NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES
3 3433 06730173 3
Jfflen of Jlark in Georgia
A Complete and Elaborate History of the State from its settlement to the present time, chiefly told in biographies and auto- biographies of the most eminent men of each period of Georgia's progress and development
Cfciteb fap ^tlitam 3f. J^ortfjen
of Georgia
HON. J. C. c. BLACK HON. W. G. BRANTLEY HON. ALLEN FORT HON. DUPONTGUERRY HON. W. M. HAMMOND HON. WALTER B. HILL
HON. G. GUNBY JORDAN HON. P. W. MELDRIM HON. W. J. NORTHEN HON. HOKE SMITH HON. J. M. TERRELL HON. MOSES WRIGHT
Mustrateb
Historical Sntrobuctorp bp
temple <^rabes, (ZEbitor
Volume U
. %. Calbtocll,
Atlanta, Georgia 1910
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
454050A
A8POR,LBHOX AND
T1LDEN FOUNDATIONS
ft 1990 I*
COPYRIGHTED, 1910, BY A. B. CALDWELL.
EDWARDS <* BHOUGHTON PRINTING CO., RALEIGH, N. C.
Cable of Contents
A complete index of all the volumes of this work will be found at the end of Volume VI.
PAGE.
ABBOTT, JOEL 12
ADAMS, DAVID 15
ANDREW, JAMES OSGOOD 17
ALFORD, JULIUS C. . . . 48
ANTHONY, MILTON . . ... . 51
APPLING, DANIEL 53
BANKS, RICHARD . . 81
BARRETT, THOMAS SAMUEL 91
BARNETT, WILLIAM 83
BEMAN, CARLISLE POLLOCK .95
BERRIEN, JOHN MAcPHERSON ... .... 140
BIBB, W7ILLIAM WYATT 145
BLACK, EDWARD J 148
BLACKSHEAR, DAVID 168
BRYAN, JOSEPH 442
BULLOCH, WILLIAM BELLINGER 172
BUTTS, SAMUEL 174
CAMPBELL, DUNCAN G 223
CANDLER, WILLL1M 282
CAREY, GEORGE 443
CHAPPEL, ABSALOM HARRIS . . 285
CHARLTON, ROBERT MILLEDGE . 295
CHARLTON, THOMAS USHER PULASKI 298
CHURCH, ALONZO 300
CLAYTON, AUGUSTIN SMITH 309
CLARKE, JOHN ' . . . . . .163
CLINCH, DUNCAN LAMONT 312
COBB, HOWELL 443
COBB, THOMAS WILLIS ......... 322
COFFEE, JOHN 178
COLQUITT, WALTER TERRY 193
CONE FAMILY, THE 196
COOPER, MARK ANTHONY 207
COOK, ZADOCK 444
COUPER, JAMES HAMILTON 215
CRAWFORD, GEORGE WALKER 229
CRAWFORD, JOEL 279
CRAWFORD, NATHANIEL MACON 332
CRAWFORD, WILLIAM HARRIS 1
CUTHBERT, ALFRED 235
iv TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE.
CUTHBERT, JOHN A . .243
DABNEY, AUSTIN . .232
DAWSON, WILLIAM CROSBY . . .248
DENT, WILLIAM B. .444
DOOLY, JOHN MITCHELL 324_
DOUGHERTY, CHARLES .330
DURHAM, LINDSAY .345
EARLY, PETER .353
ECHOLS, ROBERT M. 21
ELLIOTT, JOHN . 352
ELLIOTT, STEPHEN .349
FEW, IGNATIUS ALPHONSO .... . 362
FORSYTH, JOHN .289
FORT, TOMLINSON . 372
FOSTER, ALBERT G 432
FOSTER, NATHANIEL GREENE .431
FOSTER, THOMAS FLOURNOY . 23
GAMBLE, ROGER LAWSON .... .... 25
GILMER, GEORGE ROCKINGHAM 26
GLASCOCK, THOMAS . .120
GOULD, WILLIAM TRACY . 85
GOULD, JAMES GARDNER .... .... 89
GORDON, WILLIAM WASHINGTON . . . 30
GOULDING, FRANCIS ROBERT . . . .93
GRANTLAND, SEATON .... . . .100
GRIEVE, MILLER . .104
HABERSHAM, RICHARD W. . . 106
HALL, BOLLING - .... . .445
HARALSON, HUGH ANDERSON . . . .34
HARRIS, CHARLES .... . .32
HARRIS, FRANCIS H. . . .107
HART, NANCY .111
HAWKINS, BENJAMIN .... .122
HAYNES, CHARLES .... .445
HILLYER, JUNIUS .357
HULL, HOPE . . .... .336
IVERSON, ALFRED, SR . 339
JACKSON, JABEZ ... .446 JACK, JAMES 1 . . . .446 JACKSON, JOSEPH W. . . .341 JOHNSON, HERSCHEL VESPASIAN . . 396 JONES, JOHN .... .128 JONES, SEABORN .... .236 JONES, GEORGE .... .342 JONES, JAMES .... .360 KING, THOMAS BUTLER 365
TABLE OF CONTENTS v
PAGE.
LAMAR, HENRY G 442
LONG, CRAWFORD W 131
LONG, NICHOLAS 446
LOVE, PETER E. 447
LONGSTREET, AUGUSTUS BALDWIN 264
LUMPKIN, JOSEPH HENRY 302
LUMPKIN, JOHN HENRY 308
LUMPKIN, WILSON . . .315
MEAD, COWLES ... 448
MEANS, ALEXANDER 108
MEIGS, JOSIAH . 37
MERCER, JESSE . ^ ... 40
MERIWETHER, DAVID 56
MERIWETHER, JAMES . ... . 448
MERIWETHER, JAMES A. .... .63
MITCHELL, DAVID BRYDIE . . . .183
MILLEN, JOHN ... . . .130
MILLER, ANDREW JACKSON .137
MILTON, JOHN . . ... .... 181
MURRAY, THOMAS W ' 187
MCDONALD, CHARLES JAMES 64
McINTOSH, JAMES SIMMONS 69
McINTOSH, WILLIAM ... . . ... 73
OWEN, ALLEN F. . 448
OWENS, GEORGE W. . ... . 449
PIERCE, LOVICK . 76
PRINCE, OLIVER HILLHOUSE ... .... 79
RABUN, WILLIAM 384
RAY, JOHN ...... 190
REID, ROBERT RAYMOND 160
SANDERS, BILLINGTON McCARTER . ... 202
SANFORD, SHELTON PALMER 204
SCHLEY, WILLIAM . 370
SCREVEN, JAMES PROCTOR . 226
SHORTER, ALFRED . .381
SHERWOOD, ADIEL . 246
SMELT, DENNIS . ... 449
SPALDING, THOMAS 253
STILES, WILLIAM HENRY ... 256
STOCKS, THOMAS .259
TALBOT, MATTHEW 273
TALIAFERRO, BENJAMIN . . ... 276
TALMAGE, SAMUEL KENNEDY 278
TAIT, CHARLES 262
TELFAIR, THOMAS . . . . . 449
TERRELL, WILLIAM . 377
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE.
THOMAS, JETT .... ... 378
THOMPSON, WYLIE . . 450
TOWNS, GEORGE WASHINGTON 399
TEOUP, CHARLES MICHAEL . . 433
TWIGGS, DAVID EMANUEL .... ... 409
UPSON, STEPHEN 406
WADDELL, MOSES 389
WALDHAUER, JACOB CASPER . . . . . . .412
WALKER, FREEMAN .... 403
WARD, JOHN ELLIOT .... ... 421
WARE, NICHOLAS ... .... .425
WARREN, LOTT 450
WAYNE, JAMES MOORE . . . . \ . . .426
WHITE, GEORGE \ . .416
WILCOX, MARK . .... .429
WILDE, RICHARD HENRY 151
WILLIAMSON, MICAJAH .... .... 157
iUap of Sntrobuctton.
o
THE period between 1784 and 1860 represents the Golden Age of Georgia History. The State may now be richer in material things, and with natural growth may far surpass in educational advantages, and in the conveniences of modern life, the period referred to, but it can never hope to reach again conditions under which so large a percentage of the people will live in a state of great content and at the same time of vigorous growth and ideal democracy.
During that Golden Age, absolute peace reigned among the people; a population entirely homogeneous developed a democ- racy of a very pure type. None had overgrown fortunes, none were distressed by extreme poverty. Land was plentiful and cheap. The masters were kindly optimists, and the slaves, even greater optimists, showed in their appearance the evidences of the best care. When wars came, the Georgians were as ready to shed their blood in defense of the Republic as their ancestors of 1775.
There were no telephones, no automobiles, but few railroads, and these late in the period. The sending of a telegram was a serious matter. Street cars in the towns were unknown. Peo- ple trusted their own legs for short distances, and their faithful horses for long ones. Newspapers were comparatively few, but those existing wielded tremendous influence. Books were scarce, high in price, and thoroughly well read. Public schools had no existence.
A rude age, our readers will say.
But that age produced a number of men of the first rank, so large that it is doubtful if in all history one can find where an equal number of people turned out so many great men in differ- ent walks of life, and possessed of so vast range of knowledge, from that of the scientific farmer to the trained statesman, or the humanitarian discoverer of invaluable remedies in medical science. Soldiers and sailors ; statesmen and jurists ; farmers and mechanics ; railroad builders and land developers ; doctors
viii INTRODUCTION
and preachers ; teachers and editors ; in that seventy-five years Georgia contributed a galaxy of rninds as bright, of souls as noble, of patriots as pure, and of citizens as useful, as ever have iii-icvd jinv nation or state of equal size in such a length of time.
There were some characteristics of the public men of the period so notable and so admirable, that it would be plain neg- lect of duty on our part did we fail to call attention to them.
In the first place, no man in Georgia was too big to serve his State in the General Assembly, and cheerfully responded when called on, regardless of personal sacrifices. In the next place, the public men preferred to serve the State rather than the Federal government, when there arose the necessity for a de- cision as to which position they must take.
Again, the reader of the history of that time is almost startled at the immense number of resignations by Georgia Congressmen and Senators between 1800 and 1860. Investigation shows that these resignations were most creditable. When the Georgia Congressman or Senator found himself out of touch with his constituents on a public question, he instantly resigned ; if legis- lation that in his judgment was detrimental to the public wel- fare was passed over his head, he resigned rather than to appear to endorse it by remaining in office ; when after election his convictions upon a public matter changed, he resigned first, then Hibmitted the matter to his constituents, and if they saw it as he did they sent him back. Whether calling themselves Whigs or Democrats, they were strenuous believers in democratic theo- ries of government, and felt that a representative should be truly representative of his people. It is almost needless to say that with such representatives Georgia was well served and held high rank in the councils of the nation. A saddening feature of the time is the number of useful lives cut short in their prime by acute attacks, as often doctors were a long way off and not easily procurable.
In the following pages is made as faithful a record of many of the excellent and useful citizens of that period as available records and oral information authorizes.
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perioij Tot
Militant Harris Cratoforts.
WILLIAM HAEEIS CRAWFORD, lawyer and states- man, who in his day was the foremost man in Georgia and ranked high up in the national councils, was then and is now considered by many thoughtful students of our his- tory to have been the greatest man credited to Georgia in all of its history. He was born in Amherst county, Va., on February 24, 1772, and died near Elberton, Ga., on September 15, 1834, in the sixty-third year of his age.
In 1779 his father, Joel Crawford, removed with his family to Stephen's Creek, Edgefield district, S. C., about thirty miles above Augusta. The next winter the British troops having overrun all of Georgia and most of South Carolina, Mr. Craw- ford moved for better security into the Chester district. Soon after that he was seized and thrown into Cainden jail as a rebel. There he remained the greater part of the summer and was released on some of his neighbors becoming his security. In 1783 he removed to Georgia and settled on Kiokee Creek, Colum- bia county, where the family has since resided to this day, a period of one hundred and twenty-five years.
Young Crawford had very limited school advantages. He went to school a few months in South Carolina and showed such aptitude that his father determined to send him abroad to Scot- land for a complete education. This plan fell through owing to untoward circumstances, and he was then trained in the best of the country schools, obtaining a fair English education until 1788, when his father died and the lad was compelled to resort to school teaching to aid his mother in supporting a large and almost helpless family. In 1794 the Eev. Dr. Waddell opened a classical school in Columbia known as Carmel Academy. Am- bitious to complete his classical education, Mr. Crawford entered this academy and remained two years, studying Latin, Greek, 1
2 MEN OF MARK
French, and Philosophy. The last year he was an usher in the school and received for his services one-third of the tuition money. In 1796 the young man went to Augusta in the hope of securing such knowledge as would fit him for a profession. He obtained a situation in the Richmond Academy, where he re- mained in the dual character of student and instructor until the year 1798, when he was appointed rector of that institution. During his residence in Augusta he studied law and was ad- mitted to practice.
In the spring of 1799 he removed to Oglethorpe and entered upon the practice of his profession at Lexington in what was then called the Western and was later known as the Northern Circuit. His industry and talents soon attracted the notice of Peter Early, at that time one of the foremost statesmen and great lawyers of the State, and a warm friendship sprang up between the veteran lawyer and the ambitious youth. He forged to the front as a lawyer so rapidly that when in 1802 Mr. Early was elected to Congress, Mr. Crawford became practically the head of the bar in his circuit. Such a man as William H. Crawford could not have kept out of public life, even if he had so desired, and Oglethorpe county sent him for four years to act as its representative in the legislature. In these four years he made such reputation as a public man that in 1807, at the age of thirty-five, he was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of the great and good Abraham Baldwin. He completed that term and in 1811 was reelected without opposition, and served until 1813. In these six years he gained so rapidly in reputation that he was recog- nized by the leaders at Washington as one of the strong men of the Nation, and in 1813 was tendered the office of Secretary of War by President Madison. This position he declined, and he was then tendered the position of Minister to France. He accepted this tender and resigned from the United States Senate, and filled the position of Minister to France for two years, from April, 1813, to April, 1815. He made a profound impression on the great Emperor Napoleon, who said later that he was the
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 3
only man that he ever felt constrained to bow to when first pre- sented to him, and that he was the ablest man he ever met. On his return from France in 1815 he found that he had been ap- pointed Secretary of War, and served a few months in this ca- pacity. In October following he was made Secretary of the Treasury by President Madison, and during that winter was strongly solicited to allow his name to be put in nomination for the presidency. This he declined, because he was yet a young man comparatively and did not care to antagonize Mr. Monroe. Notwithstanding his declination and the absence of a number of his strongest and most intimate friends, who refused to attend Avhen the caucus was held, out of the one hundred and nineteen votes cast fifty-four of them went to Crawford and sixty-five to Monroe. It was believed at the time that if Mr. Crawford had consented to allow his name to be presented that he would have been nominated without difficulty. Mr. Monroe came to the presidency in 1817 and asked Mr. Crawford to retain the treas- ury portfolio, which he did, and held it during Monroe's two terms, which expired in 1825. When the election came on to- ward the close of Monroe's second term Mr. Crawford was a candidate, but a paralytic stroke received about that time so disabled him that a combination made against him by other candidates was able to defeat him, and John Quincy Adams was chosen President. President Adams promptly tendered the treasury portfolio to him, but after nearly nine years of service in that position under two presidents, and years of very hard service they had been, with his impaired health Mr. Craw-- ford felt unequal to the duties and returned to Georgia.
In 1827, after the death of Judge Dooly, Governor Troup appointed Mr. Crawford Judge of the Northern Circuit. In those days the position of a circuit judge in Georgia was one of great honor and dignity, and Mr. Crawford did not hesitate to accept. In 1828 the Legislature elected him to the same office without opposition, and three years later, though there was n candidate against him, he was ao-ain elected on the first ballot.
o / o
He died while serving this last term and in the active discharge
4 MEN OF MAEK
of the duties of the office. He set out from home on his way to
«/
court on Saturday, was taken ill that night at the house of a friend, Mr. Valentine Meriwether, near Elberton, and died at 2 o'clock on the succeeding Monday morning. His physicians were of the opinion that his disease was an affection of the heart, and he died apparently without pain. He was buried at Woodlawn, the family seat, now known as Crawford, with no one near him Imt a little grandson of two years, who had preceded him by about fifteen month*.
Such is a brief outline of the life of this remarkable man. It is proper, however, to take up in more detail certain phases of his character and certain occurrences of his life.
Cratoforfc Jfamtlp.
The Crawford family is of Scotch origin and has an honor- able history in that country for the past seven hundred year*. The seat of the family was in county Lanark. The mother of the great hero of Scotland, William Wallace, was a Crawford of the Lanark familv. In America the Crawfords seem to have
«/
settled in Virginia in the earlier days, and from there in the Revolutionary period of our history, several branches of the family migrated to Georgia. During the nineteenth century at least four members of the family won great distinction in Georgia. George W. Crawford was a Congressman, cabinet min- ister and Governor of Georgia. Joel Crawford was a lawyer, soldier, planter and Congressman. Martin J. Crawford was a lawyer, a judge. Congressman, and later a Congressman in the Confederacy, and ;i.<jain a judge after the Civil War. In addi- tion to these was William H. Crawford, the greatest of them all. They were all of the same ancestry in Virginia and were all cousins in some degree.
Appearance anb Character.
William H. Crawford was a man of most imposing appear- ance. Lie w:i< MX feet three inches in height, of large build, muscular and well proportioned. Hi* contemporaries state
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 5
that his head and face were remarkably striking in appearance and impressed every one who met him with the belief that he must possess more than ordinary powers of intellect. He was of fair complexion and, until late in life, ruddy. His features indicated firmness and perseverance. His eyes were clear blue and mild, though bright. He was affable in deportment, erect and manly in his gait, but never ostentatious. Profoundly dem- ocratic in his beliefs, he abhorred show and vulgar display. On one occasion late in life he stated that during his entire life he had never met but two dandies who were men of real ability, and he took little thought of personal raiment beyond the neces- sity of neatness and cleanliness. He was warm in his attach- ments and vehement in his resentments, prompt to repel insults and equally prompt to forgive when an appeal was made to his clemency. No personal labor was too great for him and his perseverance was remarkable. jSTo unsuccessful appeal was ever made upon his charity. Entirely free from penuriousness and generous in money matters, he yet lived a life of simplicity, and most cordially disliked extravagance in dress or in living
<Ht tije
Mr. Crawford's success as a lawyer was almost phenomenal. Through the mischances of early life he was rather late in get- ting into practice, but his success was immediate. This was due, first, to his thorough preparation of his cases. He mastered a case before he went to court. And, secondly, to the remark- able force with which he could set his case before either judge or jury. He was not an orator in the usual sense of the word, but he had a clear, concise, strong, logical method of expression which impressed upon both judge and jury the merit of his case, and it is said of him that he never lost a case where he had the closing speech. Always brief in argument, he rarely exceeded half an hour in presenting a case, and the fact that he could boil down into plain, strong, terse sentences his argument to thirty minutes is undoubtedly an evidence of wonderful legal ability. His success at the bar and the certain fact that he
6 MEN OF MARE
would get into public life at once attracted to him both friends and enemies. At that time the State was still feeling the effects of what was known as the Yazoo Fraud, and though the act had been rescinded and burned in a public bonfire, a large num- ber of men in the State were known to have been compromised by it, and the majority of these men were in sympathy, with the political faction led by John Clarke, son of the Revolutionary general, Elijah Clarke.
ia Jfeub.
The friends of the men implicated in the Yazoo Fraud made overtures to Mr. Crawford, as a rising man. These overtures he rejected, but from this grew the famous feud between Mr. Crawford and John Clarke, and which later was taken up by Mr. Troup, as Mr. Crawford's successor in politics, and was known as the "Crawford and Clarke Feud" or the "Troup and Clarke Feud." Mr. Clarke was a strong and vindictive poli- tician, rude and unlettered, a good soldier of the most audacious courage, and the idol of the common people. Any man of note who did not give him his support became at once his enemy, and seeing in Mr. Crawford an opponent to be feared, his hatred toward him was absolutely vitriolic.
Out of this bitter feud grew the two most distressful inci- dents of Mr. Crawford's life. Mr. Clarke's friends put forward as a champion one Peter Van Allen, a I^ew Yorker by birth, but at that time solicitor-general of the Western Circuit of Georgia. Mr. "Van Allen fastened a duel upon Mr. Crawford, and Mr. Crawford, not above the prejudices of his time, went upon the so-called field of honor with Mr. Van Allen, on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River, and Mr. Van Allen was killed. Mr. Clarke then personally challenged Mr. Craw- ford, who accepted, and in that duel Mr. Crawford had his left wrist shattered by the pistol ball. It is distressing to think that a man of the mental caliber of William II. Crawford should have allowed himself to be dragged into affairs of this kind, but
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 7
in considering these things allowances must be made for the customs of the time in which he lived.
This feud, which lasted for twenty-five years, influenced dur- ing those twenty-five years every move in the public life of Georgia. Every candidate was known as a Crawford or a Clarke candidate, and later on as a Troup or a Clarke candidate. Mr. Crawford and Mr. Troup were both accomplished men of letters aside from their natural ability, but notwithstanding this for many long years Mr. Clarke held his own and was twice elected Governor. After a few years Mr. Crawford got out of the field of State politics into the larger field of Federal affairs at Wash- ington, and while this took him out of active conflict with Mr.
o
Clarke it seems merely to have been an additional cause of em- bitterment in Mr. Clarke's mind. It must be conceded that Mr. Crawford himself felt the same sort of animosity toward Mr. Clarke tempered only by the fact that he was a man of larger measure.
in tfje Uniteb States Senate.
