 choose between submission and resistance. The rumors 
 about the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill so ex- 
 cited the Scotch-Irisk of Mecklenburg, that on the 10th 
 of May, 1775, they assembled in the little village of 
 Charlotte, to agree what they would do. They made 
 the following declaration of their opinions and pur- 
 poses : — 
 
 THE MECKLENBURG DECLARATION. 
 
 “ Resolved 1st. That -whosoever directly or indirectly abetted, 
 or in any way, form, or manner, countenanced the unchartered 
 and dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great 
 Britain, is an enemy to this country, to America, and to the in- 
 herent and unalienable rights of man. 
 
 <! Resolved 2d. That we, the citizens of Mecklenburg County, 
 do hereby dissolve the political bonds which have connected us 
 with the Mother Country, and hereby absolve ourselves from all 
 allegiance to the British Crown, and abjure all political connec- 
 tion, contract, or association with that nation, who have wantonly 
 trampled on our rights and liberties, and inhumanly shed the 
 blood of American Patriots at Lexington. 
 
 “ Resolved 3 d. That we do hereby declare ourselves a free 
 and independent people ; are, and of right ought to be f a sove- 
 reign and self-governing association, under the control of no power 
 other than that of our God, and the General Government of the 
 Congress : to the maintenance of which independence, we solemn- 
 ly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, our lives, our 
 fortunes, and our most sacred honor. 
 
 “ Resolved 1th. That, as we acknowledge the existence and 
 control of no law, nor legal office, civil or military, within this 
 county, we do hereby ordain and adopt as a rule of life, all, each, 
 and every of our former laws ; wherein, nevertheless, the Crown 
 of Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privi- 
 leges, immunities, or authority therein. 
 
 “ Resolved 5th. That it is further decreed, that all, each, and 
 every military officer in this county is hereby retained in his for- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 225 
 
 mer command and authority, he acting conformably to these 
 regulations. And that every member present of this delegation 
 shall henceforth be a civil officer, viz. : a justice of the peace, in 
 the character of a committee-man, to issue process, hear and de- 
 termine all matters of controversy, according to said adopted 
 laws ; and to preserve peace, union, and harmony in said county ; 
 and to use every exertion to spread the love of country and fire 
 of freedom throughout America, until a general organized gov- 
 ernment he established in this province.” 
 
 A voice from tlie crowd called out for “ three 
 cheers,” and the whole company shouted three times, 
 and threw their hats in the air. 
 
 The resolutions were read again and again during 
 the day to different companies, desirous of retaining in 
 their memories sentiments so congenial to their feelings. 
 There are still living some whose parents were in that 
 assembly, and heard and read the resolutions ; and from 
 whose lips they heard the circumstances and sentiments 
 of this remarkable declaration. 
 
 When the chairman of the meeting put the ques- 
 tion, “ Who will carry our resolves to the Congress of 
 the Confederation,” James Jack, a bold, enthusiastic 
 man, answered, “ I will.” Immediately after, a lone 
 horseman might have been seen, with intent look, 
 pressing his horse on through the country towards the 
 north. When James Jack arrived in Philadelphia, he 
 attended the Congress, and delivered his message to 
 some of its members. That body took no notice of it 
 in its proceedings. The majority were not then pre- 
 pared to jeopard their lives and property by doing 
 what was treasonable. Whilst the Declaration of In- 
 dependence, uj^de by the Congress of the Confedera- 
 tion, on the 4th of July, 1716, has been upon the lips 
 of every American, upon every return of its anniversary, 
 15 
 
226 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 the Declaration of Independence, made more, than a 
 year before by the Mecklenburg people, remained for 
 a long time unknown to fame. The fact that such a 
 declaration had been made, was unnoticed in history, 
 unknown to the public, and denied when asserted, until 
 placed beyond dispute by the production of two copies, 
 which had continued in the possession of the descend- 
 ants of persons present when it was made ; and by the 
 finding of a copy, which was sent to his government by 
 some British officer in the Southern Colonies, and de- 
 posited in the colonial office of London. 
 
 When liberty triumphed, James Jack removed from 
 North Carolina to Georgia, and after a while to Wilks, 
 and from thence to Elbert County, near Broad River. 
 
 When James Jack offered to be the bearer to Con- 
 gress of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, 
 Francis Cummings, his neighbor and friend, was stand- 
 ing by, full of the spirit which prompted Jack to act. 
 He was the finest specimen of manly person, noble 
 head, and impressive features, in the crowd of fine- 
 looking Scotch-Irishmen there. For fifty years after- 
 wards, Francis Cummings might have been seen on the 
 walls of Zion, and his clarion voice heard proclaiming 
 liberty to the children of Adam enchained in sin, who 
 would fight the good fight of faith in the form pre- 
 scribed by the Presbyterian Church. 
 
 Francis Cummings followed his friend Jack to 
 Wilks County. His last residence and preaching-place 
 was Greensborough. 
 
 William Jack, the son of the ever-to-be-remembered 
 James Jack, married the oldest daughter of Dr. Francis 
 Cummings. He was for a long time a merchant in 
 Augusta, of the firm of Jack & Ennis. No trader of 
 that town was ever so confided in by the Broad River 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 227 
 
 people as William Jack. When lie quit business, be 
 settled among them, on the Elbert side of Broad River. 
 
 Patrick Jack, the second son of James Jack, was a 
 small, active, well-formed man, of good temper, sweet 
 insinuating voice, and full of frolic and fun. When he 
 married Miss Spencer, the niece of Mrs. Micajah Mc- 
 Gehee, he quitted idle, dissipated ways, settled on the 
 Elbert side of Broad River, and joined the Methodists 
 during the great religious excitement of 1809-10. He 
 Avas appointed Colonel of the 8th Regiment during the 
 war of 1812. His addictedness to prayer, and the sav- 
 ing of his pay, did not prove the best qualities for en- 
 forcing discipline. The 8th Infantry was remarkable 
 for the dissolute habits of its officers, and the disorder- 
 ly conduct of the soldiers. 
 
 Leroy M. Wiley, of New York, reputed to be one 
 of the richest men in the world, is a nephew of James 
 Jack. 
 
 Alexander Bowie, formerly Chancellor of Alabama, 
 married James Jack’s niece. 
 
 As James Jack was a North Carolinian by birth, 
 and one of the emigrants to Wilks, he is placed among 
 the North Carolina settlers, though his residence and 
 death was among the Broad River Virginia people. 
 
 COLONEL NICHOLAS LONG. 
 
 Though Nicholas Long was too young to render 
 any very important service to the cause of liberty 
 during the revolutionary war, he was old enough to 
 
228 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 show, by his whig enthusiasm, what he would have 
 done had he been older. When he arrived at man- 
 hood, his tall, well-formed person, expressive features, 
 polished, courteous manners, kind temper, cultivated 
 taste, and good understanding, made him the most 
 admired gentleman of his day. It is indeed singular 
 that the most accomplished man of the southern country 
 should have been born and educated in North Carolina, 
 and have chosen for his residence in after-life the 
 frontiers of Georgia. He married a fine lady in that 
 part of North Carolina which is near enough to the 
 border for the people to call themselves Virginians. 
 He settled immediately afterwards in Wilks County, 
 Georgia. The professions of the law, medicine, and 
 the pulpit, monopolized, in early times, in Georgia, the 
 very small number of the educated. It is not now 
 known why Nicholas Long, having, as he did, an un- 
 usual share of learning, and capacity for influencing 
 others, was not a lawyer. It is probable that his 
 temper urged him to action in preference to the law- 
 yer’s office. He planted, surveyed, and speculated in 
 land, and acquired more wealth than those who sought 
 success by professional practice. He resided in sight 
 and within a short walk of the town of Washington. 
 His house, and the grounds about it, were in better 
 style than those elsewhere in any part of the upper 
 country. His employments led him into connection 
 with the companies who purchased millions of acres of 
 the State of Georgia in 1795. The conduct of some 
 of the agents of those companies made every body who 
 belonged to them so unpopular, that Col. Long never 
 had any high public office dependent upon the voice 
 of the people. His known gallantry and intelligence 
 induced the Government of the United States to 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 22 ) 
 
 appoint' him Colonel of the 43cl Regiment of Infantry 
 in the war of 1812. When the law passed for raising 
 and organizing that regiment, the materials out of 
 which the regular army was formed had been already 
 so used up, that soldiers could only be found for a few 
 companies, squads and detachments, wdiich were never 
 in the field, nor Col. Long in full command. 
 
 Mrs. Long died of pulmonary consumption. Col. 
 Long’s tall, spare person, and uarrow chest, could not 
 resist the destructive tendency of the feverish influence 
 of the wdfe whom he loved. Some time after her 
 death, his own health began to decline. I had been a 
 first lieutenant of one of the companies of the 43d, and 
 greatly indebted to Col. Long for his constant courtesy 
 and kindness. My own health was then very bad. 
 He invited me to be his companion in a visit to some 
 of the southern Atlantic islands. Circumstances which 
 I could not control prevented my going with him. 
 Consumption had too strong hold upon his lungs to be 
 loosened by climate or place. He died soon after his 
 return home. 
 
 Margaret, Col. Long’s oldest daughter, was educated 
 at Bethlehem, in Pennsylvania, then considered by the 
 people of the South, the highest quality school for 
 young ladies. When Miss Loug returned to Washing- 
 ton, her finished education and family distinction made 
 acquaintance with her the most certain means of 
 favorable admittance into fashionable society. Two 
 young gentlemen, whose aspirations were most ardent 
 to head the beau monde, sought that distinction, by 
 going through the forms of a challenge to fight a duel, 
 upon the pretence of some exceptionable incident in 
 the attentions of one or the other to Miss Long. She 
 married Mr. Thomas Telfair, the son of Governor Tel- 
 
230 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 fair, who was afterwards a member of Congress. Mr- 
 Telfair is now dead. Mrs. Telfair is a most amiable, 
 benevolent lady. She continues to live in Savannah, 
 the place of her husband’s birth, residence, and death. 
 
 Richard, Col. Long’s oldest son, had all the advan- 
 tages which education at the best literary institutions 
 could give him. He married Miss Hay, a most estima- 
 ble young lady, the daughter of Hr. Hay, and niece of 
 Mr. Felix Gilbert. He practised law for a while, and 
 represented at one time the people of the County of 
 Wilks in the Legislature. He moved to Florida, where 
 he and his wife died soon after. 
 
 Sarah Rebekah, Col. Long’s second daughter, was a 
 sensible, well educated young lady. She married Mr. 
 James Rembert, a respectable gentleman, who was more 
 than once a member of the Georgia Legislature. He 
 moved to the West. He is now dead. Mrs. Rembert 
 resides in or near the City of Memphis. 
 
 Eliza, Col. Long’s third daughter, married Mr. 
 
 Dubose. She is dead. 
 
 Eugenia, the fourth daughter, married Mr. Lock 
 Weems. Both are dead. 
 
 John, Col. Long’s youngest son, is a wealthy, 
 hospitable gentleman. His residence is in Washington 
 County. 
 
PART III. 
 
 GEORGE R. GILMER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I was born the 11th of April, 1190, on the south side 
 of Broad River, about a mile and a half above the 
 Fish Dam Ford, in that part of Wilks which is now 
 Oglethorpe County. I have often been a candidate 
 for public office during great party excitement, without 
 obtaining any favor for being a native Georgian. I 
 was believed to be a Virginian, as all my immediate an- 
 cestors had been. 
 
 The first distinct recollection which I have of my- 
 self, was my confinement in bed, by an attack of 
 bilious fever, and slow recovery. I was occasionally 
 allowed a grown negro woman for my nurse, who was 
 very kindly disposed. She amused me with handfuls 
 of buckeye seed. I was pleased with their variegated 
 colors, and first learned to- count with them. Grown 
 people were usually too busy then providing subsist- 
 
232 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 ence, or otherwise bettering their condition, to attend 
 to children. My knowledge of numbers extended, and 
 my counting abilities made quite a noise in the family 
 circle. When company came to my father’s, I was 
 called up, to add and multiply. 
 
 When I was a child, puddings, pies, and sweet- 
 meats were great rarities, and only seen at the tables * 
 of our people when visited by select company. I can 
 recollect my great impatience, when a small boy, be- 
 cause the company at my father’s remained sitting at 
 table chatting, after they had finished their meal, and 
 my asking Governor Mathews to get up. 
 
 From my childhood, I have suffered greatly from 
 headache and toothache. There was some defect in 
 the organization of my nervous system, from which I 
 have suffered pain, more or less, every day of my life. 
 
 My father’s children would have had good consti- 
 tutions, if health and strength had resulted from fresh 
 air and daily labor. We rose by light in the morning, 
 and busied ourselves at some busiuess or other. Until 
 I was ten years old, my father lived in a house made of 
 hewed logs. I slept with a crack at my back, large 
 enough for my body to pass through. I went bare- 
 footed every winter, until after frost, and suffered from 
 it more than my father thought possible. 
 
 My first schoolmaster was a deserter from the 
 British navy. He wrote a good hand, and I suppose 
 could read. During the time he kept school, he 
 secretly entered the desks of several of his employers 
 in search of money. The school-house had no chim- 
 ney. The weather was occasionally cold. He warmed 
 his scholars by making them join hands, and run 
 round, whilst he hastened their speed by the free use 
 of- the switch. At other times the boys were paired 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 233 
 
 off, and set to wrestling. In the evening, he amused 
 himself by threatening to fasten them up in the school- 
 house until the next day, unless they would give some 
 sufficient reason why they should go home. Asking a 
 little boy, the son of the ferryman on Broad River, 
 where he got the mutton he was eating for his twelve 
 * o’clock meal, he answered that his daddy had caught 
 one of Mr. Gilmer’s sheep in the brier patch, and 
 killed it. The deserter was driven away upon the 
 discovery of his habit of thieving, and his skill in 
 detecting the like propensity in others. 
 
 My next schoolmaster was William P. Culberson, 
 a very handsome, gay young man, from North Caro- 
 lina. The neighborhood lost his services at the end of 
 the year, by his marriage. I liked him very much, 
 and learned from him how to read with pleasure. 
 
 My next teacher was an Irishman by the name of 
 Nolan. Wandering, drunken Irishmen, were the only 
 class of the frontier people who had the leisure and 
 requisite knowledge for teaching. Nolan knocked, 
 kicked, cuffed, and whipped at a great rate. My 
 brother John, and George Mathews, two very smart 
 boys, were sometimes punished ten times a day. John, 
 when he saw Nolan coming towards him, expecting to 
 get a pommelling, would set as lightly as possible 
 on his seat, so that the first knock brought him to the 
 floor; whilst George Mathews would drop his book, 
 seize hold of the bench with both hands, aud was con- 
 sequently cuffed most unmercifully before he was 
 brought to the same position. 
 
 I happened once to be in Jasper Court, when Judge 
 Strong was on the bench, and the lawyers arguing a 
 certiorari. Nolan had sued a widow woman for a 
 year’s schooling of her daughter, who had been taken 
 
2 Si FIRST SETT LEE 5 OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 from school before the term teas out. A jury had 
 given a verdict for the widow. and Xolan had appeal- 
 ed to his honor to correct the verdict. The jury had 
 found against Rolan. because he had knocked the 
 widow's daughter down with his list. I addressed 
 Judge Strong in favor of our old schoolmaster, urging 
 as a reason why he should h e paid, that every body 
 who sent to hi? school knew when they did so his way 
 of correction : that his honor's head could prove, that 
 knocking down had been long Rolan's mode of punish- 
 ment. 
 
 My next teacher was CoL Hobson, an old Virginia 
 gentleman, who had emigrate! to Georgia, because his 
 drunken habits had lost him most of hi? property, and 
 otherwise disqualified him for the society of his class. 
 He wrote a good hand, and could cipher. There was 
 a distillery for making brandy not very far from the 
 schc d-heuse. During play time he would sometimes 
 go over t : it. and then teaching ended for that day. 
 
 My next schoolmaster was John Rogers, who got 
 drunk every Saturday when he had the money, and 
 could get where whiskey was sold. My next was 
 Charles Goss, a native of Elbert Comity, a sober, in- 
 dustrious, well-informed man. and very well qualified 
 in every way for his employment. From that time, 
 the teachers of country schools have been usually 
 native yo ung men. Drunken Irishmen, instead of 
 occupying the best situations, are now from necessity 
 obliged to seek a p ittance among those who will not 
 pay common wages. 
 
 Many years afterwards, an old man trudged his 
 way. shillelah in hand, to the Broad River settlement. 
 I was present at my father s when he stopped to get 
 food and rest. He wore the jump jacket of the last 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 235 
 
 century, and carried under liis arm liis first manuscript 
 ciphering book. He had taught George Mathews, 
 then Judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, Meri- 
 wether Lewis, who first explored the wilderness terri- 
 tory of the United States across the Rocky Mountains 
 to the Pacific Ocean, and a few other boys of the neigh- 
 borhood about their age. The old schoolmaster had 
 returned, after thirty years’ tramping hither and 
 thither, to seek employment of his former patrons and 
 their sons. But old things had passed away. The 
 school-house had rotted dofon ; most of those who had 
 known him were dead, and their children gone to 
 other lands. The hickory switch, which had been 
 held up perpetually as the emblem of authority, or 
 plied without mercy to the boys’ backs and legs, had 
 been changed for milder means for enforcing knowledge. 
 Printed books had superseded the manuscript. The 
 old field schoolmaster found his occupation gone. 
 
 I soon acquired a taste for reading. There were 
 but few books among our people. My father paid me 
 for picking out cotton on Saturdays and other school 
 holidays, by which. I made enough to buy Hume’s 
 History and Ossian’s Poems. My older brothers at- 
 tended to my father’s business, so that I had leisure 
 enough to study my books. My father obliged his 
 sons to be usefully occupied in some way. He was 
 usually content when I was found reading. One con- 
 sequence of the different habits of my older brothers 
 and myself was, that they were excellent riders, whilst 
 I was quite the reverse. This deficiency I have often 
 felt since. It gave rise to a nickname, which was ap- 
 plied to me for many years. Soon after I learned to 
 read, I found in Scot’s Lessons Cowper’s John Gilpin, 
 and was so pleased with it, that I learned to read it 
 
236 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 well, and was frequently called upon to amuse family 
 visitors with it. Dr. Tkorntou Gilmer was at my 
 father's, and wanting his horse, I went to the pasture 
 with the negro boy who was directed to catch him. 
 I was put upon his back, without saddle. Being a 
 spirited animal, he immediately found that he was un- 
 controlled, and took to his heels most vigorously until 
 he got to the gate before the house. My hither, 
 Dr. Gilmer, and others of the family, being then at 
 dinner, upon hearing the loud clatter of horse’s hoofs, 
 ran to the door time enough to see me come up without 
 hat, and holding hard on to the mane with both hands. 
 I had just before been showing off my smartness by 
 reading John Gilpin. All cried out, when they saw 
 my rapid approach, Gilpin ! Gilpin ! 
 
 When I was about twelve years old, my brother 
 Lewis and myself went to Mr. Wilson’s select classical 
 school, near Abbeville C. H., South Carolina. This 
 was the first change in my life. Until then I had 
 never seen any people but Virginians, and of them few 
 but kinsfolk. Mr. Wilson put us to board with a 
 family of Irish people, who had no children. The old 
 man, his wife, and two nieces, the oldest a very pretty 
 young woman, my brother and myself, slept in the 
 same room, the cabin having but one. It was difficult, 
 at first, to dress and undress before females. We eat 
 mush and milk once, and fried meat twice a day. On 
 Sunday mornings we had hot water, colored with a 
 grain or two of coffee. My father was a lover of good 
 eating. This Irish fare, therefore, went hard with me 
 for a few days. It was, however, soon forgotten when 
 I became interested in my school employments and 
 schoolfellows. 
 
 Mr. Wilson, my teacher, was one of the most fault- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 237 
 
 less of men. During the ten months I went to his 
 school he never punished a scholar except by repri- 
 mand, and in that way only a few times ; and yet his 
 scholars seldom misbehaved, and their advancement 
 was equal to what was made at any school I was 
 ever at. 
 
 Mr. Wilson’s father had liberated all his slaves. 
 One or two remained with the son, and were great 
 scamps. Mr. Wilson, in endeavoring to enforce the 
 laws of South Carolina against trading in slaves, made 
 himself so unpopular that he removed to Ohio, where 
 he was put at the head of a college. Among my thir- 
 teen schoolfellows (that being the number to which 
 the school was limited), were John Bull, Joseph Berry 
 Earle, William Taylor, B. Franklin Whitner, and 
 Frank Cummings, all of whom were men of note after- 
 wards. 
 
 Soon after the breaking up of Mr. Wilson’s school, 
 I went to Dr. Waddel’s academy. I boarded with an 
 old Scotchman and his wife, by the name of Suther- 
 land. He was from the Orkney Islands, and she from 
 the town of Thurso on the mainland. They had been 
 transferred to the colonies before the revolutionary war 
 by Lord George Gordon, who paid the cost of their 
 removal, upon their giving him their indenture to 
 serve him for five years. He settled with them, and 
 many others in the same situation, on the south side of 
 Broad River, a mile or two above where Col. Taliafero 
 afterwards resided. When fighting for independence 
 commenced, Lord George Gordon carried his people to 
 South Carolina, and sold them, there being then no- 
 body in Upper Georgia who had the means to buy 
 servants, and returned himself to the old country to 
 serve his royal master. I have endeavored to find out 
 
238 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 whether this Lord George Gordon, who preceded the 
 Broad River people in their settlement, was the crack- 
 brained fanatic of London riot memory, celebrated by 
 Sir Walter Scott in the “ Heart of Mid-Lothian.” I 
 have just received a letter from Grant Thorburn, now 
 upwards of eighty years old, informing me that Lord 
 George Gordon, the fanatic, was somewhere in the 
 Colonies before the revolutionary war. Sutherland 
 and his wife were purchased by Gen. Perkins. They 
 lived on a small, poor piece of land, in a cabin with 
 two rooms, when Dr. Waddel removed his school from 
 the village of Vienna to their immediate neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 I continued for several years with Dr. Waddel. 
 He persuaded me, when I was prepared for college, 
 and intended going to Princeton, to continue with him. 
 He was for a long time the most useful and successful 
 teacher in the southern country. He devoted his 
 whole life to his calling, and was a most admirable ex- 
 ample of the superiority of strong sense of duty and 
 untiring industry in the employments of life, over 
 genius and accomplishments. His family, who were 
 poor, emigrated from Ireland to North Carolina before 
 the revolutionary war. They lived near a school where 
 Latin was taught, of which Moses availed himself at a 
 very early age. His retentive memory enabled him 
 to become sufficiently proficient in Latin by the time 
 he w r as fourteen to aid in teaching. The highest am- 
 bition of a poor Irish Presbyterian is for his oldest son 
 to be a preacher. The profits of teaching, with a little 
 addition from his father’s means, enabled Moses to 
 pass through Hampden Sydney College, the most 
 southern institution then under Presbyterian direction. 
 He graduated, and prepared there for the ministry. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 239 
 
 Immediately after lie was licensed, lie travelled as a 
 missionary to South Carolina and Georgia. He was 
 stout and well proportioned, with a large head, strik- 
 ing features, and cpiick perceptive faculties. He found 
 a pleasant home during his sojourn in the South at the 
 house of Patrick Calhoun, whose daughter (the sister 
 of the distinguished statesman, John C. Calhoun) he 
 married. He settled in Columbia County, Georgia, 
 where he taught a classical school for several years. 
 He afterwards removed to the village of Vienna, Ab- 
 beville, and from there into the country, about seven 
 miles distant, where he taught until he accepted the 
 presidency of Franklin College. When he was ap- 
 pointed to that office, I was requested by the trustees 
 to accompany Col. Campbell, one of their body, to 
 urge his acceptance. In a few years Franklin College, 
 under his direction, became the most flourishing lite- 
 rary institution in the Southern States. When he 
 took charge of it there were neither funds, professors, 
 nor students. Some years after the college commenced 
 prospering, one or two of the trustees, thinking that 
 Dr. Waddel had done all the good which he was fitted 
 to perform, addressed him a letter, in which they ex- 
 pressed the opinion that it was time for him to yield 
 his place to some one of more distinguished literary 
 reputation. He sent his resignation to the Senatus 
 Academicus at its next meeting. I was then a mem- 
 ber of that body, as senator from Oglethorpe County. 
 The resignation was received, and a motion made for 
 adjournment, when I offered a resolution expressive of 
 the high appreciation by the Senatus Academicus of 
 Dr. Waddel’s value as president, and the desire of that 
 body that he would remain at the head of the college. 
 The resolution was adopted by nearly a unanimous vote. 
 
240 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 I doubt whether any act of my after life was more 
 cordially approved by the people of Georgia. 
 
 I left Dr. Waddel’s academy before I was eighteen. 
 Being considered too young to enter a law office, I 
 taught for a year my younger brothers and sisters, and 
 several of the young people of the neighborhood. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 When the year of my school-keeping closed, I set 
 out upon a travelling excursion to Virginia. A young 
 man, by the name of Muse, who had been keeping 
 school like myself, was my companion. By agreement, 
 we were to meet at Mr. William Barnett’s, who lived 
 then on the Savannah River. Mr. Barnett had been 
 my father’s neighbor, was his kinsman, and very good 
 friend. Muse did not meet me at the time appointed : 
 I had to wait for him several days. I spent the delay 
 in courting Mrs. Barnett’s daughter, Martha Bibb, a 
 young lady rather younger in her teens than myself. 
 The old folks of both families had taken it iuto their 
 heads to make a match between us ; and I suppose 
 would have succeeded, if the young people had been 
 particularly attractive to each other. It was difficult, 
 however, to pass days with a very pleasant, familiar 
 female acquaintance in the country — the old people 
 keeping out of the way — without saying something 
 that one of the parties would afterwards wish had 
 never been said. As soon as Muse joined me, we set 
 out on our journey. Among the matters which I 
 recollect, was my passing a night in the town of Char- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 241 
 
 lotte, North Carolina ; and the evening, until bed-time, 
 with a gold-digger — an Englishman — who had been 
 attracted to that part of the country by the fame of the 
 large lump of gold which had been found some time 
 before, by the Reeds, on the road between Charlotte 
 and Salisbury. He was a very conversable, imagina- 
 tive man. When he left the room, the tavern-keeper 
 informed me, that he had been seeking for gold until 
 he had spent all that he had, and only put on clean 
 clothes by going to bed until those he had on were 
 washed. I have had some cause since to recollect this 
 gold-digger, and his passion for getting gold by find- 
 ing it. 
 
 I travelled with my companion to his home, in 
 Amelia County, Virginia. I went, whilst there, to 
 Amelia Court, saw Benjamin Watkins Leigh — then the 
 most promising and aspiring young man in the Old 
 Dominion — and eat oysters at the tail of a cart, after 
 the fashion of the lower Virginians. 
 
 The day I left Amelia, I dined at Cumberland 
 Court House, and heard electioneering speeches for the 
 first time. Cumberland was one of the counties of 
 John Randolph’s district. He was then a candidate 
 for re-election. His opponent was using all the means 
 of opposition in his power, before the adjournment of 
 Congress, knowing his inability to contend with Mr. 
 Randolph’s extraordinary talents for public speaking. 
 
 In the evening, I went on my journey towards the 
 mountains. Arriving at the country tavern, where I 
 had been directed to stop, I was refused admittance, on 
 account of the sickness of the family, and advised to go 
 about a mile further, to where a gentleman resided, 
 who, I was told, w r ould receive me into his house for 
 the night, when my situation was made known to him. 
 
 16 
 
242 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 I accordingly applied, and was permitted to stay. 
 Conversing witli my host during the evening about the 
 mineral waters of the State, I remarked that Mr. 
 Lewis of the Sweet Springs was the first cousin of my 
 mother. The gentleman immediately informed me 
 that he Avas Dr. Trent, and that his wife Avas the sister 
 of Mr. LeAvis, and my mother’s kinsAvoman. I was 
 most hospitably entertained for several days. Mrs. 
 Trent was a very pretty and accomplished lady, Dr. 
 Trent a cultivated gentleman, and their children very 
 beautiful. I had been but little accustomed to the so- 
 ciety of refined, educated people. The novelty pleased 
 and excited me. I have continued ever since to take 
 great interest in Dr. Trent’s family. The day after I 
 left Dr. Trent’s, I arrived at Charlottesville, where I 
 found Dr. Marks, the half-brother of Meriwether Lewis. 
 I went home Avith him, and spent a week at his mo- 
 ther’s, Avho was the sister of my paternal grandmother. 
 During the week I went to Monticello. Mr. Jefferson’s 
 last term of office Avas about terminating. Three rooms 
 of his house were left open, to be shown to strangers 
 avIio might visit the place. I saiv there statuary, fine 
 paintings, and a collection of Indian works. The statu- 
 ary Avas very beautiful : I could not be satisfied with 
 looking at it. The paintings did not at all equal the 
 expectations which my scholastic reading had excited. 
 The Indian remains were singular things. Mr. Jeffer- 
 son’s library-room was locked, but the window-blinds 
 were thrown back, so that I could see several books 
 turned open upon the table, the inkstand, paper, and 
 pens, as they had been used when Mr. Jefferson quitted 
 home. 
 
 I Avas in Charlottesville on the day of the election 
 for members of the Legislature and Congress. It was 
 
 O O 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 243 
 
 passed in listening to electioneering speeches from 
 Judge Carr and Mr. Garland, candidates for Congress, 
 and several candidates for the Legislature. Baptist 
 Billy Woods delivered his opinion in the most unique 
 style, for one who was seeking to legislate for a great 
 State. Billy Meriwether said, some of his neighbors 
 had insisted upon his offering, until he had consented, 
 and took his seat, — the shortest speech I ever heard on 
 such an occasion, and, what is perhaps worthy of re- 
 membrance, the speaker was elected, whilst Billy 
 Woods, who held forth an hour or two, was defeated. 
 
 From Mr. Marks’s, I went over the Blue Ridge 
 Mountains, accompanied by Dr. Marks. We passed up 
 the mountain by a new-made road, along a considerable 
 creek, sometimes travelling in its bed, crossing and re- 
 crossing it repeatedly. The view from the top of the 
 Blue Ridge, always beautiful, was then wonderful to 
 me, who had never before seen a mountain. The vast 
 expanse of country below — the deep blue of the sky — 
 the varied hues of the forest mingling together in the 
 distance — the high mountains, away beyond the valley 
 in the west, losing their inequalities of surface in the 
 obscurity of the view — made impressions upon me 
 which still remain. I passed that evening the birth- 
 place of my mother — then the residence of my uncle, 
 Charles Lewis — and arrived at Lethe, the birthplace 
 of my father- — the residence of my uncle, George 
 Gilmer. 
 
 I remained two months at this beautiful place, with 
 the best and kindest people whom I have ever known. 
 The house was of brick, situated upon the descent of a 
 hill, about three hundred yards from the Shenandoah 
 River, which was seen over a beautiful meadow, and 
 through thinly scattered sycamore trees, flowing away 
 
244 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 with a strong current. From the top of the hill, back 
 of the house, might be seen exceedingly fertile fields, 
 inclosed in a semicircle, formed by the river, and moun- 
 tains extending in every direction. In the middle of 
 the valley, between the North Mountain and the Blue 
 Ridge, rose up almost perpendicularly, and to a great 
 height, the Peaked Mountain. In a clear day, many 
 excavations were visible on its side. Upon inquiring 
 about them, I was informed that they had been made 
 by the neighboring Dutch people in search of hidden 
 treasure. A young fellow of the neighborhood, whose 
 father was a man of some wealth and consequence, had 
 a club-foot, and was made a tailor of, as fit for nothing 
 else. In following his trade, he went to many places, 
 and became wise in the ways and some of the tricks of 
 the world. After a while, he returned to the neighbor- 
 hood of the Peaked Mountain. The Dutch had heard, 
 and were credulous enough to believe, that a wealthy 
 lord, who was one of the first settlers of the Shenandoah 
 Valley, had quitted the country a long time before, 
 and returned to Germany, and left his money behind, 
 hid in the Peaked Mountain. There had been some 
 effort to discover the treasure by digging several places 
 in the mountain side. The tailor told them that, in his 
 travels through Ohio, he had been in a factory of spy- 
 glasses, which so added to the power of sight, that he 
 could see several feet into the earth with one of them. 
 Having excited great interest about these glasses and 
 the hidden treasure by his tales, he proposed to the 
 money-hunters that, if they would make up a sufficient 
 sum, he would go with it to this factory, and buy them 
 a glass, by which they could find the concealed gold. 
 
 The required sum was collected, and the tailor went 
 to Ohio. Upon his return, he informed his employers 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 245 
 
 that he had purchased a glass better than he had ever 
 seen before ; that he had no doubt but that they could 
 have seen through the Peaked Mountain, if he could 
 have got it to them ; but unfortunately, as he was 
 travelling home with it, he was obliged to cross a rapid 
 run, which proved more swollen than he supposed. He 
 was washed down by the strong current, lost his saddle- 
 bags, with the glass in it, and came very near losing his 
 life. Another sum of money was made up with which 
 the Irish club-footed tailor left the neighborhood of the 
 Peaked Mountain, never again to be seen there. He 
 laid out the money in the purchase of a tract of land, 
 whilst some had theirs sold to repay the money which 
 they had borrowed to supply the tailor with the means 
 to buy the wonderful glass. 
 
 Whilst at Lethe, I witnessed an electioneering 
 scene, equally interesting with the one I had been pre- 
 sent at in Charlottesville. David Holmes, who had for 
 twenty years immediately preceding, represented in 
 Congress the district of which Rockingham County made 
 a part, had been appointed Governor of the Mississippi 
 Territory by Mr. Jefferson. A new member had to be 
 elected ; the republicans and federalists were very 
 equally divided in the district. Mr. Smith (now Judge 
 Smith) became the candidate of the republicans, and 
 Jacob Swope, the candidate of the federalists. The 
 Virginians vote viva voce. The candidates seat them- 
 selves during the day of the election on the judge’s 
 bench, in the court-house, and as each voter names the 
 person for whom he votes, he is bowed to, and thanked 
 by the candidate voted for. I was in Harrisonburg, 
 the court-house town of Rockingham, on the day of this 
 election, and saw Mr. Smith and Swope, thus seated 
 and occupied. Smith was of an old Virginia family ; 
 
246 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Swope was German, and could speak tlie German lan- 
 guage. The farmers of the county were mostly Ger- 
 mans ; the lawyers, doctors, merchants, sheriffs, clerks, 
 etc., were Virginians. Mr. Smith and Swope addressed 
 the people on the party topics of the day, British orders 
 in council, Napoleon’s edicts restricting commerce, the 
 embargo, and anti-c'ommercial system of Mr. Jefferson. 
 After both candidates had spoken, Mr. Swope com- 
 menced addressing the people in German, in reply to 
 Mr. Smith. A huge old German man rose, and in bro- 
 ken English, said Mr. Swope should not talk German, 
 because Mr. Smith could not talk German, and stopped 
 Swope. Mr. Swope was a merchant, a handsome man, 
 and usually well dressed. He resided in Staunton, 
 Augusta County. He came to Kockingham, dressed in 
 German fashion. The German succeeded, though the 
 Smith party had the majority in the district; and Mr. 
 Smith was equal, if not superior to Mr. Swope, in qual- 
 ifications for Congressional service. 
 
 Going from Lethe with a pretty cousin to visit Mrs. 
 Gabriel Jones, the sister of our common grandmother, I 
 had to dismount to open a gate which led into a large 
 open field on the Shenandoah Liver. As I was rising 
 in the stirrup to remount, my horse started, ran at full 
 speed, and threw me. I fell with my weight bearing 
 upon my right hand extended to break the force of the 
 fall, and strained my wrist so badly, that the injury is 
 still felt, adding thereby so much to my previous ina- 
 bility to write legibly, as often to bring down upon me 
 the anathemas of my best friends. 
 
 Whilst in Virginia visiting my kinsfolks, I went to 
 Richmond to gratify my desire to see a large town. I 
 arrived there on Sunday. I strolled down to James 
 River, and amused myself, among other ways, with look- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 247 
 
 ing at tlie shad-catchers standing upon the rocks in the 
 currents of the falls of the river, throwing their scoop- 
 nets for fish. The day after I went to the Superior 
 Court, then sitting in a room in the Capitol, and heard 
 the celebrated Edmund Randolph, previously Secretary 
 of State for the United States, defend a criminal ac- 
 cused of horse-stealing. I saw the statue of Gen. 
 Washington, and a bust of Marquis Fayette. During 
 the day, I met with Mr. John Harvie, whom 1 had seen 
 in Rockingham. Our grandmothers were sisters. He 
 and his wife were on a visit to his mother, the widow 
 of Col. John Harvie. I went with him to his mother’s. 
 In the evening, Eliza Grattan, the 1 daughter of Maj. 
 Grattan, of Rockingham, a little girl not yet in her 
 teens, came to Mrs. Harvie’s to see me. I pleased her 
 fancy by presenting her with a most beautiful sash. I 
 heard her talk and laugh for the first time, without its 
 entering into my imagination that that talk and laugh 
 would be the chief solace of my after life. She was 
 living with Mrs. Wirt, who was her father’s niece, 
 attending a school for young ladies. 
 
 The day when I left Lethe to return to Georgia, 
 several of my kinsfolks accompanied me to Wier’s Cave, 
 which is about six miles from my father’s birthplace, 
 and four from my mother’s ; and near the road travel- 
 led to the south, in a high hill, whose base is washed 
 by the Shenandoah River. Madison’s Cave, called af- 
 ter John Madison, whose wife was my grandmother’s 
 sister, is in the same hill. Its beauty and curiosities 
 were so defaced by making saltpetre in it during the 
 revolutionary war that it attracted then but few visitors- 
 There is a sheet of water in its interior of so great depth 
 that Meriwether Lewis and Maj. Grattan had a small 
 boat carried in and placed upon it. They attempted. 
 
248 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 with the aid of cords to find the bottom, but without 
 
 success. 
 
 Wier’s Cave was discovered by a dog pursuing 
 some animal through a hole into the interior, and the 
 Dutchman, his owner, making an opening after him. 
 That ojiening is still so low, and so confined between 
 masses of limestone rock, that the feeling of restraint 
 comes painfully over visitors, as they pass through it. 
 The cave extends seven or eight hundred yards into the 
 hill, through openings filled with stalactitic pillars. 
 Some of the walls are curtained with thin folding sheets 
 of rocks, which hang down to the bottom from roofs 
 sixty feet high. I have been in Wier’s Cave several 
 times since my first visit. An accident happened when 
 I was last there, which has effectually cured me of all 
 desire to visit it again. One part is descended by a 
 ladder of considerable length. Coming to this descent, 
 I assisted my wife down, placed her by my side a step 
 from me, turned round and assisted her companions 
 down. When I again turned to where I had placed 
 her, she was not to be seen. I heard her moan twenty 
 feet below. There was another descent very near by, 
 which I had not observed. In stepping back she had 
 gone over the precipice. The time which passed from 
 my finding her gone and my having her in my arms 
 below, was a moment of doubt and dread. She has 
 never entirely recovered from the effects of that fall. 
 
 Soon after my return to Georgia, I commenced the 
 study of law with Mr. Upson, of Lexington. 
 
 During the Christmas holidays next after, I set off' 
 from my father’s in company with Daniel Harvie, to 
 visit my brother-indaw Warren Taliaferro, who resided 
 in Pendleton, South Carolina. I carried a led horse, a 
 present from my father to Mr. Taliaferro. We reached 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 249 
 
 McDonald’s Ferry, on tlie Savannali River, just at 
 dark, intending to g o to a Louse about half a mile be- 
 yond. The day bad beeu unusually warm. The 
 ferry-boat was scarcely slioved from tlie shore, when a 
 violent thunder-storm came on, bringing darkness, 
 illuminated by flashes of lightning. The ferry-man 
 was an old diseased foreigner, then nearly drunk. 
 My saddle horse was very spirited, and the one which 
 I led had never been on board a boat before, was 
 young, and had been rode but little, if at all. I had 
 to stand before this spirited horse and the unbroken 
 one, in a crazy boat, directed by a drunken ferry-man. 
 It required all my strength to hold the horses, as they 
 snorted and sprung forward, with every flash of light- 
 ning. The current of the river was strong, and the 
 boat very unsteady under the guidance of the old 
 ferry-man. Harvie with great difficulty kept himself 
 and his unruly horse aboard. The boat got entangled 
 for a wdiile in the limbs of the trees and bushes which 
 overhung the water from the South Carolina bank, 
 having fallen below the landing;. The rubbing; of the 
 bushes against its side, increased the fright of the 
 horses, until we had to compel the ferry-man to stop 
 its motion. We remained in this situation, holding on 
 by the bushes, until the storm abated and the moon 
 rose. The ferry-man then got into a canoe attached to 
 the end of the ferry-boat, and went off for assistance. 
 He came back without bringing any. By this time it 
 was very cold. The ferry-man, whilst he was gone, lost 
 the chain by which he fastened the canoe to its stay. 
 He declared that he would remain where he was all 
 night unless we took his canoe into the boat. The 
 horses had by this time become somewhat quiet. So 
 Harvie and myself left them to take care of them- 
 
250 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 selves. Harvie was very strong, ancl I was not deficient 
 in that way. By the full exertion of all the force we 
 had, the object was effected, and the canoe lay by the 
 side of the horses’ heads. The ferry-man then com- 
 menced the use of oars, and the boat slowly ascended 
 towards the landing. We had proceeded but a little 
 distance when Harvie’s horse was jostled into the 
 river. The water was deep, and the horse unable to 
 swim, so that Harvie had to hold his head above the 
 water to prevent his drowning. My horses became 
 restless and uneasy. Their moving about knocked one 
 of the oars off its stay, so that it was lost. There was 
 no other in the boat to supply its place. Poles were 
 resorted to, and for a little while with success. But 
 we soon got to water so deep that they scarcely 
 touched the bottom. Whilst struggling to push the 
 boat up, sometimes touching bottom and [sometimes 
 not, the boat became fastened on a log. Harvie’s 
 horse was failing in his strength, and he and I were 
 failing in ours. The ferry-man had given up in despair 
 and would have frozen to death, but that we threaten- 
 ed to thrash him if he did not work enough to keep 
 himself warm. Whilst in this situation we could hear 
 very near us the roar of the falls, which the ferry-man 
 informed us were with difficulty passed by a boat in 
 the daytime. An island lay in the middle of the river, 
 a little below where we were. After a while, we got 
 the boat off the log, and made for this island. Nu- 
 merous rocks obstructed the boat’s progress. After 
 many hours’ hard work, we got within reach of bushes 
 growing on the bank. The ferry-man then insisted that 
 we should put his canoe into the water, promising that 
 he would make another effort to procure assistance. 
 The canoe was lifted into the water. He got into it, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 251 
 
 went off, and never returned. Before lie left us, lie said 
 that there was a ford across the river from the island 
 to the Georgia shore. We succeeded, after a long time, 
 in getting Harvie’s horse off the rocks into the boat. 
 We then got the boat close up to the bank. My horse 
 in springing from the boat to the bank drove the boat 
 off, so that he fell into deep water. He made several 
 ineffectual efforts to ascend the bank, swam down the 
 river some distance, and still failing to get up, came 
 back to the boat. The bridle reins had been in his 
 way. I cut them off. He then succeeded. After the 
 horses were landed, we went round the island in search 
 of appearances which indicated the place where the 
 river had been forded. We found tracks, and a path 
 to the water, in one place only. After waiting for 
 some time for the return of the ferry-man, and being 
 almost frozen to death in our wet clothes, we deter- 
 mined to try the ford. As Harvie could not swim and 
 knew nothing of the management of his horse, so as to 
 enable him to swim, I went ahead. The water was 
 very cold, and the way full of rocks. The horses were 
 sometimes out of the water, and then plunging into the 
 deep current. It was with great difficulty that I kept 
 my saddle, and held on to the bridle of my led horse. 
 Each moment I expected to struggle for life by getting 
 into swimming water. We continued to plunge for- 
 ward until we arrived at the Georgia bank. Ascend- 
 ing it to the hut of the ferry-man, we found him nearly 
 frozen to death. He became a cripple for life, had to 
 quit his labor at the oar, and get his bread by begging. 
 It was less than an hour before the light of the morning 
 when we reached the ferry-man’s hut. We dried our 
 clothes, fed our horses, and set off at sunrise for a ferry 
 four miles above. We reached my brother-in-law’s 
 
252 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 late in tlie evening. I became very ill. Harvie re- 
 turned to Georgia to let my father and mother know 
 that I was probably dead. I got home, after some 
 time, by the aid of my oldest brother, who had joined 
 me for that purpose. I resumed my law studies, and 
 struggled on for some time, endeavoring to overcome 
 the effects of disease. It was all in vain. I went to 
 my father’s, where I passed three years in a listless, 
 diseased state. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Returning home in October, 1813, after travelling 
 for some months, I received a commission of first lieu- 
 tenant in the 43d regiment. Dr. Bibb, whose medical 
 advice I had been following, was then in Congress. 
 He obtained this commission for me without my know- 
 ledge, believing, as lie said, that service in the army 
 would probably produce some change in my diseased 
 system which would kill or cure me. Col. Long, of 
 Washington, Wilks County, was commander of the 
 43d. I immediately went to see him. He advised me 
 to accept the commission, promising that he would give 
 me an active command as soon as possible. I took 
 quarters at the barracks near Washington, where 
 Cajit. Tatnall was then stationed. Our acquaintance, 
 and subsequent friendship, was the happiest result of 
 my military service. Our strong regard and intimate 
 intercourse was never interrupted for a moment during 
 his life. 
 
 As Soon as a few recruits were collected, an order 
 was issued by Gen. Pinckney, then in command of the 
 
FIB ST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 253 
 
 Southern army, that they should be put under a suit- 
 able officer, and sent into the Indian territory, where 
 active hostilities were going on against the Creeks. 
 I asked for the command, and received it. I marched 
 with twenty-two recruits, without arms, except refuse 
 drill muskets, and a small quantity of loose powder 
 and unmoulded lead. My appointed station was on 
 the banks of the Chattahoochee, about thirty or forty 
 miles beyond the frontiers of the State, near an Indian 
 town, not far from where the Georgia Railroad now 
 crosses the Chattahoochee River. 
 
 It was an awkward business for one who had only 
 seen a militia muster ! who had never fired a musket, 
 and only drawn a sword to govern men who knew no 
 part of their duty. I was ordered to build a fort. 
 I had never seen a fort, and had no means of knowing- 
 how to obey the order but what I could get from 
 Duane’s Tactics. I went to work, and succeeded very 
 well, so far as I know, or any one else, I suppose, as 
 the strength and fitness of my fortification was never 
 tested. 
 
 A few days after my arrival at the standing peach- 
 tree, a ruffian Indian fellow came into the camp with 
 some fine catfish for sale. I had supplied myself with 
 hooks and lines for catching cat in the Chattahoochee 
 before I left home, and had baited and hung them 
 from limbs into the water. I had noticed this fellow 
 the day before gliding stealthily along near the bank 
 of the river, in a small canoe, where the lines with 
 baited hooks were hung. I intimated to him that the 
 fish he was offering to sell were taken from my hooks. 
 With the demoniac looks of hatred and revenge, he 
 drew his knife from his belt, and holding it for a mo- 
 ment in the position for striking, turned the edge to 
 
254 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Ms own throat, and drew it across; expressing thus, 
 more forcibly than he could have done by words, his 
 desire to cut my throat. I never saw him afterwards. 
 
 One night, immediately after dark, and before any 
 preparations for defence had been made, the Indian 
 war-whoop was heard several times in different direc- 
 tions near the camp. An hour or two after I was 
 roused from my bunk by some of the soldiers rushing 
 into my cabin and crying out that the Indians were 
 upon us. I found, upon jumping up, several of the 
 Cherokee men of the town mixing with the soldiers, 
 and endeavoring to alarm them by assuring them -that 
 a large force of hostile Creeks were close by. As soon 
 as possible, I had a barricade constructed in front of 
 the ditch which had been dug for the palisades of the 
 fort. In this ditch, and between the cabins and the 
 barricade, I stationed myself and soldiers. 
 
 The Indians went off in the direction in which they 
 reported the hostile Creeks to be. My servant, who 
 had been drinking and was very much alarmed, went 
 off with them. In a short time they returned, accom- 
 panied by their women, and carrying off some of their 
 goods to give a show of reality to their feint. From 
 the report of my servant, and the entire conduct of 
 those who had thus attempted to alarm me, I became 
 convinced that their object was to make me leave the 
 country. 
 
 At the first cry of Indians, the workmen employed 
 in building boats loosed the horses from the wagons 
 and fled towards the nearest frontier white settlement. 
 To prevent the great alarm which their report v’ould 
 have created among the people of the adjoining terri- 
 tory, I despatched the fleetest runner among the sol- 
 diers after them, with orders to pass them if possible. 
 
FIKST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 255 
 
 The soldier informed those that had fled, as he passed 
 them, that there was no danger, and then proceeded 
 on to Jefferson, the court-house town of Jackson 
 County, and, through the letter which he carried, pre- 
 vented the depopulation of the frontier. 
 
 At the time of this attempt of the Indians to 
 frighten me out of their country, I had not received 
 the arms and ammunition which was designed for, my 
 command. I used bark moulds for running lead into 
 bullets and slugs, and the paper which I had carried with 
 me for my own use, for making cartridges. A wagon 
 with a supply of arms was within twenty miles of the 
 encampment. The workmen in passing it so fright- 
 ened the horses that they broke loose and fled, so that 
 it was several weeks before the arms were received. 
 Whilst I was still unprepared for making much of a 
 fight, I heard one day, about one o’clock, the firing of 
 volleys of rifles in the swamp across the river from my 
 camp. After calling in the men wdio were in the 
 woods felling timbers for picketing, getting the drill 
 muskets in the best possible order, and putting the 
 men in a position for defence, I ordered a resolute sol- 
 dier to cross the river and endeavor to find out what 
 the firing meant. He saw several warriors going from 
 cabin to cabin of the town, and meeting' the men and 
 women with apparent joy. Soon after eleven warriors, 
 with their town people, came to the camp and de- 
 scribed to me exultingly as well as they could the 
 battle of the Horseshoe, where they had fought under 
 the command of Gen. Jackson. They brought home 
 eighteen scalps. The night after the day of their ar- 
 rival the scalps were fastened upon the top of a pole 
 and the men, women, and children danced around it all 
 night. I was invited to attend the rejoicing. I sent a 
 soldier that I might be informed of its particulars. 
 
256 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 After I liad been stationed for several months at 
 the standing peach-tree, I received one morning a visit 
 from a young Cherokee lad, who, in the fulness of his 
 anticipations of pleasure, came to communicate to me 
 the secret, that at twelve o’clock the chief men of the 
 town would kill two hostile Creek Indians, who were 
 in huts on the opposite side of the river with a family 
 akin to them. I armed myself, took with me a well- 
 armed soldier, and set off for the hut. Upon crossing 
 the river I met several of the members of the family 
 with whom the Creeks intended to be killed were 
 staying. They showed great distress. A little boy 
 belonging to the family had overheard the Clierokees 
 talking of their purpose, and had given information to 
 his relations. The party were going in search of the 
 head of their family. One of them went on ; the 
 others accompanied me back to their cabin. One of 
 the Creeks had already left, and the other soon disap- 
 peared, I did not perceive where. After a good deal 
 of difficulty their friends found them. All accompa- 
 nied me to the fort. The soldiers were put under 
 arms. In a few hours the Cherokee men of the town 
 arrived at the fort. They were directed to disarm 
 and enter. After some hesitation they did so. The 
 chiefs were invited into my cabin, where the Creeks 
 were. I knew the leader well. His name was George 
 Proctor. He was one of several brothers and sisters, 
 the children of a white man of that name, and an In- 
 dian squaw. I told Proctor that the war was at an 
 end, and that the Creeks were not to lie injured. He 
 answered, that the Creeks had killed his brother, and 
 that he must kill a Creek. He was the most respecta- 
 ble man of the town. When he entered my cabin his 
 whole appearance was altered. His usual quiet look 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 257 
 
 liad become fixed, intent, and demoniac. His clothes, 
 thrown back, hung loosely about him. His knife was 
 stuck in his belt ready for his hand. After a long 
 conversation with the Cherokees of the town who ac- 
 companied the Creeks, Proctor consented to defer his 
 revenge until a meeting of the chiefs of the Standing 
 Peach-tree and two or three chiefs of the neighboring 
 villages. Upon the chiefs assembling, the Creeks were 
 assured that they would not be injured. 
 
 On the day after this success in saving the lives of 
 two hostile Creeks, I took my departure from the 
 Standing Peach-tree. Upon my arrival at the Wash- 
 ington barracks, where Capt. Hide then commanded, I 
 received a furlough for some weeks. I passed the time 
 most pleasantly with my family friends on Broad 
 Elver. When I returned to the barracks, I wrote to 
 Col. Long, reminding him of his promise to give me 
 active service. He answered that I should go to the 
 seaboard, then threatened by the British, as soon as I 
 enlisted twenty men, and directed me to seek a favora- 
 ble situation to effect that object. I went to Carnes- 
 ville, Franklin County, carrying with me a handsome 
 young recruit, of fine spirit, to assist me. I issued 
 circulars, and made speeches, but all in vain. The 
 station had been previously occupied by an officer who 
 used means fair and foul — the people said the latter 
 oftenest — to procure men. He had marched off thirty 
 or forty, leaving the station in bad repute for future 
 recruiting officers. I obtained two recruits, one a ma- 
 niac, and the other a deserter. My time passed most 
 unsatisfactorily. It was once relieved by the arrival 
 of my old schoolmate, A. Longstreet. We spent a very 
 pleasant evening together, and separated in the morn- 
 ing, he looking for land, I to attend a regimental drill. 
 
 17 
 
258 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The assemblage was of the very rudest people of the 
 country towards the mountains. I was in full dress, 
 and soon found myself a show. The people formed a 
 circle around me as they would have done if they had 
 been looking at a bear or elephant. I addressed them 
 upon the advantages of joining the regular army. 
 Finding that I talked like other men, they soon got 
 near enough to handle my sword and epaulets. Even 
 my whiskers, which were very long and very red, did 
 not escape their fingering. It required all my self-com- 
 mand to bear up under such an infliction. But I did, 
 and as I thought when it was over, well ; certainly 
 very much to the amusement of Longstreet when I 
 described it to him that evening 1 when we again 
 met at Carnesville. I have warned him against mak- 
 ing a Georgia scene of my recruiting efforts, at the 
 Franklin regimental muster. 
 
 Finding myself entirely unfit for the recruiting 
 service, I applied to Maj. King for the appointment 
 of adjutant at Columbia, South Carolina. The duty 
 of that office was to take charge of the new recruits of 
 the regiment, and prepare them for service. The 
 appointment was given me. I went to Washington 
 barracks, for the purpose of marching the recruits who 
 were there to Columbia, South Carolina. Whilst I was 
 at Washington news of peace was received. I went to 
 Columbia, and spent some time discharging the duties 
 of drill adjutant, but with little interest. 
 
 War having been declared by the Government 
 against Algiers, I applied to Dr. Bibb, to procure for 
 me a commission in the marine corps. My service in 
 the army had not improved my health. I was desirous 
 of trying the effect of a campaign on the ocean. My 
 application was not successful. I returned home, and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 259 
 
 remained with my father, whose health was then very 
 bad, until he died. In the beginning of 1818, I went 
 to Lexington and commenced the practice of law. I 
 soon found that the excitement of business did less in- 
 jury to my health than the listlessness of inaction. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Whilst I ivas temporarily absent from Lexington, a 
 short time before the day for electing members of the 
 Legislature, it was determined by some of the leading 
 politicians of the county that I should be a candidate. 
 The people of Georgia were then divided into the 
 Crawford and the Clark parties. The Crawford party 
 were principally composed of Virginians who had emi- 
 grated to Georgia after the revolutionary war; the 
 Clark party of Europeans and North Carolina people, 
 who had settled in Georgia before that time. They 
 were very unindulgent to each other’s faults, as most 
 factions are when formed upon personal differences 
 rather than political. I was a friend of Mr. Crawford’s. 
 On the morning of the election, two or three of my 
 neighbors insisted that I should decline being a candi- 
 date, on account of the strong opposition which had 
 been excited against me by charges industriously and 
 secretly circulated by a partisan of the Clark party. 
 Pleasant Compton, Mr. Princes, Capt. Clodpole, then 
 sheriff of the county, a very large, blunt-spoken man, 
 took me by the arm, and insisted that instead of with- 
 drawing, I should vindicate myself, and leading me to 
 the door of the tavern, cried “ O yes ! O yes ! all you 
 
260 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 who want to hear a speech, come here. 11 I accordingly 
 addressed the people. The greatest excitement against 
 me proceeded from my opposition to private banks, 
 an appropriation by the preceding Legislature for the 
 education of the poor, and my advocation of academies 
 and colleges. At that time there were eleven persons 
 in Oglethorpe County issuing charge bills, as they were 
 called, notes for circulation under the sum of one dollar. 
 Many persons in other parts of the State were putting 
 into circulation bills for sums of any amount which they 
 could. I stated to the people, that what had been 
 said of my opposition to private banking, was true ; 
 and that if elected I would if possible put an end to 
 what I considered a great evil. I acknowledged the 
 truth of what had been said about my opposition to 
 the poor school fund, and the support which I wished 
 the State to give to academies and colleges. At the 
 previous session of the Legislature, an appropriation of 
 $500,000 had been made for educating the poor of the 
 State. I announced that, if elected, the first motion 
 which I would make in the Legislature should be to 
 repeal that appropriation ; and attempted to prove 
 (and I suppose did so to the satisfaction of the people) 
 that the interest of $500,000 would not build and keep 
 in repair school-houses for the poor over the large 
 territory of the State, and that the money instead of 
 being expended for the benefit of the poor, would be 
 used for their own benefit, by the irresponsible agents 
 into whose hands it would pass. Whilst I was answer- 
 ing a charge of Federalism, I observed Solomon Jen- 
 nings and Turner Idamner, friends from Broad River, 
 listening. I pointed them out to the peojfie, stating 
 that they had known me from infancy, had met me 
 for years at the neighborhood post-office, heard me 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 261 
 
 discuss politics, and could say whether the charge was 
 true or false. They cried out “ false ! false ! ” I was 
 elected triumphantly. 
 
 The embargo, non-intercourse, and war measures, so 
 reduced the price of agricultural products, and lessened 
 the ability of the people to pay their debts, as to induce 
 the Legislature of Georgia to pass laws preventing the 
 collection of debts by legal process. These alleviating 
 or stop laws, were so popular, that very few counties 
 were represented in the Legislature for many years, by 
 members opposed to them. It was long before the 
 advocates of these measures ceased to control the gov - 
 ernment. of the State. They were still in the majority 
 at the session in 1818, when I was first a member. 
 Ben Williams was elected speaker by every vote but 
 mine and one other. He was scarcely able to read or 
 write, was a cut-and-shuffle, three-up card-playing, 
 brandy-house bully, utterly devoid of honesty, of large 
 brawny body, and powerful fisticuff fighting capacity. 
 
 In 1808, Winfield Hamuer of Broad River, in Ogle- 
 thorpe County, purchased of the State fractions 285 
 and 292 in Putnam County for upwards of $2000, pay- 
 able in four instalments. His father, Richardson Ham- 
 ner, was his security for the payment of the purchase 
 money, which was further secured by a mortgage lien 
 retained by the State on the fractions. Winfield Harm 
 ner was a very handsome, spendthrift fellow, with a 
 wife very much like himself. He provided no means 
 for paying the State, and before any steps were taken 
 to enforce collection, had nothing to pay with. In 
 1817, Winfield Hamner became indebted to Ben Wil- 
 liams for a small amount, was sued in the Justice’s Court 
 of the district in Putnam County, where both resided, 
 a judgment obtained, and the fi. fa. founded upon it 
 
262 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 illegally levied by Ben Williams’s order upon fractions 
 285 and 292. Williams purchased the fractions for 
 $26, subject to the lien of the State. Winfield Ham- 
 ner’s debt to the State, was then less than $4000. 
 Williams soon after sold the fractions for $5000, con- 
 ditioned that he freed the land from the mortgage lien 
 of the State. To do this he applied to Gov. Rabun in 
 1818, who in his official capacity had the collection of 
 the State debt against Harnner, for assistance. Gov. 
 Rabun gave the following order : 
 
 “Executive Department, Milledgevillc, 22 Oct. 1818. 
 
 Ordered, that Benjamin Williams, Esq. be, and is hereby 
 authorized to attend the sale of property now advertised by the 
 sheriff of Jasper, Morgan and Oglethorpe Counties, whereon 
 the treasurer’s execution has been levied to satisfy the first, 
 second, third and fourth instalments due the State, on account of 
 the sale of fractions, Nos. 292 and 285 in the fourteenth district 
 of Baldwin, now Putnam County ; and that he be authorized by 
 himself or his attorney to bid in behalf of the State for the pro- 
 perty so levied on. 
 
 Albert Edw. Cary, Sect. E. D. 
 
 The Governor put into Williams’s hands the fi. fas. 
 issued for the collection of the several instalments. By 
 a provision of the law directing the sale of the fractions, 
 all the property of the principal and securities was 
 made liable for the payment of the purchase money. 
 Williams attempted to avail himself of this provision, 
 to relieve the fractions from the State’s lien by collect- 
 ing the State’s debt out of the property of Richardson 
 Harnner, the security for Winfield Hamner, who had 
 died soon after he became security for his son, viz., in 
 1809, and before any fi. fas. had or could have issued. 
 Upon obtaining this order and possession of the fi. fas., 
 Williams came to Oglethorpe County, and caused the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 268 
 
 fi. fas. to be levied on the property which had belonged 
 to B. Hamner at his death, and was then in the posses- 
 sion of those who had purchased it at the sale of his 
 effects ; and two negroes in the possession of Levi 
 Jennings, the son-in-law of R Hamner, which he had 
 received for his distributive share of his father-in-law’s 
 estate. 
 
 The parties interested applied to Mr. Upson and 
 myself for professional assistance. Mr. Upson declined 
 on account of its interference with his other business : 
 the defence of the rights of the parties devolved upon 
 me alone. I had commenced the practice of law but a 
 few months before. But the parties were Broad Biver 
 people, my father’s neighbors, whom I had known from 
 childhood. The one most interested, was Wm, P. 
 Culberston, who had been my first good country school- 
 master. I undertook with a zeal seldom felt by law- 
 yers for their clients. I caused affidavits of illegality 
 to be made by the parties, setting forth specially, that 
 R Hamner had died before the date of the executions. 
 These affidavits caused the sheriff of Oglethorpe to sus- 
 pend proceedings upon the fi. fas. I was then a mem- 
 ber elect of the Legislature. I carried the affidavits of 
 illegality to Milledgeville, and laid them before Gov. 
 Babuii, and urged him to withdraw the levy upon the 
 property which had belonged to R Hamner. A day 
 or two before the termination of the session of the 
 Legislature, Gov. Babun gave Williams and myself a 
 hearing upon the case in the Executive office. The 
 result of the meeting was, that on the day of the 
 adjournment of the Legislature, Williams, the speaker 
 of the House, and his brother the doorkeeper of the 
 Senate, waylaid me in the streets of Milledgeville for 
 the purpose of doing me some great personal injury. I 
 happened to pass another way. 
 
264 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The Governor ordered the sheriff to suspend pro- 
 ceedings upon the levy in Oglethorpe. A day or two 
 after the adjournment of the Legislature, Williams, not 
 knowing of the Governor’s order, wrote to the sheriff, 
 Compton, giving him a false statement of what had 
 passed in the Executive office, and offered him a bribe 
 of one hundred dollars if he w r ould proceed to sell 
 under the levies which he had made. Compton’s reply 
 was “ that it was unnecessary to offer him a bribe to do 
 his duty, and if it was not his duty he would not do it 
 at all.” 
 
 Upon my return home from Milledgeville, I pro- 
 ceeded, at the suggestion of the Governor, to procure 
 further evidence of the truth of the facts set forth in 
 the affidavits of illegality. Several letters passed be- 
 tween Gov. Rabun and myself upon the subject. I 
 finally threatened him with impeachment. I wrote an 
 account of the case, and sent it to Mr. Grantland, the 
 Editor of the Journal, for publication. Mr. Grantland 
 answered that he had sold his interest in the Journal, 
 so that the publication was not made. 
 
 I addressed the following letter to the Governor : 
 
 Lexington, Jan . 30 th , 1819. 
 
 To his Excellency William Rabun, 
 
 Yours of the 20th inst. has just been received. It is with 
 extreme regret that I again trouble you with my remarks on the 
 subject of the case of the State against W. and R. Hamner. If 
 trouble, perplexity and labor, would have stopped my exertions, 
 they would have ceased before this. But I feel that I am con- 
 tending for justice, and legal right, in opposition to fraud and 
 oppression, defending the poor and honest, against the arts of the 
 cunning and powerful ; and endeavoring to prevent the State, 
 in the exertion of its power, from ruining several individuals to 
 enable one to make a very profitable and dishonest speculation. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 265 
 
 Your Excellency will permit me to say, that I cannot but feel 
 something more than astonishment at the contents of the letter 
 just received. Your Excellency, after you were informed truly 
 of the facts relating to this case, did not doubt as to the course 
 you would pursue. During the session of the Legislature, you 
 informed me that you only delayed making the necessary orders 
 to stop the proceedings against the parties in this County, be- 
 cause Williams had informed you, that the persons who had 
 sworn to the time of R. Hamner’s death were not to be believed, 
 and that Hamner did not die until some time after the date of 
 the executions which had been levied on the property which was 
 once his. After Mr. Luckie, Herdspeth and Pope, who were 
 members of the Legislature from Oglethorpe, informed you of 
 the respectability of the deponents, you stated to me that I 
 should receive the order for stopping further proceedings before 
 the termination of the session. When I went into the Executive 
 office on Friday of the last week of the session, you stated to 
 me, that the office was so crowded with business, that the order 
 could not then be made out, but should be transmitted to me 
 when I returned to Oglethorpe, requesting at the same time, 
 that some additional testimony should be obtained, to be filed in 
 your office in proof of the time of R. Hamner’s death. When 
 the most indisputable testimony was obtained and placed in your 
 possession, it seems to have produced a strange effect. Whilst 
 it has drawn from you the acknowledgment that the property 
 levied on in this county is not liable to pay the debt of the State, 
 it has changed your purpose to relieve that property from legal 
 process, and determined you to pursue it, compelling the parties 
 interested to all the trouble, expense, and uncertainty of a law- 
 suit. Your Excellency ascribes this change in your intention 
 to the want of power, the case having become, as you say, a 
 judicial question. Permit me to inform you, of what I had the 
 honor personally so often to do, that the case has not become a 
 judicial question, and never will, unless you compel the parties 
 to apply to the courts to obtain justice. I know not to whom 
 you applied for legal counsel. I will say, that they were either 
 influenced by the persons concerned in the case, or that the case 
 was very improperly stated to them. Presuming the last to be 
 the fact, and that the statement, so far as it was incorrect, was 
 unintentional on your part, I will endeavor to state it truly. 
 
266 
 
 FIKST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 On the twenty-sixth of May, an execution issued from the 
 treasury office, directed to the sheriff of Oglethorpe County, 
 against Winfield & Richardson Hamner, which execution came 
 to the hands of the sheriff of Oglethorpe on the tenth of Sep- 
 tember thereafter, and was levied on a negro woman belonging 
 to Swepson Taylor, and afterwards upon a negro fellow claimed 
 by Levi Jennings, and a tract of land claimed by Solomon Jen- 
 nings and John McCown. All of these parties claimed the pro- 
 perty levied on as theirs, and in their possession, and gave their 
 bonds to the sheriff to abide the decision of the proper authori- 
 ties. Soon afterwards the sheriff discovered that the execution 
 had not come into his hands until after the three months had ex- 
 pired by which the execution became void, and that he was 
 responsible individually for the amount to be collected by it. 
 He then gave up to the parties their bonds, and took new bonds 
 to abide your decision (which last bonds were improperly re- 
 quired by the sheriff of the parties, and without legal counsel), 
 and declined making any entry of the levies on the execution as 
 having been illegally made, and transmitted it to your office as 
 the law required. The affidavits of illegality which accompanied 
 the execution, were made out for the purpose of stopping the 
 sale previous to the discovery that the levy itself was illegal, 
 and were afterwards sent to you, that, from a knowledge of the 
 circumstances of the case, you might he induced to refrain from 
 oppressing the parties, by levying on their property, when it 
 was not liable to that process. 
 
 I think it very probable that these affidavits of illegality 
 have been the cause of the erroneous opinion given to you by the 
 legal counsel with whom you advised. They were forwarded for 
 your information, and not your decision. This is a true state- 
 ment of the case, as you were informed by the letter of the 
 sheriff of Oglethorpe County, sent to you at the same time with 
 the execution which he returned to the treasury office. 
 
 Your Excellency will permit me to express my surprise, that 
 you should disclaim the power to control the executions issued 
 from the treasury office against debtors of the State for the pur- 
 chase of fractions. Suffer me to remind you, that an execution, 
 issued the 17th of June, 1817, for $525,25, exclusive of interest, 
 being the fourth instalment of W. Hamner’s debt, was placed in 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 267 
 
 the hands of the sheriff of Putnam County, and levied by him 
 on the fractions 285 and 292, by your directions ; and that this 
 execution, at the request, and for the benefit of Mr. Williams, 
 was withdrawn by you. The same execution, only renewed, you 
 ordered to he placed in the hands of the sheriff of Oglethorpe 
 County. It is now in his possession, and is the very execution 
 which you are refusing to withdraw. I will say, that it was 
 legal for you to withdraw an execution out of the hands of the 
 sheriff of Oglethorpe County, by whom no levy has been made, 
 more especially as the three months have expired during which 
 the levy ought to have been made, and as the property upon 
 which you intended it should be levied you acknowledge you 
 think not to be liable to levy. It appears to me that you have 
 as much power to withdraw an execution only designed to be 
 levied on property which once belonged to R. Hamner, as you 
 had to withdraw an execution actually levied on property claimed 
 by Mr. Williams. I know not how it happens that you should 
 have exercised a power for the benefit of Mr. Williams, which 
 power should have ceased to exist when you are called upon to 
 exercise it in opposition to his interest, and for the benefit of the 
 State. Hitherto I was ignorant that there was a difference be- 
 tween the rights of citizens. I will only observe that the execu- 
 tive officer who dares make that distinction dares greatly. As 
 evidence how large executive powers are when exercised in favor 
 of Williams, I transmit to you the copy of an order issued from 
 the Executive Office, which is so extraordinary that I am strong- 
 ly induced to believe it a forgery. 
 
 That the Executive should authorize any one to purchase 
 lands and negroes for the State, is novel indeed. As this order 
 is not immediately connected with the subject of my letter, I 
 should not have mentioned it, but that I am anxious to know of 
 its authenticity. 
 
 This subject will be investigated before a different tribunal 
 than the Superior Court. 
 
 Finally, permit me to say, that there is a plain and obvious 
 course to be taken. Permit the execution for the first instal- 
 ment to remain in your office, and not again sent to this county ; 
 and withdraw the execution for the fourth instalment, which is 
 now in the hands of the sheriff, and never levied, but suspended 
 
268 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 by your order. If you intend to collect the debt due the State, 
 the executions from Morgan and Jasper must also be recalled — 
 for they also are levied on property not liable. There is no 
 property which is liable, except the fractions 285 and 292, as 
 far as I can ascertain, — W. Hammer, the State debtor, owning 
 no property at all. If one execution, and not all, is sent to Put- 
 nam, the land will be sold, and the State never receive but one 
 instalment. If the fractions should be sold to pay the whole 
 debt due the State, Williams will still make a speculation of 
 $1500 or $2000. I think that numerous citizens should not be 
 driven to the trouble, expense, and uncertainty of a lawsuit, to 
 protect themselves from the means used by the Executive to 
 enable Williams to make a speculation of $5000 or $6000. As 
 you state that the only reason why you did not pursue the 
 course above advised, is that the case has become a judicial 
 question, I must again assure you that such is not the fact. 
 And to convince your Excellency that this statement is the 
 truth, permit the case to remain as it is, and the parties in this 
 county will be satisfied. Suffer the execution which is now in 
 your office (which was returned by the sheriff because it came to 
 his hands after the expiration of three months) to remain there, 
 and the execution now in his hands, suspended by your order, to 
 remain so, and issue no more executions for the particular benefit 
 of Williams ; but order the property to be levied on which is 
 known to be liable and sufficient to pay the State’s debt, without 
 any regard to the persons holding it, and you will hear no more 
 from me. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Ben Williams having failed to make the money due 
 from W. Hamner to the State, out of the property 
 which had belonged to It. Hamner in Oglethorpe 
 County, so as to free fractions 285 and 292 of the 
 State lien, endeavored to enforce the levies made upon 
 a negro in Morgan County, in the possession of Baber, 
 and eleven negroes in Jasper Comity, in the possession 
 of Spencer Crane. I went to Morgan County, and had 
 the levy made on Baber’s negro dismissed on motion. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 269 
 
 Williams was present when I addressed the court. 
 Those who knew him supposed my life to be in danger. 
 A pistol was handed me for defence ; and the sheriff 
 insisted on accompanying me to the tavern where I 
 boarded. I went to Jasper Court, and succeeded in 
 having the levy upon the eleven negroes of Spencer 
 Crane dismissed. I charged no fees in these cases. I 
 had been so much excited by the interest which my 
 Broad River friends had in them, and by the character, 
 station, and influence of those with whom I had to con- 
 tend, that I was amply compensated for my time, exer- 
 tions, expense, and risk, when I succeeded. 
 
 From Jasper Court I wrote to Governor Rabun, 
 informing him of the decisions of the courts in the cases 
 in Morgan and Jasper. To that letter I received the 
 following answer : — 
 
 j Executive Department, Georgia. 
 
 ( Milledgeville, 2'7tli April, 1819. 
 
 Sir, — Yours of the 30th ult.. by Col. Jones, was handed into 
 this office some time after its date, and lay on my table a consid- 
 erable time before I was apprised of its arrival. You mention 
 that the treasury executions, which had, at the instance of Mr. 
 Williams, been levied on property in the Counties of Morgan 
 and J asper, were dismissed by the courts for illegality. The 
 conduct of the courts in those cases was no doubt perfectly cor- 
 rect. I had long been satisfied of the final result ; but as Mr. 
 Williams had on several different times assured me that the pro- 
 perty levied on would ultimately be found to be liable, I did not 
 feel authorized to refuse him the benefit which the law intended 
 in similar cases. It was therefore my wish that the subject 
 should be fairly investigated in a court of law, in order that, if 
 Mr. Williams’s statements were false, they might be exposed, 
 and justice at least would require that he should be saddled with 
 the cost. Had the case in Oglethorpe been brought before the 
 court, it would, in all probability, have shared the same fate. 
 The sheriff of that county has lately returned the execution that 
 was in his possession. 
 
270 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 You ask for information respecting the future course that 
 will be adopted and pursued by this department in regard to 
 these several cases ; to which I cheerfully reply, that it never 
 was my intention to pursue the parties concerned further than 
 to ascertain clearly that they were not liable, according to ex- 
 isting law, for the payment of a part or the whole of the State 
 Demand vs. W. and R. Hamner. These facts having been sat- 
 isfactorily demonstrated, the pursuit will be discontinued. 
 
 I have long since notified Mr. Williams to make immediate 
 arrangements to pay up the whole amount of principal and 
 interest in these cases, or the State’s execution will unques- 
 tionably be levied on the land. 
 
 The depositions filed in this office by Mr. W. will be retained, 
 and can be used by the prosecuting officer in favor of any of 
 the aggrieved parties. 
 
 I have the honor to be, &c. 
 
 Wm. Rabun. 
 
 I caiT’yet recollect the pleasure I enjoyed when I 
 was assured that my old schoolmaster, and many of my 
 earliest friends, had been saved from ruin by my unas- 
 sisted exertions, — of self-gratulation at having overcome 
 the Governor and Speaker of the House of Representa- 
 tives, — and, very soon after, shame for having acted 
 and written so rudely to the Governor of the State. I 
 left home to visit Governor Rabun, to make as ample 
 an apology as possible to him for my threatenings, 
 when I heard of his death. One of the depositions to 
 which Governor Rabun alluded in the close of his let- 
 ter, I caused to be placed in the hands of the Solicitor- 
 General of the Ocmulgee Circuit. A man by the 
 name of Stovall, who had gone to Putnam County from 
 Oglethorpe, had been induced by B. Williams to swear 
 falsely as to the time of Richardson Hamner’s death. 
 I attended the first Superior Court in Putnam County ? 
 after the settlement of the civil cases, to prosecute Sto- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 271 
 
 vail. I was accompanied by several Broad River 
 people, so that the falsehood of Stovall’s affidavit might 
 be rendered entirely certain. A true bill of indictment 
 was found against him. He put off the trial of the 
 case. In the evening after the continuance of the in- 
 dictment, whilst I was sitting with several gentlemen 
 of the bar in the balcony of the tavern where I was 
 boarding, Ben Williams, his brother, the door-keeper of 
 the Senate, and two or three others of grog-shop char- 
 acter, Avere seen coming into the tavern. It was evi- 
 dent that their mission was to insult or injure me. 
 John Waters, a very powerful man, and a native of 
 Oglethorpe County, was present. Some friends re- 
 quested him to keep his seat, informing him that his 
 county man was in danger. Williams and his party 
 soon made their appearance. He had but commenced 
 his talk with me, ivhen his movements were observed 
 by the Tomkins and other Oglethorpe people, who came 
 to my defence. The talk ended very quietly. 
 
 I attended with my Oglethorpe friends at the next 
 term of Putnam Court. Stovall was tried. The solicitor- 
 general, Adam G. Safford, requested me to conduct the 
 prosecution. My exertions were not stinted in exposing 
 the scoundrelism of Williams. The trial was not con- 
 cluded until some time after night. Whilst I spoke 
 Williams was outside of the bar irrittiim his teeth. A 
 
 O O 
 
 large party accompanied me to the tavern for protection 
 against him. But it was entirely unnecessary. The 
 exposure of his conduct had taken away his control 
 over others. He was himself harmless, because he felt 
 that attracting the attention of others to himself would 
 but increase the notoriety of his guilt, and add to his 
 shame. 
 
 Stovall was sent to the Penitentiary, ivliere the 
 
272 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 speaker of the House of Representatives ought to 
 have been. Ben Williams was never afterwards a inem- 
 ber of the Legislature. Public opinion forced him to 
 leave Putnam County. He went to Gwinnett, where he 
 became a constable for the district in which he lived. 
 When I last saw him, he was a poor, shabby creature, 
 exciting only pity for his fallen fortunes. 
 
