Chapter VI: The English Colonization of Georgia (1)

1733-1752.

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

ACTING under the orders of Admiral Coligny, Captain Ribault, before selecting a location for his fort and planting his Huguenot colony near the mouth of Port Royal, traversed what is now known as the Georgia coast, observed its harbors, and named several of the principal rivers emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.[837] “It was a fayre coast, stretchyng of a great length, couered with an infinite number of high and fayre trees.” The waters “were boyling and roaring, through the multitude of all kind of fish.” The inhabitants were “all naked and of a goodly stature, mightie, and as well shapen and proportioned of body as any people in ye world; very gentle, courteous, and of a good nature.” Lovingly entertained were these strangers by the natives, and they were, in the delightful spring-time, charmed with all they beheld. As they viewed the country they pronounced it the “fairest, fruitfullest, and pleasantest of all the world, abounding in hony, venison, wilde foule, forests, woods of all sorts, Palm-trees, Cypresse, and Cedars, Bayes ye highest and greatest; with also the fayrest vines in all the world, with grapes according, which, without natural art and without man’s helpe or trimming, will grow to toppes of Okes and other trees that be of a wonderfull greatness and height. And the sight of the faire medowes is a pleasure not able to be expressed with tongue: full of Hernes, Curlues, Bitters, Mallards, Egrepths, Wood-cocks, and all other kinds of small birds; with Harts, Hindes, Buckes, wilde Swine, and all other kindes of wilde beastes, as we perceiued well, both by their footing there, and also afterwardes in other places by their crie and roaring in the night.... Also there be Conies and Hares, Silk Wormes in merueilous number, a great deale fairer and better than be our silk wormes. To be short, it is a thing vnspeakable to consider the thinges that bee scene there and shal be founde more and more in this incomperable lande, which, neuer yet broken with plough yrons, bringeth forth al things according to his first nature wherewith the eternall God indued it.”

Enraptured with the delights of climate, forests, and waters, and transferring to this new domain names consecrated by pleasant associations at home, Captain Ribault called the River St. Mary the _Seine_, the Satilla the _Somme_, the Alatamaha the _Loire_, the Newport the _Charante_, the Great Ogeechee the _Garonne_, and the Savannah the _Gironde_. Two years afterward, when René de Laudonnière visited Ribault’s fort, he found it deserted. The stone pillar inscribed with the arms of France, which he had erected to mark the farthest confines of Charles IX.’s dominion in the Land of Flowers, was garlanded with wreaths. Offerings of maize and fruits lay at its base; and the natives, regarding the structure with awe and veneration, had elevated it into the dignity of a god.

As yet no permanent lodgment had been effected in the territory subsequently known as Georgia. The first Europeans who are known to have traversed it were Hernando de Soto and his companions, whose story has been told elsewhere.[838] The earliest grant of the lower part of the territory claimed by England under the discovery of Cabot, was made by His Majesty King Charles I., in the fifth year of his reign, to Sir Robert Heath, his attorney-general. In that patent it is called _Carolina Florida_, and the designated limits extended from the river Matheo in the thirtieth degree, to the river Passa Magna in the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude. There is good reason for the belief that actual possession was taken under this concession, and that, in the effort to colonize, considerable sums were expended by the proprietor and by those claiming under him. Whether this grant was subsequently surrendered, or whether it was vacated and declared null for _non user_ or other cause, we are not definitely informed. Certain it is that King Charles II., in the exercise of his royal pleasure, issued to the Lords Proprietors of Carolina two grants of the same territory with some slight modifications of boundaries. The latter of these grants, bearing date the 30th of June in the seventeenth year of his reign, conveys to the Lords Proprietors that portion of the New World lying between the thirty-sixth and the twenty-ninth degrees of north latitude. While the English were engaged in peopling a part of the coast embraced within these specified limits, the Spaniards contented themselves with confirming their settlements at St. Augustine and a few adjacent points.

Although in 1670 England and Spain entered into stipulations for composing their differences in America,—stipulations which have since been known as the _American Treaty_,—the precise line of separation between Carolina and Florida was not defined. Between these powers disputes touching this boundary were not infrequent. In view of this unsettled condition of affairs, and in order to assert a positive claim to, and retain possession of, the debatable ground which neither party was willing either to relinquish or clearly to point out, the English established and maintained a small military post on the south end of Cumberland Island, where the river St. Mary empties its waters into the Atlantic.

Apprehending that either the French or Spanish forces would take possession of the Alatamaha River, King George I. ordered General Nicholson, then governor of Carolina, with a company of one hundred men, to secure that river, as being within the bounds of South Carolina; and, at some suitable point, to erect a fort with an eye to the protection of His Majesty’s possessions in that quarter and the control of the navigation of that stream. That fort was placed near the confluence of the Oconee and Ocmulgee rivers, and was named Fort George.

Although by the treaty of Seville commissioners were appointed to determine the northern boundary line of Florida, which should form the southern limit of South Carolina, no definite conclusion was reached, and the question remained open and a cause of quarrel until the peace of 1763, when Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.