In 1807 he entered the United States Senate. He was then a man of thirty-five. He came immediately into collision with that veteran debater, William B. Giles, of Virginia. In this contest he made such a creditable showing that his reputation as a man of first-class ability was at once established, and in the six years of his service in the Senate he stood up in the front rank of the strong men of that body. At first, like many men of his time, doubtful about keeping up a strong navy, he later saw the wisdom of this, and when the troubles began to thicken with Great Britain he became a warm and strong advocate of an early resort to arms, as shown by his votes in the Senate upon every question leading up to the declaration of war throughout 1811-12. As he was made President pro tempore of the Senate during the session of Congress in which the war was declared, and as it is contrary to the custom for the presiding officer of the Senate to take the floor, he does not appear as one of the speakers at that imminent moment, but his position had already been made clear.
8 MEN OF MARK
On two great public questions of interest at that time, the embargo and the bank, his position was prompt and fearless and independent. He opposed the embargo in the face of a popular and powerful administration, and supported the United States Bank vigorously. It is said, however, that later on he made it known to his intimate friends that a careful perusal of the secret debates of the convention which framed the Constitution, and the debates upon the adoption of that instrument by States, produced a change in his opinion upon the constitutionality of the bank.
Early in 1813, after declining the office of Secretary of War, he resigned from the Senate and accepted the position of Min- i lev to France, and was never again a member of the lawmaking body of the republic.
a Jforetgn iUtmfiter anii Cabinet Officer.
He was a minister to France during two very trying years for that country, and upheld in every way the rights of his country, and made a profound impression at Paris on those with whom he came in contact, from the Emperor Xapoleon down, and when the allies entered Paris in 1814 it is said that he was the only foreign minister who had held the ground and remained in the city. Returning from France in 1815, he served for a few months under President Madison as Secretary of War, but in October of that year changed over to be Secre- tary of the Treasury, which position he held during the re- mainder of Madison's term and the full eight years of Monroe's two terms. In this position Mr. Crawford rendered his greatest public service. He was one of the few really great secretaries of the treasury that the country has ever had. He came in office at a time when a thinly settled and undeveloped country was struggling to overcome the losses of a severe and expensive war. A wide and exposed frontier had to be cared for continually at large expense. Domestic relations were disturbed and the people were oppressed by monetary difficulties ; commerce, both home and foreign, constantly fluctuating; commercial capital
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 9
was deranged and a large debt had to be managed, and above all he had to deal with a miserably depreciated currency. The able men of that day agreed that it required a ceaseless vigilance and profound ability to preserve the national estate from bank- ruptcy. To the credit of Mr. Crawford it must be said that at no period of the Kepublic was the public credit better than dur- ing his administration of the treasury. All the national debt obligations were faithfully met and the burdens of government upon the people were made for the most part light and easy. It is said that the difference between his estimated and actual re- ceipts only varied as much as ten per cent, while the estimates of his most distinguished predecessors had varied from seventeen to twenty-one per cent. During the nine years that he served in this most responsible and difficult position he strengthened and builded the national credit in larger measure than had yet been accomplished by the able men who had preceded him, and held during the period the unlimited confidence of both Presi- dents Madison and Monroe under whom he served. Albert Gal- latin, a former Secretary of the Treasury, at that time the most famous financier in the United States, was extremely anxious that Mr. Crawford should retain the office longer, and President John Quincy Adams was evidently of the same way of thinking, as immediately upon his taking office he asked Mr. Crawford to retain the treasury portfolio. This he was compelled to de- cline, owing to the condition of his health.
With his retirement from the treasury Mr. Crawford's public life as it affects the Nation at large ceased. Many people at that time thought if his health had not been so bad he would have been elected at the time Mr. Adams was chosen. As it was, he received an honorable vote, leading Mr. Clay and coming next to Mr. Adams. Whatever may have been the reason it is certain that Mr. Crawford's family hailed with great pleasure the result, as it meant that they would be able to go back to the delightful life of the home plantation in Georgia.
10 MEN OF MARK
Jfamtlp Me.
In 1804, after the seven years engagement which had been prolonged by his financial situation, he married Susanna Ger- dine (or Girardin), of Augusta, and in that year settled at Woodlawn, which was his home until the day of his death. Mrs. Crawford was as plain and unaffected in her tastes as her dis- tinguished husband, so that all through life there was absolute harmony between them as to their methods of living. An inti- mate personal friend of Mr. Crawford, in writing after his death, said: "Mr. Crawford's house has often been styled 'Liberty Hall' by those familiar with the unrestrained mirth- fulness, hilarity and social glee which marked its fireside and the perfect freedom with which every child, from the oldest to the youngest, expressed his or her opinion upon the topics sug- gested by the moment, whether these topics referred to men or measures. His children were always encouraged to act out their respective characters precisely as they were, and the actions and sentiments of each were always a public subject of com- mendation or good humored ridicule by the rest. They criti- cised the opinions and the conduct of the father with the same freedom as those of each other, and he acknowledged his errors or argued his defense with the same kind spirit and good temper as distinguished his course toward them in every other case. The family government was one of the best specimens of democ- racy that the world had ever seen. There was nothing like faction in the establishment. According to the last census before marriage and emigration commenced the population was ten, consisting of father, mother and eight children, of whom five were sons and three daughters. Suffrage on all questions was universal, extending to male and female. Freedom of speech and equal rights were felt and acknowledged to be the birthright of each. Knowledge was a common stock to which each felt a peculiar pleasure in contributing according as opportunity en- abled him. When affliction or misfortune came each bore his share in the common burden. When health and prosperity came each became emulous of heightening a common joy."
As a husband Mr. Crawford was kind, affectionate and de-
WILLIAM HARRIS CRAWFORD 11
voted. He never made much show of his attachments to any one, preferring to show his regard by his actions. His children were devoted to him as thoroughly as those of any parent could be. He constantly instructed them at home and made them stand, as long as his health would permit it, daily examinations to see how they were getting along in their studies. The Bible was his chief class-book, and the books of Job and Psalms were his favorite portions. "It was not within the knowledge of any of his children that he was ever guilty of profane swearing. He never made a profession of religion, but was a decided believer in Christianity, a life member of the American Bible Society, a vice-president of the American Colonization Society, and a regular contributor to the support of the gospel."
in
Both in his public and his private life Mr. Crawford was clean and honorable. His faults were such as grew out of and were accentuated by the bitter political strife in his home State which was not of his making. His virtues were those of a high- minded and patriotic citizen of the first rank as to ability. Nathaniel Macon, of North Carolina, his contemporary, and himself rated as one of the first men of his day, regarded Mr. Crawford as the ablest man he had ever met. Thomas H. Ben- ton, of Missouri, for thirty years a member of the United States Senate, a strong man himself and a good judge of strong men, put Mr. Crawford up in the front rank of the statesmen of his generation. As previously stated, Napoleon said that he was the ablest man he had ever met. These opinions are from men of his own day who were certainly capable judges.
It is entirely fair to say that if one were to pick out the twenty-five ablest American statesmen of the nineteenth century that William H. Crawford would be well up in the first half- dozen names selected. Through the toils and conflicts and bit- ter animosities of thirty years of political strife not a stain ever rested upon his integrity, and this of itself, when the period is considered, is the highest possible testimonial to Mr. Crawford's character as a good citizen and a patriotic public servant.
BERNARD SUTTJ.KU.
3ToeI Abbott.
JOEL ABBOTT, physician and statesman, was born in Fair- field, Connecticut, March 19, 1776. Professor Arthur, in his '"Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names," says that the name Abhott comes from the office of the Eoman church, meaning the chief ruler of an abbey. It is de- rived from Syriac, abba, signifying a father. Although this gives a long ancestral lineage, dating back to the early history of the Roman church, Dr. Abbott descended from Puritan stock. His foreparents, both paternal and maternal, came to America in the Mayflower, landing at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, in the month of December, 1620.
After receiving a liberal academic education he studied medi- cine under his father, who was a prominent practicing physician at Fairfield for more than a quarter of a century.
After graduating in medicine, Dr. Joel Abbott removed to Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, in 1794. Being endowed with a high order of intellect and adaptability to circumstances, he soon commanded an extensive and remunerative practice in the home of his adoption. Being a born politician, with the happy faculty of always remembering faces and never forgetting names, he at once became quite popular with the masses. After holding various local offices he was elected in 1809 to represent Wilkes County in the Georgia Legislature. He was reelected to this position for two successive terms, and by a handsome majority each time.
In 1817 Dr. Abbott was elected to the Fifteenth United States Congress, leading his ticket by a large majority. At that time Congressmen were elected on a general ticket throughout the State, and not by congressional districts as at present. He was reelected to the Sixteenth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Con- gresses and represented Georgia continuously in the lower house of Congress from December 1, 1S17, to March 3, 1825.
JOEL ABBOTT 13
While thus serving his State Dr. Abbott became the intimate friend of such men as Henry Clay, who was at that time Speaker of the House; John C. Calhoun, John Kandolph and his own colleagues from Georgia, among whom were John Forsyth, Thomas W. Cobb, E. E. Eied, George E. Gilmer, Alfred Cuth- bert, Wiley Thompson and others.
In those early days living in Washington was somewhat prim- itive. For want of hotel accommodation Congressmen some- times formed messes and lived on the bachelor style. At one time Dr. Abbott, with Messrs. Harden, of Kentucky, Smith, of Virginia, and Gilmer and Thompson, of Georgia, formed such a mess. Mr. Gilmer tells in his "Georgians" how he was forced to leave the mess and seek better quarters when advised that his wife was coming to Washington.
Dr. Abbott was a warm personal friend and ardent supporter of Hon. William H. Crawford. During the presidential cam- paign of 1824, one of the fiercest ever witnessed in Georgia, there were four candidates for this high office — General Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee ; John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts ; Henry Clay, of Kentucky, and William H. Crawford, of Georgia. Dr. Abbott again ran for Congress as a supporter of Mr. Crawford for the presidency, and led the ticket, receiving 11,233 votes.
During his service in Congress Dr. Abbott did much efficient work in committee and on the floor of the House. He was on the committees on Slave Trade, Commerce and others equally important.
In the early part of the last century the profession of phar- macy had not been separated from that of medicine, and in order to be a good doctor it was necessary to become an adept in pharmacy. Dr. Abbott had so mastered both of these professions that the Medical Society of Georgia elected him as a delegate to the convention which met in Philadelphia in 1820 to prepare the first ISTational Pharmacopoeia.
For a number of years before Dr. Abbott was sent to Congress from Georgia there had been practically but one political party,
14 MEN OF MARK
that was the Jeffersonian Democratic party. But about this time there sprang up in the State two very bitter political fac- tions. These were purely local and of a personal nature.
One was headed by William H. Crawford, a lawyer and statesman of high ability and international reputation, and probably the greatest man Georgia has ever had in her history.
The other was led by General John Clarke, a man of much prominence and great influence. Clarke had sprung from the lower stratum of society and, possessing to a great extent all their peculiar notions and prejudices, was a man of great power among the middle and lower classes. When, in 1806, Mr. Craw- ford was a member of the Georgia Legislature and General Clarke had preferred charges against Judge Tait, Mr. Crawford championed Tait's cause. This so offended Clarke that a duel was fought between these two gentlemen and Crawford was wounded in the wrist. Owing to the reputation which Dr. Abbott had as physician and surgeon and close, intimate per- sonal relations, he was Mr. Crawford's surgeon and ministered to his wounds on the field.
Soon after his retirement from Congress Dr. Abbott's health became impaired and he died November 19, 1826. He left sev- eral children who with their descendants have honored the name which Dr. Abbott bequeathed them, not only at the bar, on the rostrum, and in the pulpit, but in various other ways.
Dr. Abbott bought and improved the home where General Robert Toombs afterwards lived, and his good wife laid out the grounds which as a flower garden has been the admiration of three generations. R. J. MASSEY.
GENERAL DAVID ADAMS was born at Waxhaws, S. C., January 28. 1766. This is the accepted date. It is stated that in the latter part of the Revolution he served in a campaign under General Henderson against the British and Tories. This can not be true if he was born in 1766, and it is probable that he was confused with an older relative or brother. After the Revolution his father moved to Georgia and settled on Shoulder Bone Creek. This was at that time frontier territory and the Creek Indians were powerful and hostile, their attacks, indeed, being so frequent that the frontier people were compelled to build and live in forts. Young Adams grow- ing up in this environment showed such courage and capacity during ten years of active service as scout and Indian fighter that he was elected by acclamation a major of militia. Later on the Legislature of Georgia elected him a brigadier-general, and subsequently a major-general in the militia. In the War of 1812, when hostilities broke out with the Creeks, who were instigated by the British, the Governor appointed him to com- mand of an expedition against the Tallapoosa towns. He started with three hundred men, when General Floyd, learning of the march and knowing that the Indians had concentrated at the Horseshoe Bend, tried to get him warning in time to flee. When General Adams arrived at the river it was so swollen by recent rains that he found it impossible to get across. Realizing the strength of the Indians he very wisely concluded to retreat, and by judicious maneuvers succeeded in withdrawing from the very dangerous position, and a little later had the pleasure of seeing the Indian power utterly overthrown in the battle of the Horse- shoe by the Americans under General Jackson. He held various appointments under the State government, all of which were discharged with fidelity and ability. In 1820, in connection
1C MEN OF MARK
with General David Meriwether and John Mclntosh, he served as commissioner for the making of a treaty with the Creeks whereby Georgia gained new territory.
When the lands between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers were obtained from the Indians he served the State as a commissioner. Always popular with the people of Jasper county, where he lived, he served them in the General Assembly for twenty-five years, and was several times Speaker of the House. The exact date of his death is unknown, but he is believed to have been quite an old man when he died, somewhere between 1830 and 1840. COMPILED BY THE PUULTSIIEK.
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THE only congregation of Puritans south of ]Sfew England removed in a body from Dorchester, S. C., to what was then St. John's Parish, in Georgia, in 1751. This section of our State is now Liberty county.
Benjamin and James Andrew were members of this colony. They were men of means, and Benjamin a politician and man of influence. James Andrew had a son, John, who was the father of Bishop James Osgoocl Andrew. James Andrew died early, and his son John was brought up in the home of Pastor Osgood, who was in charge of the Midway congregation, and who was in some way connected with the Andrews. John An- drew was being well educated for those times, but before his school days had ended the Revolutionary War came on and he became a trooper.
Liberty county was one of the first counties invaded, and the Andrews refugeed and settled in Richmond county above Augusta. Here John Andrew became a Methodist, and was the first Methodist itinerant preacher in Georgia who was a native. He married, lost his first wife, and married a second time into an excellent family of Virginians, living then in Wilkes county. Llis wife was Miss Mary Cosby. Her father, William Cosby, was a well-to-do planter from Hanover county, \7'irgima.
Mr. Andrew soon located and began teaching near Washing- ton, Wilkes county. He had inherited land and negroes from his father, but lost his property by the ravages of war and a mercantile venture and was, when he began to teach, quite a poor man and sadly in debt. In a log cabin, the home of a country school teacher, the future bishop, James Osgood An- drew, was born on May 3, 1794. His mother was a lady of great refinement and good education for those times, and had been brought up in a home where there was abundance. She, like her husband, was a devoted Christian, and as James was 2
18 MEN OF MARK
her oldest son she gave much care to his early training. Cir- cumstances became narrower in the little family as the years went on, and so much depended on the oldest boy that his life was one of toil and privation. His father taught him to read and write and the principles of grammar and arithmetic.
While he was but a boy he joined the church, and when he was eighteen, with his father's full consent, he joined the South Carolina conference (which then covered Georgia) as an itiner- ant preacher. Good James Marks gave him a pony. His parents equipped him as best they could, and in 1812 he went as a junior preacher 011 a low country circuit in South Carolina. Afterwards he was put in charge of a large circuit in Eastern ISTorth Carolina, and later on a circuit in Georgia. He lived in log cabins, preached every day, had few books, but studied them well, and rapidly grew in favor as a preacher. He was sent to the largest citv in the southern section — Charleston.
V
Here, to the dismay of his older brethren in the ministry, he married a lovely and portionless orphan girl, Miss Amelia Mc- Earland. Her father had been a Scotch sea captain. Her mother was a saintly American woman of German descent.
The limits of this space forbid any very extensive account of Bishop Andrew's career as a preacher in charge of stations, cir- cuits and districts. He soon became one of the leaders in his conference. He was eloquent, intelligent, sensible and pro- foundly pious and, while a young man, was selected by his brethren as a member of the General Conference. He had re- moved to Georgia and was stationed at Augusta when he was chosen for the third time to the General Conference. He was decidedly a conservative, and was recognized by the conserv- atives as a wise leader. When a bishop was to be selected — to his great astonishment and dismay, while a cultured college man of position and wealth was chosen as one of two bishops — he was selected as the other.
Perhaps no man ever more reluctantly accepted a position. It was a great sacrifice for a man only forty years old, with a wife and children, and of such tender domestic attachments, to
JAMES OSGOOD ANDREW 19
be required to take a place which exiled him from his family and which laid upon him such heavy responsibilities. He felt he could not do his duty and refuse the office.
In 1832 he began his episcopal labors. They were immense. In prosecuting them he went to the lakes of the North and the wilds of Texas. There were no railways, and the steamers on the rivers only reached a few of the places to which he was obliged to go. The private conveyance, the lumbering coach and the faithful horse were his reliance. He had hard work and much of it. He had become one of the most popular of bishops when peculiar circumstances brought him into the most trying position in which a Methodist bishop has ever been placed.
He became, without his own volition, a slaveholder. The church as a church, from the beginning, had opposed and yet tolerated slaveholding. He had no slaves when he was elected, and he was conscious that that fact had been the means of se- curing him some votes. He had never bought a slave, but a good woman left one to his guardianship. The little girl was to be sent to Liberia, if she wished to go, otherwise she was to be his slave, as she could not be freed. She preferred to be the bishop's slave to going to Africa, and he thus became her nomi- nal owner. Then his wife had a slave boy left to her, and which descended to him after her death. The bishop married a woman who had a number of slaves, but as soon as he legally could he divested himself of all claim to them. He had no idea of any agitation arising from this state of things, but when he reached Baltimore, going to the General Conference in ISTew York, he found there was a disposition to censure him for slaveholding.
He had not wished to be a bishop ; he longed for an oppor- tunity of escape from a bishop's responsibilities and labors. He gladly made up his mind to resign but, upon learning this was his intention, the whole Southern delegation sent a written pro- test declaring that if he resigned because of this clamor they would at once take steps to divide the General Conference. The case came before the general body. There was a stormy time, and he was virtually deposed. The Conference, however, did
20 MKN OF NARK
not censure him as guilty of any offense, and seemed disposed to do what it could to prevent calamity in the South, and pro- vided for a possible division of the church. This division took place, and Bishops Soule and Andrew were the bishops. Bishop Andrew was in his vigor ; Bishop Soule was quite an old man, and the burdens of the superintendency fell on Andrew.
From that time until 1866, for more than twenty years, there was no relief from the heavy toils and the weighty cares of his office. The Civil War came on with all its horrors. While he had always been a conservative, he was no less a warm South- erner. He took no part in the contest personally, but sympa- thized very warmly with his own people. His son, Dr. Andrew, of Alabama, was in the army.
After the war ended he decided to give up his position as bishop and quietly retire. This he did in 1866, having been a bishop for thirty-four years. His after-life was devoted to such labors as were possible for an old man over seventy. He visited his friends and preached, sitting, to the grandchildren of those whose grandparents had heard his eloquent sermons fifty years before. Honored and beloved he quietly passed away. He died in great peace in Mobile, Alabama, on his way home on March 1, 1871, aged seventy-seven years.
Bishop Andrew was a man of great natural endowments. He was not skilled in the learning of the schools, but he was re- markably intelligent and knew men. He was a very impressive, interesting and eloquent preacher ; a man of wonderful common sense, and one whose genial ways and warm affections made him many devoted friends. He was a profoundly pious man whose whole life had been absolutely unstained.
Bishop Andrew was married three times ; first, to Miss Amelia McFarland, by whom he had all his children. These were Mrs. Meriwether, Mrs. L<>vctt. Mrs. Lamar, Mrs. Bush, Miss Mary Andrew and Dr. James G. Andrew. Bev. Dr. Lovett, editor of the Wesleyan Advocate, is his grandson, and the Bev. James C. Andrew, of Alabama, his only son.
GEORGE G. SMITH.
Robert JM. Ccijote.
IT is unfortunately true that in the case of many distinguished Georgians of the past, it is not possible now to get authentic data on many points. A leader of great prominence in the first half of the last century was General Robert M. Echols, and while it is now impossible to get complete and authentic data with reference to his life in many particulars, it is believed that the facts here given are accurate. He was a son of Milner and Susan (Sansom) Echols, who were both natives of ^'^irginia, and said to have married iri that State and migrated to Wilkes county, Georgia.