 In 1819 I was re-elected a member 'of the Legisla- 
 ture. Gov. Rabun having died before its meeting, the 
 duties of Chief Magistrate devolved upon Mr. Tabbat, 
 the president of the Senate. The Governor was then 
 elected by the Legislature. Gen. Clark was a candi- 
 date. He and his friends were very active in the use 
 of means to secure his success. Gov. Rabun had beaten 
 him but a few votes at the previous election. Parties 
 were so equally divided, that every vote was looked 
 after with great interest. The county of Newton was 
 for the first time represented in the Legislature. The 
 candidate for the House of Representatives who obtain- 
 ed the certificate of election was a friend of Clark. 
 His seat was contested. 
 
 The committee on elections was apjiointed imme- 
 diately after the organization of the House. The mem- 
 bers went into an examination of the right of the sit- 
 ting member to his seat, so that a report might be made 
 and acted on before the election of Governor. 
 
 The opponent of the sitting member, called upon 
 the members of the committee who were opposed to 
 the election of Gen. Clark, and informed them that he 
 was against Gen. Clark, and the sitting member for 
 him. He was threatened with punishment with but 
 little effect. When the committee met, he exhibited 
 affidavits in proof that a sufficient number of the votes 
 given to the sitting member were fraudulent, to entitle 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 278 
 
 him to the seat. The committee reported to that ef- 
 ' feet. The sitting member was a very simple illiterate 
 man. He acquiesced in the report. A partisan of 
 Gen. Clark rose in the House, and asked that time 
 should be allowed the sitting member to procure evi- 
 dence in support of his right to the seat. After some 
 hesitation time was granted. The sitting member re- 
 mained to give his vote for Gen. Clark, and then went 
 to Newton, where he obtained satisfactory proof that 
 the affidavits presented by his opponent to the commit- 
 tee were forgeries. As he returned to Milledgeville, 
 his opponent waylaid him, and threatened him with 
 violence if he did not give up the testimony which he 
 had obtained. He contrived however to escape with 
 his papers. When these facts were made known to the 
 House of Representatives, a resolution was passed, di- 
 recting that the forged affidavits should be turned over 
 to the Solicitor General of the circuit to which Newton 
 County was attached, in order that the forger might 
 be prosecuted. Instead of being indicted he was elect- 
 ed a member of the succeeding Legislature. He proved 
 himself a thorough partisan of Gov. Clark, and as 
 great a knave as ever went unhung. 
 
 Soon after the meeting of the Legislature, and the 
 inauguration of the Governor, Jesse Mercer, the cele- 
 brated Baptist preacher, was requested by the Legisla- 
 ture to preach the funeral sermon of Governor Rabun, 
 who had been his intimate friend. Our Georgia factions 
 of Crawford and Clark were then flourishing in great 
 vigor. Jesse Mercer was a Crawford man as Gov. Ra- 
 bun had been. Gov. Clark suspected that this funeral 
 ceremony was intended to do him harm. The sermon 
 was preached in the Baptist Church, which was some 
 distance from the State House. Gov. Clark, Jesse 
 18 
 
274 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Mercer, ancl tire members of tire Legislature walked in 
 procession to it. Jesse Mercer did Iris best in preaching 
 this funeral sermon of his Baptist friend, and enforced 
 the doctrine with great zeal, that when the Lord taketh 
 away a good and righteous ruler, he does it on ac- 
 count of the sins of the peojfie, and will punish them 
 by putting wicked rulers over them, and ended by say- 
 ing Georgia has reason to tremble. Col. Tatnall and 
 myself had walked together in the procession, and 
 were seated near the principal passway through the 
 Church, with Col. Campbell, Gov. Clark’s brother-in- 
 law, immediately before us, and John Abercromby, the 
 particular friend of Gov. Rabun, a little back ; and on 
 the opposite side of the passway, Col. Campbell with a 
 frown on his brow, looking first at the preacher and 
 then at Gov. Clark. Abercromby gazed around with 
 the most approving smile on his face at the leading 
 Clark men, his speaking countenance saying as plainly 
 as words could have done, — How your man gets it; 
 and then at the Crawford men with equally significant 
 tokens of approbation. Col Tatnall’s proud nature 
 scarcely brooked what he considered a gross insult of- 
 fered to the dignity of the Chief Magistrate of the 
 State. His pent up wrath vented itself in the strongest 
 expressions of disapprobation, as we walked back to 
 the State House, at the conduct of the preacher, the fu- 
 ture speaker, and all who approved their words, or looks. 
 A resolution was immediately passed, asking Jesse Mer- 
 cer for a copy of his sermon for publication. The reso- 
 lution never returned from the Governor’s office. This 
 scene in the Baptist Church showed the state of man- 
 ners, feelings, and opinions of the times. Col. Tatnall 
 stood alone a party man above faction. 
 
 During the session of 1819, Gov. Clark induced Dr. 
 
FIKST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 275 
 
 Burton, a member from Clark County, to introduce a 
 resolution approving the conduct of Gen. Jackson in 
 writing a very insulting letter to Gov. Rabun, on ac- 
 count of an attack made by a party of Georgia Militia 
 under the command of a fellow by the name of Wright, 
 upon an Indian village. Burton had been elected a 
 Crawford man. He was promised for this service, the 
 title of Colonel. Its purpose was to increase the popu- 
 larity of Gen. Jackson at the expense of the friends of 
 Mr. Crawford. Gen. Clark had a private interview 
 with Col. Thomas Murray, and informed him of Bur- 
 ton’s resolution, and its object, and insisted that he 
 should aid in its passage. Col. Murray avowed his dis- 
 position to support him, but declined doing any thing to 
 injure Mr. Crawford. When Burton offered his resolu- 
 tion, I moved that it should be laid on the table. The 
 motion was carried, Col. Murray voting for it. 
 
 John Abercromby was one of the leading mem- 
 bers of the session of 1819. He was a large, fat, pot- 
 bellied man, with his head stuck upon his shoulders 
 without neck. His mind was uncultivated by books, 
 but quick and intelligent. His passions and prejudices 
 were strong and indulged in freely. During the session 
 a kinsman of his by the name of Jerregan (I believe), 
 came to Milledn'eville from McIntosh Countv, where 
 Hopkins had been tried for killing McIntosh. He re- 
 ported that Judge Berrien, who presided at the trial, 
 had been guilty of great partiality in favor of Hopkins. 
 Abercromby, whose ojhnion of Judge Berrien was not 
 very favorable, was excited by the report of the judge’s 
 conduct, to introduce unto the House of Representa- 
 tives a strongly condemnatory resolution, without any 
 evidence of what it had been, but a short street conver- 
 sation. A very angry debate took place. Col. Tat- 
 
276 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 nail, who was the Representative and neighbor of 
 Judge Berrien, was very indignant. He and Aber- 
 cromby were soon in lighting mood. Abercromby 
 reflected upon the lawyers for the support they gave 
 their Brother Chip, as he called Judge Berrien. He and 
 I occupied adjoining seats and were upon very friendly 
 terms. I succeeded in (what I am not very successful 
 at) exciting the laugh of the House at Abercromby, 
 and putting every body into gooddiumor. Col. Tat- 
 nall offered a resolution of inquiry into Judge Ber- 
 rien’s conduct, which was referred to a large committee. 
 Judge Berrien was immediately notified of the proceed- 
 ings of the House, and came to Milleclgeville attended by 
 several friends of the Bar. The committee held its 
 meetings in the senate chamber, after the adjournment 
 for the day of the two Houses. A great crowd assem- 
 bled below and in the gallery. Col. Tatnall, the mov- 
 er of the resolution of inquiry, was chairman of the 
 committee. Before he took his seat in the President’s 
 chair, he told me that Abercromby’s violent conduct 
 had so excited him, that he believed he would find it 
 impossible to restrain his temper if it was repeated, and 
 requested me to move as soon as the committee was 
 ready to act, that he should be excused from presiding 
 over it, and another chairman appointed. 
 
 I did so, and nominated Col. Murray, whose former 
 independent conduct in resisting Gov. Clark’s demand 
 that he should support Burton’s movement against Gov. 
 Rabun, had entitled him to distinction when it could 
 be given him. The investigation was made upon the 
 evidence given by Judge Berrien’s friends, and resulted 
 in his entire acquittal by the committee. Abercrom- 
 by was alone in his attack, and without any offensive 
 materials to carry it on. He had to submit, but he did 
 so with bad temper. 
 
FIE ST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 277 
 
 It may not be amiss to mention here an incident 
 which relates to John Abercromby, which is still freshly 
 remembered by some. In 1824, whilst the House of 
 Representatives was in committee laying off into coun- 
 ties the country some time before acquired 
 
 from the Creek Indians, John Abercromby having left 
 the speaker’s chair, moved that one of the new counties 
 should be called Butts, in honor of a captain of that 
 name, who had served under General Floyd in the 
 expedition against the Creek Indians, and been killed 
 in a fight with them. Abercromby supported his 
 motion by a very declamatory speech enforced by the 
 most furious gestures, saying that “ Captain Butts had 
 marched to the cannon’s mouth and died without a grunt.” 
 My wife was in the gallery listening. Her Grattan 
 spirit, carried aloft by Abercromby’s enthusiastic elo- 
 quence, was near being brought to the floor by the 
 spasmodic effect of the word grunt. 
 
 During the session of 1819, 1 offered an amendment 
 to the Constitution, to authorize the Legislature to 
 establish a Supreme Appellate Court. The judges of the 
 Superior Court were then elected for three years, and 
 were of course frequently changed. Ho reports of 
 decisions were made and published. Lawyers resorted 
 to the law reports of other States and counties, and to 
 their own and others’ memoirs of adjudicated cases in 
 the advocacy of their clients’ causes. Declamation and 
 bold assertion perverted the verdicts of juries, and 
 judgments of the judges. The effort to correct these 
 evils by the proposed amendment of the Constitution 
 was without success. The most influential public men 
 in the State were Virginians or of Virginia descent. In 
 former times, the Court of Appeals of Virginia was so 
 constituted, that when a case of any importance got 
 
278 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 before it, the delay became so great an evil as to excite 
 the opposition of the people to the Court itself. It was 
 not until after the emigrants from Virginia ceased to 
 govern, that the Court of Appeals was established. I 
 made a speech in support of my proposed measure. It 
 was answered by the leading partisan of Governor 
 Clark. Party politics began immediately to enter into 
 the decision of the question. I was requested to pub- 
 lish my remarks as soon as possible. I wrote them 
 out ; but the writing was illegible at the printing office. 
 I had not then a faithful copyist ever at my side, to 
 make my writing readable. George Cony, an old 
 schoolmate and fellow-member, offered to copy them. 
 When he returned the manuscript, I found that he had 
 in several places changed the verbiage (which, he said, 
 was so bold that he could not stand it) into redundant 
 terms. As the sense was not altered, I consented to 
 the publication at once. This was my second published 
 speech. I had been still more unfortunate in the first. 
 That was made at the previous session of the Legisla- 
 ture, on the subject of banks, and was printed without 
 any correction at all, and therefore full of mistakes. 
 I sent a newspaper copy of the speech on the Court of 
 Appeals to Eliza Grattan, in a letter, instead of direct- 
 ing the paper to her. This lovedetter was opened in 
 search of bank-bills, and its contents exposed to the 
 reading of every curious body at the post-office. The 
 postage amounted to one dollar. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 279 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 •Esr 1820, I was a candidate for Congress. On Friday, 
 ten days before the election, I received a letter from 
 an acquaintance in Putnam County, informing me that 
 Ben Williams had gone to Milledgeville, to have the 
 correspondence between Governor Rabun and myself 
 published, with the hope that its violence would pre- 
 vent the friends of 'Governor Rabun from voting for 
 me. I reached Greens borough, on my way to Milledge- 
 ville, on the evening after the letter was received. I 
 found Governor Clark at the tavern where I stopped. 
 I had an interview with him, and stated what hacl been 
 communicated to me. He answered, that every citizen 
 was entitled to copies of the papers in the executive 
 office, and that Mr. Williams had only done what other 
 citizens might do. I replied, that I was not complain- 
 ing of the liberty he had given Williams ; but that as 
 the Executive Department had furnished copies of these 
 papers belonging to it, for the purpose of impairing 
 public confidence in me, I desired to have the use of 
 the same means for making my defence ; and that as I 
 could not get to Milledgeville until Saturday night, I 
 wished an order from him to his secretary, to permit 
 me to go into the Executive office on Sunday, to pro- 
 cure copies of such papers as I wanted for that purpose, 
 so that the publication of my defence might be made 
 with the attack, there being then but one paper to be 
 published before the election. Governor Clark an- 
 swered, that the office over which he presided was not 
 opened on the Sabbath day. I went to Milledgeville 
 the next day. As soon as my arrival was known, the 
 
280 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Governor’s secretary, Mr. Bircli, who had furnished 
 Williams with copies of what he wanted, offered imme- 
 diately to do the same for me. Upon going to the 
 printing office, I found my hard ride unnecessary, as 
 the editors had refused to print Williams’ attack upon 
 a candidate so immediately before the election that no 
 reply could be made. 
 
 After the adjournment of the October term of the 
 Supreme Court of Oglethorpe, in 1821, I set off for 
 Washington City, by the way of Virginia. I had been 
 corresponding for many years with a Rockingham 
 cousin, whom I had first seen twelve years before in 
 Richmond. In this written intercourse, I had said 
 nothing to her about marrying. I felt great curiosity 
 to see her. I wanted to know whether we would fancy 
 each other upon sight, as we had on paper. 
 
 I arrived about twelve o’clock on Sunday, at the old 
 Augusta church, which stands on the top of a slight 
 elevation in the midst of a forest of venerable oaks, and 
 near the public road leading from Staunton to Win- 
 chester. The doors were closed. I found the son of 
 the sexton, and inquired if Maj. Grattan’s family were 
 there. He answered, yes. I opened the door, but was 
 unable to go into Maj. Grattan’s pew, which was next 
 to the door, and elevated above the seats in front. The 
 owner of the next pew invited me in. I had no power 
 to hear the sermon from my curiosity to see the inmates 
 of the pew behind me. I could hear a stir among the 
 Grattan children. Very soon a beautiful young lady 
 descended from the pew, and went to the stove, pre- 
 tending that she was cold. I saw that it was not Eliza. 
 When the service was over, I found that Eliza was at 
 my uncle George Gilmer’s, twenty miles off. I accom- 
 panied Maj. Grattan’s family home. The next morning, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 281 
 
 I went to Lethe. As I opened the outer door, the door 
 from the passage into the sitting room was opened by 
 Eliza Grattan. When I knew what I was about, my 
 arm was around her waist, and I was pressing her lips ; 
 a position which I have been constantly taking ever 
 since, and ever with renewed pleasure. Eliza Grattan 
 and myself settled the matter most interesting to us in 
 a very satisfactory way, agreeing that after the session 
 of Congress was over, we would take each other, for 
 better, for life. During my attendance on the first 
 session of Congress, I wrote to her by every direct 
 mail. During the next session after our marriage, 
 whilst we were separated for three weeks (the longest 
 time we have ever been apart), I wrote to her twice 
 a day. My health became so bad during the winter, 
 that I was in great doubt whether I ought to involve 
 any one in my sickly fate. Eliza Grattan considered 
 my doubts a reflection upon her generous devotedness ; 
 and for a few days our correspondence was embarrass- 
 ing. The cloud, however, soon passed away. It was 
 agreed between us, that after the adjournment of Con- 
 gress I should see Dr. Phisic of Philadelphia, and follow 
 his advice. 
 
 During the session, the candidates for the Presi- 
 dency, and their friends, began to canvass actively. 
 Mr. Adams of the North, Mr. Crawford of the South, 
 and Mr. Clay of the West, were the distinguished, and 
 well-tried politicians of the country, and every where 
 considered best entitled to the office. Mr. Calhoun, 
 and one or two talented and aspiring young men, were 
 showing symptoms of restlessness at their being kept 
 in the background. Gen. Jackson’s claims had been 
 advocated by only a crack-brained editor of a thumb 
 newspaper in Georgia, named Minor. Mr. Calhoun 
 
282 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 considering Mr. Crawford particularly in Iris way, as 
 tliey belonged to the same section of the country, was 
 preparing to unite with any one whose success would 
 not put him aside too long. Mr. Clay next after him- 
 self preferred Mr. Crawford, but stood aloof, to avail 
 himself of circumstances to secure his own success. 
 Cook, of the House, and his father-in-law, Ninian Ed- 
 wards, of the Senate, were active partisans of Mr. 
 Adams. Cook introduced into the House a resolution, 
 the object of which was to create suspicions that Mr. 
 Crawford was using the patronage of the treasury de- 
 partment for electioneering purposes. Mr. Crawford 
 was the neighbor and friend of my friends at home. 
 I was very raw, and felt the attack as if it had been an 
 assault upon myself. Whilst Cook’s resolution was 
 before the House, I received information that Mr. Cal- 
 houn and several members, his own and Mr. Adams’s 
 special friends, had been consulting how to give effect 
 to Cook’s attack. I offered a resolution of inquiry, 
 whether a conspiracy had not been formed to destroy 
 public confidence in the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 Whilst I was attacking Cook, I saw his father-in-law, 
 Ninian Edwards, come into the gallery, and place him- 
 self near and rather behind one of the pillars, so that 
 he could see and hear without being conspicuous him- 
 self. I pointed at him with my finger, as the skulking 
 scamp who was then acting the part of a conspirator. 
 Every eye in the House was directed at the pillar, with 
 overpowering effect upon the peeping listener. The 
 next day a member from Connecticut, who had been 
 a college mate of Mr. Calhoun, was put forward to 
 assault me in the House. He had scarcely uttered more 
 than a sentence or two, before Col. Tatnall called him 
 to order in such manner that he quailed, disavowed in- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 283 
 
 tending any discourtesy, and made what he said with- 
 out point, and unworthy of notice. 
 
 The speech from which the following extract is 
 taken, was upon a subject which had at the time lost 
 much of its original interest. The Anti-Democratic 
 party, at first called the Federal, then Federal Repub- 
 lican, and since Whig, had been long using the United 
 States Bank, restrictive duties upon commerce, and ap- 
 propriations for internal improvements, as means for 
 increasing and rendering permanent in the General Gov- 
 ernment enlarged legislative powers, and controlling 
 authority over matters which properly belonged to 
 the jurisdiction of the States. The democratic party 
 was at the time making but slight resistance to this 
 departure of the government from the principles which 
 had been the basis of its organization. The urgency 
 of particular sections of the country in favor of making 
 roads and canals to facilitate the transportation of their 
 produce to market, and the demands of large capital- 
 ists for the means of safe and profitable investments 
 of their money in banks and manufactures, were hush- 
 ing up many of its members. The practical operation 
 of the government was thus overstepping, without 
 much difficulty, the theoretic barriers provided by its 
 form for the security of popular rights, and the strict 
 responsibility of the governors to the governed. 
 
 “ No” (I said) “maxim has been better tested .by experience, 
 or more strongly urged for our observance, by those 'who have 
 preceded us, than the necessity of a frequent recurrence to 
 fundamental principles as the only means of preserving the ori- 
 ginal freedom of our institutions. If we go on, regardless of 
 this maxim, is there not reason to fear, that from the gradual 
 operation of causes that never cease to act, we shall, after a 
 while, find our government in possession of the same controlling 
 
284 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 authority over the will, the rights, and interests, of the people, 
 and the States, that all other governments have usurped ? 
 
 “ Sir, I consider this power of making surveys, and the conse- 
 quent right of constructing roads and canals within the large terri- 
 tories of the States, as the most dangerous to the people and 
 the States, which can be assumed by this government. All the 
 wealth of the country may he exhausted in its exercise, and all 
 resistance to lawless authority quieted, in the extended influence 
 which it will give. I deny that this government has any such 
 power. And believing as I do, that the division of power between 
 the United States and the States, as made by the constitution, 
 should not be altered, it becomes my duty to resist any attempt 
 at such an alteration.” 
 
 Col. Tatnall and myself left Washington City two 
 days after the adjournment of Congress, for New York. 
 We had for companions Rufus King and Martin Van 
 Buren. 
 
 I visited in New York the highest court of law 
 then sitting ; saw, heard, and conversed with Mr. 
 Emmet, the celebrated Irishman, in whom I felt a special 
 interest. On the next day Mr. Van Buren called, and 
 conducted me to the city court, where the young, active, 
 and aspiring lawyers were to be found, with whom he 
 seemed to be particularly intimate. We called upon 
 his tailor, Gen. Mapes, to whom he was very gracious. 
 He gave me a letter to the postmaster at Saratoga 
 Springs, whither I was going. I found a very good 
 landlady by his assistance. I had also a letter to a 
 pleasant gentleman residing at the Springs. He took 
 me with him to Ballston, the county seat of Saratoga, 
 where the superior court was in session. I heard Mr. 
 Van Vechten speak, and dined with Judge Yates, after- 
 wards Governor of New York. 
 
 The following letters describe some of the transac- 
 tions at Washington City in which I took part. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 285 
 
 Saratoga Springs, May VAth , 1822. 
 
 If I mistake not, I mentioned to you in a former letter, that 
 I had been very much vexed at some occurrences -which took 
 place in the last two days that I remained in Washington City. 
 I received the papers on the same day I received your letter 
 relative to those occurrences. ****** 
 
 The report which, as chairman of a select committee, I made 
 on the subject of Indian lands in Georgia, was not taken up for 
 consideration by the House of Representatives, as it never be- 
 came the order of the day. I was enabled, however, to obtain 
 an appropriation of $30,000 for the purpose of holding treaties 
 with the Cherokee and Creek Indians for the extinguishment of 
 their title to lands in Georgia. The law containing this appro- 
 priation passed on Tuesday, the last day but one of the session. 
 On the evening of that day, the members of Congress from 
 Georgia had a meeting, for the purpose of agreeing upon the 
 persons who should he recommended to the President for the 
 appointment of commissioners to hold treaties. We drew up a 
 written address, recommending to the President Gen. Floyd, 
 Maj. James Meriwether, Col. Warren Jourdan, Freeman 
 Walker, Richard H. Wild, and Joel Crawford, from whom he 
 was requested to select three. On Wednesday morning, it was 
 determined that we should wait upon the President, and name 
 to him the persons whom we preferred for commissioners. Ac- 
 cordingly, Col. Ware, Judge Reid, and myself, called upon him, 
 and requested tha the would nominate Gen. Floyd, Maj. Meri- 
 wether. and Col. Jourdan. The President stated that he was 
 pleased to see us, being unacquainted with the passage of the 
 appropriation. We asked him if he would nominate the com- 
 missioners to the Senate before its adjournment, or would he 
 appoint them during the recess. He answered, that he did not 
 think it right to delay making appointments until the recess of 
 Congress which could be made during the session, and that they 
 would be made during the day. Whilst the Senate was still in 
 session, the President sent for Col. Ware, who is a member of 
 that body, and informed him, that Mr. Calhoun had communi- 
 cated to him after the conversation with us, that he had recom- 
 mendations in Iris office from Gov. Clark of Georgia, the Presi- 
 dent of its Senate, the Speaker of its House, and a large number 
 
286 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 of the members of the Legislature, of Gen. Newman and John 
 A. Cuthbert of Georgia, and Gen. Preston of Virginia, for 
 Commissioners, and that he could not therefore make any nom- 
 inations to the Senate. Col. Ware sent for me. I requested 
 
 an audience of the President, which was grafted. I stated to 
 him that the recommendations which had been mentioned by 
 Mr. Calhoun, proceeded only from the efforts of a party, to get 
 their creatures into office. That Gen. Newman was a man of 
 broken fortunes and character, and Mr. Cuthbert had no know- 
 ledge of Indian character or manners. Gen. Preston having 
 been appointed to the office of Commissioner in Florida, it be- 
 came useless to say any thing of him. After a long conversa- 
 tion, in which the President showed more restlessness than dis- 
 position to hear, he informed me that he could not make the ap- 
 pointments then, but that such persons should be appointed during 
 the recess, as he supposed to be most agreeable to public opinion 
 in Georgia. Congress having adjourned in the morning, I 
 called at the President’s house in the evening for the purpose of 
 seeing the recommendations. The President informed me that 
 he had not himself seen them, that his knowledge of them was 
 from the statement of Mr. Calhoun, but that I should be fur- 
 nished with copies. He sent for Mr. Calhoun, who had left him 
 upon my entering his room. Upon his coming in, he directed 
 him to have copies made out for me. Mr. Calhoun commenced 
 a conversation, or rather attack upon me, which continued until, 
 from its peculiar nature, the President had to stop it, at the 
 same time saying to me very politely, that he would receive any 
 thing from me, verbally or written, with pleasure. You may 
 have some idea of the conversation between Mr. Calhoun and 
 myself by what I am about to tell you. He stated, among other 
 things, that his conduct in making the treaty with the Cherokee 
 Indians in 1819, had been very much misrepresented in Georgia. 
 I told him that the people of Georgia believed that injustice had 
 been done them by that treaty. You may see the objections to 
 that treaty in my report. He stated that those who believed so 
 only showed their ignorance. I told him that the treaty had 
 been protested against by a unanimous vote of the Legislature 
 of Georgia. “ Sir,” says he, “ I repeat it, they knew nothing of 
 what they were doing.” He said that the treaty had been made 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 287 
 
 by the particular advice of Mr. Crawford. Mr. Crawford in- 
 forms me that the statement is entirely false, that he was confin- 
 ed to bed by sickness, at the time of the making of the treaty. 
 Mr. Calhoun asked me if Col. Jourdan was not the brother-in- 
 law of Mr. Crawford, thereby insinuating to the President, that 
 the members of Congress were influenced in their recommenda- 
 tions, by a regard for the interest of Mr. Crawford. Mrs. Cran- 
 ford’s maiden name was Gerdine, and is usually called in the 
 same manner as Jourdan. He stated that the recommendations 
 from Georgia must have been known to myself and other mem- 
 bers. I answered him. that they had been kept secret even from 
 the President, and that the only member who knew any thing of 
 them, was Mr. Alfred Cuthbert, the brother of the person re- 
 commended, to whom he had stated at his own house, in a pri- 
 vate conversation, that his brother John could be appointed a 
 commissioner. I had drawn this information from Alfred Cuth- 
 bert, a few hours before, that this had been several months be- 
 fore, and that the recommendations had continued unknown to 
 the other members. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, Col. Ware, Judge Reid and myself 
 directed a note to the President, inclosing the first written re- 
 commendations, for the purpose of showing to the President that 
 we had no political view in making them. I also addressed a 
 note to the President, inclosing one to myself from a highly re- 
 spectable merchant of Georgia, who had arrived in the city the 
 evening before, in which he stated, that Gen. Newman had be- 
 come insolvent and had gone to Tennessee, it was believed never to 
 return, leaving his securities to pay his debts. ,Mr. Calhoun stated 
 the evening before, that the paper containing the recommendations 
 from Georgia could not be furnished before nine or ten o’clock 
 next morning. Before that time I expected to have left the 
 city, and therefore directed them to be sent to this place. 
 Afterwards finding that I should be detained by the sickness 
 of Col. Tatnall, I wrote to Mr. Calhoun, requesting that they 
 should be sent to me in the city. They were not, b owever, re- 
 ceived until I arrived here. You may imagine my surprise, 
 when, upon examining them, I found that the statements of Mr. 
 Calhoun to the President, with regard to them, had been entirely 
 different from the facts. Gen. Newman had been recommended 
 
288 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 by no one from Georgia for the appointment of Commissioner ; 
 Mr. Cuthbert only by the Governor, tbe President of the Senate, 
 and the Speaker of the House. 
 
 I have addressed a letter to the President, a copy of which 
 is inclosed to you. From all these circumstances you will be 
 better enabled to form some opinion of the state of politics at 
 Washington City. When ambition can produce such effects 
 upon men, who, in private life are its brightest ornaments, we 
 are warned to quit politics. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Saratoga Springs, May, 20th. 1822. 
 
 To Mr. Monroe, President of the U. States. 
 
 The papers which you directed the Secretary of War to 
 have copied for me have been received. I must confess that I 
 am very much surprised to find that the statements made by the 
 Secretary to the President, were very incorrect. The President 
 was informed that Gen. Newman, John A. Cuthbert, and Gen. 
 Preston, had been recommended for the appointment of commis- 
 sioners to hold treaties with the Indians in the State of Georgia, 
 by the Governor of the State, the President of the Senate, 
 Speaker of the House, and a large number of the members of its 
 Legislature. It appears that the statement with regard to Gen. 
 Newman was wholly unfounded. Mr. Cuthbert has been recom- 
 mended by the Governor, Mr. Talbot, President of the Senate, 
 and Gen. Adams, Speaker of the House, but by no others of the 
 Legislature. Gen. Preston is recommended by the Governor 
 alone. I know of no excuse for the conduct of the Secretary. 
 The papers have been in his possession for several months. He 
 stated in the presence of the President, that their contents were 
 so publicly known, that the members of Congress could not have 
 been ignorant of them, notwithstanding my assertions to the 
 contrary. I regret that nominations about to be made upon 
 the recommendations of the Representatives of the State, of men 
 selected alone for their capacity to perform the duties of the office 
 to w'hich they were to be appointed, should have been prevented 
 by a mistake, which could have been so easily avoided. 
 
 So far as regards Gen. Preston and Gen. Newman, there is 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 289 
 
 no probability that either would accept the appointment of Com- 
 missioner. I have already stated to the President that Mr. 
 Cuthbert is a man of respectable character and talents. The 
 objections to his appointment are, that he has none of the pecu- 
 liar qualifications necessary in public agents who would transact 
 business with the Indians. He has no knowledge of Indian 
 character and manners, and nothing in his own character or 
 manners which would be very imposing upon savages. There 
 is another strong objection to the appointment of Mr. Cuthbert, 
 arising from the manner in which he has been recommended. 
 The President cannot be ignorant of the violence of the parties 
 which agitated the State of Georgia in the late election of its 
 Governor, and the attempt rvhich has been made to connect those 
 parties with the more extensive parties which are now forming 
 throughout the Union. Mr. Cuthbert took an active part in fa- 
 vor of the present Governor. Immediately after the election, re- 
 commendations were sent to the Secretary of War by the Gover- 
 nor and two of his most active partisans, for the appointment of 
 commissioners to hold treaties with the Indians, long before any 
 such office was created, or any appropriation made for that pur- 
 pose, or indeed any report made to Congress upon the subject of 
 Indian land in Georgia. There can be no mistake with regard 
 to the motives which have produced the recommendations of Mr. 
 Cuthbert, and of his being pressed as he has been upon the Pre- 
 sident. Individually, and in the name of my constituents, I protest 
 against the appointment of any man under such circumstances. 
 
 The President will have discovered by the written communi- 
 cation sent him on the 9th inst. by Messrs. Ware, Reid, and 
 myself, that the Representatives from Georgia had intended 
 sending the names of more persons than were communicated when 
 we had the honor of waiting upon him personally. This change 
 tookplace in consequence of the belief that Gen. Floyd, Maj. James 
 Meriwether and Col . W arren Jourdan, from their acquaintance with 
 the Indians, and high reputation among them, would probably 
 serve the country more effectually in treating with them than any 
 other persons. Gen. Floyd has the reputation of being a man 
 of talents, and high honorable character. His success in the 
 expedition which he commanded against the Indians, is calcu- 
 lated to give him great weight with those people. I have never 
 19 
 
290 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 known of his having been engaged in political, or party strife. 
 He has never been in the Legislature, or held any office of pub- 
 lic importance in Georgia, except military, since I have had any 
 knowledge of public affairs. He was appointed a commissioner to 
 hold the treaty with the Creek Indians in 1820, but from some 
 family misfortune could not accept. The difficulty which then 
 existed is now removed. 
 
 Maj. James Meriwether is the son of Gen. David Meriwe- 
 ther, who has been employed by the Government to hold treaties 
 with the Indians on several occasions, and who would again have 
 been recommended but for his state of health. Maj. Meriwe- 
 ther is a trustee of the University of Georgia, a member of the 
 Legislature, a man of talents and integrity. For the last twenty 
 years he has resided within a few miles of the Creek and Che- 
 rokee frontiers. He commanded a company in the expedition 
 against the Creek Indians, under Gen. Floyd. 
 
 Col. Warren Jourdan has been frequently a member of the 
 Legislature, is a man of talents and character, with person and 
 manners peculiarly calculated to render him useful for the ser- 
 vice required. He was recommended to the President for the 
 same appointment in 1820. 
 
 I have been thus particular, that the President may be satis- 
 fied that the members of Congress from Georgia were actuated 
 by no motives but public duty, in recommending Messrs. Floyd, 
 Meriwether and Jourdan. Messrs. Walker, Wild and Crawford 
 are, either of them, equal in every respect to Mr. Cuthbert. 
 These last gentlemen were withdrawn, because it was believed 
 that those who were recommended possessed some qualifications 
 for the appointment of Commissioners, which those gentlemen 
 did not. If we had been governed by the motive which the 
 Secretary of War intimated when he asked me in the presence 
 of the President, whether Col. Jourdan was the brother-in-law 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury, we would certainly have re- 
 commended Messrs. Walker, Wild and Crawford, as having far 
 more political influence than the gentlemen who were recom- 
 mended. 
 
 I have written thus much from a sense of duty to my constituents. 
 I have myself taken great interest in the extinguishment of the 
 Indian title to lands in Georgia, both as a member of the Legis- 
 
1’IEST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 291 
 
 lature of that State, and a member of the present Congress. I 
 believe the difficulties in removing the Indians from Georgia are 
 continually increasing. I therefore protest against any political 
 intrigue interfering with the accomplishment of that important 
 object. 
 
 I inclose a copy of the papers sent me by the Secretary of 
 War, lest the President might not be informed of the extraordi- 
 nary mistake committed by the Secretary, and continue to act 
 under it. 
 
 I trust that the interest which I have taken in the subject of 
 this letter, will be my sufficient excuse for making syck large 
 claims upon the attention of the President. 
 
 With the highest respect, 
 
 Tour obt. servant, 
 
 George R. Gilmer.’ 1 
 
 After remaining at Saratoga a few weeks, I went 
 to Virginia. I was soon afterwards married. This 
 event, the happiest, and the only one of any really 
 great importance to myself wliicli had happened to 
 me, was too engrossingly selfish from the circumstances 
 which attended it, to he of any importance to others. 
 My wife and myself were first cousins. We were with 
 mutual family friends, who were the hest of people, 
 and with whom we were special favorites. Time 
 passed away without any measure for its fleeting mo- 
 ments. After a while we came to Georgia. The 
 evening we arrived at my mother’s, we were expected. 
 The family were assembled. All the negroes were 
 about the house. They set up a great shout, “ Massa 
 George is married and come home.” They took my 
 wife from the carriage and carried her in triumph to 
 the house. My brothers had all married by the time 
 they were twenty-one, and my sisters much younger. 
 I had grown old enough to make my marriage un- 
 looked for. 
 
292 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 I went to profession or business witli eagerness, 
 supposing tliat what had happened to others would be 
 our fate, and that labor would have its rewards in- 
 creased by the objects of care for whom the exertion 
 was made. Our anticipations were not realized. I 
 doubt not, happily for us. Time has never dragged. 
 W e can never be without matters to interest us whilst 
 we are spared to each other. Exertion finds its best 
 compensation in contented, happy spirits. As to its 
 profits, Madam disposes of them easily, and with great 
 pleasure. 
 
 The courts over, I returned to my service in Con- 
 gress. During the Christmas holidays I visited Mr. 
 Taliaferro, of Orange, Virginia. There I found my 
 wife and her sister, Lucy Grattan. They accompanied 
 me back to Washington City. Lucy Grattan was 
 seventeen, and the most perfect sample of youthful 
 beauty and joyous hilarity which belonged to the ro- 
 mantic valley of the Shenandoah. She attended, with 
 my wife, the winter parties, and for some weeks aston- 
 ished the modish beings of conventional society by her 
 freedom from form, the sprightly, elastic step witli 
 which she danced ; and occasionally startled the Senate 
 and House of Representatives by a laugh so loud and 
 joyous as to attract all ears and eyes. 
 
 I had been living with a mess not very well situ- 
 ated for ladies : Harden, of Kentucky ; Blair, of Ca- 
 rolina ; Thomson and Abbat, of Georgia ; Smith, of 
 Virginia; and Allen, of Tennessee. I took rooms at 
 Dawson's, in the mess of Mr. Randolph, Macon, Col. 
 and Mrs. Benton, Tatnall, Elliot, Archer, Burton, and 
 Jones, of Tennessee. Mrs. Benton and my wife were 
 from the same part of Virginia, and had been friends 
 and schoolmates when young ladies. Archer ' had 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 298 
 
 been in the same society with my wife in Richmond 
 some years before. He was under an hereditary obliga- 
 tion to be specially civil to every one of the Gilmer 
 family. His father was a member of the Virginia Leg- 
 islature when Col. Tarleton dispersed that body when 
 sitting in Charlottesville, and was cut down in the street 
 by a dragoon, and his life saved by Mrs. George Gil- 
 mer running from her house to where he was in pos- 
 session of the British soldiers, begging for his life, hav- 
 ing him carried into Hr. Gilmer’s house, and nursed 
 until he was able to go to his home. Col. Elliot and 
 Tatnall were old Georgia friends. Col. Randolph, of 
 Tuekahoe, married the daughter of Col. Harvie (after- 
 wards Mrs. Hr. Brokenborough, of Richmond), my kins- 
 woman, with whom Mr. John Randolph was very inti- 
 mate. Mr. Macon was the special friend of Mr. Craw- 
 ford, my father’s neighbor and friend. 
 
 In the summer we returned to Georgia. My wife 
 went to housekeepiug, and I to the law. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Ik 1824, Gen. Jackson, Mr. Adams, Mr. Crawford, and 
 Mr. Clay contended for the presidency. I went into 
 the Senate from Oglethorpe County for the purpose of 
 aiding to elect electors who would vote for Mr. Craw- 
 ford. Mr. Crawford’s body and mind had been very 
 injuriously affected some months before by an attack 
 of paralysis. His advocates in Washington City as- 
 sured the public, that the effects of the attack would 
 not disqualify him for the discharge of the duties of 
 the presidential office if elected. I believed what they 
 
294 : 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 said. Some time before tlie election of electors came 
 on, I received a short letter from Mr. Crawford, writ- 
 ten cornerwise instead of across the paper, and seem- 
 ingly with a blunt stick instead of a pen, requesting 
 me, as his known friend, to introduce resolutions into 
 the Legislature to alter the constitution, so as to give 
 to Congress the power to make internal improvements 
 in the State, for the purpose of removing objections to 
 him on account of the course pursued by his political 
 friends on that subject. The manner of this letter 
 was as bad as it well could be ; but the matter was 
 still worse ; because he knew my opinions to be against 
 the proposition which he desired me to make. I had 
 been sent to the Legislature by the people of Ogle- 
 thorpe for the purpose of voting for him after his sick- 
 ness was known. In my embarrassment I called upon 
 Mr. Peter Crawford, the Senator from Columbia 
 County, his kinsman, stated to him my difficulties, and 
 showed him the letter which I had received. He 
 pulled from his pocket a similar one, and confessed 
 himself equally at fault. We concluded that nothing 
 could then be done but to go on and do what our con- 
 stituents had elected us to do. 
 
 On our way to Milledgeville and a few miles from 
 town, John Abercromby overtook us. He requested 
 me to take a seat in his carriage, for the purpose of 
 consulting about some public matters. When we 
 arrived at the river, I returned to my carriage. I 
 found my wife very much put out. She said that she 
 was ashamed to be seen alone by the crowds who 
 passed the carriage ; and that she was not accustomed 
 to be left by her escort, for the company of gentlemen. 
 It took hard courting to reconcile her to the necessities 
 of a politician. Col. Hamilton invited Mr. Peter 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 2-5 
 
 Crawford, Mr. Prince and myself, to dine with the 
 electors of President and Vice-President at his house 
 on the day they gave their votes, as the special 
 friends of Mr. Win. H. Crawford. I left the Senate 
 Chamber in time to go by my boarding-house, to see 
 my Avife, whilst Mr. Prince went on to Col. Hamilton’s. 
 During my absence, Col. Tom Foster called to see m3 7 
 wife. When he went into the drawing-room, it was 
 evident that she had been in tears. He Avas alarmed, 
 lest some great family misfortune had happened ; and 
 being a very intimate friend, took the liberty of asking 
 her what was the matter. She frankly told him, that 
 she could not bear for her husband to leave her, in 
 search of pleasure. The Colonel explained to her, that 
 I could not well avoid doing Avhat I had done. When 
 I returned, she sat down on my knees, put her arms 
 around my neck, and told me how Col. Foster had 
 found her crying, and her telling him the cause. And 
 although she Avas then acknoAvledging that she had 
 behaved like a child, she said, My dear George, whilst 
 I lh 7 e, I must live with you. And yet whenever duty 
 or business called me, she never delayed or prevented 
 my going, but ahvays urged me on, and aided me in 
 getting ready. I never lost a da} 7 from the Courts, 
 the Legislature, Congress, or the Executive department, 
 at her intercession. 
 
 When I was last in Congress, the celebrated actor,. 
 Powers, Avas performing in Washington City. Mr. JB. 
 W. Leigh requested me to accompany him one night 
 to the theatre, Avhere a play particularly suited to 
 Powers’ talents Avas to be acted. When I proposed to 
 my wife to go, she said that the church to Avliich she 
 belonged did not tolerate plays at all, and that she 
 could not offend it ; but insisted that I should go. I 
 
2!) 6 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 dicl. But my enjoyments had so long derived their 
 relish from sympathy with her, that I returned home 
 tired, and with the opinion that I had seen many a 
 schoolboy act better than Powers. These are the only 
 times when I have voluntarily sought pleasure in the 
 society of others, apart from my wife, for the thirty-two 
 years we have been married. 
 
 From 1824 to 1827, I was engaged in the practice 
 of law, without any interruption from public^ business. 
 In newly settled countries, all are in movement. Each 
 one presses eagerly forward.^ Expectation is ever on 
 the tip-toe for coming events. Nobody has time or in- 
 clination to look back, or examine into what has been 
 done. All die, though nobody seems to think so. 
 Many persons in Georgia availed themselves, in former 
 times, of the loose administration of the estates of de- 
 ceased persons, to appropriate property to themselves 
 which did not rightfully belong to them. There was 
 no settled public opinion, to control the dishonest by 
 a sense of its supervision. Under the full press of the 
 universal struggle for money, unsecured rights were 
 often lost. It was the observation of one of the shrewd- 
 est old Georgians, that the administration of two large 
 estates, in the hands of a skilful and unscrupulous ad- 
 ministrator, was worth a fortune. Administrators 
 moved off to newly acquired territories, to Alabama, 
 Mississippi, or elsewhere, before they could be called to 
 an account, or the children themselves dispersed before 
 they received what belonged to them. Very few un- 
 derstood how to examine into the accuracy of the re- 
 turns of administrators and executors. Lawsuits were 
 formerly seldom resorted to for the settlement of the 
 estates of deceased persons. 
 
 In 1822, William B died. He was an old man, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 297 
 
 a bachelor, and wealthy. He left no will. His estate 
 belonged to Jonathan, his only brother then living, 
 and the children of numerous deceased brothers and 
 sisters. Jonathan B— , the brother, and Henry 
 B— — , a nephew, administered on his estate. Jonathan 
 
 B was a very old, weak, and inefficient man. 
 
 Henry B was in the full vigor of life, had some 
 
 property, and a large family. He was a drinking, 
 turbulent, fighting, smart, unprincipled man. The 
 management of William B ’s estate was monopo- 
 
 lized by him. Instead of distributing, he sold the whole 
 estate for the purpose of getting five per cent, upon the 
 entire sum of its value. Most of the kin, entitled to 
 share it, lived in distant States, were poor, ignorant, 
 and without the means of enforcing their lights, if they 
 had known them. Those in Oglethorpe and the neigh- 
 boring counties, purchased property at the sale of the 
 estate, at very high prices, and fully equal to their 
 shares ; and being poor, were all in the administrator’s 
 
 power. Henry B kept the money for which the 
 
 estate was sold for years, without making any move- 
 ment towards the distribution, and until it entered into 
 his head that he might keep the whole, or most of it, 
 without making any distribution at all. The nearest 
 
 distributee out of the State was Henry B ’s own 
 
 brother-in-law. He came to Georgia, and applied to 
 him for his share, or rather his wife’s share, of her uncle’s 
 estate. Henry B denied any knowledge of him. 
 
 After long delay, a few of the distributees applied 
 to me for the enforcement of their rights. In bringing: 
 the bill for that purpose, it was necessary to make all 
 the persons in interest parties. The distributees who 
 were suing, had no desire to share the estate with those 
 who were so distant that they might never know any 
 
298 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 tiling of their rights. If permitted, they would have 
 sued without them. It required tiiue and labor to 
 ascertain the names and residences of all who were 
 interested. After much unavoidable delay, I brought 
 a bill in equity for the distributees, against Iienry 
 
 B , returnable to the Superior Court of Oglethorpe 
 
 at the April term, 1820. At the trial term, thereafter, 
 
 Henry B suffered me to take a judgment against 
 
 him without defence. At the trial term of the appeal, 
 October 1828, he made an effort to engage counsel to 
 assist the novice whom he had employed; but the fee 
 lie offered was so insignificant, that no lawyer would 
 accept it. The case was tried by a special jury, com- 
 posed of the best informed, and most upright citizens 
 of the county. I had applied great labor to the investi- 
 gation of all the particulars of the case, and was fully 
 prepared to explain its merits to the jury. It was the 
 most important, for the amount of property involved, 
 which had ever been tried in the up country. Henry 
 B ’s brothers, Bichard and Thomas, had been fre- 
 
 quently sheriff’ of the county, and its Representatives 
 in the Legislature. I was forced, by the pressure of 
 my responsibility, to the exertion of whatever capacity 
 I had, to bring the suit to a favorable issue. When I 
 addressed the jury, I pointed out each. instance of the 
 administrator’s betrayal of his trust in the strongest 
 
 terms. Whilst I was speaking, Henry B stood 
 
 near me with a large stick in his hand, which he was 
 accustomed to apply with great power to the heads of 
 others. As I exposed his rascality, he repeatedly ap- 
 pealed to Judge William H. Crawford, for the protec- 
 tion of the court against my abuse. The judge answered 
 
 as often, “ Take your seat, Mr. B . It is no abuse. 
 
 Sir, it is no abuse.” The jury brought in a verdict for 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 299 
 
 the full amount of all I claimed for my clients, and 
 fourteen per cent, damages for a frivolous appeal. 
 
 The result of Henry B ’s administration of his 
 
 uncle William B— — ’s estate, became well known. 
 Administrators and executors perceived that the time 
 had passed by when they could acquire fortunes out of 
 the management of their trusts, at the expense of wid- 
 ows and orphans, and became content with their lawful 
 fees. Few acts of my life have been so beneficial to 
 society as the disgrace which I caused to the adminis- 
 trator, B , for his knavery. 
 
 I went to Virginia in 1825. Whilst there, I visited 
 Mr. Jefferson at Monticello. He was still erect, his 
 reddish hair but slightly gray, his complexion florid, 
 and his countenance intellectual. He described his 
 plan for making the University, near Charlottesville, 
 then under his particular direction, the great seat of 
 learning for the Southern States. His advanced age 
 and valuable public services, eminent abilities, social 
 qualities, and controlling influence in organizing and 
 giving direction to the democratic republican party, 
 made him an object of special interest. It was indeed 
 surprising to see one so old, who had been so industri- 
 ously employed in discharging the most difficult public 
 duties, so intent upon what he had yet to do. 
 
 Col. Tatn all’s health became so bad in 1827, that 
 be resigned his seat in Congress. I was elected to fill 
 the vacancy. He was born at Bonaventura, four 
 miles below the city of Savannah.. His father, 
 Josiali Tatnall, was one of the most popular and 
 patriotic public men who has ever served the State of 
 Georgia. He was a youth at the commencement of the 
 Revolutionary war. The kinsman who had charge of 
 him (his father being dead), carried him aboard the 
 
300 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 vessel which was to convey himself and family to Eng- 
 land. He jumped into the Savannah River, before the 
 vessel got to sea, and swam ashore. lie was, however, 
 forced away, and never found an opportunity of return- 
 ing until near the close of the war. This patriotism 
 was rewarded by the unlimited confidence of the State. 
 He was the Representative of the people in Congress, 
 their Governor, and might have had any other office in 
 their gift, had he so desired. He died in the prime of 
 life, leaving two sons, Edward Fenwick and Josiah, and 
 one daughter. Edward Fenwick received his early 
 education in England. He was at a school in Hamp- 
 stead, in 1802, when Napoleon was threatening England 
 with invasion. I have heard him tell, with renewed 
 excitement, how he felt the desire to fight, as he listened 
 to an English yeoman marching for the coast, talking of 
 his resolution to stand by his country to death, against 
 her foes, the French. Col. Hamilton, who commanded 
 the English mulatto regiment in the service of the 
 British Government in the Revolutionary war, was his 
 uncle. He resided in London, where Col. Tatnall had 
 other relations of wealth and distinction. I do not 
 know at what time Edward F. Tatnall returned to 
 Georgia. He finished his collegiate education at Prince- 
 ton College, and afterwards attended the law school at 
 Litchfield. He was licensed to practise by the Superior 
 Court of Chatham, in 1813, and was soon afterwards 
 appointed Captain in the 43d regiment. In 1814, he 
 was ordered with his company to the seaboard, and 
 stationed at Point Peter, under the command of Major 
 Massias. Several British war vessels were then on the 
 Georgia coast. An attack was made on Point Peter. 
 
 O 
 
 Massias fled, notwithstanding the strongest remon- 
 strances from Captain Tatnall. He was pursued by a 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 301 
 
 British, detachment. A skirmish ensued, in which 
 Captain Tatnall, by constantly fronting the enemy, 
 exposing his person every where, and setting an example 
 of indifference to danger, was severely wounded. 
 
 Whilst Captain Tatnall was at Point Peter, the 
 Spanish officer on Amelia Island gave a ball to the 
 merchants and their families. The place attracted to 
 it at that time many persons, on account of the facili- 
 ties which it afforded for carrying on trade. The 
 officers at Point Peter were invited. The ball was 
 opened offensively to the Spanish Commandant, by the 
 omission to place his wife at the head of the first dance. 
 The Spanish soldiers were ordered into the ball-room, 
 accoutred with their full complement of arms, and 
 commanded to disperse the company. The utmost 
 alarm prevailed among the ladies and their husbands. 
 Some hid in one place and some in another. Captain 
 Tatnall and Lieutenant Holt defended themselves as 
 they could, whilst they made for the sea shore, where 
 they had left the boat in which they had passed the 
 strait from Point Peter with a squad of four soldiers. 
 With these soldiers they returned to the ball-room, 
 drove the Spanish officer and his men from the house, 
 collected the affrighted company, and attempted to 
 renew the dancing; but the spirit of jollity was gone, 
 and the party dispersed. On the next morning Capt. 
 Tatnall sent a challenge to the Spanish Commander. 
 Upon his declining to fight, he made a representation 
 of his conduct to the Governor of Florida, who put his 
 inferior into chains, and sent him to old Spaiu to be 
 tried for cowardice. 
 
 Captain Tatnall resigned his commission in the 
 army upon the return of peace. 
 
 On the 14th of July, 1818, he and myself made our 
 
302 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 first political speeches : he in Savannah, and I in Lex- 
 ington. We were both members of the Legislature 
 for the first time in 1818. We belonged to the same 
 political party, and usually acted together with great 
 cordiality in the support of the same measures. In 
 1820, Colonel Tatnall and myself were elected mem- 
 bers of Congress by almost the same number of votes, 
 there being only the difference of four after twenty 
 thousand had been counted. The leading men of 
 Chatham were at that time disposed to undervalue the 
 men of the up country, and showed it by inducing the 
 people to vote only for gentlemen of the low country 
 when they were candidates with citizens of the up 
 country. At the election, when Colonel Tatnall and 
 myself first offered for Congress, Alfred Cuthbert of 
 Savannah was also a candidate. On the day of the 
 election, Colonel Tatnall was dangerously ill at his 
 home, several miles below Savannah. So certain were 
 his friends that he would die, that some one proposed 
 to him that his name should be withdrawn from the 
 canvass ; to which he would have consented if his with- 
 drawal could have been made known at all the other 
 places of election throughout the State. In the even- 
 ing, whilst there was scarcely a hope of his living, he 
 inquired if an arrangement had been made for having 
 his friend voted for. Being answered in the negative, 
 he insisted that they should go up to the city, and can- 
 vass for him. 
 
 The treaty with the Creek Indians, made by Meri- 
 wether and Campbell, which had produced great 
 excitement throughout the country, was quieted by the 
 amendatory treaty of Washington City. Feelings of 
 ill-will had, however, been excited among the members 
 of the Georgia Delegation, on account of the different 
 
 O 0 7 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 303 
 
 course pursued by them when the treaty was under 
 consideration. The opposition to the first treaty, on 
 the part of the President and members of Congress, 
 was occasioned, as they avowed, by the large sums 
 expended by the commissioners in bringing it about, 
 though much after the manner of making previous 
 Indian treaties. The members of Congress who under- 
 stood and acted under the obligation created by the 
 contract of the United States to extinguish for Georgia 
 the title of the Indians to lands within its limits, were 
 in danger of losing their seats, by takiug an active part 
 in favor of the first treaty. They persuaded the mem- 
 bers from Georgia to have a meeting, and agree to let 
 what had been done by the commissioners pass sub 
 silentio. Mr. Forsyth, however, said he would speak. 
 When the treaty was before the House of Representa- 
 tives, Colonel Tatnall rose and observed, that the 
 Georgia Delegation were not prepared to discuss it. 
 Mr. Forsyth spoke. The people of Georgia lauded 
 Mr. Forsyth to the skies for doing what endangered 
 their interest ; whilst Colonel Tatnall became unpopu- 
 lar on account of his forgetfulness of himself in serving 
 his constituents and the friends of Georgia. 
 
 Colonel Tatnall’s person was erect and perfectly 
 formed, with delicate hands and small feet. Our peo- 
 ple, from the President down, are all men of work, and 
 show it more or less. Looking at Colonel Tatnall, you 
 knew that he had never labored with his hands. He 
 appeared much larger than he was. His walk was 
 always with a lofty, military gait, and measured tread. 
 He was something more than fearless. His spirit was 
 the essence of chivalry. He preferred death to the 
 slightest coloring of dishonor. He risked his life, and 
 was near losing it several times, that he might be con- 
 
304 : 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 si tiered above wrong doing. He stood by liis country 
 and bis friends as be stood by bimself. He would bave 
 gloried in offering up bis life, if bis country’s safety bad 
 required tbe sacrifice. If bis bravery, generous unself- 
 ishness, noble gallantry, and vigorous execution, bad 
 been accompanied by corresponding ready conception, 
 and forcible ratiocination, be would bave been tbe great 
 man of bis country. He was fitted for command ratber 
 tban popular service — for rank ratber than equality. 
 He died before middle manhood, prostrated by disease 
 in mind and body. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Increased experience and observation of tbe world 
 made public service, upon my return to Congress, much 
 more agreeable tban my first term bad been. Tbe 
 wiry edge of political zeal bad become tempered. I 
 bad learned that tbe country was not ruined by tbe 
 Government pursuing a course of policy different from 
 what I thought best I associated freely and cordially 
 with tbe members of opposite party opinions. 
 
 There was a great contest for mastery between Na- 
 poleon Bonaparte, at tbe bead of tbe French people, 
 and tbe Government of Great Britain, from tbe latter 
 part of tbe eighteenth century to some time in tbe nine- 
 teenth. They acted as if no countries bad rights, or 
 were worth consideration, but their own. Tbe British 
 King passed orders in council, announcing that tbe 
 coast of France was under blockade ; so that American 
 vessels should not carry supplies to tbe French without 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 305 
 
 being subject to be made British property. Bonaparte, 
 on the other hand, made liable to capture all American 
 vessels which should enter the ports of Great Britain. 
 Between the two, the people of this country appeared 
 to be in a bad fix for carrying on commerce. But 
 the Yankees — our traders — were full of expedients. 
 Though they lost often by the British orders and 
 French edicts, their losses were usually made up by 
 their fortunate ventures. 
 
 Our Southern people got on their high horse on 
 account of the insolence of the King of Great Britain 
 and the Emperor of France. They insisted that the 
 Yankees should not trade with the English or French, 
 unless upon equal terms and aboveboard. 
 
 Congress passed embargo and non-intercourse laws 
 to shut up the Yankee vessels in their own harbors to 
 rot, to prevent their capture and confiscation by Great 
 Britain and France. The big talk of the Southerners, 
 the lawlessness of Great Britain, the insolence of France, 
 and the tricks of the Yankees, brought on war with 1 
 Great Britain. 
 
 After the people of the two countries had kicked 
 and cuffed each other to their hearts’ content, they 
 agreed to stop where they began — the jieople of the 
 United States be in 2: satisfied with the right to crow 
 over the British on account of the great victory at Yew 
 Orleans. 
 
 The embargo, non-intercourse, and war, so changed 
 the profits of labor in the United States, that new ave- 
 nues were opened to wealth. The Northern people, 
 cut off from foreign trade, employed their money at 
 home. Instead of exchanging the cotton of the South 
 for goods of the British and French, the Yankees made 
 goods themselves for the supply of the pressing demands 
 20 
 
306 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 of the Southern people. When the war ended, they 
 insisted that, as the Southerners were the authors of 
 the measures which had caused the destruction of their 
 vessels, and the loss of their foreign trade, they ought 
 to be made to buy the goods which the Yankees had 
 been forced to make. The Northern, Middle, and 
 Western States made common cause against the South. 
 
 O 
 
 Laws were passed by Congress to compel the Southern 
 people to buy Northern manufactures, by imposing so 
 heavy a tax upon the same kind of goods when brought 
 from foreign countries, as to make the home-made 
 cheapest. One of the legislative tricks used for this 
 purpose, was to tax imported goods upon a valuation 
 greatly beyond their cost, instead of the merchants’ in- 
 voices. It was somewhat in this fashion: Imported 
 cloth, costing twenty cents a yard, by a tax of thirty 
 per cent, ought to have paid six cents, but actually paid 
 twelve cents, by being valued as having cost forty 
 cents ; so that Southern laborers paid for cloth twenty 
 cents for the original cost per yard, twelve cents for 
 duty, fifty per cent, upon that sum to the importer, 
 making forty-eight cents ; to the Southern merchant 
 fifty per cent, upon that sum, making seventy-two cents 
 if they used foreign goods ; and, as the Yankees always 
 got as much as they could for their manufactures, but 
 little less for the home fabric. The Yankees urged 
 that, as the Southern people had their power in Con- 
 gress enlarged by the representation of their slaves, 
 they, the Yankees, ought to have the benefit of cloth- 
 ing them. To this argument the Southerners replied, 
 that, as the Yankees had kidnapped the Africans, 
 brought them from their native country, and sold them 
 in this, on account of their aptness to serve, by taking 
 advantage of the indisposition of the Southerners to 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 807 
 
 make fires on cold mornings, black shoes, catch horses, 
 wash clothes, and other dirty work, they had already 
 got their advantage, by their great accumulation of 
 wealth from the traffic. 
 
 The vexation of the Southerners increased, as the 
 measures of the Yankees became more and more op- 
 pressive. They became quite furious after the passage 
 of the Tariff law of 1827-28, particularly in South Caroli- 
 na and Georgia. Public meetings were held every where 
 in those States. The people passed resolutions that 
 they would dress in their own homespun, instead of 
 Yankee cloth, eat their own hominy without the aid of 
 Kentucky hogs, and walk, rather than ride Western 
 horses. The Southern ladies, naturally touchy, took 
 fire at being 1 dictated to about the dress of their ser- 
 vants. They insisted that their husbands, sons, and 
 brothers in Congress, should hold out a flag of defiance 
 to the Northern members, by dressing in cloth made by 
 their own constituents. All the representatives of the 
 people of the up country of South Carolina and Georgia 
 appeared in the Congressional Hall, at the opening of 
 the session of 1828, dressed in homespun. There was 
 a marked difference in the appearance of the members 
 from the two States. The Georgians, had Virginia 
 mothers and wives, practised in making Virginia cloth. 
 The South Carolina people were later from the old coun- 
 try, and less skilful in the peculiar fabrics of the new. 
 The very becoming coats of the Georgia members, threw 
 into the shade the antiprotective show-off of the South 
 Carolinas. This difference was immediately observed, 
 and felt. Georgia and Carolina had been for some time 
 before, rivals in their political strife, South Carolina to 
 make Mr. Calhoun President, and Georgia to give the 
 distinction to Mr. Crawford. Two celebrated combatants 
 
 
808 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 had written, fought, and bled in this cause. Mr. McDuf- 
 fie was then a member. Ilis suit was made principally of 
 cotton, and so fine, that one felt chilled looking at him. 
 Nuckols’ coat was wool, dyed with copperas and bark, 
 or leaves of some fruit or forest tree, and so coarse, that 
 it stood off and around him like a laboring woman’s pet- 
 ticoat. My coat was of cloth made of fine wool, dyed 
 with indigo, and mixed in the carding with black silk. 
 It was presented me by one of my female constituents. 
 I had it made by a tailor of taste. The cuffs were co- 
 vered with the finest black silk velvet. It was always 
 worn with a rich silk velvet vest. It was put on when I 
 attended the sessions of the House, and doffed as soon 
 as I left it. 
 
 During the winter of 1829-30, whilst I was Go- 
 vernor, I occasionally wore this homespun coat of 
 mornings, as a negligee, until I went to the executive 
 office. One morning a French gentleman came to my 
 house in great haste, knocked at the door, and upon 
 being admitted by myself in this coat, and other shav- 
 ing fix, asked to see the Governor. I requested him to 
 walk up stairs, the drawing-room of the house in which 
 I lived being in the second story. F^on getting into 
 the room, he turned to me, and repeated his request to 
 see the Governor. 
 
 My wife had the prettiest feet in the world, such as 
 a Chinese lady would have envied. They were small, 
 delicate, and symmetrical. I have threatened a thou- 
 sand times to kiss them, and as often expressed a wish to 
 have them painted as a model for the painters and 
 sculptors of our country. When we went to Milledge- 
 ville, she could get no shoes except the shapeless 
 things made for girls before their teens. I wrote to my 
 friend Col. Tom Foster, then in Washington City, to 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 309 
 
 have made for her a dozen pair by the shoemaker 
 whom she had employed whilst I was in Congress, and 
 have them sent to me in Milledgeville by the first safe 
 conveyance. He executed the commission, by making 
 the accpiaintance of this French gentleman, who was 
 then on his way from New York to New Orleans, 
 through Milledgeville, getting him to take charge of 
 the packet which contained the shoes, and his promise 
 to deliver it himself to the Governor. Whilst the 
 Frenchman was looking at me in my homespun, doubt- 
 fully, I was opening the packet. Upon exposing the 
 contents I said, “ Some shoes for my wife.” He dodged as 
 if some plepeian missile had been sent at his head, and 
 was off in a moment, losing all his anticipated pleasure 
 of telling to his coffee-house companions in New Or- 
 leans, how he had acted as agent between the authori- 
 ties of the U. States, and the Governor of Georgia. 
 
 Nuckols, the South Carolina member, whose copperas 
 and walnut-dyed coat made so great a display, was very 
 young for his station, and very new, with the taste for 
 attracting notice, so strong in the Irish people and their 
 descendants. He had very thin light flaxen hair, and 
 a full, high forehead extending far back. We belonged 
 to the same mess. Some time during the session of 
 182 f- 8 , Nuckols appeared at the dinner-table with a 
 very black wig coming down near his eyebrows. No 
 one knew him. During dinner Judge Smith, w T ho was 
 one of us, and Nuckols’ neighbor at home, asked where 
 Nuckols was. Nuckols answered, “ Here am I.” Every 
 eye was upon his black head. Archer of Virginia, 
 who was sitting next him, turned fully round, and ask- 
 ed, “ Why, Nuckols, is this you ? ” Nuckols’ look of sim- 
 plicity and strangeness, and Archer’s unaffected surprise, 
 was too much for restraint. The laiudi would no doubt 
 
 O 
 
310 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 have been loud and long, but for the utter confusion of 
 Nuckols. It took some persuasion to keep his big fist 
 from being applied to Archer’s head. 
 
 My wife and myself were both taken dangerously sick 
 in Athens at the commencement of the summer of 1828, 
 whilst I was attending the Board of Trustees of Frank- 
 lin College. My physician had no knowledge of my 
 peculiar constitution, and administered medicines ac- 
 cording to his usual practice. I was prostrated at once. 
 My wife was so ill that she was unable to take care of 
 me. Fortunately for us, Dr. Henry Branham came to 
 see me immediately upon hearing of my situation, took 
 charge of my case, and never left me day nor night un- 
 til a change for the better took place. After going as 
 for as Walkersville on his way home, he came back 
 upon being informed that I was considered worse. 
 
 It is one of the pleasures of life to remember such 
 obligations, and to have the opportunity of returning 
 them, as I have since had to Dr. Branham, in a matter 
 of great interest to himself and family. 
 
 I was re-elected to Congress in 1828. My wife and 
 myself left Georgia before the result of the election 
 was announced. The health of each continued so feeble, 
 that I considered it of importance to go on towards 
 Washington City before the weather became very cold. 
 I forgot the required formality of signifying to the 
 Governor my acceptance. Gov. Forsyth, without giving 
 me any intimation of his purpose, declared the seat in 
 Congress, to which I had been elected, vacated, and 
 ordered a new election. I was then a member of Con- 
 gress, attending to my duties in Washington City. I 
 had offered for re-election by a public notice to the 
 people, so that there could have been no doubt on the 
 part of the Governor of my acceptance. I had no ac- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 311 
 
 quaintance with Mr. Forsyth, and had taken a decided 
 part against his election to the Senate of the United 
 States in 1818. A newspaper altercation took place, 
 which ended by my making the following address to 
 the people : — 
 
 I have been waiting to ascertain the state of public opinion, 
 in order to put an end to the uncertainty in relation to my right 
 to a seat in Congress. I am now satisfied that the people de- 
 sire another election, although the law which the Governor is en- 
 forcing maybe unconstitutional. The office of Representative of 
 the people was created for their benefit, and according to the prin- 
 ciples of our Government; ought to be exercised in pursuance of 
 their will. Although I have no doubt about my right to that 
 office, I cannot consent to exercise its authority contrary to the 
 opinion of those by whom it has been conferred. It is therefore 
 resigned into their hands. The people are thus relieved from 
 any embarrassment in voting for a Representative at the time 
 ordered by the Governor, and the person whom they may select 
 may take his seat in Congress, instead of finding it constitution- 
 ally occupied by another. 
 
 Nothing has been so unpleasant to me, as the opinion I find 
 to be entertained by many, that in defending the right of the 
 people to choose their Representative without restraint except 
 from the Constitution, I have been endeavoring to sustain my- 
 self in office. The most important power retained by the people, 
 had been violated in my person. My situation imposed upon 
 me the duty of resistance. I have just the same interest that 
 every good citizen has in preserving unimpaired the principles 
 of our Government. If the people, however, desire the enforce- 
 ment of a law violative of their most invaluable constitutional 
 privileges, I cannot oppose their wish, especially as it is intended 
 to operate exclusively upon myself. I accepted the office which 
 I now resigned, because I believed it to he the duty of every 
 citizen to devote a portion of his time to the public service ; and 
 because others, whose opinions I was bound to respect, believed 
 that I could be useful. I stand in no need of assistance from 
 the public treasury, for my support. I am not conscious of 
 
312 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 having had any selfish ends to answei’, in any act of my public life. 
 No office in the gift of the people, or the Government, was so 
 gratifying to me as that which I have been compelled to resign, 
 because I believed that my opinions in relation to the constitu- 
 tion and the policy of the Federal Government really represented 
 those of the people of the State ; and because I had flattered 
 myself with the opinion, that if I could be useful in any office it 
 was in that. I have always believed that the rights of the 
 people and the State, the continuance of our Union, and the 
 preservation of our freedom, depended upon the uniform adher- 
 ence to the principles of the Constitution by all the authorities 
 of our country. My conduct has conformed to that belief. The 
 very first act of my political life, was the refusal to comply with 
 an unconstitutional law of the Legislature ; and my last is of the 
 same character. I may have been mistaken ; and may yet be 
 so. There is, however, one thing about which I cannot err, and 
 that is in doing what I believe to be right. It is a principle of 
 action that never varies, and which I hope I shall always have 
 the firmness to pursue. 
 
 Influenced by the desire to conform my conduct to public 
 opinion, I should be a candidate for re-election, but from the 
 conviction that my services would be useless. The manner in 
 which I have been deprived of the right of representing the 
 people, after an election duly made, will be familiar to every 
 member of Congress, and will be considered unconstitutional by 
 all. Were I, under such circumstances, to accept of a seat by 
 virtue of another election, any effort on my part to defend the 
 constitutional rights of the people, would be met with ridicule. 
 My case has no precedent in the history of our Government, and 
 would be quoted upon me in answer to all arguments upon such 
 subjects. My conduct has been too uniform and decided to ad- 
 mit of any doubt as to the course I ought to pursue. I must 
 either not serve at all, or serve in conformity with those prin- 
 ciples of which I have been the steady advocate. I must be- 
 come a selfish professional politician before I can accept of an 
 office with the knowledge that no benefit could be rendered to 
 the country ; and believing that much the largest part of the 
 misdirection and corruption which has occurred in our Govern- 
 ment has proceeded from that class of men, I prefer becoming a 
 private citizen. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 813 
 
 I cannot quit public life without expressing my regret at the 
 manner of its termination. The people have always confided in 
 me far beyond my capacity to serve them. I have felt the 
 strongest obligations to them for their kindness, and have to the 
 best of my abilities endeavored to discharge that obligation by 
 honest services. Your fellow-citizen, 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Lexington, May 9 th , 1829. 
 
 The session of Congress of 1828-29 was one of great 
 interest. Gen. Jackson’s election was bringing into 
 office a new set of aspirants, wlio were as busy as bees, 
 in obtaining their places. Having no part or lot in the 
 seeking, I enjoyed the scene highly. 
 
 Among the various matters which took place at the 
 time, was a call made through a partisan of Mr. Adams, 
 upon the war department, for information, so as to 
 afford Col. Barbour, the Secretary of War, a pretence 
 for sending to the House in answer a literal copy of a 
 letter of Gen. Jackson, written carelessly, a long time 
 before, in wkicli he spelled several words wrong. To 
 revenge this petty exposure of Gen. Jackson’s deficiency 
 in learning, a pasquinade was written, which represented 
 Mr. Adams occnpjdug the country schoolmaster’s chair, 
 with the members of his cabinet standing around him, 
 after the fashion of boys when exercised at spelling on 
 evenings before they are dismissed from school. 
 
 Mr. Clay stood head, with the other members of the 
 cabinet following according to rank, in a circle around. 
 Mr. Adams’s bald head, weeping eyes, and short dumpy 
 person, seated on a split-bottom chair, made him an 
 admirable representative of the class of old field teach- 
 ers. He held a book in his hand, from which he selected 
 the words for spelling. He rose and said, that his ad- 
 ministration had called public attention to Gen. Jack- 
 
314 
 
 FIKST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 son’s want of knowledge in spelling, and that it behooved 
 them all to mind their P’s and Q’s, and that he had 
 assembled them for the purpose of exercising them in 
 spelling. lie then took his seat, and commenced giving 
 out words, saying, Spell female. Mr. Clay, femail ; 
 Southard, feemale ; Barbour, phemale ; Porter, phe- 
 mail ; McKinney, who stood foot, and being a sort of 
 cat’s-paw for the cabinet, had put himself there without 
 being asked, when Mr. Adams nodded to him, spelt at 
 the top of his voice, pheemual. Mr. Clay, who had by 
 this time recovered his self-possession, and being very 
 familiar upon the subject, spelt it right. The next 
 word was negro, which was given out to Southard, who 
 having once been a schoolmaster, and taught Latin to 
 two or three boys in Virginia, spelt it niger. The lord 
 of the empty barrels, as Mr. Barbour was popularly 
 called, was at home with the word, spoke out with his 
 full orarotunda voice, “ nigger,” that being the Virginia 
 way of calling negro. Porter, nigro. Mr. Adams, 
 bursting with his pent up rage, threw the book at 
 McKinney’s head, and dismissed the class— McKinney 
 going off blubbering out, that Mr. Adams could not 
 spell Michilimaekinac. 
 
 To accommodate the great numbers who had come 
 to Washington City to witness the inauguration of Gen. 
 Jackson, it was determined that the official oath should 
 be administered in the eastern portico. Seats were 
 prepared there for the senators, judges of the Supreme 
 Court, and foreign ministers, whilst all others were to 
 stand off and around. 
 
 It soon became obvious, that those on the outskirts 
 of the crowd would not be able to see what was done. 
 Some of the young ladies present, who showed a very 
 strong desire to observe and be observed, were placed 
 
FIBST SETTLERS OP UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 315 
 
 on the sculptured projections of the pillars a few feet 
 from their base, and held up by their attendants. Gen. 
 Floyd’s daughter, a young lady of about fourteen, thus 
 stood, with one arm around a pillar, and a hand on my 
 shoulder. Near the front of the portico, Gen. Jackson 
 was seen, without his hat, his stiff gray hair giving 
 length to his striking features. Near by was Chief 
 Justice Marshall, with his long, spare legs, small head, 
 and eagle eyes. The long flight of steps which led up 
 into the portico were barricaded, so as to keep off the 
 crowd. George Kreamer, the Representative of the 
 German mass, ignorant and honest, was at the foot of 
 the steps with his hand on it. Gen. Jackson drew 
 forth a leaf of manuscript, read from it with trembling 
 hand and inaudible voice, a few sentences. He then 
 took the oath of office, which was administered by the 
 Chief Justice. The two then shook hands. This was 
 just done, when George Kreamer, who had leaped the 
 barricade, had hold of the President’s hand, shaking it 
 heartily. The shout, which was raised by the thirty 
 thousand spectators below, showed that they viewed 
 this shake as no hollow-hearted ceremony. The Presi- 
 dent’s house was open for the reception of all who de- 
 sired to pay their respects to the new Chief Magistrate. 
 From one o’clock, the populace and dignitaries were 
 constantly pressing into the building. When Gen. 
 Floyd, with Mrs. Gilmer, and Mrs. Floyd, and myself 
 attempted to penetrate the crowd, we should have 
 failed, but for the bold and strong push of Gen. Floyd’s 
 two stout sons, who went before and made way for us. 
 We took the hand of the President, already sinking 
 into listlessness from exhaustion, and after following for 
 a while the current, and seeing, among other things, the 
 hundred and fifty dollar official chairs profaned by the 
 
316 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 feet of clodhoppers, attempted to get out ; but the 
 current still set in so full that it was impossible. We 
 passed through a window or two to make our exit ; in 
 doing which I had to sustain the weight of Mrs. Floyd, 
 equalling three hundred pounds, with a leg weak from 
 a fracture scarcely healed. Many persons discovered 
 that a Presidential inauguration, though of universal 
 attraction, does not give unmixed pleasure. 
 
 At the college commencement in Athens in 1829 — 
 the great assembling place of the active politicians of the 
 State — I was pressed to be a candidate for chief magis- 
 trate of the State, and consented. Major Joel Craw- 
 ford was my opponent. The Clark party had no 
 candidate. The majority of its members voted for me. 
 I was consequently elected by a very large majority. 
 
 In the morning before I was inducted into office, 
 the leading editor of the Clark party insisted that I 
 should divide the patronage of the Executive Depart- 
 ment equally between the two parties. The day after, 
 an active Clark man, who was particularly hostile to 
 the Crawfords, urged me to subscribe money for the 
 benefit of the widow of a Clark partisan, who had been 
 killed in a duel by one of the Crawfords. I declined 
 these and all similar proposals, and thereby excited the 
 ill will of the leading Clark men, as I had of many of 
 the Crawford party, by my success over one of the 
 family. I soon found that to be chief magistrate of the 
 State, when party politics are violent, without party 
 support, is to run a race barefooted over a thorny way. 
 I attempted to perform what I declared in my inaugu- 
 ral address to be my purpose — give employment to 
 integrity, talent, and industry. The factions which 
 had long distracted the State were then objectless. 1 
 thought it w r as time for them to end ; but, having never 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 317 
 
 acted witli tlie Clark party, I probably judged those 
 who wanted' office through a deceptive medium. They 
 showed that they were of that opinion, or became 
 dissatisfied for some other cause, as they very soon 
 united in the most active opposition to me. 
 
 A day or two before the termination of the first 
 session of the Legislature, after I went into the Execu- 
 tive office, I received information that a large number 
 of pamphlets, whose matter was calculated to excite 
 the negroes to insurrection, had been sent from Boston 
 to Georgia. A bundle of them was soon after found in 
 possession of Burret, a Yankee editor. They purported 
 to have been written by a negro in Boston. Burret 
 had been to that city just before, and was suspected of 
 having written them himself — a suspicion which was 
 confirmed by his subsequent conduct. — 
 
 I come now to the time in my public life in which 
 I had to struggle with great difficulties, and to be the 
 object of the vilest abuse. The extension of the juris- 
 diction of the State over the territory occupied by the 
 Indians ; the punishment of religious missionaries, and 
 other white men who lived within that territory, who 
 refused to obey the laws ; the survey of the land, and 
 the removal of the Indians to the west of the Missis- 
 sippi, were subjects which attracted the attention of 
 every body at the time. The political censors knew 
 enough of their office, in working for party success, not 
 to make their attacks upon the State. Invectives were 
 directed specially at the Governor, who was the public 
 agent for doing what was done. I was pictured as 
 fiendish as possible, that the good and humane might 
 be deterred from any connection with such a horrid 
 fellow. 
 
 The question was tauntingly put to Georgians, Why 
 
318 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 not let the Cherokees remain among you ? — Why not 
 foster and improve them, and let them add to your 
 numbers and wealth ? Our villifiers seemed, in their 
 clamor against us, to have forgotten that there was no 
 interchange of the productions of labor between the 
 Indians and others ; that they were without wealth, 
 and were incapable of acquiring any ; and that they 
 had remained ignorant savages, notwithstanding the 
 constant efforts to change them into better beings. 
 They expressed great surprise that the Georgians felt 
 no sympathy for the poor aborigines. 
 
 To appreciate fully the motives, and understand 
 the causes which induced the public men of Georgia to 
 adopt its Indian policy, it is necessary to know what 
 sort of people Indians were, and the relations which 
 existed between them, the State, and the United States. 
 The race seems destined soon to pass away, and leave 
 no trace behind, except in the discolored skin and 
 revengeful temper of their descendants from crossings 
 with other races. The curious are puzzling themselves 
 with conjectures about the intent of the Almighty in 
 making such beings, — whether they are the descendants 
 of Adam and Eve, — and if they are, when and from 
 whence they came to America. 
 
 For a long time the appearance, manners, and 
 habits of the Indians, strangely affected the imagination 
 of all those who talked or wrote about them. Travel- 
 lers, missionaries, and government agents, magnified 
 their own consequence in giving importance to those 
 of whom they wrote, by describing them to be what 
 they were not. * According to their accounts, some of 
 the chiefs were as crafty as Ulysses, others as brave as 
 Achilles, and here and there one as eloquent as Demos- 
 thenes. Facts were so slightly investigated, or so per- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 819 
 
 verted by pictures of the imagination, that the truth 
 was seldom perceived, and constantly exaggerated. 
 