In recalling the instances of temporary occupancy, by Europeans, of limited portions of the territory at a later period conveyed to the trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia, we should not omit an allusion to the mining operations conducted by the Spaniards at an early epoch among the auriferous mountains of upper Georgia. Influenced by the representations made by the returned soldiers of De Soto’s expedition of the quantity of gold, silver, and pearls in the province of Cosa, Luis de Velasco dispatched his general, Tristan de Luna, to open communication with Cosa by the way of Pensacola Bay. Three hundred Spanish soldiers, equipped with mining tools, penetrated beyond the valley of the Coosa and passed the summer of 1560 in northern Georgia and the adjacent region. Juan Pardo was subsequently sent by Aviles, the first governor of Florida, to establish a fort at the foot of the mountains northwest of St. Augustine and in the province of the chief Coabá. It would seem, therefore, that the Spaniards at this early period were acquainted with, and endeavored to avail themselves of, the gold deposits in Cherokee Georgia.

By the German traveller Johannes Lederer[839] are we advised that these peoples in 1669 and 1670 were still working gold and silver mines in the Appalachian mountains; and Mr. James Moore assures us that twenty years afterward these mining operations were not wholly discontinued.

Thus, long before the advent of the English colonists, had the Spaniards sojourned, in earnest quest for precious metals, among the valleys and mountains of the Cherokees. Thus are we enabled to account for those traces of ancient mining observed and wondered at by the early settlers of upper Georgia,—operations of no mean significance, conducted by skilled hands and with metallic tools,—which can properly be referred neither to the Red Race nor to the followers of De Soto.

In June, 1717, Sir Robert Mountgomery secured from the Palatine and Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina a grant and release of all lands lying between the rivers Alatamaha and Savannah, with permission to form settlements south of the former stream. This territory was to be erected into a distinct province, “with proper jurisdictions, privileges, prerogatives, and franchises, independent of and in no manner subject to the laws of South Carolina.” It was to be holden of the Lords Proprietors by Sir Robert, his heirs and assigns forever, under the name and title of the Margravate of Azilia. A yearly quit rent of a penny per acre for all lands “occupied, taken up, or run out,” was to be paid. Such payment, however, was not to begin until three years after the arrival of the first ships transporting colonists. In addition, Sir Robert covenanted to render to the Lords Proprietors one fourth part of all the gold, silver, and royal minerals which might be found within the limits of the ceded lands. Courts of justice were to be organized, and such laws enacted by the freemen of the Margravate as might conduce to the general good and in no wise conflict with the statutes and customs of England. The navigation of the rivers was to be free to all the inhabitants of the colonies of North and South Carolina. A duty similar to that sanctioned in South Carolina was to be laid on skins, and this revenue was to be appropriated to the maintenance of clergy. In consideration of this cession, Sir Robert engaged to transport at his own cost a considerable number of families, and all necessaries requisite for the support and comfort of settlers within the specified limits. It was understood that if settlements were not formed within three years from the date of the grant, it should become void.

In glowing terms did Sir Robert unfold the attractions of his future Eden “in the most delightful country of the Universe,” and boldly proclaim “that Paradise with all her virgin beauties may be modestly supposed at most but equal to its native excellencies.” After commending in the highest terms the woods and meadows, mines and odoriferous plants, soil and climate, fruits and game, streams and hills, flowers and agricultural capabilities, he exhibited an elaborate plan of the Margravate, in which he did not propose to satisfy himself “with building here and there a fort,—the fatal practice of America,—but so to dispose the habitations and divisions of the land that not alone our houses, but whatever we possess, will be inclosed by _military lines_ impregnable against the _savages_, and which will make our whole plantation one continued fortress.”

Despite all efforts to induce immigration into this favored region, at the expiration of the three years allowed by the concession Sir Robert found himself without colonists. His grant expired and became void by the terms of its own limitations. His Azilia remained unpeopled save by the red men of the forest. His scheme proved utterly Utopian. It was reserved for Oglethorpe and his companions to wrest from primeval solitude and to vitalize with the energies of civilization the lands lying between the Savannah and the Alatamaha.

Persuaded of their inability to afford suitable protection to the colony of South Carolina, and moved by the wide-spread dissatisfaction existing in that province, the Lords Proprietors, with the exception of Lord Carteret, taking advantage of the provisions of an act of Parliament, on the 25th of July in the third year of the reign of His Majesty King George II., and in consideration of the sum of £22,500, surrendered to the Crown not only their rights and interest in the government of Carolina, but also their ownership of the soil. The outstanding eighth interest owned by Lord Carteret, Baron of Hawnes, was by him, on the 28th of February, 1732, conveyed to the “Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America.”

The scheme which culminated in planting a colony on the right bank of the Savannah River at Yamacraw Bluff originated with James Edward Oglethorpe, a member of the English House of Commons, and “a gentleman of unblemished character, brave, generous, and humane.” He was the third son of Sir Theophilus, and the family of Oglethorpe was ancient and of high repute.[840] Although at an early age a matriculate of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he soon quitted the benches of that venerable institution of learning for an active military life. With him a love of arms was an inheritance, for his father attained the rank of major-general in the British service, and held the office of first equerry to James II., who intrusted him with an important command in the army assembled to oppose the Prince of Orange. Entering the English army as an ensign in 1710, young Oglethorpe continued in service until peace was proclaimed in 1713. The following year he became captain-lieutenant of the first troop of the Queen’s Life-Guards. Preferring active employment abroad to an idle life at home, he soon repaired to the continent that he might perfect himself in the art of war under the famous Prince Eugene of Savoy, who, upon the recommendation of John, Duke of Argyle, gave him an appointment upon his staff, at first as secretary and afterward as aid-de-camp. It was a brave school, and his alertness, fidelity, and fearlessness secured for him the good-will, the confidence, and the commendation of his illustrious commander. Upon the conclusion of the peace of 1718 Oglethorpe returned to England, versed in the principles of military science, accustomed to command, inured to the shock of arms, instructed in the orders of battle, the management of sieges and the conduct of campaigns, and possessing a reputation for manhood, executive ability, and warlike knowledge not often acquired by one of his years. His brother Theophilus dying, he succeeded to the family estate at Westbrook, and in October, 1732, was elected a member for Haslemere in the county of Surrey. This venerable borough and market-town he continued to represent, through various changes of administration, for two-and-thirty years.