Robert M. Echols was born four miles from Washington, in Wilkes county, about the beginning of the last century. His grandfather, James Echols, was a Revolutionary soldier who died in 1792. When a young man his family moved from Wilkes to Walton county, and the remainder of his life was spent as a citizen of that county. The home was about one mile from Broken Arrow and five miles west of Monroe.
He married Mary Melton, of Clarke county, Ga. Of this marriage nine children were born, five sons and four daughters, none of whom are at this date living. A brother of General Echols's wife, Eliel Melton, was killed in that Homeric struggle known as the "Fall of the Alamo," in March, 1836, during the Texan war for independence.
Early in life General Echols became active in political mat- ters and was sent to the General Assembly, where he served continuously for twenty-four years. His services were in both houses and he was for several terms President of the Senate. On the occasion of Howell Cobb's first candidacy for Congress General Echols was the opposing candidate and was defeated by Cobb with the narrow margin of two votes. In 1847, when the United States went to war with Mexico, General Echols be-
22 MEN OF MARK
came colonel of the 13th U. S. Regiment (with brevet of brigadier-general) which he led gallantly during that struggle, and in the latter part of 1847, while on dress parade at the Xational Bridge, in Mexico, he was thrown from his horse, sus- taining injuries which, complicated with bowel troubles, caused his death December 3, 1847.
He was buried in Mexico, but several years thereafter the Legislature of Georgia made an appropriation and had his re- mains brought to Georgia, where they were buried in his old home in Walton county with full military honors, and the fu- neral was said to have been the most imposing one in the history of Walton county.
In 1858 the Legislature organized a new county on the Florida line, which was called Echols, in honor of General Echols, who had served the State faithfully for more than twenty years in peace, and who at the first call to arms had gal- lantly taken up his sword in defense of his country.
His immediate family has disappeared. He had several brothers and two sisters, all of whom were prominent in their day. One of his sisters married a Ross and the other sister, Martha Echols, married Joshua Ammons, a well-known edu- cator, who was the father of the late John M. Amnions, of Wal- ton county. J. R. Mobley, of Atlanta, a prominent business man of the present day, is a grand-nephew of General Echols, and is his nearest known living relative. A man of much prominence in his time, all the information obtainable leads to the belief that his qualities were of the solid and useful order rather than brilliant, and his long service in the General As- sembly justifies the belief that he was a capable and faithful legislator. COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Jflournop
THOMAS FLOURNOY FOSTER, lawyer and statesman, was bom at Greensboro, Ga., November 23, 1796. His father, Colonel George Wells Foster, moved from Virginia to Georgia in 1790. Mr. Foster's first educational training was obtained in the male academy at Greensboro, first under Parson Ray and later under William W. Strain. He then entered Franklin College., now the State University, and graduated in 1812. Having decided upon the legal profession as a vocation in life, he took up his studies with Matthew Wells, of Greens- boro, and later attended law lectures at the famous school of Gould and Reeve, at Litchfield, Conn. In 1816 he was admitted to the bar and entered upon the practice of the profession in his native town. Prompt in his attention to business, indus- trious and capable, he soon acquired a large practice. Possessed of an original and investigating turn of mind, together with great natural ability, fluency in debate and abundant self-confi- dence, he was soon a leader. It was not long before his people sent him to the General Assembly, and he represented Greene county there for a number of years. An amusing story is told of Mr. Foster while he was in the Legislature. A plain citizen from a distant county went to Milledgeville while the Legisla- ture was in session, and on his return a neighbor asked him who was elected Speaker of the House. The artless visitor replied that "a little, frisky, hard-favored, pop-eyed man from Greene was the Speaker, for he was nearly all the time speaking, for the man which he called 'Mr. Speaker' sat high up in a chair and said nothing but 'The gentleman from Greene.' :
In 1828 he was elected to the Twenty-first Congress as a Democrat on a general ticket with Charles E. Haynes, Henry G. Lamar, James M. Wayne and Richard H. Wilde as col- leagues. He was reelected to the two next Congresses, making
24 MEN OF MARK
a term of six years. In 1835, after completing his last congres- sional term, he resumed the practic.6 of his profession with his usual energy, and was soon employed in a majority of the large cases on his circuit in every section of the State. In easy cir- cumstances, he practiced a generous hospitality. In 1840, by invitation of the Whigs of Alabama, he attended the mass con- vention held at Tuscaloosa in honor of General Harrison's nomi- nation to the presidency. Being called upon and urged to ad- dress the convention, he spoke an hour with great effect, in criti- cism of Mr. Van Buren's administration, which he charged with the evil economic conditions then prevailing. In 1841 he was elected Representative to the Twenty-seventh Congress, and served out the term ending March 3, 1843. This was his last public service.
Somewhat late in life he married Miss Gardner, of Augusta, a lady of much intelligence, who exercised a gentle and restrain- ing influence over his habits, contributed much to his happiness, and prevented that excess in wine which had been the regret of his friends during previous years. He died at Columbus, Ga., in 1847. The celebrated Rev. Lovick Pierce, who was his brother-in-law, speaking after his death, said of him that Mr. Foster had lived in his family for more than twenty years ; that he was one of the most companionable men he had ever known, with much pleasant humor about him; that as a lawyer he ranked in the first class, and as a good man in all his natural developments was an exception. Dr. Pierce frankly said that high living with great men had led Mr. Foster to love wine to his injury. Senator Dawson, writing of him in 1851 to a friend, among other things, said that he was a sound lawyer, able in the discussion of legal questions, one of the best jury lawyers in the circuit, social, frank and honorable in his profes- sional intercourse, possessed of much good humor, was engaged in a majority of the important cases, had the confidence of his clients, and the regard and respect of the intelligent men all over the State. He closed with the statement that he was no ordinary man. COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
<§aml)le.
AMONG the strong men of the first half of the last century was Roger Lawson Gamble, who was a native of Jeffer- son county; a son of Joseph Gamble, who emigrated from Virginia to Jefferson county after the Revolutionary War. His father was in good circumstances and able to give him a good education. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and began practicing at Louisville. He promptly acquired promi- nence as a lawyer, became interested in public life, was elected a Representative from Georgia to the Twenty-third Congress as a States-rights Democrat, defeated for reelection to the Twenty- fourth, and elected to the Twenty-seventh as a Harrison Whig. Defeated for reelection to the Twenty-eighth, he was then elected a judge of the Superior Court, serving in that capacity with abilitv, and died at his home in Louisville December 20, 1847.
i/ / /
Judge Gamble was recognized as an able lawyer, and by the practice of his profession accumulated a handsome estate. His son, Roger Lawson Gamble, the second, never entered public life, and in the present generation Roger L. Gamble, the third, is an able lawyer and has served as solicitor-general, member of the Legislature and judge of the Middle Circuit with as great ability as his grandfather. Four generations of the family have now lived in and been valuable citizens of Georgia and Jefferson county.
<§eorse Eodungljam Kilmer.
GEOEGE EOCKINGHAM GILMER was born in that part of Wilkes that is now Oglethorpe county, Georgia, April 11, 1790. His ancestors were Scotch. His great- grandfather, Dr. George Gilmer, came direct from Scotland and settled in Williamsburg, Virginia. His father, Thomas M. Gilmer, and his mother moved from Virginia to Wilkes county in 1784. Although George grew up on the farm his body was frail and his health delicate. When he was thirteen years old his father sent him to Dr. Wilson's school at Abbeville, South Carolina. Later he attended the famous Georgia Academy under Dr. Moses Waddell, who was perhaps the greatest teacher of his time. He awakened in young Gilmer aspirations that in after years were to give tone and direction to a useful career. Throughout his public life George Gilmer never failed to ac- knowledge the debt he owed to his great teacher.
On account of ill health he was unable to go to college. While confined at home he read law and taught his younger brothers. In 1813 his physician, Dr. Bibb, who was also at that time United States Senator, believing that life in camp would be bene- ficial to him, secured for him an appointment as First Lieuten- ant in the United States Army. At that time the Creek Indians were making hostile demonstrations against the settlers in the western part of the State. Lieutenant Gilmer was placed in command of a body of troops that rendered most effective service in expelling the Indians from the Chattahoochee district. After the Indian war, his health having greatly improved, he returned to Lexington, Oglethorpe county, and began the practice of law. While he had been denied a college education he was always a thoughtful student of men and things. He observed that a close and accurate study of things taught him to think accu- rately and correctly. Flowers and stones and birds and brooks, all natural objects, provoked his closest attention. He found
\
GEORGE ROCKINGHAM GILMER. 27
"sermons in stones and books in running brooks." The same close analysis he applied to the study of his law cases, and soon had a large and lucrative law practice.
In 1818 he was elected to represent his county in the State Legislature and became at once a leader in the House of Rep- resentatives. The journals of the House at that time show that his career was independent and fearless. It was through his influence that a law against private banking, at that time a great evil, was passed. He was also the first to arouse interest in an appellate court for the correction of errors. This move- ment led to the establishment of the Supreme Court of Georgia.
In 1820 he was elected to Congress, and again in 1824 and 1828. However, in 1828, he failed to give notice of his ac- ceptance in due time required by law, and Governor Forsyth declared his appointment vacant and ordered a new election. Mr. Gilmer declined to be a candidate again. The same year he ran for Governor and was overwhelmingly elected.
It was while he was a member of Congress, in the year 1822, that he married Miss Eliza Frances Grattan, whose father was of the same stock as the famous Irish orator Henry Grattan. From this marriage no children were born, but his married life seemed to have been very happy.
In 1830, after serving his first term as Governor, he was a candidate for reelection, but was defeated by Wilson Lumpkin. However, he was again elected to Congress in 1833, and elected a second time Governor in 1837.
It was during his first term as Governor that serious dis- turbances occurred with the Cherokee Indians. There was con- stant friction growing out of questions concerning the territory occupied by the Indians. An incident occurred that illustrated the independent and fearless character of Governor Gilmer. George Tassels, a Cherokee, killed another Indian within that part of the Cherokee territory subject to the courts of Hall county, and was arrested by the Sheriff of that county. Tassels was tried in the Superior Court and sentenced to be hanged. His lawyers appealed his case to the Supreme Court of the United States, and Governor Gilmer was summoned to appear
28 MEN OF MARK
before the Supreme Court to answer for the State of Georgia. The Governor sent to the State Legislature, which was in ses- sion at the time, this message :
"Orders received from the Supreme Court of the United States for the purpose of interfering with the decisions of the courts of this State in the exercise of their constitutional juris- diction will be resisted with all the force the laws have placed at my command."
The Legislature upheld the Governor and Tassels was promptly hanged. Governor Gilmer said in this connection :
"I believe it to be our highest political duty to retain the organization of the government in the form in which our fore- fathers gave it, — limiting the United States to legislation upon general subjects mentioned in the Constitution and preserving unimpaired the rights of the States and the people."
These troubles that began with the Indians during his first term as Governor were brought to an end during his second term as chief magistrate of the State ten years later. By a treaty between the United States and the Indians the tribes were all removed west of the Mississippi. At the close of his term of office as Governor he retired to his home in Lexington to spend the rest of his days in the peace and quiet of his home- life.
He gave a great deal of his time in the closing years of his career to a study of the mineral deposits of his county. At the time of his death he had collected a cabinet of minerals which was perhaps the most valuable in the State. He became greatly interested also in the cause of education. For thirtv vears he
tj t/
was a trustee of the State University and left several valuable bequests to that institution. One of these bequests was a fund, the interest of which was to be used for training teachers for the poor children of the State. This is the first fund of the kind ever given by any citizen of the State. The interest on the fund — still known as the Gilmer fund — is used by the trus- tees of the University in connection with the State Xormal School at Athens.
Regarded from any point of view, Governor Gilmer was one
GEORGE ROCKINGHAM GILMER 29
of the most useful and distinguished men the State has ever produced. His ideal of citizenship was the consecration of the best he had to the service of the State. His convictions of right and duty were clear and strong, and he was never known, either in public or private conduct, to compromise with wrong. "Let me always do what is right," he said, "and I care not what the consequences may be."
In 1855 he published "Georgians," a work full of valuable information concerning the early settlers of the State.
He died at Lexington, Georgia, November 15, 1859, in the seventieth year of his age.
It is not out of place in speaking of the life of this distin- guished man to mention the fact that he lived at a period when there was much political bitterness in the State of Georgia, and even good men were so prejudiced that it was hard for them to do each other justice. It is undoubtedly true that Governor Gilmer suffered to some extent from the partisan feeling at that time prevalent.
The summing up of him above may be taken as correct now that he has been dead for more than a generation, and men are able to look back upon those days without prejudice. Even so good a man as Governor Wilson Lumpkin, who was a contem- porary, at times opposed to Governor Gilmer, underrated, cer- tainly, his ability, and possibly his fidelity to conviction.
Growing out of the publication of his reminiscences, a consid- erable feeling was shown against Governor Gilmer. He was very plain spoken, and in these reminiscences he did not mince matters, but said things that generally are left unsaid in books of that character. His plain speech in connection with promi- nent men of that time caused a good many people to feel ill will, and this militated against a fair judgment of Governor Gilmer himself. At this time, with all the facts from both sides at hand, when all the actors in the drama of that day are long buried, it seems to be a just conclusion that he was a con- scientious and patriotic man of very considerable ability.
G. R. GLENJST.
Militant
WILLIAM WASHINGTON GORDON, lawyer and railroad president, was a man of such business ca- pacity that was he living at this time he would in- evitably be a captain of industry. He was born in Richmond county, Ga., in 179 G, son of Ambrose Gordon, a native of Maryland, who served under Colonel William Washington in the southern campaigns of the Revolutionary War with the grade of lieutenant of cavalry. His campaign in the South gave him a knowledge of the country which attracted him so greatly that immediately after the close of the Revolution he came to Georgia and settled in Augusta. He sent his son, William W., at an early age to reside with an uncle, Ezekiel Gordon, then a resident of New Jersey. Young Gordon was placed at school in Rhode Island for several years, after which he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he was graduated in 1815, and soon after his gradua- tion was appointed as an aide to General Gaines.
Possessed of a very enterprising spirit and sound judgment, Mr. Gordon saw that in the long period of peace which was likely to prevail there would be but slight promotion in the army and concluded to resign his commission and take up the study of law. He removed to Savannah to study law with James M. Wayne, one of the foremost lawyers of the State, and later for thirty years an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. Admitted to the bar, success came to him promptly and he practiced with constantly increasing reputa- tion until the early part of 1836, by which time his reputation for business capacity had grown to such an extent that he was elected president of the Central of Georgia Railroad and Bank- ing Company. Mr. Gordon was a pioneer in the railroad field in Georgia. Unlike the railroad presidents of the present day,
WILLIAM WASHINGTON GORDON 31
his time was put in without stint and with resistless energy, upon the road, in the office, and traveling from point to point to see where he could better the interests which were committed to his hands. So extreme were his labors and so great the ex- posure incurred in constant travel that he sunk under these fatigues, and in March, 1842, died at his home in the city of Savannah from disease occasioned by his labors. He was only forty-six years old, but he had left a mark upon the State of Georgia which will not soon be forgotten, and the Central Rail- road of Georgia is a substantial monument to his memory. Combined with his legal and business ability were great hon- esty and firmness of purpose.
The legislature showed its appreciation of his public service as a developer by naming a county for him. The company which he had served so faithfully erected in 1882 a monument to his memory in the city of Savannah, which bears the follow- ing inscriptions: In front, simply the name "Gordon." On another side a running train ; on another side, "William Wash- ington Gordon, born June IT, 1796, died March 20, 1842. The pioneer of works of internal improvement in his native State and first president of the Central of Georgia Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia, to which he gave his time, his talents, and finally his life." The fourth side, "Erected A. D. 1882, by the Central Railroad and Banking Company of Georgia in honor of a brave man, a faithful and devoted officer, and to preserve his name, in the grateful remembrance of his fellow-citizens."
General W. W. Gordon, of Savannah, who was a captain in the Confederate army and a brigadier-general in the Federal army in the war with Spain, a leading citizen of Savannah in every respect, is a son of William Washing-ton Gordon, and in this generation is doing his part toward carrying forward in Georgia a development suited to present conditions.
COMPILED BY THE PUBLISHER.
Cfmrle£
CHAELES HAERIS, in his day the most prominent law- yer of Savannah, and accounted by many men as the ablest lawyer in Georgia, was a native of England, in which country he was born in 1772. His early education was received in France. In 1788, a youth of sixteen, he came to Georgia, locating at Savannah, and studied law in the office of Samuel Stirk, a leader of the profession in that day. Mr. Harris gained reputation almost from his entry into the pro- fession. It is said of him that he neither essayed ornament nor eloquence, but his reasoning powers were great, his knowl- edge of law immense, and his presentation of any case en- trusted to him was so clear and convincing as to win a vast ma- jority of his cases. One instance may be cited. A case was appealed from the Court of Admiralty in Georgia to the Su- preme Court in Washington. The fee was five thousand dol- lars, a large one for that day. \Yilliam Pinkney and William Wirt, two of the great lawyers of that time, were associated with him. When the case came before the Court, Mr. Pink- ney arose and said that Mr. Wirt and himself had concluded that nothing they could say to the Court could possibly be necessary or add any weight to the masterly reasoning given in the brief by the gentleman from Georgia. He then read the brief, and the decision of the court was given in favor of Mr. Harris's client. Such was Mr. Harris's modesty that in this case, which clearly he had won alone, he gave to each one of the associate counsel one thousand dollars of the fee.
He served the people of Savannah either as alderman or mayor for more than twenty years, but beyond this he could never be prevailed upon to accept office. Time and again he refused appointment or election to exalted positions. Governor Jackson appointed him judge of the Eastern Circuit without
CHARLES HARRIS. 33
consultation. Anxious to gratify his friend, Harris yet de- clined the appointment. A little later the General Assembly elected him judge of the Eastern Circuit without solicitation on his part, but he would not consent.
When Milledge retired from the United States Senate and it was necessary to fill the vacancy ; despite the many aspirants for this office, both factions in the legislature, (Crawford and Clarke), bitterly opposed as they were to each other, united in the selection of Mr. Harris. An express was sent to Savannah to learn if he would serve, but he absolutely declined the honor. The loss of his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, and which was largely a reason for his declining these public ser- vices, as it would interfere with his domestic life; personal ill health, and other domestic afflictions caused him gradually to go into close retirement, and he died on March 13, 1827, at the age of fifty-five, lamented by the entire population of the city. It is said of him that his manners were pleasing and affable. He was rather above the middle stature. His benevo- lence was a proverb. The widow, orphan and distressed looked upon him as a never-failing friend. He came of an excellent family in England. His father, William Harris, was a bar- rister, and first cousin of Lord Malmesbury. His mother was a Dymock, sister of the hereditary champion of England, Charles Dymock. His father was one of the two squires who attended the champion at the coronation of George III. The Dymocks were descended from the De Bergs, who had been hereditary champions of England from the accession of the Nor- man family. In 1827, a few months after the death of Mr. Harris, the legislature organized a new county in the south- western part of the State, which was named Harris in honor of this modest, unassuming and yet valuable citizen.
BEENAED SUTTLEE.
£lnbergon
GEX. HUGH AXDERSOX HARALSOX, of LaGrange, Georgia, was born in Greene county, Georgia, on Novem- ber 13, 1805. He was the youngest son of Jonathan and Clara Browning Haralson, who removed from North Caro- lina to Georgia in 1783. His elementary education was ob- tained in the ordinary county schools of the neighborhood, and he was prepared for college under the instruction of Herman L. Vail, and Rev. Carlisle P. Beinan, both men of high qualifica- tions. In January, 1822, he was placed at Franklin College, Georgia, entering the Freshman class. In August, 1825, he graduated and immediately applied himself to the study of law. By constant application he was ready in six months to take his place among the members of an honorable profession. Being not yet twenty-one years of age, the legislature of Geor- gia passed a special act authorizing his examination, and grant- ing him permission to enter upon the privilege and duties of his profession. Though young and entering a bar already crowded, he very soon had the good fortune to enjoy a liberal share of the business of the courts.
In the winter of 1828, he married Miss Caroline Lewis, of Greensboro, Georgia. Of the children of this marriage, four daughters and one son lived until maturity. Of these four daughters, the eldest married Hon. B. S. Overby; the second Judge Logan E. Bleckley ; the third, Gen. John B. Gordon, and the fourth Hon. Jas. M. Pace.
After his marriage he removed from Monroe, Walton county, where he first entered upon the practice of law, to LaGrange, Troup county, Georgia, where he remained until his death on September 25, 1854, continuing the practice of law with great success. He, nevertheless, devoted part of his time to agriculture, in which pursuit he was signally fortunate.
HUGH ANDERSON HARALSON 35
He took a deep interest, however, in the political movements of the day. From his early manhood he had been devoted to the political doctrines taught by Jefferson and Madison, and always opposed any exercise of power by the general government, which he thought threatened to infringe on the constitutional rights of the States.
In 1831, and again in 1832, he was elected a member of the Legislature of Georgia, where he maintained the principles he professed with ability and firmness. For a few years he with- drew from public life in order to devote more time to his pri- vate affairs. He was called, however, from his retirement into the service of the State during the disastrous derangement of the monetary concerns of the country. His principles had al- ways led him to oppose a Bank of the United States, and the widespread issues of paper money. In 1837, as the well-known advocate of these opinions, he was elected to the Senate of his State, an office the duties of which were so discharged by him as to secure his return to the same body in 1838 without oppo- sition.