 Though the Indians made upon sight impressions 
 the most difficult to forget, they have been found upon 
 examination to be the least worthy of remembrance of 
 any human beings. The men were erect of stature, 
 with slender arms and stout le^s. Their shoulders 
 were never rounded, nor their backs bent, by habitual 
 stooping to labor. They usually stretched themselves 
 out at length upon logs, or upon the ground, when not 
 stalking after game, or pursuing or flying from enemies. 
 They could run further, and endure hunger longer, 
 than any people. Indian women were the least in- 
 viting of their sex. They lost by drudging what the 
 men gained in comeliness by freedom from it. They 
 hoed the corn at home, and carried the packs when 
 travelling abroad. Their hair was coarse like the hair 
 of a horse’s tail. They greased it with rancid bear’s 
 oil — too offensive for any other beings to bear — to keep 
 down the increase of vermin. They effected the same 
 object for their children’s heads by aid of their teeth. 
 Men and women went with unwashed hands, faces, and 
 bodies, except when they cooled themselves in the 
 streams in warm weather. Salt was so difficult to be 
 had, and so little used, that most of their food was 
 eaten in the state preferred by the buzzards. Their 
 wigwams were of unbarked poles, with unswept earth- 
 en floors. Their beds were of badly dried skins, whose 
 perfumes added to the other vile smells about their 
 cabins. Most of them could count ten ; few could 
 number a hundred. They had no genius for invention, 
 and have added nothino; to the stores of human know- 
 ledge or instruments. Stone axes and hickory clubs 
 were their tools for work and weapons of war. Their 
 
320 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 wealth was without money, ancl its greatest accumula- 
 tion extended only to wigwams, skins, and canoes. 
 Their gods they worshipped when they desired to do 
 evil, and found them in the worst of their kind, low 
 animals, sticks, and stones. They were the least obedi- 
 ent of all men to the divine commands — do unto others 
 as you would they should do unto you ; love your 
 neighbor as yourself; forgive your enemies Many of 
 them professed Christianity, under the teachings of the 
 Jesuits and others ; but their profession was followed 
 by but slight evidence of conversion. Social affections 
 were scarcely felt. Children were uncared for when 
 they became old enough to take care of themselves. 
 They relieved their habitual apathy by occasionally 
 warring upon men and beasts. Their master passion 
 was revenge, which they indulged in as their greatest 
 luxury. They sought no social meetings, nor enjoyed 
 any greetings. They lolled about their cabins smoking 
 and looking at the clouds. They talked but little, aud 
 that little of what happened yesterday or to-day. They 
 were never seen walking side by side one with another. 
 Their paths were all single. They indulged in no 
 wants but such as each could supply himself with. If 
 any one became dependent, he died. They seldom 
 asked questions — not because they believed in the 
 adage, Ask me no questions, and I will tell you no lies 
 — for they loved to act by trick, deceit, and stratagem ; 
 but from the absence of the desire for information. 
 They were called eloquent, because they followed the 
 vagaries of their imagination in speaking, without in- 
 vestigating facts, or elucidating principles ; — heroic, be- 
 cause their insensibility enabled them to bear torture 
 without complaining; — hospitable, because they laid 
 up no provisions for the future, and consumed what 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 321 
 
 they had without care ; — and dignified, because they 
 were calm and indifferent when others would have been 
 excited. They described heaven with vehement ges- 
 tures and excited voice, not because they conceived it 
 to be a place free from sin and sorrow, but where plen- 
 ty of game would be had. They stuck light-wood 
 splinters into the bodies of their prisoners, and set them 
 on fire, and danced and shouted around them as they 
 burnt, not to overcome the suffering of the dying, but 
 to feast upon a spectacle which relieved them from 
 their accustomed apathy. They delighted in no melo- 
 dy, and remained unmoved b} r any concord of sweet 
 sounds. Neither the thrilling notes of the violin, nor 
 the exalted strains of the organ, made any impression 
 upon them. They danced with slow uniform steps to 
 their own humming, the striking of sticks, or the rat- 
 tling of pebbles in terrapin shells. They worshipped at 
 the shrine of Cupid with less fervor than any other ani- 
 mal. The squaw which the Indian took to his side one 
 day, he often kicked the next. He looked at her toil- 
 ing for him, without sympathy and without assistance. 
 The Indian women learned from their first intercourse 
 with white men, the superior results which followed 
 from choosing them for husbands. The half-breed 
 children, consequent upon such connections, have 
 changed the character of all the tribes amono' whom 
 white men have gone. Whilst the unmixed Indians 
 have remained what they ever were, and will ever be, 
 until they finally pass away — the most thoughtless, do- 
 less, least loving and least lovely, of human beings — 
 the half-breeds are making a show of civilization among 
 all the tribes where they are. Their insensibility may 
 be imagined from the following incidents : — 
 
 That part of the County of Wilks which is now Ogle- 
 21 
 
322 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 thorpe, bordered on tire Cherokee country. Not many 
 miles from where I now reside, a man by the name of 
 Bridges lived in 1791. He had sons, and daughters? 
 and grandchildren living with him in the same house. 
 Old Bridges was going into the forest one day to hunt. 
 A grandchild seeing her grandsire, with whom she was 
 a pet, leaving the house, commenced crying to be taken 
 into his arms, and to go with him. This could not be 
 done, as the Indians had been doing mischief, and were 
 known to be upon the frontiers. He carried her to a 
 mulberry-tree, then in full bearing with ripe fruit, in a 
 field close by, and, after filling her hands and mouth 
 with the berries, went back towards the house. Before 
 he reached it, a party of Indians rose from their con- 
 cealment in the wheat, then growing in the field, shot 
 down old Bridges, and running up to him, seized the 
 child, and, carrying it out of gunshot from the house 
 (where the father of the child was looking out, having 
 been startled into attention by the firing of the gun), 
 stripped it naked, and, whilst one of them held it up by 
 its little feet to the gaze of the father, another opened 
 it, and took from within its body the lobes of the heart, 
 which they threw at him. 
 
 An aged, respectable woman stated on oath, in 
 Elbert Superior Court, that a party of Indians came 
 to her house about the close of the revolutionary 
 war, and after taking whatever of her goods they 
 fancied, seized her infant baby, carried it into the yard, 
 and beat its brains out against a stump. 
 
 Who can sympathize with creatures who habitually 
 act thus ? The answer may be given in the language 
 of the Indian chief, Logan, “ Not one.” 
 
 At the close of the revolutionary war, Georgia was 
 the weakest of the old thirteen States ; for though its 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 323 
 
 people were not the fewest in number, its territory was 
 the most extensive, and occupied by the most nume- 
 rous and warlike Indian tribes. The other States had 
 gotten entirely rid of Indians, or their numbers had 
 become so reduced, or their temper so subdued, that 
 but little inconvenience was felt from their presence. 
 
 Many of the tories who had aided the efforts of 
 their royal master to subjugate the Colonies, by excit- 
 ing the Creeks and Ckerokees to massacre the people, 
 when the war was over, very fitly preferred remain- 
 ing among their king’s allies, to becoming outcast citi- 
 zens of the State. Independence, which secured peace 
 to the other States, gave no peace to Georgia. Murder- 
 ings, and plunderings, continued to be committed by 
 the Creeks and Ckerokees through the instigation of 
 the tories. Attempts were frequently made to con- 
 ciliate them. Treaty after treaty was entered into, 
 without securing safety. The frontiers were too ex- 
 tensive to be defended by its scattered inhabitants. 
 The Indians had easy access into the country, every 
 where. The people endeavored to protect themselves 
 by fortifications of their own making. Block-houses 
 were erected, and manned, by voluntary service. The 
 inhabitants, just arrived from distant parts of the 
 United States, with scanty means of support, suffered 
 greatly. They lost their slaves, houses, and cattle, 
 when such property was all important to them, and 
 could not be replaced. The country had to be cleared 
 of its forests, to fit it for cultivation. Labor was not 
 to be hired. There were no surplus negroes, horses, 
 nor cattle, in the country, nor surplus money to buy 
 them, if there had been. The exuberance of the 
 natural vegetation of the soil, the great inducement to 
 the settlement of the country, occasioned the great- 
 
324 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 est losses to the people by exposing their houses and 
 stock to the depredations of the Indians* The State 
 applied to the General Government for protection. It 
 was answered, by permission to raise troops. A corps 
 was accordingly formed, of its citizens, and the service 
 rendered. The United States deferred, or neglected, 
 to pay its members, for thirty years, though continually 
 urged to do so by their Representatives in Congress. 
 In 1790, a delegation of Creek Indians went to the 
 seat of government, then in New York. They were 
 under the lead of Alexander McGilvray. 
 
 Lackland McGilvray whilst yet a lad, showed the 
 instincts of the Scotchman, by leaving his country and 
 family, in search of adventures and wealth. Upon 
 arriving at Charleston, he met with a party of singular 
 looking men, dressed in wrappers, belts, leggins and 
 moccasins ; having high cheekbones, sedate counte- 
 nances, and following strange ways. They reminded 
 him of home. They were Creek Indians, who had 
 
 * The following returns of depredations committed by the Creek 
 Indians show what their character and extent must have been. 
 
 Whites killed . . . . .72 
 
 Do. wounded ..... 29 
 
 Do. taken prisoners . . . .SO 
 
 Blacks killed ..... 10 
 
 Do. taken prisoners . . . .110 
 
 Horses taken off (their value, £3,395 10s.) . 184 
 
 Horses taken off not valued . . . . 459 
 
 Horned cattle taken off . . . 984 
 
 Hogs destroyed . . . . .387 
 
 Houses burnt ..... 89 
 
 Sundry household furniture, farming utensils, wearing 
 apparel destroyed. 
 
 “ Office of Sec. of Council, 5th Oct . 1789. 
 
 41 1 do hereby certify, that the above estimate of losses sustained by 
 the Indians, since the commencement of hostilities, is taken from returns 
 made on oath, and filed in this office. 
 
 F. Meriwether, Sec. E. C: 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 325 
 
 brought deer and fur shins to market, to exchange for 
 blankets and whiskey. He accompanied then iffo., their, 
 wigwams on the Coosa. He soon saw that the Creeks 
 were indifferent about accumulation. His Scotch pro- 
 pensity found an ample field to operate in. He en- 
 gaged in trade, as most Scotchmen in his day did, when 
 they left their country for other lands. To add to the 
 facility of doing business with the Indians, he took to 
 his side an Indian girl, the child of a Frenchman and 
 Creek squaw. The result of this union was Alexander 
 McGilvray, whose loyalty to the British crown, and 
 instinct for making money, — whose faithlessness and 
 malignity, gave obvious indications of his Scotch, 
 French, and Indian descent. 
 
 When the spirit of liberty inspired the people of 
 the Colonies to throw off the yoke of the mother 
 country, Lackland McGilvray returned to Scotland. 
 Alexander showed his inherited bent, by sticking to 
 the crown, and staying in the woods. He aided the 
 cause of royalty, by inducing the Creeks to take part 
 with his master, King George, against the Georgians. 
 The Legislature put Lackland and Alexander McGil- 
 vray upon the list of tories whose property it confis- 
 cated for the use of the State. Alexander repayed 
 himself for his losses by the injuries which he inflicted 
 on the Georgians, through the Creek Indians. The 
 British government, deeply aggrieved by its forced 
 relinquishment of control over its colonies, endeavored 
 to bring the States under its power, by destroying their 
 capacity for warring against it. The Indians were ex- 
 cited to harass the frontier people, by plunderings and 
 murders. Alexander McGilvray was the chosen in- 
 strument for doing this vile work in the South. He 
 was made a colonel, and given the pay which belonged 
 
326 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 to his rank. He availed himself of his advantageous 
 position among the Indians, and his British pay, to 
 form a copartnership in trade with the mercantile 
 house of Panton, Lesly & Co. 
 
 The Spanish Government claimed a considerable 
 portion of the territory of Georgia. With the hope 
 of making its claim good at some future time, McGil- 
 vray ivas taken into its pay, and appointed a general. 
 He and his partners were permitted to carry on trade 
 through Florida and other Spanish dependences, with 
 advantages allowed to no others. The importance 
 which McGilvray acquired among the Creeks through 
 his connection with the British and Spanish Govern- 
 ments, aided by his talents, enabled him to obtain, 
 though a half-breed, the speakership of the Creeks, 
 and rule them to his purposes. He also acquired great 
 influence among the Cherokees, stirred them up to 
 hostilities against the whites, and endeavored to unite 
 them with the Creeks and other southern tribes against 
 Georgia. The Government of the United States was 
 fully informed of McGilvray’s intriguing character. 
 His exciting the Creeks to make inroads into the States, 
 and his being in the pay of the British and Spanish 
 Governments. Following in the footsteps of Great 
 Britain and Spain, the government attempted to attach 
 him to its interest, by flattering courtesies, and creating 
 him a brigadier-general with a salary of twelve hun- 
 dred dollars. He induced the United States, in making 
 the treaty of Hew York, to take from Georgia a large 
 extent of land which the Creeks had previously ceded 
 to it, and to agree that the Indians might put to death 
 any Georgian who should be found upon the land, with- 
 out being accountable to the United States. He offer- 
 ed his services to the General Government, if it would 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 327 
 
 make another State out of the western territory of 
 Georgia. He said to Dr. White, United States Super- 
 intendent of the southern Indians, “ If that honorable 
 body (meaning the Congress of the Confederation) can 
 form a government to the southward of the Altamaha, 
 I will be the first to take the oath of allegiance there- 
 to.” The agent of the Confederation in reply says, in 
 the spirit which has ever since governed the conduct 
 of many in the same matter : “ The territory of 
 
 Georgia is amply extensive, and this Confederation is a 
 security for the Indians, that there will be no further 
 ground of complaint in future, as it cannot be an ob- 
 ject to disperse its subjects still more widely, while 
 there is so much internal room for cultivation. I can 
 take upon me to assure you, that measures are adopted 
 with strict security, for curbing the licentiousness of any 
 who may be disposed to give offence to this people.” 
 
 When Gen. Clark and his associates took posses- 
 sion of the country between the Oconee and Oc- 
 mulgee in 1794, and attempted to organize a republic, 
 the Indians looked on quietly, supposing that the new 
 State was what Dr. White and McGilvray had agreed 
 should be established for the purpose of limiting the 
 power of the Georgians ; and were surprised when Gen. 
 Washington gave no support to Gen. Clark, as they 
 supposed from the treaty of Hew York that the new 
 government would assent to any thing which the 
 Creeks agreed might be done in their territory to the 
 injury of Georgia, 
 
 The treaty of Hew York did not stop the thieving 
 and plunderings of the Creeks. When they ceased, 
 after four or five years, the State advised its citizens 
 to prove by such testimony as they could, the particu- 
 lars and amount of their losses. The 'peculiar circum- 
 
328 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 stances under wliicli these injuries had been sustained 
 rendered certainty impossible. The property was 
 taken or destroyed when apprehension of massacre 
 made the owners fly from their homes. They could 
 not retake it, or follow the plunderers, so as to know 
 certainly who they were, and what they had taken, 
 but at the risk of their lives. How poorly they were 
 compensated will be seen in the sequel. 
 
 The confederation and the United States succeeded 
 in procuring from most of the States the relinquish- 
 ment of their unsettled lands. Repeated efforts were 
 made to induce Georgia to cede, in the same way, its 
 western territory. Politicians who want to effect an 
 object, are not very ready to obstruct the doings of 
 what will lead to it. The protection which the people 
 of Georgia was entitled to from the General Govern- 
 ment was given so slowly and inefficiently, that the 
 massacres of the Indians were done and they gone be- 
 fore the United States troops were in force to defend 
 them. The State, being unable to defend its citizens, 
 or procure from the Indians cession of their occupant 
 right to the soil, found its extensive territory, wealth 
 without profit. It therefore, in 1802, conveyed its 
 title to what, now makes the States of Alabama and 
 Mississippi to the United States, in consideration that 
 the United States would extinguish the Indian title to 
 the remainder of the land which they then occupied in 
 the State. The General Government thus became 
 bound, by positive contract, to remove the Indians 
 from Georgia whenever it could be done peaceably 
 and upon reasonable terms. — .. 
 
 In 1808, the Cherokee Indians proposed to the 
 United States to permit them to examine, and if pleas- 
 ed, to settle upon the public land on the west of the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 329 
 
 Mississippi. The permission asked for was given. 
 They found a country which suited them very well, 
 and many immediately emigrated to it. Although the 
 means were thus afforded to the United States Gov- 
 ernment to execute its contract with Georgia, it neg- 
 lected to avail itself of them. When the Creeks were 
 conquered, and sued for peace in 1814, the United 
 States had the rightful power to demand of them a 
 cession of the land which they occupied in Georgia, in 
 repayment of the expenses of the war. What it did, 
 was to take land in Alabama, which it sold for its 
 own benefit. When, by the urgency of the represen- 
 tatives of Georgia, money was afterwards appropri- 
 ated for holding a treaty with the Cherokees for a 
 cession of land, the government appointed two Tennes- 
 seans and one Georgian, commissioners. The conse- 
 quence followed, that the most val ua ble land which 
 the Indians relinquished was in Tennessee instead of 
 Georgia. 
 
 The State might not have complained if the treaty 
 had been fully complied with. The wealthy half-breed 
 Indians who owned slaves, cultivated large farms, kept 
 ferries, and taverns, and had other means of acquiring 
 wealth in Georgia, wmre unwilling to lose their ad- 
 vantageous position. They sent a delegation of their 
 own class to Washington City in 1819, and induced 
 the Secretary of War to change the terms of the 
 treaty so as to let them remain in Georgia. The Unit- 
 ed States took from Georgia the benefit of the previous 
 treaty under the plea of the great importance of civ- 
 ilizing the Indians. The Secretary of War was lauded 
 to the skies by the Indian sympathizers, because he 
 granted to the chiefs large tracts of the most fertile 
 land in Georgia in fee, though the fee was known to 
 
330 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 be in Georgia, and tlie consent of the State was not 
 asked for nor given. 
 
 In 1821, a treaty was made between the United 
 States and the Creek Indians, by which it was agreed 
 that $250,000 of the money which the Indians were to 
 receive for the land sold, might be applied by the Unit- 
 ed States to compensate the citizens of Georgia for 
 the negroes, horses, and cattle which had been pre- 
 viously taken from them by the Indians. These claims 
 amounted to $280,000, according to the testimony 
 which had been taken by the losers, and recorded in 
 the executive office of the State. Tiie proofs were 
 exhibited to the United States commissioners and the 
 Creek chiefs at the making of the treaty, by commis- 
 sioners from Georgia specially appointed for that pur- 
 pose. Although the losses sustained by the frontier 
 people from Creek spoliations were suffered under cir- 
 cumstances which greatly increased the extent of the 
 injury ; though the losers had waited in vain for 
 near thirty years in expectation that the United States 
 would perform its duty, by compelling the Creeks to 
 return the property taken, or make compensation for 
 its loss; such strict rules for their adjudication were en- 
 joined by the United States upon the commissioners 
 appointed to investigate them, that only about a hun- 
 dred and ten thousand dollars was awarded in satisfac- 
 tion of them. Those whose claims were allowed to be 
 sufficiently proved, then insisted that they should be 
 compensated for the delay in making payment by the 
 application of the remainder of the $250,000 to that 
 purpose. The question was referred by the United 
 States to its own law officer. The Attorney-General 
 decided that nations did not pay interest to each other 
 for delays in making compensation for spoliations. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 331 ' 
 
 The representatives of Georgia in Congress applied to 
 that body in behalf of their unjustly treated constitu- 
 ents. In the discussion which followed, ex-president 
 Adams, then a member, and an admirable exponent of 
 the feeling and opinions of his class, spouted a most 
 violent philippic against any further allowance to the 
 Georgia claimants. “ Sir,” said he, “ these Georgians are 
 the most extraordinary people in the world. They 
 put their hands into the public treasury as no others 
 ever did. Sir, it comes within my personal knowledge 
 that these claimants have been paid three times for 
 their losses.” 
 
 In 1825 a treaty was authorized to be held with the 
 Creek Indians. The government of Georgia being 
 forewarned, became forearmed. They procured the 
 appointment of Georgia citizens for commissioners. A 
 cession of land was made in the form and mannerwhich 
 had been customary. The treaty was laid before the 
 Senate by Mr. Adams, then President. Upon the pre- 
 tence of the use of unwarantable means by the com- 
 missioners in making the treaty, his first message was 
 immediately followed by a message to prevent its rati- 
 fication. The whole country was put into an uproar 
 because what had always been done in Indian treaties 
 had been again done. The President sent an agent, a 
 subordinate clerk in one of the departments under his 
 control, to procure evidence that money and other 
 presents had been given to the Indians. The agent 
 took the testimony of those who had failed to make as 
 much profit by the treaty as they desired, or who fear- 
 ed some loss from it. Whilst the country was agitated 
 by the pros and cons, Governor Troup took possession 
 of the land, and notified Mr. Adams that the people of 
 Georgia would stand by their arms in defence of their 
 
332 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 rights. Mr. Adams was a candidate for re-election at 
 the time. He and his friends made a great effort for 
 success, by exciting sympathy for the poor Indians. 
 They would most probably have gained their end, but 
 that Gen. Jackson’s victory at New Orleans secured 
 for him more votes than the cry of poor Indians did 
 for Mr. Adams. 
 
 A few weeks after I went into the Executive office, 
 I received the report of the commissioners who had 
 been appointed to investigate the facts in relation to 
 the claim of the State to possess at once a territory of 
 considerable extent, which had been previously occu- 
 pied by the Creeks, abandoned by them, and taken 
 possession of by the Cherokees. 
 
 The following is an extract from my message to the 
 Legislature, upon the subject of this claim. 
 
 Permit me to recommend to the Legislature the most liberal 
 and forbearing course, in relation to our right to the territory in 
 dispute. Delay, and thorough investigation, will not weaken our 
 title, if valid. Representing as we do a great community, and 
 having for dependants, a weak tribe of Indians, subject to our 
 legislation, it becomes us, not only to act justly, but to avoid 
 the appearance of violating right. The immediate possession of 
 the disputed territory, is comparatively of small importance ; 
 the removal of all the Cherokees beyond our limits is an object of 
 the very greatest. Until it is effected, our population must re- 
 main unsettled, our policy wavering, and improvements of all 
 kinds, whether they contribute to the enjoyments of society, or 
 the advancement of the wealth of the State, unexecuted to their ful- 
 lest extent. We are assured that the exertions of the present 
 Administration of the General Government, will be used to en- 
 able the State to arrive at this very desirable end. The obliga- 
 tions of the United States, to extinguish the Indian title to all 
 the lands within the limits of the State, we may now hope will 
 be complied with in good faith. No one understands better the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 333 
 
 Indian character, and the nature of the peculiar relations which 
 exist between them and our government, than the President of 
 the United States. It is believed that the efforts of the Govern- 
 ment to remove the Cherokees, will be strengthened by the truth 
 which is becoming more evident, that the cause of humanity re- 
 quires it. Long experience has satisfied all, except sectional and 
 party zealots, that the Indian tribes, when surrounded by white 
 men, continue to disappear, until they become extinct. The gov- 
 ernment proposes to remove all who are within the limits of the 
 State, to an extensive territory, which belongs to it, beyond the 
 Mississippi, where they can be protected and aided in their ad- 
 vancement in civilization, so far as that object can be effected. 
 The humane and intelligent are every where concurring in the 
 proposed measure. In pursuing the course recommended, we 
 shall avoid the unpleasant necessity for acting as sole judge in 
 our own cause, and collision with the present Administration of 
 the General Government, which is so much more favorable to the 
 rights of the State than that which immediately preceded it. 
 
 The following estract from a letter to the President 
 of the United States, will further explain this claim to 
 the immediate possession of a part of the teritory which 
 was in possession of the Indians. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, Dec. 29 th, 1829. 
 
 ’ I Independent of any knowledge derived from individuals, it is 
 probable that we could have accounted for the change of posses- 
 sion of the disputed territory from the Creeks to the Cherokees, 
 from the alteration of the habits of life which has been for a long 
 time taking place in both tribes. Within the last thirty or forty 
 years, the Creeks and Cherokees gradually became less and less 
 capable of subsisting by hunting. Very many of the half-breeds 
 of each tribe exchanged hunting for herding. But even these 
 were but little accustomed to provide, by cultivating the earth, 
 food for the support of their cattle during the winter, but rather 
 trusted to the cane and other natural productions. Both tribes 
 therefore inclined to progress to the south, where the lands on 
 the streams were richer, and the cane more capable of sustaining 
 
834 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 their cattle. That portion of the Cherokee tribe in particular, 
 who inhabited the high, mountainous, cold and sterile country 
 about the head-waters of the Savannah and Chattahoochee, were 
 disposed to leave it for one further to the south, and more suit- 
 able to the change that was taking place in their habits. The 
 truth of this opinion is verified by the talk delivered by the 
 Cherokees, in 1808, to the President of the United States, in 
 which they represent the scarcity of game in that part of their 
 country, and their intention to leave it. In addition to the su- 
 perior advantages of a more southern country for the support of 
 their cattle, was added the inducement of approaching nearer 
 their markets, rendered important by the increased value of 
 their beef and hides. 
 
 It is probably known to the President, from personal observa- 
 tion, that the country in dispute was formerly occupied by the 
 Creeks entirely, and that they gradually relinquished their pos- 
 session, until, at the close of the late war, there were very few 
 of that tribe remaining on it ; and that, at the same time, and in 
 the same manner, the Cherokees by degrees obtained almost en- 
 tire possession. The fact that all the streams and remarkable 
 places have Creek names, prove certainly that it was but lately 
 occupied by the Creeks, and that there has been no general and 
 simultaneous transfer of its possession from one tribe to the 
 other, and that the Cherokees must therefore have intermingled 
 with the original inhabitants, so as to have adopted their proper 
 names. The Cherokees’ talk, the testimony of the Indians, and 
 the information of the original white settlers on the frontier, 
 prove that this occupation of the country by the Cherokees was 
 permissive on the part of the Creeks, and so considered by the 
 Cherokees until 1820, when General McIntosh procured the con- 
 sent of the Creeks to make it a matter of right. The country 
 was said to have been loaned by the Creeks to the Cherokees. 
 The first claim of the right to possess it at all, on the part of the 
 latter tribe, was derived from success at a ball-play, at which the 
 stake was the disputed country, and at which play the Cherokees 
 were successful. This ball-play took place some time between 
 the years 1816 and 1820. 
 
 I understand that the President is of the opinion that the 
 United States Government is bound, by its contract of 1802 with 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 385 
 
 Georgia, as well as upon general principles, to pe rmit no trans- 
 fer of territory after that time from the Creeks to the Cherokees. 
 or rather to disregard any contracts which may have been made 
 between the two tribes. The Creeks having been the occupants 
 of the country in 1802, and having parted with possession, it 
 now belongs to Georgia, as the rightful owner of the soil. The 
 wisdom and prudence of the President will direct the time and 
 manner in which the State shall take possession of the country. 
 We are desirous that the President shall so manage the matter 
 as not to interfere with the efforts of his administration to obtain 
 for Georgia, through the measures proposed to be pursued by 
 Congress during its present session, the whole of its Indian ter- 
 ritory. The people of Georgia, and those who administer its 
 government, are fully apprised of the opposition which the Presi- 
 dent has to encounter in the management of Indian affairs. 
 They know that in discharging his high duty, to advance the real 
 interest of the Indians, and secure the rights of Georgia, he will 
 be opposed by the prejudices, the ignorance, and the feigned sen- 
 sibility of affected philanthropists, and still more by the party 
 seeking to succeed him in office. The Legislature of the State 
 and its Executive have therefore endeavored to pursue such 
 policy, in relation to every thing connected with the Indians, as 
 to aid the President in sustaining his measures. He will be 
 satisfied of this by the accompanying report and resolutions of 
 the Legislature, and the message of the Executive. 
 
 It is my duty to state to the President, that I have lately 
 received information from a highly respectable source, that Gen. 
 Coffee, the United States Agent for taking testimony in relation 
 to the disputed line, has been subjected to an attempt to have 
 palmed upon him much corrupt testimony. 
 
 Mr. Gates, the Georgia Commissioner, who lives immediately 
 upon the line of the disputed territory, writes me thus : — “ I am 
 informed that Major Ridge, a Cherokee, had some old drunken 
 Indians, heretofore chiefs, drilling for a week, and then intro- 
 duced them to General Coffee, as competent evidence.” The 
 constant and active efforts of Ridge to thwart the views of the 
 Government, renders this account highly probable. It is, how- 
 ever, less regarded, because it is believed that the President 
 himself is well acquainted with the facts connected with the 
 
336 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 present possession of the Cherokees, Indian habits, and the char- 
 acter of their principal chiefs. I have requested Mr. Gates to 
 endeavor to procure some evidence, in a more authentic form, of 
 the truth of his statement as to Ridge’s conduct. 
 
 Georgia considers herself entitled to the immediate possession 
 of the country claimed, hut is "willing to have the right postponed 
 for the attainment of a more important object. If that object is 
 not effected by the means adopted during the present session of 
 Congress, the State expects that the President will, so far as his 
 own power extends, do her justice, by having the Cherokees re- 
 moved from so much of the territory as is included in the treaty 
 lately made with the Creeks. 
 
 These remarks are submitted to the President with senti- 
 ments of the most respectful consideration. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 To the President of the United States. 
 
 Soon after tliis correspondence with the officers of 
 the General Government, the Cherokee chief, Ridge, 
 with a large party of Indians under his command, en- 
 tered the disputed territory, and dispossessed the whites, 
 by burning all the houses occupied by them. The In- 
 dians were armed and painted. The weather was 
 exceedingly inclement, the earth being covered with 
 snow. Two women in childbed were exposed to its 
 severity. The difficulty of preserving peace when the 
 frontier people wanted protection from the Indians, 
 and the Indians were redressing their imagined wrongs 
 by shedding the blood of the whites — excited as both 
 whites and Indians were by the contest about this dis- 
 puted territory — will be understood by the following 
 correspondence. That only a single life was lost when 
 so many were perilled, is a matter for wonder. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 15th Feb., 1830. 
 
 Sir, — I have just been informed by express, that a party of 
 Indians, headed by Ridge, have entered into the territory now in 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 337 
 
 dispute between this State and the Cherokees, and destroyed 
 fourteen or fifteen houses occupied by our citizens. The houses 
 were formerly possessed by the Cherokees. They were pur- 
 chased of them by the treaty of 1828, and paid for by the United 
 States. The Indian occupants had also received a valuable con- 
 sideration for them from the citizens who were in possession 
 at the time they were burnt. It is understood that very few 
 Cherokees remain upon any part of the disputed territory. The 
 conduct of Ridge and his party have been without justification 
 in this matter, on account of their knowledge of the determination 
 of the President not to interfere with the present occupants of 
 the disputed territory, either white or Indian, until the possessory 
 right shall be determined to be in one or the other. The Indians 
 are represented to have been painted and armed, and to have 
 acted under the orders of their principal chief. The whites, ex- 
 cited by this outrage, have endeavored, in a very informal way, 
 to have the trespassing Indians arrested. Application has been 
 made to me for the aid of the military authority, to defend the 
 citizens of the frontier from attack. It has not been granted, 
 from the belief that the Indians will not attempt any further 
 violence. This, however, is far from being certain. I shall re- 
 quest the commanding officer of the United States troops at Fort 
 Mitchel, to march with a sufficient force for the protection of that 
 part of our frontier where danger seems to be apprehended. 
 The President will perceive, in this state of things, additional in- 
 ducement to comply with the request which has been hitherto 
 made him, to remove the Cherokee Indians from all the lands 
 within this State to which they have no clear possessory title. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, &c. 
 
 George R. Gilmer.. 
 
 To the Hon. John H. Eaton. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville , 15 th Feb., 1S30. 
 
 Dear Sir, — From the information received by express this 
 day, I learn that the Cherokees have burnt the houses occupied 
 by the whites in the territory, the right to possess which is now 
 in dispute between them and the Georgians, and that the whites 
 have revenged themselves by killing one of the Indians and con- 
 fining another in Carroll jail. I also understand that the sheriff 
 22 
 
338 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 of Carroll, and twenty followers, are about to enter the Cherokee 
 country in search of the Indians who destroyed the houses. It 
 is very important to the interest as well as the character of the 
 State, that these acts of violence should he stopped. The law 
 extending the civil jurisdiction of the State over the Cherokee 
 country will not go into operation until next June, and does not 
 therefore alfect the rights of the Indians. The Cherokees have 
 been for a long time in possession of the territory which is now 
 claimed by Georgia, and many of them yet occupy it. The 
 houses burnt were within the disputed territory. The white 
 occupants were considered by the United States intruders, and 
 subject to be driven off. The General Government has only de- 
 ferred the orders to its troops to do so until the right of Georgia 
 to the country can be examined into and determined upon. Its 
 final decision is looked for daily. It is therefore exceedingly 
 important that no acts of violence should be committed by our 
 citizens. If the Indians who burnt the houses have committed 
 any violence upon the personal rights of our citizens, they have 
 rendered themselves liable to be arrested and punished. But 
 this does not seem to have been the case. An inquiry was made 
 of the War Department, by direction of the last Legislature, as 
 to the ownership of the houses. The answer was, that the In- 
 dians could not convey the houses to our people. This answer 
 was communicated to the Legislature, and acquiesced in. 
 
 My object in writing is to inform you of the facts, and to re- 
 quest the interposition of the civil authority in suppressing any 
 further violence on the part of our citizens. 
 
 I write in great haste. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, <fcc. 
 
 George B. Gilmer. 
 
 "To the Hon. "Walter J. Colquit. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 1 \th March, 1830. 
 
 Sir, — I have received your letter, inclosing the report of the 
 committee on Indian affairs, for which, please to accept my 
 thanks. The deepest interest is felt here for the success of the 
 measures proposed by the committee. Their failure will pro- 
 duce a most unpleasant state of things in Georgia. The mutual 
 irritation between the people of the State and the Cherokees, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 339 
 
 renders it improbable that our laws can be executed without acts 
 of violence. The whites and half-breeds, who are most capable 
 of understanding and valuing the benefits of civil government, 
 are the most active in opposing the jurisdiction of the State. 
 Their conduct, together with the constant abuse of the State and 
 its people, by the opposition to the present administration, under 
 the guise of sympathy for the Indians, will draw upon them the 
 most rigid enforcement of the laws. The officers of the frontier 
 counties, who will be the instruments of their execution, reside 
 in a community too much excited, to expect that their conduct 
 will be uniformly conciliatory. A late occurrence has added 
 very much to the excitement among both whites and Indians. 
 You are aware, that early in the last year the Legislature caused 
 an investigation to be made into the title of the State to the im- 
 mediate possession of a part of the country in the occupancy of 
 the Cherolcees, and a survey to be made of it for the purpose of 
 ascertaining its extent. Soon after, most of the Cherokees, who 
 resided upon the land, accepted of the terms offered them by the 
 treaty of 1828, received the valuation for their possessions, trans- 
 ferred them to citizens of Georgia, and removed to the West. 
 In this manner the disputed country became settled almost en- 
 tirely by the whites. The Governor of Georgia applied to the 
 President, to have the few remaining Cherokees removed from 
 it ; and the Cherokee Chiefs made a similar application, to re- 
 move the whites. The President declined complying with the 
 request of either, until it should be determined by an investiga- 
 tion (which he ordered to be made), to whom the right of posses- 
 sion belonged. With the knowledge that the investigation was 
 not completed, and that the President had ordered that the whites 
 on the disputed territory should not, for tire time, be treated as 
 intruders, Ross, the principal chief of the Cherokees, directed 
 Ridge (known to be the most active and malignant enemy of 
 Georgia) to destroy all the houses occupied by the whites, on a 
 day when the earth was covered with snow and sleet. The 
 order was executed by burning the houses. A number of women, 
 with infant children, were thus deprived of shelter from the 
 severity of the coldest and most inclement weather. Such has 
 been the excitement produced by this outrage, that it has been 
 with the utmost difficulty that the people have been restrained 
 
840 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 from taking ample vengeance upon the perpetrators. All the in- 
 fluence of the Executive of the State has been used to prevent any 
 further violence. It is hoped that every member of the United 
 States Government will perceive, in this state of things, sufficient 
 reason for the use of the most effective means for the removal of 
 the Indians. The occasion does not admit of the discussion of 
 mere abstract questions. It is required by the interests of all 
 the parties concerned, and especially that of the great body of 
 the Indians. 
 
 With sentiments of the highest respect, yours, &c. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Honorable Hugh White. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 6 th May , 1830. 
 
 Dear Sir, — Your letter, together with the documents from 
 the War Department, which you have so obligingly had copied 
 for me, have been received. I do not understand the object of 
 the President in withholding from the Executive of the State the 
 official communication of his determination in relation to the 
 disputed territory. 
 
 Your opinion, that the possessory right of the Cherokee tribe 
 to the places occupied by individuals who have received value 
 for their improvements, and agreed to emigrate, is extinguished 
 thereby, and the corresponding policy of the administration, in 
 determining not to consider the white persons who have settled 
 upon those improvements, intruders, opens to the State the most 
 certain prospect of insuring the enforcement of her laws, and 
 acquiring her entire territory. 
 
 I am in doubt, as to what ought to be done with the gold 
 diggers. They, with their various attendants, foragers and 
 suppliers, make up between six and ten thousand persons. They 
 occupy the country between the Chestatee and Etowah Rivers, 
 near the mountains, gold being found in the greatest quantity 
 deposited in the small streams which flow into those rivers. 
 There are no Indians residing in that section of the country. 
 The quantity of gold is said to be very great. It is intimated, 
 that the gold diggers intend procuring the consent of the Chero- 
 kee Council to the continuance of their operations, if the United 
 States Government should attempt to remove them as intruders, 
 thereby evading the non-intercourse law. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 341 
 
 The State considers itself entitled to all the valuable miner- 
 als within the soil of the Cherokee territory, by virtue of its fee- 
 simple ownership, and is now permitting itself to he plundered 
 of its wealth, from the strong desire of its authorities to avoid 
 any collision with the General Government. If, however, the 
 gold diggers should attempt to evade the operation of the United 
 States laws, in the manner suggested, it may become necessary 
 for the State to protect its property, by taking possession of the 
 gold region. If it should, it is hoped that it will be under cir- 
 cumstances which will prevent any opposition on the part of the 
 General Government. 
 
 I have not issued a proclamation, ordering the gold diggers 
 to cease their operations and to depart from the Cherokee terri- 
 tory, because the laws of the State give the Executive no power 
 to enforce such a proclamation. I cannot call upon the General 
 Government to enforce the non-intercourse law, because I do not 
 believe that it has the constitutional right to do so. All that I 
 can do, is not to resist the exercise of an authority which has 
 been uniformly acquiesced in by the Legislature of the State, 
 and all of my predecessors. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, Ac. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Honorable John McPherson Berman, 
 
 A tty. Gen. of the United States. 
 
 When this letter was written to the Attorney Gen- 
 eral, a community was forming in the gold regions 
 scarcely ever paralleled any where. Many thousands of 
 idle, profligate people flocked into the country, from 
 every point of the compass, whose pent up vicious pro- 
 pensities, when loosed from the restraints of law and 
 public opinion, made them like the evil one, in his 
 worst mood. After wading all day in the creeks which 
 make the Etowah and Chattahoochee Rivers, picking up 
 particles of gold, they collected around light wood knot 
 fires, at night, and played on the ground and their hats, 
 at cards, dice, push pin, and other games of chance, for 
 
342 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 their clay’s finding. Numerous whiskey carts supplied 
 the appropriate aliment for their employments. Hun- 
 dreds of combatants were sometimes seen at fisticuffs, 
 swearing, striking, and gouging, as frontier men only 
 can do these things. 
 
 About the last of May, the Congress of the United 
 States passed a law, authorizing the President to ex- 
 change with any Indian tribe the lands occupied by 
 them in any State or Territory, for lands of the United 
 States west of the Mississippi. This law was passed by 
 a majority of five votes only. It was opposed most 
 violently in both Houses, although its enactments were 
 altogether favorable to the Indian tribes, and was the 
 most certain way by which the Government’s contract 
 to extinguish the Indian title to the lands occupied by 
 them in Georgia could be extinguished. The sectional 
 interests of the Northern and Middle States, and the 
 partisan opposition to the Administration, resisted 
 every effort made by the United States and Georgia 
 to place the Ckerokees in a situation more favorable to 
 their civilization and improvement than that which 
 they then occupied, surrounded and mixed up as they 
 were with the whites, who corrupted their morals, and 
 lessened their attachment to each other, by lessening 
 their identity. 
 
 Immediately after the time, when, by the Act of 
 the Legislature, the laws of the State became of force 
 in the Cherokee territory, I gave notice of it to all 
 whom it concerned, by the following proclamation, 
 forbidding trespasses upon the gold mines in the Cher- 
 okee territory, and notifying the Indians, and whites 
 living among them, of the extension of the State’s juris- 
 diction over them. So much as is supposed to be 
 necessary to understand what is said about it, is copied 
 here. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 343 
 
 Whereas, it has been discovered, that the lands in the terri- 
 tory, now occupied by the Cherokee Indians, within the limits of 
 this State, abound with valuable minerals, especially gold: And 
 whereas, the State of Georgia has the fee-simple title to said 
 lands, and the entire and exclusive property in the gold and 
 silver therein : And ivhereas, numerous persons, citizens of this 
 and other States, together with the Indian occupants of said 
 territory, taking advantage of the law of this State, by which 
 its jurisdiction over said territory was not to be assumed until 
 the first day of June last past, have been, and are now employed 
 in digging for gold in said land, and taking therefrom great 
 amounts in value, to the injury of its public resources : And 
 whereas, the absence of legal restraint, and the nature of their 
 pursuits, have caused a state of society to exist among said per- 
 sons, too disorderly to be permitted : And whereas, an Act of 
 the Legislature has added the territory occupied by the Cher- 
 okee Indians, included in the limits of this State, to the counties 
 of Carroll, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Hall, and Habersham, and ren- 
 dered void all Cherokee laws : And whereas, the jurisdiction 
 of the State is now extended over said territory, and all persons 
 therein, made subject thereto. — Now, for the purpose of remov- 
 ing all persons from the lands of the State, in the territory 
 aforesaid, except such as are permitted by the laws or assent of 
 the State to occupy the same ; to secure to the State its pro- 
 perty in the minerals therein, and to put an end to the laivless 
 state of society which has hitherto existed among the gold dig- 
 gers in said territory ; I have thought proper to issue this, my 
 Proclamation, notifying all persons whom it may concern, that 
 the jurisdiction of this State is now extended over all the terri- 
 tory in the occupancy of the Cherokees, included within the 
 limits of the State. 
 
 The following; letter was written to the President 
 of the United States, immediately after issuing the 
 Proclamation, informing him of the policy which the 
 authorities of the State were pursuing, upon the sub- 
 jects of the Indians and gold mines. 
 
344 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, \ 5 th June, 1830. 
 
 Sir, — I transmit to the President, for his information, a 
 proclamation, which is designed to notify the Indians within this 
 State, of the extension of its jurisdiction over them, and to re- 
 quire white persons as well as Indians, to desist from trespass- 
 ing upon the property of the State, by taking gold or other 
 valuable minerals from its ungranted land. Before this procla- 
 mation reached the part of the State occupied by the Cherokees, 
 the United States troops had driven from it all persons except 
 Indian occupants. 
 
 The President is aware, that such an exercise of power, with- 
 out the consent of Georgia, is believed to be unauthorized by 
 the Constitution of the United States, especially since the pas- 
 sage of the law. by Georgia, extending the jurisdiction of the 
 State over all its Indian territory. It is, however, so important 
 an object with the State to obtain from the United States the 
 execution of its contract of 1802 to remove the Indians from 
 within its limits, that it has been unwilling to create the least 
 embarrassment by any assertion of its rights, in opposition to 
 the policy of the General Government. This disposition has 
 been increased, by the special confidence reposed in the present 
 administration. 
 
 From information just received, there is much reason to ap- 
 prehend considerable disturbances, and perhaps bloodshed, from 
 •the manner in which the order of the President to remove in- 
 truders, has been executed by the officers commanding the 
 regular troops. The persons who have been removed by them, 
 were engaged in mining for gold. Their numbers amounted to 
 several thousand, most of whom had found their employment 
 exceedingly profitable. The Indians in their immediate vicinity, 
 so far from objecting to the occupation of their country by the 
 gold miners, favored their presence. They were not interrupted 
 in the accustomed enjoyment of their country, by the taking 
 gold from its soil. The gold region is situated very near the 
 thickly inhabited part of the frontier of the State. When the 
 gold diggers were removed by the troops, although much dis- 
 content was felt, they retired to their homes without any actual 
 resistance. It, however, soon became known, that the mines 
 from which they had been driven were immediately taken pos- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 345 
 
 session of by the Indians and the whites connected with them, 
 and that they were permitted to take the gold, without any re- 
 sistance from the troops. Very great excitement is said to be 
 the result. There is much reason to apprehend that the Indians 
 will be forcibly driven from the gold region, unless they are im- 
 mediately prohibited from appropriating its mineral wealth. 
 
 Georgians think that they violate no law except that of the 
 State, in digging for gold within its limits ; and that after the 
 passage of the law extending its jurisdiction over the Cherokee 
 country, the Government of the United States has no author- 
 ity to enforce the non-intercourse law. What effect the Execu- 
 tive proclamation may have in allaying this excitement, is very 
 uncertain. It is probable that it may prevent an immediate 
 attack upon the Indians, from the expectation that they will be 
 restrained by the authorities of the State. 
 
 I shall be compelled to resort to the tedious process of the 
 courts, for this purpose, the laws of the State not having invest- 
 ed the Governor with the power to protect the public property 
 by military force. In the mean time, it is very desirable, that 
 the President should direct the officers commanding the United 
 States troops, to prevent intrusion upon the property of the 
 State by the Indians, at the same time that they are defending 
 the occupant rights of the Indians from intrusion by the whites. 
 The President will perceive, that in the proclamation forbidding 
 all persons, both whites and Indians, from taking gold from the 
 territory of the State in the occupation of the Indians, that the 
 right of the State to all the gold and silver in its ungranted 
 lands is asserted. All the European nations who made dis- 
 covery, conquests, or took possession of any portion of this con- 
 tinent, claimed the exclusive right to all the gold and silver 
 mines within their possessions. This was, in fact, the first and 
 strongest inducement to the enterprise of the early adventurers 
 to this country. 
 
 In addition to this right assumed by all European nations, 
 the King of Great Britain claimed, by virtue of the common law 
 of England, to be the sovereign owner of all the lands within 
 his kingdom, and especially in the American Colonies. Upon 
 the independence of the States, their Governments became 
 entitled to all the rights of sovereignty over the territory within 
 
346 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 their limits, ■which had before belonged to the Kings of Great 
 Britain. The State of Georgia is therefore entitled to the gold 
 and silver in its territory occupied by the Indians, as well by 
 the customary law established by the nations by whom this 
 country was settled, as the fee-simple or permanent title which 
 it derives from the crown of Great Britain. 
 
 The Courts of this State have uniformly determined that 
 the State is the proprietor of all the ungranted lands within it, 
 including those in the occupancy of the Indians. This right is 
 claimed by each of the original States of the Union. It is 
 certainly the right of Georgia, according to the decision of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 If the Indians take possession of the gold mines through the 
 assistance of the United States Government, they will be fixed 
 upon the soil instead of being removed. It is said that prepara- 
 tions are making by a large number of the wealthy Cherokees 
 to remove into the gold region for the purpose of participating 
 in its mineral riches. If they can be protected in so doing by 
 the United States, v T e shall thus not only retain the Cherokees 
 ■who have hitherto occupied the lands of the State, but many of 
 those wdio reside in Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina. 
 The United States is bound by contract to prevent this state of 
 things. No doubt is entertained of the disposition of the Pre- 
 sident to perform the obligations of the Government in good 
 faith. The State of Georgia cannot permit her rights to be 
 violated by persons subject to her jurisdiction, as the Indians 
 are acknowledged to be, without applying a remedy adequate to 
 the removal of the evil. In exercising this power, if it should 
 unfortunately become necessary, it will be the object of the 
 State to do it in such manner as to aid rather than thwart the 
 policy of the present administration, and carefully to guard from 
 violating the rights intended to be secured to the Indians. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, &c., 
 
 George It. Gilmer. 
 
 To the President of the United States. 
 
 P. S. — I have this moment received information which may 
 be relied on, that when the Executive proclamation was received 
 all the Indians left the mines, but that most of the whites and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 347 
 
 wealthy half-breeds continued digging for gold. I have not yet 
 understood what effect the proclamation has had upon the intru- 
 ders who have been driven off, and who have evinced a disposi- 
 tion to act with violence. An agent of great discretion and 
 firmness, will be immediately sent to the gold region, with direc- 
 tions to enjoin, by process from the courts, all persons who may 
 he found trespassing upon the rights of the State. In this way 
 hopes are entertained that peace and order may be restored to 
 our frontier. 
 
 George It. Gilmer. 
 
 Whilst I was harassed by the difficulty of pre- 
 venting trespasses upon the land wlier^gold ivas found, 
 and enforcing the jurisdiction of the State upon the 
 Cherokee people, I received the following letter from 
 Mr. Wirt: 
 
 Baltimore, June 4th, 1830. 
 
 Sir, — A just respect for the State of Georgia, and a desire 
 to avoid a misconstruction which misfit be attended with evil 
 
 O 
 
 consequences, seems to me to call for a commuiiication which, 
 under other circumstances, might well he deemed officious and 
 intrusive. The excitement with regard to the Indians within 
 your borders is already so high, and in this state of feeling 
 measures of the most innocent character are so easily misappre- 
 hended and converted into causes of offence, that I persuade 
 myself your Excellency will at least approve the motive of this 
 letter as a measure of peace. 
 
 The Cherokee nation have consulted me professionally as to 
 their rights under their various treaties with the United States. 
 Among other questions, they have asked me whether, under the 
 Federal Constitution, laws, and treaties, the State of Georgia has 
 the right to extend her laws compulsively into their nation ; and 
 whether this question can or cannot he carried for decision to 
 the Supreme Court of the United States. I am fully aware of 
 the serious import of these questions, and regret exceedingly 
 that they have arisen. I foresee distinctly the disastrous con- 
 sequences which may be made to flow from giving the contro- 
 versy this direction ; and yet if it be met and conducted with 
 
348 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 proper temper, as I trust it will, it is quite as apparent that 
 it may prove the means of peace and reconciliation. 
 
 I have not sought this consultation. It has been cast upon 
 me in the common and regular practice of my profession, and 
 according to my understanding of my professional duties, I am 
 not at liberty to refuse either my advice or services to any one 
 who comes to consult me on his legal rights, and who has noth- 
 ing more in view than the assertion of those rights according to 
 the course of the law of the land. 
 
 It is my misfortune to differ with the constituted authorities 
 of the State of Georgia on the question of her power to extend 
 her laws into the Cherokee nation ; and the late debates in Con- 
 gress will have satisfied your Excellency that in this opinion I 
 am not singular, hut that I hold it in common with many of the 
 most distinguished lawyers on our continent. We may he 
 wrong ; and, as infallibility is not the lot of mortals, those who 
 hold the opposite opinion may possibly be wrong. Fortunately, 
 there exists a tribunal, before rvhich this difference of opinion 
 may be quietly and peaceably settled, and to this tribunal I 
 think it may be regularly referred. I perceive that in the de- 
 bates to which I have alluded, a mistaken humanity has been 
 supposed to warp the judgment on one side of this question, 
 and interest on the other. In the Supreme Court of the United 
 States we shall find a tribunal as impartial and as enlightened 
 as can be expected on this earth ; or, if partiality can be sup- 
 posed to find its way into that high tribunal on any occasion, it 
 is not on such a one as this that the Cherokee nation have a 
 right to expect it in their favor. To them the courts of the 
 United States are foreign courts, while they are the domestic 
 tribunals of the States of the Union. 
 
 I have told these people that I am willing to assist them in 
 bringing their rights for final decision before the Supreme 
 Court of the United States, on the condition that they conduct 
 themselves peaceably towards the people of Georgia and of the 
 United States, and that they make the question purely a ques- 
 tion of law for our courts ; but that I will abandon them and 
 their cause on the first aggression by violence on the white 
 people around them which shall be authorized by their nation. 
 It is but justice to add, that in those of the nation who have 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 349 
 
 been with me, ancl who compose the delegation that have been 
 at Washington through the winter, I have not discovered the 
 slightest disposition to violence. They are civilized and well- 
 informed men. They wear our dress, speak our language cor- 
 rectly, and in their manners indicate all the mildness and much 
 of the culture and courtesy of our own best circles. They 
 assure me that their people at home have abandoned the habits 
 of savage life, and subsist by agriculture and the other usual 
 and peaceful pursuits of civilized societies. They profess, and 
 I believe with entire sincerity, to be willing to make the ques- 
 tion of their rights under their treaties, questions of pure law 
 for the decision of our own courts ; and as I perceive by the re- 
 ported debates in Congress that a measure of this sort has been 
 anticipated, and that one of your enlightened senators in that 
 body expressed a strong, and without doubt, a sincere convic- 
 tion that the decision of the judiciary would, if it should ever be 
 asked, be in favor of the right of the State to legislate over the 
 Cherokee nation ; I cannot but indulge the hope that in pro- 
 posing to bring this question before the Supreme Court, I shall 
 have advised a measure rather pleasing than otherwise to the 
 State of Georgia. 
 
 Be this as it may, I cannot reconcile it to my sense of pro- 
 priety to have any agency in this affair without apprising your 
 Excellency, frankly and respectfully, of what is intended. I de- 
 sire to have it distinctly understood on every hand, that neither 
 these people nor their counsel aim at any thing more in this 
 movement than an open, peaceable, and respectful appeal to the 
 opinion of our own courts, the courts of the Union. 
 
 Your Excellency will not understand me as asking or ex- 
 pecting that you will take the trouble to answer this letter. My 
 object is single and sincere ; it is simply to avoid all appear- 
 ance of concealment, and all misapprehension or surprise on the 
 part of the State of Georgia, by advising your Excellency fairly 
 and openly of the measure in contemplation, and by assuring 
 you that there is no other purpose in view than a quiet, peacea- 
 ble, and respectful reference of the questions of law and right in 
 dispute between the State of Georgia and the Cherokee people 
 to the highest court of our nation, the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. 
 
350 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Your Excellency will permit me to assure you further, that 
 in the future measures which may grow out of this controversy, 
 so far as they shall he under my direction, care will he taken to 
 give as little trouble as possible to the constituted authorities of 
 the State of Georgia, and that the discussion will be conducted 
 with all the respect for that State and its laws which may con- 
 sist with the proper assertion of what I consider the rights of 
 this unfortunate people. 
 
 The decision may be expedited by making a case by consent, 
 if that course should suit the views of the State of Georgia. It 
 is not asked, however, but suggested merely for your considera- 
 tion, with an assurance that if it should meet your approbation, 
 the Cherokees will cheerfully concur in the measure. 
 
 The motives which have led me to trouble you with this 
 communication make it equally proper, I think, that I should 
 submit a copy of it to the President of the United States ; and 
 I shall place another copy in the hands of the Cherokee delega- 
 tion, in order that they may distinctly see and remember the 
 conduct which is expected from their people, and what alone 
 they have a right to expect from me. 
 
 I have the honor to remain, sir, most respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 William Wirt. 
 
 To this letter of Mr. Wirt’s I wrote the following 
 answer : — 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 19 th June, 1830. 
 
 Sir, — Your communication addressed to the Governor of 
 Georgia, has been received, informing him of your employment 
 by the Cherokee Indians to defend them against the operation 
 of the laws of the State, and proposing a reference, of what you 
 have thought proper to call the dispute between the Cherokee 
 Nation and the State of Georgia, to the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. The Governor of Georgia knows of no reason 
 why he should be notified that professional duty required of you 
 to take fees of all Avho ask your advice. Georgia claims no juris- 
 diction over the lawyers of Maryland. Your justification will 
 have become appropriate when that State interferes with your pro- 
 fessional business. Why it should be the misfortune of a citizen 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 35i 
 
 of Maryland (as you say it is yours) to differ with the constituted 
 authorities of Georgia, is not very clearly understood. You are 
 neither responsible for the legislation of the State, nor subject 
 to its control. There is no doubt but that many of the lawyers, 
 like yourself, profess to believe that the State has usurped 
 authority, and violated the faith of treaties, by passing laws 
 for the protection of the rights, and punishing the crimes of the 
 Indian people who reside within its limits. It is known that 
 the extent of the jurisdiction of Georgia, and the policy of re- 
 moving the Cherokees and other Indians to the west of the 
 Mississippi, have become party questions. It is not therefore 
 surprising, that those who engage in the struggle for power, 
 should find usurpation and faithlessness in the measures of the 
 Government, accordingly as the loss of office, or the hope of its 
 acquisition, may enlighten their understandings. What you 
 say of the fallibility of the constituted authorities of Georgia, is 
 a truism of universal application, and can have no meaning but 
 your intention to render the application particular. 
 
 You say that the Supreme Court of the United States is a 
 high, impartial, and enlightened tribunal. Why such commen- 
 dation ? 
 
 The promise you make to use your professional influence to 
 prevent your clients, the Indians, from committing violence upon 
 the people of Georgia, is very kind — coming as it does from a 
 private citizen of another State — and will, without doubt, create 
 an obligation upon the people, whose safety is intended, com- 
 mensurate with the favor to he received. 
 
 There are no fears felt in Georgia of Indian violence, al- 
 though it is highly probable that your efforts will he productive 
 of some mischief. It is believed that the Cherokees in Georgia 
 had determined to unite with that portion of their tribe who have 
 removed to the west of the Mississippi, if the policy of the Presi- 
 dent were sustained by Congress. To prevent this result, as 
 soon as it became highly probable that the Indian bill would 
 pass, the Cherokees were persuaded that the right of self-gov- 
 ernment could be secured to them by the power of the Sujireme 
 Court, in defiance of the legislation of the General and State 
 Governments. It was not known, however, until the receipt of 
 your letter, that the spirit of resistance to the laws of the State 
 
352 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 and views of the United States, which have of late been evident 
 among the Indians, had in any manner been occasioned by your 
 advice. Although insurrection among the Indian people of 
 Georgia may be the consequence of your proceedings, and those 
 who act in unison with you, the constituted authorities of the 
 State disclaim all right to interfere with you in any manner, so 
 long as you keep yourself beyond the jurisdiction of the State. 
 
 You have thought proper to give the Governor of Georgia an 
 account of the civilization of the Cherokees — describing those 
 whom you have known to be polished gentlemen, and those whom 
 you do not know to have ceased to be savages. What you say 
 of the intelligence of the members of the Cherokee tribe who 
 were in Washington City last winter, is partly true, and 
 equally descriptive of many others. They are not Indians, how- 
 ever, but the children of white men, whose corrupt habits or vile 
 passions have led them into connection with the Cherokee tribe. 
 It is not surprising that the white men, and the children of white 
 men, have availed themselves of the easy means of acquiring 
 wealth, which the Cherokee territory has presented for thirty or 
 forty years ; nor that intelligence and spirited activity should 
 increase with their increasing wealth ; nor that, when wealth, 
 intelligence, and industry are confined to the whites, and the 
 children of white men, that the power over the tribe should 
 become centered in the same hands. But that these causes are 
 calculated to produce similar effects upon the Indians — the real 
 aborigines — is disproved by every example among the thousands 
 which the experience of the two last centuries has furnished in 
 every part of this continent. The Cherokees have lost all that 
 was valuable in their Indian character — have become spiritless, 
 dependent, and depraved, as the whites and their children have 
 become wealthy, intelligent, and powerful. So long as the Cher- 
 okees retained their primitive habits, no disposition was shown 
 by the States, under the protection of whose government they 
 resided, to make them subject to their laws. Such policy would 
 have been cruel, because it would have interfered with their 
 habits of life, the enjoyments peculiar to Indian people, and the 
 kind of government which accorded with those' habits and enjoy- 
 ments. It was the power of the whites and their children among 
 the Cherokees that destroyed the ancient laws, customs, and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 353 
 
 authority of the tribe, and subjected the natives to the rule of 
 that most oppressive of governments, an oligarchy. There is 
 nothing surprising in this result. From the character of the 
 peeple, and the causes operating upon them, it could not be 
 otherwise. It was this state of things that rendered it obligatory 
 upon the State of Georgia to vindicate her rights of sovereignty, 
 by abolishing all Cherokee government within its limits. Whe- 
 ther intelligent or ignorant, the State of Georgia has passed no 
 laws violative of the liberty, personal security, or private property 
 of any Indian. It has been the object of humanity and wisdom 
 to separate the two classes among them, giving the rights of 
 citizenship to those who are capable of performing its duties and 
 properly estimating its privileges ; and increasing the enjoy- 
 ment, and the probability of future improvement of the ignorant 
 and idle, by removing them to a situation where the inducements 
 to action will be more in accordance with the character of the 
 Cherokee people. 
 
 Your suggestion, that it would be convenient and satisfactory 
 if yourself, the Indians, and the Governor, would make up a law- 
 case to be submitted to the Supreme Court for the determination 
 of the question, whether the Legislature of Georgia has com- 
 petent authority to pass laws for the government of the Indians 
 residing within its limits, however courteous the manner, and 
 conciliatory the phraseology, cannot but be considered disre- 
 spectful to the Government of the State. No one knows better 
 than yourself, that the Governor would grossly violate his duty, 
 and exceed his authority, by complying with such a suggestion, 
 and that both the letter and spirit of the powers conferred by 
 the Constitution upon the Supreme Court forbid its adjudging 
 such a case. Your suggestion is but an evidence of the state of 
 that contest in which the advocates of power are exerting them- 
 selves to increase the authority of the departments of the 
 General Government, whilst the friends of liberty and the 
 rights of the people are in opposition, endeavoring to sustain 
 the sovereignty of the States. It is hoped that the efforts of 
 the General Government to execute its contract with Georgia — 
 to secure the continuance, and advance the happiness of the 
 Indian tribes — and to give quiet to the country — may be so 
 23 
 
354 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 effectual as to prevent the necessity of any further intercourse 
 upon this subject. Yours. Ac. 
 
 George E. Gilmer. 
 
 I had never felt so indignant as I did upon reading 
 Mr. Wirt’s letter. Some explanation may be necessary 
 to understand why, and the spirit of my reply. 
 
 Mr. Wirt's first wife was my kinswoman, the daugh- 
 ter of Dr. George Gilmer of Albemarle, the brother of 
 my grandfather. Mr. Wirt was poor, unknown, and 
 undistinguished, when Dr. Gilmer took him into his 
 house, gave him his daughter, and introduced him 
 into the society of his friends — then the best in that 
 part of the country of his residence. Soon after the 
 death of his first wife, Mr. Wirt removed to Richmond, 
 and then to Xorfolk, and was in danger of being utterly 
 ruined by dissipation, when he again prospered by mar- 
 rying the daughter of Colonel Gamble of Richmond, 
 my wife’s first cousin. My wife lived with Mr. Wirt’s 
 family in Richmond, when she was a little girl going 
 to school. Mr. Wirt had been so great a favorite with 
 mv own familv friends, that he was named for his exe- 
 cuter by my grandfather Gilmer. His niece, a young 
 lady who had resided with him during the life of his 
 first wife, was, after Dr. Gilmer’s death, taken into his 
 house by my wife’s father, Mr. Grattan, with whom 
 she remained until her marriage with Mr. Dabney 
 Minor. 
 
 All these circumstances induced me to believe that 
 Mr. Wirt expected that his age, high-standing, and in- 
 timate relationship with my family friends, would 
 induce me to do at his request what I would refuse to 
 another. A fee of twenty thousand dollars was cer- 
 tainly a very urgent inducement to every means for 
 success. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 355 
 
 This letter to Mr. Wirt was published in the papers 
 of Milledgeville, without my approval. It produced 
 the most united expression of popular approbation 
 which I received whilst I was in the Executive Depart- 
 ment. The people assembled en masse the night after, 
 paraded before my house with drum, and fife, and noisy 
 acclamations. A very different expression from what I 
 received when I recommended the appropriation of 
 the gold mines to public purposes. 
 
 To the judges whose circuits included the Cherokee 
 country, and whose duty it was to enforce the laws- of 
 the State upon the Indians, and the white people re- 
 siding among them, I addressed the following letter - 
 
 0 0 7 O 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 1 th June , 1830. 
 
 Sir, — I send you a Proclamation, giving notice of the exten- 
 sion of the jurisdiction of the State over the Indian territory — a 
 part of which is within your judicial circuit — requiring obedience 
 to our laws from all persons residing therein. I believe myself, 
 that the principles of humanity and policy require that no vio- 
 lations of our laws by Indians should be noticed for the present 
 by our courts, except the particular offences specified in the law 
 extending the jurisdiction of the State over them, and that these 
 should be punished with the utmost rigor and certainty. The 
 effect of this course will be, to drive from the State all those 
 Indians and Indian people who are unwilling to become subject 
 to the laws of the State, and to leave the ignorant and peaceable, 
 free from the action of their chiefs, to choose whether they will 
 accept the offers of the General Government, and remove to the 
 West, or remain where they are. I have no doubt but that the 
 great body of them will remove, if their refractory chiefs can 
 be strictly governed, and that their situations will be greatly 
 improved by such removal. I believe that justice entitles those 
 to remain where they are, who will be satisfied with the lands 
 which they have improved and occupy, and so much more as 
 may be necessary for their use. For the government of these, 
 
356 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 laws ought to be passed, as well to guard and protect their 
 weakness and ignorance, as to punish their vices. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, &c. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Hon. Augustin S. Clayton. 
 
 Note . — A letter similar to the above sent to Judge Colquitt. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledyeville, 6th July, 1830. 
 
 Dear Sir, — A short time ago, I received a formal notice from 
 a very distinguished lawyer of Maryland, (a partisan of the 
 opposition), that he was counsel for the Cherokee Indians, and 
 suggesting the advantage of making a case for the determination 
 of the Supreme Court, upon the right of the State to pass laws 
 for the government of the Indians residing within its limits. 
 
 The suggestion has been rejected as highly insulting. The 
 author of this notice has sent a copy of it to the President. I 
 understand that the President concurs with me, in deprecating 
 the interference of the Supreme Court with this question. No- 
 thing but the most disastrous consequences can flow from the 
 determination of the Federal Courts, that they have appellate 
 jurisdiction in cases brought in the Courts of Georgia, against 
 the Indians residing within its limits. We desire no decision of 
 that Court to sustain the sovereign rights of the State. They 
 rest upon higher authority — the power which necessarily be- 
 longed to the State when it became independent, and which it 
 retained, when the Constitution of the United States was 
 formed. 
 
 The Indian question is too excitable, and of too partisan a 
 character for the interference of the Supreme Court. The 
 judges are men, and members of the community, subject to the 
 same frailties and passions with others. If they could be im- 
 partial. their decisions would not be so considered by those to 
 whom their opinions might be adverse. 
 
 There is, too, a love of power, which tempts men to be the 
 arbiters of the destiny of others. Of all the departments of the 
 General Government, the Judiciary alone is irresponsible. The 
 members sacrifice no personal interest by their decisions. All 
 men are disposed to believe that power is more safely deposited 
 with themselves than others. All men naturally interpret in- 
 
FIE ST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 857 
 
 struments concerning their own power or interest most favorably 
 to themselves. Is there not danger, therefore, that the Supreme 
 Court may assume to itself powers which are not conferred upon 
 it by the Constitution, and destructive of the Governments of the 
 States'? Talented men can always give plausibility to their 
 ambitious purposes. The Supreme Court ought not, therefore, 
 to be tempted to assume so high a power as prescribing limits 
 to the jurisdiction of the States in all cases, for such would be 
 the power if it could restrain the State’s authority from passing- 
 laws for the government of the Indians residing within its 
 limits. 
 
 There k, too, no probability that the State of Georgia would 
 submit to the orders of the Court if it should determine that the 
 laws of the State in relation to the Indians were void. It is, 
 therefore, important that no case should be transferred from the 
 courts of the State to the Federal Courts. I have been induced 
 to write thus freely and fully, because it is understood at Wash- 
 ington City that you are desirous that the Federal Court should 
 assume the jurisdiction of determining the extent of the right of 
 the State to govern its Indian people. I have no doubt but that 
 the opposition are very desirous of bringing that question before 
 the Federal Court, in order to keep up the resistance of the 
 whites and the half-breeds to the removal of the Cherokees. Our 
 lawyers ought to know the object of the opposition, and refuse to 
 he concerned in such a case. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, <fcc. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Honorable Augustin S. Clayton. 
 
 Judge Clayton, to whom this letter was addressed, 
 was related by marriage with Mr. Wirt in several 
 ways, and his association with Mr. Wirt and family 
 very intimate. 
 
 The Legislature conferred upon me no authority 
 sufficient for the prevention of trespassers upon the gold 
 mines. I was, therefore, obliged to use such expedients 
 as I could for that purpose. I found paper bullets but 
 light artillery against masses of men who could not 
 
358 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 read. The proclamation giving notice of the extension 
 of the jurisdiction of the State over the Cherokee ter- 
 ritory, and forbidding trespasses upon the gold mines, 
 made but slight impression upon heads accustomed to 
 hard knocks. I added to these the authority of a 
 Superintendent of public lands, whose business it was 
 to restrain trespassers by writs of the courts. I con- 
 ferred this new-fangled agency upon Col. Yelverton 
 King. The following letter explains what he was re- 
 quired to do. 
 
 Executive Department, Millcdrjeville, 21sf June, 1830. 
 
 Dear Sir, — You will receive with this letter the appointment 
 of Superintendent of the public lands in the occupancy of the 
 Cherokees, together with instructions as to the duty which you 
 will have to perform. I am very desirous that you should accept 
 this appointment, and immediately. I am confident that the 
 presence of a person of your character and firmness in the Chero- 
 kee country will be calculated to prevent riots dangerous to its 
 peace, to preserve to the State valuable public property, and 
 obtain from the Indians an acquiescence in the extension of the 
 laws over them. 
 
 The Cherokees were prepared to have submitted without 
 resistance to the laws of Georgia and the policy of the General 
 Government, upon their failure to obtain protection from the 
 majority of Congress. As soon, however, as it became highly 
 probable that Congress would sustain the President in the course 
 which he had recommended for the removal of the Indians, the 
 opposition induced them to believe that they could find protection 
 from the operation of the laws of Georgia and the power of the 
 President and Congress, by appealing to the Supreme Court. 
 A formal notice was received, two days ago, from the former 
 Attorney General of the United States, that the Cherokee In- 
 dians were his clients, that Georgia was not infallible, and that 
 her laws exercising jurisdiction over the Indians, are in violation 
 of treaties. It is highly probable, that the first effort to resist 
 the authority of Georgia will be by an endeavor to secure 
 o the Indians the gold mines. With the possession of this source 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 359 
 
 of wealth, the removal of the Cherokees may be delayed a great 
 while. The enforcement of the powers of the State to protect 
 from trespass the gold in the lands occupied by the Cherokees, 
 through the jurisdiction of its courts, is, therefore, the question 
 upon which most probably the contest is to commence between 
 the State, the Cherokees, and their allies. 
 
 The duty which you will have to perform will, therefore, be 
 of the highest importance, not only to Georgia, but the whole 
 Union. If the State can, by any act of the General Government, 
 be deprived of its sovereign jurisdiction over all persons residing 
 within its limits, the whole character of our institutions will be 
 changed, and the powers, the retention of which are most valu- 
 able to the people, because the best security for the preservation 
 of their rights, will have been lost. The contest is one in which 
 the country has a right to claim the services of all her citizens, 
 and especially the patriotic and talented. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George It. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. Yelyerton P. King. 
 
 It was ascertained very soon, that the Superinten- 
 dent of public lands could do but little by writs of in- 
 junction and suits of law. The bayonets of the United 
 States troops were found far more effective. The diffi- 
 culty whicli remained was, that although the troops 
 removed the citizens of Georgia and those of the ad- 
 joining States from the Indian country, the Cherokee 
 half-breeds and the whites licensed to live among them, 
 continued to collect gold. It was a sore trial to fron- 
 tier Georgians to keep) away from the golden treasure 
 in the land which they considered theirs, whilst it was 
 plundered by others who had no right at all. There 
 was great danger that the frontier citizens, the Indians, 
 and licensed occupants of the Indian country, would 
 battle for the possession of the gold mines. The follow- 
 ing letters will give a glimpse of this danger : — 
 
360 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 28 th June, 1830. 
 
 Sir,- — I have just received intelligence, that the Militia of 
 Hall County are about to be marched into the country occupied 
 by the Cherokees, for the purpose of making prisoners of those 
 who are engaged in digging for gold. If this information be 
 true, and any of the Indian people are arrested, you will cause 
 them to be liberated immediately. Explain to the Inferior 
 Court of Hall County and to all other Magistrates, so far as you 
 can, that it is not considered a criminal offence for the Cherokee 
 people to dig for gold in the lands occupied by the tribe, and 
 that they are not liable to an arrest therefor : That the title to 
 the gold belongs to the State in consequence of its fee-simple 
 title to the soil, and that the violations of that right can only be 
 redressed by the Superior Court, because of its exclusive juris- 
 diction of all cases respecting titles to land. Endeavor to con- 
 vince the Militia officers and those under their command, that 
 the Governor alone can call them into the service of the State, 
 except in case of sudden invasion or insurrection, and then only 
 through the Commanding Officer of the county ; that to commit 
 acts of hostility upon the Cherokee people, without such orders, 
 will be a very high offence ; and if the death of any one should 
 be occasioned thereby, each concerned will be guilty of murder. 
 Endeavor to convince every one, both Georgians and Cherokees, 
 that the public property in the gold regions will be protected. 
 Considerable excitement is said to have been occasioned by the 
 arrest of a number of citizens of the State by the United States 
 troops, without legal process. Perhaps some indulgence is to be 
 granted to acts immediately resulting therefrom. If, however, 
 you shall find any persons persisting in violating the rights of 
 the Indians, spare no exertions to cause such to be arrested and 
 punished. 
 
 Much anxiety will be felt, until it shall be known with cer- 
 tainty whether an attack upon the Indians was really made by 
 the Militia of Hall. 
 
 Yery respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. Yelverton P. King. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 361 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 5 ih July, 1830. 
 
 Dear Sir, — I send you copies of communications from the 
 War Department, by which you will perceive, that the United 
 States troops are ordered to restrain the Indians from taking 
 gold, and other minerals, from the lands of Georgia. 
 
 You will oblige me by showing these papers as soon as pos- 
 sible, to the commanding officer of the United States troops, and 
 requesting his earliest attention to their contents. It is desir- 
 able that the most cordial co-operation should exist between the 
 United States and State Governments, upon the subject of our 
 Indian affairs. 
 
 You are aware, that it would he contrary to my opinion of 
 the rights of this State, to recognize by any official act, the 
 power of the United States Government to remove the Indians 
 from the Cherokee lands. I believe, however, that their pre- 
 sence in the Cherokee country is very useful, in restraining the 
 whites from trespassing upon the public property, and commit- 
 ting violence upon the Indians. The President has been inform- 
 ed that the Indians will be protected if possible. 
 
 A report has reached here, which I suppose to be true, that 
 Col. Harden, of Hall County, has been arrested by the United 
 States troops, and is now a prisoner, and that the commanding 
 officer is at a loss to know what to do with him. It is very desir- 
 able that his release should he effected, without the determina- 
 tion of the courts upon the right of the troops to arrest. The 
 effect of their presence, in restraining our citizens, ought not to 
 be lost, if it can be avoided. Present this view of the subject 
 to the commanding officer. If you have obtained any writs of 
 injunction against the Indians to stay waste, you will stop their 
 service, and all further proceedings, until it is discovered whether 
 the Indians will be restrained by the United States troops, 
 under the orders which have been issued. I feel great interest 
 upon this subject, because it is important to prevent any inter- 
 ference on the part of the Federal Court. The transfer of any 
 suit to the Federal Court, although the hope of success might 
 be very small, would operate very injuriously, by keeping up 
 the resistance of the whites and half-breeds. Such is no doubt 
 the object of the opposition. The President, I am assured, 
 unites with the authorities of the State, in deprecating any con- 
 
362 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 nection between tliis highly excitable party question, and the 
 Supreme Court. Nothing but the most injurious consequences 
 can follow from such an interference. Endeavor to convince the 
 members of the profession of the law, upon the frontier, of the 
 injury which may result from their being instrumental in trans- 
 ferring from the State Courts, any suit relative to her rights of 
 jurisdiction over the Indian people, to the Federal Court. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George It. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. Yelyerton P. King. 
 
 The first difficulty which occurred in the enforce- 
 ment of the laws of the State over the Cherokee terri- 
 tory, Avas the liberation of a squad of gold diggers, 
 arrested by the United States troops for a violation of 
 the laws of the United States, by the Judge of the 
 Superior Court of the Circuit. The removal of white 
 men from the Cherokee territory by the troops of the 
 United States, was, at the time, the only means by 
 which such removal could be effected. None had been 
 placed in the hands of the Governor, or other officers 
 of the State, sufficient for the purpose. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The impossibility of restraining trespassers upon the 
 gold mines by any means at the command of the Gov- 
 ernor, and the difficulties which the United States 
 troops created by the manner in which they removed, 
 the whites from the Indian territory, induced me to 
 call the Legislature together earlier than the prescribed 
 time. This was done by the following proclamation. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 363 
 
 Whereas, thousands of persons have entered upon the lands 
 of the State, in the occupancy of the Cherokees, and are now, 
 and have been for some time past, employed in taking great 
 quantities, in value, of gold therefrom : And whereas, this state 
 of things was unforeseen by the Legislature, and therefore no 
 laws have been passed for the prevention thereof : And whereas 
 the powers vested in the Executive Department by the Constitu- 
 tion and laws, do not sufficiently enable the Governor to remove 
 or restrain such trespassers : — It is therefore considered that an 
 extraordinary occasion has occurred, for convening the General 
 Assembly of the State at a period earlier than that prescribed 
 by law. I have therefore thought fit, and by virtue of the power 
 vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby require the members 
 of each House of the General Assembly of this State, to con- 
 vene at the State-House in Milledgeville, on Monday, the eigh- 
 teenth of October next, then and there to deliberate and decide 
 on such matters as the public welfare may render necessary. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 The following extracts from my message to the 
 Legislature, will show the policy which I recommended 
 in relation to the public lands, the gold mines, the 
 government of the Cherokee territory, and the white 
 persons residing among the Indians. 
 
 In the early part of the year, gold was discovered in great 
 quantities in the Indian lands. The Act of 1829 having fixed 
 upon the first of June, as the time when the laws were to be ex- 
 tended over that part of the State, all persons seemed to con- 
 sider themselves at liberty, in the mean time, to appropriate as 
 much of its mineral riches to themselves as possible. 
 