(See a Note on the Portraits of Oglethorpe on a later page.)]

While he was chairman of the committee raised by the House of Commons to visit the prisons, examine into the condition of the inmates, and suggest measures of reform, the idea had occurred to Oglethorpe,—whose “strong benevolence of soul” has been eulogized by Pope,—that not a few of these unfortunate individuals confined for debt, of respectable connections, guilty of no crime, and the victims of a legal thraldom most vile and afflictive, might be greatly benefited by compromising the claims for the non-payment of which they were suffering the penalty of hopeless incarceration, upon the condition that when liberated they would become colonists in America. Thus would opportunity be afforded them of retrieving their fortunes; thus would England be relieved of the shame and the expense of their imprisonment, and thus would her dominion in the New World be enlarged and confirmed. Not the depraved, not felons who awaited the approach of darker days when graver sentences were to be endured, not the dishonest who hoped by submitting to temporary imprisonment to exhaust the patience of creditors and emerge with fraudulently acquired gains still concealed, but the honestly unfortunate were to be the beneficiaries of this benevolent and patriotic scheme. Those also in the United Kingdom who through want of occupation and lack of means were most exposed to the penalties of poverty, were to be influenced in behalf of the contemplated colonization. It was believed that others, energetic, ambitious of preferment, and possessing some means, could be enlisted in aid of the enterprise. The anxiety of the Carolinians for the establishment of a plantation to the South which would serve as a shield against the incursions of the Spaniards, the attacks of the Indians, and the depredations of fugitive slaves was great. This scheme of colonization soon embraced within its benevolent designs not only the unfortunate of Great Britain, but also the oppressed and persecuted Protestants of Europe. Charity for, and the relief of, human distress were to be inscribed upon the foundations of the dwellings which Oglethorpe proposed to erect amid the Southern forests. Their walls were to be advanced bulwarks for the protection of the Carolina plantations, and their aspiring roofs were to proclaim the honor and the dominion of the British nation. In the whole affair there lingered no hope of personal gain, no ambition of a sordid character, no secret reservation of private benefit. The entire project was open, disinterested, charitable, loyal, and patriotic. Such was its distinguishing peculiarity. Thus was it recognized by all; and Robert Southey did but echo the general sentiment when he affirmed that no colony was ever projected or established upon principles more honorable to its founders.

As the accomplishment of his purpose demanded a larger expenditure than his means justified, and as the administration of the affairs of the plantation would involve “a broader basis of managing power” than a single individual could well maintain, Oglethorpe sought and secured the co-operation of wealthy and influential personages in the development of his beneficent enterprise.

That proper authority, ample cession, and royal sanction might be obtained, in association with Lord Percival and other noblemen and gentlemen of repute he addressed a memorial to the Privy Council, in which, among other things, it was stated that the cities of London and Westminster, and the adjacent region, abounded with indigent persons so reduced in circumstances as to become burdensome to the public, who would willingly seek a livelihood in any of His Majesty’s plantations in America if they were provided with transportation and the means of settling there. In behalf of themselves and their associates the petitioners engaged, without pecuniary recompense, to take charge of the colonization, and to erect the plantation into a proprietary government, if the Crown would be pleased to grant them lands lying south of the Savannah River, empower them to receive and administer all contributions and benefactions which they might influence in encouragement of so good a design, and clothe them with authority suitable for the enforcement of law and order within the limits of the province. After the customary reference, this petition met with a favorable report, and by His Majesty’s direction a charter was prepared which received the royal sanction on the 9th of June, 1732.

By this charter, Lord John, Viscount Percival, Edward Digby, George Carpenter, James Oglethorpe, George Heathcote, Thomas Tower, Robert Moor, Robert Hucks, Roger Holland, William Sloper, Francis Eyles, John Laroche, James Vernon, William Beletha, John Burton, Richard Bundy, Arthur Beaford, Samuel Smith, Adam Anderson, and Thomas Coram and their successors were constituted a body politic and corporate by the name of “The Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America.” Ample were the powers with which this corporation was vested. Seven eighths “of all those lands lying and being in that part of South Carolina in America which lies from the most northern part of a stream or river there commonly called the Savannah, all along the sea-coast to the southward unto the most southern stream of a certain other great water or river called the Alatamaha, and westerly from the heads of the said rivers respectively in direct lines to the South Seas,” were conveyed to the trustees for the purposes of the plantation. The province was named Georgia, and was declared separate and distinct from South Carolina. To all, save Papists, was accorded a free exercise of religious thought and worship. For a period of twenty-one years were these corporators and their successors authorized to administer the affairs of the province. At the expiration of that time it was provided that such form of government would then be adopted, and such laws promulgated for the regulation of the colony and the observance of its inhabitants, as the Crown should ordain. Thereafter the governor of the province and all its officers, civil and military, were to be nominated and commissioned by the home government.