He had always manifested some partiality for military life, and during the Indian disturbances was found at the head of a company of citizen volunteers, affording relief and protection to the settlements. In the last year of his service in the Sen- ate, he was elected by the Legislature to a major-general's com- mand of militia, and in that capacity immediately after the commencement of the Mexican War, he tendered his services to the Governor of his State, and subsequently to the President of the United States.
In 1840 he exhibited the sincerity of his attachment to the political doctrines he professed amid the denunciations of kin- dred and friends, whose love and respect he held but in little less estimation than his own character and honor. The expan- sion of paper money, the facility of credit, and a boundless rage for speculation had involved the whole country in disasters from which relief in some shape was anxiously sought. With- out examining the cause of the prevailing distress, there were
36 MEN OF MARK
many who, concluding that -no change could make conditions worse, were prepared to adopt any expedient which held even a hope of relief. Thousands of party friends were clamorous for a new order of things, old party lines were broken down, and new party names were assumed. The States-rights party, with which General Haralson had hitherto acted, gave up the name of States-rights and assumed the name of "Whig." They soon became advocates of a Bank of the United States, a protective tariff, and other measures, which as States-rights men, they had always opposed.
General Haralson met with determined opposition, this change of sentiment in his old associates and former political friends. The State, by an overwhelming majority, went in favor of the Whigs in 1840. In the campaign of 1842, the Democratic party selected their strongest men for the Congres- sional contest, and General Haralson was among them. The result was success, and he was elected a representative of the State in the Twenty-eighth Congress, by the general ticket sys- tem. In the controversy which followed, he took a prominent part in defending and vindicating what he conceived to be the clearly defined rights of his State. Before the next succeed- ing Congressional election in 1844, the State of Georgia was divided into Congressional districts. The district in which General Haralson resided, known as the fourth, was organized with a Whig majority. He was, nevertheless, nominated by the Democratic party, and was elected by a large majority to the Twenty-ninth Congress, and in 1846, he was elected for the third time. During the three terms of his service as rep- resentative from the Fourth Congressional District, he was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, including the period of the Mexican War, when public attention was attracted to its proceedings, and when its labors and responsibilities were of an unusually important character.
The county of Haralson was named in his honor.
J. M. PACE.
jfletgg.
JOSIAH MEIGS, nominally the second president of the University of Georgia, but in reality the first active president, as Abraham Baldwin, the first president, had never been able to give the time from his public duties to estab- lish the University, was born in Middletown, Conn., on August 21, 1757. He was a son of Return Jonathan Meigs, a promi- nent man of the Revolutionary period, who served as major un- der Benedict Arnold in the Canadian campaign and later in the Revolutionary War as a colonel under Anthony Wayne. The Meigs family is of Puritan stock and goes back to one Vincent Meigs, or Meggs, who came first to Massachusetts and then moved to New Haven about 1644. Josiah Meigs graduated at Yale College in 1778. It does not appear what he did for the next three years, but in 1781 -and '84 he was a tutor in mathematics, natural philosophy, and astronomy at Yale. At the same time he was engaged in the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1783. In conjunction with Daniel Bowen and Eleutheros Dana he established the 'New Haven Gazette, in 1784, but notwithstanding what appeared to be a favorable opening, the paper failed of success and was discon- tinued in 1786. He served as city clerk of Xew Haven from 1784 to 1789, and in the last named year moved to Bermuda, where he engaged in the practice of law. In connection with the defense of some American sailors who had been seized by British privateers he was arrested by the British authorities and tried on a charge of treason, but was acquitted.
In 1794 he returned to Connecticut and was elected Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy in Yale College, which position he held until 1801, when he came to Georgia to take the presi- dency of the new University of Georgia, then known as Frank- lin College. The salary offered him, $1,500, was for that
38 MEN OF MARK
day a sufficient one, but the outlook was extremely gloomy. The 1<>\vn of Athens had but two houses, and the property of the University consisted of wild lands in a frontier section. There were no buildings, no money and no students. The first ses- sions for the instruction of students were held under an oak tree, and the president was the entire faculty. In 1803 the historic three-story building known as the "Old College" was erected. In 1802 the aDemosthenian Literary Society" was founded. In 1804 the first commencement was held under a rustic arbor, and ten students received degrees. During the ten years of President Meigs's administration, from 1801 to 1811, fifty students were graduated. The income was slender and uncertain. Though a. tutor, Addiii Lewis, and a professor of modern languages, Petit de Clairville, were added to the college, the work of the president was very onerous. Frequent meetings with the trustees to discuss financial questions, trips to the capital over bad roads on horseback or in buggy were necessary, and altogether the president of the struggling school had a task, the difficulties of which can now only be imagined. In 1806 the legislature authorized the trustees to conduct a lot- tery for the benefit of the school. Under all these discouraging circumstances President Meigs was expected to educate from forty to sixty young men, to superintend the erection of build- ings, meet with the Legislature and the board of trustees, and yet because in a few years he did not rival Harvard and Yale, some men have thought that he was deficient in zeal and in talents. An impartial estimate of him made in later years by one acquainted with his qualities and his work rate- him as one of the ablest men of his day.
A pioneer of education in the South, he labored with untiring zeal and unremitting industry. Like the Israelite of old he was expected "to make bricks without straw." In a letter addressed by Mr. Meigs to Governor Milledge, dated May 11, 1808, refer- ring to the arrival of some philosophical apparatus, he says : "I have been much embarrassed with company since its arrival, but I have patiently attended to the wishes of the people. It is
JOSIAH MEIGS 39
thought we know everything. Alas ! how limited is all our knowledge. Yet when we compare ourselves with others, we look down with a species of pride and upwards with humility." Worn out with the superhuman exertions of ten years, in 1811, he resigned his office, and the college was then suspended for a year for want of funds. In 1812 he was appointed sur- veyor-general of the United States and served in that capacity until 1814, when he became commissioner of the general land office at Washington, which position he held until his death. In 1819 he was elected president of the Columbian Institute, Washington, D. C., which position he held until 1821 without giving up his duties in the land office, and in 1821 he was elected Professor of Experimental Philosophy in Columbian Univer- sity, at Washington, then newly established. He died at Wash- ington, September 24, 1822, sixty-five years old, leaving behind him the reputation of a man of great attainments, superior ability, and single minded devotion to the cause of education.
BEENAED SUTTLEE,
^fiercer.
JESSE MERCER was easily the most distinguished among the ministers of his day. He was born in Halifax county, ]ST. C., December 16, 1769, the eldest of a family of eight children consisting of five sons and three daughters.
Silas Mercer, his father, whose name will ever occupy an honored place in the record of American Baptists, was born near Currituck Bay, N. C., February, 1745. Silas Mercer's mother died when he was an infant and his early training devolved chiefly upon his father, who was a zealous member of the Church of England. Silas Mercer was from early childhood subject to serious religious impressions, but was not really converted until he attained manhood. Previous to this time in life he was 'devotedly attached to the rites of the Episcopal Church, and as violently opposed to other religious denominations, especially the Baptists. He shunned these people as a company of de- ceivers and as infected with absurd and dangerous heresies. Possessed of an independent spirit, however, he entered into a course of personal investigation. He soon began to question the validity of the traditions which he had so strongly adhered to, and finally had two of his children dipped for baptism. The first was Jesse, the subject of this sketch, who was im- mersed in a barrel of water at his father's home. The other was a daughter who was subjected to the same ceremony in a tub prepared for the purpose in the Episcopal meeting house. The father of Silas threw every possible obstruction in the way, and when finally the son attended a Baptist meeting, the father exclaimed with tears of grief and anguish: "Silas, you are ruined !" Not long after this, Silas Mercer moved with his family to "Wilkes county, Ga., and was soon thereafter im- mersed, and became a member of the Kiokee Baptist church.
JESSE MERCER 41
As he left the stream when he was baptized, he ascended a log on the banks arid exhorted the multitude. He began at once to preach the gospel as a Baptist minister. He was justly re- garded as one of the most exemplary and pious ministers of the South. He died in the fifty-second year of his age, in the midst of active usefulness.
Jesse Mercer's early life gave an indication of his future career and usefulness. He was a man of strong, native good sense, a tender conscience, and great self-control. He avoided all the gross excesses of youth and was a staid, discreet and sober young man. With great command of his passions, it is said he never had a personal quarrel with any one during his whole life. He set a beautiful example of obedience to parents, and in the absence of his father from home, gave implicit obe- dience to the command of his mother. At a very early age he came under religious convictions and for many years diligently sought for light upon this vitally important matter. Finally, in his eighteenth year, he became converted, of which he wrote, as follows: "While on the verge of despair, I was walking along a narrow, solitary path in the woods, poring over my help- less case and saying to myself, 'Woe is me, woe is me, for I am undone forever. I would I were a beast of the field.' I found myself wishing I was like the little oak when it died and crumbled to dust. At that moment light broke into my soul, and I believed in Christ for myself and not for another, and went my way rejoicing." He was baptized by his father into the fellowship of the Phillips's Mill church, July 8, 1787, being in his eighteenth year.
His first effort at public speaking was made in the home of his grandmother Mercer, an humble log cabin, the occasion be- ing a Sabbath day prayer meeting. He spoke upon the general judgment. His grandmother was greatly pleased with this, his first attempt. He used frequent opportunities for exhorta- tion. It is not known just when he was formally licensed to preach, but it was only a short time after his baptism.
On January 31, 1788, then only in his nineteenth year, he
42 .l//-;.\" OF MARK
•
married Sabiua drivers, of Wilkes county. She was baptized about the same time that Mr. Mercer was and became a member of the same church. One who knew her well wrote : "She was indeed a helpmeet for her husband, for besides her ordinary domestic duties, she spun and wove with her own hands all the cloth he wore, and gained not a little renown through the coun- try for the neatness and beauty of her manufacture. Notwith- standing she was a most affectionate wife and delighted in the company of her husband, she was very careful to throw no ob- stacle in the way of his fulfilling his appointments punctually, and was always mindful to have his clothes put up and every- thing ready. She submitted with great fortitude to the lonely life she led in his absence." Soon after his marriage his father gave him one hundred acres of land, upon which he erected a neat log cabin and opened up a small farm. In the meantime he prosecuted his ministerial labors.
His first charge was Xew Sardis Church, Hutton Fork, "Wilkes county. He served this church for more than twenty years. A contemporary said of him: "Xever was a minister more immovably rooted in the respect, confidence and affections of his people. To all classes of the community he was an ob- ject of deep interest. The wise regarded him with admiration, whilst the most illiterate could see enough in him to revere and love. Such an exhibition as he made, for a long series of years, of high intellectual powers, sound discriminating judg- ment, engaging and amiable virtues, strict and unbending in- tegrity in all his dealings with men, and, above all, of sincere, honest and undeviating devotion to the cause of his Divine Master, would naturally secure to him the position which he occupied in the hearts of his brethren and in the estimation of his fellow-citizens at large."
In 1799 he traveled and preached in the States of South Carolina and Virginia, covering more than three thousand miles in the tour. Practically, the founder of the Georgia State Con- vention, he was a regular attendant upon its annual sessions, his own Association, and visited other Associations in the State
JESSE MERCER 43
in so far as the demands upon his time would permit. There was a great lack of satisfactory hymn books in those early days, and Mr. Mercer compiled a book, which he called "Mercer's Cluster." This book was first published in Augusta. Later, two more editions were published. While in attendance upon a General Convention in Philadelphia, in 1817, he published a revised edition of two thousand five hundred copies. Subse- quent editions were published in 1820, 1826 and 1835. The book had an extensive circulation in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.
While Mr. Mercer generally kept aloof from politics, he did not consider himself excluded from the rights of citizenship, and on proper occasion took active part. In 1798 he was a member of the convention that formed the Constitution of the State of Georgia, which in itself was an honor to any man, in view of the great work performed by that convention. It is related that during the session of the convention some lawyer moved that ministers be ineligible to the office of legislator. Mr. Mercer amended this motion by inserting doctors and law- yers. He finally withdrew his amendment on the condition that the original proposition should also be withdrawn. In 1816 he was a candidate for the office of State Senator, but was fortunately defeated. In 1833 some of his friends desired to announce his name as a candidate for the office of Governor. He would not listen to this proposition.
In 1826, Mr. Mercer took up his residence in Washington, Wilkes county. There was no organized Baptist church in that place and his services had been less appreciated by the peo- ple at Washington than at any other community that he visited. Yet he was deeply impressed that the Lord desired his locating there. In December, 1827, a church was organized with ten members, and Mr. Mercer was called to the pastoral charge. The church steadily grew during his pastorate.
In 1833 the Christian Index, which had been published at Philadelphia and edited by Rev. W. T. Brantley, was bought by Mr. Mercer. Editorial duties were not congenial to him, and
44 MEN O.F MASK
he called to his assistance the Eev. "W. H. Stokes, whose name gave character to the editorials and the general conduct of the paper. In 1840 he generously tendered the Christian Index, with the press and all its appendages, to the Baptist State Con- vention. The gift was accepted and the paper moved to Pen- field.
In 1835 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon Mr. Mercer by the Board of Fellows of Brown University, Providence, R. I. He was seldom recognized, however, or addressed as Dr. Mercer.
From the beginning of his career he was at all times an able and indefatigable advocate of education. He was untiring in his efforts to disseminate correct views on this subject among the Baptists of the State. He made strenuous efforts to establish an academv at Mount Enon, Richmond county. It was
«.' i/
opened in 1807, but after a few years of usefulness became encumbered with debt and failed. Mr. Mercer was especially impressed with the importance of a well-educated ministry, and in the effort to establish a college in the District of Columbia he was active, became a trustee, and through his influence large contributions of money were secured in Georgia. The Baptist State Convention of South Carolina wanted the cooperation of Georgia Baptists for the establishment of a literary and the- ological institute in that State, and though Mr. Mercer was in- clined to favor the plan it did not become popular in Georgia. At that time the plan most advocated by the Baptists of Georgia involved a manual labor department. At the annual meeting of the State Convention at Buckhead, Burke county, April 1831, the following resolution was adopted: "Resolved, That as soon as the funds will justify, this Convention will establish in some central part of the State a classical theological school, which shall unite agricultural labor with study, and be opened for those only who propose to enter the ministry." At the next meeting of the Convention, this plan was so amended as to admit others. This was not Mr. Mercer's plan. Indeed, he opposed it, but finally took hold of it with his accustomed zeal. It was soon determined that the institute when established
JESSE MERGER 45
should bear his name, as much of its success depended upon his liberality and generous support.
Josiah Penfield, a wealthy Baptist, residing in Savannah, who died in 1829, left a bequest of $2,500 to aid in the edu- cation of poor young men preparing for the ministry, under the direction of the Convention, and to be used only after an equivalent sum had been raised by that body. The requirement was met at once. In 1832 a site was chosen, in Greene county. Two double log cabins were constructed and the school was opened in 1833, with Rev. B. M. Sanders in charge, aided by two assistants. There were thirty-nine students in attendance. The school prospered and grew in favor. In 1837 there was a movement to establish a Baptist College, at Washington, and $100,000 was subscribed. It was then determined to add a collegiate department to the school in Greene county and if possible divert the money contributed to the Washington enter- prise. This was accomplished, and sixty thousand dollars were added to the endowment of the Greene county school. A town was laid out around the institution and named Penfield in honor of the donor of the first contribution. Mr. Mercer strenuously opposed the defeat of the college at Washington, but finally vielded. and. before the end of the vear, subscribed five thousand
V ti
dollars for the endowment of the Collegiate Department at Pen- field. From that time he turned toward the institution his warm support and his princely munificence. From that time forward the institution had the untiring devotion of Mr. Mer- cer's great soul, as a member of the Executive Committee and of the Board of Trustees.
He was a man of princely liberality. In all he gave be- tween thirtv and thirtv-five thousand dollars for the mainte-
«, t/
nance of Mercer University. He gave at one time $5,500 to foreign missions, and subsequently another contribution of $5,000 to the same cause. He was deeply interested in the higher education of the generation of the day. Possibly he was moved to this course because of his own personal lack. He had really received but little mental training, because his op-
46 MKN OF MARK
portimities were limited and meager. Married at nineteen years of age, this contributed an additional hindrance to his education. Even after marriage, however, he attended the school of Mr. Springer, a Presbyterian minister, and, later he studied languages one year, under the direction of a Mr. Armor.
Mr. Mercer was a capable man in a business way, and accu- mulated some property.
After years of a happy married life he lost his wife, and later married Mrs. E"ancy Simons, widow of Capt. A. Simons. Mrs. Simons was a woman of large wealth, who shared fully in his spirit of liberality toward worthy enterprises, and her means added to his own, not only relieved him from secular care, but enabled him to make large donations which were of such im- mense value in those early days.
Jesse Mercer was not the founder of the Baptist Church in Georgia. That honor belongs to Daniel Marshall, who organ- ized the first Baptist Church in the State. Perhaps second to him comes Silas Mercer, father of Jesse Mercer, but while it is true that Jesse Mercer was not the founder of the church, it is also true that the Baptist Church owes more to him than to any other man. He published the first hymn book. It was through him that in 1823 the Baptist State Convention was or- ganized. Through him in 1833 the Christian Index, the first religious paper in the State, was founded, a paper which now having passed the three-quarter century mark is still sending out its weekly issues for the edification of the people. To him, Mercer University, which is an honor to the State, owes every- thing. A liberal contributor to it during his life, when he died, he left his entire estate to its endowment, and as long as the institution stands, Jesse Mercer will not be forgotten in Georgia. He has the distinction of having given the largest amount to Christian education of any Georgian, living or dead. He founded the first missionary society and was its most liberal supporter. He found the Baptist Church in Georgia a weakly infant, struggling for life, and he left it a stalwart youth ready to enter and to cultivate all fields. He was essentially an or-
JESSE MERGER 47
ganizer and his work abides. Not its most eloquent preacher, not its greatest orator, Jesse Mercer easily stands first as the greatest man the Baptist ministry in Georgia has yet produced. In May, 1841, his faithful wife died and he was left a lonely old man. He continued the work, however, according to his strength, and in August he left Penfield and journeyed to Indian Springs, where on the last Saturday in that month he attended the meeting held by James Carter, at the Springs, and from there went to the residence of Mr. Carter, eight miles from the Springs. Here he fell ill, and on the sixth of September, 1841, he died. In his last moments he threw his arms around the neck of a nephew who was present and drawing him close to his lips, he said: "I have no fears."
W. J. NOETHEN.
fultus C.
AMONG the notable men who figured on the pages of Geor- gia history between the Revolutionary and Civil War periods was Col. Julius C. Alford, of Troup County, popularly known as "The old war horse of Troup." Colonel Alfrord came from a North Carolina family settled in "Wake county of that State, and which was of English de- scent. His grandfather, Lodwick Alford, Sr., served in the patriot armies during the Revolutionary War and was a mem- ber of the General Assembly of North Carolina in 1778. His father, Lodwick Alford, Jr., served in the War of 1812 as a captain, and immediately after the close of that war immigrated to Georgia and settled at a point five miles from the present town of West Point. Lodwick Alford, Jr., had married Judith Jackson, a daughter of Reuben Jackson, of North Carolina, who distinguished himself at the Battle of New Orleans. Julius C. Alford was their oldest son and was born at Greensboro, N. C., May 10, 1799. When his father moved to Georgia, Col. Alford remained at Greensboro as a student in the law office of Col. Foster. He remained in North Carolina until after his mar- riage to Eliza Cook, and he then followed his father to Troup county, and in order to be near him settled at the place now known as LaGrange. In a public meeting held there he sug- gested that name for the place, because it was the name of La- fayette's home in France, and Col. Alford was a great admirer of that great Frenchman.
His wife was one of three sisters. They were the daughters of George Cook, an Englishman living in Florida under the Spanish rule. When Indian troubles arose, Colonel Cook left homte to meet the Indians and was killed in battle. His body servant, a faithful slave, fled home with the news, pursued by the Indians. All the negroes fled except this faithful body serv-
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JULIUS C. ALFORD
JULIUS C. ALFORD 49
ant, who led bis mistress and her three little girls to the woods. Their pathway was illuminated by the burning dwelling house behind them. The mother died from the exposure and left the three little girls to the care of her brother Nathaniel Ashby, of Louisville, Ga., who had them educated in the famous Mora- vian school at Salem, jSL C. Judge Cone married one of them ; Rev. Charles Sanders one ; and Colonel Alford the third.
Soon after Colonel Alford moved to Georgia Indian troubles broke out along the Chattahoochee, and he being a man of much force of character and strong personality was put at the head of the forces opposed to them. He met them below Co- lumbus and defeated them at the Battle of Chickisawhatchie and drove them into the Seminole country. He had by that time come into prominence in a personal and in a professional way, and in 1836 was elected as a States-rights Whig to Congress to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of George W. Towns and served the unexpired portion of that term from January 31, 1837, to March 3, 1837. He stood for reelection to the Twenty-fifth Congress, but was defeated. Two years later, how- ever, he was elected to the Twenty-sixth Congress and reelected to the twenty-seventh as a Harrison Whig and served from De- cember 2, 1839, to March 3, 1843.
