Part 9

Although nature was as balmy, as attractive, and as beautiful as ever, Bartram was oppressed by the indications of desolation which confronted him all over the island. He speaks of “vestiges of plantations, ruins of costly buildings, and highways overgrown with forests.” The fort he found entirely dilapidated, and nothing of the town remaining except ruins. From the crumbling walls of the deserted houses peach trees, figs, and pomegranates were growing.[153] And so this brave town dwindled away into nothingness.

The last detachment of troops stationed there consisted of ten Royal Americans; but even these were withdrawn during the early part of the administration of Governor Wright.

The rupture between Great Britain and her Colonies being imminent, the Council of Safety ordered all guns at Frederica to be secured, and they were used in fortifying other points on the coast deemed of greater importance. During the progress of the expedition projected from Sunbury, by Governor Gwinnett, against Florida, Colonel Elbert, who was in command, on Sunday, the 11th of May, 1777, landed at Frederica “to air” his troops. The following entry occurs in his Order-Book: “Frederica was once a pretty little Town, as appears by the Ruins, having been burned down some years since; the Fort at this place, with a little expence, might be made defensible, and might, if properly garrisoned, be a means of protecting great part of our Southern Frontiers. There are about twelve men that bear arms here; in my opinion all Tories. Their Captain, Ditter, says otherwise of himself, and informed me that about 6 or 8 of the inhabitants had lately gone to Florida for protection.”[154]

By the provisions of the act of the 15th of March, 1758,[155] dividing the Province into eight Parishes, “the town and district of Frederica, including the islands of Great and Little St. Simons and the adjacent islands,” were declared a parish and named “St. James.” Under the writs of election issued by Sir James Wright, Lachlan McIntosh was returned as member for Frederica.

On the 10th of August, 1777, some boats from a British armed vessel lying in St. Andrews Sound landed on St. Simons island, and their crews captured and carried away Captain Arthur Carney, five citizens, several negroes, and as much household furniture as could be conveyed in the barges. Carney had been appointed to the captaincy of the fourth company in the first Continental Battalion of Georgia troops. After his capture, he espoused the Royal cause and proved himself not only an active Tory but a great cattle thief.[156]

While General Robert Howe was concentrating his forces on the Southern frontier of Georgia with a view to the invasion of Florida, Colonel Elbert, who was commanding at Fort Howe,—the place of rendezvous,—achieved an exploit which imparts another distinct and gallant memory to the neglected settlements, “Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.”

The details of the affair are thus narrated in a letter to General Howe:

“FREDERICA, April 19th, 1778.

_Dear General_:

I have the happiness to inform you that about 10 o’clock this forenoon, the brigantine Hinchinbrooke, the sloop Rebecca, and a prize brig, all struck the British tyrant’s colors and surrendered to the American arms.

Having received intelligence that the above vessels were at this place, I put about three hundred men, by detachment from the troops under my command at Fort Howe, on board the three galleys, the Washington,—Captain Hardy,—the Lee,—Captain Braddock,—and the Bulloch,—Captain Hutcher;—and a detachment of artillery with two field pieces, under Captain Young, I put on board a boat. With this little army we embarked at Darien, and last evening effected a landing at a bluff about a mile below the town, leaving Colonel White on board the Lee, Captain Melvin on board the Washington, and Lieutenant Petty on board the Bulloch, each with a sufficient party of troops. Immediately on landing I dispatched Lieutenant-Colonel Ray and Major Roberts, with about one hundred men, who marched directly up to the town and made prisoners three marines and two sailors belonging to the Hinchinbrooke.

“It being late, the galleys did not engage until this morning. You must imagine what my feelings were to see our three little men-of-war going on to the attack of these three vessels, who have spread terror on our coast, and who were drawn up in order of battle; but the weight of our metal soon damped the courage of these heroes, who soon took to their boats; and as many as could, abandoned the vessel with everything on board, of which we immediately took possession. What is extraordinary, we have not one man hurt. Captain Ellis, of the Hinchinbrooke, is drowned, and Captain Mowbray, of the Rebecca, made his escape. As soon as I see Colonel White, who has not yet come to us with his prizes, I shall consult with him, the three other officers, and the comanding officers of the galleys, on the expediency of attacking the Galatea now lying at Jekyll.”

While Colonel Elbert was preparing to attack her, the Galatea made her escape to sea.[157] This successful enterprize encouraged the troops at Fort Howe, who were in a very dispirited mood.

Upon his retreat, by water, from Sunbury in December, 1778, Fuser left the regular troops of his expedition at Frederica, with instructions to repair the old military works at that point. These orders were only partially observed, and the force was soon withdrawn.