[Fac-simile of a map in _Some Account of the Design of the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America_, 1733, in Harvard College Library [Tract vol. 536]. This tract is appended to Smith’s Sermon (1733). This map also appeared the same year in _Reasonsf for Establishing the Colony of Georgia_, etc. Cf. also the “New Map of Georgia” in the French version of Martyn’s tracts published in the _Recueil de Voyages au Nord_, Amsterdam, 1737; Harvard College Library, shelf-no. 3621. 9, vol. ix.—ED.]]

In July, 1732, the corporators convened, accepted the charter, and perfected an organization in accordance with its provisions.[841] Commissions were issued to leading citizens and charitable corporations empowering them to solicit contributions in aid of the trust. Generously did the Trustees subscribe. To prevent any misappropriation of funds, an account was opened with the Bank of England. There a register was kept of the names of all benefactors and of the amounts of their several donations. Liberal responses were received in furtherance of the charitable scheme both from individuals and from corporations; and, as an honorable indorsement of the project and its managers, Parliament gave the sum of £10,000. Tracts commending the colonization to the favorable notice of the public were prepared,—notably by Oglethorpe, and by Benjamin Martyn, secretary to the Trustees,—and widely circulated.

In framing regulations for the observance of the colonists, and in maturing plans most conducive to the prosperity and permanence of the contemplated settlement, the trustees regarded each male inhabitant both as a planter and as a soldier. Hence, provision was made for supplying him with arms and with agricultural tools. Towns, in their inception, were reckoned as garrisons. Consequently the lands allotted for tillage were to be in their immediate neighborhood, so that in seasons of alarm the inhabitants might speedily betake themselves thither for safety and mutual protection. Fifty acres were adjudged sufficient for the support of a planter and his family. Grants in tail-male were declared preferable to any other tenure. The introduction and use of spirituous liquors were forbidden. Unless sanctioned by special license, traffic with the natives was prohibited. The trustees saw fit also to forbid the importation, ownership, and use of negro slaves within the limits of the province of Georgia. Provision was made for the cultivation of the mulberry tree and the breeding of silk-worms.

Keeping in view the benevolent objects of the association and the character of the settlement to be formed, it was manifest that only fit persons should be selected for colonization, and that due care should be exercised in the choice of emigrants. Preference was accordingly given to applicants who came well recommended by the ministers, church-wardens, and overseers of their respective parishes. That the Trustees might not be deceived in the characters and antecedents of those who signified a desire to avail themselves of the benefits of the charity, a committee was appointed to visit the prisons and examine the applicants there confined. If they were found to be worthy, compromises were effected with their creditors and consents procured for their discharge. Another committee sat at the office of the corporation to inquire into the circumstances and qualifications of such as there presented themselves. It has been idly charged that in the beginning Georgia colonists were impecunious, lawless, depraved, and abandoned; that the settlement at Savannah was a sort of Botany Bay, and that Yamacraw Bluff was peopled by runagates from justice. The suggestion is without foundation. The truth is that no applicant was admitted to the privilege of enrolment as an emigrant until he had been subjected to a preliminary examination, and had furnished satisfactory evidence that he was fairly entitled to the benefits of the charity. Other American colonies were founded and augmented by individuals coming at will, without question for personal gain, and furnishing no certificate of either past or present good conduct. Georgia, on the contrary, exhibits the spectacle, at once unique and admirable, of permitting no one to enter her borders who was not, by competent authority, adjudged worthy the rights of citizenship. Even those colonists who proposed to come at their own charge, and who brought servants with them, were required, as a condition precedent to their embarkation, to prove that they had obtained permission from the committee selected by the Trustees to pass upon the qualification of applicants. Upon receiving the approbation of the committee, and until the time fixed for sailing, adult male emigrants passing under the bounty of the Trust were drilled each day by the sergeants of the Royal Guards.

By the 3d of October, 1732, one hundred and fourteen individuals—comprising men, women, and children—had been enrolled for the first embarkation. The “Anne,” a galley of some two hundred tons burden, commanded by Captain Thomas, was chartered to convey them to Georgia. She was furnished not only with necessaries for the voyage, but also with arms, agricultural implements, tools, munitions, and stores for the use and support of the colonists after their arrival in America. At his own request, Oglethorpe was selected to conduct the colonists and establish them in Georgia. He volunteered to bear his own expenses, and to devote his entire time and attention to the consummation of the important enterprise. Himself the originator and the most zealous advocate of the scheme,—this offer on his part placed the seal of consecration upon his self-denial, patriotism, and enlarged philanthropy. Most fortunate were the Trustees in securing the services of such a representative. To no one could the power to exercise the functions of a colonial governor have been more appropriately confided.

On the 17th of November, 1732, the “Anne” departed from England, having on board about one hundred and thirty persons. Thirty-five families were represented. Among them were carpenters, brick-layers, farmers, and mechanics, all able-bodied and of good repute. Shaping her course for the island of Madeira, the vessel there touched and took on board five tuns of wine. After a protracted voyage the “Anne” dropped anchor off Charlestown bar on the 13th of January, 1733. Two delicate children had died at sea. With this exception, no sorrow darkened the passage, and the colonists were well and happy.

This print, published in London, 1741, is called “A View of the Town of Savannah in the Colony of Georgia, in South Carolina, humbly inscribed to his Excellency General Oglethorpe.” References: _A._ Part of an island called Hutchinson’s Island. _B._ The stairs and landing-place from the river to the town. _C._ A crane and bell to draw up any goods from boats and to land them. _D._ A tent pitched near the landing for General Oglethorpe. _E._ A guard-house with a battery of cannon lying before it. _F._ The parsonage house. _G._ A plot of ground to build a church. _H._ A fort or lookout to the woodside. _I._ The House for all stores. _K._ The court house and chapel. _L._ The mill-house for the public. _M._ A house for all strangers to reside in. _N._ The common bake-house. _O._ A draw-well for water. _P._ The wood covering the back and sides of the town with several vistas cut into it.