It is related of Colonel Alford that while in Congress the pending measure was a bill for the removal of the Creek In- dians to the West. A northern member in opposing the meas- ure made light of the troubles in Georgia and Alabama. Colonel Alford replied. He was a man of fine physical appearance, a good speaker, with a sonorous voice. After setting forth plainly the conditions which existed, and telling his fellow-members who had never heard an Indian war whoop what the settlers on the frontier had to endure, he illustrated by giving the Indian war whoop. It is said that it so horrified and startled the list- less members that the bill passed without further opposition.
The death of Col. Alford's wife, to whom he was profoundly attached, broke up his plans and he abandoned his home at La- Grange, on the hill where the LaGrange Female College now 4
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stands, and moved to Tuskegee, Ala., and later to the prairie country below Montgomery. He was busy with his profession and large farming interests, and threw himself into politics. He was twice candidate for Congress, but was each time de- feated, and the latter part of his life was spent looking after his practice, his plantation interests and in long camp hunts with his son-iu-l;i\v. Mr. Baldwin. Another son-in-law, A. E. Cox, stated to a granddaughter of Colonel Alford that he was not a secessionist but being a delegate to the Secession Convention ;it Montgomery went with the majority and made it unanimous, and although then old and in feeble health raised a company in his county, which he supplied frnm. his private means for sev- eral years. During the Civil War, on his plantation the looms were kept busy weaving cloth, the women knitting socks and the tannery making leather for shoes for the Alford Guards.
Late in life he had married a second time a woman devoted to the southern cause, and a granddaughter said that on one occasion she was profoundly moved at seeing his lovely little daughter seated on a high gate-post handing socks to each mem- ber of the Alford Guards as they filed by the gates going off to Montgomery. One of his sons, George Cook Alford, a brilliant lawyer of Alabama, gave his life to the Confederacy, and Colonel Alford, notwithstanding a strong desire to live to see the end of the war fell into ill health and finally died in January, 1863.
He was a man of strong, rugged character and ardent tem- perament, and on occasions would burst forth into torrents of eloquent speech. Hon. Albert H. Cox, of Atlanta, Ga., a prominent lawyer of the present day, is a grandson of "The old war horse of Troup."
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^Hilton
DR. MILTON ANTHONY, (or Antony as the name is fre- quently spelled), founder of the Medical College in Au- gusta, came from a family which has left a strong im- press upon the State of Georgia. His paternal ancestor was Mark Anthony, who settled in Virginia. One of his descend- ants, Col. William Candler, was the progenitor of the famous Gaudier family of Georgia. Three of the Anthony brothers, Mica] ah, Joseph, and Mark, came to Wilkes county, Ga., after the Revolutionary War, and Dr. Milton Anthony is said to have been a son of Joseph. He was born in 1784, it is uncertain whether in Virginia just before his people came to Georgia, or in Wilkes county, just after they came. His early educational advantages were limited, but he was a lover of learning, acquired such education as was possible in those days, selected the medi- cal profession, and by hard work wrought himself forward to the front rank.
He settled in Augusta, and in 1822 his name headed the list of the members of the medical society of Augusta. In 1825 the Legislature created the State Board of Physicians and made him one of its members. In 1828 the legislature authorized the establishment of a medical academy within the corporate limits of Augusta and made Dr. Anthony one of the trustees. He had already, in connection with Dr. Joseph A. Eve, one of his pupils, a species of medical school conected with the hospital, but was handicapped by the inability to confer degrees. In 1829 the Medical Academy was changed to the Medical Institute of the State of Georgia, and in 1833 to the Medical College of Georgia. Of this institution Dr. Anthony is the founder, and his most strenuous labors were put into getting it on a sound footing, never resting till he had seen a substantial edifice, supplied with library and museum. While he only lived five years after the
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establishment of the college, he had the pleasure of seeing sixty- two physicians graduate in those five years.
In August, 1839, the yellow fever epidemic broke out in Au- gusta. That was its first appearance there. There were no experienced nurses. The faculty had but little experience, and Dr. Anthony did superhuman work in this emergency and so overtaxed his strength that when attacked in turn by the dis- ease, he became an easy victim, and died September 19, 1839. He was buried in the college grounds, with a Latin inscription on the slab covering his remains and a marble memorial tablet placed in the lecture room setting forth his abilities, his labors and his virtues. He was a man of the most exemplary charac- ter, of great ability in his chosen profession, enormous industry, and a patriot of the highest type.
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JSamel tippling.
A1STIEL APPLING, a sterling patriot and gallant soldier, was born in Columbia county, Auugst 29, 1787. An- other authority gives the date of his birth as August 25. His father, John Appling, was a native of Virginia, and on coming to Georgia settled in what was at that time Richmond, now Columbia county. His mother, Rebecca (Carter) Appling, was a daughter of Gen. Langdon Carter, a prominent citizen of Virginia, who became one of the pioneer settlers in Tennessee. John Appling was intimately connected with the Cobbs, Craw- fords, Fews, Candlers, Lamars and Hamilton s, whose descend- ants have so nobly illustrated Georgia in every period of her history. With these men, he soon became prominent in State and county affairs, and was chosen a member of the Convention which met at Louisville, then the capital, in 1795, to amend the constitution of the State. He was also conspicuous in his opposition to the Yazoo Fraud.
Daniel Appling was educated in private schools of Columbia county, which at that time were said to be the best in the State. He finished his education under that eminent, distinguished and eccentric teacher, Dr. Bush, (whose real name was Bushnell), said to be the most classic and scientific teacher of his day, in Georgia. Young Appling received not only a good English education, but obtained a fair knowledge of Greek and Latin.
In 1805, at the age of eighteen, he enlisted in the regular army of the United States and was commissioned lieutenant. For a little while he was a recruiting officer and was then sta- tioned at Fort Hawkins, a fort on the Ocmulgee River opposite the present city of Macon. His commanding officer was Capt. (later General) Thomas A. Smith. In the Indian troubles then prevalent, young Appling distinguished himself. From Fort Hawkins his command was ordered to Point Peter on the St. Mary's River on the southern border. Here on several occa- sions he proved himself an efficient officer and daring soldier.
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His military fame, however, was firmly established by his ex- ploits in the War of 1812, first at the battle of Sandy Creek, near Sackett's Harbor, on Lake Erie, in 1814. History records no exploit that is surpassed by the brilliant achievements of that occasion. Captain Woolsey left the port of Oswego the 28th of May, with eighteen boats loaded with naval stores de- signed for Sackett's Harbor. He was accompanied by Major Appling, with one hundred and thirty of the Eifle Eegiment, and about the same number of friendly Indians. They reached Sandy Creek on the next day, where they were discovered by the British gunboats, and in consequence entered the creek. The riflemen were immediately landed and posted in an ambuscade. The enemy ascended the creek and landed a party, which en- deavored to ascend the bank. The riflempn arose from their concealment, pouring a fire upon them, so that in less than ten minutes the British surrendered, officers and all. Major Ap- pling lost only one man. As spoils he gained three gunboats and several small vessels, fully equipped. For his conduct in this affair, Appling was brevetted lieutenant-colonel, and when Colonel Forsyth was killed, he was transferred to the command of his regiment.
In the attack on Plattsburg, Colonel Appling with his rifle- men and Indians rendered a most important service. The Brit- ish General Prevost, with 14,000 men marched into New York to attack Plattsburg while an English squadron was to at- tack the American squadron on the lake. Fighting was commenced on the lake, the Americans achieving quite a vic- tory. In the meantime, the small land forces held the 14,000 English veterans in check. Prevost, hearing of the naval vic- tory, when the Americans headed by Appling made a deter- mined charge, hastily retired, leaving his sick, wounded, and military stores, and hastened into Canada to prevent his own capture. "Though the panegyric of general orders is some- times liable to suspicion" said a brave comrade of his, "those who know Colonel Appling well see in the commendation be- stowed on him only a just tribute to the merit of a most gallant soldier and honorable man."
DANIEL APPLING 55
When the war ended Appling returned to Georgia, receiving the congratulations of his countrymen. On October 22, 1814, the Georgia Legislature in session passed the following resolu- tion: "While the Legislature of Georgia views with a lively sensation the glorious achievements of the American arms gen- erally, they can not but felicitate themselves particularly on the recollection of the heroic exploits of the brave and gallant Lieut.- Col. Daniel Appling, whom the State is proud to acknowledge her native son, and as a tribute of applause from the State which gave him birth, a tribute due to the luster of his actions, be it unanimously resolved that his Excellency, the Governor, be, and he is hereby requested to have purchased and presented to him. an elegant sword suitable for an officer of his grade."
Before the resolution was carried into effect Colonel Appling died on March 18, 1818. The next legislature resolved, how- ever, to have the sword purchased and deposited in the Execu- tive Chamber, there to be preserved and exhibited as a lasting memorial of Colonel Appling's fame. For more than fifty years' this sword was kept in the Executive Office, first at Mil- ledgeville, and later at Atlanta. In 1880, under Governor McDaniel's administration, the Georgia Legislature by resolu- tion, made the Georgia Historical Society of Savannah the per- manent custodian of the sword. It hangs on the wall of the society library.
On December 15 following Colonel Appling's death in March, 1818, a new county was created in South Georgia and named Appling in his honor. When in 1826 the county seat of his na- tive county was incorporated, it was also called Appling in memory of his distinguished services. There is some uncer- tainty as to the exact date of Colonel Appling's death, the ac- cepted authority being the date given above, and another who wrote in 1829, stating that he died on March 5, 1817. What- ever the correct date, it is certain that he was cut off at about the age of thirty, leaving behind him a brilliant reputation as a soldier and a patriot of the strongest character.
BEBNAED SUTTLEE.
F
OR the last siege of Savannah during the Revolutionary War, a detachment of troops under Colonel Posey was sent from Virginia to Georgia. With these soldiers of the Continental line there marched a young lieutenant who had been with Washington's army during its maneuvers in oSTew Jersey, and in the battles of Monmouth, Trenton, Brandywine and the siege of Charleston. His home was in Albernarle county, Va., and he belonged to "an old and distinguished family famous for sterling virtues and clear heads."
Gov. George R. Gilmer in "Georgians" wrote of them: "The original Meriwether stock must have been struck out from some singular conjunction. Their long intermixture with other fam- ilies has not deprived them of their uniqueness. ]STone ever looked at or talked to a Meriwether but he heard something which made him look or listen again." When John P. Kennedy in "Swallow Barn" depicted with his Irish humor and quaint philosophy the manners and characteristics of early Virginians of James River Valley, it could hardly have been mere chance that caused him to call the typical family Meriwether. There is much in Frank Meriwether, master of "Swallow Barn," with his "fine intellectual brain" and solid worth to suggest salient traits observed by historians and genealogists in the family of "'Clover Field," the old Meriwetlicr manor house in Albemarle county. The family of this name in America all trace their lineage to Nicholas Meriwether, who was born in Wales in 1647, and coming to Virginia married Elizabeth Crawford, daughter of David Crawford, gentleman of Assasquin in Xew Kent county. He acquired great wealth and owned many fine horses, some plate, a great many negroes and several large tracts of land ; one near Charlottesville granted by George II of England contained 17,952 acres, and there is on record in Virginia Land
DAVID MERIWETHER 57
Kegistry office, between the years 1652-64 patents to the extent of 5,250 acres in Westmoreland county. There were numer- ous other grants of later date in ISTew Kent county. Nicholas Meriwether's grandson, Col. James Meriwether, married Judith Burnley; these were the parents of Gen. David Meriwether of Georgia,
The young lieutenant under Washington who marched in 1779 to the siege of Savannah was a fair representative of the old planter class of Virginia, of whom it is said: "In war and in peace they were the peers of the men of any age." The route from Virginia to Savannah lay through the county of Wilkes, and at least one soldier on the inarch noted the fertile lands of this section, a section destined to attract many high- class settlers and to gain historical interest, as "that one corner of Georgia where those who were fighting for the independence of the republic made their last desperate stand." The battle of Kettle Creek was not far removed in time or place.
There are records to show that Wilkes had other allurements for Lieutenant Meriwether than fertile lands. He was taken prisoner at the siege of Savannah and paroled ; while on parole he returned to Wilkes and married Miss Frances Wingfield. After the war was over he came here to settle and was hence- forth identified with the development of his adopted State.
Gen. David Meriwether belonged to that honorable and ines- timable class, the planters of the old South, "the main reliance of leaders in all great movements, those tillers of the fruitful earth, those silent but cheerful contributors to a prosperity that overflowed with pleiitifulness, those who led lives which for all reasonableness in life living, in the accumulation and in the handling of the goods around and within their reach, in their support of benign institutions, in their domestic rule, in their ungrudging, unconstrained hospitality, were never outdone in this world." A writer of State history refers to General Meri- wether as "that sterling Virginia soldier and Georgia states- man." While the modest records of his public services exhibit no brilliant qualities as orator or politician, during the forma-
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tive period of Georgia history, the talents and influence of his fine mind and character were often called into requisition. Without ambition of place, he stood for "freedom, good govern- ment, good education, prudence and economy in public office, and the best welfare of all."
Education was the most important interest to Georgians after the conflict of the Revolution, for they were a people who cherished above worldly possessions the higher attributes of mind and character.
David Meriwether settled in Wilkes county in 1785, two years after the town of Washington was laid out. In June of that year commissioners met for founding the old academy on fiercer Hill; they were Stephen Heard, Zachariah Larnar, Micajah Williamson and Gen. George Matthews. David Meri- wether became a member of this board of trustees, and soon after the building of the academy was begun, he applied to Sena- tus Acadimicus of the University of Georgia assembled at Louis- ville, Ga., July, 1797, to locate the University at Washington, offering funds and buildings. But the offer was rejected. Ten years before the founding of Athens General ]\Ieriwether gave land for the first Methodist school in Georgia. This was Suc- coth Academy, near Coke's Chapel in Wilkes, and was under the management of Reverend John Springer, a highly educated Presbyterian minister, and Rev. Hope Hull, the gifted pioneer Methodist who married Ann Wingfield, sister of General Meri- wether's wife. Succoth Academy became a classical school of repute. Here the famous Jesse Mercer pursued his studies. John Forsyth and William H. Crawford, General Meriwether's young Virginia kinsman, who became Georgia's greatest states- man, were enrolled among the pupils. It was probably due to the influence of Hope Hull that in 1788 General Meri wether made public profession of religion, and joined the Methodist Society in Wilkes. He was a man of prominence when the Methodists were very humble, and although wealthy when the Methodists were very poor, he was always a bold, simple hearted member of the church. As a Christian he was useful and
DAVID MERIWETHER 59
frequently applied to for counsel by his junior brethren. His house was a house of prayer. He was not like some great men, ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
Daniel Grant, the staunch Methodist and builder of the first church of this denomination in Georgia, was a neighbor and friend of General Meriwether. Moved by the influence of Bishop Asbury, Daniel Grant was the first man in the State, from conscientious motives, to free his slaves. His will, which is curious reading at this day, was signed July 4, 1793, and General Meriwether was one of the executors. A few years later when member of the Legislature from Wilkes, David Meri- wether caused enactment of laws legalizing the terms of Grant's will for manumitting slaves.
Prior to 1788 the name of David Meriwether appeared on jury lists of Wilkes. Among family papers there is a receipt from the "Cheque-office" of Wilkes, showing him collector of taxes for the year 1794. There is also preserved his commission as lieutenant under Washington, dated "15th day of May, 1779, in the fourth year of our independence." Also the commission given by Governor Jared Irvin, as brigadier-general of the Third Division of the State Militia, dated Louisville, 21st of September, 1797. He represented Wilkes in the Legislature for several years and his name appears in "Marbury and Craw- ford's Digest of Georgia Laws" as Speaker of the House dur- ing 1797-1800.
In 1802 he was elected Congressman from Georgia with Peter Early, Samuel Hammond and John Milledge. He served on Ways and Means Committee in 1804. Gen. James Jackson, then Senator from Georgia, writing to Gov. John Mil- ledge mentioned General Meriwether as a sterling fellow, and this was his legislative character, justifying the motto of the family Coat of Arms, — "Vi et consilio."
In politics General Meriwether naturally belonged to the Crawford party in Georgia. While in the United States Con- gress he was a witness and participant in the memorable strug- gle between Jefferson and Burr, being a warm supporter of the
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former. There was personal friendship as well as political affiliation between General Meriwether and Jefferson. Presi- dent Jefferson had been a plantation neighbor of the Meri- wethers in Virginia, and employed as his private secretary a young cousin of the general, who, as a boy (in 1788) had lived in Wilkes county, and afterwards led the Lewis-Clark expedition across the continent. Mr. David Meriwether, of Jackson, Tenn., a great-grandson, has inherited the watch given as a token of esteem by Jefferson to General Meriwether.
His probity, fidelity and sound judgment made David Meri- wether valued by State and general government for filling places of public trust. He was presidential elector in 1817 and 1821, and wras repeatedly employed as United States Commissioner for treating with Indians. He was associated with General Jack- son and Governor McMinn, of Tennessee, in concluding a treaty with the Cherokees by which a large portion of the terri- tory west of the Appalachee was ceded to the United States. In connection with Daniel M. Forney, of ^orth Carolina, he made a treaty with the Creeks ; and having much to do with the tribes in Georgia secured their confidence to an extent equal to any public man in his day. A copy of the treaty by Meriwether and Forney, among others relating to Indian affairs, is preserved in a collection of family papers.
General Meriwether served in Congress from 1802-1807, and at the expiration of his term returned to his plantation home six miles from Athens, Ga. This year his son James graduated with first honor at the University ; he became a lawyer and member of Congress, trustee of the University and United States Commissioner to the Cherokee Indians. The following year another son, William, graduated with first honor ; he be- en me a physician and was surgeon in the United States army during the War of 1812. General Meriwether had seven sons and one daughter and not one discredited his name.
There is among family papers a letter of several pages writ- ten in fine, scholarly hand by Colonel Benjamin Hawkins to General Meriwether, dated "Creek Agency, 18th April, 1S07,"
DAVID MERIWETHER 61
and beginning as follows : "As you are authorized by the Sec- retary of War and Postmaster-General to carry the second act of the convention at Washington with the Creeks into effect, I wish to communicate to you what has been done here," etc. This related to the establishment of a post route from the city of Washington through the Creek nation to New Orleans, and shows General Meriwether's active interest in internal improve- ments of the day. It was over this post road that seven years later Sam Dale rode express from, the Creek Agency carrying government dispatches to General Jackson, reaching him on the eve of the glorious victory on the Plains of Chalmette. Gen- eral Meriwether's connection with Indian affairs continued through 1820, when with General David Adams and John Mc- Intosh he was appointed by the General Assembly of the State to hold a treaty with the Creek Indians. Among the Meri- wether papers is a letter from General Adams approving of Dr. William Meriwether as Secretary of the Commission and of Mineral Springs on the Indian side of the Ocmulgee River as a proper place for holding the meeting. The treaty being suc- cessfully concluded, Dr. Meriwether, secretary, rode express to Washington City and delivered the papers to government au- thorities. This treaty procured the cession of land from the Creeks which lies between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers, and was General Meriwether's last important act of public service.
Meriwether County, laid out in 1828, was named for him.
Since 1804 General Meriwether's home had been on his plan- tation near Athens. That it was a home of substantial comfort, open hospitality and Christian refinement we can not doubt. It was headquarters for the Methodist itinerant and here bishops and statesmen were entertained. Proximity to a center of cul- ture and connection by consanguinity with the Hulls, Cobbs, Crawfords and other prominent families of the State made social life distinguished and delightful. At this home General Meriwether died in 1823, and was there buried. After his "toils and sacrifices as a faithful soldier of the \7irginia line throughout the Revolutionary War, as pioneer settler of Georgia
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and upbuildcr of this State, he sleeps in a forgotten and un- marked grave, — as do many planters of the Old South, as vir- tuous and honored in their day." Of such it has been truly said: "They grew old, died and were buried in family grave- yards, wherein seldom even a carved stone was set to mark the place of their graves. Great public actions done by the most distinguished were put upon official records, but no more. ^ They coveted for their own names no mention on historic pages. The immortality they hoped for, besides being unforgotten of their nearest and dearest was that on that Great Day in the Hereafter when final judgment of human actions shall be an- nounced, theirs would be that their gifts had been employed in habitual loyalties to what was just and honorable and charitable. Humblv trusting; that such would be their award, when their
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hour drew near, without complaint they 'looked around and chose their ground and took their rest.' :
MRS. HOWARD MERI WETHER LOVETT.
fames gL Jlerttoetfjer.
JUDGE JAMES A. MERIWETHER, of Eatonton, ranked high among the Whig leaders of the State for the most of his active years. He was a native Georgian, descended from one of the Virginians who came into the State after the Revolution. Receiving a good education, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in due course became a loyal leader among the Whigs and was sent to the Legislature, in which he served several terms and became Speaker of the House. He was promoted to be Judge of the Superior Court of his district and elected as a Whig representative from Georgia to the Twenty-seventh Congress. He served his term from May 31, 1841, to March 3, 1843. After his return to Georgia he was again sent to the Legislature as a representative of Putnam county, elected Speaker of the House, and died while holding that position. In the "Life and Times of Joseph E. Brown," this estimate was made of him in 1857 by Governor Brown:
t/
"James A. Meriwether, another Whig leader, has also lately gone, of whose mental powers a higher estimate is due than many of his associates and friends were willing to award him." Judge Meriwether was a lawyer of fine attainments, a sound jurist, a strong judge, of excellent personal character, and no man during his life was more highly esteemed by those who had the pleasure of his acquaintance, while the Whig party in Georgia regarded him as one of their soundest and safest leaders.