 The whole community became very much excited by rumors 
 of the great profits made by those who were engaged in search- 
 ing for gold. The love of gain became stimulated to excess. 
 All classes of people, but especially the idle and profligate, 
 pressed into the mineral region, with the hope of acquiring 
 wealth with little labor. The thousands of persons thus col- 
 lected together, operated upon by motives which lead to most of 
 
331 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 the disorders of society, and freed from the restraints which the 
 laws impose upon the evil dispositions of men, exhibited scenes of 
 vicious indulgence, violence, and fraud, which would not have 
 been tolerated for a moment if means could have been used to 
 prevent them. The rights of occupancy belonging to the 
 Indians were wholly disregarded, and they were not permitted 
 to participate in the riches of the earth, which circumstances 
 made common to all for the time. 
 
 So far as the United States, our sister States, and foreign 
 Governments are concerned, the rights of jurisdiction and soil 
 are perfect as exercised by the State over the Cherokees. and 
 the lands occupied by them. These rights have, however, their 
 correspondent duties. If you subject the Indians to our laws, 
 they have a right to our protection. If the exigencies of the 
 State require that the gold mines in the country occupied by 
 them, should be taken possession of, such exercise of power 
 should not be extended further than the public necessity requires. 
 The desire of acquiring land for individual profit, ought not to 
 be the operative motive in directing what may be done. It is 
 also due to our own character that we should have a jealous care 
 lest we press that necessity beyond what the public interest, 
 the preservation and use of the public property, and the enforce- 
 ment of the laws, require. Even the measure of surveying the 
 Cherokee territory, however useful for the proper administration 
 of the laws, may be, on account of the sensitive feelings of the 
 humane, excited as they have been, by the selfish and improper 
 statements of political partisans, so liable to misconstruction, 
 that it would be magnanimously forbearing, in the Legislature, 
 perhaps wise, to delay the adoption of that measure for the 
 present. 
 
 In removing intruders, it will be expedient to consider all 
 white persons such, without regard to their length of residence, 
 or the permission of the Indians. The citizens of this and 
 other States, who have taken refuge in the Indian country to 
 escape from the punishment due to their crimes, or connected 
 themselves with their society from unfitness to live in civilized 
 communities, have not thereby acquired any claim upon the 
 State to peculiar privileges. Much of the opposition of the 
 Cherokees to the extension of the laws of the State over them, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 365 
 
 and to the offers made by the United States, to induce their 
 reunion with that part of the tribe who have removed to the 
 west of the Mississippi, have proceeded from the influence of 
 these persons. At the same time that we acknowledge that 
 it would he harsh to compel the Indians to leave the country 
 which they have always occupied, yet, believing that their 
 removal to the West would he advantageous both to themselves 
 and the people of the State, it is proper that you should take 
 away any extrinsic causes which prevent their voluntary action. 
 It may be proper, as w T ell as expedient, to exempt individuals 
 of good character from the operation of such law T , upon their 
 taking the oath to support the Constitution and other laws of 
 the State, or giving security that they will discharge the duties 
 of citizens of the State. The number of white men residing 
 among the Cherokees within the limits of the State, is esti- 
 mated at two hundred and fifty, exclusive of missionaries, 
 traders, and pedlers. About one hundred are living with 
 Indian women ; fifty have permits from the Cherokee Chiefs, 
 and one hundred from the Cherokee Agent. Twenty -four are 
 possessed of negro slaves. 
 
 The law extending the jurisdiction of the State over the 
 Indians, contains no provision prohibiting w'hite persons from 
 entering upon their lands. The Indians will be exposed to 
 continual vexation and disturbance, unless their rights are so 
 secured as to enable them to obtain certain redress for their 
 violation. Hitherto intruders have been kept off their lands 
 by the force of the General Government. However justifiable 
 the exertion of this power may have been formerly, it cannot 
 be continued any longer consistently with the right of juris- 
 diction which has been assumed by the State. It becomes 
 therefore an imperative duty to afford to the Cherokees, by 
 your enactments, the same protection from intrusion which 
 they formerly received from the United States. 
 
 The tract of land from which the Cherokees have been 
 removed by order of the President, is supposed to contain 
 464,646 acres, and is now subject to be disposed of in such a 
 manner as you may think expedient. The great object to be 
 effected by the State in the appropriation of its lands, is the 
 increase of its population, the excitement of its people to in- 
 
366 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 dustry, and the accumulation of wealth. The lottery system, 
 which has been hitherto adopted, is believed to be better cal- 
 culated to attain these ends than the disposition by public 
 sale. In an unimproved country, where capital is scarce, in- 
 terest high, and every trade and employment demand labor 
 and wealth, the surplus money in the possession of the people 
 can be laid out more usefully in making improvements, and 
 otherwise adding to the riches of the country, than if drawn 
 from them to be placed in the public treasury. It has always 
 been found more difficult to restrain improper expenditures, 
 arising from a full treasury, than to obtain, through the powers 
 which belong to the Government, the money which may be 
 really required for public purposes. There are valuable gold 
 mines in the lands to be disposed of. The public interest de- 
 mands that the lots of land which contain valuable minerals 
 shall be exempted from distribution. The spirit of speculation, 
 which the disposition of the public lands by lottery excites, is 
 the great objection to that system. The knowledge that the 
 land to be disposed of contains gold, would increase that spirit 
 to the most injurious extent. The community would become 
 highly excited, by the hope of acquiring great wealth without 
 labor. The morals of the people would be corrupted by the 
 temptation held out by law, to the commission of innumerable 
 frauds. Regular industry and economy might be suspended 
 by restless idleness and imaginary gains. In most instances, 
 even the successful drawers of the rich prizes would not be 
 benefited. Prodigality is the usual result of riches suddenly 
 and easily acquired. Mines, like the accumulation of the peo- 
 ple’s money in the public treasury, should be managed for 
 general, and not for individual advantage. If they prove ex- 
 ceedingly profitable, the State will be enabled thereby to relieve 
 the people from taxation, improve all the public roads, render 
 the rivers navigable, and extend the advantages of education 
 to every class of society. 
 
 Executive Department, Millcdgeville, 29th Oct., 1830. 
 
 Sir, — By an act of the Legislature of Georgia, passed at 
 its last session, all the Cherokee territory, and the persons 
 occupying it, were subjected to the ordinary jurisdiction of the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 3 >7 
 
 State after the first of June then next ensuing. This act has 
 gone into operation. The acknowledgment by the President 
 of the right of the State to pass such an act, renders it unne- 
 cessary to say any thing in its justification. The object of 
 this letter is to request the President that the United States 
 troops may be withdrawn from the Indian territory within 
 Georgia. The enforcement of the non-intercourse law within 
 the limits of the State, is considered inconsistent with the right 
 of jurisdiction which is now exercised by its authorities, and 
 must, if continued, lead to difficulties between the officers of 
 the United States and State Governments, which it is very 
 desirable should be avoided. No doubt is entertained, that 
 the object of the President in ordering the United States 
 troops into the Cherokee territory was the preservation of the 
 peace of the Union. The motive is duly appreciated. 
 
 The Legislature of the State is now in session. The special 
 object of its meeting is the enforcement of the laws of the State 
 within the Cherokee country, and the punishment of intrusion 
 into it, by persons searching for gold. Its power is amply 
 sufficient for that purpose. The law for the punishment of 
 trespassers upon the public lands will go into operation within 
 a few days ; the President is therefore requested to withdraw 
 the troops as soon as it can be conveniently done. The conduct 
 of Major Wager has been very severe to the gold diggers. In 
 some instances, unoffending citizens have been made the subjects 
 of punishment in violation of the rights and the authority of 
 the State. Complaints have been made to this department, 
 and redress asked for. The removal of the troops is believed 
 to be the most effectual means of preventing the repetition of 
 such injuries. Information has also been received at this de- 
 partment, that the digging for gold is still carried on in various 
 parts of the Cherokee territory, and that the extent of country 
 containing mines is so great, that it is wholly impossible to 
 prevent it by the use of military force alone. It is said that the 
 Indians are even more extensively employed in taking gold 
 than before the arrival of the troops. This proceeds from their 
 residence within the country, intimate acquaintance with it, 
 and other means of avoiding the operation of the troops. The 
 fear of the whites had restrained them previously. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 3(18 
 
 The President is assured, that whatever measures may be 
 adopted by the State of Georgia, in relation to the Cherokees, 
 the strongest desire Avill be felt to make them accord with the 
 policy which has been adopted by the present administration 
 of the General Government. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c. 
 
 George R. Gilmf.r. 
 
 To the President of the United States. 
 
 Upon receiving an answer from the Secretary of 
 War, that the order had been issued to the command- 
 ing officer of the troops to retire from the Cherokee 
 territory, I made the following communication to the 
 Legislature : — 
 
 O 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 29 th Oct., 1830. 
 
 I transmit to both Houses of the General Assembly, copies 
 of a communication received from the War Department, in an- 
 swer to a letter requesting of the President the withdrawal of 
 the United States troops from the territory of the State occupied 
 by the Cherokees. The Legislature will perceive, in the con- 
 duct of the President in this matter, as well as all others, the 
 disposition to accord to Georgia all her rights. The removal 
 of the United States troops from the territory occupied by the 
 Cherokees, creates an immediate and pressing necessity for the 
 passage of such laws as may effectually restrain all persons from 
 entering into that territory for the purpose of taking possession 
 of the public lands, or taking valuable minerals therefrom, with- 
 out license from the State. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Soon after I recommended to tlie Legislature to au- 
 thorize the President to grant fee-simple reserves to 
 the Cherokee Chiefs, in making a treaty with them for 
 the lands of the State, as follows : 
 
 Executive Department, December 8 th, 1830. 
 
 From information received from various sources, it is be- 
 lieved that the efforts of the President to remove the Cherokees 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 369 
 
 from -within the limits of the State would he essentially aided 
 by the passage of resolutions by the Legislature, giving its as- 
 sent to the President’s granting to the Cherokees fee-simple 
 reserves, in any treaty or contract which he may make with 
 them. It is known that there are two classes among the Che- 
 rokees, very widely separated from each other. One consists 
 of white men with Indian families, and the half-breeds. This 
 class have both wealth and intelligence, and now control the 
 tribe. Some of them are qualified to discharge the duties of 
 citizens, and are said to be desirous of doing so, provided they 
 can have secured to them fee-simple titles to reasonable portions 
 of their lands. Others would be willing to remove with the 
 tribe beyond the Mississippi if they could receive lands in the 
 same way, so that they might be enabled to sell them for their 
 value, either to individuals or to the United States. They are 
 now, or soon will be, convinced that their love of power cannot 
 be gratified if the tribe remains in its present situation. If, 
 therefore, their cupidity can be satisfied, the chief difficulty to 
 its removal will be overcome. The other class of Cherokees are 
 composed of the unmixed, aboriginal people, deprived of their 
 former pride of character and love of enterprise, debased into 
 slavish dependence upon their wealthy chiefs, and corrupted by 
 the degrading vices which they have contracted from their inter- 
 course with vicious white men. This entire class would will- 
 ingly remove to the country prepared for the tribe by the Unit- 
 ed States upon the terms which are now offered, if the consent 
 of their principal men could be obtained. The President can- 
 not offer to the principal men reserves with fee-simple titles, as 
 the fee belongs to the State. For the purpose, therefore, of 
 placing at the control of the President the means which are be- 
 lieved to be most efficient in making a treaty with the Chero- 
 kees, permit me to recommend that you pass resolutions autho- 
 rizing the President to make such reserves as has been done in 
 former treaties, conditioned that the United States pay to the 
 State their value. This is due to the Indians who understand 
 the peculiar advantages which their country presents for acquir- 
 ing wealth, and how to use them for their own benefit. It will 
 aid the President in his efforts to remove the Indians, and 
 if successful, will be of incalculable advantage to the State 
 24 
 
370 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 in relieving it from its embarrassing relations with the Che- 
 rokees. 
 
 Permit me to avail myself of this occasion to suggest to tlie 
 Legislature the expediency of not interfering with the right of 
 the Cherokees to occupy their territory for the present, as the 
 policy best calculated to obtain their peaceable removal. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 18 th January, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — Your letter of the 12th of November last was duly 
 received, in which you suggested the importance to the success 
 of future negotiations with the Cherokees for the relinquishment 
 of the lands occupied by them, that the State of Georgia should 
 authorize the President to grant fee-simple reservations to their 
 principal men, upon condition of the United States paying to the 
 State a reasonable price therefor. 
 
 An extract from your letter containing this suggestion was 
 laid before the Legislature during its late session. It was not 
 acted on, because at that time, and until very near the termina- 
 tion of the session, a bill was pending, the object of which was 
 to dispose of all the lands within the State in the occupancy of 
 the Cherokees, in such manner as would, if it had passed, have 
 made the consideration of your proposition entirely unnecessary. 
 After that bill became a law, although it passed in a different 
 form from that which was originally proposed, yet it was found 
 difficult amid the hurried proceedings of the close of the session, 
 to procure the united consent of the members of the Legislature 
 to the particular conditions upon which such reservations should 
 be made. No resolutions whatever were, therefore, introduced 
 upon the subject, and especially as the Legislature had, at two 
 former sessions (1826 and 1827) granted to the President the 
 authority asked for. Copies of these resolutions are sent you. 
 
 The people of the State, and its constituted authorities, have 
 entire confidence that the President, in contracting with the 
 Cherokees for their removal from Georgia, will use no means 
 adverse to the interest of the State, or which may not be neces- 
 sary for the accomplishment of that object. 
 
 Humanity to the Indians, the maintenance of the rights of 
 the State, and the preservation of the Union, require that every 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 371 
 
 exertion should be made to put a speedy termination to the In- 
 dian question. The spirit which has manifested itself in Con- 
 gress, and among the people of some of the States in opposition 
 to the measures pursued by the President to execute the con- 
 tract of the United States with Georgia for the removal of the 
 Cherokees, and the improvement of their condition, has pro- 
 duced the most serious alarm, lest the strength of the Constitu- 
 tion and our free institutions may not be able to resist the 
 machinations of party fraud and violence. 
 
 From information received from various sources, there is but 
 little prospect of procuring the immediate consent of the Che- 
 rokees to remove beyond the Mississippi. The leaders of the 
 opposition have been completely successful in producing the be- 
 lief among their influential men, that the Supreme Court will 
 make a foreign and independent nation of their pibe, and thereby 
 exempt the Indian people from the laws of Georgia. Until they 
 are convinced that this is a mistake, it will be useless to treat 
 with them. If the Supreme Court should fail to make its de- 
 cisions correspond with the designs of those opposed to the Gov- 
 ernment. my information is, that the Cherokees will at once 
 agree to relinquish their right of occupancy, and remove from 
 the State. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Hod. John H. Eaton. 
 
 The law which was passed for the protection of the 
 gold mines, directed the Governor to take possession 
 of them without placing at his command any adequate 
 means for obeying its injunctions. 
 
 I communicated to the Legislature upon that sub- 
 ject as follows : 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, Uh Dec., 1830. 
 
 The United States troops having been withdrawn from the 
 Cherokee territory, it is expected that numerous persons will be 
 again tempted into the gold regions. The law which has been 
 passed for the protection of the gold mines requires the Governor 
 to take possession of them, without prescribing the means to be 
 
372 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 used, or placing any at his control for that purpose, Although 
 I am authorized to use military force to defend the mines, it 
 ■will be in vain to attempt to do so, until that part of the law 
 which makes the digging of gold a crime goes into operation. 
 
 Permit me, therefore, to ask of the Legislature that it will 
 devise some effectual and immediate means for the protection of 
 this public property. Even after the taking of gold shall have 
 become a highly penal offence, the law will be continually vio- 
 lated, if no other means of prevention are provided than what arc 
 pointed out in the law which has been passed. I would, there- 
 fore, respectfully recommend to the Legislature, either to organ- 
 ize an efficient guard to be stationed at the mines, or to place 
 all the mines in the possession of individuals, under such con- 
 tracts as may induce their occupation. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 The case of the Indian, Tassels, who committed a 
 murder within that part of the Cherokee territory 
 which had keen added to Hall County, for the purpose 
 of giving jurisdiction to the courts of the State over 
 the Indians and the whites residing among them, ex- 
 cited the notice of the whole country, and in some sec- 
 tions violent abuse of the authorities of Georgia. Tas- 
 sels was arrested, indicted, and tried with all the cau- 
 tion observed by our courts in such cases, found guilty, 
 and hung just as if the deed had been done on the 
 eastern instead of the western side of the Chattahoochee 
 River. The judge before whom he was tried, suspended 
 passing sentence until he consulted the convention of 
 judges upon the question which was made, whether the 
 court had the legal and constitutional power to try the 
 case. The judges in convention decided unanimously 
 that the power belonged to the court. 
 
 All that the Indians asked of the whites when Tas- 
 sels was arrested was, that they should be permitted to 
 put him to death in their own way. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 373 
 
 Application was made to the Chief Justice of the 
 United States, on the part of the Indians, to interpose 
 the authority of the Supreme Court, to prevent the 
 execution of the sentence. The Chief Justice granted 
 a citation to the Governor of the State, and to the 
 Sheriff of Hall County, to appear before the Supreme 
 Court to have the case examined into. 
 
 The Chief Justice knew when he granted the writ, 
 that it was impossible for the officers of his court or the 
 Indians upon whose application it was granted, to serve 
 the process upon the officers of Georgia, whose duty it 
 was to hang Tassels. The citation was sent through 
 the mail to the Governor. No process reached the 
 Sheriff of Hall, so that he would have had no excuse if 
 he had failed to execute the judgment of the Court. 
 The whole proceeding could have had no purpose, ex- 
 cept to excite doubts in the public mind about the 
 propriety of the conduct of the authorities of Georgia, 
 and raise popular clamor against them. 
 
 What would have been done if the writ of error 
 granted by the Chief Justice had been regularly served, 
 may be conjectured from the following message sent to 
 the Legislature, and the resolutions consequent upon it. 
 
 Executive Department, December 2 2d, 1880. 
 
 I submit to the Legislature for its consideration the copy of 
 a communication received this day, purporting to be signed by 
 the Chief Justice of the United States, and to be a citation to 
 the State of Georgia to appear before the Supreme Court on 
 the second Monday in January next, to answer to that tribunal 
 for having caused a person, who had committed murder within 
 the limits of the State, to be tried and convicted thereof. 
 
 The object of this mandate is to control the State in the ex- 
 ercise of its ordinary jurisdiction, which, in criminal cases, has 
 been vested by its constitution exclusively in its Superior Courts. 
 
374 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 So far as concerns the exercise of the power which belongs to 
 the Executive Department, orders received from the Supreme 
 Court for the purpose of staying, or in any manner interfering 
 with the decisions of the Courts of the State in the exercise of 
 their constitutional jurisdiction, will be disregarded ; and any 
 attempt to enforce such orders, will he resisted with whatever 
 force the laws have placed at my command. 
 
 If the judicial power thus attempted to he exercised by the 
 Courts of the United States, is submitted to or sustained, it must 
 eventuate in the utter annihilation of the State governments, or 
 in other consequences not less fatal to the peace and prosperity 
 of our present highly favored country. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Resolved !, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 State of Georgia, in General Assembly met, That they view with 
 feelings of deep regret, the interference by the Chief Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of the United States in the administration 
 of the criminal laws of this State, and that such an interference 
 is a flagrant violation of her rights. 
 
 Resolved farther, That his Excellency the Governor he, and 
 he, and every other officer of this State is hereby requested and 
 enjoined, to disregard any and every mandate and process that 
 has been, or shall be served upon him or them, purporting to 
 proceed from the Chief Justice or any Associate Justice, or the 
 Supreme Court of the United States, for the purpose of arrest- 
 ing the execution of any of the criminal hrws of this State. 
 
 And he it farther resolved, That his Excellency the Gover- 
 nor he, and he is hereby authorized and required, with all the 
 force and means placed at his command by the Constitution and 
 laws of this State, to resist and repel any and every invasion, 
 from whatever quarter, upon the administration of the criminal 
 laws of this State. 
 
 Resolved , That the State of Georgia will never so far com- 
 promit her sovereignty as an independent State, as to become a 
 party to the case sought to be made before the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, by the writ in question. 
 
 Resolved, That his Excellency the Governor be, and he is 
 hereby authorized, to communicate to the Sheriff of Hall County, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 375 
 
 by express, so much of the foregoing resolutions, and such orders 
 as are necessary to insure the full execution of the laws in the 
 case of George Tassels, convicted of murder, in Hall County. 
 
 The Senate concurred with the House of Repre- 
 sentatives in the passage of the foregoing preamble and 
 resolutions. 
 
 Whilst I was stationed among the Indians, in 1814, 
 in command of a detatchment of United States troops, 
 I became acquainted with a white man by the name of 
 Rogers, whose wife was a half-breed Cherokee woman. 
 He was an active, sensible, thriving man, and his sons 
 promising young men. William was afterwards Clerk 
 to the Cherokee Council, and to the Delegation sent 
 by the tribe to Washington City. When the State 
 extended its jurisdiction over the Cherokee territory, I 
 wrote the following' letter to Rogers. The free and 
 familiar expression of my feelings and opinions about 
 the Cherokees, the policy which was best for them to 
 pursue, and the account of passing events which this letter 
 gives, does better what is one of the purposes of writing 
 this book than any account which I might write now. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville , March 10 111, 1831. 
 
 My Dear Sir, — I wish it had been possible for } r ou so to 
 have complied with the laws of the State, in relation to the 
 Cherokee territory, as to have avoided any embarrassment to 
 yourself and family, and all danger of loss of property. I have 
 always had great respect for your character, as an honest man, 
 and was chiefly induced to recommend the Legislature to permit 
 white men to continue their residence among the Cherokees, by 
 my knowledge of yourself and family. I sincerely regret that 
 my object should have been defeated, by the construction which 
 you have put upon the obligation which you suppose you would 
 incur by taking the oath required by the law. I am exceedingly 
 anxious that the present disturbed and unsettled state of our 
 
376 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Indian population should be quieted as early as possible. My 
 desire is that the State should act justly and humanely towards 
 you and those with whom you are connected. To do this will he 
 extremely difficult, so long as the present opposition is continued 
 to the Government of the State, and those of your people who 
 are industrious, intelligent, and honest, are mingled with the 
 mass of the Aborigines. However well fitted many of the 
 whites, half-breeds, and their children may be for the support 
 and preservation of an orderly and well-conducted Government, 
 the Indians are not so, and never will be until their present 
 situation is changed. I am fully convinced, that the happiness 
 of every Indian will be advanced by the removal of the tribe 
 beyond the limits of the State. I am also convinced, that the 
 sooner this can he done, the greater will be the advantage which 
 the Cherokees will derive from it. I am in the situation which 
 enables me to form more correct opinions of the probable future 
 course of the legislation of the State, than your people are. I 
 have incurred a great deal of ill-will from our own citizens, by 
 my determined opposition to the passage of laws which would 
 have oppressed you. I claim the right, therefore, of being 
 listened to as a friend, whose intention is to serve his country, 
 and all classes of its population faithfully. You are perhaps 
 aware, that but for a provision inserted in the law of the last 
 session, in its last stage, the Cherokees would have been deprived 
 of the whole of their territory without any equivalent or pay for 
 it : You, and all others, therefore, who wish to secure for your- 
 selves reserves or compensation for your improvements and the 
 right of occupation, ought to be convinced, that by resisting the 
 offers of the United States Government to give you lands to the 
 west of the Mississippi for your present possessions, and reserves 
 to those who may have made actual improvements, or desire to , 
 remain where you are, and become citizens of the State, are 
 essentially injuring yourselves. I tell you what I know to be 
 true, that every act of opposition on the part of the Cherokees to 
 the exercise of the jurisdiction of the State, or the policy of the 
 General Government, but renders their removal more certain, 
 and with less regard to their feelings and interests. All hopes 
 of resisting the Government of Georgia through Congress, the 
 Supreme Court, or the President, are now at an end. The Choctaw 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 377 
 
 Treaty has been ratified by the Senate by a vote of 33 to 12, 
 and the appropriation to carry it into effect made by both Houses 
 by large majorities. Congress has refused to order your an- 
 nuities to be paid to the tribe, instead of to individuals, as the 
 President bad directed. The President lias sent a message to 
 the Senate, stating that be lias no right to interfere with the 
 legislation of Georgia, or to enforce the non-intercourse law, 
 since the State has extended her laws over the Cherokees within 
 its limits. I know how much your people have been deceived 
 in the protection you have sought from the Supreme Court. You 
 have thrown your money to the winds ; for not the slightest re- 
 spect will be paid by the authorities of the State to the orders 
 of the Court, if its decisions should be different from what I am 
 almost sure it will be. What then does duty to yourselves re- 
 quire, under such circumstances 7 Surely to acquiesce in the 
 necessity, Avhich no exertion can overcome, and to attempt which 
 would be inevitable ruin. The sooner, the more certainly will 
 you be able to make a contract with the United States satisfac- 
 tory to all parties. Many of the respectable white men and 
 half-breeds who have families, are desirous of remaining in the 
 country, and of becoming citizens of the State, rather than re- 
 move to Arkansas. I believe 3 r ou are mistaken. However re- 
 spectable, industrious, and intelligent your children may be, 
 they never can associate upon an equality with our people. 
 Many individuals among us may be free from prejudices against 
 the Indian people, but it will be long before our society will 
 become so. I believe you to be an excellent citizen. I have 
 heard the most favorable accounts of your two oldest sons, for 
 whom I have an affectionate remembrance. Yet, my advice to 
 you, and to them, is to accompany the Cherokee people in their 
 move. You can be more useful, and consequently happier, with 
 them than with us. You will find that many of those who have 
 been most active in effecting your removal, will be your surest 
 friends in securing to you an independent Government, and 
 every other advantage tending to the improvement and happi- 
 ness of your people. 
 
 Cherokees are naturally jealous of what comes from Georgia. 
 Dr. Reese of Jasper County, a member of our Legislature, is, 
 hoAvever, a cousin of Boudinot, Adairs, and others among them, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 378 
 
 and they know he will not deceive them. Let them consult him 
 as to the course they ought to pursue. If your son William will 
 visit me. he shall he treated with kindness, and I will give him 
 all the information in my possession which may enable you to 
 determine what may he the best course for you to pursue. 
 
 I shall regret very much to see injustice done to the Chero- 
 kees, and so far as I can, will prevent it. I am bound, however, 
 to defend the rights of the State, and cannot but hope that the 
 time will soon arrive, when, in doing so, I shall meet with no 
 opposition from our Indian people'. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Mr. John Rogehs. 
 
 Shortly after the execution of Tassels, I received a 
 notification from John Ross, the Cherokee Chief, that 
 his people were about to apply to the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, for an injunction to restrain the 
 State of Georgia from exercising jurisdiction over the 
 Cherokee territory, accompanied by a printed paper, 
 without signature, purporting to be a bill in equity, 
 brought bv the Cherokee nation, against the State of 
 Georgia. The case thus made was, however, dismissed 
 by the Supreme Court, its only purpose seeming to lie, 
 to give to the opponents of the Administration an 
 elevated stand from which they might be heard by the 
 people in their denunciations. The Court, in pronoun- 
 cing its decision, instead of confining itself to the ex- 
 amination of the question, whether the Cherokees were 
 a foreign nation, and capable of suing the State of 
 Georgia, made a statement wholly irrelevant, without 
 proof, and contrary to the truth. The following ex- 
 tracts from a message to the Legislature may aid others 
 in understanding this matter. 
 
 The Court affirms, that no case could be better calculated ■ 
 to excite its sympathy than the conduct of Georgia to the Chero- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 379 
 
 kees : That they have been continually deprived of their lands, 
 until they at present retain no more than what is necessary for 
 their comfortable subsistence : That they form a State capable of 
 governing themselves : That the acts of the Government recog- 
 nize them to be a State, and that the Courts are bound by those 
 acts : That they have the unquestionable, and hitherto unques- 
 tioned right to the lands which they occupy ; and intimate to 
 them that it will redress their wrongs when the application is 
 made in proper form. 
 
 What wrong has Georgia done to its Indian people to call 
 for this extraordinary sympathy of the Court ? They are in 
 the peaceable possession of their occupant rights. Intruders 
 have been removed from among them by severe penal laws. 
 None of the burdens of Government have been imposed upon 
 them. Instead of being reduced to a remnant of land not more 
 than sufficient for their comfortable subsistence, they are in the 
 possession of near five millions of acres in this State alone, of 
 which the Aboriirines do not cultivate more than five thousand. 
 
 o 
 
 They are indeed becoming more and more destitute. Not, how- 
 ever, from want of land, but because their situation is unsuitable 
 for the improvement and happiness of our Indian people. 
 
 Is it true that the Cherokees have an unquestionable and 
 hitherto unquestioned right to the lands which they occupy ? 
 These lands form portions of the territory of the States of North 
 Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. That portion 
 which is in Tennessee was ceded by North Carolina to the 
 United States, upon the express condition that it should form a 
 common fund for the benefit of the Union, and be applied to the 
 payment of the public debt. That portion ■which is in Alabama 
 was sold to the United States by this State for a valuable con- 
 sideration, and before any attempt had been made to extinguish 
 the title of the Indians, or to exercise jurisdiction over them. 
 In consequence of which sale, it was made a condition of the 
 admission of the State of Alabama into the Union, that it should 
 disclaim all title to the Indian lands within its limits, the United 
 States declaring by law that it had the sole and exclusive power 
 to dispose of them. The United States has acknowledged that 
 this State has both the right of soil and jurisdiction over that 
 portion which is within its limits. 
 
380 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive of any proposition tending to more 
 absurd consequences than that laid down by the Court, that any 
 Indian tribe with which the United States forms contracts to 
 which the term Treaty may be affixed, becomes a nation capable 
 of governing itself, and entitled to the recognition of the courts, 
 as states. It would bring into being hundreds of states utterly 
 incapable of self-defence, or exercising one attribute of national 
 sovereignty. If the opinion of the courts be correct, then all the 
 territory which was acquired by the original thirteen Provin- 
 cial Governments, of various Indian tribes, is yet the property 
 of the Aborigines, because the treaties by which it was obtained 
 were invalid, not having been made by the King of Great 
 Britain, who alone had the power of entering into national 
 compacts. 
 
 Another difficulty, equally embarrassing, would arise out of 
 our relations with the Cherokees themselves. A few years ago 
 the United States removed a portion of that tribe to the west 
 of the Mississippi, placed them upon the public land, and have 
 since made several treaties with them. Which is now the 
 Cherokee nation, the Indians who reside on the lands of the 
 United States, or those within Georgia? But whatever obliga- 
 tions the United States may have incurred by its contracts with 
 the Cherokees, it has no constitutional authority to limit, or in 
 any manner alter the territorial rights which belonged to this 
 State when it became a member of the Union. 
 
 Upon no subject has there been more misrepresentation than 
 in relation to the government of the Cherokees, and the civiliza- 
 tion of the people of that tribe. Upon examination, it will be 
 found that the Aboriginal people are as ignorant, thoughtless, 
 and improvident, as formerly ; without any of the spirit and 
 character which distinguished them when war was their employ- 
 ment, and their support derived from the forest : that none of 
 them in this State, with the exception of one family, have ac- 
 quired property, or been at all benefited by the improvements 
 which have been made by others among them : that the chief, 
 the president of the council, the judges, marshal and sheriffs, 
 and most other persons concerned in the administration of the 
 Government, are the descendants of Europeans, and many of 
 them citizens of this and the adjoining States ; and that the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 381 
 
 Indians, instead of living under their own simple usages and 
 customs, have been compelled to submit to a system of laws and 
 police wholly unsuited to their condition. 
 
 After the passage of the law for removing white 
 persons from the Cherokee territory who had no license 
 to remain, and for extending jurisdiction over the 
 Cherokee territory, the missionaries and their assistants, 
 to the number of twelve, held a public meeting in the 
 Indian country, where they passed resolutions, calling 
 upon the people of the United States to take part with 
 the Indians in resisting the laws of Georgia, and de- 
 claring that they considered the removal of the Che- 
 rokees to the west of the Mississippi, an event most 
 earnestly to be deprecated. I mention this fact, to 
 show the spirit which directed the conduct of the mis- 
 sionaries who resided among the Indians, and to 
 justify the course pursued by the authorities of tbe 
 State in removing 1 them. 
 
 I found it impossible to protect the Indian country 
 from intruders, and the gold mines from trespassers, by 
 the means provided by the laws. I asked the Legisla- 
 ture for the authority to form a guard to execute that 
 duty. It was granted. The guard- was authorized to 
 arrest any person guilty of the violation of the laws of 
 the State in the Cherokee territory. It consisted of 
 forty men, under efficient officers,’ and was stationed 
 among the Indians near the gold mines. 
 
 I addressed letters to every white man of any in- 
 fluence who lived among the Indians, whose name and 
 residence was known, especially to every religious mis- 
 sionary, urging them to take the oath to obey the Con- 
 stitution and laws of the State, and take licenses, to re- 
 main in the State. I also caused one hundred copies 
 
382 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 of the laws in relation to the Cherokee country and 
 people, to be distributed among them, so that no one 
 might lie punished for offences ignorantly committed. 
 
 Two hundred and three white men took the re- 
 quired oath, and were licensed to remain among the 
 Cherokees. Some removed, and others were arrested. 
 
 The guard found great difficulty in preventing tres- 
 passers upon the gold mines. The frontier people of 
 the State, who had been engaged in mining before the 
 passage of the law making it penal to do so, were 
 greatly irritated by the clause Avhich excluded them 
 from any participation in the distribution of the public 
 lands. The people of the adjoining States, were in a 
 hurry to get what gold they could, before the lands 
 were appropriated. 
 
 Soon after the guard entered the mining districts, 
 a number of persons were made prisoners for taking 
 gold contrary to law, and marched off to the nearest 
 judicial officer for commitment. A large body of tres- 
 passers followed them for the purpose of rescuing their 
 arrested associates. They attacked the guard. One 
 of the attacking party was wounded. The guard was 
 at the time under the command of Col. Nelson, a brave 
 but violent man. I wrote the following letter upon 
 the subject to Gen. Sanford : 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 21th Jan., 1S31. 
 
 Dear Sir. — I am well aware of the difficulties which you 
 have to encounter in preventing trespass upou the gold mines by 
 the lawless people upon the frontiers, although I had not antici- 
 pated the resistance which it appears you have met with from 
 the citizens of this State. I feel perfectly confident that your 
 command will succeed in protecting the public property. The 
 danger, toil and embarrassment which it may encounter, will but 
 add to the honor of success, and the extent of public favor which 
 it will deserve. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 3 C 3 
 
 Col. Nelson and tlie members of the guard under his com- 
 mand, have united great prudence and spirit in the manner in 
 which they have arrested the violaters of the law. Be pleased 
 to express to Col. Nelson my decided approbation of his conduct, 
 and the high sense I entertain of his gallantry, and to the mem- 
 bers of the guard under his command, my thanks for the soldier- 
 like manner in which, they executed the orders of their com- 
 manding officer, and for the efficient service they have rendered 
 to the State. 
 
 I think it highly probable that the resistance you have met 
 with from citizens of the State, has proceeded entirely from 
 those who are, by the late law, deprived of a draw in the land 
 lottery, on account of their previous trespass upon the mines. 
 It would be useful to inform this class of people that, as the law 
 is yet subject to alterations, the only probable means of restor- 
 ing themselves to the right of which they have been deprived, 
 will be by aiding the guard in the discharge of its duties. It 
 is important that the guard should so act as to avoid, if possible, 
 any confirmed hostility on the part of those who are disposed to 
 see the laws enforced. I rely with full confidence upon your 
 judgment and prudence in discharging the duties of your com- 
 mand. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, & c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. John W. Sanford. 
 
 The following letter to an influential lawyer in the 
 Cherokee country will exhibit some of the obstructions 
 which had to be overcome in enforcing the jurisdiction 
 of the State : 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 3 d Feb., 1831. 
 
 Sir, — Your letter, with an affidavit of Mark Castlebury 
 inclosed, was received last night. I had previously known of 
 the reports put into circulation, as to the conduct of the guard. 
 Its officers and men are citizens of the State, and equally with 
 others answerable to individuals and to the State, for any 
 offences which they may commit. After the taking of gold 
 from the ungranted lands of the State was made highly penal 
 
384 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 by law, I believed that I would have the assistance of every 
 good citizen in bringing to punishment those who should tres- 
 pass upon this public property. The commander of the guard 
 was so informed. I regret exceedingly to understand that I 
 have been mistaken, and that the disposition has been shown 
 to protect and rescue from prosecution the guilty. I am aware 
 that much discontent prevails among those who were engaged 
 in digging for gold previous to the passage of the law for- 
 bidding it, on account of their having been excluded by its 
 provisions from participating in the benefit of the lottery. If 
 they expect to obtain compensation by continuing their employ- 
 ment in defiance of its injunctions, and the means placed at 
 my command to prevent it, they will deceive themselves. Pun- 
 ishment will at some time or other be the certain consequence 
 of such conduct. A different course may, and most probably 
 will, induce the next Legislature to repeal that part of the law 
 which excludes them from draws. In fact the entire law is at 
 present in abeyance, except so much as requires the survey of 
 the lands. The lottery will not take place until after the next 
 session of the Legislature, even if the Indian right of occupancy 
 should be purchased previous to that time. Though the gold 
 diggers may disregard the laws of the State and the danger 
 of punishment, their own interest ought to dictate to them the 
 policy of aiding the Executive in preserving the gold mines from 
 intrusion. 
 
 I have been informed that the lawless people from other 
 States are not only determined to persist in taking gold if they 
 are not prevented by force, but that they are using their influence 
 to excite the Cherokees to resist the jurisdiction of the State. 
 Whilst the opposition to the President and the administration 
 of the Government are attacking the rights of Georgia through 
 the Supreme Court, and by all other means, with the greatest 
 energy and virulence, is it possible that any citizen, who 
 deserves to be so called, can be found aiding or giving coun- 
 tenance to those who are trespassing upon its authority, vio- 
 lating its laws, and defying its power ? The united and deter- 
 mined support of the people can alone sustain the State in 
 enforcing its jurisdiction over the Cherokees, and in exercising 
 the right of ownership over the soil which they occupy within 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 385 
 
 its limits. I know that many respectable persons were con- 
 cerned in taking gold from the Cherokee territory previous 
 to the passage of the late law. It is very certain, however, 
 that a large part of those from other States who were so em- 
 ployed, and many from this, were of the most dissolute and 
 abandoned class of society, and that such persons cannot be 
 restrained from continuing to search for gold, notwithstanding 
 the prohibition by law, but by force and punishment. Is it 
 therefore patriotic to endeavor to excite the people to enmity 
 against the guard, who are required by their duty to arrest 
 and bring to punishment these lawless persons ? The guard 
 has other important duties to perform besides the protection 
 of the gold mines. The white men who reside among the 
 Indians, and who have been opposing the jurisdiction of the 
 State, must be removed ; the Indian Chiefs must be controlled ; 
 and the surveyors, who are now about commencing their work, 
 must be protected. Under such circumstances, I cannot but 
 hope that it will meet with support instead of opposition. 
 
 I have minute information as to the affair at Leathersford, 
 and it differs in every respect from the statement in Castle- 
 bury’s affidavit. It is not at present so important to inquire 
 into the accuracy of these different aocounts, as to unite the 
 people in protecting the gold mines. I have great reliance 
 upon your prudence and integrity. If any member of the 
 guard has done wrong, I have no power to punish him : that 
 belongs to the courts. The motives of those who have urged 
 you to send to me charges against the guard, may have been 
 the hope that it will be withdrawn. If they had such an object 
 in view, they have deceived themselves. Increased vigilance 
 and force will be used, if necessary, for the protection of the 
 mines, and to bring to punishment those who trespass upon 
 them. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Robert Mitchell, Esq. 
 
 This affray became rather famous as the battle of 
 Leathersford. I thanked the guard for its conduct by 
 25 
 
386 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 a letter, written in a style suited to the battle and the 
 combatants. 
 
 During my service in Congress, two years after- 
 wards, one of the young ladies of the mess to which my 
 wife and myself belonged, played Governor Gilmer’s 
 march. A Scotch gentleman who was travelling in 
 this country, and passing the evening with us, asked my 
 wife on what occasion the march had been composed. 
 He was answered by Colonel Jones, with the quickness 
 so instinctive with him, “The battle of Leathersford ! ” 
 
 I endeavored to procure the services of the most 
 active and intelligent gentlemen of the counties which 
 bordered on the Cherokee territory, to sustain the au- 
 thority of the State by enforcing the laws. 
 
 Eyecutive Department, Milledgeville, 26tli Jan., 1831. 
 
 Sir, — From the operation of various causes, it is highly 
 probable that the Cherokees 'will resist the enforcement of 
 the laws of the State. Obedience must be compelled. The 
 guard which has been organized and stationed among them, 
 under the command of excellent officers, will be a most efficient 
 instrument for this purpose. It is not, however, sufficient, 
 encouraged as the Cherokees have been by the opposition to 
 the administration of the General Government, and the late 
 proceedings of the Supreme Court. Will the people aid the 
 Executive Department in defending the honor and character, 
 and preserving unimpaired the rights and sovereignty of Geor- 
 gia ? If so, let them organize volunteer companies in every 
 frontier county near the Cherokees, for the special object of 
 compelling the Indians to submit to the authority of the laws, 
 and of removing vicious and refractory white men residing 
 among them, whose influence has been directed to excite them 
 to disobedience. 
 
 You are requested to encourage the formation of a volunteer 
 company in your county. If one can be raised, it is desirable 
 that it should be done as soon as possible, that organization and 
 discipline may be acquired before it is called into service. The 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 387 
 
 company must be infantry. It is important, however, that it 
 should he able to act as mounted infantry if necessary. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Note . — A letter similar to the above was sent to the follow- 
 ing gentlemen, viz. : — William Ezzard, and Maj. Hines Holt of 
 De Kalb, Col. Nathan S. Hutchins of Gwinnett, Col. Allen Flam- 
 brough, Col. I. W. A. Petit, and Col. Andrew Moore. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 4th Feb., 1831. 
 
 Sir, — I am of the opinion, that the law does not authorize 
 the granting of licenses to any white person to reside among the 
 Cherokees, except those who were residents at the time of its pas- 
 sage. The object of the Legislature was not to increase the num- 
 ber of white persons among the Cherokees, but to remove those 
 whose presence might be injurious to the interests of the State. 
 
 The time from the passage of the law until the first of March 
 was allowed to the white men residing among the Cherokees to 
 remove, or to comply with its requirements. 
 
 I concur in your opinion, that postmasters in the Cherokee 
 territory are not the agents of the United States, who are 
 exempted from punishment for their residence among the Chero- 
 kees after the .first of March. If the postmasters think dif- 
 ferently, the question can only be determined by the Courts ; 
 and to that tribunal you are directed to carry it, if those post- 
 masters to whom you may not grant licenses may think proper 
 not to remove. 
 
 The missionaries who have publicly taken part with the 
 Cherokees, in opposition to the rights of the State, must not re- 
 ceive licenses. 
 
 I am very much gratified at the information derived from 
 the expedition to the Sixes. It is very important to keep the 
 Indians quiet. Their rights should not only be respected, but 
 protected with vigilance from violation. You are requested to 
 assure them, that this is the disposition of the State, and that 
 you will arrest every white man who may commit crimes affect- 
 ing them. The State requires of the Cherokees- submission to 
 its authority, and is bound in return to protect them. 
 
3fc8 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 I have received complaints from the people at Leathersford. 
 of the conduct of the guard. I have no doubt but that you are 
 correct in supposing, that those who intend to violate the laws 
 will, if possible, excite opposition to the guard. This state of 
 things increases the necessity of prudence in its intercourse with 
 the frontier people. It would, perhaps, prevent collisions, if the 
 guard would keep within the Cherokee territory in their expedi- 
 tions, unless when engaged in actual pursuit of intruders, or in 
 making commitments, and attending to prosecutions. 
 
 I am now satisfied that I was mistaken in supposing that 
 you would have the aid of all the citizens of the State. Increased 
 vigilance and energy will therefore be necessary. I send you a 
 copy of the information received in relation to the guard. In 
 order to prevent enmity on the part of its members against those 
 who have made these charges, I would suggest the propriety of 
 confining the knowledge of them to yourself and Col Nelson. 
 
 Yery respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George It. Gilmer. 
 
 Gol. J. W. A. Sanford. 
 
 By a clause of tlie law, all agents of the United 
 States were exempted from its operation. The judge 
 of one of the circuits which included the Cherokee 
 territory, the relative of Mr. Wirt, imagined that he 
 had read somewhere, that missionaries among the 
 Cherokees were agents of the Government. He dis- 
 charged several missionaries who were brought before 
 him upon a writ of habeas corpus , upon his own as- 
 sumption that missionaries were agents of the United 
 States Government, and therefore exempt by law from 
 arrest. His judicial imaginings were not true. The 
 missionaries heard the plea made for them by the Court, 
 knew that it was not true, yet held their tongues, and 
 took the benefit of the mistake. I immediately wrote 
 the following letters, to the Secretary of War, and 
 Postmaster-General, sent their answers to the guard, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 389 
 
 and ordered the discharged persons to be again ar- 
 rested : 
 
 Executive Depaktment, Milledgeville, 20th April, 1831. 
 
 Sir,— By a law of this State, all white persons, except 
 agents of the United States, are prohibited from residing within 
 the territory occupied by the Cherokees, unless authorized by 
 license from the Governor. 
 
 This law resulted from the active influence which that class 
 of persons were exercising in opposition to the humane policy 
 of the General Government, and the rights of Georgia. Fugi- 
 tives from justice, outcasts from society, and trespassers upon 
 the gold mines, had an interest very readily understood in pre- 
 venting both the removal of the Cherokees beyond the Missis- 
 sippi, and the operation of the laws upon themselves. Some of 
 the missionaries who were stationed among the Indians refused 
 to obey. Individuals among them acted the part of political 
 incendiaries, misdirected the Indians, misstated facts, and per- 
 verted public opinion, so as to embarrass the Administration of 
 the General Government in doing its duty to the State. Among 
 those who have been arrested for violating the laws, is a man by 
 the name of John Thompson, reported to be a clergyman, and a 
 missionary from some religious society in the New England 
 States. He was, upon his arrest, carried before one of the 
 judges of the Superior Court, by writ of habeas corpus, and 
 discharged upon the ground that he was a missionary, and that 
 missionaries were agents of the United States, and consequently 
 not subject to the penalty of the law prohibiting the residence 
 of white persons among the Indians. It is not necessary to say 
 any thing about the correctness of the decision. It is due both 
 to the United States and Georgia, that its effects should be ob- 
 viated. Mr. Thompson is reported to have been very active in 
 stirring up the Indians to their attempt to sustain an Independ- 
 ent Government, and no doubt will feel secure in continuing his 
 mischievous exertions, unless the laws of the State can have 
 their proper operation upon him. For this purpose, I must re- 
 quest from you an official assurance, that this Rev. John Thomp- 
 son is not an agent of the United States, and that religious 
 
FIUST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 
 missionaries, as such, are not agents of the United States 
 Government. 
 
 It is very desirable that your answer should be received as 
 soon as possible. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 Gf.orge R. Gilmer. 
 
 Honorable John II. Eaton. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 19 Ih April, 1831. 
 
 Sir,— At the last session of the Legislature of this State, a 
 law was passed, mahing it highly penal for white persons, except 
 agents of the United States, to continue their residence within 
 the territory of the State occupied by the Cherokees, after the 
 first of March then next ensuing, without taking the oath to 
 support the Constitution and laws of the State, and obtaining a 
 license for such residence, from the Governor or his agent. The 
 object of this law was to remove from among the Cherokees, 
 fugitives from justice, trespassers upon the gold mines, and those 
 who under various pretences of attachment to the Indians, had 
 obtained lucrative situations for themselves, and were using their 
 influence in opposing the policy of the General Government, and 
 the rights of Georgia. Immediately after the passage of the 
 law, means were used for making its provisions known to all upon 
 whom it might operate. Of the number of white persons who 
 were residents in the State among the Cherokees (reported by 
 Col. Montgomery to be 300), 250 have taken the required oath, 
 and received licenses. 
 
 Two Presbyterian clergymen, Samuel Worcester and John 
 Thompson, who are understood to have exercised extensive influ- 
 ence over the Indians, and been very active in exciting their 
 prejudices against the Administration of both the General and 
 State Governments, have refused either to leave the territory 
 reserved to the Indians, or take the oath required of white per- 
 sons. They have consequently been arrested in the same man- 
 ner as others thus acting. Worcester has been discharged by 
 the Superior Court, because he was postmaster at Echota ; and 
 Thompson, because it was reported that he was a missionary ; 
 the Court deciding that postmasters and missionaries were 
 agents of the United States, and consequently exempted from 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 391 
 
 the penalties of the law. It is wholly unnecessary to inquire 
 into the correctness of this decision. The General Government 
 will certainly not permit its postmasters to use a privilege aris- 
 ing from their official stations, to thwart its operations, or defy 
 the jurisdiction of the State. The object of this communication, 
 is to request of you to dismiss Samuel Worcester from the office 
 of postmaster. If you consider it important to continue the 
 post-office at Echota, I would recommend William Tarvain, who 
 is said to be a respectable white man, to fill the place of S. 
 Worcester. If Worcester is not now removed, he will, without 
 doubt, consider himself authorized to continue his seditious con- 
 duct. No disposition is felt, in executing the laws of the State, 
 to prevent the diffusion of the light of knowledge and Christian- 
 ity, among the Indians. It is due to the State, however, that 
 those who under the cloak of religious ministry, teach discord to 
 our misguided Indian people, and opposition to rulers, should be 
 compelled to know, that obedience to the laws is both a religious 
 and civil duty. 
 
 I transmit to you for your information, a correspondence be- 
 tween this Department and the Board of Directors of the United 
 Brethren’s Missions, in relation to one of their missionaries, 
 Mr. Byhan, who is postmaster at Spring Place. Mr. Byhan is 
 said to be a respectable man, and I have no doubt will hereafter, 
 under the direction of the pious men who employ him, confine 
 himself to his duty. I have no objection to his continuing in his 
 present office, if such should be your desire. We ask only for 
 the removal of political incendiaries. 
 
 The Baptist missionary has taken the oath, and those em- 
 ployed by the Methodists have removed from among the Georgia 
 Indians. 
 
 A letter will be immediately addressed to the Secretary of 
 War, requesting an assurance from him, that religious mission- 
 aries are not, as such, agents of the United States, and specially 
 that John Thompson is not its agent. Your early attention to 
 this subject is requested. 
 
 Y ery respectfully, yours, Ac., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Hon. William T. Bap.ry. 
 
392 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 13 th April, 1831. 
 
 Gentlemen, — Your letter of the 30th ult. upon the subject 
 of the missionary employed by the Board of Directors of the 
 United Brethren’s Missions among the Cherokee Indians resid- 
 ing in Georgia, has been received. 
 
 I have the highest respect for the general character of the 
 United Brethren, and entire confidence that their Board of 
 Missions have, in its efforts to improve and christianize the 
 heathen and savage Aborigines of our country, been directed by 
 the most pious and benevolent motives. I regret that your mis- 
 sionaries should have found any difficulty in complying with the 
 requirements of the laws of the State. The principal object of 
 these laws has been to remove from the Cherokees white men 
 of bad character, and those who, from mistaken views of the 
 rights and powers of the State, have been engaged in exciting 
 the Indians to sedition, and opposition to the policy of the Gov- 
 ernment. The guard which has been stationed among the Cher- 
 okees, to protect the public property from trespass, and to arrest 
 violators of the law, has been directed specially to bring to trial, 
 every white man, who in any manner commits an injury upon 
 our Cherokee population ; and it is a source of high satisfaction 
 to believe, that under the present administration of the laws of 
 the State, the rights of liberty, personal security, and private 
 property, belonging to the Indians, are far better protected than 
 they have been heretofore. 
 
 According to your request, and in full confidence that your 
 missionaries will conform to your directions, the commanding 
 officer of the guard will be directed to wait with them, until they 
 can conveniently remove from the State, or take the oath requir- 
 ed by law. 
 
 I cannot close this letter without expressing the fullest con- 
 viction, that the removal of the Cherokees to the west of the 
 Mississippi will result to their advantage, and the hope that such 
 removal, instead of embarrassing the efforts of Christians in com- 
 municating to them the light and saving influences of the gospel, 
 will prove the efficient means of obtaining for them the most 
 satisfactory success. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 To the Board of Directors of the United 
 Brethren’s Missions. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 393 
 
 The above letter is the first written to the mission- 
 aries who were residing among the Cherokees. As the 
 treatment of this class of men for continuing to reside 
 among the Indians, in opposition to the laws of the 
 State, produced great excitement against its authorities, 
 I have inserted it with much satisfaction ; because it 
 shows that all who evinced no determination to dis- 
 regard the laws, were treated with due consideration 
 and kindness. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 14 th May, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — I inclose to you tlie copy of the answer of the Secre- 
 tary of War to a letter of mine, upon the subject of the mission- 
 aries residing among the Cherokees, by which you will perceive 
 that none of them are really the agents of the United States, 
 although the Moravian and Baptist missionaries receive a por- 
 tion of their support from the fund appropriated for the civiliza- 
 tion of the Indians. As, however, the expressions of the Secre- 
 tary of W ar leave it doubtful, whether he does not consider the 
 Moravian missionary at Spring Place and Oachgalogy under 
 the superintendence of Gilbert Byhan, and the Baptist mission- 
 aries at Valley Town and Notley, under the superintendence of 
 Evans Jones, as agents of the Government ; you will, for the 
 present, consider them such, taking care to report to this depart- 
 ment any opposition which may he made to the laws of the State, 
 or the policy of the United States, by any white person connect- 
 ed with those establishments. The missionaries of other Chris- 
 tian denominations, who may be found within the territory ap- 
 propriated to the occupancy of the Cherokees, without having 
 taken the required oath, you are directed not to recognize as 
 agents of the United States. 
 
 Since writing the above, I have received from the Post- 
 master-General a letter, of which the inclosed is a copy, by 
 which you will perceive that Samuel Worcester is no longer 
 protected by his office of postmaster in his seditious conduct 
 among the Indians. 
 
 I inclose to you unsealed letters to S. Worcester, Thompson, 
 and other missionaries, which after reading you will cause to be 
 
394 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 delivered to them. If after receiving notice to leave the State, 
 they should continue their refractory conduct, you will cause 
 them to be arrested, and turned over to the civil authorities for 
 punishment. If they show no disposition to mislead the Indians 
 or oppose the policy of the Government, treat them with kind- 
 ness and liberality, and permit them to remove from the State 
 in such manner as may be most convenient and agreeable to 
 them. Independently of the general disposition of the Govern- 
 ment to induce men to obey the laws, in preference to the inflic- 
 tion of punishment, it is important that the Cherokees should 
 not be further excited, by harsh treatment of a.ny whom they 
 may he disposed to consider members of their community. I 
 am fully convinced, that their future distinct existence, pros- 
 perity, and happiness depend upon their speedy removal beyond 
 the Mississippi. Every thing, therefore, which is done in relation 
 to them should tend to the accomplishment of that object. 
 
 The letters of the Secretary of War and the Postmaster- 
 General, are on file in this office. That the copies of them sent 
 you may be used as evidence in any future prosecutions against 
 the missionaries, I have had the seal of this office annexed to 
 the certificate of their correctness. 
 
 Dr. Reese, who is known to have the confidence of the In- 
 dians, is about visiting them at their request, to advise with 
 them as to the course which their situation requires them to take. 
 He is thoroughly convinced of the necessity which compels their 
 removal, and that the sooner it can be made, the more beneficial 
 for them. He goes by my advice, and will no doubt receive an 
 agency from the President to remain among them for some time. 
 
 It is necessary that his connection with the General Government 
 should be secret for the present, in order to avoid the suspicions 
 of the Indians. It is now mentioned to you, for the purpose of 
 requesting that you will give him any information, and afford * 
 him any assistance in your power. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. John W. A. Sanford. 
 
 Note . — The letters without direction, you are requested to 
 direct to any missionaries who may be found residing among the 
 Cherokees contrary to the laws of the State. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 395 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 16 th May , 1831. 
 
 SiR; — Sufficient evidence has been obtained from the Govern- 
 ment of the United States, to convince the Courts of this State, 
 that the missionaries employed among the Cherokees by the 
 American Board of Foreign Missions, are not its agents, and 
 therefore not exempted from the operation of the law forbidding 
 white persons to reside among the Cherokees without license. 
 In continuing so to reside, you must have known that you were 
 acting in violation of the laws of the State. The mistaken de- 
 cision of the Superior Court upon this subject, in the late case 
 determined in Gwinnett County, has enabled you for a time to 
 persist in your opposition to the humane policy which the Gen- 
 eral Government has adopted for the civilization of the Indians, 
 and in your efforts to prevent their submission to the laws of 
 Georgia. 
 
 However criminal your conduct in this respect may have 
 been, I am still desirous that you should have an opportunity of 
 avoiding the punishment ivhich will certainly follow the continu- 
 ance of your present residence. You are, therefore, advised to 
 quit it with as little delay as possible. Col. Sanford, the com- 
 mander of the guard, will be directed to cause to he delivered 
 to you this letter, and to enforce the laws, if you should persist 
 in your disobedience. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Rev. John Thompson, and others. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville , lQth May , 1831. 
 
 Sir, — It is a part of my official duty to cause all white per- 
 sons residing within the territory of the State occupied by the 
 Cherokees, to he removed therefrom, who refuse to take the oath to 
 support the Constitution and laws of the State. Information has 
 been received of your continued residence within that territory 
 without complying with the requisites of the law, and of your claim 
 to he exempted from its operation on account of your holding the 
 office of postmaster at New Echota. You have, no doubt, been 
 informed of your dismissal from that office. 
 
 That you may be under no mistake as to this matter, you 
 are also informed, that the United States Government does not 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 3V>6 
 
 recognize as its agents, tlie missionaries acting under the direc- 
 tion of the American Board of Foreign Missions. 
 
 Whatever may have been your conduct in opposing the 
 humane policy of the General Government, or in exciting the 
 Indians to oppose the jurisdiction of the State. I am still de- 
 sirous of giving you. and all others similarly situated, an oppor- 
 tunity of avoiding the punishment which -will certainly follow 
 your further residence -within the State contrary to its laws. 
 You are. therefore, advised to remove from the territory of 
 Georgia occupied by the Cherokees. Col. Sanford, the com- 
 mander of the guard, will be requested to have this letter de- 
 livered to you, and to delay your arrest until you shall have had 
 an opportunity of leaving the State. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours. Ac., 
 
 George B. Gilmer. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Worcester. 
 
 I omitted no opportunity of making impressions 
 upon the Cherokees favorable to their removal to the 
 west of tlie Mississippi, and re-union with their people 
 already settled there. 
 
 Executive Department, JRllcdgevillc, 1 ith May, 1S31. 
 
 Sir. — I have learned, through various sources, that since the 
 late decision of the Supreme Court, the Cherokee Indians are 
 in the most unsettled state as to their future course. It is ex- 
 ceedingly important, that the Government should immediately 
 send an agent among them, who has their confidence, and who 
 may be qualified to give direction to then measures. Such an 
 agent may be procured by the appointment of Dr. David A. 
 Reese of Montieello. Jasper County. He is a gentleman of in- 
 telligence. high respectability, a member of the Legislature of 
 the State, and as such, very efficient in opposing the effort made 
 at the last session to deprive the Cherokees of the occupancy of 
 their country without their consent, and without compensation. 
 He is the relative of Boudinot, the Adairs, and Charles Reese, 
 and acquainted with many of their principal men, having visited 
 his relations during the last summer. He has lately received 
 letters from them, giving an account of the distracted state of 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 397 
 
 tlieir councils, and urging him to visit them, and assist them 
 with his advice. He is thoroughly convinced that it is to their 
 interest to exchange the territory which they at present occupy, 
 for lands on the west of the Mississippi, and that the contract 
 for that purpose should be entered into as early as possible. He 
 wrote to me upon the receipt of the letters from his Indian friends, 
 desiring to know whether it was probable that his peculiar situa- 
 tion would enable him to be useful to the State. I have seen 
 him, and requested that he would immediately comply with the 
 invitation of his Indian friends. I have stated to him, that if 
 he will do so, I did not doubt but that the President would con- 
 fer upon him such an agency as would authorize him to remain 
 among the Cherokees for such time as he could be usefully em- 
 ployed in giving success to the policy of the Government, with 
 such compensation as would be an equivalent for the pecuniary 
 sacrifice he would make. He will, in compliance with my ad- 
 vice and desire, visit the Cherokees immediately. I consider it 
 important that no time should be lost in giving the proper direc- 
 tion to their present unsettled purposes. 
 
 Permit me, therefore, to request that you will present to the 
 consideration of the President the propriety of employing Hr. 
 Reese as an agent of the Government. If such an appointment 
 should be conferred upon him, I will take upon myself the care 
 of forwarding any communications you may make him. Hr. 
 Reese has had with him for some time past an Indian boy, a re- 
 lation of his, who is now desirous of returning to his home. 
 This circumstance, together with others which have been men- 
 tioned, will enable him to visit the Indians, consult with them, 
 give them correct views of the humane policy of the President, 
 convince them of what they may expect from the legislation of 
 this State, if they should obstinately persist in opposing its 
 wishes, what are its present designs and probable future course, 
 without exciting the suspicions which would be certain to inter- 
 fere with the exertions of any other agent. 
 
 The deep interest which is felt by the people of this State in 
 the immediate acquisition of the Cherokee lands, will, I have no 
 doubt, excuse me with the President for pressing upon his atten- 
 tion such information as may possibly aid him in executing the 
 contract of 1802, and of giving success ,to his liberal policy in 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 3^8 
 
 placing all the Indian people within the States beyond their 
 jurisdiction, where the means of the Government may he used 
 to advance their happiness and civilization. 
 
 As connected with this subject, and calculated to throw some 
 light upon it, I send you the copy of a letter to the officer com- 
 manding the guard stationed among the Cherokees, with his 
 answer. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Hon. John H. Eaton. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgcville, 17 th May, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — Some days ago I received a letter from Dr. David A. 
 Reese, stating that he had received letters from his Indian rela- 
 tions, representing the Cherokees to be very unsettled as to 
 their future course, and requesting him to visit them and aid 
 them with his counsel, and desiring to know of me whether, in 
 complying with their request, he could serve the State. I have 
 urged him to visit the Cherokees immediately. He is thoroughly 
 convinced that the Cherokees ought, for their own advantage, to 
 exchange their lands with the United States, and without delay. 
 To authorize his continuing; among; them during such time as 
 may be necessary to explain to them their true situation, the 
 policy of the President, and the probable future course of the 
 legislation of this State, I have written to the Secretary of War, 
 requesting him to obtain from the President for Dr. Reese, an 
 agency for this purpose. Whilst we had the pleasure of your 
 company in Milledgeville, I recollect having stated to you that 
 I knew no individual in the State so peculiarly qualified for 
 such an agency as Dr. Reese. If you should concur with me 
 in this opinion, will you oblige me so far as to write to the Pre- 
 sident, and request of him the appointment of Dr. Reese to such 
 an agency. 
 
 Various accounts state that the Cherokees are restless, dis- 
 turbed, and undetermined, since the decision of the Supreme 
 Court. The chiefs are very active in representing to the In- 
 dians that the decision is in favor of their right of self-govern- 
 ment. I believe that no measure is better calculated to prevent 
 the success of the designs of the chiefs, and to convince them of 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 399 
 
 tlie advantages which they will derive from acceding to the 
 terms which the United States is disposed to offer them for 
 their lands, than the knowledge of what was done at the last 
 session of the Legislature, and the certainty that the efforts of 
 those who are disposed to award to them the rights of humanity, 
 cannot long prevent their removal from the State, whether they 
 consent or not. It is specially on this account that I am so de- 
 sirous that Ur. Reese should be among them. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 To the Hon. John McPherson Berrien. 
 
 I sought for information as to the temper and wishes 
 of the Cherokees, whenever and wherever it could be 
 had, that what could be done might be done, for their 
 removal from the State. The following letter was 
 written to the surveyors upon their return home from 
 running off the Cherokee territory into districts and 
 lots : 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, May, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — I am desirous of procuring from you whatever infor- 
 mation your late employment of surveyor among the Cherokees 
 may have enabled you to obtain, as to their present temper and 
 designs, and probable future course. 
 
 You are fully aware of the importance of this subject to the 
 happiness of the Indians, the success of the present administra- 
 tion of the General Government, the peace and quiet of the 
 people, and the character of the State of Georgia. Permit me, 
 therefore, to ask of you answers to the following queries : 
 
 What effect has the late decision of the Supreme Court had 
 upon the Cherokees ? 
 
 Are the chiefs now disposed to cede their occupant rights in 
 Georgia ? 
 
 Are the body of the Indians more or less disposed to do so 
 than their chiefs ? 
 
 Uo the chiefs retain their former influence over the people ? 
 
 Which would the chiefs and the people prefer, ceding the 
 
400 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 ■whole of their lands by treaty, or for each individual to receive 
 of the Government the value of his improvements ? 
 
 What number of them have left the State of Georgia on 
 account of the extension of its jurisdiction over them 1 
 
 What additional numbers could probably be induced to re- 
 move from Georgia by the Government’s paying to each indi- 
 vidual the value of his improvements ? 
 
 What effect has the guard had upon them ? 
 
 Do they now hold councils, pass laws, or hold courts 1 
 What effect has the law compelling the white men among 
 them to take an oath to support the constitution and laws of the 
 State had upon their conduct 1 
 
 Could commissioners now be sent among the Cherokees with 
 any prospect of successfully treating with them for their lands ? 
 
 Do you" know of any person who has the confidence of the 
 Indians, who could be induced to go among them, and inform 
 them fully and correctly of the views of the Government, and 
 their own situation ? 
 
 Yery respectfully, yours. &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 31 si. May, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — By the treaty of 1819, between the United States and 
 the Cherokees, it was stipulated, that thirty-one persons, whose 
 names u T ere attached in a list to the treaty, should be entitled to 
 fee-simple reserves, on condition that they would, in six months 
 thereafter, signify in writing to the agent their intention of re- 
 siding permanently upon them. 
 
 I am desirous of ascertaining from you the number of the 
 Cherokees mentioned in that list, who complied with the condi- 
 tions of the treaty so far as to notify the agent of their inten- 
 tion to remain upon their reserves, and who afterwards sold the 
 same and gave fee-simple titles to the purchasers, and who are 
 now residing within the limits of this State upon the lands re- 
 served to the Cherokees for their occupancy. I am specially 
 solicitous to know whether Walter S. Adair, John Martin and 
 Richard Taylor, who are now r acting as Chiefs among the Cher- 
 okees, and residing within Georgia, are the same persons to 
 whom reserves were granted by the treaty of 1819, and whether 
 
FIRST SKITTERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 401 
 
 John Ross received an additional reserve to the one mentioned 
 in the treaty, as a citizen of the United States. 
 
 Will you also inform me what relationship by blood, John 
 Ross has to the aboriginal Indians 1 Who was his father, how 
 much of Indian blood his mother had ? (fee., (fee. Similar infor- 
 mation will be very acceptable about John Martin, Richard Tay- 
 lor, John Ridge, and Coody. 
 
 I have heard in various ways, that the Cherokee chiefs are 
 very active in holding secret councils, the object of which is to 
 persuade the Indians to continue their resistance to the laws of 
 Georgia, and the policy of the United States. As the holding 
 of such councils violates the laws of this State, it is m 3 7 ' duty to 
 have the chiefs who may be present at them, arrested and punish- 
 ed. If you have any information upon this subject, permit me 
 to request that you will communicate it to this Department as 
 early as convenient. 
 
 I write to you freely upon this subject, because the enforce- 
 ment of the laws of this State, accords with the opinions and po- 
 licy of the Administration of the General Government, and is 
 believed to be required, both for the quiet of Georgia, and the 
 peace and happiness of the Indians. 
 
 I am also desirous of knowing from you, what course you 
 think it probable the Cherokees will now pursue. Can the 
 chiefs be induced to cede their lands to Georgia 1 and if so, when, 
 and upon what terms ? Are the Indian people willing to emi- 
 grate if the Government will pay them a fair value for their im- 
 provements ? Whether can they be most readily removed from 
 Georgia by treaty, or by paying them the value for their im- 
 provements ? 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, (fee., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. Hugh Montgomery. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeoille, loth June, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — I consider it of some importance in order to give the 
 proper direction to public opinion, to know something of the par- 
 ticular history of the chiefs of mixed blood, who are at present 
 influencing the conduct of the Cherokees. You are therefore 
 requested to ascertain with as much accuracy as possible, who 
 26 
 
402 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 was the father of John Ross, to what state or country he origi- 
 nally belonged, what cause induced his connection with the Clie- 
 rokees, what portion of Indian blood John Ross’s mother had, 
 where John Ross was educated, &c., Ac. It is desirable to have 
 similar information as to Richard Taylor, Coody, Ridge, John 
 Martin, the two Adairs, Daniel, and other half-breed Chiefs in 
 this State. 
 
 Very Respectfully, yours, Ac., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. John W. A. Sanford. 
 
 The answers to these two letters enabled me to 
 communicate to the Legislature upon the subject of 
 them, as already stated. 
 
 In my intercourse with the Cherokee chiefs, at 
 Washington City, and elsewhere, I never knew but 
 three of any distinction who were not descendants of 
 white persons. I regret that I have not the means at 
 hand of giving with accuracy a genealogical tree of 
 each distinguished chief. The father of John Ross, 
 Lewis Ross, and their brothers and their sister, the 
 mother of Coody, was a Scotchman. The father of 
 John Ross’s mother was a Scotchman. Martin’s father 
 was a Virginian. The fathers of the Adairs were Irish- 
 men, or South Carolinians of Irish descent. 
 
 The conduct of Worcester and Butler, as described 
 in the following letter, exhibits a most singular contest 
 between the State and two very insignificant individu- 
 als, swelled into great importance by being the instru- 
 ments used by the northern section of the Union to 
 prevent the increase of the population and consequent 
 political strength of the South, aided by religious fa- 
 natics every where. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 17 th June , 1831. 
 
 Sir, — I inclose to you copies of letters from Samuel A. 
 Worcester and Elizur Butler, two white men, who are mission- 
 
FIKST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 403 
 
 aries among the Cherokees, in answer to my letter notifying 
 them that they would be arrested if they continued to disobey 
 the laws of the State by residing among the Cherokees, without 
 taking the oath to support its constitution and laws. 
 
 You will perceive that they deny the authority of the State 
 to pass laws to govern them, notwithstanding their residence 
 within its limits, and express the determination to abide its 
 penalties. Let them feel their full weight, since such is their 
 voluntary choice. Spare no exertions to arrest them, and all 
 others similarly situated and offending. If they are discharged 
 by the Courts, or give bail, continue to arrest for each repeated 
 act of residence in violation of the law. If resistance is made, 
 call upon the militia of the counties to aid you in enforcing the 
 laws. Although I am disposed to execute the laws with the 
 utmost forbearance upon our Indian people, I owe it to the 
 Sovereignty of the State, to punish with the utmost rigor the 
 injurious and insolent conduct of the whites w'ho deny its power 
 and oppose its authority. 
 
 Your duty is laborious ; but I know your zeal in supporting 
 the just rights of the State, and hope that your efforts may be 
 soon rewarded with the most complete success. 
 
 Yery respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gtlmer. 
 
 Col. John W. A. Sanford. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 1 7 th June, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — The information received through your letter, by Col. 
 Jordan, upon the subject of the feelings and views of the Chero- 
 kees in Georgia, is exceedingly discouraging. I pity the poor 
 and ignorant Indians, for the fate which their misguided leaders 
 and our own dishonest political partisans will be certain to bring 
 upon them, unless, indeed, it can be yet prevented by the exer- 
 tions of the Government, and the friends of humanity. 
 
 On the 14th of May, I wrote to the Secretary of War, re- 
 questing that the President would confer upon you such an 
 agency as would authorize your remaining for some time among 
 the Cherokees, for the purpose of convincing them that their own 
 interest requires them to cede their lands in Georgia. To that 
 letter I received no answer. This has probably been owing to 
 
404 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 the present vacancy in the office of Secretary of War, and the 
 absence of the Attorney-General. 
 
 I cannot ascertain from your letter 'whether you have still 
 any hope that you could render service to the Government by 
 procuring the consent of the chiefs to cede the lands which they 
 occupy by treaty, or inducing the mass of common Indians to 
 enroll for emigration. Write me fully and freely, so that I may 
 be enabled to communicate your views to the President. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George K. Gilmer. 
 
 Dr. David A. Reese. 
 
 The following letter to the President, exhibits the 
 urgent spirit -with which the authorities of Georgia 
 pressed upon the General Government its right to re- 
 quire that all proper and available means should be 
 used to execute its contract of 1 802. Those who know 
 the evident disposition of the preceding Legislature of 
 the State to take possession of the Cherokee territory, 
 and the earnest exertions used to prevent until that 
 course should be obvious to the right-minded, could 
 alone understand fully the cause of that urgency. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville , Wtli June, 1831. 
 
 Sir,- — Circumstances have enabled me to collect much infor- 
 mation as to the present temper, designs, and probable future 
 course of the Cherokees. The great interest felt by the people 
 of this State in having them removed from its limits, and the 
 contract of 1802 finally executed, have induced me to communi- 
 cate directly to the President, so much of that information as 
 may possibly be useful to him, in his endeavors to effect these 
 objects. Strong hopes were at one time entertained, that if the 
 decision of the Supreme Court should be against the application 
 of the Cherokees for a writ of injunction to stay the jurisdiction 
 of Georgia, that they would immediately treat with the United 
 States for an extinguishment of their present occupant rights. 
 It is known, that previous to that decision, and during the penden- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 405 
 
 cy of the case before the Supreme Court, all classes had expressed 
 their belief, that such would he the course pursued by them. 
 These hopes have, however, proved illusory. Since that decision, 
 the wealthy and influential half-breed chiefs have been exceed- 
 ingly active in persuading the people to continue their present 
 residence, in opposition to the desire of the General Government 
 to extinguish their title, and in defiance of the rights and power 
 of Georgia. These efforts have unfortunately been very success- 
 ful. This has resulted from the extra-judicial opinions of the 
 Supreme Court, in determining that the Cherokees formed a 
 distinct political society, capable of managing its own affairs ; 
 and that they are the rightful owners of the soil which they 
 occupy. Meetings of the Indian people have been called in 
 most of the towns, at which their chiefs have used these opinions 
 to convince them that their rights of self-government and soil 
 were independent of the United States and Georgia, and would 
 be secured to them through the Supreme Court, and the change 
 (which they represented to be certain) in the Administration of 
 the General Government. 
 
 From all the information which I have received, I am satis- 
 fied that the President would fail in any immediate efforts to 
 execute the contract of 1802 by treaty with the chiefs, and that 
 the attempt would only expose the Government to their insults, 
 and increase their confidence in the unfortunate measures they 
 are pursuing. 
 
 It is most respectfully suggested to the President, that no 
 measure can at present be successfully adopted for the execution 
 of the contract of 1802, except inducing individuals, families, and 
 towns to emigrate from the State, by paying them for their im- 
 provements, or giving them such other advantages as may be 
 found acceptable ; and the President is earnestly requested to 
 try the effect of this measure as early as possible. 
 
 The great body of the common Indians are without wealth 
 or power. Nothing prevents their acquiesence in the policy of 
 the Government to unite them with that part of their tribe who 
 are on the west of the Mississippi, but their habitual submis- 
 sion to the control of their chiefs, and their inert, and listless 
 character. What is said of their strong desire to remain with 
 the bones of their fathers, are but the expressions of those 
 
406 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 whose ancestors’ bodies are deposited in Europe. The confi- 
 dence of the common Indians in the rule of their chiefs, has 
 been somewhat impaired by their appropriation of the wealth of 
 the tribe to themselves. Their listlessness of temper and in- 
 difference about the future, may possibly he in some degree 
 overcome, by the fear of unknown evils from the operation of 
 the laws of Georgia. The guard which has been stationed among 
 them, has been successful in preventing any trespasses upon the 
 gold mines, in putting a stop to their legislative councils, their 
 courts, the execution of their laws, and in removing all white 
 men from among them, disposed to excite their opposition to the 
 government of the State. 
 
 The chiefs can no longer prevent the people from enrolling 
 for emigration, by the fear of punishment. It is thought pro- 
 bable that the very attempt to remove the people in that way, 
 will tend to produce a willingness on the part of the chiefs to 
 treat for an exchange of their lands. They know, that by the 
 removal of the common Indians, they will lose their power, the 
 exclusive possession of the country, and become subjected to the 
 prejudices of the white population with whom they will be 
 mingled. 
 
 I have inclosed to the Secretai'y of War, Avith the request 
 that the same may be laid before the President, the copy of a 
 letter just received from Dr. Reese, a respectable gentleman of 
 this State, who has lately returned from a visit to the Cherokees, 
 and Avhose connection Avith some of the influential half-breed 
 chiefs, has enabled him to acquire an accurate knowledge of. the 
 designs of that class ; and a correspondence had with the sur- 
 veyors Avho have been lately engaged in dividing the country 
 occupied by the Cherokees into sections and districts, and whose 
 employment led them into very unreserved intercourse with all 
 classes of the Indians. The opinions expressed by these per- 
 sons, in favor of the plan of removing the Cherokees by enroll- 
 ing individuals for emigration, rather than by treaty Avith the 
 chiefs, is confirmed by information derived from various other 
 sources. 
 
 This subject is of great importance, not only to the peace, 
 prosperity, and quiet of the State, hut to the character of its 
 Government. The obstructions which have been thrown in the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 407 
 
 way of tlie execution of the contract of 1802, the long-continued 
 indifference and neglect of the General Government, and its 
 actual opposition in 1825-26 ; the constant abuse which party 
 violence has poured upon the authorities of this State and its 
 people, on account of the measures which have been adopted for 
 the support of its rights of soil and jurisdiction ; the influence 
 which that partisan violence is now exercising over the Che- 
 rokee chiefs in inducing them to continue their opposition to the 
 laws of Georgia, and in exciting their expectation that by a 
 change of the present administration of the General Government, 
 they will he secured in the rights of self-government ; the con- 
 duct of the Chief Justice of the United States in interfering 
 with the administration of the criminal laws of the State, and 
 the intimation given the Cherokees in his decision, that the laws 
 of Georgia were exceedingly oppressive ; that the State had 
 neither the right of jurisdiction nor of soil ; have all conspired 
 so to irritate the public mind here, that it will be extremely dif- 
 ficult, perhaps impossible, to prevent the Legislature t from dis- 
 posing of all the lands of the State assigned to the Indians for 
 their occupancy, except so much as may he in their immediate 
 possession, or required for their support, unless the President 
 shall he enabled during the present year, to adopt such measures 
 as will give assurance that the Cherokees will he certainly and 
 shortly removed from the State. It is important that the Gov- 
 ernment of the State should know, whether it has become im- 
 possible for the United States to execute the contract of 1802, 
 so that its policy in relation to the Cherokees may no longer be 
 influenced by the expectation of that event. 
 