It is reproduced in Jones’s _History of Georgia_, i. 121; and a small cut of it is given in Gay’s _Popular History of the United States_, iii. 140, and in Cassell’s _United States_, i. 487. There is also a print (15-3/4 × 21-3/4 inches) dedicated to the Trustees by Peter Gordon, which is inscribed “A view of Savanah [_sic_] as it stood the 29th of March, 1734. P. Gordon, inv., P. Fourdrinier, sculp,” of which there is a copy in the Boston Public Library [B. H. 6270, 52, no. 38]. Impressions may also be found in the British Museum, in the Mayor’s office in Savannah, and in the library of Dr. C. C. Jones, Jr., in Augusta, Ga.]

Oglethorpe was warmly welcomed and hospitably entreated by the governor and council of South Carolina. The King’s pilot was detailed to conduct the “Anne” into Port Royal harbor. Thence the colonists were conveyed in small craft to Beaufort-town, where they landed and refreshed themselves; while their leader, accompanied by Colonel William Bull, proceeded to the Savannah River and made choice of a spot for the settlement. Ascending that stream as far as Yamacraw Bluff, and deeming it an eligible situation, he went on shore and marked out the site of a town which, from the river flowing by, he named Savannah. This bluff, rising some forty feet above the level of the river, and presenting a bold frontage on the water of nearly a mile,—quite ample for the riparian uses of a settlement of considerable magnitude,—was the first high ground abutting upon the stream encountered by him in its ascent. To the south a high and dry plain, overshadowed by pines interspersed with live-oaks and magnolias, stretched away for a mile or more. On the east and west were small creeks and swamps affording convenient drainage for the intermediate territory. The river in front was capable of floating ships of ordinary tonnage, and they could lie so near the shore that their cargoes might with facility be discharged. Northwardly, in the direction of Carolina, lay the rich delta of the river, with its islands and lowlands crowned with a dense growth of cypress, sweet-gum, tupelo, and other trees, many of them vine-covered and draped in long gray moss swaying gracefully in the ambient air. The yellow jessamine was already mingling its delicious perfume with the breath of the pine, and the forest was vocal with the voices of singing birds. Everything in this semi-tropical region was quickening into life and beauty under the influences of returning spring. In its primeval repose it seemed a goodly land. The temperate rays of the sun gave no token of the heat of summer. There was no promise of the tornado and the thunder-storm in the gentle winds. In the balmy air lurked no suspicion of malarial fevers. Its proximity to the mouth of the river rendered this spot suitable alike for commercial purposes and for maintaining easy communication with the Carolina settlements.

Near by was an Indian village peopled by the Yamacraws, whose chief, or mico, was the venerable Tomo-chi-chi. Having, through the intervention of Mary Musgrove,—a half-breed, and the wife of a Carolina trader who had there established a post,—persuaded the natives of the friendly intentions of the English and secured from them an informal cession of the desired lands, Oglethorpe returned to Beaufort. Thence, on the 30th of January, 1733, the colonists, conveyed in a sloop of seventy tons and in five periaguas, set sail for Yamacraw Bluff, where, on the afternoon of the second day afterward, they arrived in safety and passed their first night upon the soil of Georgia. The ocean had been crossed, and the germ of a new colony was planted in America. Sharing the privations and the labors of his companions, Oglethorpe was present planning, supervising, and encouraging. In marking out the squares, lots, and streets of Savannah, he was materially assisted by Colonel William Bull. Early and acceptable aid was extended by the authorities of Carolina, and this was generously supplemented by private benefactions. Well knowing that the planting of this colony would essentially promote the security of Carolina, shielding that province from the direct assaults and machinations of the Spaniards in Florida, preventing the ready escape of fugitive slaves, guarding her southern borders from the incursions of Indians, increasing commercial relations, and enhancing the value of lands, the South Carolinians were eager to further the prosperity of Georgia. Sensible of the courtesies and assistance extended, Oglethorpe repaired at an early day to Charlestown to return thanks in behalf of the colony and to interest the public still more in the development of the plantation. In this mission he was eminently successful. He was cheered also by congratulations and proffers of aid from other American colonies.

In nothing were the prudence, wisdom, skill, and ability of the founder of the colony of Georgia more conspicuous than in his conduct toward and treatment of the Indians. The ascendency he acquired over them, the respect they entertained for him, and the manly, generous, and just policy he ever maintained in his intercourse with the native tribes of the region are remarkable. Their favor at the outset was essential to the repose of the settlement; their friendship, necessary to its existence. As claimants of the soil by virtue of prior occupancy, it was important that the title they asserted to these their hunting grounds should at an early moment be peaceably and formally extinguished. Ascertaining from Tomo-chi-chi the names and abodes of the most influential chiefs dwelling within the territory ceded by the charter, Oglethorpe enlisted the good offices of this mico in calling a convention of them at Savannah. In May, 1733, the Indians assembled, and on the 21st of that month a treaty was solemnized, by which the Creeks ceded to the Trustees all lands lying between the Savannah and the Alatamaha rivers, from the ocean to the head of tide-water. In this cession were also embraced the islands on the coast from Tybee to St. Simon inclusive, with the exception of Ossabau, Sapelo, and St. Catharine, which were reserved for the purposes of hunting, fishing, and bathing. A tract of land between Pipe-maker’s Bluffs and Pally-Chuckola Creek was also retained as a place of encampment whenever it should please the natives to visit their white friends at Savannah. Stipulations were entered into regulating the price of goods, the value of peltry, and the privileges of traders. It was further agreed that criminal offences should be tried and punished in accordance with the laws of England. In due course the provisions of this treaty were formally ratified by the Trustees.