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fames
CIIAELES JAMES McDOJSTALD, the nineteenth gover- nor of Georgia, who held that office from 1839 to 1843, was a native of South Carolina, born at Charleston on July 9, 1793. His parents moved to Hancock county, Ga., when he was a boy and his early educational training was re- ceived at the hands of the Rev. ISTathan S. S. Beman, one of the famous teachers of that day. He then entered the South Caro- lina College, at Columbia, and was graduated in 1816. Leav- ing college, he entered the law office of Joel Crawford, and after a year of study under that eminent lawyer was admitted to the bar, in 1817. Governor McDonald's abilities were of such a pronounced order that in 1822, after five years at the bar, he was made Solicitor-General of the Flint circuit, and in 1825 be- came the judge of that circuit. Like many men of his day he had taken an active part in the State militia, and in 1823 had been elected to the post of Brigadier-General. As judge of the Flint circuit, his prudence and firmness were often called into play, as he presided over the frontier district in which there was naturally a lawless element. He was a member of the lower house of the General Assembly in 1830. In 1834 he was elected to the State Senate and again in 1837. His pre- vious career at the bar and on the bench gave him prestige in the General Assembly, and he took high rank in that body. Indeed, he had, acquired such prominence that in 1839 he was elected to succeed Governor Gilmer as Governor of Georgia.
He came into office under trying circumstances. The State treasury was empty. The evil effects of the great panic of 1837 were still pressing upon the people like a nightmare. The great work of building the Western and Atlantic Railroad was languishing. The public debt had been increased to one million dollars, — an enormous sum! in those days. Worst of all, the
CHARLES JAMES McDONALD 65
State credit was at a low ebb, because of the protest of an obli- gation of three hundred thousand dollars which had been con-
O
tracted by the Central Bank under authority of the General Assembly. Commerce and business generally were paralyzed. A preceding act of unwisdom was largely responsible for the evil condition of the State's finances. In 1837 the Legislature had passed an act allowing the counties of the State to retain the general tax, the same to be applied by the inferior courts to county purposes. As might have been expected, the counties frittered away the money. The bank was nearly destroyed by placing upon it a burden which did not belong to it, and the State was left without resource or credit.
Governor McDonald had inherited from his Scotch ancestors a hard head and sound judgment. IsTever did he need his in- herent qualities more than he did in the situation which then confronted him. He first recommended that the State resume the entire amount of State tax which had been given to the counties with but little benefit to them and greatly to the in- jury of the State. This recommendation prevailed, and a law was enacted ordering the State tax turned into the State treasury. Almost immediately following this necessary action^ in 18-41 the Legislature passed an act reducing the taxes of the State twenty per cent. This act Governor McDonald promptly vetoed, with an argument brief and pointed and a statement of the conditions which made his veto message unanswerable. He had been reelected in 18-il, and on November 8, 1842, in his annual message urging upon the Legislature the only effective remedy for relieving the State from its difficulties, he used these words : ''The difficulty should be met at once. Had there been no Central Bank the expense of the government must have been met by taxation. These expenses having been paid by the Cen- tral Bank, they become a legitimate charge upon taxation. This must be the resort, or the government is inevitably dishonored. The public faith must be maintained, and to pause to discuss the question of preferences between taxation and dishonor would be to cause a reflection upon the character of the people whose 5
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servants we are." The issue was joined. The Legislature had rejected a measure calling for additional taxation to meet these just claims. The session was near its close. It was evident that unless some drastic action was taken the Legislature would adjourn, leaving an obligation of one hundred and ten thousand dollars unprovided for. Governor McDonald acted with firm- ness and promptness. He shut the doors of the treasury in the face of the members of the General Assembly. Great excite- ment followed. The members of the Legislature denounced him as a tyrant worse than Andrew Jackson, who had proceeded beyond all reasonable limits. Even his political friends, alarmed at the storm that had been raised, urged him to recede from his position and rescind his order to the Treasurer. He resolutely refused. As a result, the necessary bill was finally passed and at the next session he was able to report an improved condition of the finances and a revival of confidence in the Central Bank.
It was without doubt a most fortunate thing for Georgia that at that critical period in the affairs of the State a man of Governor McDonald's firmness, prudence and business sagacity was put at the head of her affairs.
A strong advocate of popular education he used these words in addressing the Legislature: "The first thing to be regarded in a republic is the virtue of the people. The second, their in- telligence, and both are essential to the maintenance of our free institutions. The first inspires them with a disposition to do right. The second arms them with power to resist wrong."
During his term of office, in August, 1840, a party of In- dians from. Florida made a raid into the counties of Camden and Ware, murdering and plundering. Governor McDonald promptly informed the Secretary of War and without waiting on the action of the Federal government took effective measures for the security of the people. Later he presented the claims of Georgia for expenditure incurred in this matter to the general government, and their justice being recognized the State was reimbursed.
CHARLES JAMES McDONALD 67
Governor McDonald was a strict constructionist of the Fed- eral Constitution. He always held to the position that the Federal and State governments were distinct powers, each sov- ereign in its own sphere, and neither had a right to interfere in the affairs of the other when acting within constitutional limita- tions. In every question of disputed authority, therefore, he fell back upon the Constitution itself and made that the final arbiter. Ever ready to maintain the rights of his State, he was always ready to concede to the general government everything granted under the Constitution. During his term he had occa- sion to make some very sharp criticisms on resolutions passed by an anti-slavery convention in London, and on the action of the Governor of New York in refusing to deliver up a fugitive slave, and in his correspondence with Governor Seward he made a most masterly exposition of the constitutional question.
In 1850 he was defeated for Governor by Howell Cobb, and in that same year was a delegate to the Nashville States-rights Convention. Tehre he took high ground in regard to southern rights and held that the people of these States had a right to move with their property into the territory newly acquired from Mexico and advocated the adoption of the Missouri Com- promise recommended by the Nashville Convention. In the controversy raging at that time over this matter, he said : "If the Constitution of the Union were administered according to its letter and spirit, the South would not complain." In 1855, Governor McDonald was appointed a member of the Supreme Court of Georgia, and held that position until 1859. He died at his home in Marietta on December 16, 1860, in the sixty- eighth year of his age.
As a judge, he was rigidly just and a most capable inter- preter of the law; in personal life, a man of stern integrity, yet with much benevolence of heart. Of methodical, untiring industry, calm judgment, urbane manners, and absolute fidelity to every trust, he enjoyed universal respect and esteem from the people of Georgia. On occasions when political deals were suggested to him, the rewards of which would have been per-
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sonal preferment, his invariable answer was: "I have never bargained for any office, and if I do not receive it without con- ditions, I shall never reach it." In the line of distinguished men who have filled the office of Governor of Georgia, it is simple justice to say that not one served more capably, more acceptably or more effectively than Governor McDonald.
In 1819, he was married to Anne Franklin, the daughter of Dr. Franklin, of Macon, Ga. Of this marriage, there were four children. Subsequent to the death of his wife, he married, in 1839, Mrs. Ruffin, of \7irginia, who was the widowed daughter of Judge Spencer Roane, of Virginia. There wras no issue of this marriage.
In the present generation, several of the descendants of Gov- ernor McDonald have reached distinction in their chosen pro- fession, among whom may be mentioned Judge Spencer R. Atkinson, — now a prominent lawyer and a former judge of the Superior and Supreme Courts of Georgia ; Judge Samuel C. Atkinson, — who is at present judge of the Supreme Court of Georgia ; Hon. Harry F. Dunwoody, a prominent lawyer of the State, who resides at Brunswick, Ga., and who was a former State Senator; Hon. Alex. A. Lawrence, a leading lawyer, who resides at Savannah, Ga., and who is at present a Representa- tive in the General Assembly from the county of Chatham. The first three mentioned are grandsons, and the latter a great- grandson, of Governor McDonald.
SPENCER R. ATKINSON".
3Fame£
THE McINTOSH CLAN headed by its chief, John Moore Mclntosh, came to Georgia with General Oglethorpe. From that time to the present, in peace and war, the Mclntosh family has been one of the most notable in the State, and in every war waged by our country, both in the army and navy, they have served as gallant soldiers and sailors. Col. John S. Mclntosh, fourth son of Col. John Mclntosh, one of the Revolutionary officers of the family, was born in Liberty county, the seat of the Mclntosh family, June 19, 1787. He inherited the military tastes of the family, and when the War of 1812 broke out, entered the army as a lieu- tenant and was attached to a rifle regiment in which he saw hard service on the northern frontier and in Canada. In May, 1814, a detachment of his regiment, under command of Major Daniel Appling, another Georgian, was detailed as a guard for a number of supply boats, under command of Captain Woolsey, of the navy, which were going from Oswego to supply certain new vessels of war then being built at Sack- ett's Harbor. After leaving Oswego they entered Sandy Creek with the intention of landing the supplies, which were then to be conveyed overland to Sackett's Harbor. Sir James Yeo, the British commander of the lake fleet, dispatched sev- eral gunboats and cutters to capture these stores and the escort. The British entered the creek and disembarked a body of marines and sailors to carry out the orders of their com- mander. Major Appling's small detachment of riflemen, learn- ing of the approach of the enemy, concealed themselves in the woods, and as soon as they were sufficiently near poured into them such a deadly fire that in a few minutes the whole were killed, wounded or prisoners, not a man escaped, nor a gunboat. This complete defeat led the British commander to raise the
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blockade. Major Appling won great recognition for his con- duct in this matter, and the Legislature of Georgia compli- mlented Lieutenant Mclntosh with a sword. In another com- li;it with the enemy at Buffalo, he received a severe wound. On his recovery he married a New York lady and rejoined the army, becoming an officer in the regulars. At the close of that war he was employed in different sections, served with General Jackson throughout the Indian War, and for a considerable time commanded the post at Tampa, Fla. He was transferred from there to Mobile, and later to the command of Fort Mitchell in Georgia during the exciting controversy with the Federal government. This was a situation of great delicacy for a na- tive Georgian, but he contrived to obey his orders without giving offense to his native State. He was then sent west of the Mississippi River and stationed for a time at Fort Gibson, Ark., then transferred to Prairie DuChien, Wis. He was then in command of Fort Winnebago, Wis., Fort Gratiot, Mich., and finally, Detroit, Mich., from which place he was ordered to Texas in anticipation of trouble with Mexico. He arrived at Corpus Christi in October, 1845, and reported to General Tay- lor. By this time he had risen to the rank of a Colonel in the regular army, and on the advance to the Rio Grande was in command of a brigade. At the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, on the 8th and 9th of May, 1846, he distinguished himself, receiving in the first-named battle at the head of one regiment a charge of fifteen hundred lancers, and repulsing them with great slaughter. In the next day's battle the struggle was more desperate, and in charging the Mexican lines, his horse was killed in the chapparal, and a number of ambushed Mexicans sprang upon him. He was pinned to the ground with bayonets, one going through and breaking his left arm, and another thrusting him in the mouth, the bayonet passing through his neck and coming out behind the ear. Leaving him for dead the Mexicans ran. Dragging himself forward in this dreadful condition, he met Captain Duncan, of the artillery, who not noticing his ghastly wounds at first glance, asked him
JAMES SIMMONS McINTOSH 71
for support. The Colonel replied with great difficulty that he would give him the support, and asked for some water. Ex- hausted from loss of blood, he soon fell. At first his recovery looked hopeless, but they sent him for a brief stay in Georgia and a few months with his children in iSTew York, and though yet feeble he applied for service in the war still raging in Mex- ico. On his way back to the seat of war, he visited Savannah, where his fellow-citizens presented him with a handsome sword. Arriving at Vera Cruz he was placed in command of a baggage train, with a large amount of money to pay the army, and started for the city of Mexico. Attacked by guerrillas, he held his ground until reinforced by General Cadwallader, from Vera Cruz. After a tedious march with many skirmishes he reached the headquarters of the army and assumed command of the Fifth Infantry, a regiment which loved him as a father. He led his regiment in the battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, and at the murderous combat of Molino del Rey, in which last strug- gle he was mortally wounded while at the head of his regiment. He survived his wounds several weeks and died in the city of Mexico, deeply regretted. The commanding general of division in the hard- fought battle in which Colonel Mclntosh fell, said : "In my official reports, it has been among my most pleasing and grateful duties to do full justice to an officer and soldier, than whom none, not one, is left of higher gallantly or patriotism. He died as he lived, the true-hearted friend, the courteous gen- tleman, the gallant soldier and patriot." The Legislature of Georgia ordered his remains removed from Mexico to his native State, and the citizens of Savannah followed them to their last resting place in the tomb of his venerated kinsman, Major- General Lachlan Mclntosh, on March IS, 1848. Colonel Mc- lntosh was a soldierly man of middle size, strong and active, of fair complexion, quick of temper, taciturn with strangers, kind and cheerful with his friends.
Of his sixty years of life, thirty-five were given to the military service of his country. He left four sons and one daughter. One of his sons, James McQueen Mclntosh, was a captain in
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the regular army at the beginning of the Civil War. He re- Hirnril his cuiiiiiiis>i(in, !rii<]<T<'<] his services to the ( !onfederacy, was commissioned brigadier-general, and fell at the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., in 1802, while gallantly leading his brigade. Another son, John Baillie Mclntosh, entered the old navy, served a few years and resigned. In 1861 he went with the Union, served during the entire war with distinction, rising to the rank of brigade commander. Remained in regular army after the war, and retired in 1870 with rank of brigadier-general.
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OTtUtam
GENERAL WILLIAM McIXTOSH, a half-breed of the Muscogee or Creek Indian nation, and a member of the Coweta tribe of that nation, was a son of Captain Wil- liam Mclntosh, a Scotchman who spent years of his life on the western frontier of Georgia. A sister of Captain William Mc- Intosh married the father of Governor George M. Troup, so that Governor Troup was a first cousin of the celebrated Indian chief. The mother of William Mclntosh was an Indian woman of un- mixed blood. He was born about 1780. Of his early life little is known beyond the fact that he was a tall, well-formed, hand- some man, of graceful manners, intelligent and brave. He had acquired a moderate education and by constant intercourse with the whites became a polished man. He steadily gained influ- ence in his tribe and cultivated friendship with the neighboring whites until the outbreak of the War of 1812, by which time he was the principal man in his section of the Creek nation. When the War of 1812 broke out and the majority of the Creek nation was influenced to take sides with the British, Mclntosh threw in his lot with the Americans and became next in rank to Colonel Benjamin Hawkins in organizing a regiment of friendly Creeks. He served under General Floyd at the Battle of Autos- see and under General Jackson at the battle of the Horseshoe. In both of these engagements he distinguished himself, and in the Florida campaign was credited with numerous acts of gal- lantry. In that campaign he led two thousand warriors. So great were his services to the Americans that finally he was rewarded with the rank of brigadier-general and came to be the recognized chief of the Cowetas. He was a lifetime friend of his cousin, Governor Troup, and cooperated with him in the efforts to secure from the Creeks the cession of their lands and their consent to remove to the West. There were long years
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of trouble and strife on the borders of Georgia and Alabama between the Indians and whites, and in February, 1825, there was a great meeting of the chiefs at Indian Springs, Ga., for the purpose of negotiating with the whites a new treaty. By this time Mclntosh had incurred the bitter hostility of the con- servative element in the Creek nation, but believing that he was acting in the best interests of his people, he went ahead with the negotiations, and on the twelfth of February the Mclntosh party signed the treaty with the commissioners. This treaty was ratified at Washington, March 3, 1825. When it was known that the treaty was ratified, there was an immense excitement among the Indians. Mclntosh with other chiefs went to Mil- ledgeville, interviewed Governor Troup, expressed their fears of hostility from the other faction of the tribe, and craved protec- tion. That protection was promised, but it must be confessed was not given.
On the 29th of April, 1825, a party of Indians from Ocfuskee and Tookabatcha, two Creek towns, variously estimated at from 170 to 400, after a hurried march, attacked General Mclntosh at his home. Upon the discovery of the assailants, General Mclntosh barricaded his door, and when it was forced met them courageously with his gun. There was with him in the house at the time Etomme Tustenugee, his son-in-law Hawkins, his son, Chilly Mclntosh, and a peddler. Tustenugee fell at the first discharge after the door was forced. Mclntosh retreated to the second story and with four guns under his hands fought with great courage. The Indians set fire to the house and he came down to the first floor. Wounded in many places, he was dragged out in the yard, but to the very last he raised himself on one arm and looked defiance at his murderers. An Ocfuskee Indian then stabbed him to the heart, and after destroying the house and much other property, the Indians departed. His son-in-law Hawkins also was slain, his son Chilly Mclntosh escaped, while the peddler and women were spared.
William Mclntosh was a man of very considerable ability, sound judgment, much more far-seeing than the other Indian
WILLIAM McINTOSH 75
chiefs with whom he was associated. He tried to serve his nation faithfully. It was his misfortune to be at the head of a turbulent people who could not understand the strength of that white movement which was pressing forward from the east. Mclntosh was a devoted friend of the American people, and at every period of his life rendered them such service as his opportunity and strength permitted.
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Hobicfe
REV. LOVICK PIERCE, the great father of a great son, is perhaps the most historic character in Georgia Meth- odism. He was a native of North Carolina, bom in Halifax, March IT, 1785. He lived until November 9, 1879, when he died at Sparta, Ga., in his ninety-fifth year. Nearly seventy-five years of that period was spent in the Methodist ministry. In his early youth his people moved to Barnwell county, S. C. His educational advantages were limited to six months schooling at the "old-field" schools of his day. Coming under religious convictions as a youth just about grown, in January, 1805, then not quite twenty years old, he with his brother Reddick, then twenty-two years old, applied for ad- mission to the South Carolina Conference of the Methodist church, which met at Charleston in that year. Both were admitted. Never was there a greater contrast between two brothers — Reddick, strong of frame, vigorous of mind, and rugged in every sense of the word, while Lovick was shrinking, sensitive and timid. Reddick's life work as a preacher was mainly in South Carolina, and many people acquainted with him regarded him as quite the equal of his more famous brother. The South Carolina conference then comprised part of North Carolina, all of South Carolina, and so much of Georgia as was then settled.
Young Pierce was sent to the Appalachee circuit with Joseph Tarpley as an associate, the custom of that day being to send two preachers to a circuit, in order that the younger man might have the benefit of the older's experience and counsel. This first circuit comprised what is now the counties of Greene, Clarke and Jackson. While the majority of the people in his circuit were rude and unlettered, there was yet a percentage of the most prominent men of the State and highly cultured
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LOVICK PIERCE 77
men and women. Notwithstanding his limited education and the few books at his command, the Bible being his chief reli- ance, the untutored but gifted boy at once made an impression upon the most cultivated people of his circuit, and gained in his first year a reputation which steadily grew during life. The old veteran of Georgia Methodism, Hope Hull, met him, took him to his heart, and twelve years later Lovick Pierce preached the funeral sermon of the valiant old pioneer preacher. In 1809 he moved and settled in Greene county, Ga. In those four years he had achieved remarkable reputation. He had served one year at Columbia, S. C., one year at Augusta, Ga., and was presiding elder of the Oconee district at the time of his removal and settlement in Greene county.
About 1810 he married Ann Foster, a daughter of Colonel George Foster, who had lately come from Prince Edward county, Va. She was a sister of Thomas Foster, a prominent lawyer, Congressman and judge of that day. In 1812 Mr. Pierce served as chaplain in the army. It is probable that he acquired some little property by his marriage. Having become uneasy about his physical condition, he went to Philadelphia, studied medicine, and in Methodist parlance "located." In the meantime, in 1812, he had served as a delegate to the general conference of his church, then only twenty-seven years of age and but seven years in the conference. This was a remarkable promotion. On February 3, 1811, was born George Foster Pierce, perhaps the greatest orator Southern Methodism has ever produced, and for many years one of its leading bishops. While practicing medicine, Dr. Pierce preached regularly as a local preacher, and after a few years finding his health stronger went back into the itinerant ministry. At the formation of
ts
the Georgia conference in 1830 he was active in its first session, which met at Macon on January 5, 1831, and had the pleasure the next year, 1832, of seeing his son George, then fresh from college, admitted to the ranks as an itinerant preacher. The record shows that Dr. Pierce filled every class of appointment, circuits, stations and district. In the general conferences of
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1836, 1840 and 1844, he was a prominent delegate, and in 1844 when the division in the church occurred, both he and his son were delegates, and George Pierce at that conference made a profound impression as an orator and debater, which gave him a national reputation. When the Methodists in Georgia decided to establish the Wrslryan Female College, the first college espe- cially designed for women in the world, George Pierce was put at the head of it, and Dr. Lovick Pierce assisted in securing the money for its establishment, acting as financial agent. After the division of the church in 1S44, and the establishment of the Southern Methodist church, Dr. Pierce continued to be the leader of the Georgia conference, and for the last thirty years of his life was the jSTestor of Southern Methodism. At the general conference held in Louisville in 1874 he had the great pleasure of seeing present as co-delegates with himself his son and grandson.