 Hitherto the Indians have neither been compelled to pay 
 taxes, nor perform any civil duties. The only operation of the 
 laws since the extension of the jurisdiction of the State over 
 their territory, has been to protect them from injury, by the 
 removal of the whites who had been tempted into their country 
 by the attraction of the gold mines, to escape punishment for 
 their crimes, or to indulge in vice. The State is at this time 
 maintaining a guard at great expense, for the purpose of prevent- 
 ing the exercise of assumed authority on the part of the chiefs, 
 from the expectation that the President will be enabled during 
 the present year, to succeed in removing the Indians beyond its 
 
1 '8 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 limits, and the strong disposition felt by its authorities to avoid 
 the adoption of any measures which might have even the ap- 
 pearance of violating the laws of humanity, or the natural rights 
 of the Indians. 
 
 If the Cherokees are to continue inhabitants of the State, 
 they must be rendered subject to the ordinary operations of the 
 laws with less expense and trouble, and more effectually, than 
 heretofore. The State must put an end to even the semblance 
 of a distinct political government within its territory. It has 
 been hitherto permitted, from the belief that the happiness of the 
 Indians required it, and that such condition was not then incon- 
 venient, nor injurious to the rights of Georgia. The agitation 
 which the Indian question has excited throughout our country, 
 and the manner in which it has endangered the most important 
 political rights of the State, require that what is insisted on shall 
 be done. The millions of acres of land which are now of no 
 value, except to add to the gratification of the idle ambition of 
 the chiefs; must be placed in the possession of actual cultivators 
 of the soil, who may be made the instruments for the proper ad- 
 ministration of the laws. 
 
 It is hoped that the President will concur in the necessity 
 of making such efforts for removing the Cherokees, as will as- 
 certain whether it is practicable by any means whatever. 
 
 I trust that the importance of the subject will be my suf- 
 ficient apology for the manner in which it has been pressed upon 
 the consideration of the President. 
 
 With sentiments of the highest consideration, 
 
 I am most respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Andrew Jackson, 
 
 President of the United States. 
 
 In the month of Aimust, 1831, I wrote to the Se- 
 cretary of War, urging the appointment of several per- 
 sons to enroll the Indians for emigration. lie appoint- 
 ed Col. Montgomery the Cherokee agent, an old, inef- 
 ficient man, whose residence was in Tennessee, at a 
 distance from the Indians most disposed to emigrate. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 409 
 
 The following letter points out the mistaken course 
 pursued by the officers of the General Government, 
 and the difficulties which the authorities of Georgia 
 had to encounter in the efforts made to acquire all the 
 territorial rights of the State. Nothing was done vol- 
 untarily, and upon its own suggestions, by the Govern- 
 ment of the United States for executing its contract 
 with Georgia. Ever/ measure for that purpose had to 
 be proposed and urged again and again, or nothing 
 was done. Great sympathy was evinced for the In- 
 dians by the people of those States in which there 
 were none. All effectual means for removing them 
 from Georgia were unpopular. It was more politic 
 and easier to conciliate the greater number, than to do 
 justice to one. Even Gen. Jackson, with his thorough 
 knowledge of the subject, and bold, fearless spirit, had 
 to be stirred up, and coerced into the humor to do any 
 thing worth doing. 
 
 Tennessee was much more interested in removing 
 the Indians from its own territory than from Georgia. 
 Gen. Jackson was a Tennesseean, and never forgot it 
 in all his transactions with the Cherokees. And yet 
 even this injustice (for it was injustice to put Tennessee 
 upon an equality with Georgia in the measures to be 
 taken for removing the Indians) operated incidentally 
 to the advantage of Georgia. Without it, Gen. Jack- 
 son might have been as forgetful of the obligations of 
 the General Government’s contract as those who pre- 
 ceded him, and the President who followed him. 
 
 The letters to the President and to the Secretary 
 of W ar show how urgent the authorities of the State 
 had to be with Gen. Jackson to induce him to act. 
 
410 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Executive Department, Millcdgeville, 2 0th August , 1831. 
 
 Sir, — Some time ago, I had the honor of addressing letters 
 to the President, and your predecessor in office, urging the ex- 
 pediency of attempting to remove the Cherokees from the State, 
 by paying individuals and families the value of their improve- 
 ments, with such other advantages as might he thought proper, 
 upon their consenting to emigrate beyond the Mississippi. I 
 have been convinced by information received from various per- 
 sons, that no treaty can be formed with the chiefs hut through 
 the measures proposed, and that though this should fail to effect 
 the entire object, a large proportion of the unmixed Indians may 
 be thus removed. The President answered, that orders would 
 be given to the agent to enroll the Cherokees for emigration 
 after the plan proposed. The laws of the State give authority 
 to the Governor to have the places which may be relinquished 
 by the Indians occupied by citizens. It is, indeed, this circum- 
 stance which renders the plan which the President has con- 
 sented to adopt, so well calculated to secure success. With the 
 aid of those who may he thus settled every where among the In- 
 dians, the organization of the territory as portions of counties, 
 and the election and appointment of civil officers, it is believed 
 that the controlling influence of the chiefs may be destroyed, and 
 thereby the principal difficulty overcome which prevents the ex- 
 ecution of the contract of 1802. Permit me, therefore, respect- 
 fully to urge your department to press this policy immediately, 
 and to its full effect. 
 
 The obstructions which have been thrown in the way of the 
 execution of the contract of 1802 by former administrations, the 
 attempt of the half-breed chiefs to create an independent Gov- 
 ernment, and their active resistance to the efforts of the Presi- 
 dent to do justice to Georgia, have added great excitement to 
 the desire of the people of this State to acquire the immediate 
 possession of the lands occupied by the Cherokees. Measures 
 may, in consequence, he adopted by the State which, under other 
 circumstances, would be considered highly injudicious, and which 
 will be prevented if the plan which the President has consented 
 to pursue should create a probability of success. 
 
 It has been suggested that it will he important to have sev- 
 eral persons engaged at the same time in enrolling for emigra- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 411 
 
 tion in different parts of the territory, and that they, or the In- 
 dian agent, should be supplied with funds to pay at once for the 
 improvements of such individuals and families as may enroll for 
 removal. 
 
 It is probable that the Indians on the south and east side of 
 the Etowah River, can be more readily induced to enroll than 
 those on the borders of Tennessee and North Carolina, on ac- 
 count of the number of citizens who are among them, and the 
 means thereby afforded to the Government to render them en- 
 tirely subject to its authority. The immediate possession of 
 that part of the territory is also particularly desirable to the 
 State, on account of the gold mines which it contains. I would, 
 therefore, request that the enrolling officers be directed by you 
 to make their first efforts to remove the Indians from it. 
 
 Permit me, also, to request that you will communicate to 
 this Department the success of your measures upon this subject, 
 that the same may be laid before the Legislature at its session 
 in November next. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gtlmer. 
 
 lion. Lewis Cass. 
 
 P. S. — I send you copies of several letters lately received, 
 which may possibly contain information useful to your Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 24<A August, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — I received, by the last mail, your letter of the 12th 
 inst., together with a copy of your instructions to the Cherokee 
 agent, upon the subject of enrolling the Clierokees for emigra- 
 tion. 
 
 Some disappointment has been felt at the delay which has 
 occurred, the cause of which was unknown until the receipt of 
 your letter. 
 
 On the 20th inst., I wrote you, urging various reasons why 
 the policy which is about to be pursued, should be pressed to its 
 fullest effect as soon as possible. 
 
 I perceive from your instructions to the Cherokee agent, that 
 the business of enrollment is intrusted exclusively to him. Col. 
 Montgomery is a worthy man, but I do not consider it injustice 
 
412 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 to him to say, that he is too old, indecisive, and uninfluential to 
 produce the effect which the Government desires. Besides, his 
 agency is in Tennessee where the Indians are not subject to the 
 jurisdiction of the State, and the white men who reside among 
 them under no special restraint and interested in preventing the 
 successful accomplishment of the policy of the Government. 
 
 I suggested to you in my letter of the 20th, the propriety of 
 establishing several offices for enrolling emigrants. I again 
 repeat the suggestion, convinced, as I am, that its adoption is of 
 the greatest importance to insure success. The contract of the 
 United States to extinguish the Indian title to all lands within 
 the limits of Georgia, authorizes me to request, as an act of jus- 
 tice, that the Cherokees should be first removed from this State. 
 
 If there is but one office of emigration, and that at the 
 agency, it will be difficult to induce the Indians from this State 
 to go that far to enroll, inert as they are, and subject to the 
 controlling influence of the chiefs. Those who reside within our 
 limits are most probably readier than others to enroll on account 
 of the extension of its laws over them, and their apprehension 
 of suffering therefrom unknown evils. It is indeed believed, 
 that the indications of a desire to emigrate have been almost 
 exclusively confined to the Indians in this State, and principally 
 to those who reside on the south and east of the Etowah River. 
 They may, also, enroll without fear of injury from the influence 
 cf their chiefs, on account of the protection which the Georgia 
 guard will be enabled to afford them. 
 
 If any difficulty should occur in procuring proper agents, I 
 w r ould respectfully recommend to you the persons who are men- 
 tioned as suitable for such services in my letters of the 14th of 
 May and the 21st of June, and the accompanying communica- 
 tions. 
 
 You may be assured that I have no desire to give undue im- 
 portance to this subject. The evils which are anticipated from 
 an inefficient or dilatory employment of the means of the Gov- 
 ernment to remove the Cherokees may be very great ; I would, 
 if possible, avert them. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &e., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Hon. Lewis Cass. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 413 
 
 When it was known that preachers of the Gospel 
 had been arrested for illegal residence among the Chero- 
 kees, and subjected to the restraints of prisoners, great 
 sympathy was felt for them by their brethren through- 
 out the State, and elsewhere. I received a letter from 
 one of the oldest and most respectable Presbyterian 
 preachers of the Southern country, asking why Presbyte- 
 rian clergymen were by the Governor treated as knaves. 
 
 The sensitiveness of the Methodists may be inferred 
 from the following answer to a letter received from the 
 Rev. John Howard, making complaints of the treat- 
 ment of Methodist missionaries. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgcvillc, September ] st, 1831. 
 
 Rev. Sir. — I have just received your letter of the 29th 
 ult., in which you call my attention to the publication in the 
 Advocate and Journal of the 12th inst., upon the subject of the 
 conduct of the Georgia guard. 
 
 I thank you for the direct course you have pursued in this 
 matter, and the freedom w r itk which you have expressed your 
 feelings, and opinions. I have no desire whatever to avoid any 
 scrutiny into my official conduct. 
 
 McLeod’s statements concerning the orders which I have 
 given to the guard are wholly destitute of truth. 
 
 Immediately after the passage of the law which made it 
 criminal for white men to reside among the Cherokees, without 
 license, I caused one hundred copies to be published and distri- 
 buted among those upon wdiom it w r as to operate. By this means 
 every white man w ; ho resided among the Indians, w T as informed 
 of the provisions of the law in time to make up a deliberate re- 
 solve. whether he would obey or not. Between two and three 
 hundred persons have continued their residence by taking the 
 oath to support the laws. A few have left the State. The mis- 
 sionaries alone have publicly denied the power of the State to 
 extend its jurisdiction over them, and expressed their design to 
 disregard the law, and abide its penalties. One of them was ar- 
 rested, and discharged by the Superiour Court, upon the ground 
 
414 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 that missionaries were agents of the United States Government, 
 and therefore not liable to arrest. This person was a Mr. 
 Thompson, who knew at the time that he was not an agent of the 
 United States Government, as he has since acknowledged in a 
 letter to me. The decision, however, furnished an excuse for the 
 missionaries to continue their illegal residence. I procured from 
 the United States Government proof that the missionaries, as 
 such, were not agents of the Government. Instead of ordering 
 Col. Sanford to arrest them immediately, as would have been law- 
 ful, and as I think justified by their conduct, I wrote to all the 
 missionaries, notifying them that they would be arrested, if they 
 did not remove. Orders were given to Col. Sanford, that if they 
 showed no disposition to oppose the policy of the Government, 
 to treat them with kindness, and liberality, and permit them to 
 remove as might be most convenient and agreeable to themselves. 
 I received answers from Worcester and Butler, denying the au- 
 thority of the laws of the State, and refusing to obey them. 
 Copies of their answers were sent to Col. Sanford, with directions 
 to spare no exertions to arrest them, that they might feel the 
 full weight of the law, since such was their choice. 
 
 There has been no expression, or intimation whatever in any 
 order or letter, or otherwise from me, to treat those who might 
 be arrested, in any other manner than as the law directed. You 
 cannot regret so much as I do, that any members of the guard 
 should have been so much excited by the improper conduct of 
 these men, as to put them into chains. That they were in the 
 constant habit of speaking in the most opprobrious terms of our 
 Government, laws, and public authorities, I have positive proof. 
 And the account of McLeod himself, shows how far he was dis- 
 posed thus to act. Although I cannot excuse the severity with 
 which he was treated, it is certain that the guard acted under 
 excited feelings, created by the abuse of those under whose or- 
 ders they were acting. 
 
 But you, my dear sir, and many others, are entirely mistaken 
 both as to my power over the guard, the kind of authority which 
 has been conferred upon it, and the manner of its organization. 
 
 It is composed of citizens of the State (forty in number), who 
 have been employed upon wages, to perform a particular duty. 
 They are but assistants to the civil officers, and are substituted 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 415 
 
 for sheriffs and constables, only because they can act more effi- 
 ciently. They are neither soldiers, nor subject to military law. 
 If they violate the rights of any person, whether missionary, or 
 Indian, they are liable to be sued, or indicted like other citizens. 
 I have no authority to punish them, whatever may be their con- 
 duct. My power extends only to the appointment of the agent 
 or commissioner (as the commander is called in the law), and 
 the orginization of the guard. The agent himself cannot pun- 
 ish a member of the guard for disorderly conduct or other offence, 
 not even by dismissing him without pay. However improper the 
 guard may have acted, Col. Sanford is not answerable for it. 
 Worcester, Trott, and others were arrested, whilst he was in Mil- 
 ledgeville in the discharge of his duty making his quarterly re- 
 port. He did not return, until after the persons arrested had 
 been confined for several days at his station, waiting for the evi- 
 dence which he had in his possession, to prove that the mission- 
 aries were not agents of the Government. 
 
 I must refer you to the publications in the Georgia Journal, 
 of this day, for further evidence of what lias been my official 
 conduct. 
 
 In conclusion, I would observe that the missionaries have not 
 been compelled to desert their religious labors, by any conduct 
 of the authorities of the Government, but by their improper con- 
 nection with political parties, and refusal to obey the laws. Had 
 they submitted to the jurisdiction which rightfully belongs to the 
 State, they would have received its protection, and had my best 
 wishes for their success in enlightening the Indians. 
 
 The law does not punish missionaries for residing among the 
 Cherokees, but every white man who so resides contrary to its 
 provisions, and if missionaries will act illegally they must suffer 
 the consequences. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Rev. John Howard. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 3 d Sept., 1831. 
 
 Sir, — A few days ago, I read in the Cherokee Phoenix, state- 
 ments from Worcester and Trott, charging Col. Nelson and some 
 of the guard with the use of irons in confining them, and other 
 illegal and unnecessarily severe treatment. 
 
416 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The flagrantly criminal conduct of those two men induced 
 me to discredit them. I have since, however, received through 
 a friend, the New York Advocate and Journal, containing a 
 letter from McLeod, corroborating the account given by Worces- 
 ter and Trott. The character of the Government, and the good 
 of that portion of the public service committed to your particular 
 charge, require that the facts should be inquired into, and if 
 found true, efficient means used to prevent their recurrence. 
 
 That you may know how to direct your inquiry, I inclose 
 to you the paper which contains the publication to which I have 
 referred. 
 
 You are requested to inquire particularly into the fact, whe- 
 ther irons were used to confine the prisoners arrested by the 
 guard, the necessity which existed for the use of such means, 
 the causes which led to the arrest of McLeod, and the severe 
 treatment of himself and other prisoners. 
 
 I am aware that these things occurred, if they occurred at 
 all, during your presence in Milledgeville in the discharge of 
 your duties. The highly efficient and honorable manner in 
 which you have executed the service which has been assigned 
 you, and your own character, are sufficient security that you 
 have not sanctioned any unauthorized oppression of prisoners. 
 
 You are requested to report both the conduct of the guard 
 and of the persons arrested. 
 
 It will be proper for you to instruct the guard, that in the 
 arrest of those who may have violated the law, their duty is con- 
 fined to the certain delivery of their prisoners to the civil officers, 
 and that no other severity is authorized by the law, but what 
 may be necessary to effect that object. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. John AY. A. Sanford. 
 
 Great vigilance was necessary to prevent the con- 
 tinuation of the misdirected influence of the missionaries 
 over the Cherokees. 
 
 The following letters will show the spirit of the 
 missionaries, and how it was met. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 417 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 8th Sept., 1831. 
 
 Sir, — In answer to your letter of the 5th ult., you are in- 
 formed, that the Executive officers of the State are not author- 
 ized to make any distinction between persons, on account of their 
 religious opinions or employments. No white person, whether a 
 citizen of Georgia or Tennessee, can now he permitted to reside 
 in that part of the State occupied by the Cherokees, who was 
 not an inhabitant of it previous to the first of March last, and 
 had not at that time taken the oath to support the laws and 
 constitution of the State. All ministers of the Gospel who 
 resided among the Indians when the law upon this subject 
 passed, had an opportunity afforded them of continuing their 
 religious services, by complying with its requirements. 
 
 Those who have thought that they were under higher obliga- 
 tions to act according to their own opinions of the rights of the 
 Cherokees, than to submit to the policy of the General Govern- 
 ment, and obey the law T s of the State, have found that obedience 
 to rulers is a positive duty. White persons who continue to 
 move about from one place to another among the Cherokees, are 
 considered as much within the mischief which the law intends to 
 remedy, as if stationary, and will be arrested in like manner. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Rev. D. C. McLeod. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, oth Sept.,. 18-3 V. 
 
 Sir, — Your letter of the 30th inst., tendering the resignation 
 of your appointment as sub-commander of the guard, has been 
 received, as has been your report, in answer to the inquiries 
 directed to be made into various charges which have been pub- 
 lished against yourself, and the members of the guard under 
 your command, in the arrest of certain missionaries. 
 
 I have uniformly found you exceedingly active and faithful 
 in the discharge of the public service which has been assigned 
 to you, and although I have not altogether approved of the means 
 which were employed on one or two occasions, in enforcing the 
 laws, I have never doubted but that your object was the per- 
 formance of what you considered your duty. 
 
 The avidity with which those who are opposed to the Adminis- 
 27 
 
418 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 tration of the General and State Governments seize upon every 
 thing which can be made to operate upon public opinion injuri- 
 ously to their success, renders it necessary that those efforts 
 should be promptly met. 
 
 F rom the belief that your resignation has been tendered from 
 chagrin at the inquiry which has been ordered, I have returned 
 it to you with the expression of my wish that you 'will not, when 
 the State most requires your exertions, leave its service. 
 
 Your report is deemed satisfactory. 
 
 The rule to be observed relative to prisoners is, that they 
 be confined in such manner as to prevent their rescue or escape. 
 Whatever is necessary to effect this object is justifiable. Con- 
 finement is never to be rendered severe upon prisoners for the 
 purpose of punishment. 
 
 I shall take no steps to supply your place, until I again hear 
 from you. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. Charles H. Nelson. 
 
 An unexpected obstruction was placed in the way 
 of protecting the gold mines from trespass, and remov- 
 ing intruders, by the decision of one of the judges, de- 
 claring the law to be unconstitutional which made it 
 peual for the Indians to take gold from the lands of 
 the State. 
 
 The law which the judge pronounced unconstitu- 
 tional, made it the special duty of the Governor to 
 prevent the Indians from trespassing upon the gold 
 mines. 
 
 As the Executive and Judicial Departments are by 
 the Constitution made separate and distinct, I did not 
 consider that the authority belonged to the judges to 
 direct the Governor how he was to enforce the laws. 
 I, therefore, obeyed their requirements, rather than 
 the opinion of the judge. 
 
 Upon being notified that a violator of the law who 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 419 
 
 had been arrested by the guard, had been liberated by 
 the Court, I wrote the following letter to the com- 
 mander of the guard : 
 
 Executive Department, Millcdgeville, 19 th Sept., 1831. 
 
 Sir, — I have just learned, that the judge of the Western 
 Circuit has decided that the law for the protection of the mines 
 in the territory occupied by the Cherokees is void ; and that 
 he has discharged an Indian from confinement, who had been 
 arrested by the guard for its violation. As the effect of this 
 decision will be to create the opinion among the Indians, that 
 they are now licensed to plunder the State of this valuable pro- 
 perty, I have thought proper to give you express instructions to 
 defend it, that you may be justified in that course. 
 
 I have no doubt that the Legislature has the authority to 
 take possession of the mines, and the constitutional right to pass 
 laws to protect them from trespass. By the law which has been 
 passed, the Governor is directed to take possession of the mines, 
 and to cause all persons to be arrested who may attempt to violate 
 that possession. The special object of your appointment, and 
 the organization of the guard under your command, was to enable 
 the Governor to obey these requirements. You are not an officer 
 connected with the Judiciary Department, but the agent whom 
 the Legislature has authorized the Executive to employ, to per- 
 form a public service which was imposed by law upon that de- 
 partment. You ivill therefore arrest every person who may be 
 found attempting to take away gold from the mines. You will 
 give general information in the Cherokee County of the deter- 
 mination of the Executive Department to enforce the law, so as 
 to avoid if possible the necessity of making any arrests. 
 
 The peaceful acquisition of our Indian territory, and the 
 preservation of the rights of the State, may depend essentially 
 upon your prudence and firmness, in executing the duty which 
 has been assigned you. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. John W. A. Sanford. 
 
 Another difficulty between the officers of the Judi- 
 ciary and Executive Departments occurred about this 
 
420 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 time, which embarrassed me quite as much as the decision 
 of the judge of the Western Circuit. Gen. Charles 
 Floyd of Camden, was charged with the commission of 
 a violent assault upon a man who had killed his brother. 
 The officers of the judiciary were unable, or failed to 
 arrest him. The presiding judge of the Superior Court 
 of the county where the offimce was committed, instead 
 of ordering out the posse comitatus, or such force as 
 would have insured the arrest, if it could have been 
 made, applied to the Governor to make it. I was the 
 intimate friend of Gen. John Floyd, whose son’s violent 
 death was the immediate cause of the offence charged 
 upon Gen. Charles Floyd. I was at the time a candi- 
 date for re-election. The most personal and abusive 
 opposition made to my election proceeded from some 
 of the officers of the court by whom this singular ap- 
 plication was made. The matter is as inexplicable now 
 as it was then. It was at once known that I had re- 
 fused to do the duty of sheriff of Camden County. An 
 application was made to me by those opposed to my 
 re-election, for a copy of my letter upon the subject. 
 It was given to them. They declined publishing it. 
 The seekers for matter to defame the Chief Magistrate, 
 determined that their account of the contents of this 
 letter was better fitted to effect their purpose than 
 what was in the letter. 
 
 This is a copy of the letter. 
 
 Executive Department, Millcdgeville, 19 th Sept., 1831 . 
 
 Sin, — I received some days ago your letter of the 7th inst., 
 together with various inclosures in relation to the prosecution 
 and failure to arrest Gen. Charles Floyd. 
 
 Bad health has prevented an earlier reply. I understand 
 
 from your letter, that you have pursued the direction of in 
 
 inclosing the papers to me, and that his direction to you is the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 421 
 
 consequence of the opinion given to him individually by the 
 judges, whilst they were assembled in convention in this place. 
 
 Before I can form any definite opinion, or answer you dis- 
 tinctly upon this subject, it will be proper to understand the 
 reasons which induced the judges to advise the course which 
 has been pursued, or rather the opinions which have influenced 
 Judge to adopt them, and what he expects from the Execu- 
 
 tive authority. 
 
 The Constitution declares, that “ the Legislative, Executive, 
 and Judiciary Departments of the Government shall be distinct, 
 and each Department shall be confined to a separate body of 
 Magistracy. And no person or collection of persons, being of 
 one of these Departments, shall exercise any power properly 
 attached to either of the others, except in the instances expressly 
 permitted.” 
 
 I am disposed to give the most respectful consideration to 
 
 any suggestion which I may receive from Judge , as to what 
 
 he and the other judges suppose to be my duty. So far, how- 
 ever, as I can perceive from an examination of the papers alone, 
 I am not aware that I have any authority to interfere in the case. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George It. Gilmer. 
 
 To — , Solicitor-General of the Eastern circuit. 
 
 Many persons were arrested by the guard, for ille- 
 gal residence in the Cherokee territory. Twelve were 
 indicted, found guilty, and condemned to confinement 
 in the penitentiary. When the convicts arrived in 
 Milledgeville, and before any of them were degraded by 
 being placed within the penitentiary, pardon was offered 
 to all who would promise not again to violate the laws 
 of the State ; as the following letters to the keeper 
 and inspectors of the penitentiary show. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville , 22 d Sept., 1831. 
 
 Sir, — You are requested to cause the persons lately con- 
 demned in Gwinnett County for violating the laws of the State, 
 for illegal residence within the Cherokee country, not to be re- 
 
422 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 ceived into the penitentiary, until the record of their convic- 
 tions can be examined, and a decision made, whether they or 
 any of them are entitled to Executive clemency. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Maj. Philip Cook, 
 
 P . Keeper of the Penitentiary. 
 
 Executive Department, Sept. 22 d, 1831. 
 
 Gentlemen, — I understand that a number of persons have 
 been lately conyicted in Gwinnett County for illegal residence in 
 the territory occupied by the Cherokees Avithin the State, and 
 Avill very soon be placed Avithin the penitentiary, unless they 
 shall be considered proper subjects for the exercise of Executive 
 clemency. As it is probable that some of these persons may 
 have committed the offence of Avliich they have been conA’icted, 
 under mistaken opinions of duty, or of the powers of the Govern- 
 ment ; I am desirous of pardoning such of them as may have 
 thus acted, and Avill noAV give assurances that they Avill not again 
 violate the laws of the State. 
 
 You are requested to see each of the prisoners, converse Avith 
 them alone, and ascertain from them, whether they are disposed 
 to promise not again to offend against the laws, if they should 
 be pardoned. You are also requested to ascertain as accurately 
 as you can, what has been the general character of each of the 
 convicts, and the motives which have influenced their opposition 
 to the authority of the State. The result of your inquiries, and 
 conversations, you will oblige me by communicating as early as 
 convenient. 
 
 Yery respectfully, yours, See., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 The Inspectors of the Penitentiary. 
 
 The Methodist clergyman Avho was stationed at the 
 time in Milledgeville, waited upon the convicts, and 
 urged the propriety of accepting the offers of pardon 
 upon the terms made by the Governor. 
 
 The following letters to the commander of the 
 guard, exhibit the spirit of my entire conduct to the 
 missionaries among the Cherokees. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 423 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 23 d Sept., 1831. 
 
 Sir, — I am assured by Benjamin F. Thompson, one of the 
 persons who has been pardoned for illegal residence in the terri- 
 tory occupied by the Cherokees, that he has a brother, John 
 Thompson, who has not been arrested, and who will now remove 
 from the territory. He wishes to do so without arrest. You 
 will give him that permission, if done immediately. You will 
 arrest no one for illegal residence after he has left the territory. 
 Those who continue obstinately to remain contrary to law, you 
 will spare no exertions to arrest. They have had sufficient warn- 
 ing, and if they will not profit by it, they ought to suffer. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. John W. A. Sanford. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 23 d Sept, 1831. 
 
 Sir, — All of the prisoners who were lately convicted of 
 illegal residence within the Cherokee territory, at Gwinnett 
 Superior Court, have been pardoned, except Worcester and 
 Butler, upon their giving assurances that they will not again 
 violate the law. I am entirely satisfied of their sincerity in this 
 matter. The State has no object to effect, by punishing persons 
 whose examples are not calculated to operate upon others. All 
 persons must now perceive, that the State intends to exercise its 
 jurisdiction over its territory, and that resistance on the part of 
 individuals is folly. 
 
 The prisoners who have been pardoned, and have families 
 (and all have except DeLesure), inform me that they will im- 
 mediately proceed to remove them out of the territory occupied 
 by the Cherokees. Those who have plantations (and all have 
 except DeLesure and Trott) say, that it is important to them, 
 that they should have the liberty of passing into the territory 
 occasionally, for the purpose of saving and disposing of their 
 crops, and selling and removing their cattle. You are directed 
 to allow them the liberty which they ask for, and to instruct the 
 guard accordingly. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. John W. A. Sanford. 
 
424 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Worcester and Butler, who were acting under the 
 direction of some missionary board at the North, re- 
 fused to be the subjects of the offered clemency, and 
 voluntarily went into the penitentiary. 
 
 No official act of mine produced so much abuse at 
 the time, or was so little understood, as the punishment 
 of religious missionaries by imprisonment in the peni- 
 tentiary. An impression was made upon the public 
 out of Georgia, that ministers of the gospel were thus 
 punished for making efforts to christianize the Che- 
 rokees. The subject excited great interest through- 
 out the country. The newspapers gave currency to the 
 greatest misrepresentations of the facts. Georgia peo- 
 ple travelling in other States, were every where sub- 
 jected to the mortification of listening to the most 
 malignant strictures upon the conduct of the authori- 
 ties of the State, and particularly its Governor, who 
 was specially abused by name. 
 
 In North Carolina where all the facts ought to have 
 
 O 
 
 been known, the Presbyterian Synod passed a strongly 
 condemnatory resolution of my conduct. 
 
 At a Presbytery held in the county of Rocking- 
 ham, Virginia, the birth-place of my father and mother, 
 and where many of my immediate relations then re- 
 sided, a Presbyterian clergyman proposed a similar 
 resolution, though domiciled in the house of my brother- 
 in-law, Mr. Grattan, and might have succeeded, but for 
 Dr. Speece, a special friend of my wife and myself, who 
 took upon himself to lie answerable for the propriety 
 of my conduct. 
 
 Travelling through North Carolina the summer 
 after I left the Executive office, I stopped to get dinner 
 at a house between Charlotte and Salisbury. The land- 
 lord abused very freely the tyranny of the Governor 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 425 
 
 of Georgia, for liis conduct in putting ministers of the 
 gospel into the penitentiary for preaching. I explained 
 to him what had been done by the Governor. The 
 old man said it was impossible that what I said could 
 be true, and would not believe me until I told him that 
 I was the person lie had been abusing, and knew all 
 about the matter. His face would have made a good 
 picture just then, for this confounded him. 
 
 It was very painful to know that I was an object 
 of dislike to great numbers of my fellow-beings, es- 
 pecially as many of those who thus felt towards me, 
 were distinguished for their benevolence. The follow- 
 ing circumstance made a strong impression upon me 
 at the time. 
 
 David B. Ogden of New York, attended the session 
 of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1854. 
 I ivas then a member of Congress. We boarded at the 
 same house. When he first came into the mess, and 
 for some time after, he appeared disposed to keep aloof 
 from me, though naturally very social. Before he left 
 Washington City we became quite intimate. I liked 
 him very much, which he appeared to reciprocate 
 warmly. The day after he left Washington City, he 
 wrote to me from Philadelphia, expressing great friend- 
 ship for me, and saying that he could scarcely forgive 
 himself for his dislike, previous to our acquaintance, 
 arising from the strong impressions which newspapers 
 and other statements, in relation to my conduct to the 
 Indians and missionaries, had made upon him. Mr. 
 Ogden intended by his letter to give me pleasure. Its 
 elfect was very distressing. I had not been aware, 
 that sensible, well informed and good men, had viewed 
 my conduct through the same prejudiced medium as 
 the ignorant, or that the organs for diffusing informa- 
 
426 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 tion at tlie North, and in the Middle States, had re- 
 fused or neglected to publish any of the official docu- 
 ments, or other matters, tending to set public opinion 
 right upon the subject. 
 
 A large delegation of the Cherokees were in Wash- 
 ington City after Mr. Ogden left there. They were 
 endeavoring to obtain an extension of their territory on 
 the west of the Mississippi. I called to see John Ross 
 and the other chiefs, to understand their wishes and to 
 state to them my information about the country which 
 had been assigned to them. John Ross replied to me, 
 that they had as much confidence in me as any other 
 public man ; that they had received as much kindness 
 and protection from me when Governor as was possible 
 for one in my situation to give them ; and that if I 
 would visit the territory, and would then say that it 
 was wffiat the agent of the Government had represented 
 it to be, he would make no further contest about it. 
 
 Whilst I was in the Executive Department, in the 
 spring of 1838, several Indians, among them two or 
 three women, came to Milledgeville to ask my assist- 
 ance in procuring for them an infant child, the daughter 
 of one of the women, who had been carried off secretly 
 from its mother, by a white man, and concealed in the 
 country some distance south of Milledgeville. The 
 Cherokees were then on their way to their new country 
 beyond the Mississippi. Cherokee women inherit pro- 
 perty equally with the men. This child was entitled 
 to considerable property, which the white man wished 
 to obtain possession of and keep in Georgia. 
 
 I ascertained where the child was, wrote letters to 
 the neighborhood, and instructed the mother how she 
 was to act to get possession of her child. She pursued 
 my directions, succeeded, and brought her little 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 427 
 
 daughter to my house, where she was dressed by Mrs. 
 Gilmer, the party entertained, and sent on their way 
 home rejoicing. 
 
 Some time after the laws of Georgia were extended 
 over the Indians, a set of knavish white men among 
 them attempted to get possession of the property of 
 their wealthy Indian neighbors by forging notes, and 
 suing them in the justices’ courts, then established in 
 different parts of the Cherokee country. By the laws 
 of the State, an Indian could not be a witness in a suit 
 to which a white man was a party. Information was 
 given me of these attempts to oppress the Indians. I 
 wrote a circular to the magistrates, advising them to 
 permit the Indians to deny on oath the making of the 
 notes upon which they were sued, so as to put the 
 plaintiffs to the proof of their signatures : That such 
 an oath was a form of pleading, and not considered in 
 law as evidence. My advice was followed, and with 
 success. 
 
 The conduct of the State in extending its jurisdic- 
 tion over the Indians excited so much animadversion at 
 the time when the facts which led to that policy were 
 unknown, that great injustice was done to her public 
 authorities. What was done continued to be snoken 
 
 JL 
 
 of and written about without any knowledge of the 
 truth, and in the most abusive terms. And yet every 
 one is now obliged to acknowledge that the policy of 
 Georgia has tended to the improvement and happiness 
 of the Cherokees. That policy was expressly based 
 upon the conviction that such would be the result. 
 All now admit that the public men of Georgia showed 
 their wisdom in what they did, and their slanderers 
 their folly. Motives were scanned, and those who 
 knew nothing of the peculiar state of the Cherokee 
 
428 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 people, passed judgment of condemnation upon the con- 
 duct of those who had the means, and whose duty it 
 was to understand it well. It is a source of pride and 
 pleasure to those who were responsible for the conduct 
 of Georgia towards the Cherokees, to know that what 
 they did has tended to the good both of the Indians 
 and Georgians : That the Cherokees, instead of being 
 controlled in their public affairs, and corrupted in their 
 morals, by profligate white men, as they were when 
 within the limits of Georgia, are now in a country the 
 best suited to their peculiar instincts and habits of liv- 
 ing : And that the Georgians have already converted 
 the Cherokee hunting grounds into the most beautiful, 
 highly cultivated, and populous region of the South. 
 For the information of those who may desire to know 
 something more upon this subject than is found in this 
 exposition of mine, I insert here a paper published at the 
 time of the transactions referred to, containing statements 
 from two distinguished members of the Georgia Legis- 
 lature, Mr. Nesbitt, Maj. Stocks, and the editor of the 
 leading paper of the State, Mr. Camak. Maj. Stocks 
 had been for a long time President of the Senate, Mr. 
 Camak was some time previously a professor in Frank- 
 lin College, and Mr. Nesbitt is now a Judge of the 
 Supreme Court of the State. 
 
 THE CHEROKEE QUESTION. 
 
 Albany, *2,0th June , 1832. 
 
 Mr. Croswell, 
 
 Sir, — I was desirous that the following article should appear 
 in the New York Observer, as that paper has peen particularly 
 industrious in circulating statements to the prejudice of Georgia. 
 Having been refused admission to its columns, I must beg the 
 favor of you to permit me to use yours. 
 
 If you can, without inconvenience, publish this note, together 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 429 
 
 with the papers which accompany it, during the approaching 
 session of your Legislature, you will confer a favor on, 
 
 Sir, yours, very respectfully, 
 
 Jas. Camak. ‘ 
 
 To the Editor of the N. Y. Observer. 
 
 New York, June 1, 1S32. 
 
 Sir, — Since I left home I have conversed with many persons 
 on the subject of the missionaries who are confined in the peni- 
 tentiary of the State of Georgia. I have been greatly surprised 
 at the opinions entertained and expressed, in relation to the 
 course that has been pursued by Georgia ; and the more so, as 
 these opinions appear to me to be founded on an apprehension of 
 the facts of the case, altogether erroneous. 
 
 To dispel error, and to give to those who sincerely desire to A 
 know the truth, an opportunity of gratifying that desire, I request 
 the publication, in the Observer, of the inclosed document, and 
 the notes annexed thereto. Permit me to express the hope that 
 it will be attentively read, and patiently examined. 
 
 In the Baptist convention lately held in this city, the writer 
 of this article is informed, that the question concerning these 
 missionaries was agitated. Mr. Stocks, president of the senate 
 of Georgia, being one of the delegates, had the report and notes 
 printed and circulated among the members of the convention. 
 The result was an unanimous vote in favor of Georgia, as the 
 writer has been informed. 
 
 The author of the report, E. A. Nesbitt, of Morgan County, 
 is a member of the Presbyterian church ; and, as a jurist, a man 
 and a Christian, he will not suffer any thing by a comparison 
 with any man of his age in the country. The author of the notes 
 is a distinguished member of the Baptist church ; and has been, 
 for many years, president of the senate of Georgia — the second 
 officer in the State government. 
 
 As to the right of Georgia to extend her laws over the Cher- 
 okee territory, the writer refers confidently to the report, to the 
 note (a), and to the treaty between the government of Georgia 
 and the government of the United States, in 1802. So also does 
 he refer to the report as to the expediency of such a measure, 
 
430 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 on the part of Georgia ; but more particularly to the note mark- 
 ed ( b ) as containing a statement of fact, among many others of a 
 like character that might have been made, the force of which, 
 he thinks, is irresistible. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 Jas. Camak, 
 
 Of Milledgeville, Georgia. 
 
 Report of the Committee on the State of the Republic , presented 
 to the Legislature of Georgia, December 15, 1831. 
 
 The committee, to whom was referred so much of his excel- 
 lency the Governor’s communication as relates to the enforcement 
 of the law, making it penal, under certain restrictions, for white 
 persons to reside within the limits of the Cherokee nation, 
 together with the documents in relation to that subject, have 
 bestowed upon the subject such reflection, and given it such in- 
 vestigation, as its importance merits. It does not appear to your 
 committee, so far as the people of Georgia are concerned, at all 
 necessary to enter into a defence of this measure of the govern- 
 ment. Our people with one accord, your committee believe, 
 approve both the policy of the law and the manner of its enforce- 
 ment. The policy of the State towards the Cherokee tribe of 
 Indians, in regard to the unsettled lands within her limits, and 
 particularly in reference to the missionaries who have made 
 themselves obnoxious to the penalty of the act of the last legis- 
 lature, has been and still is already [abroad] the subject of mis- 
 representation, and the theme of vituperation. We have been 
 represented as usurping rights which belong to the Indians, as 
 exercising dominion over a people free and independent, and as 
 disregarding the sacred character and holy functions of the mis- 
 sionaries of the cross. A regard to the moral sense of the people 
 of the Union, and a just respect to the character of the State, 
 your committee believe, require that, upon this subject, facts 
 should be exhibited, and the principles of action which have 
 governed the State should be well understood. 
 
 By a law of the State, passed at the last session of the General 
 Assembly, all white persons, except agents of the United States, 
 are prohibited from residing within its territory occupied by the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 431 
 
 Cherokees, unless authorized by license from the Governor or his 
 agent, upon taking an oath to support the constitution and laws 
 of this State. The right of the State to pass this law, results as 
 a necessary consequence to the right which she has to the soil, 
 and jurisdiction over the Cherokee lands. Her right of juris- 
 diction is co-extensive with her chartered limits, and embraces 
 the persons and things within those limits. No enlightened 
 jurist of the present day ; no one familiar with the custom which 
 has governed all the States of the Union who have had Indian 
 tribes within their limits (a) ; or who is conversant with the 
 policy of the federal government, since the administration of 
 Mr. Monroe, will for a moment doubt the right of the State to 
 extend her criminal laws over the whole of her chartered limits. 
 This is not a vexed question. At all events, its elucidation does 
 not constitute a part of the duty of your committee upon the 
 present occasion. 
 
 ( b ) The reason and necessity of the law are as obvious as the 
 right to enact it. A leading object with the general government 
 has been, for many years, the removal of the Cherokee Indians 
 west of the Mississippi. This has been held by the most benev- 
 olent, and also the most distinguished of our statesmen, the only 
 means left to the government to save the wretched remnants of 
 this once numerous and powerful nation from moral ruin as indi- 
 viduals, and total extinction as a tribe. Year after year, the 
 tribes within the States have been seen to decrease in numbers, 
 and to sink lower and lower in crime, depravity and sin. The 
 parental arm of the government has been extended to their relief, 
 and the federal and state governments have united their efforts 
 to remove them from their present habitations, and locate them 
 
 beyond the Mississippi. There, under the protection of the 
 
 government, and free alike from the crimes and the cupidity of 
 the white man, to live in their own peculiar way, the happy and 
 lordly masters of the forest. 
 
 It was an object of peculiar interest to Georgia, to acquire a 
 speedy possession of her Cherokee lands. Too long had the 
 government delayed to liquidate the Indian possession. She had 
 become justly jealous of her rights, and her people had become 
 impatient of the restraints imposed by the delay of the federal 
 government to fulfil her treaty obligations. The Cherokee tribe 
 
432 
 
 FIKST SETTLEKS OP UPPEB GEOKGIA. 
 
 had assumed the attitude of an independent nation, with govern- 
 ment and laws distinct from, and independent of the State 
 authority. The discovery of immense mineral wealth within the 
 limits of the nation, acting upon the avarice and cupidity of men, 
 had brought into the territory a numerous body of men, lawless, 
 abandoned, and hostile to the policy of the State, (c) These cir- 
 cumstances imperiously asked of the State decisive and prompt 
 action ; and on these accounts she enacted laws, abrogating the 
 Cherokee government, making# it penal to dig gold, and punishing 
 a resident within the territory, unless the resident would take 
 an oath to observe the constitution and laws of the State. The 
 exclusion of all white persons from the Cherokee lands was the 
 dictate of policy and necessity. It was well ascertained that the 
 efforts of whites resident in the nation were directed to a preven- 
 tion of the removal of the Indians. They dissuaded the Indians 
 from emigrating, encouraged them in their ideas of independence, 
 misrepresented the policy and intents of the government, and 
 thwarted by all the means within their power, the views of the 
 State. It became necessary, therefore, that the State should 
 abandon her policy, and cease her efforts to remove the Indians, 
 or rid herself of the selfish and corrupt whites who had settled 
 among them. Hence the passage of the act making it penal to 
 reside within the limits of the land occupied by the Cherokees, 
 without a license, and without taking an oath to observe the con- 
 stitution and laws of the State. The oath and the license, it 
 was thought, would be a sufficient protection of the policy of the 
 State, from any attempts to defeat it by such as might think 
 proper to remain. To such as were well disposed to the benev- 
 olent views of the State, the oath would be no stumbling-block, 
 whilst it would exclude such as were hostile to her interests and 
 her policy. And the fact of permitting a residence there, upon 
 such terms, proves conclusively that the law was intended to 
 operate upon such only as were defeating the great objects of 
 the State. Removal of the whites was not so much desired, as 
 the destruction of that influence which was at war with the in- 
 terest of Georgia. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that the federal government, acting 
 u in loco 'parentis ” to the Indians, delegated to her Indian agents 
 more power over whites, resident in the nation, than Georgia 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 433 
 
 seeks to exercise, in the enforcement of her law. They were in- 
 structed, by order from the War Department, in the following 
 words: “ You are to allow no white person to enter and settle 
 on the Indian lands within your agency, who shall not, on en- 
 tering. present to you approved testimonials of his good character 
 for industry, honesty and sobriety ; nor then, without the consent 
 of the Indians. And if, after permission is given under such 
 testimonials, the person or persons to whom it is given shall be- 
 come lazy, dishonest, intemperate, or in any way setting vicious 
 examples before the Indians, exciting them against each other, 
 or inflaming their jealousy and susp icion against the general 
 government , or any of its acts towards them , or attempting to 
 degrade in their eyes the agents of the government, thereby de- 
 stroying their influence over the Indians by false accusations or 
 otherwise, you will forthwith order such person or persons out 
 of the Indian country.” It is here seen, that Georgia, in her 
 sovereign character, and in the exercise of an indubitable right,, 
 has scarcely assumed as much power over these persons, as the 
 federal government thought proper to commit to her agents, who 
 were to a great extent irresponsible. Both governments had 
 mainly in view the same object, in the suppression of any influ- 
 ence among the Indians adverse to their benevolent designs to- 
 wards them ; and yet, not a few of those who admit and justify 
 the measures of the general government, condemn and reprobate 
 the law of this State. Your committee are of opinion that when 
 this matter is understood, it will be admitted that all w T hich 
 Georgia has done was made necessary in order to effect the re- 
 moval of the Indians. 
 
 Let those, too, who clamor so much about Indian rights, and 
 who weep so much over Indian sufferings, know, that this law 
 was necessary to the protection of the persons and property of 
 the Indians, from the violence, the intrigues, and the corruptions 
 of the whites. Here it is well understood, that white men are 
 the greatest enemies to the Indians, whether in the character of 
 the selfish, avaricious, and ambitious resident within their limits, 
 or the character of the political knave, or canting fanatic without 
 their limits. At no time have Indian rights been better pro- 
 tected, and at no time has the Cherokee tribe exhibited more 
 evidence of peace, quiet, and protection, than since the extension 
 28 
 
434 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 of our laws over them. The Georgia jurisdiction has been their 
 shield. Not only so, but the law excluding the whites, was in- 
 tended to extend, and does now extend, protection to those who 
 are willing to evade its penalties, by complying with its terms. 
 The laws and character of the State are a guarantee to such of 
 more right than they ever enjoyed there. By a strange perver- 
 sion of principle, or a wretched ignorance of facts, a mild and 
 benevolent policy has been corrupted into the veriest despotism ; 
 and that law, which created a right for the white man in the 
 Cherokee country which he had not before, and protected him 
 in the enjoyment of it, has been denounced as arbitrary, unjust, 
 and unholy. At no time, under the intercourse laws, have the 
 Indians been so effectually protected, and at so little cost, as 
 under the laws of Georgia. Your committee have said, that the 
 act of the General Assembly was necessary to carry into effect 
 the benign policy of the State, in reference to the Indians ; that 
 it operated as a protection to them from the rapacity and violence 
 of the whites ; and that, so far from its being an unwarrantable 
 proscription of them, it actually conferred privileges which, of 
 right, they have not before possessed. The latter position is made 
 manifest by adverting to the fact, that before the passage of the 
 act, no white citizen could claim his residence there as a matter 
 of right ; but the moment he complied with the reasonable re- 
 quisitions of the law, he became ipso facto entitled to such 
 residence, and all the benefits it conferred. It is true, that 
 many were upon the soil at the moment of passing the act ; but 
 their residence was assumed, and only tolerated by the State : 
 they were only residents at the sufferance of the State. The 
 missionaries themselves will not deny but that their condition 
 in the Cherokee nation, under the jurisdiction of Georgia, was 
 greatly preferable to what it was under the dominion of the 
 agents of the United States. 
 
 The law which has excited so much feeling among our breth- 
 ren of the Eastern States, is not partial or exclusive in its oper- 
 ation. The first citizen of Georgia, the most abandoned of the 
 refugee adventurers for gold, as well as the meek and law-abiding 
 Moravian missionary, are within its provisions — all classes, all 
 grades, and all professions, are alike liable to its penalties. Our 
 law in this, as well as all [other] cases, aims at no individual or 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 435 
 
 individuals, and recognizes no exemptions ; and had the most 
 talented or the most dignified of our sons resided within the 
 limits of our lands in the possession of the Cherokee Indians, 
 without having taken the oath, the law would have been adminis- 
 tered upon such a one with unsparing rigor and unrelenting 
 severity. Your committee, therefore, declare that no objection 
 can be urged against the State, with any propriety, upon the 
 score of its inequality, for the State made all men “ equal under 
 the law.” 
 
 The law of the last Legislature, herein adverted to, did not, 
 according to its provisions, take effect immediately. The com- 
 mencement of its operation was fixed at a time sufficiently remote 
 to put all persons interested upon their guard ; and ample oppor- 
 tunity was afforded for a knowledge of its existence and of its 
 provisions. No man w T as entrapped; and all who offended 
 against it, sinned against the authority of the State, with a per- 
 fect knowledge of the consequences. Most of those persons who 
 were residents in the Cherokee country, either removed from the 
 State, or submitted to the requirements of the law ( d ). The 
 board of directors of the United Brethren’s mission at Salem, 
 believing that the object of their mission to the Cherokees, 
 under the peculiar circumstances of the State and the Indians, 
 could not be effected, instructed their missionaries to remove 
 from the country. Acting, as your committee believe, from a 
 sense of respect to the laws and authorities of Georgia, they 
 were unwilling to interfere with her laws or her policy. In the 
 conduct of these unobtrusive and devoted missionaries of the 
 cross, is exhibited in bold relief the pure and sublime principles 
 of our holy religion. Some there were, however, who refused to 
 remove from our limits, and who refused to comply with the 
 conditions of residence prescribed in the law. These individuals 
 were either missionaries, or persons who were under their 
 influence, and acted under their advisement. The most con- 
 spicuous and talented of these individuals, are the Rev. S. 
 Worcester and Dr. E. Butler, missionaries of the American 
 Board of Foreign Missions. 
 
 These persons had long been conversant with the policy of 
 the general government, and with the rights a£ well as the laws 
 of Georgia. The law, to whose penalty they became obnoxious, 
 
436 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 was known to them. The law had raised, within their hearing, 
 its warning voice, and admonished them of their duty ; hut the 
 Governor of the State, reluctant to enforce upon them the penalty 
 of the law, respecting their sacred profession, and respecting 
 still more the most holy cause in which they were engaged, 
 kindly and politely, and in the spirit of forbearance, warned 
 them yet again of their crime, and invited them away from 
 their own ruin. A personal address was made to each of them 
 by his excellency, and ten days given for their removal — all this 
 did not avail. They not only persisted in their illegal residence, 
 hut ventured upon the justification of their crime in an address 
 to the executive of the State. Orders were then given to arrest 
 them, that they might feel the full penalty of our laws, “ since 
 such was their voluntary choice.” They were arrested, tried, 
 and convicted, and now, inmates of the state prison, they suffer 
 the melancholy doom which their perverse obstinacy or mis- 
 guided zeal has brought upon them. 
 
 What reproach could he cast upon the State for their con- 
 viction, and what justfication or extenuation can he had for their 
 violation of the laws of the State? None. No man would hesi- 
 tate to pronounce them the wilful perpetrators of their own mis- 
 fortunes. If it he said that they were residents upon those 
 lands by permission of the United States’ government, and 
 therefore the State had no right to punish them ; your com- 
 mittee answer, that the government of the United States has no 
 power to bestow a right which is adverse to the rights of Georgia, 
 and that this permission was good to them so long as the State 
 acquiesced in it, and no longer (e) ; and the enacting of the law, 
 making the residence criminal, is a declaration of the State’s 
 dissent to it. If it is said that their residence was by permission 
 of the Indians, and therefore the State could not make it penal, 
 — your committee answer, the Indians, it is true, have a right 
 of occupancy ; but this right of occupancy is personal to them- 
 selves, and cannot be by them delegated to any person what- 
 ever ; therefore their consent to a residence is no justification. 
 The ultimate fee to the lands is in- Georgia ; and so far as 
 Georgia and all the world (except the Indians) is concerned, she 
 is the absolute unqualified owner. As your committee before 
 remarked, the right of jurisdiction is in Georgia, and of conse- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 437 
 
 quence there is no limit to her right of penal enactment. The 
 State owned the lands, and it was perfectly competent for her 
 to prescribe such terms to residence upon them as she deemed 
 fit and expedient. It will not be denied that the State has the 
 right to prescribe such conditions to a residence upon the State- 
 house square in the town of Milledgeville, as she may think fit. 
 So far as all the world (except the Indians) is concerned, there 
 is no difference between the title which the State has to her 
 State-house square, and her title to the Cherokee lands. In 
 either case the grant is in her, and can never be divested but by 
 her own act. If it is said that the State did require the mission- 
 aries to take an oath which in conscience they could not take, 
 or suffer the penalty of the law ; your committee answer, that 
 the State involved the missionaries in no such desperate 
 dilemma. If the oath was taken, it was a voluntary act, and the 
 oath could have been avoided by removal from our limits (/). If 
 the penalty was suffered it was a voluntary act, which might 
 have been avoided either by taking the oath, or removing from 
 the limits. The missionaries were left free to choose between 
 the oath, the penalty of the law, and removal ; and they chose 
 the penalty of the law. Why then should the State be censured 
 for an act, which was the result of choice on the part of the mis- 
 sionaries ; and which your committee fear was *sought by them, 
 either for the purposes of political effect, or to exhibit themselves 
 to a sympathizing fraternity, as sufferers for righteousness’ sake? 
 
 They surely cannot claim for themselves exemption from the 
 operation of the laws of the State by reason of their pro- 
 fession or their vocation. The laws of Georgia interfere not 
 with the religious privileges, or conscientious opinions of men ; 
 and the State lends her aid to all efforts for the dissemination 
 of the truths of revelation : she is the auxiliary of the mis- 
 sionary, in teaching the heathen the great truths of Christianity ; 
 and her constitution and laws are based upon the principles and 
 doctrines of Him who spake as never man spake. Still the law 
 is no respecter of persons : and he who violates it, whether Jew 
 or Gentile, Christian or Infidel, Mahometan or Pagan, must ex- 
 pect to meet its sanctions, and feel its penalties. It is for the 
 missionaries to reconcile their precepts with their practice, and 
 to prove to the world that the religion which they profess allows, 
 
488 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 much less encourages, disobedience to laws, insubordination, and 
 resistance to the powers that be. It remains for them to show 
 that resistance to rightful civil authority is either a Christian 
 duty, or a Christian privilege ; that things which are Caesar’s 
 are not to be rendered to Caesar ; and that conscientious scruples 
 can defeat the operation of laws, or stay the hand of government. 
 If the opinion of every subject, as to the constitutionality of the 
 laws under which he lives, can exempt him from their operation, 
 then is government a mockery, and lawgivers, judges, and 
 governors, the merest toys to be sported with according to the 
 whims and caprices of individuals. In the letters of these indi- 
 viduals to the Governor, the reason of their refusal to obey the 
 laws of Georgia, is assigned to be that they did not believe the 
 State had the right of jurisdiction over the country; and 
 believing as they did, they could not do violence to their con- 
 sciences by taking the oath. Your committee believe that 
 scruples as to the oath should have removed all scruples as to their 
 duty to remove. They cannot deny the right of all men to 
 judge for themselves of the constitutionality or propriety of any 
 law ; but it is a new idea, that the law, as to such a one so 
 judging, is to fail of its effect and become a nullity. Those who 
 do assume this original, natural right, and act upon it, as the 
 missionaries have* done, must expect to suffer as they are suffer- 
 ing the consequences of their rash judgment. 
 
 The Rev. Samuel A. Worcester and Dr. Elizur Butler 
 were warned of the existence of the law they have violated. They 
 were politely invited to remove, and time given for their removal. 
 They resisted the authority of the State, and repelled with dis- 
 dain the kind offices of the Governor in their behalf. They were 
 arrested, defended by enlightened counsel, tried before a court 
 distinguished for its legal wisdom and benevolent feeling, and 
 convicted and sentenced. Still, the authority of the State fol- 
 lowed them with anxious solicitude to relieve them ; still kind- 
 ness and mercy and forbearance would have stayed the execution 
 of the sentence. At the gate of the penitentiary they were met 
 with the offer of pardon, upon the easy terms of removal from 
 the territory, or taking the oath. This offer they repelled — these 
 overtures of mercy they heeded not, and entered the penitentiary ; 
 a living monument of fanaticism, political knavery, or egregious 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 439 
 
 folly. Notwithstanding all these things , Georgia has been 
 ranked among the despotisms of the east ; and her late benev- 
 olent, honest, and talented Governor placed among the Neros, 
 Dionysiuses, and Dracos, of infamous memory. From the en- 
 lightened, the candid, and the pious, of all parties and all creeds, 
 the State must receive a judgment not only of acquittal of error 
 or crime, but of high commendation. 
 
 Resolved , That this committee recommend, and do hereby 
 recommend to the General Assembly, the printing of forty copies 
 of this report for each member of the State delegation in Con- 
 gress, and that his excellency the Governor, be, and he is hereby 
 requested to forward to our delegation in Congress, forty copies 
 each of the report. 
 
 Read and agreed to. 
 
 Thomas Stocks, Pres. 
 
 Attest I. L. Harris, Sec'y. 
 
 In the House of Representatives, concurred in, Dec. [24] 1831. 
 
 Ashbury Hull, Speaker. 
 
 Attest, W. C. Dawson, Clerk. 
 
 Approved , Dec. 26, 1831. 
 
 / Wilson Lumpkin, Governor. 
 
 NOTES — By Thomas Stocks. 
 
 The foregoing Report was drawn up by a distinguished 
 jurist and esteemed member of the church, and unanimously 
 agreed to by both branches of the Legislature. 
 
 (a) New-York and other States had done the same. Extract 
 from the law of New York in 1822: — “The several courts of 
 justice, organized under the constitution and laws of this State, 
 possess the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of trying and punish- 
 ing, in the manner prescribed by law, all persons, as well 
 Indians as others, for offences and crimes committed within the 
 boundaries of the State,” Ac. 
 
 “ For a long succession of years,” says the Supreme Court 
 of New York, ‘Gve have exercised entire supremacy over all the 
 tribes within the State, and have regulated by law their internal 
 concerns, their contracts, and their property.” 
 
 ( b ) There was no safety to persons travelling through the 
 
440 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 nation, and no anthority to punish for the most enormous crimes. 
 Two white men wantonly murdered another who was residing 
 within the limits of the nation. They were arraigned before the 
 Superior Court of an adjoining county ; but the judge could 
 not punish them, because the constitution of Georgia requires all 
 criminals to be tried in the county where the crime was com- 
 mitted ; but the Chei’okee country was not a county. Unwilling, 
 however, to let such an infringement of personal rights pass 
 without punishment, the judge bound the prisoners to appear 
 before the United States Court for the district of Georgia. 
 There the judge decided that he had no power to punish them, 
 and they went at large ! When these decisions were made 
 knovm, the number of outlaws and villains was greatly multi- 
 plied, and they swarmed into the Cherokee Nation. 
 
 (c) These men, together with the chiefs, controlled the whole 
 body of Indians. It was their interest to retain possession of 
 the country, and impose on the ignorance of the great mass of 
 the population. The chiefs, most of whom are nearly destitute 
 of any Indian blood at all, received and made use of the annuities 
 paid by the general government, for themselves, and expended 
 it for their own interest. Lately, however, the President has 
 directed these annuities to be paid to each family ; and hence 
 the head men, in order to fee lawyers, have resorted to the 
 speech-making plan among the Northern States. A few years 
 ago, some hundreds accepted the offer of the government, and 
 removed west of the Mississippi ; but, to prevent further immigra- 
 tion, the chiefs passed a regulation making death the punishment 
 of any family that would enroll for this purpose ! The common 
 Indians felt it was their interest to remove, and all would have 
 gone ere this, had it not been for the despotism of their rulers. 
 Their game is gone ; and it is well known they are too indolent 
 to labor, and many of them are in a most wretched condition. 
 
 (i d ) Rev. Mr. O’Bryan, a Baptist missionary, was in the 
 nation ; but he did not think it was his duty to defy the laws of 
 Georgia, lecture on politics, and insult the government. Nor 
 did he lose the confidence of the Indians for his respect to the 
 laws. More than eighty families begged him to go west with 
 them ; he has consented, and they have now probably arrived 
 beyond the Mississippi. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 441 
 
 7 (e) The right of soil and jurisdiction was in Georgia previous 
 
 to the formation of the federal constitution. She permitted the 
 United States government to regulate intercourse with the 
 Indians, until it became necessary for her to assume jurisdiction. 
 
 (/) The missionaries could have removed if they disliked the 
 law, a few miles, either into Alabama, Tennessee or North Caro- 
 lina, and there, within the same tribe, pursued their benevolent 
 labors. There is nothing in the Georgia law which infringes at 
 all their rights of conscience, or hinders them from preaching 
 the gospel. Should it be said that the taking the oath would 
 destroy all their hope of doing good with the Indians, it may be 
 answered, that it is not true ; for Mr. 0 ’Bryan’s obedience did 
 not unfavorably impress the Indians towards him. 
 
 Let it be asked, would Massachusetts suffer the Maslipee 
 tribe, within that State, to declare itself an independent nation ? 
 Would New York, or any other State suffer it? 
 
 If it should be said that Georgia is wresting the lands from 
 the Cherokees, it is not true : she has directed the survey of 
 them, in expectation that the general government will soon induce 
 them to remove beyond the Mississippi ; but she does not intend 
 to dispossess them of the right of occupancy. They may remain 
 as long as they please. 
 
 This report, and these few notes and remarks, have been re- 
 printed to correct the many erroneous impressions that are 
 abroad on this subject. Had the presses at the North given 
 publicity to the report and other documents, refuting the many 
 slanders cast upon Georgia, this pamphlet had not seen the light. 
 
 Thomas Stocks. 
 
 New York, April, 1832. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The proper application of the public money appro- 
 priated by the Legislature for the support of free 
 schools, and the education of the poor, was a matter of 
 great difficulty when I was in the Executive Depart- 
 
442 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 ment. Society was so loosely organized, whilst the 
 State was acquiring from time to time possession of its 
 Indian territory, and its public lands settled up with 
 people from hither and thither without the knowledge 
 of each other, or any principles of action in common, 
 that the trial to educate the poor by the public money 
 through the people of each neighborhood proved a 
 most wasteful expenditure. 
 
 The following letter written upon the subject at the 
 time, may still be of some value. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 8 th April, 1830. 
 
 Sir. — I have been requested by tlie Legislature to correspond 
 with the distinguished and intelligent gentlemen of our country 
 upon the best practical plan of extending the benefits of educa- 
 tion to the children of the poor, at the public expense. Large 
 appropriations have been made to effect this object for several 
 years past, with but very little success. It is important that the 
 causes which have produced this failure should be ascertained, 
 so that they may be obviated hereafter, or if the object be found 
 impracticable that the present wasteful expenditure should he 
 no longer continued. 
 
 I am desirous of obtaining your opinions upon this subject, 
 and hope that the request of the Legislature will be my suffi- 
 cient apology for asking their full expression in answer to this 
 letter. 
 
 The policy of making appropriations by the government to 
 effect ends which are within the means of individuals has always 
 been considered questionable. Is it not true that active enter- 
 prise, love of distinction, and the selfishness of men, will effect 
 whatever improves their condition within their own means to ac- 
 complish, more certainly and economically than when undertaken 
 by the government 1 Is it not one of the most beneficial results 
 of free governments that the people are permitted to enjoy ac- 
 cording to their own will and taste the largest possible share of 
 the profits of their labor ? Are not the means of the people for 
 the education of their children lessened by supporting common 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 443 
 
 schools out of the public treasury, just by so much as the money 
 which they pay in taxes for that purpose is decreased by the ex- 
 pense of collection, loss of intei’est, and the unfaithfulness of 
 public agents ? Is not public opinion so impressed with the va- 
 lue of education in our country, as to render it sufficiently cer- 
 tain that the people will of their own accord apply their means 
 to the support of schools ? In those cases where this may not 
 be true, can the government by any vigilance or expense over- 
 come the neglect of parents but at an expense greater than any 
 consequent advantage to the community ? 
 
 If you are of the opinion that the education of the people 
 should be conducted at the public expense, ought not the children 
 of all classes to receive an equal benefit ? Is it not contrary to 
 the spirit of our government to make distinctions by the laws, be- 
 tween the rich and the poor, or to extend advantages to one class 
 which are not given to the other ? Will not improper jealousies 
 be thereby created among the people ? Are we not by such a 
 system inducing the poor to be contented in a state of poverty ? 
 Ought we not rather by our policy to stimulate them to industry? 
 
 If you are of the opinion that the poor alone should be edu- 
 cated at the public expense, are there not insuperable difficulties 
 in making beneficially such an expenditure, arising from the pe- 
 culiar locality and population of the State ? Wffiilst one-third 
 of our territory has a population exceeding twelve to the square 
 mile and another third not equal to two, is it possible to adopt 
 any system which will operate equally in every section of the 
 State, and profitably to all ? Is not our population too sparse, if 
 it were equally distributed, to enable the government to render 
 any plan useful ? Are not the present habits of our people too 
 migratory to have the constant advantage of experienced agents 
 for disbursing the public money or of acquiring and retaining 
 any tolerably accurate knowledge of the poor children who are 
 proper subjects of the bounty of the government? Can we 
 create any civil divisions subordinate to the counties in which 
 agents can be found capable of properly directing the education 
 of the poor within them ? If notwithstanding the obstacles in 
 the way of success, you should be of the opinion that our present 
 system ought to be continued, how shall its defects be correct- 
 ed ? I suppose them to consist principally in making the Trus- 
 
444 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 tees draw the money to be expended by them from the Treasury 
 of the State ; the want of responsibility in the Trustees ; not 
 requiring the Trustees to report to the Executive office, and to 
 have their accounts upon them passed ; the imperfect manner in 
 which the numbers of poor children are ascertained ; the small- 
 ness of the sum appropriated for their schooling ; and its not 
 being annually made and certain in amount. 
 
 The inconvenience of drawing money from the Treasury, ac- 
 cording to the requirements of the law, especially by the Trus- 
 tees in the distant counties, is so great, that many of the coun- 
 ties do not draw their proportion at all. It is now more than 
 three months since the dividend of the Poor School fund for the 
 years 1828 and 1829 was declared, and not more than one third 
 of the counties have applied for their allotments. Would it 
 not be more convenient and equally safe, to authorize the Trus- 
 tees to draw upon the County Treasurer, or the Collector of the 
 Taxes, the amount being first ascertained at the treasury and 
 duly published 7 Might not the responsibility of the Trustees 
 be better secured, by requiring them to submit their accounts to 
 the County Treasurer, and there passed upon ? They are never 
 accompanied by any vouchers, so that the Governor cannot know 
 whether the expenditures have been made at all, nor is it possi- 
 ble for him to judge of their prosperity, if made, because the 
 subjects of them and their attendant circumstances cannot be 
 known to him. All that is required of the Trustee, is to report. 
 If it were his duty to exhibit his accounts to some officer in the 
 county where the public money is disbursed, to be examined and 
 passed upon, or rejected by him, and then filed in his office, where 
 they would be subject to the examination of every person, would 
 not improper accounts be more easily detected and certainly ex- 
 posed than at present 7 
 
 Would it not be a still more convenient and efficient plan, to 
 provide that no money shall be drawn by the Trustees, but make 
 it their duty to contract with the schoolmasters for the education 
 of the children to be taught, and upon the execution of the con- 
 tract, give to them orders upon the State or County Treasury 
 for whatever may be due them 7 At present the Trustees may 
 receive the money allowed their counties, and hold it for a long 
 time without the knowledge of those interested in its disburse- 
 
FIRST SETTLEKS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 445 
 
 ment. This could scarcely be the case, if they received the 
 money of the County Treasurer, or Collecter of Taxes, and would 
 be effectually prevented by the schoolmasters drawing the money 
 as has been suggested. 
 
 The present law requires that the Justices of the Peace in each 
 captain’s district shall make out a list of the children in their 
 respective districts, whose indigence entitles them to a partici- 
 pation in the poor school fund, and report the same in writing to 
 the Trustees, &c. It attaches no penalty to a failure on the 
 part of the Trustees to comply with its requirements, and the 
 consequence has been that reports have been made by very few. 
 Must not this difficulty be overcome in some way, before any 
 thing can be effected of any use ? What do you think of making 
 it the duty of the Grand Jury of each county, to investigate 
 this matter, and requiring of that body to present defaulting 
 Justices ? Or if this should be supposed harsh or calculated 
 to deter respectable men from accepting the office of Justice, 
 could it not be made the duty of the Receiver of Tax Returns to 
 make out a list of the poor children as a part of the business of 
 his office, giving him an adequate compensation for his addition- 
 al labor ? 
 
 The sum hitherto appropriated has as yet equalled $20,000. 
 But as some of the sources from which it is derived are failing 
 or uncertain, it may in some years be less than that sum, and 
 when that shall be the case, according to the present law no dis- 
 tribution can take place. 
 
 Is it not absolutely necessary for sustaining such a system of 
 education as ours, that it should be kept constantly in operation? 
 How are teachers otherwise to be had, the poor children to be 
 known, or experienced public agents found who will act ? 
 
 Estimating the extent of the State at 60,000 square miles, 
 and allowing 16 square miles to each school, the number in the 
 State would be near 4,000. According to this calculation, $5 
 would be received by each school for the education of the poor 
 children. 
 
 Is not $20,000 wholly inadequate for the purpose of 
 educating the poor in a territory so extensive as ours ? Ought 
 not the sum appropriated to be sufficiently large to authorize the 
 maintenance of a school in each neighborhood for at least a part 
 of the year ? 
 
446 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 These various suggestions and inquiries have been made for 
 the purpose of drawing your attention to the whole subject with- 
 out any expectation that each will be specially answered. 
 
 The education of the people, as well as the appropriation of large 
 sums of public money for purposes within the attainment of in- 
 dividual exertion, are important subjects of consideration for the 
 Legislature of the State. It is hoped that yourself and other gentle- 
 men whose intelligence and weight of character have the power of 
 directing public opinion upon such matters, may throw so much 
 light upon this subject as to enable the Legislature to correct 
 the defects of our system of educating the poor, or to justify it 
 in putting an end to the public expenditure for that object 
 altogether. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Col. William Cummings, Dr. Henry Jackson, 
 
 Dr. John Wingfield, Col. Joseph H. Lumpkin. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 29th March, 1830. 
 
 Sir, — By the request of the Legislature of this State, I have 
 addressed letters to gentlemen residing in different States of 
 the Union for the purpose of collecting all the information pos- 
 sible upon the subject of the best practical system of educating 
 the poor of the State at the public expense. I have taken the 
 liberty of directing one of these letters to yourself. I am desir- 
 ous that you should extend your remarks beyond the particular 
 subjects of inquiry in that letter. Your intimate acquaintance 
 with our people, their habits and wants, and your knowledge of 
 the local peculiarities of the State, will enable you to do this in a 
 very acceptable manner to us. 
 
 Can we make an application of the public money for the edu- 
 cation of the poor sufficiently beneficial to justify such an expendi- 
 ture ? Is not the extent of the State too great and the population 
 too sparse, too unequally distributed and too unsettled ? It is on 
 this part of the subject that your opinion is particularly desired. 
 I must confess my want of confidence in the success of any system 
 of free education that could be devised for Georgia at the present. 
 All admit that the money which has been hitherto expended for 
 that purpose has been wasted. The importance of education in 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 447 
 
 a free Democratic Government like ours is so strongly impressed 
 upon public opinion, and the cause of the poor so popular, 'where 
 all officers depend upon the voice of the people, that it is ex- 
 tremely difficult to pursue such policy as the true interest of the 
 State requires. 
 
 At present, the annual product of the bank stock and other 
 property pledged for the education of the poor scarcely equals 
 $20,000. Of that sum, it may be estimated that not more than 
 half has its proper application, and of that half, that its useful- 
 ness is not equal to one half of the same amount applied by the 
 people to the same purpose from their private resources, and 
 according to their own judgments. This proceeds from a variety 
 of causes, besides those already suggested, especially from the 
 fact, that we have no such class as the poor. Our lands are so 
 cheap, and the absolute necessaries of life so easily obtained, that 
 the number of dependent poor are scarcely sufficient to give 
 exercise to the virtue of charity in individuals. A beggar is 
 almost as rare with us as a prince. Children instead of being 
 an encumbrance to the poor of our country, are their riches. It 
 has also been found that from the smallness of the sum appro- 
 priated, it has been either so temporary in its application or 
 so local that no general benefit has resulted. The smallness of 
 the sum appropriated, as well as the uncertainty of receiving any 
 portion of it for any certain length of time, has prevented (what was 
 very desirable) any increase in the number of teachers. I have 
 no doubt, myself, that as much money is drawn from the poor by 
 taxation (for those who have nothing are subject by our laws to 
 poll tax) as is ever returned to them for the education of their 
 children. I have as little doubt but that the cause of general 
 education would be as much advanced by relieving the people of 
 the payment of $20,000 in taxes, as from the application of that 
 sum by the Legislature to that purpose. 
 
 Perhaps the very highest blessing of a free and enlightened 
 government is, that each individual is secured in the enjoyment, 
 according to his own taste and will, of the profits of his own 
 labor. Governments may be considered oppressive in proportion 
 to the authority which they exercise in arbitrarily controlling 
 that enjoyment. It yet remains to be tested (it seems that our 
 own country is not to furnish the example), what extent of pros- 
 
448 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 perity and happiness would result from the establishment of a 
 government without revenue, except for its administration and 
 for defence from foreign enemies. It appears to he extremely 
 doubtful whether a government like ours ever did beneficially 
 execute any measure which could be effected by individual exer- 
 tion. The vigor of execution, the enterprise, industry, ambition, 
 and economy which result from every individual in society hav- 
 ing the use of all his own means, would most probably accom- 
 plish in the best manner every thing required by the interest or 
 happiness of the community. 
 
 The benefit derived from permitting society to use its means 
 according to its will would seem to apply as well to education as 
 to any other improvement. 
 
 When to the truth of these general principles is added the 
 practical objections arising from the peculiar situation of our 
 State and people, are not appropriations of the public money for 
 the purpose of general education rendered questionable ? 
 
 Our poor school system has been in operation six years, and 
 we have been unable to procure lists of the poor children from 
 one fourth of the districts of the State. 
 
 It is believed that not one additional school has been kept on 
 account of the assistance furnished by the State. 
 
 The Trustees draw the money to be expended by them through 
 a warrant from the Executive office, and account only to that 
 department for their conduct. The money is, consequently, ob- 
 tained with great trouble, and afterwards expended with little or 
 no responsibility. 
 
 These suggestions are made for the purpose of calling your 
 attention to an examination of the whole subject. My apology 
 for asking such an examination is to be found in the high respect 
 known to be entertained by our people for your character and 
 talents. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gtlmf.r. 
 
 Rev. William T. Brantly. 
 
 The legislation of the State and the opinions and 
 practice of men have been so various about banking ; 
 the buying and selling of coin ; the lending of mone) r 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 449 
 
 and the rate of profit charged for its use, that it may- 
 be worth while to give here the copy of a letter which 
 I wrote upon the subject, in answer to one received 
 from a tax collector or receiver, asking for my opinion 
 to aid him in the discharge of his official duty. 
 
 For many years after the age when men usually 
 receive of their father their allotted share of his estate, 
 I declined taking any from mine, from the probability 
 that I might never have health sufficient to employ it 
 profitably. When my father died, my brothers gave 
 me money or their notes for my share of our inheri- 
 tance. I have never owned land and negroes, beyond 
 what was sufficient for household purposes and wants. 
 Although I was born in Georgia, and belonged to a 
 prosperous tobacco and cotton-making family, I have 
 never made a pound of these staple productions. My 
 property has always been in the hands of others. I 
 have been offered ten, twelve, sixteen, twenty and 
 twenty-five per cent., and even more, for the use of my 
 money. I have never received more than the law 
 determined to be the proper rate of interest. 
 
 I have six brothers, all of whom are much richer 
 than myself. Not one of them has enjoyed his estate 
 so much, or had so little trouble in its management, or 
 been so entirely satisfied with its increase as myself. 
 One day in the year suffices to ascertain what I am 
 worth, so as to report to the receiver of taxables for 
 Oglethorpe County. I take but little further trouble 
 about it. When I am from home for a long time, my 
 neighbor and friend L. J. Deupree, takes charge of my 
 moneyed concerns, and reports them in a better state 
 when returned, than when received. I make my profits 
 and expenses tally, except when my wife wants a large 
 addition to her house, a new carriage, an additional 
 29 
 
450 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 supply of hothouse plants, new carpets, china, silver, 
 <fcc., &c. The overdraws thus made, I have usually 
 paid out of some family legacy, or old fees, so that my 
 estate is about equal in amount to what it was when I 
 quit professional and public business. The Legislature 
 to be sure has made a strong inroad into my income of 
 late years, by lessening the rate of interest from eight, 
 to seven per cent. But as I consider this change of the 
 law right, I have endeavored to accommodate my ex- 
 penditure to my lessened means, though it operates a 
 little hardly, upon my wife’s love of new and pretty 
 things. As she is the happiest temper in the world, 
 and makes her husband as well satisfied as his consti- 
 tution will allow, he is Caudelized but little on account 
 of the deficiency of money to supply her wants. 
 
 The letter alluded to is as follows : 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 16 th March, 1830. 
 
 Sir, — I received, this morning, your letter, requesting my 
 opinion as to the construction of the Tax Act of 1829, and par- 
 ticularly whether money-lenders are subjected by it to the pay- 
 ment of a tax. It is not a part of my official duty to expound 
 the Acts of the Legislature. Any opinion which I may give 
 upon such a subject can have no more weight than that of any 
 private citizen. In most wealthy and commercial communities, 
 the business of brokerage and private banking are well known. 
 It is the employment of brokers to exchange one kind of bank- 
 notes for others, or for coin, or one kind of coin for another, for 
 profit. To carry on this business properly, requires a collection 
 of the various sorts of money, as the trade of the merchant does 
 of many kinds of goods. It is really the trade of buying and 
 selling money. The stock on hand for the purpose of taxation 
 can be as easily ascertained as a stock of merchandise. 
 
 Private bankers differ only from public bankers in this — that 
 public bankers act by the authority of law, and private bankers 
 without it. Whoever keeps a bank, or office of discount and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 451 
 
 deposit, or office of discount only, is a banker. Whoever makes 
 a business of issuing negotiable paper in such a manner as to 
 form a part of the circulating medium of the country, may also 
 •be considered a banker, such as McKinne & Shultz formerly 
 were, and the many issuers of change bills. 
 