Thus happily, in the very infancy of the colony, was the title of the Aborigines to the lands south of the Savannah amicably extinguished. This treaty compassed the pacification of the Lower Creeks, the Uchees, the Yamacraws, and of other tribes constituting the Muskhogee confederacy.

[This head is taken from a German print, engraved at Augsburg, purporting to follow an original issued in London. The full print also represents Tooanahowi, his brother’s son, a lad, holding an eagle as he stands beside his uncle. The entire print on a smaller scale is reproduced in Jones’s _History of Georgia_; in Gay’s _Popular History of the United States_, iii. 147; and in Dr. Eggleston’s papers on “Life in the English Colonies” in the _Century Magazine_.—ED.]]

Nor did the influences of this convocation rest with them only. They were recognized by the Upper Creeks; and at a later date similar stipulations were sanctioned by the Cherokees. For years were they preserved inviolate; and the colony of Georgia, thus protected, extended its settlements up the Savannah River and along the coast, experiencing neither opposition nor molestation, but receiving on every hand valuable assurance of the good-will of the children of the forest. Probably the early history of no plantation in America affords so few instances of hostility on the part of the natives, or so many acts of kindness extended by the red men. Potent was the influence of Tomo-chi-chi in consummating this primal treaty of amity and commerce. Had this chief, turning a deaf ear to the advances of Oglethorpe, refused his friendship, denied his request, and, inclining his authority to hostile account, instigated a combined and determined opposition on the part of the Yamacraws, the Uchees, and the Lower Creeks, the perpetuation of this English settlement would have been either most seriously imperilled or abruptly terminated amid smoke and carnage. When therefore we recur to the memories of this period, and as often as the leading events in the early history of the colony of Georgia are narrated, so often should the favors experienced at the hands of this mico be gratefully acknowledged. If Oglethorpe’s proudest claim to the honor and respect of succeeding generations rests upon the fact that he was the founder of the colony of Georgia, let it not be forgotten that in the hour of supreme doubt and danger the right arm of this son of the forest, his active intervention, and his unswerving friendship were among the surest guarantees of the safety and the very existence of that province. Tomo-chi-chi will be remembered as the firm ally of the white man, the guide and protector of the colonist, the constant companion and faithful confederate of Oglethorpe.

Accessions occurred as rapidly as the means of the Trust would allow. Among some of the early comers were Italians from Piedmont, who were engaged to develop the silk industry, from the pursuit of which considerable gain was anticipated. As the immigrants multiplied, and the defences at Savannah were strengthened, Fort Argyle was built on the Great Ogeechee River, the villages of Highgate and Hampstead were laid out, Thunderbolt and Skidoway Island were occupied, Joseph’s Town and Abercorn were peopled, and plantations formed on Augustine Creek, on the Little Ogeechee, and as far south as the Great Ogeechee River. On the 7th of July, 1733, occurred a general allotment of town lots, garden lots, and farms among the inhabitants of Savannah; and this was confirmed by deed executed on the 21st of the following December. The town lot contained sixty feet in front and ninety feet in depth; the garden lot embraced five acres. Forty-four acres and one hundred and forty-one poles constituted the farm; so that the grant aggregated fifty acres,—thus conforming to the instructions of the Trustees, and furnishing land sufficient for the support of the colonist who came at the charge of the Trust and brought no servants. The conveyance was in tail-male. Of the moneys realized from the sale of lands in the island of St. Christopher, the sum of £10,000 was, in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Commons, paid over to the “Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia in America,” to be by them applied “towards defraying the charges of carrying over and settling foreign and other Protestants in said colony.” This timely relief enabled the Trustees to accomplish a purpose from the execution of which they had been prevented by a want of funds. In the administration of the Trust preference had been accorded to English Protestants seeking homes in the New World. Now, however, they were justified in enlarging the scope of their charity, because the resolution in obedience to which this liberal benefaction was made, contemplated in terms the colonization of foreign Protestants.

This is a portion of a map in the Urlsperger Tracts, the whole of which is reproduced in Jones’s _History of Georgia_, i. 148.]

As the first fruits of this expanded charity, on _Reminiscere Sunday_, according to the Lutheran Calendar, in March, 1734, the ship “Purisburg” entered the Savannah River having on board seventy-eight Salzburgers under the conduct of Baron von Reck, and accompanied by their spiritual advisers the Rev. John Martin Bolzius and the Rev. Israel Christian Gronau. They came from the town of Berchtolsgaden and its vicinity, had taken the oath of loyalty to the British Crown, and were conveyed at the charge of the Trust. “Lying in fine and calm weather under the Shore of our beloved _Georgia_, where we heard the Birds sing melodiously, every Body in the Ship was joyful,”—so wrote the Rev. Mr. Bolzius, the faithful attendant and religious teacher of this Protestant band. He tells us that when the ship arrived at the wharf, “almost all the inhabitants of the Town of Savannah were gather’d together; they fired off some Cannons and cried Huzzah!... Some of us were immediately fetch’d on shore in a Boat, and carried about the City, into the woods, and the new Garden belonging to the Trustees. In the mean time a very good Dinner was prepared for us.” The inhabitants “shewing them a great deal of kindness, and the Country pleasing them,” the new-comers “were full of Joy and praised God for it.”