It is exceedingly unfortunate that a mass of matter which he had accumulated and had in manuscript form, bearing upon the history of the church in his time and to a certain extent being an autobiography, was destroyed by fire, and this loss was irrep- arable, as even his own son could not furnish the data necessary to fill out the gaps. In 1878, just one year before his death, he published a volume of theological essays. Dr. Pierce was de- scribed as a very handsome man, always neat in appearance, sparely built, black hair, hazel eyes, and weighing about one hundred and forty-five pounds. He was the last survivor of his generation and in his latter years was loved and honored by a constituency as wide as the Southern States. While an eloquent orator, he was not in this respect counted the equal of his son, the Bishop, but it is said that as an expository preacher he had no superior, that he was a most effective and moving speaker, whose work was always crowned with great results. He died while his son, the Bishop, was attending conference in Arkansas, and just before his death, he sent this message to the confer- ence: "Tell the brethren I am lying just outside the gates of Heaven." His death was as peaceful as the falling on sleep of an infant. A. B. CALDWELL.
(Mfaer
OLIVER H. PRINCE, lawyer, United States Senator, literary man and industrial promoter, one of the bril- liant figures of Georgia in the first half of the nineteenth century, was born in Connecticut about 1787. On his mother's side he was descended from the Hillhouse family, long a leading one in Connecticut. His grandfather, William Hillhouse, served fifty years in the General Assembly of Connecticut, both in the colonial times and after it was a State. He was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for forty years, and a delegate from Connecticut to the Continental Congress from 1783 to 1786, and died in 1816, aged eighty-eight. His uncle, James Hillhouse, son of William, born 175-4, was a lawyer and served in the Second and Third Congresses as a Federalist, succeeded Oliver Ellsworth in the United States Senate, serving from 1796 until 1810, member of the Hartford Convention, commissioner of the school fund from 1810 to 1825, and treasurer of Yale College from 1782 to 1832, a period of fifty years. David Hillhouse, a brother of the Senator, made Georgia his home, and it was through him that 0. H. Prince came to the State in his youth. A brilliant young man, he was ready for admission to the bar before he was of age, and was admitted by special act of the Legislature in 1S06. He gained reputation almost from the start and sustained himself with great ability for thirty years. On the resignation of Thomas W. Cobb from the United States Senate in 1828 Mr. Prince was elected to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term. The contest was very close and he won only by one vote. He married a Miss Norman, whose sister became Mrs. Washington Poe, of Macon. But one child survived him, Mrs. James Mercer Green. His only son, wrho bore his father's name and inherited his intellect, was afflicted with ill health and died suddenly after arriving at manhood. He had his father's
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strong sense of humor and kindliness. This son left several chil- dren. A daughter of O. H. Prince married James Roswell King. She died comparatively young. James W. King, of Roswell, was her son.
In 1822 Mr. Prince published a Digest of the Laws of Geor- gia, and in 1827 a second publication of the same. In 1837 his Digest had then been in use for fifteen years, and it was time for a new edition. It had been accepted by the Legislature, and Mr. Prince went north with his wife to supervise the publica- tion, lie took the steamship '"Home" from ITew York to Charleston, the first passenger steamer on that route, and this being its second trip. The "Home" was wrecked, October 9, 1837, in a storm near Ocracoke Bar, ]ST. C. Of ninety passen- gers on board only twenty were saved, and among the lost were Mr. Prince and his wife. Fortunately, the publication of the Digest was already assured, and it served the legal profession up to 1851, when it was superseded by the Digest of Thomas R. R. Cobb.
In addition to being both a brilliant and strong lawyer, Mr. Prince was a man of fine literary taste, the author of many humorous sketches, one of which, an account of a militia drill in Georgia, having been translated in several languages, and later reproduced in Judge Longstreet's famous book entitled "Georgia Scenes." Mr. Prince presided at the first Convention called in the State of Georgia for the purpose of promoting rail- road building, and took an active interest in that movement, which in the fifteen years succeeding his death resulted in secur- ing three great railway lines for Georgia.
His sense of humor is said by his contemporaries to have been coupled with great kindness of heart, which made him not only a delightful companion, but a most popular man. His character was most exemplary and his untimely death was greatly mourned by his contemporaries.
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JXtdjarb
DR. RICHAKD BA^KS, one of the most shining orna- ments of the medical profession in this State since its organization, was a native Georgian, born in Elbert county in 1784. After obtaining the rudiments of education, he entered the State University, taking a classical course, gradu- ating in the same class with the famous Chief Justice Joseph Henry Lumpkin. Later he decided to study medicine and en- tered the University of Pennsylvania, where, after a two years' course he was graduated with the degree of M.D., in 1820. He then spent one year in the hospital work, and returning to Geor- gia established himself in practice in the village of Ruckersville in his native county. It would be considered remarkable in the present time that a man of Dr. Banks's abilities should have chosen such a location, but in those days when railroads were not, it was not so material a matter.
A man of profound modesty, detesting notoriety, and a hater of the methods of the charlatan, he would not even allow his friends to make publication of his wonderful cures. In spite of this, his fame spread rapidly and widely, and people within one hundred miles would have no other doctor if they could get Dr. Banks. All over upper Georgia and South Carolina his reputation extended. Considering the time in which he lived, his skill as a surgeon was remarkable, and some of the cures which he effected and operations which he performed with the limited facilities then at hand, the use of anesthetics being- then unknown, would do credit to the best practitioners of the present time. On one occasion when he had performed a very remarkable operation and his friend, Dr. Spalding, wrote a re- port of the case for a medical journal and submitted it to Dr. Banks, he refused to consent to its publication. In cases brought to him, where the implements then in use or accessible were not 6
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adequate to the emergency, such was his skill that he devised and had made others that suited the case. One of his earlier tri- umphs was the successful removal of the parotid gland at a time when the best anatomists and surgeons were hotly discussing the question of its possibility. He performed an enormous num- ber of operations for cataract and for stone in the bladder, for many years being the only surgeon in a vast expanse of country who would attempt these, and his percentage of recoveries was very great. Some years before his death he stated to a friend that in sixty-four lithotomy operations there had been but two unsuccessful cases, and there were probably other operations after the statement was made.
Space does not permit explanation of his methods, but they were very original and very successful. He did not seem to attach any great importance to his methods or even to compre- hend the importance of what he was doing. It was all in the day's work of the faithful physician.
In 1832 he moved to Gainesville, in Hall county, where he resided until his death in 1850. This town was within a few miles of the Cherokee Indians at the time of his removal there, and the Federal government employed Dr. Banks to visit the Indians and see if he could alleviate the ravages of smallpox. He performed this duty, vaccinated many of them, and treated many, and greatly amazed the Indians by restoring to sight a number of them who had been blind for years. It is pleasant to know that his practice brought him in such an income that he acquired a competency and was enabled to rear his family in easy circumstances.
In honor of his memory, the General Assembly of Georgia in 1858 organized the county of Banks.
A. B. CALDWELL.
iUtUtam
DR. WILLIAM BARKETT was a son of Xat Barnett, who came from Amherst county, Va., to Georgia in the Revo- lutionary period, and he was kin to the Crawford family which cut such a large figure in Georgia history. William Bar- nett and his brother Joel were both gallant soldiers of the Revo- lutionary struggle, both being then young men. He married Mary Meriwether, a daughter of Frank Meriwether, also Vir- ginians, and located first in Columbia county, but later settled in Elbert. The opening of a new country is always a cause of much sickness, and when that is combined with a mild climate, the sickness is increased. There was in that early time a great demand for doctors, and with some natural aptitude for the pro- fession, Dr. Barnett took up the practice of medicine. He was of kindly temperament, very agreeable in his manners, and plausible in speech. Of limited education, he was yet a close observer and quick of perception. Though there was much need for doctors, there were many in that pioneer day unable to pay for their services, and Dr. Barnett gave his services freely to the poor, without regard as to whether they were able to pay him or not. He became, as a result of his personal popularity, sheriff of his county. He was then sent to the General Assembly for a number of years and became president of the Senate. In 1812, when the elder Howell Cobb, then a member of the Twelfth Con- gress, resigned to take up active service in the army, Dr. Barnett was a candidate to fill out Mr. Cobb's unexpired term. His opponent was the celebrated John Forsyth, one of the great men of Georgia history, and whose reputation was afterwards national and international. Dr. Barnett ran as a States-rights Democrat, and an evidence of his popularity is to be found in the fact that he beat Forsyth in that campaign. He was reelected to the Thirteenth Congress, which carried his service up to March 2,
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1815, and immediately after the close of the session he was ap- pointed by President Madison a member of the commission to establish the boundaries of the Creek Indian reservation.
This was his last appearance in the public life of the nation, though he may have later served his constituents in positions of a local character. His wife., who bore him six children, was profoundly devoted to him, and her death was brought on by that devotion. The doctor was desperately ill of a fever and his life despaired of. She became so wrought up and despairing of his condition that she fell ill and died, while he recovered. Years later he married Mrs. Bibb, a widow and the mother of William Wyatt Bibb, United States Senator and Governor of Alabama. Both were then somewhat advanced in life, with grown children, and their interest being mainly in their children, with much time spent in visiting them, eventually they drifted apart, and Dr. Barnett moved to Alabama, where, after a residence of a few years he died.
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OTiliiam ^rat <§ouib.
JUDGE WILLIAM TRACY GOULD (of Augusta) was born in Litchfield, Conn., October 25, 1799. He was the son of Judge James Gould, and his wife, Sallie McCurdy Tracy. He came from a long line of accomplished men on both sides of the family. The ancient family estate of Pride- hams Leigh, in North Tawton, Oakhampton parish, county Devonshire, England, is yet in possession of a member of the family. The first American ancestor was Richard Gould, born in Devonshire, England, in 16G2. With his son, Dr. William Gould, he emigrated to America in 1720, and settled in Bran- ford, Conn. His grandson, William, Jr., was born on November 17, 1727. Judge James Gould, son of William, Jr., and the father of William Tracy Gould, was born at Branford, Decem- ber 5, 1770, and married Sallie McCurdy Tracy, of Litchfield, Conn., October 21, 1798. James Gould's sister, Elizabeth, was the wife of Roger Minott Sherman, one of our distinguished Revolutionary statesmen. Judge Gould's maternal great-grand- mother was Elizabeth Tracy, of Norwich, Conn., and his grand- father, General Uriah Tracy, was for ten years United States Senator from Connecticut. He died in 1807, and was the first person buried in the Congressional Cemetery, at Washington. Judge W. T. Gould's father, Judge James Gould, graduated at Yale, in 1791, and delivered the Latin salutatory, then the highest honor to the graduation class. He then became a tutor at Yale. In 1795 he entered the law school at Litchfield, and after admission to the bar became associated with Judge Reeve in conducting the famous law school which for fifty years was the leading school in the United States for that profession. In May, 1816, he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court and Supreme Court of Errors, of Connecticut. In 1820 Yale be- stowed upon him. the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. He
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was one of the most accomplished and competent writers who have ever written upon any branch of English jurisprudence. His great work on pleading is a model of its kind.
William Tracy Gould entered Yale College in 1813, at the age of fourteen, and graduated in the class of 1816. At the conclusion of his academic studies he became a student in the Litchfield Law School, under the watchful eye of his father, and was admitted to the bar at Litchfield in 1820. In 1821 he re- moved to Clinton, Jones county, Georgia. This would appear now a very curious selection, but at that time there were no rail- roads, and these little country towns all offered opportunities to aspiring young professional men. In 1823 he removed from Clinton to Augusta, where the remainder of his life was spent, and immediately took prominent place in the professional and social circles of the citv.
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On October 7, 1824, he married Mrs. Anna Gardner Mdvinne. Of this marriage three children were born, James Gardner, Julia Tracy, and Henry Gumming.
In 1833 he established a law school at which many young- men, afterwards distinguished in the profession, received their legal education. In this he was following in the footsteps of his distinguished father.
The law school established by Judge Gould in 1833 flourished for many years. It is not certain just when it was discontinued, but probably on the outbreak of the Civil War. Among the many distinguished men who were students at this school under his direction may be mentioned Judge William Schley, Judge James S. Hook, Judge Ebenezer Starnes, William A. Walton, Colonel Richard Malcolm Johnston, James Gardner Gould, Judge William W. Montgomery, Judge William R. McLaws, Judge John T. Shewmake, General John K. Jackson, George T. Barnes, M. C. ; George G. MacWhorter, and numerous other strong lawyers. Aside from his professional and civic duties, Judge Gould was profoundly interested in Masonry, and had in that great Order a most distinguished record. On December 6, 1825, he was initiated as an entered apprentice in Social
WILLIAM TRACY GOULD 87
Lodge, ~No. 1. By a special dispensation from Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master Slaughter, he was passed to the degree of Fellow Craft, and rose to the degree of Master Mason on Decem- ber 16, 1825. January 6, 1826, he was appointed Junior Dea- con of his lodge, and on December 1, 1826, less than one year after his initiation, he was elected Worshipful Master. On December 12, 1828, he was again elected Worshipful Master. January 25, 1826, he became a Royal Arch Mason in the Augusta Chapter. For a number of years he held the position of High Priest of Augusta Chapter, jSTo. 2. He was Grand Marshal of the Grand Chapter of Georgia from 1829 to 1846, and Grand High Priest for several years. He became a member of the Georgia Commandery, ISTo. 1, Knights Templars, on March 18, 1826, and was elected Grand Commander of the State in 1860, which position he held until 1868. He made many speeches and addresses in public and in the lodge room on Masonry. JSTot only a leader in the order, he was one of its most illustrious and honored members. His portrait now odarns the walls of the lodge room, where it has hung for many years, and is still greatly cherished.
Judge Gould was married a second time to Miss Virginia Highbie Hunter, daughter of Wimberley Hunter (formerly of Savannah, Ga.), on September 20, 1864. Of this marriage there were three sons, William Hunter, Wimberley and George Glenn Gould.
Judge Gould died July 18, 1882, honored and venerated by all who knew him. At the time of his death, Judge James S. Hook, who had received his legal training from Judge Gould, delivered a most beautiful and impressive memorial address in his honor at a special memorial meeting held by the court. In the present generation his descendants are among the most accomplished and highly esteemed people of the State.
On the Fourth of July, 1848, Judge Gould delivered the ad- dress at the laying of the corner stone of the monument to the memory of Governor George Walton and Lyman Hall, two of the three Georgians who signed the Declaration of Independence.
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In the Weekly Republic, published at that time, in the issue of July llth, appeared the following comment: "Honorable William T. Gould delivered a very fine address to the large audi- tory present, who seemed deeply and favorably impressed with the classic style and appropriateness of its sentiments."
In February, 1851, he was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Augusta, afterwards known as the City Court, which office he held until 1877, a period of twenty-six years. Judge Gould was greatly beloved by his professional brethren. His standards of conduct were of the highest. His demeanor was always that of amiability and substantial kindness. He was most agreeable socially, being well educated and decidedly humor- ous and witty. Notwithstanding that three-fourths of his long life was spent in the South, he never lost his alert, bustling Xew England ways. His sentiments, however, were thoroughly south- ern, and during the Civil War he commanded a local company in the Confederate service, which was composed of elderly men and was known as the "Silver Grays." This company was not expected to appear on the battlefield, but did guard duty at home over Federal prisoners and other local service.
HAEKIET GOULD JEFFEEIES.
arbner
JAMES GARDNER GOULD, the eldest son of Judge Wil- liam Tracy Gould, and Anna, daughter of James Gardner, a merchant of Augusta, was born at Sumrnerville, a suburb of Augusta, August 14, 1825. He came of a distinguished lineage, which is fully set forth in the sketch of his father, Judge William Tracy Gould.
J. G. Gould in his youth was a pupil at the Richmond Academy, a famous school, one of the earliest established in Georgia, and yet doing effective work. After that he came under the charge of his father's highly esteemed classmate, Prof. Haw- ley Olmstead, at Wilton, Conn., where he and his classmate, E. Olmstead, were fellow-pupils and together prepared for college. In 1839 Hawley Olmstead became rector of the Hopkins Gram- mar School at ~New Haven, and young Gould accompanied him there, entering Yale with the freshman class in 1841. Erom the very first of his collegiate course he took a high position in his classes, graduated with first honor and was the valedictorian. A man of amiable disposition, irreproachable character, and great intellectual attainments, these qualities made him a uni- versal favorite in his classes.
After graduation he returned, to Augusta, and studied law in the school which had been established there by his father in
«/
1833. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1847. In 1848 he was appointed tutor in Yale college, which position he held for four college terms, and left after commencement in 1849, returning home, where he began the practice of law with brilliant prospects. Shortly after establishing himself in the practice, he married Harriet Glascock Barrett, daughter of Thomas Barrett, a prominent merchant of Augusta, and grand- daughter of Thomas Glascock, an eminent Georgian and former speaker of the General Assembly, and a member of Congress.
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Of this marriage there were two children, Harriet Glascock Gould, now Mrs. Harriet Gould Jefferies, and James Gardner Gould.
On July 4, 1853, Mr- Gould, by special invitation delivered the oration at Augusta, Ga., in commemoration of the Declara- tion of Independence, and gave a most able and scholarly ad- dress to a large and appreciative audience, following the example of his distinguished father, Judge William Tracy Gould, who had been honored in the same way five years before. This bril- liant and promising career was cut short by an untimely death. He had gone to Marietta, Ga., with his wife and child, and there died. The Superior Court was at the time in session, and on motion of the Hon. Joseph E. Brown, since Governor and United States Senator, the court adjourned to attend his funeral, and he was buried with Masonic honors. During the winter his re- mains were transferred to the beautiful cemetery in Augusta, Ga. The following tribute was paid to his memory by his gifted father:
Man learns from sorrows dark and deep,
From pleasure's fitful gleam— This world is but a place to sleep,
And human life a dream.
I dreamed I had a noble boy
Of lofty, manly grace, My hope, my life, my pride, my joy,
The first of all his race.
For years he lived, and moved, and spoke,
And brief those years did seem, Too soon, in agony, I woke,
And lo! 'twas all a dream.
But light will on the dreamer dawn,
And shadows melt away, When sunrise ushers in the morn
Of everlasting day.
Then I may hope to meet my boy,
Saved, sanctified, forgiven; And dream no more, but share the joy,
The "waking bliss" of heaven.
HARRIET GOULD JEFFERIES.
arrett
NAK"CY STROXG, the mother of Thomas Barrett, was bom in London, England, May 3, 1779. She came from England to the United States of America with her half brother, John Hartridge, and his family, in 1797. She became acquainted with Mr. Thomas Barrett, an Englishman, (and like herself a native of London), at Savannah, Ga., where they were married October 20, 1799. She never returned to her native land. Mr. Barrett and his wife removed to Augusta, Ga., where the former engaged in the "mercantile and commission business," and by his correct deportment and assiduous attention to business he secured the esteem and confidence of numerous friends. For a number of years he held the office of Clerk of the Board of Trustees of the Richmond Academy. He was Worshipful Master of the Augusta Lodge at the time of the death of President Washington in 1799, and gave the order that all brother Masons should wear a "badge of mourning on their sleeves" for a period, in memory of their distinguished brother. During the latter part of his life he was incapacitated for business on account of failing health, which rendered him almost helpless. He was blessed with an admirable wife, and a charm- ing family of children — eight daughters and one son. He looked, however, on the period of his dissolution as that which could alone terminate his sufferings. He died, aged forty-two years.
Owing to Mr. Barrett's protracted illness and inability to at- tend to his business, he left his wife and six children without means of support. His noble helpmate, however, possessed prac- tical sense and unbounded energy, and these traits enabled her to rear her children in such a way that they reflected credit on their self-sacrificing, Christian mother. She was deeply relig- ious and was one of the founders of the Augusta Orphans' Asvlum.
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Thomas Barrett, the sixth child, was born in Augusta, Ga., Auugst 10, 1808. He came of a very high and pure Eng- lish strain. The late Lady Dilke, (nee Strong), one of the most brilliant writers on art in the world, wife of one of England's greatest statesmen, Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, was his first cousin. He was an unusually intelligent and ambitious boy. He attended the school of the eminent Baptist clergyman, Rev. Wil- liam T. Brantly, and so impressed was he with his pupil's bril- liant mind that he offered to give him the tuition free of charge. His mother declined this generous proposition, and at an early age he was obliged to begin his business life by clerking for his brother-in-law, Mr. James Carter, who was in the drug business. He afterwards became the owner of said business and made it a signal financial success.
He married Mary Savannah Glascock, September 16, 1830, the daughter of Thomas Glascock, a distinguished lawyer and leading politician of Georgia, at one time Speaker of the House (State), and member of Congress. They had six children, three daughters and three sons. Thomas Barrett held the impor- tant position of president of the State Bank from 1854 to 1859. He then became the president of the City Bank and held the place until his death. His financial ability was pre-eminent, and his advice and opinions were solicited by the leading busi- ness men of the country. He was pronounced by the distin- guished Judge John P. King, United States Senator and for many years president of the Georgia Railroad, "the most pro- found financier he had ever known," and Hon. Alfre.d Cuni- ming, at one time Governor of Utah, who traveled extensively, said he had met young men in different portions of this vast country who informed him that they were indebted to Mr. Thomas Barrett for their success and prosperity, for when they were struggling with poverty he cheerfully gave them pecuniary assistance. This universally beloved, admired and public spirited citizen died in the prime of his useful life on April 2, 1865. The sad event cast a gloom over the entire city.