 Money shaving is an employment never perhaps dignified by 
 the notice of a Legislature before the Tax Act of 1829. Since 
 the great decline in price of most of the staple productions of 
 the State, the heavy duties upon imports, and the consequent 
 suffering and want in our community, this trade has been but 
 too sensibly known to our people. It consists in the buying of 
 promissory notes or bills, at a deduction, or by shaving off a part 
 of their amounts, or paying for them less than is actually due. 
 If the money lending about which you ask my opinion, is con- 
 ducted either in the form of banking, brokerage, or shaving, it 
 comes within the meaning of the act. 
 
 If by money lending you mean the act of a man’s putting his 
 own money out at interest, and taking a bond or note of the 
 borrower as the evidence of the debt contracted, and to enforce 
 payment, it does not come either within the words or spirit of 
 the law ; nor do repeated acts of this kind make a man a 
 banker. A man taking a bond or note from one to whom he 
 has loaned money, is a very different act from issuing notes to 
 others, upon their paying him money therefor. The banker 
 keeps money, and issues notes upon the credit of it ; the lender 
 parts with his, and takes notes for the purpose of getting it back 
 with interest. The community derives great advantage from 
 the circulation of all the money within it. The State cannot, 
 therefore, intend to suppress the lending of money, except at 
 usurious interest. The issuing of 'the bills of private bankers 
 has always been considered highly injurious to the State, be- 
 cause it renders the quantity of the circulating medium some- 
 times too great for the purposes of the people, and at other times 
 too little, and gives rise to speculation, and most commonly to 
 the failures of bankers, and consequent loss to the community. 
 
 As you have stated no particular case, my remarks could 
 not be more precise. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 John Smith, Esq. 
 
452 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The power of pardoning convicted criminals is the 
 distinguishing authority which belongs to the Gov- 
 ernor. It is sometimes exercised with too much rigor 
 to answer the end intended, and at other times with 
 so much clemency as to defeat it. How I exercised 
 this peculiar executive prerogative may be judged of 
 by the following answers to applications for pardons. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgcville, 31s/! December, 1829. 
 
 Nothing is more natural to human beings than pity for those 
 who suffer, and the wish to relieve them. It is not, therefore, 
 a matter of wonder that petitions for the pardon of convicts in 
 the penitentiary should often he signed by great numbers of 
 persons, without regard to the guilt of the convict. The petition 
 for the pardon of Henry R. Rodgers is a striking instance of 
 this fact. It is said that Rodgers has a wife dependent upon 
 him for support. So much the greater his guilt, in forgetting 
 what was due to her. His belonging to a respectable family 
 still further proves that the ordinary restraints upon men could 
 not prevent him from committing crimes. His good behavior in 
 the penitentiary, is but a very slight reason in favor of his par- 
 don, because his obedience to the laws of the penitentiary, is a 
 matter of constant compulsion. The reasons assigned in the 
 petition for his pardon are not those for which the Governor was 
 invested with the extraordinary power of forgiving offences 
 against the State. There seems to be no doubt but that Rod- 
 gers has been guilty of taking away the life of a fellow-being, 
 without the justification of self-defence, and under the influence 
 of vile passions. I should feel the guilt of blood upon my own 
 conscience if I were to pardon him. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 To the Petitioners, itc. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 26 th January, 1830. 
 
 Sir, — Your letter, requesting the pardon of H. I. Brewer, 
 a convict in the penitentiary, has been received. 
 
 During the session of the Legislature a petition was received 
 from a large number of the most respectable citizens of Elbert 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 453 
 
 County, making the same request. After the most deliberate 
 consideration which my situation enables me to give to this 
 application, I feel compelled to reject it. It must be grateful to 
 Brewer’s feelings to know that you have forgiven him the injury 
 done you, and does honor to your character as a benevolent man. 
 But the State, in punishing crimes, does not look to the particu- 
 lar injury done to the individual. Its object is to secure the 
 peace and happiness of society by deterring bad men from the 
 indulgence of their evil propensities. The Governor of the 
 State cannot, consistently with his official duty, permit his re- 
 spect or regard for individuals to influence his conduct. It is 
 his duty to execute the sentences in all cases, except where 
 alleviating circumstances accompany the commission of offences. 
 There was nothing of the kind in Hendly I. Brewer’s case. 
 He disregarded the early precepts of a pious father, and the 
 obligations he owed to an aged mother. His offence did not 
 have the justification of immediate and pressing temptation. 
 Were I to pardon Brewer, I know not how I could refuse to 
 grant most of the many applications for pardon which are made 
 to me. I can, however, fully appreciate the motives which in- 
 duced you to write in his behalf. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 James J. Banks, Esq. 
 
 Executive Department, Millcdgeville, 2d February, 1830. 
 
 Sir, — Ho application that has been made for the exercise of 
 the pardoning power has occasioned me so much painful difficulty 
 and hesitation as that for Moon. This has proceeded very 
 much from the opinion expressed by yourself, and one or two 
 other friends, who I am certain would not intentionally mislead 
 me in the discharge of my official duties. I have also not been 
 able to avoid sympathizing with the distress of his respectable 
 firth er ; I cannot, however, satisfy myself that I should. act cor- 
 rectly in granting his pardon. He has been guilty of a very 
 heinous offence, in taking away the life of a fellow-being. I 
 cannot pardon such a crime, unless committed under the strong- 
 est excitement of passion, produced by greatly irritating insult or 
 injury. I have not been able to find any very palliating circum- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 451 
 
 stances in the conduct of Moon. The whole riot in which he 
 deliberately connected himself with others of acknowledged 
 vicious and desperate character, was violent and criminal. 
 
 The state of society in our country seems to require that 
 offences of this kind should he suppressed, if possible. Scarcely 
 a week passes without some death by the hand of violence. I 
 am convinced that reformation will only be the consequence of 
 certain and exemplary punishment. In exercising the high pre- 
 rogative vested in me by the constitution, of pardoning crimes, I 
 consider it my duty to be governed by no other consideration 
 than the public interest. I dare not consult my own feelings 
 and wishes, or the desires of my friends, or the entreaties of the 
 friends of the criminals. Influenced by these considerations, I 
 have not, as yet, been able to find it consistent with my duty to 
 pardon Moon. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Francis Meriwether, Esq. 
 
 The following letter is upon a subject which still 
 calls for investigation, and the hand of reform. The 
 power which the courts exercised at the time when 
 this letter was written, of punishing personal injuries 
 done to the officiating judges, without the intervention 
 of a jury, or the express authority of law, is a remnant 
 of the barbarous despotism of the English judiciary in 
 old times. The will of the jndge is uncontrolled by 
 any limits defined by law. The injured party sits in 
 judgment on his own case, and uses his official power 
 to punish his enemies or iusulters. 
 
 The punished persons can obtain no relief from 
 hardship or oppression through the pardoning power. 
 The conduct of the court in the case to which the let- 
 ter alludes, may have been proper as the law then 
 was, and yet the law be very wrong. The Legislature 
 has since defined the offence of contempt, but still in a 
 very loose manner. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 455 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 12th June , 1831. 
 
 Dear Sir, — In the letter lately received from you upon the 
 subject of Pbilpot’s case, you say you have no earthly doubt of 
 my having the power to pardon for contempt. I regret that 
 neither your suggestions, nor my own investigations, have 
 brought my mind to the same certainty. 
 
 The very first, and one of the most important principles of 
 government adopted by the people of this State, is that the Legis- 
 lative. Executive and Judiciary Departments shall be distinct. 
 The Executive Department has no power to interfere with so 
 much of the Government as has been by the constitution and 
 laws committed to the Judiciary Department. Before the Gov- 
 ernor can exercise the power of pardoning, a crime against the 
 State must have been committed, and the criminal sentenced by 
 the Judiciary. If the sentence of the court be interlocutory in 
 its nature, and of such a character as to look to other results 
 connected with the administration of the laws than the punish- 
 ment of the offender, and the Executive Department were to 
 pardon in such a case, the object to be effected by the Judiciary 
 Department would be defeated. The facts in the case which 
 you have presented to me seem to be these : 
 
 A man by the name of Philpot many years ago purchased a 
 negro boy 'as a slave. In the month of October 1829, he resold 
 the negro. Soon after a writ of habeas corpus, granted by the 
 Inferior Court of Richmond County was served upon him, direct- 
 ing him to produce the body of that negro. This he failed to 
 do, and was ordered by the Superior Court upon an attachment 
 for contempt therefor, to be imprisoned until he produced the 
 negro. This order not having been made a part of the record 
 sent me, I am unable to know what were its terms but from other 
 parts of the record. 
 
 After the order of the court directing the imprisonment of 
 Philpot until he should produce the negro, it seems that Philpot 
 himself prayed a writ of habeas corpus of the Superior Court, 
 to inquire into the legality of his imprisonment under the order 
 of the court, which was granted to him, and upon examination, 
 he was re-ordered to prison to be confined under the original 
 order. 
 
 The following inquiries suggest themselves, upon the state- 
 
456 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 ment of facts. Does it appear that Philpot committed any crime 
 against the State? and if so, what? Was it for lying? for 
 selling a negro ? or failing to produce the negro as required by 
 the writ of habeas corpus, without proof that the negro was in 
 his possession at the time of the service of the writ ? Do these 
 proceedings show that Philpot was convicted of a crime against 
 the State, and sentenced by the court therefor ? If so, by whom 
 Avas he tried, by the Inferior or Superior Court, and what is his 
 sentence ? Was his crime contempt of the Inferior or Superior 
 Court ? Is the order of the Superior Court for the imprison- 
 ment of Philpot until he produces the negro, the sentence of the 
 court upon conviction ? Is it a final sentence, or can the court 
 again take cognizance of the same offence ? Can the court 
 hereafter order the discharge of Philpot ? 
 
 A single consideration, arising from these inquiries, goes 
 very far to convince me that the pardoning power does not au- 
 thorize, under present circumstances, the discharge of Philpot. 
 It does not seem to be doubted, by yourself or others, that the 
 Superior Court can at any time hereafter discharge Philpot, or 
 in other words, do the act which you are requesting the Execu- 
 tive Department to do. It is very certain that the courts have 
 no power to pardon criminals after conviction and sentence. 
 By what authority, therefore, can the judiciary hereafter inter- 
 pose so as to discharge Philpot? Evidently (considering the 
 proceedings otherwise legal) because the order under which 
 Philpot is imprisoned is not a sentence upon conviction, but an 
 order auxiliary to other proceedings, for the determination of 
 some individual right. If the Superior Court had considered its 
 order for the imprisonment of Philpot to be a sentence passed 
 upon a summary conviction for a crime of which he had been 
 guilty, then the court could not have granted to him, as it did, 
 the writ of habeas corpus to inquire into the legality of that 
 sentence, because that writ is not issuable upon the application 
 of persons in confinement, upon conviction or for execution. I 
 take it for granted, therefore, that the Superior Court in passing 
 its order that Philpot shall be imprisoned until the negro James 
 is produced, did not consider such order a sentence upon convic- 
 tion, but as the most efficient means of producing obedience to 
 the mandate of the writ of habeas corpus directed to Philpot, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 457 
 
 requiring him to produce in court the negro which he had sold, 
 and which, according to an allegation in the 'writ, was not a 
 slave. 
 
 It would be foreign to the object of this letter to inquire, 
 whether the writ of habeas corpus designed by the Constitution 
 and laws of the State to be the effectual means of preventing 
 the violation of the personal liberty of its citizens, can be used 
 for their continued imprisonment upon such allegations as those 
 made in the writ directed to Philpot. It would be equally so to 
 express any opinion as to the power of the courts of the State 
 to assume the jurisdiction over contempts, summary convictions, 
 and punishment therefor, as exercised by the Superior Courts 
 in England. These matters belong exclusively to the Judiciary 
 Department. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George It. Gilmer. 
 
 Augustus B. Longstreet, Esq. 
 
 Extract of a letter to the same person on the same 
 subject. 
 
 . It is not my purpose to investigate at large the doctrine of 
 contempts, as determined by the English Courts. It is sufficient 
 to say that it is the most arbitrary and tyrannical power now 
 exercised over the liberty of the subject in that country. 
 
 I think you are mistaken in saying that the common law of 
 England is the law of this State. It is the law only so far as is 
 consistent with our Constitution, laws, and form of Government, 
 and as had been adopted in practice during the Colonial Gov- 
 ernment. The courts of England have determined that the 
 power to punish contempts results from necessity, and that their 
 dignity and authority could not be otherwise maintained. This 
 may have been true when this determination was made, and may 
 yet be so in some degree. But the great object of the British 
 form of Government is to secure its own existence. The object 
 of ours is to secure individual rights. The power of the courts 
 in England to punish contempts, results from no public law. 
 The courts which have no criminal jurisdiction exercise this 
 power equally with those that have. Crimes, in this State, con- 
 
458 
 
 FIRST SETILERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 sist in the violation of some public law. No other acts can be 
 punished as such by our courts. Can any thing he more incon- 
 sistent with the nature of our institutions, than that a judge 
 should determine the extent of his own personal dignity, its value 
 to the community, preside in the trial of an offence against it, 
 make the law, determine the guilt, and award the punishment ? 
 I repeat, however, that these are all matters that properly belong 
 to the judiciary. 
 
 You say that the power to remit the order of imprisonment 
 may be concurrent in the court and the Governor, and analogize 
 it to the power of pardoning which in England may he exercised 
 both by the king and the parliament. But the analogy is directly 
 against your conclusion. In this State the Legislature cannot 
 pardon, because the departments of the Government have been 
 made separate and distinct by the Constitution, and the pardon- 
 ing power has been conferred upon the Executive Department. 
 
 You conclude your letter by asking, if a judge should order 
 a citizen to be cropped, branded, or put to death for a contempt, 
 whether I would not remit the sentence or respite ? I answer 
 without hesitation, no. I would no more pardon in such a case, 
 than I would if a judge should, whilst walking in the street, 
 order a citizen to be incarcerated for life, for moving in his sun- 
 shine. 
 
 The Executive Department has no authority to correct the 
 errors of the judiciary. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &C., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Augustus B. Longstkeet, Esq. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 There are few situations more trying than to re- 
 main in office after one lias been turned out : to meet 
 the jests of successful exulting opponents: to shake 
 hands with friends who have just lost political power 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 459 
 
 by one’s mistakes, or unpopular doings. Not many 
 public men have gone through a more severe trial than 
 I did in leaving the Executive office. 
 
 By my election, I had offended a large party of my 
 accustomed political supporters. I was defeated by 
 those who had been previously my most clamorous 
 advocates. Those who had voted for me for selfish 
 purposes when I ivas successful, had not got what they 
 desired. Those who had opposed my election, were 
 compensated for their mortification at my success, by 
 my defeat. However strong may have been my deter- 
 mination to do what was right in office, and however 
 conscious I was of having done so, I could not avoid 
 feeling that my situation was very uncomfortable. 
 
 My wife, who had stood by me with her smiling 
 face and cheering voice during 1 the most slanderous 
 abuse, sank in spirit, when she met the chap-fallen 
 looks of old acquaintances, as they assembled at the 
 meeting of the Legislature, and the inauguration of my 
 successor. She thought she had gloried in my defeat 
 for attempting to do what the public good required in 
 opposition to immediate popular impulse. But she 
 found that it was a glory that had to wait for its 
 exultation until the pageant of the day had passed 
 away. 
 
 The party by whom I was supported in the canvass 
 insisted that I should accept of a public dinner. The 
 members thought it would strengthen their reorganiza- 
 tion. It required the greatest exertion of self-command, 
 to overcome my reluctance to take part in the celebra- 
 tion of my own defeat. I had, however, received their 
 support, and, therefore, consented to their demands. 
 The dinner was on the day when I left the Executive 
 office. Every moment of my 1 time was fully occupied 
 
460 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OP UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 with matters connected with official business. I dined 
 wdtli friends at a private house, so that I had no oppor- 
 tunity to prepare my thoughts for what I was to do or 
 say at the public dinner. None but those who have 
 encountered similar difficulties can enter into the feel- 
 ings of my very absurd position. Occupying the seat 
 of honor at the dinner table, I was called upon to say 
 how, and why, I had contrived to deprive those by 
 whom I was surrounded of the public offices to which 
 they considered themselves entitled. I made the effort, 
 hemmed, hawed, stammered, stopped, went on by fits 
 and starts, and finally concluded, without saying what 
 might have been very well said in justification of what 
 had been done. We went towards my home in the 
 morning ; that night I put upon paper a sketch of what 
 I imagined I had said, and sent it back to the managers 
 of the affair. 
 
 This is the sentiment which I expressed when called 
 upon for a toast, and part of the speech. 
 
 Honor and success to those servants of the people who have 
 the firmness to execute what judgment directs and conscience 
 approves. 
 
 Extract from the speech : 
 
 Notwithstanding the difficulty which I find of expressing 
 myself in my present embarrassment, I am yet anxious to add 
 something further in explanation of the measures of my adminis- 
 tration. In opposing the immediate survey and distribution of the 
 Cherokee lands, I was influenced not only by what I considered 
 justice to our Indian population, but due to the present Adminis- 
 tration of the General Government. The firmness with which 
 Gen. Jackson has sustained his policy of removing the Indian 
 tribes from the States, and placing them in the only situation in 
 which their existence can be continued, or in which they can 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 461 
 
 acquire the arts of civilized life ; his prompt acknowledgment 
 of the rights of this State to extend its laws qver all its territory, 
 and the exertions which he had made, and is now making, to 
 remove the Cherokees from beyond our limits, imposed upon the 
 State the strongest obligation to avoid the adoption of any policy 
 which would conflict with that of the United States. Upon no 
 subject have stronger efforts been made to excite the prejudices 
 of the people against Gen. Jackson, and to prevent his re-elec- 
 tion, than his efforts to do justice to Georgia, And shall we 
 give effect to these unprincipled efforts, by adopting such meas- 
 ures as must either sacrifice our best friends, or force them, under 
 the pressure of public opinion, to resist their execution ? Grati- 
 tude and policy both forbid. 
 
 The disagreeable circumstances which accompanied 
 my defeat were soon forgotten in the pleasurable sense 
 of relief from the labor, excitement, and exactions of 
 office, and in the sense of gladness created by home, 
 kind neighbors and friends, and the power of doing as 
 inclination led me. 
 
 I was soon after put in nomination by the State- 
 rights party, for one of the representatives of the State 
 in Congress. 
 
 My wife and myself spent part of the next summer 
 in Virginia. We had been separated from our affec- 
 tionate relatives and friends there longer than we had 
 ever been before. We greatly enjoyed the meeting, 
 and social intercourse with them. Whilst we were in 
 Virginia, Robert Grattan, my wife’s brother, married 
 Martha Minor, daughter of Peter and Lucy Minor of 
 Albemarle. The bride was a capital addition to our 
 family circle, giving a foreshadowing of what an ad- 
 mirable wife, fond mother, and kind kinswoman she 
 has since proved herself to be. 
 
 Whilst I was in Rockingham, I read in the news- 
 papers the copy of a letter which had been addressed 
 
462 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 to me as one of the candidates for Congress, by a meet- 
 ing of a portion of the citizeus of Richmond County, 
 demanding my opinions of the political doctrines then 
 being disseminated by the party in South Carolina, 
 headed by Mr. Calhoun, and known as the Nullifiers. 
 The following was my answer : 
 
 Rockingham, Virginia, Sept. 1th, 1832. 
 
 To the Citizens of Richmond County. 
 
 I have seen published in the Augusta Constitutionalist of 
 the 21st of August, the proceedings of a meeting of Richmond 
 County, at which a committee were appointed to ascertain by 
 direct correspondence with the candidates for Congress, “ their 
 sentiments in regard to nullification.” My absence from Georgia 
 has probably prevented my receiving the communication of the 
 committee. I have therefore thought it my duty to address you 
 directly, lest the object of the call upon me should be defeated. 
 My answer is, that I do not believe that a State can render a 
 law of Congress null and void, which has been passed upon a 
 subject over which Congress lias, by the Constitution, the exclu- 
 sive power of legislation. I am, therefore, no advocate for the 
 adoption of nullification to remedy the evil of the tariff. 
 
 This answer might be misconceived, were it not extended to 
 the other important matters embraced within your resolutions. 
 
 I cannot concur with you in the opinion, that “ the tariff 
 recently enacted is a decided amelioration of the system.” Its 
 inequality and want of uniformity has certainly been increased. 
 
 I cannot agree with my fellow-citizens of Richmond County, 
 that the evils of the tariff have been greatly exaggerated. It 
 would, indeed, be difficult to exaggerate the injustice and tyranny 
 of our present system of taxation and public expenditures, which 
 has been made so to operate upon different sections of our 
 country, as to render it an object of eager desire with the ma- 
 jority. for the purpose of enlarging their individual profits, to 
 increase rather than lessen their amounts ; and especially when 
 that system has been adopted in violation of all the obligations 
 which bind us together as one people. Georgia suffers more 
 oppressively from the system than any other State in the Union. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 463 
 
 I do not-, therefore, think that its evils ought to be palliated by 
 any portion of her citizens. 
 
 I cannot agree with you, £1 that it is advisable for the present 
 to leave the subject of the tarilf to the State Legislature,” be- 
 cause all that can be done has already been tried, by resolutions, 
 threats and protests, without producing the slightest effect upon 
 the fixed majority in Congress. I consider it more advisable to 
 refer the subject to a State convention, as recommended at the 
 meetings which have been held in many counties, with the hope 
 that it may lead to one united effort on the part of Southern 
 States, to procure a repeal of the tariff, as the only practicable 
 means by which that object can be effected. I, however, entirely 
 coincide with you in the opinion, that the acts of such a conven- 
 tion will not be obligatory upon the people, without their subse- 
 quent approval. 
 
 I have thus, in answer to your requirement, given you briefly, 
 and, I hope, with sufficient distinctness, my views upon a sub- 
 ject of great interest to us all. I have not thought that the 
 occasion called for any elaborate reasoning in their support, or 
 that they should be extended beyond the matters contained in 
 your resolutions. 
 
 With sentiments of great respect, 
 
 Your fellow-citizen, 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 In the election which followed, I received but little 
 support from the union party. The nullifiers, though 
 not satisfied with my answer, could not very well avoid 
 giving me their votes. Although elected, it was evi- 
 dent that my moderate opinions, when every body else 
 was talking furiously, were creating distrust. Circum- 
 stances soon after developed what had been for some 
 time the tendencies of the political parties in the State. 
 The protective tarilf policy of the General Government 
 was then the great subject of interest. 
 
 Judge Berrien, Judge Clayton, and other adherents 
 of Mr. Calhoun, were soon after found actively engaged 
 
461 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 in collecting tlie people together, making speeches, and 
 using other means of opposition to General Jackson’s 
 administration, and the existing tariff laws. They suc- 
 ceeded in getting up a great convention, with the de- 
 sign of effecting their purposes through what it might 
 be induced to do. The friends of Mr. Van Buren were 
 equally active in their preparations for defence. They 
 endeavored to secure ascendency in the proposed anti- 
 tariff convention, when they found that they could not 
 prevent its assembling. The nullifiers and union-men 
 met in Milledgeville, in November, 1832. I was absent 
 from the State when the preparations for the struggle 
 w r ere making. I was selected for one of the members of 
 the convention, by the people of Oglethorpe County, 
 without having been consulted upon the subject. It 
 was known that my political principles were democratic, 
 that I was thoroughly opposed to the existing protec- 
 tive tariff laws, and that I had long been opposed to 
 the election of Mr. Calhoun to the Presidency. The 
 first act of the convention was the selection of its pre- 
 siding officer. Both parties being somewhat distrust- 
 ful of their strength, concurred sufficiently in choosing 
 me, to prevent an immediate trial of their relative 
 strength. Mr. Forsyth -was the controlling spirit of the 
 Van Buren, or union party. Judge Berrien and Judge 
 Clayton directed the course of the nullifiers, or friends 
 of Mr. Calhoun. Mr. Forsyth exerted his extraordinary 
 eloquence and tact to prevent the organization of the 
 convention. When he discovered that the friends of 
 Mr. Van Buren were in the minority, he induced them 
 to withdraw. This separation did not secure unanimity 
 among those who remained. Many of the democratic 
 members, who had gone into the convention for the 
 purpose of uniting public opinion at the South against 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 465 
 
 the tariff, and devising plans for its repeal, concurred 
 with me in dissenting from the doctrines of the nulli- 
 fiers. The convention broke up without doing any 
 thing satisfactory to any body. 
 
 A few days after my return home, I received a let- 
 ter from James Liddell, a leading member of the Legis- 
 lature, in which he stated that he had heard a portion 
 of my remarks against the doctrine of nullification, that 
 he did not understand the subject, wished to be in- 
 formed, and asked me to give him my views fully, say- 
 ing that my letter should be considered strictly confi- 
 dential. I wrote to him what my opinions were about 
 the resolutions which had been adopted by the con- 
 vention, particularly that which set forth the extreme 
 opinions of Mr. Calhoun, of the power of a State to 
 control the legislation of Congress on the subject of 
 the tariff, stating to him that they were given to him- 
 self, and not for others, or the public. I was then 
 cautious, because I wished to avoid writing any thing 
 which could be used against my party friends. I kept 
 a copy of my letter. When the democratic State- 
 rights part} 7 were about selecting a candidate for 
 Governor in 1857, those who were opposed to my 
 being the candidate, and desirous that Judge Clayton 
 should be, obtained a mutilated copy of my letter to 
 Liddell, and used it to excite the nullifiers into oppo- 
 sition to my nomination. I was in Virginia whilst this 
 intrigue was going on. Upon being informed of it, I 
 wrote to Liddell, that I had heard of his having com- 
 municated to others the contents of my letter, and 
 asked him to send me a copy. The sorry fellow, 
 having no suspicion that I had kept a cojiy, answered 
 that he thought the letter did me great honor, sent a 
 copy of the part which he knew to be offensive to the 
 
 30 
 
466 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 nullifiers, and omitted that which qualified what made 
 it so, averring that his eyes were so sore, and he so 
 unwell, that it was as much as he could do to copy 
 what he sent. I soon after saw Judge Clayton and 
 General Harris, who had been very busy circulating 
 Liddell’s mutilated copy of my letter, showed them the 
 entire copy, and convinced them that they had been 
 misled. 
 
 Those who are engaged in politics in highly excit- 
 ing party struggles, are usually driven by experience 
 to keep their bump of caution well rubbed. I met 
 with many other difficulties in going on in my own 
 way during the excitement which preceded the con- 
 vention, distinguished its discussions, and followed its 
 adjournment. To maintain the position of middle-man, 
 which is generally assumed to avoid responsibility and 
 curry favor, required all my fortitude. As the hubbub 
 passed away, I was cheered by the approving voice of 
 those whose approbation was most agreeable to me. 
 
 In May, 1833, a convention of the people of the 
 State assembled in Milledgeville, to consult about the 
 best manner of reducing the number of the members 
 of the Legislature, and equalizing the representation of 
 the people in that . body. William H. Crawford and 
 myself were two of the members for the County of 
 Oglethorpe. Mr. Crawford was voted for by the 
 State-rights party to preside over the convention. Lie 
 was beaten by Judge Wayne, the candidate of the 
 Van Buren party, by nearly two votes to one. Judge 
 Wayne received 151, and Mr. Crawford 88. The 
 amendments to the_j Constitution, proposed by the 
 convention for the ratification of the people, being 
 intended for securing party ascendency instead of the 
 rights of the people, were rejected at the polls. The 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 467 
 
 time chosen for assembling the convention proved to 
 be very unpropitious for arriving at beneficial results. 
 The anti-tariff nullification convention which preceded 
 it, had created a state of factious party spirit, which 
 controlled every effort for the general good. 
 
 My wife accompanied me to Milledgeville. We 
 passed our time very pleasantly among many excellent 
 friends. Indeed, the difficulty was to find leisure 
 enough, from my necessary attendance upon the con- 
 vention, to enjoy their hospitality. Before we left 
 home, we agreed to go to Alabama, on a visit to my 
 relations there. My wife insisted that I should direct 
 the time and place of our visitings, as I had always 
 urged upon her to do when we were among her rela- 
 tions in Virginia. The day we left home, she began 
 to prescribe where we should dine, and where we 
 should sup, <fcc. I laughingly reminded her of her 
 previous proposal, that I should control our visiting 
 until our return home. She replied, that she did not 
 intend that my absolutism should commence till we got 
 to Alabama ; but that, if I so desired, she was content. 
 She declined accepting any invitations, referring every 
 one to me. When the applications were accordingly 
 made, I did not know what she wanted, and, as that 
 was what I wished to do, I was very much bothered. 
 The third night after we retired to bed, I told her I 
 was tired t6 death doing as I pleased, and that if she 
 ever told me again to do so, I would not forgive her. 
 She has constantly kept in mind this injunction. 
 
 When the convention adjourned, we went on our 
 way to Alabama. As we passed from Columbus to 
 Montgomery, through the Creek territory, I saw many 
 collections of the people of that most numerous tribe 
 of Southern Indians. I found them less civilized, and 
 
468 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPFER GEORGIA. 
 
 uglier in features, tlian the Cherokees. They showed 
 the same mixture of the blood of the whites in their 
 influential chiefs, and well-dressed and best-looking 
 women. White men occupied many of the public 
 houses on the road, and productive plantations. The 
 United States had shortly before made a treaty with 
 the chiefs for a cession of lands, in which a great many 
 reservations were secured to individual Indians. These 
 reservations had been, from the time of the making of 
 the treaty, the subject of eager speculation on the part 
 of the whites. 
 
 I found the fertile lands of Montgomery settled up 
 with active intelligent wealthy citizens, who had been 
 drawn to it from the old States, by the many great ad- 
 vantages which it afforded to those who desired to in- 
 crease their riches. The rapid accumulation of wealth 
 whetted the appetite for getting money, until the peo- 
 ple could not be satisfied with any quantity acquired. 
 It was a subject of wondering cogitation for me, who 
 had for many years been constantly taken up with the 
 affairs of the government, and the strife of party pol- 
 itics, to listen to my Montgomery friends talking with- 
 out ceasing of cotton, negroes, land and money. I had 
 never myself bought negroes, or made profit out of 
 their labor, accumulated any money by speculation, cul- 
 tivated cotton, or been engaged in any way in the occu- 
 pations which were stimulating them to incessant exer- 
 tions. The spirit of devotion to politics and the strong 
 desire to accumulate wealth, find but few common sub- 
 jects of interest. 
 
 Great as were the advantages for money-making, 
 which belonged to this new country, the people were 
 not contented. Every body was agog, and ready to 
 sell out, and move off. When any one breaks away 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 469 
 
 from liis Dative homestead, and goes among strange peo- 
 ple, lie seldom finds wliat lie seeks for, but goes on 
 hunting for a better home, until his resting-place is un- 
 der the sod. 
 
 I found a kinsman of mine there, who had been my 
 school-fellow and neighbor in Georgia. He married 
 there, cultivated a good plantation, and was growing rich 
 in the country of his birth. The temptation offered by 
 the rich lands of Alabama, made him sell out. He ac- 
 quired a large tract of land of the greatest fertility, 
 and made money rapidly beyond example. His land 
 increased in value, until he was offered ten dollars per 
 acre for it. He heard that lands of equal production 
 could be purchased in Texas for twenty-five cents per 
 acre. He had left his house and family to search for 
 lands in Texas, then inhabited by Spaniards and Indians, 
 and was the receptacle of robbers and cutthroats of all 
 sorts. This money mania proved so contagious, that 
 my carriage driver was overheard offering to lend a 
 fellow driver forty thousand dollars. 
 
 I returned to Lexington pleased with having seen 
 the prosperity of my kinsfolk, convinced that a great 
 quantity of land, many negroes, and much money were 
 not necessary for my happiness ; and thankful that I 
 was permitted to enjoy where I was born, a competen- 
 cy of these good things. 
 
 The lawsuit of which I am about to give an ac- 
 count, developes a case of fraud and oppression, more 
 after the fashion of the finished vice of Europe, than 
 what we are accustomed to in this country. 
 
 Many murders have been prevented by the adage, 
 “ Murder will out.” If the maxim, “ Fraud will be 
 punished,” was as universally believed in, the amount 
 of consequent good might be beyond calculation. 
 
470 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Francis Meson, an Irishman, taught school for man} 7 
 years in Oglethorpe Comity, and until his savings, and 
 the credit which he acquired by his honesty, capacity, 
 and industry, enabled him to become a merchant. He 
 traded so successfully, that when he died in 1806, he 
 left an estate of near $40,000 ; one portion of which 
 he bequeathed to William II. Crawford, his lawyer; 
 another to George Phillips, his physician ; another to 
 Robert Allison, his countryman and friend ; another 
 to a boy who was reputed to be near akin to him ; and 
 the remainder to endow an academy in Lexington. 
 Robert Allison’s legacy amounted to about six thousand 
 dollars. The legatee was an honest, hard-working, eco- 
 nomical man. He laid out his legacy in the purchase of 
 negroes, and went on thriving until his death. He left a 
 widow, two sons, and two daughters. One of the sons 
 married, moved away, and died. Robert, the other, 
 became a sot, and soon after insolvent. Nancy, one of 
 the daughters, was equally unfortunate in getting rid 
 of her property ; so that the widow, and Margaret, the 
 other daughter, after a few years, owned whatever of 
 the estate was left unsquandered. 
 
 Bob F ’s father, and old Robert Allison, were 
 
 near neighbors. Bob F and the Allison children 
 
 were schoolmates and associates, as they grew up. 
 
 When Bob F became a man and a merchant, the 
 
 Allisons traded almost exclusively with him. When 
 he left off selling goods, and moved from Lexington 
 into the country, the Allisons by his persuasion rented 
 a part of the land on which he lived, so as to be close 
 by him. They owned at the time twenty very likely 
 negroes, whom they regarded, Irish people like, as a 
 
 part of their family. These twenty negroes Bob F 
 
 coveted, and determined to make his own. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 471 
 
 The widow and her daughter became very much 
 involved in debt, principally on account of the liabili- 
 ties which they had incurred for their drunken son and 
 brother. They were very plain, hard-working, and 
 economical. The debts which they made on their own 
 account, were for their plantation, which was very 
 
 profitable. Bob F- constantly pressed his counsel 
 
 and assistance upon them, took the entire management 
 of their affairs, supplied them with whatever they 
 stood in need of, bought their crops of cotton, hired 
 many of their negroes and bought others, agreeing 
 that the amount due therefor should be applied to the 
 discharge of Robert Allison’s and their debts. Neither 
 the widow or daughter could write, or read writing un- 
 derstand ingly. They trusted their pretended friend so 
 implicitly, that they were in the habit of putting their 
 mark to whatever papers he presented to them for 
 signature. It was his practice to prepare the papers 
 which he wanted them to sign at his own house, carry 
 them to them, and request them to make their mark, 
 saying that ;c the papers are all fixed,” so that they might 
 have no suspicion how their amounts were made up. 
 They had no relation, neighbor, or friend, to whom 
 they could look for advice or assistance, except Robert 
 Allison, whose conduct only increased their difficulties. 
 
 Bob F having cut them off from all association 
 
 with those who could be of service to them, often told 
 them to trust entirely to him, and not to let their left 
 hand know what their right hand did. In this way, and 
 with many other contrivances carried on for ten years, 
 he finally got their marks to a note for $3,700, and a 
 mortgage deed for thirteen negroes to secure its pay- 
 ment, though he was at the time in debt to them. 
 
 The widow and daughter took of Robert Allison 
 
472 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 for the large amount of money which they paid for 
 
 him, seven negroes. Bob F made them believe 
 
 that these negroes were liable for other debts of 
 Robert Allison which were still unsatisfied. When he 
 found them sufficiently alarmed for his purpose, he 
 bought a small execution against Robert Allison, placed 
 it in the hands of the deputy sheriff, who was a creature 
 of his, took him with him to the widow’s house, 
 beckoned Peggy aside, told her that he had found out 
 that the sheriff had come to levy upon the negroes 
 which she and her mother had bought of her brother, 
 advised her to secrete them, promising that if she 
 would send them to him, he would keep them out of 
 the sheriff’s way. When the negroes were accordingly 
 put into his possession, he made the widow and daugh- 
 ter believe that it had become impossible to save them 
 from the sheriff’s hands without rendering himself re- 
 sponsible for Robert Allison’s debts, and so excited their 
 fears of losing the negroes entirely, that they sold them 
 to him for about half their value. When he had thus 
 stript them of all their property, except the negroes 
 mortgaged to him to pay the note of $3,700, he threw 
 off the mask of devotion to their interest, foreclosed 
 the mortgage, had the negroes levied on, aud advertised 
 for sale. Horror stricken at his perfidy, the loss of the 
 negroes to whom they were affectionately attached, 
 and the prospect of poverty, they applied to me to 
 aid them with such protection as could be had from 
 the law. I brought a bill in equity for them against 
 
 Bob F , in which I stated the various frauds and 
 
 impositions which he had practised upon them. How 
 he had won their confidence and love by his pre- 
 tended friendship; how he had got them into his 
 power, by inducing them to put their marks to papers 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 473 
 
 the contents of which were unknown to them ; how 
 he had charged them twenty-five per cent, upon the 
 several sums he advanced for them in payment of 
 theirs and Robert Allison’s debts, and again and again, 
 the same per cent., as they had renewed their notes 
 from time to time ; and that the consideration of the 
 note of $3,700 for the payment of which their negroes 
 were about to be sold, if founded upon any considera- 
 tion at all, was made up partly of charges of interest 
 at twenty-five per cent., and compound interest at the 
 same rate. The bill further stated that the widow and 
 daughter were so poor and friendless that no one would 
 be their security: that they had endeavored, but in 
 vain, to comply with the law requiring security upon 
 injunctions, and that they had offered to let the ne- 
 groes remain in the possession of Bob F , where 
 
 they then were, until the suit should be determined, 
 in lieu of the security which they were required to 
 give. 
 
 At the first term of the court after the service of 
 
 the bill on Bob F , he moved that the injunction 
 
 should be dissolved for want of security. I urged upon 
 the court in opposition, his possession of the negroes, 
 and renewed the offer of the widow and daughter that 
 he should keep them as he had expressed his willing- 
 ness to do, till he had discovered their inability to give 
 other security. I stated how he had secluded them 
 from all intercourse with others until they were en- 
 tirely without friends ; how he had preyed upon their 
 property until they had none ; and all his other ras- 
 cally arts to get them into his power. I met only 
 with rebuff from the judge for my denunciations. His 
 honor, though one of the shrewdest of men in judging 
 of character, and himself perfectly honest, had, like 
 
474 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 every body else, failed to look through Bob. He was 
 his nearest neighbor, and very good friend. He ap- 
 preciated him highly as an active member of the 
 Legislature, and a political partisan of the right sort. 
 He ordered the injunction to be dissolved. The negroes 
 were soon after sold by the sheriff, and for far less than 
 their value. 
 
 When I was about preparing the bill in equity, I 
 Avent to the house of the widow and her daughter, to 
 make myself familiar with the facts upon which it was 
 to be founded. I asked them for all the accounts, 
 
 notes, bonds, and executions which Bob F had 
 
 paid off for them and their brother, and any other 
 papers in their possession, which might in any way re- 
 late to the case. They told me that Bob F had 
 
 requested them to put all such papers into the fire. 
 After a good deal of conversation and inquiry, Peggy 
 recollected that there were some papers in the rag box 
 under the bed. The rag box was brought out, and 
 searched. I found a slip of paper having on it calcula- 
 tions at twenty-five per cent., in the figures and hand- 
 writing which I knew to be Bob F 5 s, of the several 
 
 debts of Robert Allison, the widow, and her daughter, 
 which made up the note of $3,700. I had, therefore, 
 charged in the bill, with perfect confidence, that the 
 
 debt which Bob F was collecting from the widow 
 
 and her daughter was partly made up of sums of in- 
 terest calculated at twenty-five per cent. 
 
 Bob F , ignorant of the existence of the paper 
 
 which I had found, and supposing that all had been 
 burnt which had passed between him, the widow, and 
 her daughter ; in his answer to the bill he perjured 
 himself, by swearing that he had never charged them 
 more than lawful interest but twice, and then upon 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 475 
 
 inconsiderable debts. I was a member of Congress 
 elect at the time. My health became so bad, whilst I 
 was at Washington City, and during the next summer, 
 that I did not return home. I put the papers which 
 
 proved Bob F ’s perjury into the hands of the 
 
 lawyer who represented me in my law cases in Ogle- 
 thorpe County, and requested him to use it to make 
 
 Bob F do ample j ustice to my clients. When my 
 
 representative showed Bob F the paper on which 
 
 he had calculated interest at twenty-five per cent., he 
 surrendered at discretion, pleaded poverty, and told all 
 manner of lies, so that he was not only permitted to 
 escape the penitentiary, but got off without doing much 
 more than half justice to my injured clients. Though 
 he was the richest man in the community, he tried, 
 before the trial came on, to excite the sympathy of the 
 people, by walking to town and telling those whom he 
 met, that he was about to be made so poor by the 
 Allisons that he could not allow himself a horse to 
 ride. 
 
 On the first public day after my return home from 
 
 Washington City, Bob F came to me in the court 
 
 yard, and asked me to go with him into a private room 
 near by. He was stouter than I, and accustomed to 
 striking. I felt my hand grasping my stick, expecting 
 to have to fight, with all the disadvantages arising from 
 his full preparation for the combat. When we got 
 into the room, he turned upon me with a very submis- 
 sive countenance, and said, in a conciliatory voice, that 
 if he should ever be again a party to any law case, he 
 asked me to consider myself retained counsel for him. 
 My hand let go the grasp upon my stick. It was evi- 
 dent that he felt his knavery to be too well known to 
 fight for it. When he found that he had worked out 
 
476 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 his row of rascality in the field of Oglethorpe, and that 
 no future crops from cheating were to he gathered 
 there, he determined to move away. His first wife 
 had been long dead, and he married again. He had 
 no feeling for his wife, hut jealousy. He had no chil- 
 dren. He made his will, by which he bequeathed 
 most of his property to his own kin. Fearing lest his 
 wife might find the will, and discover its contents, if 
 kept in his house, and being without a friend, he put it 
 into the hands of a negro woman, who had been his 
 property, lived with him all his life, and whom he 
 trusted more than any one else. To keep his wife in 
 the dark about what he had done, he told her and 
 every body else that he had no will. When it was 
 found in the possession of the negro woman, after her 
 death, he had so discredited it by his own words, that 
 his kin, after endeavoring for a long time to establish 
 it, became fearful that they would get nothing, com- 
 promised with the widow, the lawyers coming in for 
 near ten thousand dollars for their share of his ill-gotten 
 gains. His wife and Tiis kiiFare yet at law ; conten- 
 tion and ill-will having been Bob’s only certain be- 
 quests to those who would have loved his memory if 
 he had followed the injunction, Ho unto others as you 
 would that they should do unto you. Before his death, 
 his conscience became very much disturbed about what 
 might follow the final judgment. When he felt his 
 health to be failing, he took to praying, and became a 
 professed Christian. But cheating had been so long 
 practised, that whenever he got rid of the imagination 
 that the devil’s claws would be upon him to plunge 
 him into the depths below, he renewed his evil doings. 
 Whilst in a repenting mood, he determined to move 
 away from the place which constantly recalled to his 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 477 
 
 memory each instance of his guilt. He sold his land 
 for six thousand dollars. He ascertained soon after, 
 that the purchaser would have given him eight thou- 
 sand if he had insisted upon that price. He could not 
 bear to lose so large a sum. He forged a note upon 
 the purchaser for two thousand dollars. His executor 
 was compelled, for his own safety, to sue for the re- 
 covery of its amount. At the trial, the plaintiff, the 
 lawyers, judge, and jury concurred in the belief, that 
 
 the note was of Bob F ’s own making, so that the 
 
 fact of his guilt was fixed upon his memory by the 
 record of the court, where he had passed all his days, 
 until a few months before his death. 
 
 No one who heard his prayers, confessions, and 
 saw the streaming tears of contrition running down his 
 face, doubted the sincerity of his repentance. The 
 forged note, the will made, concealed, and lied about 
 whilst he was thus penitent, proved the overpowering 
 force of the long confirmed habit of deceiving, upon 
 one only convicted of sin, but not converted from it, 
 and adds another convincing example to the innumer- 
 able instances recorded in the history of society, of the 
 hopelessness of the struggle by the weakness of ad- 
 vanced age, to change into virtue the vices of an ill- 
 spent youth and manhood. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Ix December, 1833, I went to Washington City, and 
 took my seat as a member of the House of Representa- 
 tives. This was my third term of service in Congress. 
 The interval from the last had been sufficiently long to 
 
478 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 make novelty one of its pleasures. I met many old 
 acquaintances, for whom I had great respect and regard. 
 I had been so constantly engaged in public affairs at 
 home, that I had kept up with the course of politics. 
 My wife preferred Lexington to Washington City. 
 She accompanied me, however, without scolding, be- 
 cause I was there in compliance with the wish of my 
 constituents rather than my own. I had voted for 
 General Jackson for President without being his special 
 adherent ; was very indifferent about my relation to 
 parties as they then existed, and yet sufficiently inter- 
 ested in whatever affected the state of the country to 
 take an active part in what was doing. I had felt too 
 much the weight of government on my own shoulders 
 when I was first initiated into the public service. I 
 was now easy in the harness. I occupied a position 
 whose duties were familiar to me. My previous offi- 
 cial stations had made me acquainted with the charac- 
 ter of the Indians, and created an active concern in 
 their well-being. I had associated with me on the 
 committee on Indian affairs, Horace Everett, of Ver- 
 mont, a plain, sensible man, who was always ready 
 to do the work of writing. A scheme was concocted 
 for chan Guo- the idle habits and listless nature of the 
 
 O O 
 
 Indians into activity, by giving them inducements 
 to labor ; and of civilizing them, by elevating the 
 objects of their ambition. It was proposed that all 
 the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi, bordering 
 immediately on the frontiers of the United States, 
 should be united into a general government, with 
 power to establish schools ; regulate the intercourse 
 and trade between the tribes of the confederacy, and 
 with the United States ; and to do whatever else could 
 be done by themselves for the improvement of the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 479 
 
 people of the confederacy. The United States was to 
 be represented in the general council of the confeder- 
 ated tribes by an agent, and obliged to keep a garrison 
 at the place of its assembling, to secure peace and the 
 enforcement of the laws. The Indian territory was to 
 be represented in Congress by a delegate. It so hap- 
 pened that many of the chiefs of the Northern, South- 
 ern, and Western tribes were in Washington City at 
 the time. Among those who met the committee, and 
 entered into the discussions of the plan for the im- 
 provement and government of their people, were John 
 Ross, Major Ridge, and John Ridge, of the Cherokees 
 in Georgia; Taylor and Van, of the Cherokees west of 
 the Mississippi; Chilly McIntosh, of the Creeks; and 
 the principal chief of the Choctaws, whose name I 
 have forgotten. When the Indians first met the com- 
 mittee, John Ridge rose, and addressed me in the 
 declamatory manner and figurative expressions of his 
 people. His father, Major Ridge, spoke English so 
 badly, that he conversed with the members of the 
 committee through an interpreter. He was a very 
 large man, with features indicative of clear perceptions. 
 His conduct was dignified, and his whole demeanor 
 distinguished for propriety. He was the noblest speci- 
 men I ever saw of an Indian uncrossed with the blood 
 of the whites. His son John described him to be the 
 most eloquent of all his tribe, and, in proof of what he 
 said, repeated to me the speech he had made to his 
 people when he left them for Washington City. 
 John’s description was certainly very good. John 
 Ross is better known than any other Indian in our 
 country. He was only one fourth Indian by his de- 
 scent — the other three fourths being Scotch and Amer- 
 ican. He had all the calculating shrewdness indicated 
 
480 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 by the European race from which he was descended. 
 The Choctaw chief was equal in ability, if not superior, 
 to John Ross, and with less of the blood of the Indian. 
 McIntosh was sprightly, as was also Taylor, of the 
 Western Cherokees. I wish I could give in detail 
 what passed between the committee and the chiefs, in 
 consulting about the formation of a general government 
 for the tribes. But as I took no notes, the time is too 
 long past to remember with sufficient accuracy what 
 occurred to justify the attempt. I remember that the 
 chiefs concurred in the opinion, that the education of 
 their young men among the whites was injurious to them, 
 and the tribe to which they belonged. They said that 
 such Indians were almost always discontented and 
 dissipated, and did harm by them example. They 
 desired that the laws relating to Indian trade and 
 intercourse should be repealed, from the opinion that 
 trade could be beneficially carried on by their own 
 people. The proposition to allow the territory a dele- 
 gate in Congress, afforded the chiefs especial gratifi- 
 cation. 
 
 In October, 1774, the Virginians and Western In- 
 dians fought at Point Pleasant, on the Kanawha River, 
 the greatest of all their numerous battles. The fight 
 commenced in the morning, and continued until even- 
 ing. The Virginians kept possession of the battle- 
 ground and the slain. A treaty of peace was concluded 
 in 1777, between the tribes engaged in that battle and 
 the Government of the Confederation, through their 
 commissioner, Thomas Lewis, my grandfather. That 
 treaty promised to the Indians a delegate in Congress. 
 The tribes with whom it was negotiated, were some of 
 those whose organization into a general government 
 was the object of the bill. The committee was not, 
 
FIBST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 481 
 
 however, entitled to the credit of attempting to execute 
 in good faith the promises of the treaty of 1777. It 
 was not known to the members, at the time when the 
 bill was reported, that any such obligation had ever 
 existed. It was indeed a singular incident that I 
 should have unconsciously attempted to execute a 
 promise made by my grandfather seventy years before. 
 
 On the morning of the day when the bill was to 
 be acted on by the House of Representatives, I went 
 early to the hall to prepare some materials for its dis- 
 cussion. I found Mr. Adams in his seat. I paid my 
 respects, mentioned to him the subject of the expected 
 debate, and asked him if he would aid in getting the 
 bill passed. lie made no answer. I saw the imps of 
 mischief dancing in his eyes, and was unable to draw 
 from him the course he intended to pursue. Judge 
 Wayne, who was then a member of the House, spoke 
 first, in advocation of the bill. Mr. Adams amused 
 himself by a violent philippic against its passage ; — 
 denouncing the scheme as the most perfect despotism 
 that had ever been imagined since the tyrannies of 
 ancient times. He dwelt with peculiar severity against 
 the clause which authorized the United States to keep 
 a detachment of troops in a fort to be built at the 
 place of holding the general council. The invectives 
 evidently proceeded from the recollection of the abuse 
 whieh he had received from the Georgians, on account 
 of his endeavors to prevent the execution of the Creek 
 treaty of 1825. I had no opportunity of replying to 
 him. Meeting him the next morning, I asked him if 
 he remembered that the United States had then a 
 garrisoned fort within the limits of the proposed 
 Indian territory ? He said he did not. I then in- 
 formed him that a fort had been erected there, and a 
 
 31 
 
482 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 detachment of troops stationed in it, during liis admin- 
 istration, and apparently by liis orders. The informa- 
 tion amused him very much. Whilst he was addressing 
 the House, many of the Indian Chiefs were in the 
 gallery, listening very attentively to him. Before he 
 concluded, John Ridge wrote, and sent me a note, in 
 which he said, that the Northern people had been for 
 a long time shedding tears over them, on account of 
 their degradation; but that now, when the time had 
 arrived for elevating them, they were the first to desert 
 their cause. 
 
 In the session of 1827-28, Congress passed a bill 
 authorizing the subscription of $1,000,000 to the Chesa- 
 peake and Ohio Canal Company. Mr. Mercer was the 
 mover of the bill, and its very active supporter. The 
 only speech in opposition was made by myself. After 
 stating many objections to the proposed appropriation, 
 the difficulties to be overcome in making the canal, 
 and the improbability that it would yield any profit, 
 I observed that one portion of its route was through 
 the valley between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany 
 Mountains, a country unsurpassed in richness of soil, 
 salubrity of climate, picturesque scenery, and the in- 
 dustrious habits of its people. It was, indeed, I said, 
 a most lovely land, rendered dear to me by a thousand 
 tender and happy recollections. 
 
 In the same speech I compared the expenditure 
 of the twenty millions of money — the conjectural 
 amount which it would take to make the canal — to sup- 
 ply the market of the District of Columbia, to Col. 
 Nick Johnson’s scheme to create a fortune for his first 
 son, by planting 100,000 walnut trees along the lane 
 through his plantation, to make coffins for the rich 
 people of the neighborhood. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 483 
 
 The loug session, continued confinement, and hard 
 labor, tired out all the members, especially those who 
 had been accustomed to the country and active life. 
 Towards its close a party was gotten up by Mr. Mercer 
 and the Canal Company, for Harper’s Ferry. From 
 the opposition which I had made to the Government 
 appropriation for the canal in 1828, I was not entitled 
 to be one of the invited. Mr. Mercer was, however, 
 the special friend of my wife’s kinsfolk, the Gambles 
 of Richmond, among whom he had met her in former 
 days. So I was invited, and my wife authorized to 
 invite any ladies of her acquaintance. We availed 
 ourselves of the days when the two Houses adjourned 
 for cleansing their halls, to make the expedition. A 
 fine band of music attended the party. The weather 
 was charming. Every thing was novel, the boats, the 
 canal, and the country. The change from the constant 
 employment in business during a long session, prepared 
 the members for enjoying every incident and sight with 
 peculiar relish. The party left Washington City in 
 the morning, and arrived at Harper’s Ferry in the even- 
 ing. The next day was spent in examining the public 
 works, and enjoying the many picturesque views creat- 
 ed by the wonderful pass of the Shenandoah River 
 through 'the Blue Ridge Mountain, and the vast piles 
 of rocks on each side of it. We ascended to the top 
 of the high hill to the south of the town, where we saw 
 the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers approaching each 
 other, until their currents united and passed through 
 an opening in the mountain ivhicli the Shenandoah had 
 for a hundred miles sought for without success. 
 
 I felt a sort of selfish right to enjoy the scene. My 
 great-grandfather was the first white man who dwelt 
 on the head-waters of the Shenandoah. Mine and my 
 
484 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 wife’s ancestors for the previous hundred years, had 
 lived and died on its banks. Many of our nearest 
 relations still resided there. It was my wife’s native 
 place, where she had always lived until she accompanied 
 me to Georgia. A public dinner was given to us, 
 where the clever people of the town and neighborhood 
 assembled to do us honor. The workmen at the armory 
 had holiday and added by their merriment to the 
 pleasures of the day. Whilst some of the men were 
 washing their hands at the run of water near the shops, 
 I happened to pass by, and overheard one commenting 
 upon the visitors. He observed that the Adams men 
 were the lean and ill-favored folks at Gen. Rust’s, that 
 the fat, good-looking men at the public-house were 
 Jackson men. When I joined our party and told in 
 the presence of Mr. Adams what I had overheard, he 
 felt it very sensibly as an expression of popular good 
 will for Gen. Jackson, at his expense. It passed away, 
 however, in a moment, the only moment when Mr. 
 Adams was not ready to do his full share of talk and 
 laugh during the trip. The next day we returned to 
 Washington City, with all the necessary accompani- 
 ments for fun and frolic. We had with us Hawes, a 
 member of Congress from Kentucky, a western rowdy 
 boatman, who drank brandy, talked, and made speeches 
 all day. Mr. Adams never quitted his company, laugh- 
 ing most of the time as if fun w r as his peculiar enjoy- 
 ment. Going into the House of Representatives early 
 the next morning, I paid my respects to him and asked 
 him how he was. He answered smilingly by holding 
 his sides to indicate their soreness from laughing. 
 
 The removal of the public deposits from the Bank 
 of the United States by President Jackson, excited a 
 long and animated debate in both Houses of Congress, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 485 
 
 and great agitation throughout the country. The mea- 
 sure was high-handed, and the means used not according 
 to rule. But Gen. Jackson’s conduct had never been 
 controlled by what others had said or done. The bank 
 was the most influential instrument of the Aristocratic 
 party, for defeating the Democracy, and controlling the 
 President. Gen. Jackson took from it the deposits of 
 the money of the government, when he ascertained 
 that their use was abused. The contest for rechartering 
 the bank, and for party ascendency, was carried on 
 with all the materials which could be made to bear 
 upon the subject. The managers of the bank created 
 dismay among the merchants and others accustomed to 
 use its money and credit for carrying on business, by 
 curtailing its circulation. The classes injuriously affected 
 thereby, instead of endeavoring to change the direction 
 of the bank, sent deputation after deputation to the 
 President, to represent to him the ruinous condition 
 of the business men of the country, occasioned by his 
 act of removing the public deposits. Gen. Jackson’s 
 temper gave way. The deputations were increased in 
 numbers and frequency, so as to drive him to despera- 
 tion, resignation, or such acts as might change the state 
 of parties. 
 
 I went to wait upon the President, to introduce a 
 friend, whilst these deputations were making their calls. 
 I heard him answer the set speech from the rich 
 merchants of Philadelphia Avitk such fury of feeling, 
 that froth began to gather about his mouth. Though 
 thus maddened in his temper, his purpose was not to 
 be shaken. His friends succeeded, after a while, in 
 stopping the reception of suppliants for the bank. 
 
 I was opposed to rechartering the bank, and yet 
 did not approve of the means used by Gen. Jackson for 
 
486 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 putting it down. The Georgia members of Congress 
 who had been elected on the same ticket with myself, 
 were favorable to the bank, and partisan opponents of 
 Gen. Jackson. 1 had to mark out a course for myself. 
 The speech which I made upon the subject was pre- 
 pared with unusual care for me, whose speaking had 
 been usually but impromptu efforts. I give extracts 
 from it because the question discussed lias been of con- 
 tinued interest from the commencement of the gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Mr. Gilmer, of Georgia, addressed the House in substance as 
 follows : He said that the interest excited by the subject under 
 
 consideration was not confined to the great commercial cities, or 
 to particular sections of the country — it was felt every w'here. 
 
 Those who were of the opinion that the bank was entitled by 
 contract to the public deposits, inferred the obligation from the 
 bonus of $1,500,000 which the hank paid to the government, for 
 the exclusive privilege and benefits conferred upon it by the 
 law of its incorporation. That inference, however, disregarded 
 what had been clearly shown to be true, that the public money 
 was deposited in the bank, not for the benefit of the bank, but 
 for the purposes of the government. The inference did not fol- 
 low from the premises for another reason. The control of the 
 public money was a trust, which the government could not part 
 with ; which it had no power or right to sell to the bank or other 
 corporate body, or to any individual. The depository of the 
 public money. must, like the money itself, be kept continually 
 within the controlling power of the laws. For what, then, it 
 was asked, did the bank pay the bonus of $1,500,000 ? He 
 answered in the words of the law, for the exclusive privileges 
 and benefits conferred upon it by the law of its incorporation. 
 Its corporate existence for twenty years, with the right to es- 
 tablish branches in the States, exempt from their authority ; to 
 have a capital of thirty-five millions ; to hold property, includ- 
 ing its capital, to the amount of fifty-five millions ; to discount 
 notes, with the faith of the government pledged that no other 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 487 
 
 bank should be chartered during its existence ; and that its notes 
 should be received in payment of all public dues, until otherwise 
 directed by law. The price paid for these privileges was ex- 
 ceedingly cheap. The government could now obtain for the 
 same grant, five times the price paid by the bank. 
 
 It would have been a violation of the trust delegated to Con- 
 gress to have sold to the bank the possession of the public money ; 
 if the hank was made the depository of the money of the United 
 States, for public purposes, and not for the benefit of the bank ; 
 if the bonus paid by the bank was a very small consideration for 
 the exclusive privileges and benefits conferred upon it, then the 
 conclusion was irresistible, that the bank was not entitled by 
 contract to be the depository of the money of the United States. 
 
 But, said Mr. G., what kind of contract was that, the bene- 
 fits of wdiich could be taken away from the party paying for it, 
 by the party receiving the pay, at any time, without conditions, 
 and without the consent of the other party ? These charges of 
 violated rights, and plighted faith, and broken contracts, brought 
 against the government by the bank, and sustained by its advo- 
 cates, could not be used, and would not have been listened to for 
 a moment, but that all the elements of party strife contending for 
 power had been mingled with private interests to conceal the 
 truth from the public eye. 
 
 Another argument had been used for the purpose of enlarg- 
 ing the rights of the bank, which, Mr. G. said, he had been sur- 
 prised to hear addressed to the American Congress. Public 
 feeling had been attempted to be excited, by dwelling on the 
 sacredness of chartered rights. The House had been solemnly 
 warned against trifling with what was so dear to the people of 
 this country. It had been said that, in interpreting the grant 
 by which chartered rights were secured, the law was to receive 
 the most liberal construction. Mr. G. said that no portion of 
 the history of human society was more replete with interesting 
 and instructive matter than the origin, progress, and general 
 effect of chartered institutions. They had their origin in 
 Europe, when the feudal system had rendered the people abject 
 slaves to the crown, the nobility, and the church. They were 
 the means by which the people reacquired some portion of their 
 natural rights, by which society Avas improved, and many of the 
 
488 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 abuses of governments reformed. The friends of liberty had 
 therefore, in every part of Europe, endeavored to enlarge the 
 sphere of chartered privileges. Emigrants from Europe, and 
 especially the colonists of this country, who were generally the 
 ardent lovers of freedom, brought with them the most sacred 
 regard for those privileges, and, in most of the colonies, obtained 
 some security for their enjoyment by grants from the crown. 
 The revolution effected an entire change in the whole order of 
 things in this country. By that great event the people were 
 restored to all their natural rights. The government which 
 they established was founded upon the principle that all its 
 citizens were equally free, and entitled to equal privileges. 
 Under such a government, exclusive privileges ceased to be 
 objects of popular regard. Grants of corporate powers be- 
 came monopolies. They were strict! juris, because they dero- 
 gated from common right. The construction of such grants, 
 instead of being, as formerly, exceedingly liberal in favor of 
 natural right, and against the absolute powers of government, 
 had become strict, because they detracted from common right in 
 a government where it was intended that the same advantages 
 should be enjoyed by all. Chartered rights, dei'ived through 
 banking corporations, so far therefore from being considered pe- 
 culiarly sacred, and entitled to an enlarged construction, ought 
 to be strictly limited to the privileges expressly granted. 
 
 Mr. G. said, there was one view of the subject rvliich ap- 
 peared to him to extend over the whole ground, and to be de- 
 cisive against the power of the United States to charter a bank. 
 Whence, he asked, came the power of banking, of issuing notes 
 or bills? It was the natural right of every citizen unless restricted 
 by law. Extended as banking by corporations was. the amount 
 of notes and bills of exchange depending for payment upon indi- 
 vidual capital as credit, was probably greater, in this country, 
 than the amount of bank notes. The power to pass laws for the 
 regulation of the right of individuals to issue notes and bills, 
 belonged exclusively to the States. What individuals had the 
 right to do, artificial beings could be constituted with au- 
 thority to do. Credit was an important means of acquiring 
 wealth. It gave more employment and activity to industry and 
 intelligence, than any other agent whatever, except capital itself. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 489 
 
 Like all other means of acquiring, diffusing, and transferring 
 wealth, it was a subject to be regulated by the laws of the State 
 in which the citizen or corporate body using them resided. The 
 power to create banks by a State, was not the exercise of the 
 power of emitting bills of credit. It was the creation of an arti- 
 ficial being, by law invested with authority to do what belonged of 
 right to individuals to do ; but which the State supposed could he 
 done more advantageously, for the interest of the community, 
 by corporate bodies. That right the States had not granted to 
 the United States. The United States could not, therefore, as- 
 sume it, without an act of usurpation. The constitutional prohi- 
 bition against the States issuing bills of credit, it was said, had 
 taken from the States the authority to create banks ; that what 
 they could not do themselves, they could not do by others. The 
 argument, so far as it had any application, was true ; but could 
 only apply to such banks as were authorized to issue bills of 
 credit upon the faith of the government, and depending for pay- 
 ment upon its funds. The prohibitory clause alluded to, most 
 assuredly did not take from the States the right to regulate the 
 employment of credit or capital by its citizens, or to create cor- 
 porate institutions, with the authority to issue notes and bills, 
 founded upon the capital or credit of those institutions. It had 
 been also said, that, if the States had the power of creating 
 banks, it was impossible for the United States to regulate the 
 currency. And whence, he asked, did the United States get the 
 right of regulating the currency ? Certainly, said Mr. G., the 
 constitution conferred upon it no such authority. Its power was 
 the regulation of the coin. 
 
 Mr. G. remarked that before he proceeded to discuss the last 
 question which he had proposed for examination, viz., the inex- 
 pediency of rechartering the bank, he thought it proper to make 
 a brief reply to what had been said of State governments and 
 State banks. The losses from broken State banks, and the de- 
 preciation of State bank paper, had been described in strong 
 terms, for the purpose of proving the folly of the State govern- 
 ments to be so great as to render them inadequate to exercise the 
 power of chartering and governing banking institutions, and the 
 unfitness of those institutions to supply a beneficial currency. 
 
 Mr. G. said, that in the legislation of newly formed commu- 
 
•190 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 nities, like most of our States, there would always be great er- 
 rors committed. It was however the peculiar genius of our 
 State governments to profit by experience. They were founded 
 upon the capacity of the people to govern themselves. That 
 capacity was often most strikingly exhibited in the recuperative 
 energy with which the State governments recovered from great 
 mistakes. This very quality of our free representative govern- 
 ments was never more clearly exhibited than in the history of 
 banking. In the new States, whilst capital was scarce, the de- 
 mand for it was necessarily very active and urgent. Many banks 
 had under such circumstances been created without capital, to 
 supply the place of capital by bank credit. Such banks had, of 
 course, failed to pay when specie was demanded. What was the 
 situation of those States where the evil of broken banks had 
 been most felt ? Look, said Mr. G., at the rapidly increasing 
 wealth and rising importance of Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. 
 Mistakes in banking, and all other errors, would correct them- 
 selves without difficulty in governments which were practically 
 the agents of a free, active, and intelligent people. Such were not, 
 he said, the operations of governments whose powers were not 
 directly responsible to the people. In our General Government, 
 he said, vast and complicated evils existed, which would not be 
 tolerated for a moment in the State governments. Abuses of 
 power often strengthened the power to abuse. 
 
 Mr. G. then proceeded to consider the inexpediency of re- 
 chartering the bank. It has been said, that whilst the currency 
 furnished by the United States Bank was the best in the world, 
 better than gold and silver, the State banks were wholly unable 
 to redeem their notes in specie. He said, that the statement 
 was partly true, but that the inability of the State banks to re- 
 deem their notes was the consequence of the operations of the 
 United States Bank. The receivability of the United States 
 Bank bills in the payment of all government dues, the possession 
 of the public money, and the establishment of its branches in 
 every part of the United States, had given such an extended 
 and universal credit to the bills of the United States Bank, as 
 to drive specie from circulation. That effect was increased by 
 the use which the United States Bank had made of the notes of 
 the State banks. He knew it had been said that one of the 
 
FIBST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 4!>1 
 
 great benefits of the United States Bank had been to control 
 over-issues by the State banks, so as to make their bills con- 
 vertible into specie. The reverse was true, both of the present 
 and first bank. The disproportion between the paper of the 
 State banks in circulation, and the specie in their vaults, was 
 never so great as at present, and at the time of the expiration 
 of the charter of the first bank. The expiration of the charter 
 of the United States Bank would be the destruction of that ex- 
 tended credit by which the notes of the State banks had ceased 
 to be convertible into specie, especially if accompanied by judi- 
 cious legislation on the part of the General and State Govern- 
 ments. The want of confidence in the banks would be the peo- 
 ple’s security against their over-issues. 
 
 But it had been asked, how were exchanges to be regulated 
 between different parts of the country ? He replied, as they 
 were then between Hew York and Liverpool. The productions 
 which each section furnished the other, was the principal medium 
 through which commerce would be carried on. The payment of 
 balances would be made, he said, in bills of commercial houses 
 of established credit, in bills furnished by the State banks, or in 
 gold coin. Mr. G. said, that it was exceedingly important for 
 keeping the rate of exchange uniform, and at a fair price, that 
 Congress should regulate the value of the gold coin, by increas- 
 ing its nominal value, so as to retain it within the country, and 
 so to direct the collection of the. public revenue, as to force the 
 State banks to make their bills convertible into coin at the will 
 of the holders. 
 
 Mr. G. said, that the opinions which he had then expressed 
 were not those of yesterday. They were the settled convictions 
 of his mind. They had been formed with his first examination 
 into the structure of the government, and his mature observation 
 and experience had but added confirmation to the truth of his 
 first judgment. He avowed his entire unconsciousness of the 
 operation of the slightest influence upon him, except his convic- 
 tion that the public good forbade the restoration of the deposits 
 to the Bank of the United States. He had never owned one 
 dollar of bank stock, either in the State or the United States 
 Bank, or any other stock whatever. He had never borrowed a 
 dollar of any bank. His rule was, not to be indebted at all. 
 
492 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 He had never committed an act of speculation. He held his 
 personal independence of higher value than any consideration 
 connected with the acquisition of property. He had never asked 
 from the United States office for himself nor for any relation of 
 his. He would never receive any office from the hands of any 
 President. He discharged but the obligation he owed to those 
 he represented, when he urged them not to he carried off from 
 the maintenance of the rights of the States and the people, by 
 the contests for power among the ambitious aspirants for the 
 first office of the country. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Whilst I was attending tlie session of Congress, 
 1833-34, a large impostliume rose upon my breast-bone. 
 For many years before, there had been occasionally schir- 
 rous tumors at the same place. I had some apprehen- 
 sion that the inflamed part would become cancerous. 
 
 The impostliume was very large and deeply in- 
 flamed. I attended the House, doubled up with the swell- 
 ing and pain, until I had finally to take to bed. When 
 my wife decided that it was ready for the lancet, I sent 
 for a physician. He opened it, letting out only blood, 
 and giving me great pain. After the physician went 
 away, my wife, taking up the lancet which he had used, 
 discovered a speck of pus on its point. She insisted 
 that I should send for him again. I told her that the 
 place was so sore that I could not bear the touch of 
 any one about it but herself, and urged her to use the 
 lancet if she thought it was necessary. She accordingly 
 applied it so strongly that the discharged pus flew over 
 her. I had been without sound sleep for a week. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 493 
 
 After thanking and kissing her, I took a good nap, and 
 rose up almost well. 
 
 For forty-five years I suffered very muck from tooth- 
 ache. Extraction was tried several times, after my 
 last set of teeth were formed, but without success. The 
 tooth always broke, producing the most violent pains 
 in my head. The danger from the usual tooth-drawers 
 was so great, that I would no longer permit their appli- 
 cation. When a tooth became so decayed as to break, 
 my Avife cut out the pieces. She would shake each 
 fragment, and cut round it so softly with her little 
 fingers, that what would have been insufferable from 
 the hard hands of a doctor, scarcely occasioned any 
 pain when done by her. The suffering was usually 
 forgotten in the pleasure which I felt from observing 
 the great effort she made to avoid hurting me. 
 
 Immediately after the termination of the session of 
 1834, we went to Philadelphia to consult Dr. Physic. 
 My health, always bad, had become much worse. When 
 I called upon the doctor, he told me that his own 
 health was so infirm, that I must put myself under 
 the care of his son-in-law, Dr. Randolph. When I re- 
 turned to the carriage where my wife was, and informed 
 her what Dr. Physic said, she replied that she must see 
 him herself. We accordingly went to his house. When 
 he came into the room, my wife was in tears. She 
 immediately went to him, told him that she had no 
 child ; that her husband was every thing to her ; that 
 her reliance was upon him, under Providence, for his 
 life ; and that she could not trust him in the hands of 
 any body else. Dr. Physic’s marble features began to 
 relax as he looked at her earnest face. He replied, 
 Well, madam, if your husband is so precious, go to the 
 mountains for the present. The weather is too hot to 
 
4M FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 operate upon him safely. Return when the weather 
 becomes cold, and I will do what I can for you. 
 
 Whilst I was in Philadelphia, I saw some of the 
 demonstrations of the political parties of the city, which 
 were very novel to me, who had been but little accus- 
 tomed to the action of the people in great masses. It 
 was a time of unusual excitement, on account of Gen. 
 J ackson’s removal of the public deposits from the Bank 
 of the United States. That strong measure was resisted 
 by all the means which the moneyed men of the country 
 could make bear against the President. Wealth and 
 numbers were striving for the ascendency. The 4th of 
 July passed during my stay. The greatest preparations 
 had been made for the celebration of the day. Each 
 party invited to its own feast its own distinguished 
 members (the members of Congress, among others). 
 Col. Benton had been long the most thoroughgoing 
 opponent of the bank. The democratic committees 
 and leading men, with the whole tagrag and bobtail of 
 Philadelphia, met him upon his landing from the boat, 
 on the morning of the 4tli, and escorted him to his 
 lodgings, with the most uproarious demonstrations of 
 political devotion. I declined attending the demo- 
 cratic dinner, to which I had been invited, but accepted 
 an invitation from the committee of arrangements to 
 accompany them to the place of public speaking. An 
 elevated stand was occupied by Gilpin, the orator of 
 the day, the committee of arrangements, and the in- 
 vited members of Congress. Each one, except myself, 
 was carried to the front of the stand, introduced to the 
 mob, and saluted with thundering halloos. I declined 
 being made a show of. The stand was just within one 
 of the most beautiful public gardens of the city. The 
 audience occupied the open space outside. The dinner 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 495 
 
 table was inside. As soon as Gilpin concluded his 
 speech, I descended from the stand, and attempted to 
 get out of tlie garden. The press of the crowd to get at 
 dinner inside was too great. I amused myself for a while 
 walking around the garden, and examining its beautiful 
 plants and flowers. A fight took place outside. The 
 press took that direction. I went along with it until I 
 found an opportunity of escaping to my lodgings. The 
 aristocratic dinner was to be in a theatre close by. 
 My wife and several other ladies went into the room 
 to look at the arrangements of the table, which, in ac- 
 cordance with the quality of those who were to partake 
 of the dinner, was not to be occupied until a late hour. 
 When we left the room, I was required to pay the 
 price of the feast for each of the ladies and myself. Mr. 
 Biddle, the president of the bank, came into the public 
 room of the house where I was. ITe filled, at the time, 
 a station so elevated in his own opinion, and those of 
 his party, that he declined being introduced to any 
 anti-bank member of Congress. 
 
 W e went to the valley of Virginia, and remained 
 with our friends until the time arrived for attending 
 Congress. 
 
 O 
 
 During the short intermission from labor, during 
 the Christmas holidays, my wife and myself went to 
 Philadelphia. Dr. Physic had forgotten me. But when 
 I mentioned his promise to my wife, Ah, said he, I 
 recollect the lady whose husband was so precious to 
 her. He said that he had not waited on a patient at 
 night for years, but that he would come to her husband, 
 at her request, whenever she thought it necessary. 
 
 After a minute and thorough examination of my 
 diseased body, he declared that evils numerous as those 
 in Pandora’s box had been fastened upon me. I sup- 
 
496 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 posed tliat the matter -which required the most immedi- 
 ate attention was a carbuncle upon my breast. He 
 said that the operation for its cure would be very pain- 
 ful and doubtful of success, and advised that it should 
 be let alone, predicting that it would pass away. He 
 was right. The carbuncle is gone. He destroyed 
 several internal tumors, by strangulation. I was put 
 to bed, and fed on a spoonful of dry rice, and a cup of 
 hot water tea, without cream, three times a day, for 
 near three weeks. During that time my wife was my 
 only nurse, never leaving me day nor night. 
 
 Whilst we were in Philadelphia, I made the ac- 
 quaintance of a kinswoman, whose kindness I can never 
 forget. She was the daughter of Gen. Cadwalader 
 Irvine, and widow of Dr. Charles Lewis of the Sweet 
 Springs, Virginia, a first cousin of my mother’s. Whilst 
 I was under the hands of Dr. Physic, and confined to 
 my room, she called every day at the house where we 
 were, to see my wife, inquire how I was, and offer her 
 services for our assistance and comfort. 
 
 Eliza Grantland, the daughter of Mr. Fleming 
 Grantland of Georgia, a great favorite, \fas at school 
 in Philadelphia at the time. We recommended her to 
 Mrs. Lewis. During all the time she was in Phila- 
 delphia, Mrs. Lewis took her to Gen. Irvine’s, with 
 whom she lived every Saturday and Sunday, and 
 treated her in every way as her own near kinswoman. 
 
 I heard from Mrs. Lewis, whilst in Philadelphia, 
 that her youngest son, a lad, had been so excited by 
 the desire to see Gen. Jackson, as he passed through 
 Pennsylvania, the year before, that he ran away from 
 his school, and joined the President’s escort. The 
 extreme admiration of the youth for the military chief- 
 tain, indicated so decidedly the pursuit in which he 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 497 
 
 would probably excel, that I advised Mrs. Lewis to 
 get him into the navy if possible, as the service best 
 suited for calling into useful action his love for distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 When I returned to Washington City, I wrote to 
 Gen. Jackson, asking from him a midshipman’s warrant 
 for young Lewis, in which I mentioned the military 
 services which had been rendered the country by his 
 ancestors, particularly in defending the State of Virginia 
 against the Indians and the British, alluded to his like 
 services to the United States, and referred to the great 
 regard which I understood he had for John Lewis, the 
 uncle of young Lewis. I applied to John Bobertson 
 (now Judge Bobertson), then a member of Congress 
 from Virginia, whose wife was the niece of Dr. Charles 
 Lewis, to aid me in my efforts. When he read what 
 I had written to Gen. Jackson, he swore that he would 
 sign no paper which flattered the old rascal as my 
 letter did. 
 
 I went to the office of the Secretary of the Navy, 
 and applied to Mr. Dickerson, then Secretary, to favor 
 my application to the President. He answered that 
 he would do what he could with the greatest pleasure ; 
 that he knew Mrs. Lewis and her family very well ; 
 but that General Jackson had spoken for the first mid- 
 shipmen’s warrants for two of his, or his wife’s kin, and 
 therefore doubted any immediate success. 
 