During the continuance of the Revolutionary war St. Simons island, in common with other isolated localities along the Georgia coast, suffered from privateers and armed parties who pillaged the houses of the inhabitants and led captive negroes and domestic animals. Similar annoyances and losses were encountered during the war of 1812-1815. So ruthless had been the spoliations and devastations by the British troops during the progress of the Revolution, that upon its termination but little remained of Frederica save the sites of burnt houses and heaps of ruin. The town had almost entirely disappeared. Subsequent attempts to revive it were feeble and unsuccessful. Of the State legislation with regard to Frederica, the following synopsis may not be deemed inappropriate:

On the 17th of December, 1792, James Spalding, John Braddock, Raymond Demeré, John Palmer, John Burnett, John Piles, Moses Burnett, Samuel Wright, and William Williams were appointed Commissioners of the towns and commons of Frederica and Brunswick. They were directed, after three months’ published notice, to cause surveys to be made of those towns, according to their original plans, and to have the same recorded in the Surveyor General’s office, and in the office of the Surveyor of Glynn county. Any vacant lots, except such as were originally reserved for public uses, were then to be sold upon four weeks’ public notice; and the proceeds arising from such sales, after deducting the necessary expense of survey, devoted to the building and support of an Academy in Glynn County.[158]

In February, 1796, special Commissioners were named for the town of Frederica. They were John Cooper, William McIntosh, James Harrison, James Moore, and William Clubbs. It was made their duty to lay off the town, as nearly as practicable, according to its original plan, cause the streets to be opened, the lots to be plainly marked or staked off, the commons to be resurveyed, and an accurate map prepared and recorded in the Surveyor General’s office within two months after the passage of the act. The survey of the town having been completed, the Commissioners were required, by notice in one of the public gazettes of the State, to call upon the owners and holders of lots to make due return thereof to the Commissioners within nine months, and pay the sum of one dollar per lot in defrayal of the cost of the survey.

All lots not returned within the prescribed period were, after six weeks public advertisement, to be sold to the highest bidder,—one half of the purchase money to be paid in cash and the remainder in twelve months thereafter;—the deferred payment being secured by bond with mortgage on the premises purchased. The proceeds of such sales, after defraying the expences incurred in laying off the town and commons, were to be applied to the support of an academy or seminary of learning in Glynn County.

Any person attempting to run up or appropriate any part of the town common was declared liable to a fine of five hundred dollars, to be recovered in the Superior Court of Glynn County by the Commissioners or any inhabitant or lot owner in the town;—one half the fine to enure to the benefit of the academy, and the other half to go to the party suing for the same.

All surveys previously made, and grants surreptitiously obtained, were declared null and void, and any person in possession by virtue of such survey or grant was liable to the fine above mentioned, to be recovered in the manner indicated.[159]

In 1801 Frederica is mentioned by Sibbald as “a pleasantly situated town on the island of St. Simons, latitude 31° 15´ North,” but he gives no statistics either of its population or commerce.[160]

By an act assented to November 26th, 1802,[161]—the front range of lots in the town of Frederica being “too distant from the water for the convenient storage or shipping of produce, or the landing of goods imported to that place,”—the Commissioners were empowered “to cause a range of lots to be laid off in front of said town, commencing at low water mark, and running back so far as to leave a street eighty feet between the present front range of lots and those to be laid off.”

These new lots were to be sold at public outcry upon sixty days’ notice, and the moneys realized upon such sale, after defraying the expences of the survey, were to be paid over to the Commissioners of the Academy of Glynn county to be by them expended for the benefit of that institution.

Two correct plans of these water lots were to be prepared and certified by the surveyor, one to be transmitted by the Commissioners to the Surveyor General for record in his office, and the other to be delivered to the County Surveyor of Glynn county to be by him recorded in his office.

On the 18th of November, 1814,[162] the Commissioners of the towns of Brunswick and Frederica were authorized to levy a tax upon the lots in those towns, whether improved or unimproved, and pay over the moneys thus raised to the Justices of the Inferior Court of Glynn county for the purpose of erecting a Court House and Jail. To the same object was to be applied one-fourth of the future rents of the town commons.

All efforts to revivify the dead town, to perpetuate something like a corporate existence, to realize a revenue by special taxation of abandoned premises, to maintain a semblance of public streets, commons, and private lots, to clothe water fronts with the dignity of commercial wharves, and transmit the physical impressions of the older days, proved utterly futile.[163] Frederica lost its importance when it ceased to be the strong-hold of the southern frontier. Its mission was accomplished when the Spaniard no longer threatened. Its doom was pronounced in the hour of its triumph. Upon the withdrawal of Oglethorpe’s regiment its decadence began, and ceased not until its fort became a white ruin, its public parade a pasture ground, and its streets and gardens a cotton field.[164]

_Omnia debentur morti._

III.

ABERCORN.