By the 7th of April all these Salzburgers had been conducted to the spot designated as their future home. Although sterile and unattractive, and situated in the midst of a pine barren, to these peoples, tired of the sea and weary of persecutions, the locality appeared blessed, redolent of sweet hope, teeming with bright promise, and offering charming repose. The little town which they built in what is now Effingham County, they called Ebenezer. Early in the following year this settlement was reinforced by fifty-seven Salzburgers sent over by the Trustees in the ship “Prince of Wales.” Accessions occurred from time to time; and thus was introduced into the colony a population inured to labor, sober, of strong religious convictions, conservative in thought and conduct, obedient to rulers, and characterized by intelligent industry. Disappointed in their anticipations with regard to the fertility of the soil and the convenience of their location, these peoples, with the consent of Oglethorpe, in a few years abandoned their abodes and formed a new settlement on the Savannah River near the confluence of Ebenezer Creek with that stream.

And now the Moravians, accompanied by the Rev. Gottlieb Spangenberg, sought freedom of religious thought and worship in the province of Georgia. To them were assigned lands along the line of the Savannah River between the Salzburgers and the town of Savannah. With the Salzburgers they associated on terms of the closest friendship. In subduing the forests, in erecting comfortable dwellings, and in cultivating the soil, they exhibited a most commendable zeal.

[This is the map given by Robert Wright in his _Memoir of General James Oglethorpe_, London, 1867. There is a similar map in Harris’s _Oglethorpe._ Cf. Gay’s _Popular History of the United States_, iii. 156.—ED.]]

Encouraged by the development of the plantation, desiring a personal conference with the Trustees, and rightly judging that the advantage and security of the province would be materially promoted by taking with him to England some of the most intelligent of his Indian neighbors, that they might by personal observation acquire a definite conception of the greatness and the resources of the British empire, and, moved by the kindnesses and attentions which he was quite sure would be extended to them on every hand, imbibe memories that would tend to cement the alliances and perpetuate the amicable relations which had been so auspiciously inaugurated,—Oglethorpe, in March, 1734, persuaded Tomo-chi-chi with a selected retinue to accompany him to London. The reception accorded to these Indians in the English capital and its environs was cordial and appropriate. This visit of Tomo-chi-chi and his companions, and the interest awakened by their presence in London, materially assisted Oglethorpe and the Trustees in enlisting the renewed and earnest sympathies of the public, not only in behalf of the colonists, but also in aid of the education and religious instruction of the natives. Widely disseminated among the Indian nations was the knowledge of this sojourn of the mico of the Yamacraws and his companions in the home of the white man. The novel and beautiful presents which the Indians brought back with them afforded ocular proof of the liberality of the English, and produced a profound impression upon the natives, who, grateful for the kindness shown to members of their race, were encouraged in the perpetuation of the amicable relations existing between themselves and the colonists.

Through the influence of Oglethorpe the regulations of the Trustees prohibiting the importation and sale of rum, brandy, and other distilled liquors within the limits of Georgia, and forbidding the introduction and use of negro slaves in the province, received the sanction of Parliament. Commenting upon this legislation, Edmund Burke remarked that while these restrictions were designed to bring about wholesome results, they were promulgated without a sufficient appreciation of the nature of the country and the disposition of the people to be affected by them. Long and earnestly did many of the colonists petition for the removal of these prohibitions, which placed the province at a disadvantage when its privileges were contrasted with those of sister plantations, and beyond doubt, so far at least as the employment of slave-labor was concerned, retarded its material development.

The peopling and fortification of the southern confines of Georgia engaged the earnest thought of the Trustees. The Spaniards regarded with a jealous eye the confirmation of this new English colony upon the borders of Florida. Moved by urgent memorials on the subject, Parliament granted £26,000 for “the settling, fortifying, and defending” Georgia. Their treasury being thus replenished, and anxious to enlist colonists of acknowledged strength and valor, the Trustees, through Lieutenant Hugh Mackay, recruited among the Highlands of Scotland one hundred and thirty men, with fifty women and children. They were all of excellent character, and were carefully selected for their military qualities. Accompanied by a clergyman of their own choice,—the Rev. John McLeod, of the Isle of Skye,—this hardy company was conveyed to Georgia and assigned to the left bank of the Alatamaha, about sixteen miles above the island of St. Simon. Here these Highlanders landed, erected a fort, mounted four pieces of cannon, built a guard-house, a store, and a chapel, and constructed huts for temporary accommodation preparatory to putting up more substantial structures. To their little town they gave the name of New Inverness, and the district which they were to hold and cultivate they called Darien. These Scots were brave and hardy; just the men to occupy this advanced post. In their plaids, and with their broadswords, targets, and fire-arms, they presented a most manly appearance. Previous to their departure from Savannah in periaguas, some Carolinians endeavored to dissuade them from going to the south by telling them that the Spaniards from the houses in their fort would shoot them upon the spot selected by the Trustees for their abode. Nothing daunted, these doughty countrymen of Bruce and Wallace responded, “Why, then, we will beat them out of their fort, and shall have houses ready built to live in.” This valiant spirit found subsequent expression in the efficient military service rendered by these Highlanders during the wars between the colonists and the Spaniards, and by their descendants in the American Revolution. Augmented at intervals by fresh arrivals from Scotland, this settlement, although placed in a malarial region, steadily increased in wealth and influence.