 When Dr. Physic came to see me, to determine 
 whether I was sufficiently cured to travel, we conversed 
 very freely upon the political state of the country, and 
 particularly about the probability of a war with 
 France, which General Jackson’s strong temper and 
 energetic measures were rendering probable just then. 
 My opinions happened to coincide so entirely with his, 
 32 
 
498 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 that, upon ending the conversation, he said, “ Sir, you 
 can go to Washington City; you cannot be spared 
 from your post there.” The next morning I went in a 
 carriage through a snow-storm to the river. The Dela- 
 ware had been frozen up : a thaw had followed. The 
 river was covered with broken ice. The wind blew 
 violently, so that the water was rough, and the boat 
 very unsteady. From Newcastle to Frenchtown the 
 track of the railroad was covered with snow. The cars 
 got along very badly. When we arrived at French- 
 town, the boat from Baltimore had not come. There 
 were no accommodations at the depot. We had to 
 seek shelter at a farm-house, about a quarter of a mile 
 off. Some one was kind enough to procure a cart for 
 the transportation of my infirm body. The Russian 
 minister and his secretary, Kromer, were of the party. 
 Ivromer was a particular acquaintance of ours. He set 
 off full speed for the house, and succeeded in procuring 
 a room and a bed for me — great luxuries in a house 
 which had to hold seventy travellers. I do not know 
 how many beds were found for others. The whole 
 party had eleven knives and forks and three spoons to 
 eat with. I could not very well describe the incon- 
 veniences and suffering from such accommodations to 
 me, who had been confined to bed in a close room for 
 three weeks, with food scarcely sufficient to sustain a 
 mouse, and was then not well. The next day, when 
 the smoke of the steamboat was seen rising in the 
 atmosphere over the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, 
 we had a most joyous shout from all the company at 
 the farm-house. We passed the night in Baltimore. 
 The earth was covered with snow next morning. It 
 was determined that I should go to Washington City 
 at once, in a stage with slides, as easier than the road 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 499 
 
 would be after the snow melted. We had not pro- 
 ceeded more than a third of the way, before the snow 
 began to disappear in places, so that the slides occa- 
 sionally dragged on the ground and stones. Before 
 we got to Washington City, the slided stage broke 
 down. Two gentlemen gave us their places in a stage, 
 whilst they followed on in an open wagon. I arrived 
 in Washington City with many additional reasous for 
 thinking well of the world. I suffered very little from 
 the cold to which I had been exposed ; the slight 
 feverish action which still remained after the operation 
 which had been performed upon me, most probably 
 saving me from what might otherwise have been very 
 injurious. 
 
 General Jackson went into office by the force of his 
 own individual popularity, and independent of party 
 divisions. The supporters of his administration were 
 therefore Jackson men, and not democratic nor federal 
 republicans. The opinions of sensible and honest men 
 about forms of government, and matters of public 
 policy, are necessarily different. Great latitude of 
 action is therefore permitted to their members, by 
 parties formed upon principle. Not so with men 
 united for the advancement and support of individuals 
 and their followers. Such adherents must toe the 
 track, or be driven off it. 
 
 As the discordant materials which had been united 
 for the time to bring General Jackson into office, began 
 to manifest their true character, by their pursuing the 
 course of public conduct which seemed to them right, 
 efforts were tnade by the party leaders to tighten the 
 cords of party discipline. 
 
 In the session of 1833-4, the Jackson party deter- 
 mined to change the officers of the House, as not beiug 
 
500 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 sufficiently supple instruments for their purposes. 
 They were excellent agents for doing the public, busi- 
 ness. The leaders, apprehending that some of the 
 members who had supported General Jackson would 
 not be willing to turn out public officers who did their 
 duty, determined to force them, by subjecting them to 
 the proscription of the party at home by making them 
 votes public. A resolution was introduced, proposing 
 to change the mode of voting by the House for its 
 officers, from ballot, to viva voce. I was among the 
 number on whom this measure was intended to operate. 
 1 was feeble from disease, and very easily excited. I 
 addressed the House in opposition to the passage of 
 the resolution. I repelled, in very indignant terms, 
 the imputation that I was to be thus controlled, and 
 poured forth the expression of my feelings in a manner 
 which produced a very sensible impression upon the 
 House. When I concluded, and retired to a recess 
 back of the Speaker’s chair, very much exhausted, I 
 was surrounded by a crowd of members, expressing 
 their strong sympathy with me and for me. When I 
 went home, my wife had retired to her room, to avoid 
 meeting me in the presence of others. She gave me a 
 salutation, worth more than all the shaking of hands 
 and plaudits which I had received from the listeners 
 and lookers-on. 
 
 I could not have written out for publication what I 
 said if I had desired to do so. The debate was unex- 
 pected. I had made no preparation for speaking. I 
 was too unwell even to correct the very imperfect 
 report made for the newspapers by the reporters. The 
 resolution was introduced by a member from Illinois, 
 whom I knew to be utterly worthless for investigating 
 any subject. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 501 
 
 On tlie 3d of March, the last night of the session, 
 when twelve o’clock arrived, I rose in the House, 
 amidst the struggle for the floor by speakers, and the 
 turmoil and confusion which attends the press of busi- 
 ness during the last moments, when hope still con- 
 tinued the desire to do what each member wished very 
 much to have done, and, addressing the Speaker, I took 
 from its fob an old gold watch, which had descended 
 to me from my great-grandfather, and, holding up its 
 broad face and large figures, announced that the time 
 had arrived when my right of representing the people 
 of Georgia terminated, bowed, and left the hall. Soon 
 after, Mr. Adams made my disappearance the occasion 
 of speaking of me in the most flattering terms. My 
 colleague and friend, Colonel Tom Foster, who was 
 present, said that the old watch, not satisfied with 
 living for ever itself, had used its time to confer im- 
 mortality upon its owner. 
 
 CHAPTER XI Y. 
 
 Esr 1836, I left home for Alabama. During my ab- 
 sence, I was nominated by the State-rights party a 
 candidate for elector of President and Vice-President. 
 I accepted the nomination. In my letter of acceptance 
 I said : — 
 
 I am decidedly in favor of the election of Judge White, 
 because I believe him to be an honest, sensible, practical man, 
 who has never sought office by vile means — whose firmness and 
 patriotism will secure to the people, if he shall be elected, an 
 impartial and faithful administration of the Government. I am 
 
502 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 in favor of the election of Judge White, from the hope that 
 the great body of the intelligent- and upright citizens of all 
 classes and all parties may be induced to unite in his support, 
 upon such principles as will avert the evils which at present 
 endanger our political system. 
 
 The continued prosperity of the country for the last twenty 
 years, and the extinguishment of party divisions, which, when 
 existing, kept public attention alive to the public interest, have 
 gradually withdrawn the people from politics to private pursuits, 
 so that the honors and rewards of office have become greatly 
 more accessible than formerly to those who seek them for 
 selfish rather than noble and patriotic purposes. From this 
 state of things is forming a party, who, without holding any 
 political principles in common, or agreeing upon any of the 
 great cpiestions of policy which divide public opinion, is united 
 only in the attempt to appropriate to itself the exclusive posses- 
 sion of all the offices of Government. 
 
 Between Mr. Van Buren and Judge White, the contest 
 ought to be considered a struggle between the patronage of the 
 Government and the independent action of the people — the love 
 of office and the love of country. 
 
 The opinions expressed in this letter show distinctly 
 enough why I was opposed to Mr. Van Buren. The 
 political course which I then took caused me after- 
 wards some embarrassment. In opposing Mr. Van 
 Buren and the agents through whom he worked, I was 
 led into connection with those whose political prin- 
 ciples were very different from my own. Mr. Van 
 Buren’s conduct justified my opposition to him. But 
 the evidence upon which I acted could only have its 
 proper weight with those who were familiar with the 
 facts, from their public service. Although every citi- 
 zen of Georgia probably concurs with me now in the 
 justness of the judgment which I then passed upon Mr. 
 Van Buren and his special friends, they thought very 
 differently then. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 503 
 
 The party which has since become the democratic, 
 were then the advocates of the most questionable mea- 
 sures of Gen. Jackson’s administration ; whilst the 
 nullifers, who are now advocating the most doubtful 
 powers, were formerly the supporters of popular rights 
 and the sovereignty of the States. These changes have 
 proceeded from the direction given to parties by the 
 leading men whose elevation to power they advocated, 
 who were themselves governed by their ambitious 
 looking ahead rather than by the principles which they 
 professed. 
 
 On our way to Alabama we stopped at Columbus, 
 and passed a day or two visiting our acquaintances, 
 and examining the location of the town destined to be 
 one of the largest inland cities of the South. We 
 went from Columbus to Montgomery, through the 
 Creek Indians, then in the greatest excitement on 
 account of the near approach of the time for their re- 
 moval from the country which they occupied, to the 
 territory provided for them beyond the Mississippi, and 
 by the great frauds practised by the whites, in purchas- 
 ing the reservations secured to them by the terms of 
 the treaty between the Government and the tribe. 
 They were ready for murder, and preparing for war. 
 Without being fully aware of their irritated state, we 
 entered their country. We found them drinking and 
 carousing at every station on the road. A few miles 
 beyond the village of Tuskega we passed, late in the 
 evening, three Indian men standing by the side of the 
 road in a deep hollow, and near a swamp, with rifles 
 in their hands. I saw from their looks that the devil 
 was in them. I requested my wife not to look back, 
 or show any concern. I kept a bold face upon them 
 myself, directing my driver to go along unconcernedly 
 
504 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 until out of sight, and then to drive as fast as possible. 
 That night, a family of white people living close by, 
 were murdered by the Indians. The next day we got 
 to Montgomery. The day after, eighteen travellers 
 left there for Columbus. In passing through the Creek 
 country, they were fired upon by the Indians. They 
 cut the horses from the stages, and fled on their bare 
 backs. The Indians burnt the stages and what of the 
 baggage they did not want. The travellers fled into 
 the woods, and wandered about, and on towards 
 Georgia, where they all finally arrived in a state of 
 starvation, and nearly dead from the continual appre- 
 hension of death. 
 
 After remaining in Montgomery for a few weeks, 
 my wife’s health, then very bad, became so injuriously 
 affected by the water, that it was necessary that we 
 should get away. 
 
 Whilst we were in Montgomery, the murders and 
 robberies committed by the Indians induced the Gov- 
 ernment to order out large bodies of militia from 
 Alabama and Georgia, to protect the inhabitants ex- 
 posed to their attacks. All travelling through the 
 Creek country from Montgomery to Columbus was 
 stopped. We set off for home; crossed from Mont- 
 gomery to the southern side of the Alabama River, and 
 proceeded up it. We met the Alabama army the 
 morning after. The people along the road were in the 
 greatest alarm, and flying from their houses to escape 
 the apprehended danger from the Indians. On the 
 second day we stopped, at twelve o’clock, at a house 
 where the road enters a gorge between two ranges of 
 high hills or low pine mountains. The road was almost 
 impassable, and the country very sparsely inhabited. 
 The people of the house were four men. One red- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 505 
 
 headed, thick set, bare-footed rascal, had the scar of a 
 large cut entirely across his face, as if his head had 
 been laid open by a sword. The house was two pens, 
 united by an open passage. My wife laid down to rest 
 in one of the rooms, where she heard all that was said 
 by these four scamps, then talking in the passage of 
 how they had killed people, and how they intended to 
 kill more. The troops had passed there the day before, 
 and in various ways roused all their ferocity. The 
 next day we crossed the waters of the Alabama River, 
 then called the Coosa. We found many persons on 
 the bank of the river, looking over into the Indian 
 country, as if to see what mischief was doing. Indian 
 cabins were in view. No one was to be seen. Those 
 w r ho were on the bank looking over, imagined that the 
 Indians of the town might be in concealment, ready to 
 pounce upon any one who should venture to cross over. 
 We had in our company a lawyer, who was going to 
 Talladega Court, and who acknowledged that he would 
 not have ventured to pass through the Indian country, 
 but that he w r as ashamed to avoid what a lady ventur- 
 ed to do. We found the Indian cabins on the Talladega 
 side of the river deserted. At the house where we 
 stopped to feed our horses and get dinner, the dwellers 
 had fled, leaving the overseer and the negroes to take 
 care of their property. We arrived in the evening at 
 Talladega County town. In the morning I met on the 
 road, a few miles from the court-house, my old friend, 
 Alexander Bowie. It is one of the most delightful 
 pleasures of life, to look upon the countenance, shake 
 hands with, and hear the voice of a friend whom we 
 have loved from youth to old age, have not seen but 
 for a few moments at long intervals, and just time 
 enough to keep his identity fresh in memory. 
 
506 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Alexander Bowie and myself were of the same age, 
 had commenced our classical education with the same 
 teacher, had continued together gathering knowledge 
 for several years, eating at the same table, often oc- 
 cupying the same bed, and sympathizing with each 
 other in our compositions, speaking, and all the other 
 employments of school. 
 
 Soon after I went to Milleclgeville as Governor, we 
 were visited by Miss Sarah Ann Wiley, a young lady 
 of the neighborhood. I observed her eyes fixed upon 
 me with great intentness. She at last asked me some- 
 thing about her uncle Bowie. I had never seen her 
 before, and could not therefore take her in my arms, 
 hug and kiss her, as I wanted to do, but we talked and 
 talked of that uncle Bowie. She told me how he had 
 directed her education, what very pleasant visits she 
 had made him, and how often she had heard him talk 
 of the friend of his youth. When Sarah Ann was 
 courted, her uncle Bowie was not near by to consult ; 
 so she advised with me. Her husband, Richard Hays, 
 was ready during his life, to do me any favor. Mrs. 
 Wiley, the sister of Mrs. Bowie, her daughter Mrs. 
 Baxter, her son-in-law Mr. Baxter, and Mr. Leroy 
 Wiley, who have been long my excellent friends, were 
 drawn to me at first by their knowledge of the attach- 
 ment between Alexander Bowie and myself. Mrs. 
 Baxter’s two charming daughters, Mary and Sally, 
 have been since they were little children, like my own 
 children. They are now married. When their hus- 
 bands look at me, and talk to me, I can observe the 
 effect of the repeated expressions of regard for me 
 which they have heard from their wives. Mrs. Baxter’s 
 cleverest son is named after me, and all the children 
 akin to Alexander Bowie, call me by some title of 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 507 
 
 affection. Alexander Bowie and I did not talk over 
 all these matters whilst we were standing in the road, 
 shaking hands and looking at each other. He had to 
 go to Talladego, where court was to he in session, and 
 he had cases to attend to professionally. He urged 
 me to go to his house, which was not very far from the 
 road which we had to travel. But my wife was not 
 well enough to enjoy delay. 
 
 We went on our way through a wilderness country, 
 occasionally passing by plantations where the great 
 fertility of the land had attracted some hasty improve- 
 ments. As the evening began to close, we ‘became 
 anxious about our resting-place for the night. We saw 
 but few Indians ; but we knew that they were scattered 
 over the country, in a highly irritated state. Travel- 
 ling with my wife, without a guard, through a wilder- 
 ness occupied by Indians anxious to revenge what they 
 felt to be injuries, upon any one who might be thrown 
 in their way, was no pleasurable pastime. 
 
 After going for some distance between pine hills, 
 without inhabitants, we found ourselves approaching 
 two young ladies, dressed in white, walking along the 
 same road in the course which we were going. It was 
 a strange sight for such a place. We were soon at the 
 house where we intended stopping for the night. Our 
 landlady was the daughter of old Mat Clay, long a 
 member of Congress from Virginia. Her husband was 
 an industrious wealthy man by the name of McGehee. 
 I had been familiarly acquainted with his family from 
 infancy. The young ladies were very pretty and agree- 
 able. I found a young man visiting the family and court- 
 ing one of them. I knew him to be a base fellow, who 
 was married to a woman from whom he was separated 
 without a divorce. He pretended not to know me, 
 
508 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 and evidently hoped that I would not recognize him. 
 I discovered his rascality, and felt it to be clue to the 
 young ladies to let them know who he was. 
 
 We left Mr. McGehee’s in the morning, and stopped 
 to get dinner at the house of a son-in-law of old Jim 
 Blair of Franklin, Georgia. The old fellow was there. 
 When we were about leaving, he insisted that we 
 should go direct to Georgia by the McIntosh trail, 
 through the Creeks, instead of the road by Benton 
 court-house through the Cherokees. The road forked 
 about half a mile from the house. When we got 
 to the plain, my wife declared, that if we went the 
 road advised by Blair, she should imagine that she saw 
 him behind every tree with his gun directed at me. 
 
 The mail rider had been murdered on the road he 
 advised us to go a short time before, with the expecta- 
 tion by the perpetrators that the deed would be charg- 
 ed upon the Indians. Blair had spent his life on the 
 frontiers, had traded much with the Cherokee Indians, 
 and was very unscrupulous. When I was first a mem- 
 ber of the Legislature, McKenney and Shoultz, exten- 
 sive private bankers, endeavored to strengthen the 
 credit of their issue by obtaining a charter for their 
 bank. They gave notice of their scheme, and a portion 
 of stock to several leading members of the Legislature, 
 to Blair among others. He went to Milleclgeville, op- 
 posed to the proposed bank. He became a clamorous 
 advocate for it. I charged him before the House with 
 corruption, and dared him to have an inquiry into 
 his conduct. He answered my remarks by saying, that 
 he did not fight with pistols, but that he would wait 
 for time and opportunity to take his revenge. 
 
 These circumstances were known to my wife. She 
 would not therefore trust to him for directions about 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 509 
 
 the road. We did him and ourselves great injustice 
 by our suspicions, for which we suffered much, by tak- 
 ing the wrong road, turning over our carriage, being 
 delayed, and undergoing other losses and crosses. 
 
 When we arrived at Benton court-house, we found the 
 people collecting there, and talking of fortifying them- 
 selves against the Cherokees, who it was said were as- 
 sembling to commence hostilities. I had to determine 
 whether I would venture among the enraged Chero- 
 kees, or cross over to Carrol County, through the 
 Creeks. I took the latter course. We left Benton 
 court-house to go so far on the road that evening, that 
 we might perform the journey to the Georgia frontier 
 the next day. We soon ascended a very steep mountain. 
 In passing along the side of the ridge, the carriage was 
 overturned. After struggling for a long time to right 
 it, and having nearly given it up as a bad job, two men 
 came by, who had followed the carriage track from 
 curiosity, to know what people could be after, who 
 were going among the Indians when every one else 
 was running away from them. They kindly afforded us 
 the necessary assistance to put the carriage on its 
 wheels. We arrived a little before night at the house 
 of a man who had sixteen children, and who seemed to 
 have so much to do, that he had heard but little of the 
 preparations for war. He, his wife, and house full of 
 children, lived in a cabin of one room, and that with- 
 out a loft. There were three beds in the room. We 
 occupied the middle one, between the old people’s and 
 the three eldest girls. The younger children laid on 
 the floor, between the beds and the fireplace. It was 
 a sight to see their heads in the morning raised up and 
 looking at me as I got up. We had insisted on sleep- 
 ing in the wagon under a shelter, but the very pro- 
 
510 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 position hurt our hostess so much, that we could not 
 urge it.* In the morning I rose early, ancl went to a 
 most beautiful spring of water at the foot of the hill, 
 to wash my face and hands. Not having a towel to 
 carry with me, I used my handkerchief for wiping ; I 
 carried our travelling pitcher filled with water to the 
 house ; and asked for a towel, so that I might have it 
 ready for my wife when she got from bed. Our host- 
 ess was greatly bothered. She had no towel. She 
 went to a heap of clothes on a plank in a corner of the 
 room, which reached to the joist, took from it a shirt 
 of one of the boys, tore off the tail, and gave it to me 
 for my wife to wipe her face and hands on. She was 
 sleeping whilst this preparation was making for her 
 comfort. When she got up, she washed and wiped on 
 the rag, without suspecting its previous use. It was the 
 best the kind old woman could do. It was indeed very 
 kind of her thus to demolish a boy’s shirt, for a lady’s 
 momentary convenience. After breakfast we set off 
 for Carrol County in Georgia. We passed two cabins. 
 At one of them we stopped, and had our horses fed. 
 The man told us that the night before his wife heard 
 the colt kick in the stable, and imagining the noise to 
 be Indians getting into the house, ran out at the door 
 opposite, and remained in the woods all night. Travel- 
 ling on, we met a youth in a carryall, looking very 
 earnest, and driving as fast as he well could. Fortu- 
 nately we said nothing to him. He was going after 
 the people with whom we had stopped, to remove them 
 into the settlement. A report had reached the fron- 
 tiers that the Indians would attack the whites that 
 night. How we should have been able to travel fifteen 
 miles under the constant apprehension of massacre, it is 
 difficult to imagine. When we left Montgomery, one of 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 511 
 
 my nephews supplied my wife with a loaded pistol. She 
 carried it in her basket, to save, as she said, my scalp 
 from the Indians. During the day that we passed 
 through the Creek wilderness, we stopped at a small 
 creek to water the horses. The road was causewayed 
 for some distance along the creek. My wife was so 
 unwell, that she could not bear the jolting of such a 
 road. She got out, and walked forward until she was 
 out of sight. She observed that a cane thicket was on 
 each side of the road, so as to form just such conceal- 
 ment as would suit the Indians if they intended attack- 
 ing travellers. I was delayed longer than usual for 
 watering the horses, by some accident which had hap- 
 pened to the carriage, which the driver and myself 
 were repairing. My wife became restless, and walked 
 back until she saw me. This was the only evidence she 
 gave of alarm during our travel through the country of 
 the hostile Indian savages. When we reached within 
 two miles of the Tallapoosa Kiver, we found cabins. 
 The doors were open ; spinning wheels w r ere in the 
 yard ; nobody was to be seen. It was evident that the 
 inhabitants had fled upon some sudden apprehension 
 of danger. Upon crossing the river, we went to the 
 house where we had been directed to apply for lodging. 
 The mistress had been carried away in a fainting fit. 
 We had to travel six miles before we found a cabin 
 occupied. We stayed at one located in a potato 
 patch, had for our supper sobbed Irish potatoes, and 
 coffee, with a grain to the gallon of water, without milk 
 or sugar. The woman said that so many had fled to 
 her house the night before, that she had used all her 
 meat and her sweetening. 
 
 We arrived at Canalton the next day, and found 
 every body looking out for Indians, and news of In- 
 
512 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 dians. A few miles before we arrived at Newton court- 
 house, we stopped to get water from a house near the 
 road. My carriage driver told the owner of the place 
 who we were. He was an old acquaintance, by the 
 name of Smith, to whom I had rendered some very ac- 
 ceptable services. He came to the carriage to see me, 
 with the greatest demonstrations of regard. He was an 
 officer in a volunteer company in the army then oper- 
 ating against the Creek Indians under Gen. Scott. He 
 gave us the first news from the Georgia army ; who of 
 our friends belonged to it ; some of the incidents of 
 their operations against the Creeks, particularly of our 
 friend Captain Dawson’s going down the Chattahoocha 
 River in a boat with his company ; the fight which he 
 had had with the Indians ; his dangerous position, and 
 his gallantry. Smith so magnified the danger, and 
 marvellousness of what had occurred, that we were 
 greatly excited by what we heard. The account 
 brought so forcibly to my wife’s imagination the dangers 
 which we had escaped, and made her realize so forcibly 
 those which had been encountered by our friends, that 
 she cried heartily. Smith, who was a kind, sympathiz- 
 ing fellow, cried in company with her. The tears 
 proved a great relief to her pent-up feelings. It was 
 still greater relief to her when we got home, and knew 
 that our travel was over, that we were surrounded by 
 a great many comforts which she had been deprived 
 of for some time, and which she could not do well with- 
 out, and could rest until rest was not wanted. 
 
 The electoral ticket for President and Vice-Presi- 
 dent which had been nominated by the States-rights 
 party, was elected. The Legislature was in session 
 when the electors assembled in Milledgeville to give 
 their votes. I was chosen president of the college. 
 
FIKST SETTLEES OF UPPER GEOEGIA. 
 
 513 
 
 The votes of the electors were given, counted out, and 
 the result announced in the House of Representatives, 
 in the presence of the senators and representatives. 
 The ups and downs of public life give relish to the en- 
 joyment of particular instances of elevation, far beyond 
 the pleasure derived from the even tenor of unvaried 
 success. The defeat which I had met with when last 
 a candidate for Congress, made the display attendant 
 upon the doings of this most important act which a 
 citizen of the United States is ever called upon to per- 
 form, agreeable to me, to whom display of any kind is 
 not usually very acceptable. 
 
 About the first of July, 1837, my wife and myself 
 left home in company with Mr. and Mrs. Prince, they 
 for Boston and New York, and we for Western Vir- 
 ginia. We four had passed the time of the session of 
 the Legislature of 1824 in the same public house, 
 where we had a private table, and our own drawing- 
 room. Mr. Prince and myself had served in Congress 
 together in 1834-35. We had acted together as trus- 
 tees of Franklin College, and belonged for many years 
 to the same bar in the practice of the law. Mrs. Prince 
 was a very pretty and exceedingly amiable woman. 
 Mr. Prince was a man of wit and social habits. We 
 went by the way of Charleston to Norfolk. A voyage 
 on the ocean was new to Mrs. Prince, my wife, and 
 myself. The ladies were sick as soon as they they got 
 on board the vessel. I buttoned up my coat, put 
 down my feet firmly, and determined that I would not 
 be sick. I was not sick. AVe do not know what man- 
 ner of men we are. How much my freedom from sick- 
 ness, so universally incident to a first sea voyage, pro- 
 ceeded from the control of my will, I do not know. I 
 had looked upon the ocean once before, but had never 
 
 33 
 
514 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 been out of sight of land. Its vast expanse of ever- 
 moving waters is always a great sight. It kept me so 
 excited that I scarcely left the deck of the vessel until 
 we got to Norfolk. Mr. Prince went to the north to 
 have printed a new edition of liis Digest of the Public 
 Laws of Georgia. When the work was completed, he 
 and Mrs. Prince left New York for their home in the 
 steam vessel, the “Home.” The dreadful catastrophe 
 which brought destruction upon that vessel, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Prince, and almost all the passengers, made such 
 an impression upon the whole country, that the event 
 is yet freshly remembered by every one when the 
 Pursting of boilers, the burning of steamers, and the 
 wreck of vessels are heard of. Soon after the steamer 
 left New York a violent storm came on, which drove 
 the vessel to the North Carolina coast in a leaking, 
 sinking condition. All were stimulated to do what- 
 ever could be done to save the vessel and themselves. 
 Mr. Prince took command of the hands at the pump, 
 where his self-possession and strong strokes showed 
 that he worked for a nobler purpose than fear for his 
 own life. When exhausted by his efforts, he joined his 
 wife to devote himself to her safety. Her self-sacri- 
 ficing nature would not yield to the temptation of cling- 
 ing to her husband, when his exertions might be ne- 
 cessary for the safety of all. She urged him to return 
 to his efforts at the pump. Immediately afterwards 
 she attempted to obey the advice of the captain, to 
 remove from one part of the vessel to another less ex- 
 posed to danger. As she stepped out of the cabin 
 into an open space, a wave passed over and through 
 the vessel, and carried her into the ocean. When the 
 storm subsided, her body was found deposited on the 
 shore. Mr. Prince, resuming his labors at the pump, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 515 
 
 was spared tlie pangs of knowing the fate of liis wife. 
 To a young man who lived to report tlie expression, 
 Mr. Prince said, “ Remember me to my child, Vir- 
 ginia,” what else the uproar of the ocean prevented 
 being heard. No account was ever given of the last 
 struggle for life by those who worked at the pump. 
 In a great heave of the ocean, the vessel parted asun- 
 der and went to the bottom. 
 
 We left Norfolk in a steamboat bound up James 
 River for Richmond. Judge May, of the General Court 
 of Virginia, was a passenger. Hearing my name he intro- 
 duced himself, and asked if I was a relation of Mr. 
 Peachy Gilmer. I answered that I was, knew him 
 well, and liked him very much. He told me that they 
 had been college class-mates and intimate friends. I 
 had the full benefit of his regard for my kinsman du- 
 ring our trip up the river. He knew very familiarly 
 all the places in sight from the boat. The day was 
 clear and pleasant. We remained most of the time on 
 the top of the boat. The houses and plantations of 
 many of the old aristocratic families of Virginia were 
 within view. My time passed delightfully in listening 
 to his account of the antique buildings, their builders, 
 and various occupants. I have a great taste for the 
 subject, and was feasted to my heart’s content. As we 
 went by the island of Jamestown, on which the first 
 effective settlement was made in Virginia, we took on 
 board a curiosity hunter, who had just been on the 
 island searching for relics of the first settlers. He 
 showed his broken pipe-stems, rusty buttons, and other 
 odd matters to attach value to. All that remained of 
 the old town, was part of the wall of a church, and a 
 chimney. The only house on the island was occupied by 
 Dr. Peachy, a distant relation through my great-grand- 
 mother, Mary Peachy Walker. 
 
516 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 My ancestors of every stock had been for the pre- 
 ceding century Virginians. Tlie difficulties which the 
 first settlers had encountered, the massacre by the 
 Indians, the marvellous adventures of Captain Smith, 
 the love of Pocahontas, had been conned over in child- 
 hood like Sandford and Merton, Robinson Crusoe, and 
 the Pilgrim’s Progress. 
 
 We spent a few days in Richmond with my wife’s 
 brother, P. R. Grattan ; went to Goochland, where we 
 stayed a short time with our brother-in-law Dr. Harris, 
 and then made our way to the valley. The time was 
 engaged so sweetly, and stole on so imperceptibly, that 
 our allotted time was gone long before we were prepar- 
 ed to leave our friends. I found on my return to 
 Georgia the election for Governor waxing warm. It 
 was very uncertain who would be elected. I had been 
 defeated three years before, when a candidate for Con- 
 gress, although circumstances had given me unusual 
 popularity at the time. I was opposing the Governor 
 then in office, who had some special means in his power 
 to aid his re-election. The state of the polls as heard 
 from, kept the result very doubtful for two or three 
 weeks. Each mail added to the interest, by continuing 
 the uncertainty. Most civilized nations have games or 
 shows of some sort, for keeping alive the spirit of their 
 people. Our popular elections answer that pupose 
 most admirably. Every body, men, women, and chil- 
 dren, from the most learned to the most ignorant, are 
 stirred into action or thought when elections are going 
 on. All talk, all feel, and all know something more 
 than they did before. Some time after the election 
 was over, but before the state of the polls was known, 
 my wife and myself whiled away a rainy day which 
 restlessness would not let us devote to regular business, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 517 
 
 in reading the letters which had passed between ns be- 
 fore we were married. We found one which had been 
 written soon after I was first chosen a member of the 
 Legislature twenty years before. It described the 
 drinking and fighting, the bravado and palavering, the 
 speaking and cheering, on the day of the election, and 
 concluded by declaring, that I would never again enter 
 the arena where such disgraceful scenes were exhibited. 
 We forgot for a while the election, in a hearty laugh 
 at my expressions of disgust at the ways of election- 
 eering, my observation that I would never offer again 
 for any office, and my continued offering from that time 
 to then, when I was listening on the tiptoe of excite- 
 ment to hear whether or not the majority of the votes 
 of the State had been given to make me Governor. 
 
 GHAPTE II X Y . 
 
 I went to Milledgeville a few days before the time 
 for my inauguration. Mr. Dawson was there. He and 
 my wife being sticklers for the punctilious observance 
 of etiquette, insisted that I should pay my respects to 
 Gov. Schley in the Executive office. Knowing but little 
 about forms, I felt that my success over Gov. Schley 
 required that I should be very courteous to him. So I 
 did as I was advised, made my bow to the Governor, 
 and attempted to enter into familiar conversation with 
 him. Taking my call for one of assumacy, he treated 
 it accordingly. I tried to conciliate his wounded feel- 
 ings, by drawing off his thoughts from ourselves, and 
 directing them to some subject upon which we could 
 talk freely. I ventured to speak of the loss of “ the 
 
518 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Home,” tlien fresli in the minds of every body, our 
 friends Mr. and Mrs. Prince, our travelling together, &c., 
 <fcc. It would not do. The Governor spoke in reply 
 so harshly of Mr. Prince, that I could be in no doubt 
 but 'that the etiquette was out of fashion or did not 
 suit the case, bowed again, and took my leave. Nil 
 disputandum , cG., the., &c. 
 
 The following is an extract from my inaugural ad- 
 dress. 
 
 Fellow Citizens, — Before I enter upon tlie duties of the 
 office to which I have been called by your favorable opinion, I 
 must avail myself of the present opportunity to express to you 
 the deep sense of gratitude which I feel for this proof which you 
 have given of your renewed confidence. 
 
 Whilst I am very sensible of the high honor conferred upon 
 me, I cannot hut feel the weight of responsibility which it brings 
 with it. and my inability to serve the State to the extent 
 of its wants, and my own wishes. It is some relief, how- 
 ever, from the consciousness of my deficiencies, that the office 
 has been conferred, not assumed, nor sought for ; that in the 
 canvass I left the election to the free and unbiassed suffrages of 
 the people ; that I excited no expectations, alarmed no fears, 
 made no promises, and shall enter office without incurring any 
 obligations but in accordance with the public will, and the re- 
 quirements of the solemn oath I am about to take. 
 
 In making appointments, I shall select from those Avhose ser- 
 vices I can command, the best qualified to do what the law re- 
 quires. Placing the greatest value upon the freedom of politi- 
 cal opinions myself, I shall endeavor to do justice to others who 
 may differ from me. Those who have sought the aid of party 
 power to procure office, by ejecting faithful incumbents, can 
 scarcely expect to escape the application of the same rule of con- 
 duct to themselves. 
 
 I believe it to be important to perfect our State institutions 
 by reforming the Constitution, simplifying and rendering cer- 
 tain the laws, improving the mode of their administration, mak- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 519 
 
 ing their execution efficient, and correcting the defects of our 
 system of public education. 
 
 The rapid settlement of the Cherokee country, the abundance 
 of its iron, lime and marble, the fertility of its soil in producing 
 grain and tobacco, and its distance from navigation, have created 
 new and strong inducements to the State, for availing itself of 
 the improvements which are constantly making in the construc- 
 tion of railroads, to develope the great resources of that portion 
 of it, by increasing the facilities for carrying its heavy produc- 
 tions to market. 
 
 I believe it to he our highest political duty to retain the 
 organization of the Government in the form which our forefathers 
 gave it ; limiting the United States to legislation upon the 
 general subjects specified in the Constitution, and preserving 
 unimpaired the rights of the States and the people. Our pe- 
 culiar domestic relations, slave labor, and its productions, render 
 this duty imperative upon the Southern people. These interests 
 are in constant danger of being sacrificed to selfish cupidity, or 
 the zeal of fanaticism ; and being represented in the General 
 Government by a minority, as they always will be, can only be 
 protected by unceasing vigilance. 
 
 Knowing from experience the difficulties to be encountered 
 by your Chief Magistrate in times of high party strife, I am sure 
 I shall stand in need of your kindest indulgence and most liberal 
 support. Unconscious of any selfish object in accepting office, I 
 confidently trust my conduct will be directed exclusively to the 
 public good. 
 
 A short time after I went into office, fifteen hun- 
 dred mounted men, headed by Gen. Nelson, came down 
 from the Cherokee counties, and marched into the 
 suburbs of Milledgeville, with the military display of 
 an army going to war. They said that they were on 
 their way to Florida. But the United States had made 
 no call upon Georgia for such an army ; and it was 
 obvious to any one who knew any thing of the public 
 service, that so many troops would encumber instead 
 of promoting it. They encamped, and asked the Legis- 
 
520 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 lature for money. Resolutions were immediately passed 
 by botli Houses, appropriating thirty thousand dollars 
 for their use, directing that the General Government 
 should be charged with the amount, and requesting the 
 Governor to use means to have it repaid to the State 
 by the United States. As soon as the resolutions re- 
 ceived the sanction of both Houses, two distinguished 
 members, and very intimate friends, came into the 
 Executive office, and urged me to sign them. They 
 apprehended gross insult or great personal violence to 
 me if I should refuse. They reported to those who 
 deputed them, that my answer was that I would veto 
 the resolutions if I died for it. When the resolutions 
 were presented to me for signature, I declined, and 
 returned them with the following message : 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 21 st Dec., 1837. 
 
 I return to the House of Representatives the resolutions 
 which originated in that body, passed both Houses, and were 
 presented to me on the 21st inst., upon the subject of an appro- 
 priation of money for the use of the large body of mounted men, 
 stated to be now on their march to Florida, with my reasons for 
 disapproving them. 
 
 From the account already laud before the House, it is evident 
 that the men for whose benefit the appropriation is intended, 
 have been raised without the authority of this State, or the 
 United States ; that the requisition which had been made upon 
 Georgia for volunteers to serve in the Florida campaign, had 
 been withdrawn ; and that Gen. Nelson, by whom they have been 
 raised, had no orders, and held no commission from either Govern- 
 ment justifying such a measure. I cannot, therefore, perceive 
 how the public money can, with propriety, be applied to their 
 use. They can only be considered as so many individuals direct- 
 ing themselves according to their own wishes, to whatsoever 
 course or purpose, they may please ; that although they allege 
 that they are on their way to Florida, they are under no legal 
 obligation to serve against the Seminoles ; and that if they 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 521 
 
 should receive the money and use it, they would still he at 
 liberty to go to Florida or not. 
 
 If they should go to Florida, the probability is, that they 
 will not be received into the public service. The Secretary of 
 War and Gen. Jesup, who have been directing the operations 
 for carrying on the campaign in Florida, and know best the 
 materials which they want, and what force can be maintained, 
 show by their letters that it will be difficult to support mounted 
 men there ; that even when they required twelve hundred volun- 
 teers from the State, few, if any, mounted men were desired by 
 them. The unexpected accession of this large force under Gen. 
 Nelson, consisting of fourteen or fifteen hundred men, and near 
 seventeen hundred horses, must necessarily embarrass, instead 
 of advancing the objects of the campaign. The expenses of the 
 Seminole war have been so great for what has been effected, 
 that the officers directing it must be very unwilling to incur the 
 additional cost which the acceptance of this force must incur, 
 especially as it is not the kind wanted for the service. 
 If they should not be received, they must sustain losses and 
 undergo suffering in making their way home through a country 
 already scarce of provisions, and which must necessarily be 
 rendered greatly more so by their march to Florida, which it 
 would be difficult to describe. I do not, therefore, think the 
 Legislature ought to do any thing to aid them in continuing their 
 march. The part of the country through which they must pass, 
 whether accepted into service or not, will have its quiet and 
 rights of property disturbed by their necessities. The very 
 assembling together of so many men without discipline, and 
 marching through the country without authority of law, the 
 orders of the State or General Government, or beins: under the 
 command of officers having the right to control them, is an evil 
 itself of great magnitude, and ought to be repressed if possible. 
 They have been drawn exclusively from the Cherokee counties, 
 and those adjoining them. It is matter worthy of consideration, 
 whether the Government, bound, as it is, to look to the defence 
 and protection of its own people, should encourage them to leave 
 their homes for other service, surrounded as they are by Chero- 
 kee Indians, now about to be removed. 
 
 For the purpose of showing the necessity which exists for 
 
522 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 retaining in the Cherokee and adjoining counties all the men 
 capable of hearing arms, I submit to the House of Representa- 
 tives copies of communications from Gov. Schley, Col. Nelson, 
 and other persons, upon that subject, to the President of the 
 United States. From these communications it appears, that 
 Gov. Schley considered the danger to the Cherokee country so 
 great and immediate as to justify him in assuming an authority 
 not given by the lavs, in organizing a large military force for 
 its defence, notwithstanding that the United States had at the 
 time eleven companies stationed in it : that by a military order 3 
 issued the 3d August, from Athens, addressed to Col. Nelson, 
 he directed him to raise and organize and report a regiment as 
 ready for duty. Early in September, Col. Nelson advised Gov. 
 Schley that the time had already arrived when this regiment 
 should take the field to protect the people from the Indians. 
 Gov. Schley and Gov. Lumpkin (the Commissioner of the United 
 States, then residing at New Echota, and having the best means 
 of correct information) concurred in the opinion that the raising 
 and organizing of the regiment under Col. Nelson was producing 
 the happiest effect, in removing the Indians from the country. 
 Gov. Scl dc}’, during the month of September, expressed his 
 determination to arm and call it into active service. If there 
 was any justification whatever for raising this regiment by Gov. 
 Schley and Col. Nelson, at the time they did, or any reliance to 
 be placed upon the opinions of Gov. Schley, Col. Nelson, and 
 the United States Commissioner, as to the danger to be appre- 
 hended by our citizens from the Cherokee Indians, and the 
 happy effect which it had in inducing the Indians to emigrate, I 
 submit to the Legislature, whether it is proper now, when the 
 time for the removal of the Indians comes nearer, to withdraw 
 from the Cherokee and adjoining counties the large force now 
 marching to Florida. Admitting that Col. Nelson’s raising the 
 regiment, and stationing one company in each of the Cherokee 
 counties had another purpose than the defence of the people, still 
 fears must have been created among them by these warlike pre- 
 parations. It is indeed highly necessary that every one capable 
 of bearing arms in the Cherokee counties should, if possible, be 
 at home, to keep down any disposition which the Indians may 
 have to do mischief. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 523 
 
 Strong as I consider these objections to the adoption of the 
 resolutions, they .would probably have been overcome by my 
 disposition to acquiesce in the 'will of the Legislature, but for 
 others of a higher and more imperative character. 
 
 If the appropriation he made for the benefit of the men 
 described in the resolution, it cannot he for any services which 
 they have rendered to the State ; or in consideration of any 
 services which they are bound by law or contract to render 
 hereafter. By the Constitution, the General Assembly cannot, 
 by resolution, grant any donation or gratuity, in favor of any 
 person whatever, but by the concurrence of two-thirds. If the 
 money attempted to be appropriated by the resolution is not for 
 services already rendered to the State, nor hereafter to be ren- 
 dered, I do not perceive clearly how the appropriation can be 
 considered any thing but a gratuity. This conclusion has prob- 
 ably been intended to be avoided by the second resolution, which 
 orders that the money expended in pursuance of the appropria- 
 tion in the first resolution, shall be charged to the Federal 
 Government, and that the Governor shall take the means to have 
 the State reimbursed. I cannot perceive by what rule of right 
 or law the State can expend money for its own citizens, and 
 charge the amount to the United States, when their services 
 have neither been required by, nor rendered to the General 
 Government. I should feel at a great loss to know w T hat means 
 could properly be taken to reimburse the State for such an ex- 
 penditure. 
 
 The resolution appears to recognize the authority of Gen. 
 Nelson to command the men as Brigadier General. The States 
 reserved the right in the Constitution to appoint the officers of 
 the militia which may be called into the service of the United 
 States. The law of Congress which authorizes the President to 
 l’aise volunteers for the Florida service, directs that the officers 
 shall be appointed according to the law of the State to which 
 they may belong. The Constitution of this State directs that 
 all general officers of the militia shall be elected by the General 
 Assembly. If, therefore, these men had been raised under the 
 authority of the President of the United States, still they must be 
 commanded by a Brigadier General chosen by the Legislature, and 
 called into service through the orders of the Governor of the State. 
 
524 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 I am not satisfied that the Legislature has the constitutional 
 power to appropriate, by resolution, thirty thousand dollars' for 
 the purposes stated, by directing that the money shall he paid 
 out of the contingent fund by the Governor. The Constitution 
 provides, that no money shall be drawn out of the treasury, or 
 from the public fund of the State, except by appropriation made 
 by law. The object of this provision is, to secure the people 
 from inconsiderate and improper dispositions of the public money, 
 by subjecting each appropriation made by the Legislature to 
 the investigation produced by reading the bill containing it three 
 times, on three separate days, in each House, as must be done 
 before a law can be passed. A contingent fund is created dur- 
 ing each session of the Legislature, for the Executive Depart- 
 ment, because the Legislature cannot foresee, and, therefore, 
 cannot provide specially for all the objects requiring an advance- 
 ment of money by the Governor from one session of the Legis- 
 lature to the succeeding. 
 
 If these men noiv marching to Florida had passed by the 
 seat of Government when the Legislature w r as not in session, 
 the Governor coidd not have advanced to them thirty thou- 
 sand dollars to defray their expenses, out of the contingent 
 fund, because they are not in the service of the State, and 
 the Legislature could not have intended to provide for such a 
 contingency. The last contingent fund was appropriated for 
 the political year 1 S3T, which, according to the practice of mak- 
 ing up accounts at the treasury office, expired the last day of 
 October ; so that the unexpended balance of that fund has 
 become a part of the unappropriated funds of the State, to be 
 appropriated by law, as other public money, except for such 
 expenditures as were made during the political year 1837, 
 and properly charged upon that fund. 
 
 For these reasons, it appears to me inconsistent with the 
 spirit of the Constitution for the Legislature, at its present 
 session, to appropriate thirty thousand dollars by resolution, 
 charging it upon the contingent fund of the last political year ; 
 and for an object which has presented itself to the Legislature 
 during the present session, is understood, and therefore not 
 contingent. For these several reasons, I cannot approve of 
 the resolution. 
 
 George K. Gilmer. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 525 
 
 This matter will not be fully understood, unless it 
 is known that General Nelson, the leader of this mili- 
 tary band, was a man of lawless violence. He had 
 some years before, when sub-officer of the guard of 
 forty men, then stationed in the Cherokee country, un- 
 der the command of General Sanford, chained the 
 ministers of the Gosjiel who had been found residing 
 among the Cherokees, and been greatly offended at the 
 inquiry which I ordered to be made into his conduct 
 on that account. 
 
 He and his fifteen hundred followers went to 
 Florida, where they killed one Indian squaw; for 
 which service the General Government, then under the 
 sway of President Van Buren, paid them more than 
 half a million of dollars. 
 
 A company had been organized in each of the 
 Cherokee counties, immediately before the election for 
 Governor, and the members promised the very desira- 
 ble pay given by the United States to mounted infan- 
 try, with the evident expectation that all of them would 
 vote esprit de corps for candidates of the Van Buren 
 party. . . . 
 
 A citizen, who had held the highest office in Geor- 
 gia, and was then very popular, and always very con- 
 ciliatory, had been sent into the Cherokee country by 
 Mr. Van Buren (where political opinions and party 
 connections were less fixed at the time than elsewhere), 
 previous to the election, with some little commission 
 which kept him there whilst the canvass was going on. 
 
 The following veto of the resolution of the Le- 
 gislature, authorizing the borrowing of $150,000 by 
 the Directors of the Central Bank, for distribution 
 among the people of a portion of the State, requires a 
 word of explanation. The Central Bank was a State 
 
526 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 institution, created for managing profitably the money 
 which belonged to the State, which had been derived 
 from the sales of public lands, fees for grants, &c. It 
 was, however, made so subservient to party purposes, 
 that it was discontinued, and its funds ordered to be 
 distributed among the people. 
 
 This distribution was carried on so much more in 
 accordance with the demands of the people for money 
 than the ability of the bank to pay, that the people of 
 many counties got none. The Legislature authorized 
 the Directors to borrow $150,000, to make up the 
 deficiency, and stop the clamor of those who said that 
 they were equally entitled with those who had received 
 a share to a portion of the public money. 
 
 Executive Department, Georgia, 2 d Dec, 18 Si. 
 
 The resolution, which originated in the Senate, and has 
 passed both Houses, authorizing the Directors of the Central 
 Bank to borrow one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to 
 enable the bank to meet the dividends to the counties declared 
 by the Directors, and yet unpaid, was on the 1st of December 
 presented to me for approval. 
 
 The law by which the Central Bank was created, determines 
 the extent of the authority of its Directors. That law cannot 
 be altered, nor the powers conferred by it upon the Directors 
 lessened nor increased by a resolution of the Legislature. 
 
 The law, in pointing out the duties of the Directors of the 
 Central Bank, as special agents of the State, grants them no 
 power to borrow money. It appears to me, therefore, to be 
 inconsistent with the principles of legislation to attempt, by 
 resolution, to give them that authority. 
 
 By the Constitution, all bills for raising revenue, or ap- 
 propriating money, must originate in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives, and be read three times, on three several days, 
 in each branch of the General Assembly. This resolution 
 originated in the Senate, passed through none of the forms 
 required by the Constitution for money or appropriation bills, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 527 
 
 and yet authorizes the raising by loan of one hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars by the Central Bank, and appro- 
 priates the money thus to be raised to meet the dividend 
 which has been declared by the Directors of the bank. With 
 due respect for the two Houses, it appears to me that the 
 Legislature cannot, in this form, raise and appropriate money ; 
 and, not having the power, it cannot confer it upon the bank. 
 
 The possession and management of three millions of money 
 by the Directors of the Central Bank, is a vast power, and 
 capable of being made, in a popular government, where the 
 practical administration is constantly dependent upon the ex- 
 pression of the people’s will, through frequent elections, an 
 instrument of fatal mischief. The guards thrown around the 
 bank by the vigilance of those who administer the Govern- 
 ment, can neither be too numerous nor too watchful to prevent 
 its influence from being directed to improper purposes. 
 
 If the Government desires to continue to the people the 
 advantages they derive from the bank, it should prevent, by 
 the most decided means, any departure of the Directors from 
 the special authority intrusted to them. I do not perceive 
 very clearly the force of the position assumed by the Legis- 
 lature, that because the Directors of the Central Bank have 
 borrowed money at seven per cent., to distribute at six among 
 the people of some of the counties, that therefore the Legis- 
 lature ought to do the same thing for the people of the remain- 
 ing counties. 
 
 It is indeed no novelty for Governments to dispense favors 
 to individuals and portions of the people, at the expense of 
 the whole community ; but it is scarcely in accordance with 
 the fundamental principle of our legislative authority, that 
 every measure must be conducive to the good of the State. 
 
 Bor these reasons, I cannot approve of the resolution, and 
 return it to the Senate, where it originated. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Those who had opposed my election, endeavored to 
 excite the ill-will of the inhabitants of the Cherokee 
 territory against me, by trying to make it appear that 
 
528 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OE UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 I was not inclined to secure tliem against Indian vio- 
 lence, nor to gratify the militia, who desired to he 
 called into the public service to get good pay from the 
 United States. 
 
 They succeeded in passing a resolution through the 
 Senate, calling upon the Governor for such information 
 as might be in his possession relative to the necessity 
 of providing for the defence of the Cherokee counties 
 of the State, and what amount of forces, mounted or 
 infantry, was necessary for said service ; as well as the 
 best method of raising and organizing the same ; and 
 what force, if any, had been organized for that section 
 of the country, and, if any, what force is considered in 
 readiness to act for that purpose. I answered— 
 
 I have received no official communication upon the several 
 subjects submitted to me for information since I have been in 
 this department. Those received by my predecessor, have 
 already been laid before the Legislature. I am not able to 
 give to the Senate the information asked for, as to the amount 
 of force organized for the Cherokee country, and ready to act. 
 I have understood, unofficially, that it consists of eleven com- 
 panies, amounting together to six or seven hundred men. 
 
 It is proper to state, from its connection with the call 
 made upon me by the resolution, that, by the fourth section 
 of the fourth article of the Constitution, the United States 
 are bound to protect the State against domestic violence, upon 
 the application of the Legislature of the State, or, if the 
 Legislature is not in session, of the Executive. I have no 
 doubt that the authorities of the General Government, if they 
 have not already provided troops sufficient to protect the 
 people of the Cherokee country from Indian violence, •will 
 do so, upon proper representations being made to them, either 
 by the Legislature or Executive. 
 
 There is a difficulty of another kind, in relation to the 
 raising of such troops for the service of the State as seems 
 to be contemplated by the resolution of the Senate, which 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 529 
 
 I would respectfully suggest as worthy of some consideration. 
 By the tenth section of the first article of the Constitution 
 of the United States, every State is prohibited from keeping 
 troops in time of peace, unless actually invaded, or in such 
 imminent danger as not to admit of delay. 
 
 In addition to the security to be derived from the presence 
 of the United States troops, I would recommend that danger 
 shall he guarded against, by requiring every captain of every 
 militia company in the Cherokee country to hold his command 
 in readiness, to aid the civil officers in arresting Indians charged 
 with the commission of crimes, and for suppressing combinations 
 among them for violent purposes. 
 
 To render militia companies more efficient than they can be 
 made under our present laws, I would respectfully recommend 
 to the Legislature to pass a temporary law, applicable to the 
 Cherokee counties, authorizing the sheriff and other civil officers 
 to require the captains, and those under their command, to aid 
 them in the execution of their duties, whenever the number of 
 Indians charged with the violation of the laws, or intended mis- 
 chief, shall be so great as to require such assistance. 
 
 For the purpose of avoiding any violence on the part of the 
 Indians, I consider it highly necessary that they should he pro- 
 tected in the enjoyment of all their legal rights. 
 
 The volunteer companies, which had been organized 
 in the frontier counties adjoining the Cherokee terri- 
 tory, for the purpose of overawing the Indians, and 
 suppressing any risings for doing violence, became very 
 eager to be called into the public service, to enjoy the 
 pleasures of the camp, and to get pay for doing nothing. 
 In answer to their demands, I addressed to them the 
 following communication 
 
 Head- Quarters, Milledgeville, 3 d March , 1838. 
 
 Sir, — The peace and safety, the property and lives of the 
 people of the Cherokee country, are deeply concerned in the 
 conduct of your command. A mistake in your duties, or a 
 departure from them, may involve the country in an Indian 
 34 
 
530 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 war — the greatest possible evil to those who are exposed to 
 its destructive effects and exterminating cruelties. The prin- 
 ciple object of the formation of your companies is, to give 
 security to our citizens ; to overawe the revengeful spirit of 
 the lawless portion of the Indians ; to prevent the people 
 flying from their homes and the country upon every rumor 
 of danger ; to protect your families, neighborhoods, and the 
 people of each county, upon sudden emergencies, when the 
 United States troops may not be present, or in sufficient force 
 to obviate danger. 
 
 The United States Government and the State authorities 
 intend to preserve peace, and remove the Cherokees from the 
 State without violence if possible. All their efforts are directed 
 to the accomplishment of this object. You will, therefore, not 
 only make no attacks whatever upon the Indians, but endeavor 
 to prevent all others from molesting them whilst they remaim 
 peaceable. Until the 25th of May, the Indians have the right 
 to retain their possessions, and to remain undisturbed in the 
 country. You have nothing to do with disarming them, or 
 removing them from their fields until that time ; and then only 
 in co-operation with, and upon the request of the United States 
 officer, to whom the duty of removing them is intrusted by the 
 President of the United States. 
 
 I have been asked by some of you, whether the captain 
 of a company is not authorized, by the third section of the 
 law, to call his company to the field? Certainly not. The 
 colonel of the regiment is the commander spoken of who 
 has that power, and he can only do so when the Indians 
 assemble together for hostile purposes, and under circumstances 
 which do not admit of the delay of sending for orders to the 
 commander-in-chief, and when the United States troops cannot 
 prevent the danger. 
 
 I have received a great many applications to call the 
 companies into the field at [once. Mixed up together as the 
 Indians are with our people throughout the whole Cherokee 
 country, it is believed to be impolitic to call you into service, 
 except in cases of actual danger, and for self-defence. The 
 men of the country could not consent, nor ought the Govern- 
 ment to require them, to leave their families and property 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 581 
 
 exposed to the attacks of neighboring Indians when hostilities 
 commence. The whole country might he depopulated by such 
 policy. Until there is a probable prospect of the Indians 
 rising in arms, I have no right to call you to the field. 
 
 I have understood that some of those who will be the owners 
 of the lands now occupied by the Indians, are very desirous 
 of using the companies as the means of getting rid of their 
 occupants in time to put the lands into profitable cultivation. 
 The lives of unoffending women and children, and the whole 
 property of the citizens of the Cherokee country, are not to 
 be endangered for such an object. Indeed, I hope that the 
 number of those who, for their own selfish and lawless pur- 
 poses, would thus trifle with the rights and interest of the 
 whole community, are too few to have any influence whatever 
 upon the conduct of the companies. 
 
 I have also been warned, that there are many persons 
 who have desired to connect themselves with the companies, 
 for the purpose of getting the pay of mounted men, by directing 
 the companies from the purposes of preserving the peace of 
 the country, and effecting the quiet removal of the Indians, 
 to such course as would require the companies to he called to 
 the field. I know that there are such persons ; hut it would 
 appear to he impossible that they can be sufficiently numerous 
 to be able to control the conduct of any one company, composed 
 as they all are of citizens, whose families, friends, and property 
 belong to the Cherokee country. If any person should be 
 detected in such conduct, his punishment will he made a warn- 
 ing example to those who would sacrifice the public safety to 
 their own private ends. Some of you have complained that 
 troops have been drawn from other parts of the State, for the 
 defence of the Cherokee country, instead* of calling your com- 
 panies into service. The duty of protecting the people of the 
 State from Indian violence, and executing Indian treaties, belong 
 to the President of the United States. It is only when the Presi- 
 dent fails to discharge that duty within Georgia, that the Governor 
 of the State is*authorized to call the militia into the field. The 
 President is of the opinion, that the lives and property of the 
 people of the Cherokee country will be most certainly guarded 
 by drawing the troops necessary for that purpose from parts of 
 
532 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 the country -where there are no Indians ; leaving the volunteer 
 companies and militia of the Cherokee country to strengthen the 
 defence of their own homes, neighborhoods, and counties. He 
 has promised that an ample force shall be provided for the pro- 
 tection of those who are exposed to the attack of the Indians. 
 He is accordingly ordering companies into those positions where 
 the people are most exposed to the numerous bodies of Indians, 
 as rapidly as the extent of the danger appears to require. So 
 long as the President continues to do this, it is not proper to 
 order out any of your companies. It is surely no serious cause 
 of complaint, that you are permitted to remain at home, attend- 
 ing to your own affairs, ready to protect your families and 
 property — that you have arms put into your hands, and com- 
 panies organized to give protection to your homes and neighbor- 
 hoods — and that troops are sent from other parts of the State to 
 give you additional security. 
 
 Whenever I am convinced that the protection of the Chero- 
 kee people requires any of your companies to be ordered into 
 service, I will not fail to order them. I will do •whatever I can 
 to add to the security of the country, give peace and quiet to 
 the people, and remove the Indians from the State. 
 
 It is important to the public service, that I should be con- 
 stantly and accurately informed of the temper and movement of 
 the Indians in each county. You are, therefore, requested to 
 write to this office as often as may he necessary for that purpose. 
 Take care to have your arms and ammunition constantly in good 
 order, and ready for immediate action. 
 
 Give your orders to your non-commissioned officers in such 
 manner, that the company may be assembled in the shortest 
 possible time. Muster them frequently, so as to improve their 
 discipline and render them efficient when called to the field. If 
 the Indians in your county should commence hostilities, you will 
 not wait for orders from the colonel of the regiment, or the 
 commander-in-chief, hut put yourselves under the command of 
 the militia officers of the county, or otherwise defend the people 
 in the best manner you can. The laws of self-d'efence will jus- 
 tify you in this course. 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 533 
 
 In giving an account of Mr. Wirt’s proposal to sub- 
 mit. to the Supreme Court for its decision, the question 
 whether the State of Georgia had the rightful power 
 to govern its Indian population, I mentioned that I 
 was made more angry than I ever was but once. The 
 course of my narrative has brought me to the occasion 
 referred to. 
 
 As the time for the removal of the Cherokees ap- 
 proached, they became more and more restless, and the 
 Georgians among them, and on the frontiers, more and 
 more fearful lest they should suffer from some murder- 
 ing outbreak. I requested the Secretary of War to 
 guard against the danger by stationing additional 
 troops among the Indians, and to appoint an agent 
 whom I named, who was known to be related to some 
 of the influential chiefs ; was a man of character and 
 intelligence ; was confided in by them, and admirably 
 qualified to do what was wanted to be done ; who 
 should be directed to go among them, ascertain 
 whether their designs tended to massacres, and if they 
 did, to notify the General and State Governments ; 
 and that he should endeavor to convince them that 
 their true interest required them to remove to the 
 west of the Mississippi. The Secretary of War, and 
 some of his special party friends among the members 
 of Congress from Georgia, concurred in appointing an 
 agent who was unknown to the Indians, and had no 
 useful qualifications whatever for his agency. This 
 they did lest some popular good might be done by one 
 to whom they were politically opposed. When I 
 knew that the safety of the women and children under 
 my official care, was thus trifled with by those whose 
 duty it was to aid me in protecting them, and that the 
 use of the best means for removing the Indians peacea- 
 
534 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 bly and willingly to t-lieir home in the West was neg- 
 lected from selfish party motives, my anger was such 
 as I desire never to feel asrain. 
 
 o 
 
 The following correspondence with the Secretary 
 of War, John Ross, and the members of Congress from 
 Georgia, is considered of sufficient historical value to 
 be inserted entire. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 9 th March, 1838. 
 
 To Mr. John Ross: 
 
 Sir, — The President having declined receiving any further 
 propositions of the Cherokee delegation for setting aside or 
 altering the treaty, and your memorial to Congress having been 
 rejected hy the House of Representatives, all hope of success in 
 your efforts to effect that object must be at an end. The policy 
 which you may adopt, under these circumstances,- is of great 
 importance, not only to your owm people, hut the numerous white 
 population residing among them. 
 
 The law of necessity, or, if you please, the harsh and un- 
 yielding will of superior power, has determined that the portion 
 of the Cherokees remaining in the State, must remove to the 
 country provided for them in the W est. How will you meet this 
 necessity, against which you can no longer contend ? Will you 
 bend to the blast to rise with renewed energies when it passes 
 away, or by resisting it sink beneath its force ? If these were 
 questions which concerned yourself alone, the dictates of pride, 
 or determined self-will, might disregard consequences. But the 
 peace and happiness of thousands may be involved in your 
 course. Your unwearied and unwavering exertions in behalf of 
 your people, have been unavailing, except to secure to you their 
 highest confidence. The time has arrived when that confidence 
 enables you to render them the most important service. You 
 must be aware that the Cherokees are not preparing to emi- 
 grate ; that they are yet hoping that you and their other chiefs 
 will obtain a modification of the treaty, so as to permit them to 
 remain where they are ; that when the time arrives for remov- 
 ing them, force must be applied — and that great suffering, the 
 loss of many lives, and the destruction of much property, will 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 535 
 
 probably be the consequence, unless, in the mean time , they can 
 be convinced, that all expectations of retaining their present 
 possessions are delusory, and do voluntarily what must other- 
 wise be effected by compulsion. 
 
 It requires no strong invention to imagine the suffering and 
 distress which must be inflicted upon your people, if hunted up 
 by an undisciplined soldiery, and forced from their homes. You, 
 at least, stand in no need of the description. Your people are 
 looking to you to direct them in this their greatest difficulty. 
 You can save them from the evils that threaten them, by per- 
 suading them to unite with their friends in the west, before the 
 time arrives when, by the terms of the treaty, force can be 
 used. 
 
 I know how easily the motives of the best actions may be 
 misrepresented. The Cherokees have been rendered so suspi- 
 cious of all contracts with the Government, that I believe it to 
 be important even to your success in removing them, to return 
 home and convince them that all hopes of retaining their pre- 
 sent possessions are vain ; that your efforts for that purpose 
 have proved fruitless, and that a proper regard for their interest 
 and safety require that they shoidd no longer resist the views 
 of the Government. If, upon doing so, you find an acquiescence 
 (as I am satisfied you will) upon the part of your people, the 
 Government will unquestionably furnish ample means to re- 
 move them, and a liberal compensation in addition, if they go 
 without the aid of contractors and agents. 
 
 Sir, I could not write to you upon this subject, but with the 
 fullest consciousness that what I say is in good faith, and ray 
 motives such as your own people would approve. It is my anx- 
 ious desire that the Cherokees should be treated with humanity. 
 I am using every exertion to prevent all violations of their 
 rights of possession and property. It is true, that I have long 
 been thoroughly convinced that their present situation is not 
 the best suited for their continued improvement and preserva- 
 tion as a distinct people, but I believe I have at all times 
 adopted the kindest policy towards them which my official sta- 
 tion would permit. 
 
 I once saved the lives of two of our Indian people. It has 
 ever remained a green, sunny spot on the field of my life. What 
 
536 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 a deep and abiding source of happiness it will be to you, if you 
 shall save many lives, by leading your people peacefully to their 
 homes in the W est ! 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville , 14 tli April, 1838. 
 
 To the Hon. Joel R. Poinsett: 
 
 Sir, — I hope that your severe illness, about which every one 
 having business to transact with the War Department, must, 
 like myself, feel great concern, will have passed away before 
 this time. 
 
 I send you an extract of a letter just received from Ross, in 
 answer to a communication which I addressed him at the same 
 time I wrote to you. I am convinced that I was mistaken in 
 my endeavor to make him an instrument for doing good. 
 
 The loss of all hope of obtaining the co-operation of Ross in 
 removing the Cherokees, has added to my anxiety that the most 
 ample means should be used to secure our citizens from the 
 effects of his machinations. The troops which are ordered into 
 the Cherokee country, from this and the adjoining States, being 
 raw and undisciplined, and scattered over the country in small 
 detachments, will stand very much in need of a regular force, to 
 give confidence and success to their movements. 
 
 Permit me to urge the importance of concentrating in the 
 Cherokee country, in as short a time as possible, the whole of 
 the United States army, which can with propriety be drawn 
 from other service. 
 
 The Indians are as yet entirely quiet, but they are not en- 
 rolling for emigration. Those who have enrolled are refusing to 
 leave the country, and they are generally continuing their pre- 
 parations for another crop. Ross’s refusal to return home after 
 the conclusive action of both Houses of Congress upon his me- 
 morial, renders it certain that force must be used in removing 
 his people. The more controlling that force may be, the less 
 will be the mischievous effects of the opposition of Ross and his 
 friends. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 537 
 
 [Copy of a letter from the Hon. Joel R. Poinsett to Governor Gilmer. \ 
 Department of "War, December 16 th, 183 1 ?. 
 
 Sir, --In my letter of the 9th instant, I had the honor to 
 inform your Excellency, that you should be timely advised of the 
 termination of the correspondence with John Ptoss. That cor- 
 respondence I now consider at an end, and transmit you copies 
 of it for your information. 
 
 Very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. R. Poinsett. 
 
 His Excellency George R. Gilmer, 
 
 Governor of Georgia, Milledgeville, Ga. 
 
 [Extract of a letter from John Ross to the Governor .] 
 
 Washington City, April 6 th, 1838. 
 
 To liis Excellency George R. Gilmer: 
 
 Sir, — Your Excellency, I hope, will long ere now have been 
 aware of the reasons why I have not sooner personally acknow- 
 ledged the receipt of your letter of the 9th of March. To the 
 honorable Mr. Dawson, who called upon me to say that he had 
 received a copy by the same post, I explained myself fully. I 
 presume he has mentioned my conversation. I need, therefore, 
 only repeat in general terms, that I can see no necessity what- 
 ever for any collision between your citizens and the Cherokees, 
 as I am making every effort in my power to accomplish such 
 arrangements as may relieve Georgia, in obtaining the utmost 
 extent of her desire among us, from the remotest pretext for em- 
 ploying force. It is my wish to settle all difficulties by amicable 
 treaty, and on perfectly reasonable terms. I sincerely hope that 
 my earnest efforts for that end may ultimately prosper, as one 
 word of the Executive is now enough to save the expense and 
 inevitable danger which must result from the employment of an 
 uncalled-for army. Should blood be spilt, therefore, which I 
 trust can never be the case, the blame can never rest on us. 
 
 With regard to my immediate return into the Cherokee nation, 
 I differ with your Excellency, and am sustained in my dissent 
 by many who have better opportunities than either of us, to un- 
 derstand any thing which bears upon the case. If I were to 
 desert a post assigned me by the Cherokees, and a line of duty 
 
538 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 prescribed by tbeir understood expectations, they would be lost 
 in wonder and distrust. They expect me to superintend their 
 interests here at the seat of the United States Government, as 
 the source from which their weal or woe must emanate, and as 
 the only source to which they can look for protection, in case of 
 need. They would be sorry to see me among them while our 
 affairs remain thus unsettled. Indeed my appearance among 
 them, on the mission you suggest, would at this moment pro- 
 duce inextricable confusion, of which the consequences might be 
 awful. 
 
 Department of War, May 23, 1838. 
 
 Sir, — I have the honor to transmit herewith to your Excel- 
 lency, a copy of a proposed' arrangement with John Ross and 
 other chiefs, and head men of the Ohcrokee nation, now in this 
 city. Your Excellency will perceive in these proposals, that the 
 Government, while it seeks to procure the co-operation of the 
 delegation, in the peaceable removal of the Cherokees, has care- 
 fully abstained from compromitting the rights and interests of 
 the States concerned in the execution of the treaty. It is not 
 supposed that it will require so long a period as two years to re- 
 move the remaining Cherokees to their new homes west of the 
 Mississippi ; but whatever term of time may be necessary to 
 their comfortable emigration, the Department relies upon the 
 generosity of the States interested not to press their claims, so 
 long as they are satisfied that due diligence is used by the agents 
 of the nation to effect this desirable object as speedily as prac- 
 ticable. 
 
 Very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. R. Poinsett. 
 
 To the Governors of Georgia, Tennessee, 
 
 Alabama and North Carolina. 
 
 Executive Department, MiUedgeville, May 28, 1838. 
 
 To the Hon. Joel R. Poinsett : 
 
 Sir, — I have had the honor of receiving from you the pro- 
 posals of the Government to John Ross, and instructions to Gen- 
 eral Scott. 
 
 The surprise and regret excited in myself at these proceed- 
 ings of the Government, I am sure will be felt by every citizen 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 539 
 
 of tlie State. I can give to them no sanction whatever. The 
 proposals to Ross could not be carried into execution but in 
 violation of the rights of the State. The very making of 
 them must prove exceedingly injurious to the interests of its 
 people. 
 
 The lands which are in the occupancy of the Indians, are the 
 private property of its citizens, and the owners are now entitled 
 by the law to possession. For the purpose of preventing all 
 unnecessary suffering and hardships on the part of the Cher- 
 okees, the proprietors have been earnestly entreated not to en- 
 force their rights at once, but to wait until the Indians should 
 be removed by the army. They have been assured that this 
 would be done by the President as soon as possible, and in per- 
 fect good faith. Sincere regret is felt that the success of these 
 efforts in the cause of humanity has been defeated by the Gov- 
 ernment. As soon as the proposals to Ross and the instruc- 
 tions to General Scott are known to the proprietors, they will no 
 longer be restrained from taking possession of their property. 
 It becomes necessary, therefore, that I should know whether the 
 President intends, in the instructions to Gen. Scott, to require 
 that the Indians shall be maintained in their occupancy by an 
 armed force, in opposition to the rights of the owners of the soil. 
 If such is the intention of the President, a direct collision be- 
 tween the authorities of the State and the General Government 
 must ensue. My duty will require that I shall prevent any in- 
 terference whatever by the troops with the rights of the State 
 and its citizens. I shall not fail to perform it. To avoid mis- 
 understanding, permit me to request that you will communicate 
 to me, and as early as you can conveniently, the President’s 
 views upon this subject. 
 
 I have no doubt but the Indians can be removed from the 
 State, in the execution of the treaty and by the troops now 
 organized and stationed in the country with that avowed purpose, 
 with more ease and expedition, and a readier acquiescence on the 
 part of the Indians, than by any means in the power of this 
 State. If, however, the Government consents that Ross and his 
 friends shall remain two years longer, the State will be obliged to 
 get rid of the evils which must necessarily arise from such policy, 
 
540 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 by exercising its own right of jurisdiction, and remove them by 
 the most efficient means which it can command. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George It. Gilmer. 
 
 I wrote to Mr. Dawson, and expressed to him fully 
 what I was doing, and intended to do. We were 
 natives of the same part of the country, had known 
 each other for a long time, been intimately associated 
 together in various ways, and were in constant familiar 
 correspondence. 
 
 Milledgeville, 30 th May, 183S. 
 
 To the Hon. William C. Dawson : 
 
 Dear Sir, — I send you a letter addressed to the owners of 
 the lands occupied by the Indians in the Cherokee country, imme- 
 diately before they acquired by law the right to take possession. 
 I confidently believe that the most of them were disposed to pur- 
 sue the course recommended. The very best feeling prevailed 
 every where. The alarms and distrust which had existed some 
 time ago were subsiding. This proceeded in a great degree, from 
 the incessant exertions which had been used, to prevent any 
 violation of the rights of the Indians, and the assurances given to 
 the people, that the Government would remove the Indians as 
 soon as possible, and afford every one protection against violence. 
 In Gilmer and Union Counties, where the Indians are twice as 
 numerous as the whites, the people were two weeks ago perfectly 
 quiet, and travelling was as safe there as any where. But for a 
 lingering expectation, that Boss would be able to retain their 
 country for them, a great proportion of the Cherokees would 
 have been now preparing to remove. So satisfied were the 
 people, that no difficulty or violence would occur in their removal, 
 that they were indicating a disposition to complain against the 
 Government, for sending so many troops against them. No one 
 ever felt more satisfaction than I have done, at the result of my 
 labors for the last six months. No violence of any kind had 
 occurred between the whites and Indians, when General Scot took 
 the command. I had suffered great anxiety whilst the troops 
 were in preparation. Difficulties seemed to be over. No one 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 541 
 
 who has not striven as I have clone to save the lives and prevent 
 the suffering of a whole community, can understand the deep 
 mortification I felt in knowing that the happy result of all 
 my exertions may be destroyed by the late proceedings of the 
 President. 
 
 Our people have been so harassed for a long time by 
 Indian disturbances, alarms, and wars, that they will not bear 
 it longer than the treaty requires. To ask them to suffer Ross 
 and his friends to remain for two years longer, with the know- 
 ledge that every citizen of the Cherokee country has, that the 
 Indians would have been contented at their home in the West 
 long before this, but for the exertions of Ross, and his friends 
 the white men, is utterly idle. When I proposed to the Secre- 
 tary of War and John Ross, two months ago, that Ross should 
 remove his people voluntarily before the time agreed upon, for a 
 large compensation to he allowed him by the Government, I 
 received a direct refusal from Ross, and my letter to the Secre- 
 tary of War was not honored with an answer. That the Secre- 
 tary now, when the Government has no power over the treaty, 
 except to enforce it, should propose to reward Ross for denoun- 
 cing the Government as dishonest and faithless, by possession of 
 the lands of the people granted to them by the State, is indeed 
 an act of dishonesty and faithlessness. The President will not 
 be permitted to sell the rights of the people of Georgia, to buy 
 votes elsewhere. The people will prevent, if the public authori- 
 ties do not. 
 
 If my health permits, and the President determines that he 
 will maintain the Indians in their occupancy of the territory of 
 that State, I will proceed to the Cherokee country, and try 
 whether the rights of the State are to be trampled upon, or 
 violated by military force. We have two thousand men in the 
 field under General Floyd, not one of whom will obey any order 
 to set at defiance the sovereignty of the State. If the United 
 States troops shall attempt to resist our laws, they will he re- 
 quired to leave the State, and our volunteers withdrawn from 
 the service. The requisition through which they went into 
 service was to remove the Cherokees, not to maintain them upon 
 our soil. The Government may yet stop in its work of unmixed 
 mischief. The Indians can be removed by the United States 
 
542 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Government and the troops now assembled, with more ease, and 
 less suffering, than by the State, and I shall continue to insist 
 upon its proceeding to remove them at once. If the President 
 refuses, the consequences must be upon his head. 
 
 For the purpose of giving you as much information as I 
 readily can, as to the course taken by the State and General 
 Governments, in removing the Cherokees, I forward to you the 
 inclosed copies of papers. 
 
 The requisition of General Scott for troops from this State, 
 my orders for raising them, and the special commission given to 
 the officers, show that these troops are only authorized to remove 
 the Indians, and protect the people. 
 
 The letters to the owners of the lands occupied by the 
 Indians, to Generals Scott, and Floyd, show the rights of the 
 people, and at the same time the exertions which have been 
 made to prevent any collision between them and the Indians, 
 the general state of peace, and my confidence that the Indians 
 would, with prudence, be removed without difficulty. 
 
 The proclamation of the 13th March, shows the anxiety with 
 wffiich I have protected the rights of the Indians. 
 
 The address of General Scott to the Cherokees shows what 
 his original instructions were. He says, he has no right to 
 grant them further delay, and that within one month, every man, 
 woman and child must be moving from the country. 
 
 My letter to the Secretary of War and Ross, shows that 
 more than two months before the arrival of the time for the re- 
 moval of the Indians, hy force, I proposed that Ross should re- 
 move them voluntarily. Ross’s answer shows for itself. None 
 was received from Mr. Poinsett. 
 
 I send you the late instructions to General Scott, which 
 show that the President is proceeding, without the consent of 
 the State or Congress, to stop the removal of the Indians by the 
 troops, and to rely upon contracts with Ross’s friends, and the 
 intention of the President to make the owners of the lands in 
 this State dependent upon General Scott for possession. 
 
 In my letter of the 30th of November, I requested Mr. 
 Poinsett to put an end to his correspondence with Ross. In his 
 reply of the 9th of December, he says it was continued with the 
 hope of inducing Ross to aid in the peaceable removal of the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 513 
 
 Indians ; but when be was satisfied that this could not be done, 
 be would inform me of it. In bis letter of the 10th December 
 he writes, that in conformity with that promise, his correspond- 
 ence with Ross was at an end. 
 
 Several communications have been received this morning 
 from the Cherokee country. 
 
 A state of quiet prevails every where. I send you an ex- 
 tract from Dr. Hamilton’s letter. I cannot but hope that the 
 friends of humanity will induce the Government to retrace its 
 steps. 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 30 th May , 1838. 
 
 ■ .. Sir, — I inclose to you my answer to the letter of the Secre- 
 tary of War, upon the subject of his proposals to John Ross, 
 and late instructions to Gen. Scott. 
 
 All here concur in the opinion that these proceedings of the 
 Government are a violation of the rights of the State, and calcu- 
 lated to produce the most extensive evils to the Cherokee coun- 
 try. 
 
 Permit me to request that the delegation in Congress from 
 this State, will unite in ascertaining from the President whether 
 it is his intention to continue the present delay in removing the 
 Cherokees by the troops under Gen. Scott, for the purpose of 
 effecting that object by contracts to be made with the agents of 
 Ross and his friends, or for any other purpose ? and whether it 
 is his intention to maintain the Indians by force upon the soil of 
 Georgia, in opposition to the will of the State and the rights of 
 its citizens, to whom the lands have been granted ? And that 
 you communicate to me his determination. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 To the Georgia Delegation. 
 
 After I had written to Mr. Dawson, it occurred to 
 me that the communication of the Secretary of War 
 was sufficiently important to call the attention of the 
 whole delegation to it. The foregoing letter was ac- 
 
544 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 cordingly written. The members who were the special 
 friends of Mr. Van Buren, seized upon the fact that the 
 letter to Mr. Dawson was received by him before they 
 received the communication addressed to them, to write 
 me the following singular epistle. Its matter indicates 
 how much the public service was then obstructed by 
 selfish party politics, and the many difficulties which I 
 had to overcome for securing success in such times when 
 operating together with such men. 
 
 Washington, 15 th June, 1838. 
 
 Sir, — We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
 letter dated the 30th of May ultimo, inclosing a copy of yours 
 to the Secretary of War, of the 28 th of the same month , re- 
 questing the delegation to call on the President of the United 
 States, and ascertain his intentions in relation to the execution 
 of the Cherokee treaty. 
 
 Some short time before your letter was received, we had 
 heard as a report, that a communication, having reference to the 
 Cherokee treaty, had been transmitted by you to one of the de- 
 legation. What the real character or object of that communi- 
 cation ivas, we had no means of ascertaining, not having had an 
 opportunity of reading, or hearing it read. 
 