HARRIET GOULD JEFFERIES.
JfranctS Robert <§oulbtng.
THE REV. FRANCIS ROBERT GOULDING had the dis- tinction of being a son of the first native born Presbyterian minister in Georgia. He came from the celebrated Mid- way colony which gave to the country eighty-three clergymen, besides a large number of lawyers, doctors, authors, statesmen, soldiers and scientists. His father was the Rev. Dr. Thomas Goulding, a very eminent Presbyterian minister, who was born in Liberty county, in 178 G, a son of Thomas and Margaret (Stacy) Goulding. He was an eminent man in his church, one of the founders of the theological college at Columbia, S. C., held many appointments and was for thirty-five years one of the most useful ministers of the South. Francis R. Goulding had the best educational advantages and graduated from the Uni- versity of Georgia in IS 30. He then entered the theological school at Columbia, and after two years was graduated into the ministry. Immediately after entering the ministry he married Mary Wallace Howard, of Savannah, a woman of great piety and accomplishments, with a beautiful soprano voice. She it was who induced Dr. Lowell Mason to put music to Bishop Heber's famous hymn, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," and it was first sung by her in the Presbyterian church at Savannah. Mr. Goulding served the church at Sumter, S. C., for two years and then became an agent for the American Bible Society. - This position gave him an extended field of service, and being a close observer, he accumulated much information which later in life he made use of in his books. Of an inventive turn of mind, in 1842 he built a sewing machine a year or two before Howe's great invention was patented, but having no mercenary motives, he did not take the trouble to patent it. In 1843 he accepted a pastorate at Bath, Ga., the duties of which were light, and he put -in his leisure time in writing a story which was published in the American Sunday School Union and well received. He
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then engaged in writing the book, upon which chiefly his literary reputation rests, "The Young Marooners." He spent three years in revising and correcting it, and submitted it to a jSTew York publisher, only to have it rejected. He then sent it to a Phila- delphia publishing house. The reviewer gave the manuscript to his little girl, and the child literally devoured it. Noting this he took it up himself and began to read it. The interest was so absorbing that he was not able to lay it down until he had finished it. The book ran through many editions in this country and was reprinted by six different publishers in Great Britain. It rivaled "Robinson Crusoe" in its fascination for the young, and even older persons found great entertainment in its pages.
Mr. Gouding then moved to Kingston, Ga., where for a time he taught school and put in his leisure hours on a work, "The Instincts of Birds and Beasts." His excellent wife, with whom he had lived in great happiness for twenty years, died in 1853, leaving him with six children. In 1855 he married again, Matilda Rees, who owned a beautiful home at Darien, Ga. This resulted in their moving there, and he resumed pastoral work, but still gave much time to literary pursuits. On the outbreak of the Civil War, though in poor health from malaria and hard study, he became a chaplain in the Confederate Army, and gave much time and service to the sick and wounded. In 1862 when Darien was evacuated by the Confederates, his beautiful home was burned, and his excellent library with a large mass of manu- scripts was destroyed. At the close of the war he found himself an elderly man, with a family, and absolutely without means. He then resumed his pen as a means of support for his family, and wrote several other popular books, iimmiu1 them, "Marooner's Island," a sequel to "Young Marooners," "Woodruff Stories," "Frank Gordon," "Cousin Aleck," "Adventures Among the Indians," and "Boy Life on the Water." Pie died at Roswell, Ga., on August 22, 1881, nearly seventy-one years old, after a ministry of forty-eight years, leaving behind a record of a life spent in well doing, and the character of a purely spiritual man, with a literary reputation of a high order.
BERNARD SUTTLER.
Carlisle pollock peman.
CAELISLE POLLOCK BEMAN was born in Hampton, Washington county, New York, May 5, 1797. He was the seventh and youngest child of Samuel Bernan and his wife, Silence Douglas. His father was of Welsh origin, and his mother was of that Scotch blood which flowed to America through Ireland, and which is, therefore, known as Scotch-Irish.
For about three years, from 1807 to 1810, Carlisle Bernan attended the school of Mr. Salem Town, of West Granville. The two succeeding years were spent in diligent labor upon his father's farm.
In the autumn of 1812, when less than 16 years old, he ac- companied his brother, Rev. Nathan S. S. Beman, to Georgia. Dr. Nathan Beman was pastor of the Mt. Zion church in Han- cock county, this State, from 1812 to 1821, and at the same time he was rector of a large boarding school at the same place. Carlisle was a pupil at the school of his brother and gave a part of his time as assistant to his brother in giving instructions to some of the younger pupils.
Having completed his preparatory studies, he returned to the North in 1815 and entered Middlebury College, Vermont, where he was graduated, with the first honors of his class, in 1818.
Soon after graduation he returned to Georgia. In 1820 he again associated himself with his brother and took charge of the male department of the Mt. Zioii Academy, while his brother remained the principal and the teacher of the female department.
Soon after his return to Georgia, Carlisle Pollock united with the Presbyterian Church. At Eatonton, September, 1820, he was received under the care of Hopewell Presbytery as a candi- date for the gospel ministry. In the meantime he continued his
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connection with the Mt. Zion Academy and pursued his theo- logical studies at the same time, until the close of the year 1823. December 30, 1823, he was united in marriage with Miss Avis De Witt.
At the beginning of 1824 he took charge of the Eatonton Academy, but he was forced, by continued ill health, to abandon the school.
At Bethany, Green county, April 3, 1824, he was licensed to preach the gospel by Hopewell Presbytery.
In 1827 he assumed the charge of the Mt. Zion Academy, formerly taught by his brother, as principal, and continued at the head of this school until his removal to Midway, near Mil- ledgeville, in 1835, as rector or principal of the Manual Labor School, then established at that place by Hopewell Presbytery. This school was soon after elevated to a college under the name of Oglethorpe University and transferred to the care and control of the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia, with Rev. C. P. Beman as its first president. This position he held from 1836 to 1840.
At the meeting of Presbytery at Forsyth, April 5, 1829, the church of South Liberty, Green county, which had recently been organized, mainly through his ministry as a licentiate, pre- sented a call to Mr. Beman for his pastoral labors in that con- gregation. July 11, 1829, he was regularly ordained and in- stalled pastor over that people. Eev. Xathan Hoyt preached the ordination sermon. Mr. Beman retained his connection with the school at Mt. Zion while pastor of South Liberty Church. April 2, 1833, his pastoral relations to that church were dis- solved, having continued only about four years. He never formed any other pastoral connection.
At the close of the year 1840 Mr. Beman resigned the presi- dency of Oglethorpe University and removed to La Grange. He established a high school at that place and remained in charge until 1844. While residing in La Grange he organized the Brainerd Church in Heard county, and preached for this church several years, although the place of worship was twenty
CARLISLE POLLOCK BEMAN 97
miles from his residence, and for five days of each week he was confined in the schoolroom.
In 1846 he returned to Mt. Zion and established a private boarding school, with a limited number of boys and young men. He continued this school until about 1859, when he retired. In 1855 the honorary title of D.D. was conferred upon him by Oglethorpe University.
In his day Dr. Bernan was regarded as the ISTestor of educa- tion throughout the South. He had unusual gifts as a teacher and a disciplinarian. He had thorough knowledge of human nature, and almost unerring judgment of character. His meth- ods of instruction were most thorough and his government and school discipline were firm and positive. He would not for a moment tolerate or excuse disobedience to authority or the ques- tioning of his right to govern. He never exacted more than was just and due, but he was sure to obtain all he called for in con- duct and in study. When these results were not reached for the asking, they were always secured through compulsion.
Dr. Beman made no distinction among his pupils as to dis- cipline. The young and the old; the elementary and the ad- vanced were all brought under the rod if they could not be controlled without it. He was a man of great physical courage and determined purpose. 'No bad conduct ever escaped his notice, nor did the perpetration of evil deeds ever escape punish- ment. His methods put into practice for this day would be considered severe, but it can not be denied that he made many good citizens of very bad boys and brought under subjection scores and hundreds of boys who were beyond control in their homes and such as had become disturbing elements in the com- munities from which they came.
His patronage extended throughout the South, and for the latter years of his teaching he was never able to accommodate the great number of students who applied for places. His school marked a distinct era in the educational interests of the State. As a teacher of boys and young men, he was highly gifted in the talents of imparting instruction and administering discipline. 7
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The strength of his life was given to shaping, for usefulness, the characters and minds of the young. In this department of labor he achieved his highest mission in life.
Dr. Beman was a man of very decided, humble and active piety, while he had great force and energy of character.
In the early part of the last century the Presbyterian Church formed a union with the Congregational Church, which proved quite unsatisfactory. By way of relief, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church cut off four of its Synods in 1837. These were Geneva, Utica, Genesee and Western Reserve.
This action gave rise to what was known as the "Old School" and the "New School" churches. This cutting off is known, in the parlance of the Presbyterian Church, as "The Excision Act."
Dr. Beman did not approve the excision measures. For a time, at least, he sympathized with the views of the New School theologians, y^t when three of his co-presbyters, Rev. C. W. Howard, Rev. H. C. Carter and Rev. J. H. George, withdrew from Hopewell Presbytery and organized themselves into a New School Presbytery, known as Etowah, Dr. Beman refused to unite with them. On the contrary he employed all of his powers of argument and persuasion in efforts to dissuade them from, such schismatic movement.
In 1S57 at Mt. Zion, Dr. Beman and Rev. C. H. Cartledge had a long argument in private upon the subject of the atone- ment, Dr. Beman maintaining the New School view. When hard pressed in the argument, he said : "Brother Cartledge, you are a man of too much sense and too much logic to believe a just God would punish his innocent son for sins which he never com- mitted."
Mr. Cartledge instantly replied: "Brother Beman, you are a man of entirely too much sense and too much logic to believe a just God would doom his innocent son to suffer, as he did suffer, for nobody's sins at all." Dr. Beman attempted no reply, and from that time forward he manifested toward Mr. Cartledge
CARLISLE POLLOCK BEMAN 99
a very strong and tender attachment, which seemed to increase with his increasing years.
With the exception of the three years spent in Middlebury College, his whole life, from his sixteenth year to the day of his death was spent in Georgia.
Here he pursued his studies preparatory to entering college, here he studied theology, was licensed to preach and was or- dained to the full work of the gospel ministry; here he lived, preached, taught and served most honorably his generation. Few, if any, of the native born sons of Georgia ever accom- plished more for the good of church or State in her borders than this noble adopted son. ISTone entered more heartily into the spirit of the sixties. Whilst he contributed most liberally of his substance to the needs of the Confederacy as a loyal son of the South, he gave his two sons, splendid cultured young men, a wil- ling sacrifice for the cause he loved as he loved his own life.
Having met the full measure of an honorable and useful life, Dr. Beman died at his home in Mt. Zion, Hancock county, Sun- day morning, December 12, 1875.
W. J.
454050 A
Beaton (grantlanb.
THE period from 1800 to 1860 was the golden age of Geor- gia in a. political sense and a very prosperous period in a material way. During these six decades the State produced a large number of public men of the first rank. The State Legis- lature, which in our day we are too much accustomed to con- sider a mere training school for young lawyers, was in those days filled with men who would have adorned the highest posi- tions in the Nation. Indeed, it was not uncommon for strong men to prefer the service of the State in the Legislature rather than that of the Nation in Congress. A foremost and most influ- ential figure during forty years of that period was Seaton Grant- land, who was born in ISTew Kent county, Va., June 8, 1782, and died October 15, 1864, in the eighty-third year of his age. His father was Gideon Grantland and his mother Sallie Brad- ford. On both sides of the family his people had been settled in Virginia for several generations and were among the best families of that State.
He married Nancy Tinsley, a daughter of Honorable Thomas Tinsley, who was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1789-90, and was an intimate friend of Patrick Henry, Ben- jamin Harrison, Chancellor Wythe, John Marshall and Bushrod Washington. Thomas and Peter Tinsley were both notable men of that day. Thomas was born in 1755, and in 1782 married Susanna Thomson, a daughter of John Thomson. Thomas and Peter Tinsley, who were leading lawyers, had in their office a young student, Henry Clay, and it was through the acquaint- ances he made while in that office that Clay first got the start that carried him to such heights in our national life. The Tins- leys were very partial to Clay and did everything they could to forward his interests.
Seaton Grantland's tastes ran in the direction of newspaper
-
BEATON GRANTLAND 101
work, and early in life he entered the office of the Richmond Enquirer, when the famous Thomas Ritchie was its editor. His brother, Fleming Grantlancl, soon followed him into that office, and they both learned the newspaper business in every depart- ment. In 1808, then twenty-six years of age, and conscious of his own powers, Seaton Grantland came to Georgia and located at Milledgeville, then the capital and political center of the State. His brother Fleming followed him in 1809, and in that year the brothers commenced the publication of the Georgia Journal, which almost immediately became the leading paper in the State because of the uncommon editorial ability of the two brothers. In the bitter feud between William H. Crawford and George M. Troup on the one side and General John Clarke on the other side, which for twenty-five years made of Georgia a daily battle- field and which affected the destiny of every man who touched politics during those years, the Grantlands with their paper espoused the cause of Crawford. Fleming Grantland was sent to the State Senate, in his case there being no opposing candi- date. He was eight years younger than Seaton, and died in 1819, when only twenty-nine years old. After the death of his brother, Mr. Grantland sold the Georgia Journal, but within a year, in connection with Richard McAlister Orme, he estab- lished the Southern Recorder, and continued as its editor until 1833, when he sold out to Miller Grieve, who had married his niece, Sara Carolina, daughter of his brother Fleming. Seaton Grantland was not only a strong but also a fearless writer, and during all those years of strife his paper was a strong reinforce- ment to the cause of Crawford and Troup. It will be remem- bered that for many years the governors of Georgia were elected by the Legislature. The first direct election by the people came in 1825, and in that great contest George M. Troup, the leader on one side, was pitted against John Clarke, the leader on the other side. It was the hardest fought political battle which up to that time had been waged in the State, and was bitterly and even viciously contested. Troup won, and his victory was due in large measure to the able support of Seaton Grantland's paper.
102 MEN OF MARK
At that time the congressional delegation was elected on a general ticket, and in 1835 Mr. Grantland was placed on the successful ticket. In 1837 he was reelected. During his four years in Congress he had as contemporaries such men as Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Jackson, Benton, Carr, John P. King, Forsyth, Bu- chanan, Clayton, and others of that type. At the end of his second term, Mr. Grautland retired from active politics, and did not again appear in public life, except as an elector for Georgia in the presidential election in 1848, when he cast the vote of Georgia for Taylor and Filmore, the successful candidates.
Born before the formation of the Xation, and his whole life spent in that constructive period when it was being built up, it was most natural that he should be opposed to secession, Not that he questioned the right of secession, but the wisdom of it. His last years were made sorrowful by that gigantic war between men of the same blood, and it was perhaps a comfort to him that he did not live to see the sorrowful ending for his own section. He died in October, 1864, at his home at Woodville, near Mil- ledgeville.
When he came to Georgia in 1808, his mother came with him and lived until 1851, when she died at the extreme old age of ninety-one.
As previously stated, Mr. Grantland married Ann Tinsley, commonly called Nancy, a daughter of Colonel Thomas Tinsley. She died in 1823, leaving three children — Fleming, who became a physician, a highly accomplished man, partly educated in Paris, who died in 1854, at the age of thirty-six; Susan, who married David Jackson Bailey, an eminent man of the period, and her children are now prominent citizens of our section ; and Anna V., who married Charles DuBignon, and her children are now well-known citizens of Georgia. After the death of his first wife, Mr. Grantland married Miss Katherine Dabney, and of this marriage there was no issue.
Miller Grieve, for long years associated with Mr. Grantland in the Southern Recorder, and who knew him intimately, in writing an obituary of him used some expressions which are
8EATON GRANTLAND 103
worthy of reproduction. He said : "When we think of him, we feel that not only is one of a former and better epoch gone, but of this venerable and venerated man we may say 'Gone is the last of the Romans.' His virtues seemed to belong to the ancient days. J^o fictitious notion was his, but all reality. His charac- ter not to seem and to affect, but to be and to do. With an energy that nothing could enervate, an industry that nothing could tire, a boldness that nothing could daunt, a truthfulness that nothing could swerve ; an affection fairly welling over in his manly heart, what could prevent respect and success in his high career ? A true patriot, he was by his country honored as such, for it fre- quently called him to its highest official responsibilities, and in each and all, whether in Congress, or the electoral college, or wherever his political duty placed him, the same virtuous integ- rity, the same high honesty and honor, and the same Roman firm- ness of purpose and of action always and alike characterized our departed friend."
A grandson of this eminent patriot, another Seaton Grantland, is now among the leading financiers of Georgia, and is doing a man's part in building up the State which his great ancestor loved so well. BEBISTARD SUTTLEK.
Jfliiter
ILLER GRIEVE, of Milledgeville, lawyer, editor, legis- lator and diplomat, who for twenty years was the most influential leader of the Whig party in Georgia, was a native of Scotland, born in Edinburgh, on January 11, 1801, son of John and Marion (Miller) Grieve. His family came to the United States in 1817, first settled at Savannah, from which place they moved to Oglethorpe county in 1820. Mr. Grieve lived nine years in Oglethorpe, during which he completed his education, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and became a member of the law firm of Grieve and Lunipkiu, at Lexington. In 1829 he was tendered by Governor Gilmer, who had just then been elected, a place as private secretary. This he accepted and moved to Milledgeville, which became his residence for the re- mainder of his life. In 1833 he bought an interest in the Southern Recorder, a well-known newspaper of that day, and in connection with Richard McAllister Ornie, under the firm name of Grieve and Ornie, he conducted this paper for twenty years. An able writer, and an enthusiastic believer in the doctrines of the Whig party, his paper speedily became the spokesman of that party in Georgia, and was known in the language of the times as the "Supreme Court of the Whig party." It had a large cir- culation over the State and wielded a tremendous influence. It was credited with being the most influential factor in the second election of Governor Gilmer in 1837, and contributed more than any other instrumentality to the carrying of Georgia in the presi- dential elections of 1840 and 1848. In 1841 Mr. Grieve was sent to the Legislature by Baldwin county, and again in 1843. It was a period of great financial difficulty and as chairman of the bank committee of the lower house he rendered valuable .assistance to Governor Crawford in devising a plan to raise the note issues of the Central Bank from fifty cents to par. At the
MILLER GRIEVE 105
conclusion of his legislative service he was sent as Charge d' Affaires to Denmark, where he served acceptably.
Mr. Grieve took a profound interest in education. For many years he was chairman of the trustees of Ogiethorpe University, to the founding of which he had contributed twenty thousand dollars. He was president for a long time of the Board of Trus- tees of the Georgia Sanitarium. He also took a keen interest in military affairs and served for years as captain of the Metro- politan Grays, one of the crack military organizations of that day.
In 1833 he married Sarah Caroline Grantland, daughter of Fleming Graiitlaud, who, though he died before he was forty, had made a great reputation in Georgia. Of this marriage there were born five sons and four daughters. Mr. Grieve's later years were spent in retirement at his home in Milledgeville, where he died in 1878.
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RICHARD W. HABERSHAM was a member of a famous Revolutionary family of Georgia. He was born in Sa- vannah, December 10, 1786. He graduated from Prince- ton College in 1805, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and speedily gained prominence both as a lawyer and as an active participant in the political life of the time. He was elected to the Twenty-sixth Congress as a States-rights Democrat, and re- elected to the Twenty-seventh, serving from December 21, 1839, to December 2, 1842, when he died at his home in Clarksville, Habersham county, Ga., to which place he had moved from Savannah prior to his first election to Congress. He was in Congress during the exciting Harrison presidential campaign, which brought about a new alignment of political parties in Georgia, and he with five others of the nine members of Con- gress elected in 1838, united with the Whig party, being called by their supporters, "The faithful six." One of his daughters married John Milledge, of Augusta, and his grandson, Captain Richard Milledge, of Atlanta, was a gallant soldier in the Con- federate Army, and is now himself an elderly man. Mr. Haber- sharn was buried in the old cemetery at Clarkesville and his gravestone, in addition to his name, date of birth and death, bears the words "FiKi Patri."
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LIEUTESTAXT-COLOXEL FRANCIS H. HARRIS, a gallant soldier of the Revolutionary War, was a native Georgian. His father, the Honorable Francis Harris, was among the earliest settlers, having come from England immedi- ately after Oglethorpe founded the colony. He was able to give his children good educations, and sent young Erancis as a boy to England to prosecute his studies. When the troubles between England and the colonies became acute, he was at college, but immediately left and arrived in Georgia just in time to be one of the first to take up arms in behalf of his native State. He was commissioned captain in the Continental Army, and in a little while raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in command of a battalion. He led a detachment of Continental troops in an effort to relieve Charleston