At an early date a road was constructed to connect New Inverness with Savannah.

On the morning of Feb. 5, 1736, the “Symond” and the “London Merchant,” with the first of the flood, passed over the bar and came to anchor within Tybee Roads. On board were two hundred and two persons conveyed on the Trust’s account. Among them were English people, German Lutherans under the conduct of Baron von Reck and Captain Hermsdorf, and twenty-five Moravians with their bishop the Rev. David Nitschman. Oglethorpe was present, accompanied by the brothers John and Charles Wesley, the Rev. Mr. Ingham, and by Charles Delamotte, the son of a London merchant and a friend of the Wesleys. Coming at their own charge were Sir Francis Bathurst, with family and servants, and some relatives of planters already settled in the province. Ample stores of provisions, small arms, cannon, ammunition, and tools were transported in these vessels. The declared object of this large accession of colonists was the population of the southern confines of the province and the building of a military town on the island of St. Simon, to be called Frederica.

It was not until the 2d of March that the fleet of periaguas and boats, with the newly arrived on board, set out from Tybee Roads for the mouth of the Alatamaha. The voyage to the southward was accomplished in five days. So diligently did the colonists labor, and so materially were they assisted by workmen drawn from other parts of the province and from Carolina, that by the 23d of the month Frederica had been laid out, a battery of cannon commanding the river had been mounted, and a fort almost completed. Its ditches had been dug, although not to the required depth or width, and a rampart raised and covered with sod. A storehouse, having a front of sixty feet, and designed to be three stories in height, was finished as to its cellar and first story. The main street which “went from the Front into the Country was 25 yards wide. Each Freeholder had 60 Feet in Front by 90 Feet in depth upon the high Street for their House and Garden; but those which fronted the River had but 30 Feet in Front by 60 Feet in Depth. Each Family had a Bower of Palmetto Leaves finished upon the back Street in their own Lands. The Side towards the front Street was set out for their Houses. These Palmetto Bowers were very convenient shelters, being tight in the hardest Rains; they were about 20 Feet long and 14 Feet wide, and in regular Rows looked very pretty, the Palmetto Leaves lying smooth and handsome, and of a good Colour. The whole appeared something like a Camp; for the Bowers looked like Tents, only being larger and covered with Palmetto Leaves instead of Canvas. There were 3 large Tents, two belonging to Mr. Oglethorpe and one to Mr. Horton, pitched upon the Parade near the River.” Such is the description of Frederica in its infancy as furnished by Mr. Moore, whose _Voyage to Georgia_ is perhaps the most interesting and valuable tract we possess descriptive of the colonization of the southern portion of Georgia. That there might be no confusion in their labors, Oglethorpe divided the colonists into working parties. To some was assigned the duty of cutting forks, poles, and laths for building the bowers; others set them up; others still gathered palmetto leaves; while “a fourth gang,” under the superintendence of a Jew workman, bred in Brazil and skilled in the matter, thatched the roofs “nimbly and in a neat manner.”

Men accustomed to agriculture instructed the colonists in hoeing and preparing the soil. Potatoes, Indian corn, flax, hemp-seed, barley, turnips, lucern-grass, pumpkins, and water-melons were planted. Labor was common, and inured to the general benefit of the community. As it was rather too late in the season to till the ground fully and sow a crop to yield sufficient to subsist the settlement for the current year, many of the men were put upon pay and set to work upon the fortifications and the public buildings.

Frederica, situated on the west side of St. Simon’s Island, on a bold bluff confronting a bay formed by one of the mouths of the Alatamaha River, was planned as a military town, and constructed with a view to breasting the shock of hostile assaults. Its houses were to be substantially built, not of wood as in Savannah, but of tabby. At an early period its streets by their names proclaimed the presence of men-at-arms, while its esplanade and parade-ground characterized it as a permanent camp.[842] Including the camp on the north, the parade on the east, and a small wood on the south which was to serve as a blind in the event of an attack from ships coming up the river, the settlement was about a mile and a half in circumference.

NOTE.—The map opposite, showing the coast from St. Augustine to Charlestown (S. C.), is copied from one in vol. v. of the _Urlsperger Tracts_. There is another plan of St. Simon’s Island in W. B. Stevens’s _Georgia_. i. 186.]

The town proper was to be protected by embankment and ditch, and places for two gates, called respectively the Town and Water posts, were indicated. The citadel was to be made of tabby, and formidably armed. In front, a water battery, mounting several eighteen-pounder guns, was designed to command the river. It was contemplated to guard the town on the land side by a formidable intrenchment, the exterior ditch of which could be filled with water. As Savannah was intended as the commercial metropolis of the province, so was Frederica to constitute its southern outpost and strong defence. It soon became the Thermopylæ of the southern Anglo-American Colonies, the headquarters of Oglethorpe’s regiment, the depot of military supplies for the dependent forts built at the south, and the strong rallying point for British colonization in the direction of Florida. In the history of the colony there is no brighter chapter, and in the eventful life of Oglethorpe no more illustrious epoch, than that which commemorates the protracted and successful struggle with the Spaniards for the retention of the charming island of St. Simon. In 1737 Oglethorpe kissed His Majesty’s hand on receiving his commission as colonel. He was also appointed general and commander-in-chief of all His Majesty’s forces in South Carolina and Georgia, that he might the more readily wield the military power of the two provinces in their common defence.