 When your letter of the 30th of May was received, and 
 which reached us two days after that addressed by you to the 
 delegate before alluded to, you may readily suppose it created 
 some surprise, if no astonishment. If a combined effort of the 
 delegation was desirable, it was to have been presumed the com- 
 munications would have been simultaneous. That the views of 
 the Executive of Georgia, upon a most delicate and exciting sub- 
 ject, should have been made known to one alone of the delega- 
 tion, whilst the others were kept in ignorance, and to remain so 
 until it suited him who was informed to make them known, or 
 await the tardy communication afterwards received, was a sub- 
 ject not only of regret, but of mortification. Why your Excel- 
 lency adopted this mode of procedure, unless in conformity with 
 the practice pursued in relation to the agent you wished some 
 months hack to send into the Cherokee country, and in reference 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 545 
 
 to whose appointment you corresponded with the Secretary at 
 War and a few selected individuals of the delegation, leaving 
 the greater portion of the members totally unapprised of the in- 
 tentions of the Executive, in regard to a measure in the opinion 
 of the majority, if not all of the delegation, of more than ques- 
 tionable expediency. 
 
 These acts, to say the least of them, are not very courteous ; 
 this distinction made among members of the same delegation, 
 and that on a subject of vital importance to the State, and in 
 which all are equally interested, would nevertheless not have pre- 
 vented us from complying with your request. But on the sub- 
 ject of the Cherokee treaty, and the policy to he pursued, we 
 never entertained but one opinion ; to be quiescent ; to do no- 
 thing ; to consider the treaty as a settled question ; as the su- 
 preme law of the land, that must he executed according to its 
 spirit and letter. 
 
 Our action, both in our legislative and private capacity, has 
 squared with this our deliberate opinion. W e have always moved, 
 and generally succeeded in laying on the table, every memo- 
 rial presented having for its object the abrogation or modifica- 
 tion of the treaty ; and in all our private interviews with the 
 members of the administration, we have uniformly made known 
 as our deliberate conviction, that the only true policy to be exer- 
 cised towards John Ross and his friends, in or out of the House, 
 was to inform them distinctly and sternly, that now the Execu- 
 tive of the United States had no discretion on the subject ; that 
 the treaty must be executed ; that it was required not only in re- 
 ference to the welfare and true interest of the Indians them- 
 selves, but to the people of Georgia, to prevent delusion on the 
 one side, and to allay the excitement of the passions on the other, 
 on a subject which for more than 20 years has been used as a 
 weapon for party warfare, regardless both of the interest of the 
 State and the stability and permanency of the Union itself. 
 
 Under the operation of these feelings, and entertaining the 
 sentiments herein expressed, it was with no little surprise and 
 regret we heard the late message of the President of the United 
 States read in the House of Representatives. No previous com- 
 munication or intimation was given to us that such a document 
 was to be sent. If others were in the secret , we were not of the 
 35 
 
546 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 number. As soon as the document was received, one of the 
 undersigned called for its reading. It produced great excite- 
 ment in the House. The contents of it were of so extraordinary 
 a character, and so well calculated, in our opinion, to do great 
 mischief, and without the slightest probability of producing 
 beneficial results, that we instantly determined to pursue a bold 
 and decisive but perhaps unparliamentary course, and moved to 
 lay the message of the President on the table, and by that means 
 prevent any action of the House upon it ; the result of which 
 motion your Excellency has no doubt seen in the public prints. 
 
 The undersigned having had no agency, either in word or 
 deed, by private verbal consultation or written communication, 
 with the President, or Heads of Department, or John Ross, or 
 any of his friends, on the subject of the message, and having 
 upon all occasions refused to enter upon a subject having refer- 
 ence to a modification of the treaty, so far as delay in the re- 
 moval of the Indians was involved, though at all times disposed 
 to give every facility to such removal, have, since the presenta- 
 tion of the message, deemed it the most prudent and politic 
 course, and one calculated to serve the best interest of the State, 
 to abstain from all communication with the Executive of the 
 United States or the War Department on the subject; looking 
 with a steady eye to the terms of the treaty, and insisting with 
 a stern determination on its faithful execution. Leaving to those 
 to call for explanations who here or elsewhere , as rumor says, 
 were playing the part of diplomatists on this “ untoward ” affair. 
 To him who, more particularly it is said, made a proposition to 
 John Ross to have a supplemental article incorporated in the 
 treaty, extending the time for removal , provided the Indians 
 went beyond the limits of Georgia, thereby leaving the inhabi- 
 tants of our border exposed to their predatory incursions of savage 
 warfare, and at a time when their passions were most inflamed ; 
 or, to him also, who, it is said, was consulted by the Department, 
 and assisted in concocting the propositions submitted to John 
 Ross, and presented to the House with the message of the 
 President of the United States ; and who, if he did not approve, 
 certainly did not oppose them, or give notice to any of his col- 
 leagues that such a subject of negotiation was going on. 
 
 As these gentlemen seem to have been desirous of claiming 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 547 
 
 all the merit of these diplomatic arrangements, justice requires 
 they should now assume all the responsibility, and if their politi- 
 cal bed be a bed of torture, they have made it for themselves ; 
 we shall not interrupt their repose. This little incident will 
 be of service to them hereafter ; experience purchased, provided 
 it is not at too high a price, is said to be most valuable. The 
 gentlemen will now see and feel the force of the poet’s observa- 
 tion, “ that to he too busy there is some danger.” 
 
 In the foregoing reasons, combined with the belief that your 
 letter was uncalled for, the views of the Government, since the 
 message, as well as before, having been distinctly stated in their 
 instructions to the commanding general, as well as the procla- 
 mation of the same officer, that the removal of the Indians roas 
 not to he delayed one hour , hut with the assent of the States 
 interested ; together with the opinion of every reflecting man, in or 
 out of Congress, of the imperious political necessity of the full and 
 speedy execution of the treaty, which opinion has been confirmed 
 by the almost unanimous action of both Houses of Congress, in 
 the appropriation bill to carry it into effect ; your Excellency, 
 we are induced to believe, will see not only a propriety, but 
 justification, in our not joining in the communication to the 
 Secretary of War, according to your request. 
 
 We remain your obedient servants, 
 
 (Signed) George W. Owens, 
 Jesse F. Cleveland, 
 George W. Towns. 
 
 His Excellency George R. Gilmer, 
 
 Governor of Georgia. 
 
 When I received information of the measure adopt- 
 ed by Mr. Van Buren, for avoiding the unpopularity 
 of removing the Cherokees, I immediately addressed 
 the following letter to the citizens of the State who 
 resided among the Cherokees. The strong desire of 
 the owners of the land occupied by the Indians, to get 
 possession, each one of his own tract (the Indian land 
 having been already distributed among the people by 
 lottery), and the unrestrained temper of the frontier 
 
548 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 people, excited fears lest there should be an outbreak 
 among them when they were informed of the conduct 
 of Mr. Van Buren. How far this letter contributed to 
 quiet their restlessness I had no means of knowing. 
 
 To the Citizens of the Cherokee Counties : 
 
 Before this reaches you, the newspapers will have conveyed 
 to you the information that the President of the United States 
 has instructed Gen. Scott to stop his preparations for removing 
 the Indians from among you, by the army, on account of the 
 proposals which he has made to John Ross, that the Indians 
 shall be permitted to remain upon your lands, for two years 
 longer, and remove themselves. 
 
 The President, in thus changing the measures which had 
 been previously adopted, and which, it is confidently believed, 
 would have effected the immediate and peaceable removal of the 
 Cherokees, against the will of the people, and without consulting 
 with the authorities of the State, has forgotten what was due to 
 Georgia, your rights, and peculiar and important interests. Do 
 not be alarmed. The President cannot alter the treaty with the 
 Cherokees, without the consent of the State. He has already 
 been informed, that his proposals to Ross will not be sanctioned, 
 and that the instructions to Gen. Scott are inconsistent with the 
 sovereignty of the State. 
 
 Means have been taken to induce the President to withdraw 
 the proposals to Ross, and to give instructions to Gen. Scott, to 
 proceed under his original orders, to remove the Indians, by the 
 troops under his command. If, contrary to our expectations, the 
 President shall persist in his present course, be not alarmed. 
 Your Chief Magistrate, aided by the power of a united people, 
 will not fail to defend your rights. 
 
 Whether the conduct of the President shall bring upon us 
 most disastrous consequences, or pass away as harmless as it 
 has been faithless, will depend much upon yourselves. Let me, 
 therefore, entreat you, to make no movement which may bring 
 you in collision with your Indian neighbors. Let no alarm for 
 your rights, or feelings of indignation at the conduct of the Presi- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 549 
 
 dent lead you into acts of violence. Wait until the authorities 
 of your State can secure your disregarded interests. Do not, in 
 the spirit of resentment, for the violated pledge of the President, 
 do wrong to an ignorant, dependent and savage people. Treat 
 them with kindness, and you disarm the power of the Govern- 
 ment which threatens you. 
 
 Be not alarmed lest the federal troops shall trample 
 upon your rights. The commanding general of the Cherokee 
 army is a gallant soldier, whose fame is identified with the honor 
 of his country, and the advancement of the people’s prosperity. 
 He will aid your cause, in giving a patriot’s advice to the coun- 
 cils of the President, and if he shall be ordered to do you injustice, 
 his arm will be rendered nerveless. 
 
 Be not alarmed. You have as true a soldier as ever defend- 
 ed his country, in the command of our own spirited Georgia 
 troops, not one of whom but will stand by you and your country 
 in the time of need. Be hut true to yourselves, in being just 
 and humane to your Indian neighbors, and you have nothing to 
 fear. The friends of humanity, who know the true state of the 
 Cherokees — the ruin and degradation which has been brought 
 upon the unmixed Indians by their present situation — do not 
 doubt but that it is their interest to remove to the country pro- 
 vided for them in the West. Do not strengthen the calumnies 
 against your country and its statesmen, by acts of oppression to 
 the Indians. 
 
 They are ignorant and revengeful : pity them. Do not make 
 them, in their blindness, responsible for the acts of those who are 
 using them for their ambitious and mercenary purposes. 
 
 The abandonment of your cause by the President, to pur- 
 chase the good opinions of those who are weeping over imaginary 
 Indian wrongs, has made you the objects of attention to the 
 whole country. 
 
 Your character, the character of your State, and the united 
 wishes of your friends, urge upon you not to interfere with the 
 Indians in the spirit of unkindness. Leave their removal from 
 the State to the United States Government, if it will, or to your 
 own Government, if it must. 
 
 (Signed) George B. Gilmer. 
 
550 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 A requisition for four thousand men was made by 
 the Secretary of War, upon the Governors of Georgia, 
 Tennessee, Alabama, and North Carolina. Twenty 
 companies were called for from Georgia. No call was 
 made upon me for an officer of the proper grade to 
 command them— Mr. A 7 an Buren intending that they 
 should be under one of his own selection. Indeed, 
 that this was his design, was not denied, when I wrote 
 to General Scott (who was to command the whole), 
 and asserted the right to place the troops of the State 
 under a Georgia general, selected by myself. I gave 
 the command to General Charles Floyd. 
 
 Immediately after, I was notified of the demand for 
 troops by the War Department. Orders were sent by 
 express to the militia officers of the counties nearest to 
 the Cherokee country, urging the immediate raising of 
 the required number, and that they should march 
 without delay to New Ecliota — tlie appointed place of 
 rendezvous — to be organized into appropriate corps. 
 The spirit of the orders, and the directions given to 
 the persons who carried them, induced the readiest 
 compliance on the part of the officers to whom they 
 were directed. The twenty companies were all at 
 New Echota before the day arrived when the Chero- 
 kees were, according to the treaty, to leave Georgia, 
 and before a beginning had been made in the other 
 States to comply with the requisition. General Floyd 
 showed his fitness for command by his prompt obedi- 
 ence. lie was at the place of rendezvous at the ap- 
 pointed time, though the distance was so great, and the 
 time so short, that it seemed impossible. A very 
 trivial incident had the most fortunate influence in 
 effecting the desired result. Col. Augustus Ivennan, 
 of Milledgeville, whose daring, fearless temper made 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 551 
 
 him ever ready for any active enterprise, was favorably 
 known to General Scott. Colonel Kennan applied to 
 me for a military aidship, to assist him in an appli- 
 cation, wdiich he wished to make to General Scott, for 
 the same rank in his military family. His request was 
 complied with. He joined General Scott by the time 
 the troops were organized ; and by the manner in 
 w'hicli he urged the matter upon General Scott, con- 
 tributed essentially in inducing that officer to disregard 
 the unofficial information which he had received, that 
 Mr. Van Buren was scheming to delay the removal of 
 the Cherokees. 
 
 General Floyd, the Georgia officers and men, col- 
 lected the Indians together at once from their towns, 
 and placed them in the fortified positions, which had 
 been previously provided for the emergency by Colonel 
 Lindsay, at my request. The Indians went into the 
 forts without resistance, from the assurance given them 
 by their chiefs at Washington City, that the treaty 
 which required them to leave the country would be set 
 aside, or so modified that they would be at liberty to 
 continue where they were. 
 
 As soon as the Indians were under the control of 
 the troops, Colonel Kennan came express to Milledge- 
 ville, to let me know it. I communicated the informa- 
 tion to the President by express. The news reached 
 Washington City whilst Congress was discussing the 
 proposals of the Cherokee Chiefs, and the President 
 and the Chiefs were negotiating the terms of a new 
 treaty. Mr. Van Buren’s schemes were blown sky- 
 high. Nothing could be said about further delay. 
 The dreaded difficulty in control] ing the Cherokees 
 had been met and overcome. All concurred at once 
 in the propriety of carrying on what had been begun 
 
552 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 so successfully. I had the very great pleasure of say- 
 ing to the Legislature when assembled : — 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives, 
 
 I congratulate you upon the successful removal of the 
 Cherokees from the State ; — that you will no longer be ha- 
 rassed in your legislative proceedings, by the perplexing 
 relations which have hitherto existed between them, the United 
 States, and Georgia ; — that our citizens are at last in the 
 quiet possession of all their lands, and the State the undis- 
 puted sovereign over all her territory. 
 
 I felt that it was something to have overcome, by 
 directness of purpose, and the means at my command, 
 the power and subtilty of Mr. Van Buren and John 
 Ross, and to have secured to the State and the people 
 the great good which has followed what was done. 
 
 No one out of Georgia seemed to know how much 
 the people had suffered from the plunderings and bar- 
 barities of the Indians ; that the State had been obliged 
 to sell to the United States more than half of its terri- 
 tory, to procure the extinguishment of the Indian title 
 to the remainder; that the United States had made no 
 effort to execute that contract, except at the earnest 
 entreaties of the Representatives of Georgia ; that the 
 first movement of the Cherokees to the west of the 
 Mississippi had been of their own accord ; that, when 
 General Jackson and General Meriwether, a Georgian 
 and Tennesseean, made a treaty with the Cherokees, 
 by which the whole tribe would have removed beyond 
 the Mississippi, the Secretary of War had altered its 
 terms by another, by which he attempted to fix the 
 Indians upon the territory of Georgia, by ceding to the 
 chiefs the fee-simple title to the soil. 
 
 Nobody now doubts that the immediate contact, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 553 
 
 and constant intercourse with the vicious white popula- 
 tion among them, and around them, made it absolute- 
 ly necessary, for the preservation of all the unmixed 
 Indians, that their location should be changed, and 
 that their removal from Georgia to the west of the 
 Mississippi has been for their advantage. 
 
 The Cherokee country, instead of being wandered 
 over by listless, objectless, ignorant savages, whose 
 only satisfying employments were destroying the 
 beasts of the forest and their fellow-men, and being the 
 receptacle of the lawless from every where, is now cul- 
 tivated by a population rapidly advancing in all the 
 arts of civilized life. Fine houses, valuable farms, 
 beautiful meadows, schools, colleges, churches, and 
 railroads, have taken the places of wigwams and scalp- 
 poles. And yet every public man who was employed 
 in bringing about this admirable change for the better, 
 was for a time the target for shooting defamation at, 
 by every intermeddling politician, from the lowest 
 scribbler, to the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 Those who are disposed to yield to authority and 
 the opinions of the wise and experienced, may be in- 
 duced to acknowledge the completeness of this justifi- 
 cation of Georgia and its Governor for removing the 
 Cherokees from the State, which I have presented to 
 them, by what Gen. Jackson and President Adams have 
 said upon the subject. 
 
 “ W e have been far more successful in the acquisition of their 
 lands than imparting to them the principles, or inspiring them 
 with the spirit of civilization. But in appropriating to ourselves 
 their hunting grounds, we have brought upon ourselves the obli- 
 gation of providing them with subsistence, and when we have 
 had the rare good fortune of teaching them the arts of civiliza- 
 tion and the doctrines of Christianity, we have unexpectedly 
 
554 
 
 FIBST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 found them forming, in the midst of ourselves, communities claim- 
 ing to he independent of ours, and rivals of sovereignty within 
 the territories of the members of our Union. This state of 
 things requires that a remedy should he 'provided. A remedy 
 which, while it shall do justice to those unfortunate children of 
 nature, may secure to the members of our confederation their 
 rights of sovereignty and soil. As the outline of a project to 
 that effect, the views presented in the Report of the Secretary 
 of W ar are recommended to the consideration of Congress .” 
 
 Extracts from the project recommended by Mr. Adams in 
 his Message. 
 
 Nothing can he more clear to one who has marked the pro- 
 gress of population and improvement, and is conversant with the 
 principles of human action, than that these Indians will not be 
 permitted to hold the reservations on which they live within the 
 States, by their present tenure, for any considerable period. If, 
 indeed, they were not disturbed in their possessions by us, it 
 would be impossible for them long to subsist, as they have here- 
 tofore done, by the chase, as their game is already so much di- 
 minished, as to render it frequently necessary to furnish them 
 with provisions, in order to save them from starvation. In their 
 present destitute and deplorable condition, and which is constant- 
 ly growing more helpless, it would seem to be not only the right, 
 but the duty of the government to take them under its paternal 
 care ; and to exercise over their persons and property, the salu- 
 tary rights and duties of guardianship. 
 
 Towards this race of people, I entertain the kindest feelings ; 
 and am not sensible that the views which I have taken of their 
 true interests are less favorable to them, than those which op- 
 pose their emigration to the West. Years since, I stated to them 
 my belief, that if the States chose to extend their laws over them, 
 it would not be in the power of the Federal Government to pre- 
 vent it. My opinion remains the same ; and I can see no alter- 
 native for them, but that of their removal to the West, or a quiet 
 submission to the State laws. If they prefer to remove, the 
 United States agree to defray their expenses, to supply them the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 555 
 
 means of transportation, and a year’s support after they reach 
 their new homes — a provision too liberal and kind to deserve the 
 stamp of injustice. Either course promises them peace and hap- 
 piness, whilst an obstinate perseverance in the effort to maintain 
 their possessions independent of the State authority, cannot fail 
 to render their condition still more helpless and miserable. 
 Such an effort ought, therefore, to he discountenanced by all who 
 sincerely sympathize in the fortunes of this peculiar people, and 
 especially by the political bodies of the Union, as calculated to 
 disturb the harmony of the two Governments, and to endanger 
 the safety of the many blessings which they enable us to enjoy. 
 
 As connected with the subject of this inquiry, I beg leave to 
 refer to the accompanying letter from the Secretary of War, in- 
 closing the order which proceeded from that Department, and a 
 letter from the Governor of Georgia. 
 
 Andrew Jackson. 
 
 The Cherokees were but just removed from Geor- 
 gia, when the people of the south-eastern frontier of 
 the State were put into the greatest alarm, by the pre- 
 sence of hostile Indians. Some of the Creeks had 
 united with their kinsfolk in Florida, when the mass 
 of the tribe removed to the west of the Mississippi in 
 1836. A band of warriors made a lodgment in the 
 Okefinokee swamp, with the intention it was supposed 
 of harassing the inhabitants of the neighborhood, by 
 forays from that fastness, then supposed to be inacces- 
 sible to our troops. 
 
 The militia companies called into the public service, 
 for the defence of the people, when marching in search 
 of the enemy, came upon a few Indians around their 
 camp-fire, and seeing them start up and cry woo-ah, took 
 to their heels, and increased the terror of those whom 
 they were sent to protect. 
 
 Gen. Taylor, since then President of the United 
 States, and Gen. Floyd, then lately returned from his 
 
556 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 successful removal of the Cherokees, marched to the 
 defence of the alarmed inhabitants. They found many 
 difficulties in the way of operating against the Indians 
 successfully. 
 
 I wrote to Gen. Taylor, — “ The distance of the 
 Okefinokee swamp from the seat of Government, — 
 the difficulty of obtaining correct information as to the 
 number of Indians, — the extent of the danger to be 
 apprehended from them, — the want of the knowledge 
 of the force which may be necessary, and how to em- 
 ploy it, to protect the people, &c., &c., have occasioned 
 much embarrassment to this Department,” and request- 
 ed him to direct what his experience might find to be 
 necessary. 
 
 Gen. Floyd passed through the Okefinokee swamp 
 with a detachment from his command. He found about 
 the centre of the Island, so long celebrated among the 
 Indians for its romantic scenery, and the beauty of its 
 inhabitants, Indian huts, but the occupants, the beauti- 
 ful beings of romance, were gone. 
 
 The following correspondence will show the success 
 which attended the means used for driving away hos- 
 tile Indians from the southern frontiers of the State. 
 
 Head- Quarters, Army of the South. 
 
 Camp Gilmer, Suwannee River, 
 
 (Hear tlie mouth of the Suwanouehee, Ware County, Georgia,) 
 
 April nth, 1838. 
 
 To his Excellency the Governor of Georgia: 
 
 Sir, — I have received from the Secretary of War, under 
 date 16th of June, a copy of a letter, inclosing documents trans- 
 mitted by your Excellency to that Department, concerning dis- 
 turbances around the Okefinokee swamp. 
 
 In relation thereto, I have the honor to inform you that I 
 reached this on the 9tli inst., and am now here with two com- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 557 
 
 panies of infantry and one of dragoons, the latter of "which, with 
 one of the infantry companies, will continue to occupy this posi- 
 tion. One company of infantry will be located at some suitable 
 point intermediate between this and Trader’s Hill, on the St. 
 Mary’s River. A company of dragoons is now on the march 
 for the vicinity of Waresborough, where it will take a position to 
 protect that neighborhood. A company of militia is also em- 
 ployed to act as guides and spies for the troops operating in this 
 quarter. 
 
 I flatter myself that this force will be sufficient for the de- 
 fence of the region around the swamp, by confining the Indians 
 to it, or cutting them up, should they attemjit to leave it, as 
 there will be reconnoitering and scouting parties constantly in 
 motion. But should it prove otherwise, Maj. Dearborn, who 
 locates the company of dragoons near Waresborough, is em- 
 powered to muster into the service such an additional militia 
 force as may at any time be required. 
 
 From the best information I can obtain, I am induced to be- 
 lieve that there are not exceeding fifty warriors in the Okefi- 
 nokee, which are believed to be refugee Creeks, of the tribes em- 
 igrated from Georgia and Alabama. 
 
 Col. Twiggs, who was commanding at Black Creek, and on 
 this side the peninsula, previous to my crossing from Tampa 
 Bay, ordered a company of dragoons, a short time since, to the 
 swamp, in the vicinity of this place, but as neither forage nor 
 provisions could be obtained there, it was compelled to fall back. 
 
 An officer of the Quartermaster’s Department is now ordered 
 to Trader’s Hill, to make such arrangements as will insure 
 supplies to the posts now or about to be established, as well as 
 to any other troops that may be called into the service. 
 
 The dispositions above having been completed, I shall return 
 through East Florida to Tampa Bay, where I shall be happy to 
 receive any communications you may think proper to address 
 to me. 
 
 With the highest respect, I am 
 
 Your Excellency’s most obedient servant, 
 
 Z. Taylor, 
 
 Bt. Br. Gen. U. S. Army commanding. 
 
 To his Excellency Geo. R. Gilmer, 
 
 Governor of Georgia. 
 
558 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 Executive Department, Ga., Milledgeville, *Uli August, 1838. 
 To Major E. Hopkins : 
 
 Sir, — I have received your letter of the 1st inst., giving an 
 account of the great alarm of the people of Camden, on account 
 of the murders lately committed by the Indians in Ware Coun- 
 ty, and asking my advice what you are to do. 
 
 It is a great misfortune to the people to be exposed to the 
 attacks of these merciless savages. It is difficult to perceive, 
 however, in what manner this Government can secure each 
 family from the possibility of injury. Those who were mur- 
 dered in Ware County, were under the almost immediate pro- 
 tection of a company of the United States troops. The arrange- 
 ments made for the protection of the people of Ware and Cam- 
 den. are from Gen. Taylor, a most excellent officer, and upon his 
 own personal examination of the country, and approved by Gen. 
 Clinch, both of whom, from their military experience and know- 
 ledge of the country and the Indians, understand this subject 
 better than myself. If the troops now in service are not suffi- 
 cient, the United States officer in command in Ware and Cam- 
 den, is authorized to receive any additional numbers which he 
 may think necessary. 
 
 I know of no better arrangement which can be made than 
 this for the protection of the people. I have already sent you 
 two copies of Gen. Taylor’s letter. I now forward to you a copy 
 of Major Dearborn’s. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours. &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Extract of a letter from. Gov. Gilmer to Gen. Taylor, dated August 1th, 1838. 
 
 I send you the copies of tivo letters from Maj. Hopkins, 
 commanding officer of the militia of Camden County, and the 
 copy of a letter from Col. Hilliard, of Ware County. You will 
 perceive that both of those officers are of opinion that the em- 
 ployment of the militia of these counties is necessary to restore 
 confidence to the people. 
 
 Permit me to request that you will inquire into this subject 
 as early as possible, and if necessary, or proper, that you will 
 take into the service of the United States such an additional 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 559 
 
 force from the militia of Ware and Camden, as may give secu- 
 rity to the inhabitants. 
 
 Executive Department, Milledgeville, 1 1th August, 183S. 
 
 To the Hon. Joel R. Poinsett, Secretary of War: 
 
 Sir, — I inclose to you for the information of the President, 
 a communication just received from a committee appointed by a 
 public meeting of the citizens of the counties of Camden, 
 Wayne, and Glynn, to address this Department upon the sub- 
 ject of the incursions of the Indians into this State. 
 
 This communication is from gentlemen of high respecta- 
 bility. The great alarm and distress which exist among the 
 inhabitants of all the counties near the Okefinokee swamp, and 
 the general abandonment of their homes and property, on ac- 
 count of the inefficiency of the troops, or their want of sufficient 
 force to restrain the murderous and destructive inroads of the 
 Indians, would seem to demand some further interposition on 
 the part of the Government for their relief. 
 
 I was very well satisfied with the arrangement made by 
 Gen. Taylor, for the protection of that part of the country, from 
 my confidence in him as an officer, his knowledge of the country 
 and the Indians, and because I supposed that it would he dan- 
 gerous to the health of the troops, if,, previous to cold weather, a 
 sufficient force should be collected and remain long enough in 
 service to drive the Indians from the Okefinokee swamp. It 
 appears, however, that the country exposed to the attacks of the 
 Indians is too extensive to be defended by the companies now in 
 service, and that quiet and security can only be afforded to the 
 people by subduing the enemy. 
 
 I would, therefore, respectfully suggest to the President, that 
 an attempt be made at once to effect that object. I suppose 
 that a competent number of mounted volunteer companies could 
 be assembled immediately from the counties around the swamp, 
 if such a requisition were made upon me as to authorize my 
 offering the command to Gen. Charles Floyd. The want of 
 funds, and a regular organized Quartermaster’s Department, 
 form an almost insuperable obstacle to the successful operation 
 of a large body of troops, on the part of the State. I, therefore, 
 
560 
 
 FIE ST SETTLE KS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 propose that the Government will authorize this Department to 
 call out two regiments of militia, to act against the Indians, that 
 they be mustered into the service of the United States, and the 
 necessary provisions and supplies be provided for them as soon 
 as they are organized. 
 
 This proposition is only made upon the supposition that 
 Gen. Taylor may not be able to undertake this service. If he 
 can, and the Government will order him upon it, I am well sat- 
 isfied that it will be executed faithfully. 
 
 The suffering of the people from alarm, and the abandon- 
 ment of their property, appears to be so great, that whatever is 
 to be done for their relief, should be done quickly. 
 
 Very respectfully, yours, &c., 
 
 George R. Gilmer. 
 
 Head Quarters, Okefinokee District, Camp Hope, Jan. 4tl>, 1839. 
 
 Sir, — Since my last communication to your Excellency, of 
 December 7th, every exertion has been made to bring the enemy 
 to battle, without success. They have fled before my detach- 
 ments, leaving their clothing, cooking utensils, &c., without 
 firing a gun ; and have either gone to Florida, or are so securely 
 hid, that they have escaped the most active movements from 
 various points, both inside and outside the swamp. 
 
 I cannot yet report 'positively to your Excellency, that no 
 Indians remain on the soil of Georgia, although it is my belief, 
 from the late discovery of trails leading to Florida (near the 
 Suwannee), and other circumstances, that they have gone there. 
 
 I send herewith a map of the Okefinokee, roughly drawn 
 on the field by Lieut. McLane, topographical engineer of the 
 United States Army. The mean diameter of the swamp is be- 
 tween 85 and 40 miles. 
 
 I am. with high respect, 
 
 Your Excellency’s obedient servant, 
 Charles Floyd, 
 
 Brig. Gen. Commanding (as Col.) Okefinokee Hist. 
 
 His Excellency, Geo. E. Gilmer, 
 
 Governor of Georgia. 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 561 
 
 All in Georgia were Jackson men whilst Gen. 
 Jackson was in office, the Clark party from choice, the 
 Crawford party from necessity, so that the old factions 
 began to lose their lines of demarcation, and new parties 
 to be formed upon the general principles which divided 
 the people of the United States. 
 
 In May, 1838, a call was made by some of the 
 leaders of the superadhesive Jackson men, for the 
 assembling of a Convention to select candidates for the 
 high offices of the State, and for putting forth to the 
 public their notions upon government. The call met 
 with a ready response. 
 
 On the morning of the day when the Convention 
 was to meet, I told my wife as I went to the Executive 
 office, that I would invite some of the members to 
 dinner. Not one of them called at the Executive office, 
 to offer the usual civilities to the Governor on such 
 occasions, though their assembling place was in the 
 State House. 
 
 My messenger was a raw youth, the son of a poor 
 widow. His elevation to office so magnified the im- 
 portance of the incumbent in his own eyes, that he 
 considered himself but little below the Governor in 
 official dignity. After the Convention met, and not a 
 member had made his bow, I wrote the following 
 words upon a slip of paper : — “ Hone of the members 
 of the Convention will be invited to dinner to-day,” 
 gave it to the messenger, and directed him to carry it 
 up to the house, the Governor’s residence being on the 
 top of the hill in Milledgeville. Mr. Lewis, one of my 
 secretaries, wms standing near the entrance into the 
 Representative Hall, where the Convention was in ses- 
 sion, in conversation with some one, when he observed 
 the messenger approach. His attention was attracted 
 36 
 
562 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OP UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 particularly to him by noticing his unusually eager, 
 intent looks. He asked him what he was going to do. 
 The messenger answered that he was directed by the 
 Governor to carry a communication up to the House. 
 Lewis asked him what it was. He showed the note 
 which I had sent to my wife, containing the words, 
 “None of the members of the Convention will be 
 invited to dinner to-day,” which he was preparing to 
 address to the President, as he had seen the secretaries 
 do when they delivered messages to the Senate and 
 House of Representatives. The President of the Con- 
 vention was Mr. Spalding, a very proud, aristocratic 
 Scotch gentleman of the McIntosh clan, who had 
 travelled over Europe, attended the British Parliament, 
 heard Erskine, Fox, and Pitt speak, was as conse- 
 quential as a lord, and as irascible as a Highlander. 
 It is difficult to conceive what would have been the 
 effect of the address of my official, after the formal an- 
 nouncement of the Secretary of the Convention to the 
 body, — “ A message from the Governor,” — the words, 
 “Hone of the members of the Convention will be in- 
 vited to dinner to-day.” 
 
 When Lewis read the note, and comprehended 
 what the messenger was about to do, he was so over- 
 come by convulsions of laughter, that the message was 
 near being delivered before he could sufficiently recover 
 himself to explain to him that the note was for my 
 wife, and must be carried up to the Governor’s house. 
 
 The people of every free, wealthy, prosperous com- 
 munity are subject to occasional fits of excess, in their 
 haste to grow rich. The Georgians have had their 
 gold mania, land mania, cotton mania, and bank mania. 
 
 In 1838, the active, speculating class became eager 
 to acquire wealth rapidly, by issuing notes to pass for 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 5(13 
 
 money. They proposed to do this upon the pledge of 
 their land and negroes, for the repayment of the notes 
 which they might put into circulation. They beset 
 the Legislature, to give the force of law to their schemes. 
 Whilst the bill for the purpose was on its passage, 
 apprehensions were so generally felt and expressed, 
 that I would veto the bill if it passed, that considerable 
 agitation was excited in the country on that account. 
 The advocates of the measure were induced thereby to 
 use so many precautions to secure the payment of the 
 notes which might be put into circulation by the banks 
 which might be formed in pursuance of the law, that 
 I signed the bill, when it passed, without hesitation. 
 
 The intentness of the many, to pocket what they 
 considered money, to the amount of the value of their 
 land and negroes, without parting with their property, 
 and thereby doubling their estates, would most prob- 
 ably have produced the ruinous effects of excessive 
 bank issues, but for the difficulties thus thrown in the 
 way. One or two banks went into operation, and 
 closed their business, to the great discomfiture of all 
 concerned. 
 
 The constant and excessive labor which I had to 
 perform, and the responsibility and anxious care which 
 attended my exertions to remove the Cherokees from 
 the State without bloodshed ; the sympathy which I 
 felt for the population of the South-Eastern Counties, 
 when exposed to the massacring attacks of the Creeks ; 
 and the earnest attention which I gave to the assem- 
 bling and organizing troops for their defence, added to 
 the necessary performance of the ordinary duties of 
 the Executive office, proved too burdensome for my 
 feeble system. My health failed, I became so danger- 
 ously ill in the spring of 1839, that my family, phy- 
 
564 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 sicians and friends despaired of my recovery. Dr. 
 White and Dr. Font found it necessary to be with me 
 every day, for months, and three times a day for many 
 weeks. I received from them not only the benefit of 
 their great professional skill, but the kind treatment of 
 the best of friends. They watched with great intent- 
 ness the effect of their medicines, and every change of 
 the disease, so as to avail themselves of each incident 
 in their endeavors to effect my cure. There were many 
 states of the disease so immediately tending to death, 
 that I am convinced that my life could not have been 
 saved, but by their presence and skill. Whatever 
 could be done for my relief and cure was done by 
 them. I never see them, nor think of them, but with 
 the strongest feelings of gratitude for their services, and 
 the kind manner in which they were rendered. Mrs. 
 White and Mrs. Font were with my wife whenever they 
 could be of any service to her. Two of my home 
 friends, Col. Lumpkin and Mr. Dawson, came to me 
 when I was thought to be in the last extremity. I re- 
 member well their distress when they parted from me, 
 with the evident belief, that when we met next, it 
 would not be in this life. 
 
 My wife was ever at my side through all the danger 
 of the disease, administering all the medicines, and 
 doing with her own hands whatever could be done for 
 my relief. Her natural feebleness seemed to become 
 enduring strength. Her eyes were never off me, except 
 to take the snatches of sleep necessary for sustaining 
 her own life. Her hands were constantly employed in 
 smoothing my pillow, applying cold cloths to my hot 
 head, directing my attention from the pain, by rubbing 
 the diseased parts, or soothing away irritation by some 
 gentle emollient. Her aptitude for understanding dis- 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 565 
 
 eases and their proper cure, derived from her sympathy 
 with the sick, her quick and keen observation of each 
 minute particular of cases and their successful remedies, 
 enabled her to aid the physicians in all that they did 
 for me. To her unwearied, never ceasing watchfulness, 
 skilful nursing, affectionate tenderness, and loving kind- 
 ness, I owe my life. 
 
 Whilst I was in the greatest peril she sent for Dr. 
 Henry Branham. We had some peculiar claims upon 
 his friendship, as he had upon ours. He had attended 
 me once before, when I was expected to die, and had 
 been singularly successful in the application of remedies. 
 He came. But believing that no treatment could pre- 
 vent the disease proving fatal, and finding that he 
 would only add to the distress of my wife from his 
 inability to bear with fortitude the sight of my dying, 
 he returned home and sent to us my brother-in-law 
 Dr. Grattan, who then resided in Madison. It w T as 
 fortunate that he did so. Dr. Grattan found my wife 
 exhausted, and almost hopeless. Her confidence in his 
 affectionate and watchful care, induced her to take 
 some rest, without which she would have been unable 
 to continue her nursing, so indispensably necessary to 
 my recovery. Indeed, it was wonderful how so feeble 
 a body as mine endured for so long time constant 
 scorching fever and strangely disordered body. I 
 owed my cure, under Providence, to nursing which had 
 never been equalled, and professional skill and atten- 
 tion which has never been surpassed. Months went by 
 in the struggle between life and death, until the energy 
 which belonged so surprisingly to my frail system, 
 carried me beyond the apprehended danger. 
 
 During my sickness, the business of the Executive 
 office so accumulated, that the first day when my phy- 
 
566 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 sicians permitted me to think of what had to be done, 
 I signed sixty grants, and examined the record of the 
 trial of a criminal condemned to be hung, and granted 
 his reprieve. 
 
 The necessity for laboring rendered it impossible 
 for me to gain strength. When the time at last ar- 
 rived for quitting office, and the great seal of the State 
 was transferred to my successor, I felt that a weight 
 beyond endurance was taken off me. I could not be 
 kept in Milledgeville. I left it a few hours after, and 
 set off for my home, with the eagerness of an untamed 
 bird escaping from its cage. 
 
 When I went into the Executive office preparatory 
 to my inauguration in 1829, I found Mr. Forsyth sur- 
 rounded by his political friends. He received me with 
 as much self-possession and courtesy, as if he had aided 
 my election, iustead of using against me, as he had 
 done, all the means which his supercilious temper and 
 indolent habits permitted. I was very much embar- 
 rassed by the strange situation and company in which 
 I found myself, and my entire ignorance of the forms 
 to be observed. 
 
 When Mr. Lumpkin, my successful opponent in 
 1831, came into the Executive office on the morning 
 when he was to lie inaugurated, where I was still in 
 possession officially, I forgot the mortifying circum- 
 stances of my own situation, upon witnessing his utter 
 confusion. Previous to his becoming a candidate, he 
 assured me that he approved my recommendations to 
 the Legislature, that the gold mines should be reserved 
 for the use of the State, and the Indians protected 
 against injustice; telling me that he would not avail 
 himself of the unpopularity which had followed what I 
 had done to become Governor, though he had been 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 567 
 
 greatly urged to do so. But the temptation to office, 
 increased with the increasing probabilities of success, 
 until the assurance which had been given to me un- 
 necessarily, was necessarily forgotten. 
 
 When I was elected over Governor Schley in 1837, 
 the excitement which usually attends success was unfelt. 
 I had the disposition to relieve as far as I could the 
 wounded feelings of my defeated opponent. But he 
 belonged too decidedly to the stiff-necked class to be 
 pacified by courtesy. 
 
 I had not been a candidate for re-election in 1839, 
 when I was succeeded in office by Judge McDonald. 
 Though of opposite parties, we had always been civil 
 to each other. He was too much embarrassed, to in- 
 dulge in any exhibition of party triumph ; and I was 
 so feeble and emaciated by disease, as to be looked 
 upon with kindness by every one who saw me deliver 
 up the insignia of office. 
 
 Before I arrived at my home, a report reached me, 
 that my friends in Lexington being dissatisfied with the 
 shapeless appearance of my old house, had purchased 
 a residence for me, more suitable to an ex-Governor. 
 The report was not exactly true. One or two of them 
 believing that I would like a house and lot which was 
 offered for sale at the time, better than my own, made 
 a conditional bargain for it, which I complied with upon 
 reaching Lexington. 
 
 I left the place where I had passed many years as 
 happily as belongs to our condition in this world, for 
 another dwelling nearer a perfect parallelogram, and 
 covered with boards fresher painted than the old one. 
 It was a sore trial to leave the trees which I had 
 planted, the garden which I had cultivated, and the 
 office where I had attended to professional business. 
 
568 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 My wife liked the new fixations. Bnt when she found 
 tfie change distressed me, and that the attachment 
 which I had for the old liouse was derived from the 
 pleasure we had enjoyed there together, she proposed 
 that we should stay where Ave were. We came to the 
 conclusion however, after talking over the matter, that 
 we ought not to let others know that circumstances 
 could make children of us. So we thanked our friends 
 Avitli a satisfied air for their consideration about our 
 comfort, moved every thing aAvay from the old to the 
 new house, and were soon as happy in it as we had 
 ever been elseA\ r here. Indeed, the change was greatly for 
 the better, as my wife’s taste had perceived at first. 
 We set to work industriously, to make every thing ac- 
 cord Avitli my wife’s fancy. We have found an ample 
 field for labor : I in building barns, clearing and fen- 
 cing land, making meadows, planting fruit trees, and 
 adding to the house ; my wife, in fitting up a conser- 
 vatory with rare and beautiful flowers, ornamenting the 
 garden, walks, and grounds, selecting and arranging 
 furniture, and providing every thing else necessary for 
 pleasure and comfort. 
 
 I had endeavored, years before, to purchase from 
 the then owner of the new place a very romantic spot, 
 which had been a favorite haunt of mine Avlien young. 
 Now that it belonged to me, I endeavored to make it 
 inviting to others. Woods cover the sides of tAvo pre- 
 cipitous hills, which are separated by a clear rapidly 
 running stream. Masses of granite rocks, which have 
 been divided by some great convulsion, are scattered 
 about, the parts usually lying so near, and being so 
 shaped for fitting into each other, that the most casual 
 observer discovers that they were at one time united. 
 There is a large bowlder, tAventy or thirty feet long, and 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 569 
 
 twelve or fifteen thick, which rests upon several other 
 granite rocks at the height of about ten feet. Its form, 
 as it lies out to the sight, shows by the rounding of its 
 exterior, that it has been fashioned into its present 
 shape, by being rolled over and over among other rocks 
 by some vast power. The rocks on which it rests 
 evince in the most obvious way the truth of what 
 geologists say of the antiquity of the world. Passing 
 by this bowlder, a shower of rain compelled me to take 
 shelter under its projecting end. My attention was 
 drawn to the pouring of the water from its sides upon 
 the rock which supported it. I saw that the surface 
 of the lower rock was worn into holes along its whole 
 face, large at the exterior and less and less as the rocks 
 approach nearer and nearer to each other. A little 
 below, on the descent of the hill from the bowlder, is a 
 large mass of granite rocks, one side of which forms a 
 high precipice. Two trees have grown up from below, 
 since my first knowledge of the place. Their bodies 
 have continued to press upon the edge of the project- 
 ing mass, until enlargements have been formed which 
 have taken hold of the rocks, so that the trees are now 
 pillars, upholding what seems ready to fall and crush 
 persons standing beneath. 
 
 On the top of the mass of rocks are two other trees, 
 showing by their decayed tops that the supply of mat- 
 ter for their growth cannot be increased. Near by 
 their roots, is a rock which weighs about ten or fifteen 
 tons, Avhich rests upon two small points at its transverse 
 ends so equally, that it is easily moved. A level space 
 of several feet extends from this moveable rock to the 
 precipice. The young people of the village assemble 
 here to try the state of their hearts, by trying to set 
 the rock in motion. As this is easily done, every one 
 
570 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 over fifteen is found to be in love. Along the sides of 
 the rocks are fissures in which grape-vines and honey- 
 suckles grow. From the top is a near view of a beauti- 
 ful meadow, through which meanders a creek in cir- 
 cuits so graceful, as to appear the work of design. Be- 
 yond rises a high hill, the side of which is covered with 
 a forest of unsurpassed beauty. Through its trees may 
 be seen many large granite rocks. A Yankee school- 
 mistress, just arrived South, accompanied a party on a 
 visit to the Lover’s Leap. She saw, whilst she stood by 
 the movable rock, an opening under one of these 
 granite rocks, and asked for a description of the place. 
 One of the company who knew it well, answered, to 
 the young lady’s terror, that it was a cavern where some 
 wild men had concealed themselves to escape the obser- 
 vation of the world. 
 
 Soon after our return from Milledgeville, I laid out 
 a walk from the house to the Lover’s Leap, and orna- 
 mented it with a great number and variety of flowers, 
 fruit trees, and grape-vines. The flowers found the 
 soil ungenial for their growth, and have perished. The 
 fruit trees and grape-vines now shade the walk, and 
 supply to visitors at the proper season, an abundance 
 of delicious fruit. 
 
 I have always been a lover of little girls, and young 
 ladies. I invited them all to visit the Lover’s Leap along 
 this walk, to take with them beaux, and eat of the fruit 
 without restraint. My plan to please has had its em- 
 barrassments. When it was discovered that the walk 
 to the Lover’s Leap was free to some, others would go ; 
 so that my friends often found fruit scarce. I have had 
 to confess myself mistaken. To correct the error, I have 
 given notice that my fruit is my own, and must not be 
 taken without my permission 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 571 
 
 In 1840 1 was a candidate for elector of President and 
 Vice-President of the United States. My opposition 
 to Mr. Van Buren had become very determined, as the 
 developments of his conduct and character made it 
 more and more evident that his rare adroitness and 
 great tact for managing party materials disqualified 
 him for using power for noble purposes. I had been 
 an elector in 1886 and voted for Judge White. The 
 same reasons which induceed me to oppose Mr. Van 
 Buren then continued to operate with additional force 
 in 1840. I again disregarded party ties from the strong 
 conviction that Mr. Van Buren and those associated 
 with him in office were destroying confidence in the 
 Democracy by the manner in which they conducted 
 themselves in office. A democrat myself, I considered 
 it better for the country to have honest men to admin- 
 ister the Government without clearly defined political 
 principles, than those who professed well, but acted 
 badly. I was elected, made President of the Electoral 
 College, and proclaimed the result of the election, that 
 all the votes of Georgia were given for William Henry 
 Harrison to be President and John Tyler to be Vice- 
 President. 
 
 Although I made several public speeches during 
 the canvass for General Harrison, and attended in the 
 usual way to my private business, I continued for sev- 
 eral years to suffer from the effects of the disease which 
 prostrated me so long immediately before I left Mil- 
 ledgeville. I had almost at all times a slight fever, and 
 was in consequence so excitable as to be constantly 
 carried away with the hurry of my thoughts, when 
 speaking or conversing upon political or other subjects 
 of interest. Hot agreeing in the party course pursued 
 by many of my most intimate friends, I often belabored 
 
572 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 tliem for what they were doing in the most impassioned 
 way. They suffered, without anger or retort, my ap- 
 parently rude treatment, in a manner which, though it 
 only irritated me then, I remember very gratefully 
 now. Colonel Hardeman, Mr. Dawson, Mr. Hall, and 
 Mr. Stevens’ conduct I especially treasure up in mem- 
 ory. My wife’s hand was often placed upon me in 
 the gentlest way, to remind me how loud and rudely 
 I was talking. Occasionally the top of my head 
 became blood-red, and at the highest fever heat. My 
 health grew worse, until I was confined to bed. For 
 many months my wife watched over me with un- 
 ceasing care, applying day and night, without ever 
 leaving me, the remedies prescribed for my relief. 
 At my lowest state, when life hung upon the slen- 
 derest thread, she was ever at my side, watching 
 every indication for hope. Once, late at night, she 
 noticed the usual synqitoms which immediately pre- 
 cede death. Brandy was poured down my throat 
 in a moment, in larger quantities than I had ever 
 drank in my strongest days, and until the weakening, 
 fluttering pulsation acquired strength to overcome 
 the obstruction which was stopping its movement. 
 Perpetual watching and anxiety reduced her to the 
 feeblest condition. Her own life could not have lasted 
 much longer with such pressure upon it. Her sister, 
 Mrs. Harris, was informed of our dangerous state. 
 She received the letter as she was going from her 
 home to church. She and Dr. Harris returned to 
 their home in the greatest haste, threw a few clothes 
 into a trunk, set off for Richmond, got on the rail- 
 road, and were with us in the shortest possible time. 
 My wife, confiding in her sister’s love and care, as she 
 would have confided in nobody else, slept for the 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 573 
 
 first time for a long while a sleep of restoration. My 
 wife, aided by Dr. Harris and my sister Lucy, rubbed 
 my bands and feet, soothed every irritation, admin- 
 istered medicines, applied palliatives, until some signs 
 of recovery began to appear. My negroes waited 
 upon me as few persons have, ever been waited on 
 by their nearest kindred. 
 
 Indispensable business obliged Dr. Harris to return 
 home : I could not part with his wife. I felt that my 
 wife’s life might depend upon her sister’s staying. 
 The doctor consented that she should remain with us 
 for a while longer, if means could be provided for her 
 safe return to Virginia. My wife sent for my neigh- 
 bor, Lewis J. Deupree, and asked him if he would 
 take charge of Mrs. Harris as far as Richmond, as he 
 went to New York. He answered, “ My dear madam, 
 it is immaterial whether I go to New York or not. I 
 will go home with your sister whenever she desires to 
 return, if she will remain with you.” I recovered, 
 with an abiding spirit of thankfulness"^ for my preser- 
 vation ; increased love, if possible, for my wife ; the 
 warmest, most grateful affection for our sister and her 
 husband ; and enhanced regard for my friends, neigh- 
 bors, and negroes. 
 
 In the beginning of January of the year of the 
 sickness which I have been describing, I was seated 
 one morning before a table, with my back to the win- 
 dows of my dressing-room, shaving, when I heard a 
 noise, and turning, saw a mocking-bird, apparently 
 endeavoring to get in. After watching its movements 
 for some time, I finished what I was about. The bird 
 still continued to fly against the window. Supposing 
 that it might be tame, and had lost its way home, I 
 raised the sash, so that it might enter ; but it would 
 
574 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 not. I imagined that it might he hungry, as the cold 
 had been very severe. I put bread crumbs on the 
 sill and other places near by. The bird took no notice 
 of the bread, in its eager flying against the window. 
 Its perch was on a tall largestreamia bush, which grew 
 near, to which it would return after exhausting its 
 strength by the flapping of its wings against the glass. 
 It would then droop its feathers, look wearied and 
 mournful, sit for a few moments perfectly still, and 
 again fly against the glass. This alternate flying 
 against the glass, and sitting motionless on the larges- 
 treamia bush, continued for several hours. The next 
 morning the mocking-bird was again on the larges- 
 treamia bush, and flying against the glass of the win- 
 dow. Each morning, for several months, it renewed 
 the ivork of the day before. My health continued de- 
 clining from about the time of the appearance of the 
 mocking-bird at the window, until 1 was confined to 
 bed. Each succeeding day, for months, increased the 
 probability that I would never quit it, but to be car- 
 ried to the grave. Whilst thus confined and sick, I 
 often noticed the startling effect upon visitors at my 
 bedside, from the noise made by the flapping of the 
 wings of the mocking-bird against the window of my 
 room, saying, as they interpreted the sign more forci- 
 bly than words could have done, “ Hear the warning 
 of approaching death ! ” 
 
 The mocking-bird was the female of a pair which 
 nested and raised their young in a rose-bush near the 
 house, the male of which had been caught by a cat. 
 The window against which the female continued to 
 fly so long, was shaded by a blind of slats on the 
 inside, and then let down half-way, so that when the 
 bird was perched on the largestreamia bush, it saw its 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 575 
 
 reflected image, moving when it moved, and meeting 
 it on the glass when it flew against it. This reflected 
 image the faithful female bird took for its lost mate. 
 
 When my grandfather Lewis was dying, a white 
 bird was observed upon the house-top. It was, accord- 
 ing to Irish belief, the family Benshee, wdio had crossed 
 the ocean to be present at the death of the head of the 
 Lewises, and attend his spirit to the land of his ances- 
 tors, before it passed away for ever. 
 
 My grandfather lived on the Shenandoah River — a 
 favorite resort of the white heron — one of whom, in 
 going up and down, had passed by the house, to avoid 
 going round a great bend, and stopped on the house- 
 top to take its direction. 
 
 The vivid imagination of the Irish people conjures 
 up, on the happening of any unaccountable incident, 
 genii, fairies, hobgoblins, and spirits suited to the 
 occasion. 
 
 The habit of minute and accurate observation, 
 which characterizes the people of this country, is 
 teaching the people of the Old World among us, that 
 these creations of superstition are not fitting existences 
 for the New World. 
 
 Negro slavery has been, since the formation of 
 the Federal Government, a subject of controversy be- 
 tween the North and the South. Public attention has 
 been directed to it, for some years past, with increased 
 excitement, by its forced connection with party poli- 
 tics. Petitions to Congress, the Wilmot proviso, the 
 law for the arrest of fugitive slaves, the admission of 
 California into the Pinion, the formation of new terri- 
 tories, the proceedings of the State Legislature, and 
 Conventions of the people in reference thereto, and 
 the debates in Congress, have created so much agita- 
 
576 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 tion throughout the entire country, as to cause many 
 to fear for the integrity of the Union. 
 
 In consequence of resolutions passed by the Legis- 
 lature of Georgia, in 1849, and the subsequent pro- 
 clamation of the Governor, a Convention of the people 
 of the State met in Milledgeville, in November, 1850. 
 It passed various resolutions, and adjourned. Before 
 their separation, a portion of the members met, and 
 agreed to convert the Convention, to save the Union, 
 into a meeting to form a political party. The follow- 
 ing extracts from a letter written to a friend, and 
 from a speech made in the Convention, are given here, 
 because of the great and continuing importance of the 
 subject discussed : — 
 
 Lexington, January 8th, 1851. 
 
 Dear Sir, — The pleasure you feel at the result of the 
 action of the late Convention, is participated in by almost every 
 one. You ask my opinion of what was done. I will give you 
 my experience as my answer. 
 
 My wife and myself were in Virginia during August and 
 September. When we returned home, we were attending to 
 flowers, collecting minerals, reading and talking cheek by jowl, 
 scarcely observing that the face of society was ruffled by any 
 unusual excitement. A fire-eating meeting was held one day 
 in our town. I was not invited to it. I nevertheless took my 
 cane and stalked in. I listened to the reading of a most extra- 
 ordinary report to the meeting, and speech in support of it. 
 Calls were made for speakers. Some one in the crowd called 
 for me. I stepped forward — attacked the report and resolu- 
 tions so furiously, that, like the raw militiaman, who, striking 
 with might and main hither and yon, succeeded in driving a 
 whole host before him. There was a unanimous vote against 
 the report, and all the resolutions except one, and that was 
 altered so as to make it inoffensive. The election for members 
 of the Convention came on. I was elected by nearly every vote. 
 I went to Milledgeville, shook hands heartily with my old 
 friends, kissed the young ones, and was very much pleased to be 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 577 
 
 where I hacl passed a long time very pleasantly. Judge Sayer 
 and Dr. Terrell, old friends, just from Europe, were at Mr. 
 Orrn’s, our host. They kept us amused and excited, by their 
 accounts of tbe novelties of Europe. I never saw, except by 
 accident, any of the leaders of the Convention. My enthusiasm 
 was for the preservation of the union of the States, and not for 
 the union of party aspirants, for party purposes. I soon found 
 myself out of place. I give you an extract from my speech, 
 made in the Convention, which will show you what were my 
 opinions and position. 
 
 “ The condition upon which the committee would make the 
 continuance of the Union depend, and the causes set forth in its 
 report as sufficient for its disruption, are alarming propositions 
 to those who consider the Union the greatest political blessing 
 which any form of government ever secured to men. 
 
 The people have beeD, and yet are, congratulating themselves 
 upon the removal of some of the dangers which threatened the 
 country, when the Legislature called this Convention. The 
 passage of the compromise bill, the admission of California into 
 the Union, providing territorial governments for Utah and New 
 Mexico, settling the disputed boundary line of Texas, and the 
 passage of the fugitive slave act, though not approved by every 
 one, are such measures as most are disposed, and all ought, to 
 acquiesce in. The cry for disunion and secession which was at 
 one time heard from every part of the Southern country, have 
 been hushed up by the sober second thoughts of the people. 
 Investigation is leading to the conviction, that no people ever 
 prospered before, as the people of the United States, and that 
 no determination can be too strong to preserve unimpaired the 
 institutions which have been so successful in their operations. 
 
 Causes for the dissolution of the Union are set forth by the 
 committee, which show that we are either not in earnest in what 
 we say, cr that we value but lightly the vast advantages which 
 we enjoy. And yet the agitation at the North on account of 
 slavery at the South, and the excitement occasioned thereby, are 
 fearful indications of dangers impending over us. Cannot this 
 Convention do something which will be better suited to further 
 the purposes of its meeting, than exciting the ill-will of the 
 Northern people by threats, and stirring up strife at the South.. 
 
 37 
 
578 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 by alarming the people for the safety of their negro property ? 
 Let ns endeavor to convince the Northern people, that their 
 agitation about slavery is doing wrong to their Southern brethren, 
 and cannot possibly do any good to themselves. Let us intimate 
 to them that whilst they, a thousand miles off, are prying after 
 motes in our eyes, they may have neglected to examine the 
 beam which is protruding from their own. 
 
 Would disrupting the Union relieve the people of the slave- 
 holding States from interference with their slaves by the North- 
 ern people? Disruption would but increase the evil. We 
 would then be forced to raise an impassible barrier between us 
 and them. 
 
 The dealings of God with the Israelites of old was given to 
 us for our instruction. Let us profit by them. The twelve 
 tribes separated from each other. The ten were lost, utteidy 
 extinguished from the face of the earth, so that not even a rem- 
 nant can be found. The other two have been scattered over the 
 whole world, to be a byword and a reproach. We, too, have 
 been the favored people of God ; have been preserved, and have 
 prospered beyond any other people. Will the Convention ob- 
 struct the glorious onward course of the Union, and weaken its 
 strength, by setting forth light and trivial causes for its dis- 
 memberment ? The tables of the law written by the finger of 
 God, did not keep the descendants of Jacob together. AVill we 
 also disregard the hand which has guided and guarded us as 
 obviously as the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night ? 
 AVill we shut our eyes to the lights of experience, and turn into 
 neAV and untried paths in search of what we already possess ? 
 Ought we not rather to hold on to what has been found so good ? 
 Now is the time for patriots to come up to the help of their 
 country. The ark of our Covenant is in danger. Let us re- 
 member our obligations to protect it. We have all at some time, 
 and as we ought to have done in becoming members of this Con- 
 vention, taken an oath to support the Constitution which has for 
 sixty years held the States together. Will we observe the 
 solemn requirements of that oath by striving to weaken or de- 
 stroy the Union, instead of supporting and giving it strength? 
 
 The Northern people, by their opposition to negro slavery, 
 and resisting the law for the arrest of fugitive slaves, are dis- 
 
FIBST SETTLEES OF UPPEB G-EOBGIA. 
 
 579 
 
 tracting the North and annoying the South. Why should they 
 insist upon taking care of the consciences of the people of the 
 South for owning slaves? They have no slaves, and do not 
 understand the relation between master and slave at the South. 
 Let us remind them that negroes were held as property by the 
 laws of each of the Northern States, wdien their people claimed 
 the distinction of being the purest of the pure. Ought they not, 
 out of respect for their ancestors, to let us enjoy our slave pro- 
 perty unmolested ? Because the climate is too cold and the 
 population of the Northern States too dense to admit of the 
 profitable employment of negro slaves, they have set theirs free, 
 and left them to support themselves as they can. Does it follow 
 that the South, with its sparse population and sunny climate, 
 must follow the example ? The settlement of the Southern 
 colonies progressed but slowly, for a long time, because the heat 
 of the climate, the swamps of the coasts, and the rich, alluvial 
 lands on the rivers, proved too unhealthy for laborers from 
 Europe. The commercial people of Old England and New 
 England, in their search after profit, purchased slaves in Africa 
 and transferred them to the Southern colonies. Have the 
 negroes been injured by this change? They were slaves in 
 Africa, and subject there to capricious despotism, which the 
 laws of the Southern States have relieved them from by well- 
 defined enactments. 
 
 The strong animal appetites of the negroes so control them 
 that they are incapable of self-government and self-improvement. 
 They were but little superior to the beasts of the forest, when 
 brought to the Southern colonies and States. They are yet so in 
 Africa. Under the control of masters, they have been made the 
 best of laborers. They are now the producers of the great staples 
 of cotton, rice, tobacco, and sugar, which are rendering this country 
 the richest in the world, and creating more efficient means for 
 its advancement in the arts of cultivated life than all other causes 
 together. The transportation of these products gives the prin- 
 cipal and surest employment to Northern shipping, as their 
 manufacture does to Northern laborers. Negro slaves thus 
 profitably employed for the benefit of both North and South, and 
 for the advantage of other countries, afford the most indisputable 
 proof of their happy condition, by their unexampled increase. 
 
580 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 The three millions of slaves now in the Southern States, are 
 better fed, better clothed, less burdened with work and care, and 
 more joyous than the lowest class of the same numbers of people 
 in any country in the world : better than the same numbers of 
 the lowest class in England or Erance, in China or Hindostan: 
 better far than the same numbers of negroes in Africa ; and are 
 more comfortable in every respect than the Indians who once 
 hunted where they now work. 
 
 The negroes of the South have, by their transfer from Africa, 
 been enabled to know something about the true end of their 
 being. They have the Gospel preached to them. There is, too, 
 a current of improved, liberated negro people passing back to 
 Africa from the United States, who are doing more to enlighten 
 and Christianize their countrymen, than all which has been done 
 for that purpose, by all the white race together. These evident 
 truths entitle us to ask our Northern brethren, why endanger 
 the Union, and distract the peace of the country on account of 
 negro slavery ? 
 
 The happy results to the African slaves who have been 
 transferred to this country, and to their descendants, who have 
 been born here, have only been equalled by the improved, pros- 
 perous condition of their masters. Our Northern brethren err 
 in their imaginings about the hardships imposed upon the negroes 
 of the South. When infants, they are our fond nurses ; in child- 
 hood, our playmates ; and in after life, our obedient and willing 
 servants. It does not enter into the hearts of our Yankee 
 brethren to conceive of the kindly relations which exist between 
 us and our negroes. 
 
 If the Northern people believe it to be wrong for the Southern 
 people to retain their negroes in servitude, why do they not point 
 out some possible way, by which the millions of slaves at the 
 South may enjoy liberty consistently with their own and the well- 
 being of the whites ? If liberated and permitted to remain where 
 they are, they know that the social state would become intoler- 
 able to both whites and blacks ; that destruction to one race or 
 the other would inevitably follow. They owe it to themselves 
 to examine well into their purposes in continuing to disturb the 
 quiet of the whole country about our negroes. Is it that the 
 stirrers up of strife intend only to gratify their selfish ambition, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 581 
 
 by inducing the firm, strong-willed laborers of the North to im- 
 agine themselves in the place of the slaves of the South, and 
 serving masters, so that they may ride them into office ? And 
 shall the Union be endangered, the peace of our country dis- 
 turbed, the confident security with which we have hitherto enjoy- 
 ed life, liberty, and prosperity, be taken away, to satisfy lustings 
 after power ? The Northern people should see to it, that they 
 do not part with their noble birthright, for a mess of pottage. — 
 The Southern people should understand the price of liberty and 
 good government too well, to intrust their interests long, to those 
 who would lessen their value, by taking away their peaceful en- 
 joyments. 
 
 When my health became sufficiently improved to 
 devote some of my time to active pursuits, I commenc- 
 ed raising grass, and making hay. Having found a 
 wife among the clover fields of the Valley of Virginia, 
 sweet milk and well flavored butter were indispensa- 
 bles for her eating enjoyments. The cotton seed, which 
 keeps the cows of the Southern people alive during the 
 winter, gives such a vile taste to the milk and butter, 
 that I was obliged to look out for something better 
 than the market supplied. 
 
 The low, damp, marshy bottoms of the small streams 
 and creeks of the Southern country, were considered in 
 past times of little value. They were with difficulty 
 cleared of their heavy timber, and when they were, 
 and cultivated in corn or cotton, the hasty flooding 
 rains of our climate carried off most of the alluvial soil, 
 and soon left them sterile. Nobody would be at the 
 expense of twenty and thirty dollars an acre, for drain- 
 ing by ditching, when the fertile lands of Alabama and 
 Mississippi could be had for the fourth of that price. 
 
 I cleared the low lands upon a small creek near my 
 house, and sowed it in herds grass and clover, and thus 
 
582 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 obviated what reduced such lands to poverty in the 
 hands of others. Flooding the land when in grass, made 
 it richer by the deposit of top soil, washed from the 
 bottoms above. I succeeded in creating a beautiful land- 
 scape, of what had been previously an eyesore, and mak- 
 ing a productive meadow of what had generated nothing 
 but musquetoes and miasma. I provided plenty of nutri- 
 tious grass in summer, and'hay in winter, for my cows, so 
 that my wife has had better milk and butter than is 
 supplied by the largest cotton plantation, and more 
 uniformly plenty of these good things than most are ac- 
 customed to in her native country. I have been often 
 amused at the looks of distrust and derision, with which 
 some of my cotton-producing neighbors listen to my di- 
 rections of how to make grass grow — their most pressing 
 occupation being to kill it. Every one who makes cotton 
 seems to think, that it is better to have white frothy 
 butter, and thin milk, rather than lessen the sum of 
 money from the sale of their crops, by substituting a 
 good deal of grass for a little less cotton. 
 
 Until of late years, I never saw a meadow in Geor- 
 gia. Fodder had been the sole accompaniment of 
 corn in feeding horses on the plantations, though the 
 most unhealthy of all food for them. My horses eat 
 hay. One of them is now twenty-three years old, and 
 looks as if he might do good work for many years more. 
 My bam is large, and three stories high, is usually filled 
 with hay once a year, and has never been empty since 
 it was built. My garden and lots, are made rich 
 through my hay and cattle. My corn, peas, potatoes, 
 and vegetables, are so succulent, that it does one good 
 to eat them. I have had cabbage-heads all the year, 
 in consequence of manuring well where each plant is 
 grown, and so can eat them in the way which never 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 583 
 
 gives the colic. The long collards are given to the cows. 
 The fame of my hay-making has extended to the North, 
 where it lias been published, that I was the model 
 farmer of the South. It seems to be loud-sounding 
 praise, but lessens to nothing when it is known that 
 I am the only farmer there, all others being planters. 
 During the last year, the Agricultural Association of 
 the slaveholding States constituted me a member, and 
 made me its President. The following short address 
 upon a matter of never-failing interest, will I hope 
 be considered appropriately inserted here. 
 
 JAirnss, 
 
 BY GEORGE R. GILMER, OF GA. 
 President of the Association. 
 
 Gentlemen, — The great number of planters, who have as- 
 sembled together here from the surrounding States, give the 
 most certain assurance of the good which we may expect to fol- 
 low from what we may do. Improvement in agriculture, which 
 has so long lagged behind advancement in other arts, is begin- 
 ning now to be considered an imperative necessity. Formerly, 
 whatever was done in improving, was effected by the genius and 
 exertion of individuals. Now entire communities are uniting, to 
 give force to the power which impels society forward to better 
 its condition by making the earth bring forth increased quantities 
 of what is necessary for man’s well-being. Throughout civilized 
 Europe, the foot of the reading clodhopper is upon the neck of 
 the crowned head ; triumph begins to be awarded to him who 
 makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before, 
 rather than to the skilled in tile art of war. In this country the 
 surest passport to honor and to office, is success in adding to the 
 numbers of the living, increasing the means for their support, 
 and enlarging the sources of their enjoyment. We are the most 
 obedient of all people to the divine command, “ be fruitful, mul- 
 tiply, replenish the earth, and subdue it : ” and are receiving our 
 
584 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 appropriate reward, by being the most prosperous. One of the 
 great difficulties which the country is seeking to overcome, 
 through the consultation of this Convention, is, how to make the 
 replenishing the earth and subduing it, equal to our success in 
 multiplying the numbers who are to feed upon it. If our agricul- 
 tural improvements shall not correspond with the increasing de- 
 mands which increasing numbers are making for increased pro- 
 duction, we must soon suffer the sorest evils from our neglect. 
 The world will not be enlarged for our sakes. 
 
 The Indians are nearly gone. New lands and new territo- 
 ries will soon cease to draw off our surplus population. We 
 
 have reached the Pacific Ocean, and can go no further. We 
 
 have been skimming the top soil and living upon its cream until 
 we are beginning to taste the blue bottom. We must not only 
 discover some way of renewing the primitive richness of our ex- 
 hausted lands, but force them to produce more than they did in 
 their virgin freshness. Our country is the most favored of lands, 
 in its peculiar fitness for the pi-oduction of cotton, corn, wheat, 
 rice, tobacco, and sugar. 
 
 Our cotton is the most wonderful talisman of the world. By 
 its power we are transmuting whatever we have into whatever 
 we want. It is adding to the industry, trade and commerce of 
 the world, as nothing else does, or ever did before. It is making 
 its cultivators more independent than princes, and richer than 
 nabobs. Those who take short-sighted views of God’s provi- 
 dence and his creatures’ good, sometimes urge planters to make 
 less, so as to sell it for higher prices : to fill their pockets by 
 lessening the extent of its usefulness. We should be too sensi- 
 ble of the value of the gift bestowed upon us, thus to abuse it. 
 Cheapness is extending demand and extinguishing rival produce, 
 and will go on increasing these effects until all civilized nations 
 will become united together by such strong ties of interest, that 
 none will be able to war against us, without bringing ruin on 
 themselves. It is pulling the helmet from the soldier’s head, 
 until he may soon find his occupation gone. It is hastening the 
 time when the trumpet shall proclaim peace on earth and good 
 will to men. The important question now is, how shall we do 
 our duty so as to make the future perform what the present is 
 promising? Let us improve the manner of cultivating the earth, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 585 
 
 ancl increase its productive capacity so as to make our homes so 
 profitable and cheering that we cannot but stay at them, and go 
 on improving them. 
 
 Gentlemen, we who have been the instruments for assembling 
 this Convention, have brought together a great mass of agricul- 
 tural knowledge, science, and experience. It is for you to make 
 from your materials, a light so bright that every one, however 
 ignorant, may know how to work aright. 
 
 One of the most difficult things to do, is to find out 
 what to do, when one is too old and feeble to do any 
 thing well. Law and politics are too exciting. Money- 
 making too engrossing, planting too laborious, and 
 keeping the spirits up by pouring spirits down too over- 
 powering to be suitable employments for advanced life. 
 When I got up from the bed of sickness to which I 
 was confined so long, in 1844, I was unable to do any 
 thing which required much exertion of body or mind. 
 I commenced daily exercise on horseback, or in a car- 
 riage. Acting without object, produced ennui and 
 fatigue. After a while, by some accident or providence, 
 my attention was directed to the minerals and quartz 
 crystallizations which cover the surface of the earth 
 around my residence. The ridings which in the begin- 
 ning were continued with tiresomeness from the want 
 of some immediate and tangible object in view, im- 
 proved my health after I had acquired a taste for hunt- 
 ing rocks. Treasuries of matter for thought are often 
 unknown or unobserved, because observation is too 
 listless to look at them. I found abundance of the 
 wonderful, where nothing had been seen before. In 
 addition to the pleasure which I have derived from in- 
 creasing good health through my daily excursions, I 
 have found many incidental accompaniments, which 
 have added to its benefits. I discovered about a mile 
 
586 
 
 FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 from Lexington, in a little cove formed by the sur- 
 rounding hills through which a stream of water flows, 
 tire remains of an altar, where the people who preceded 
 the Indians made sacrifices. I found a great many 
 places where the people have secretly dug into the 
 earth among the crystallized quartz, in search of gold. 
 I have gone on carrying home from each day’s excur- 
 sion a basket full of rocks, until my collection of crys- 
 tallized quartz about my house and yard has become 
 very large, and my cabinet of minerals very beautiful 
 and valuable. Friends and strangers have continued 
 to add to it curious things, of various sorts, until it is 
 now the means of giving pleasure to the old, and in- 
 struction to the young. Among the things which at- 
 tract attention are some very large and highly colored 
 amethysts, whose angles are so perfect, as to show that 
 they are not the work of human hands. Emeralds 
 from Bogota and other precious stones from elsewhere ; 
 marbles from Hindostan, Italy, and Alabama ; gold 
 from California and Upper Georgia; silver from Peru; 
 mercury from Mexico ; copper from the bowels of the 
 earth in Mississippi and the shores of the Northern 
 Lakes ; spar from England ; agate from Germany ; a 
 piece of the rock of Gibraltar ; coal from Pennsylvania; 
 jasper from Connecticut; porphyry, zinc, mica, asbes- 
 tus, gypsum, from the Blue Ridge and Alleghany 
 Mountains ; lead from Illinois ; lava from Etna and 
 Vesuvius; basalt from the Giants’ Causeway; lime 
 crystallizations from the caves of Virginia, and ocean 
 deposits of the alluvial region of Middle Georgia ; petri- 
 factions of dead animals and trees ; two ammonites in 
 the form of snakes, petrified in their coil, from Rock- 
 ingham, the place which gave me my middle name ; 
 matrix of the diamond from Upper Georgia ; two rocks, 
 
FIRST SETTLERS OF UPPER GEORGIA. 
 
 587 
 
 each of which contains a drop of water inclosed when 
 matter assumed its appropriate shape upon the forma- 
 tion of the planet, Earth ; sand from the desert of 
 Sahara ; a witch's ball as big as a child’s fist ; the half 
 hour glass, by which Santa Anna marked the time for 
 shooting American prisoners ; a dirk handle of one of 
 the Spaniards who accompanied De Soto as he passed 
 from the seaboard to the Cherokee gold mines ; a chip 
 from the tree under which Gen. Oglethorpe made the 
 first treaty with the Creek Indians ; a vase made of the 
 Georgia live oak w r kick formed a part of the timbers of 
 the frigate Constitution; half of the bombshell which 
 fell through the roof upon the floor of the Cathedral 
 Church in Vera Cruz when the city was beseiged by 
 the American army, and killed and wounded eighteen 
 or twenty nuns on their knees ; the first gold watch 
 owned by a native Virginian ; a snuff-box made of the 
 wood of the outer coffin which inclosed the body of 
 General Washington when it was deposited in the 
 family vault ; Indian pipes, idols, amulets, lances, and 
 arrowheads ; coral and shells from the Indian and At- 
 lantic Oceans ; a marble image of Rebekah at the well 
 from the London fair, with a great many engravings, 
 some original paintings, and a library of books formed 
 by continual additions from my childhood to old age. 
 
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 be illustrated with nearly 100 Woodcuts, sixteen Tinted Lithographs, and a beautiful Map en 
 graved on steel, of the extensive regions traversed. 
 
 In addition to the interest connected with the explorations of our newly acquired territories and the Mexican States adja- 
 cent, this work possesses unusual attraction from the detailed account which it contains of one of tho proposed routes for t> 
 railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The author traversed tho country near the parallel of 32 degrees North latitude, for 
 five hundred miles through Texas, and about three hundred miles west of the Bio Grande, in the States of Chihuahua and 
 Sonora, near the same line. In these two States, which are now attracting the deepest interest, he made extensive journeys 
 through their entire length, and describes with great minuteness the natural features of tho country, so that, as a guide to 
 emigrants to these States or to California, the information will be invaluable. 
 
 II. 
 
 NICARAGUA; 
 
 ITS PEOPLE, SCENERY, MONUMENTS, AND THE PROPOSED INTEROCEANIC CANAL 
 WITH NUMEROUS ORIGINAL MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 By E. G. SQUIER, 
 
 DATE CHARGE D’AFFAIRES OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE REPUBLICS OF CENTRAL AMERICA 
 
 2 vols. 8vo., beautifully printed, $5 ; or, in 1 vol., $4 50. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE ISTHMUS OF TEHUANTEPEC: 
 
 Being the Results of a Survey for a Railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, made by the 
 Scientific Commission, under the direction of 
 
 MAJOR J. G. BARNARD, United States Engineer. 
 
 WITH A RESUME OF THE 
 
 Geology, Climate, Local G-eography, Productive Industry, Fauna and Flora, of the Region. 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 Arranged and prepared for the Tehuantepec Railroad Company of New Orleans, 
 
 By J. J. WILLIAMS, Prin. Assist Eng. 
 
 One volume, 8vo., with Atlas separate, price S3 50. 
 
D. APPLETON d- COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 Intrrating ^nuuiam 
 
 i. 
 
 THE LIFE OF JOHN RANDOLPH, OF ROANOKE. 
 
 By HUGH A. GARLAND. 
 
 Complete in 1 volume 8vo., pp. 698, with 2 portraits. $1 60. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE LIFE OF WILLIAM PINKNEY, 
 
 BY IIIS NEPHEW, 
 
 THE REY. WILLIAM PINKNEY, D. D. 
 
 One volume Svo., pp. 407, with fine portrait. $2. 
 
 Mr. Pinkney is certainly one of the historical men of this country: having filled some very important positions in hei 
 councils aiul representations, and occupied an interesting period of her history. His character has been marked, both as the 
 subject of admiration by his friends, and of aspersion and suspicion by his enemies. This book comes forth to defend and 
 justify, ami make more clear what was ‘obviously misunderstood or seemingly misrepresented.’ The spirit of the book is 
 commendable, and gives us much to admire in the life of one ‘who adorned the republic of letters, and illustrated the virtues 
 tliui belong to the enlightened Amorican citizen.”' — Cincin. Times. 
 
 LIFE AND MEMORIALS OF DANIEL WEBSTER. 
 
 By GEN. S. P. LYMAN. 
 
 Two neat volumes 16mo., well printed. $1. 
 
 ••These sketches have been re- written. They are from the pen of Gen. S. P. Lyman, whose general character, as well 
 a? his intimate relations with the family of the deceased statesman, sufficiently guarantee their authenticity. A number of .* 
 anecdotes are interspersed, which show forth Mr. Webster’s inner man in the most engaging light. None can desire a better | 
 portraiture of bis life and character than is here presented.” — N. Y. Courier. 
 
 IV. 
 
 A MEMOIR OF THE LATE REV. WM: CROSWELL, D. D., 
 
 RECTOR OF THE CHURCH OF THE ADVENT, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 By His Father. 
 
 One handsome volume Svo., pp. 528, portrait. §2. 
 
 “This work, which is composed principally of the writings of the Rev. Mr. Croswell himself, has been compiled by hi> • 
 father at the age of threescore and ten years. A memoir presented under these circumstances to the public, cannot fail t< 
 demand universal attention. This will be sustained by the intrinsic merits of the work itself, which as a record on Christian 
 experience, trial, and consolation, is one of the most beautiful memorials of the kind we have ever read. Mr. Croswell. J 
 seems to have been a man of quick fancy and elegant learning. We find scattered through his Memoir a number of graceful 
 poems on various subjects, but principally religious, which display both taste and talent. But the sincere and fervent pietv 
 apparent on every page of the volume, must still be considered as its chief charm, and its highest recommendation to the a 
 class of readers to whom the work especially addresses itself.” — South. Lit. Gazette. 
 
 V. 
 
 LIVES OF EMINENT LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN 
 
 OF AMERICA 
 
 By JAMES WYNNE, M. D. 
 
 One neat volume 12mo. pp., 356, well printed. $1. 
 

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