On a creek or branch of the Savannah, distant some three miles from its confluence with that river, and about fifteen miles above the town of Savannah, the village of Abercorn was located in 1733. Its original settlement consisted of ten families. The plan of the town embraced twelve lots, with two trust lots in addition,—one on either extremity. Old Ebenezer was ten miles to the west; and four miles below the mouth of Abercorn creek, was Joseph’s Town, where two Scotch gentlemen had selected plantations on the right bank of the Savannah. Journeying towards Savannah, in the early days of the Colony, the visitor would encounter successively Sir Francis Bathurst’s plantation, Walter Augustin’s settlement, Captain Williams’ plantation, Mrs. Matthews’ place, the Indian School-house Irene, the Horse Quarter, and the Indian lands reserved just outside the limits of Yamacraw. A strange fatality attended all these early attempts at colonization. Born of the subjugation of the forests, were malarial fevers and fluxes which engendered lassitude and death. Short lived were these little settlements, and it was only upon the introduction of slave labor that these plantations bordering upon the Savannah became permanent and productive. The white men who strove to bring them into a state of cultivation failed in the effort and quickly passed away. Others, who endeavored to complete their labors, encountered similar misfortune and disappointment.

The ten families who were assigned to Abercorn in 1733 were all gone in 1737. That year Mr. John Brodie, with twelve servants, occupied the settlement; but, after three years, he abandoned the place, leaving its improvements to ruin and decay. Most of the thirty servants who cultivated the lands of the Scotch gentlemen at Joseph’s Town died, and that plantation lapsed into neglect.

The Saltzburgers who came to Georgia under the conduct of Baron VonReck and the Rev’d Mr. Bolzius, in passing from Savannah to Old Ebenezer, were sheltered and refreshed at Abercorn. To that place their baggage was brought by water, and for some time all their supplies were delivered at that point whence they were carried, at much pains, up Ebenezer creek and through the woods. Before long, however, a road was cut from Abercorn to Old Ebenezer which facilitated the transportation. While at Abercorn the Saltzburgers suffered much from affections of the bowels.

Various efforts were made by the Trustees to increase the population and ensure the prosperity of Abercorn,—which was regarded as a convenient point for communicating with the Carolina settlements on the Savannah river;—but they all eventuated in disappointment. Such of the colonists as were sent there from time to time grew sick and tired of the abode, took no interest in its advancement, and abandoned it upon the earliest opportunity. The little life which this small place enjoyed was insignificant and without moment in the history of the Colony.

In December, 1739, Mr. Stephens visited the town in company with Mr. Jones, to inspect a large ferry-boat which, in obedience to General Oglethorpe’s orders, had been there constructed by one Bunyon,—a boat-builder by trade, and an inhabitant of the town. This boat was capable of transporting nine or ten horses at a time, and was intended to ply between Abercorn and Palachocolas. In perpetuating his impressions of the place Mr. Stephens says: “As there was no Place in the whole Province, of the like Allotment of fifty acres each, which in my eye seemed so desirable, being a most pleasant Situation on the Banks of such a River, with as good Land belonging to each Lot, as is readily to be found in most Parts of the Province; I never saw it but with Regret, that there never yet had been a number of Settlers there deserving it; but generally they happened to be loose, idle People, who after some short Abode, wandered elsewhere and left it: ... and there are at present five Families only remaining there, nor has there often been more at one Time. As the Trust-Lands seem to be now in some better way of cultivating by their own Servants, than hitherto; I proposed it to Mr. _Jones_ to send down a few _German_ families to work on the Trust-Lots there; which, by helping to fill the Place, very probably might induce others the sooner to occupy Lands there also: He agreed with me in Opinion, and said he would write of it to the General.”[165]

It is very questionable whether this opinion of Mr. Stephens,—formed during the winter,—of the desirableness of this locality, would have been confirmed by a residence there amid the heats and miasmatic influences of the summer and fall. Some Germans did settle in the neighborhood and cultivate the soil, but all efforts to promote the prosperity of the village and elevate it into the dignity of a town utterly failed. Like Joseph’s Town and Westbrook, Abercorn is little more than a name in the history of the Colony. In the end it passed into the hands of two English gentlemen who converted the village into a plantation cultivated with slave labor. So it continued under various owners until, by the result of the civil war, the negro has been liberated, and the fortunes of this region have become more unpromising than ever before.

After the capture of Savannah in December, 1778, Colonel Campbell advanced a strong force to this place as a convenient base for future operations against the interior of the State; and hence, in 1779, did a British detachment move, crossing over to Purysburg and attempting to surprise General Moultrie at Black-swamp.

The town had so entirely faded from the face of the earth that its location is not indicated on that admirable map of South Carolina and Georgia, published by William Faden at Charing Cross in 1780:—and the only mention made by White is as follows: “Abercorn, sixteen miles from Savannah, was a noted place in the early settlement of Georgia. No memorial of its former condition can now be seen.”

Savannah, increasing her borders, practically claims as part of herself the Indian lands opposite the northern end of Hutchinson island. Of the Horse Quarter nothing remains. Joseph’s Town long ago lost its identity; and Abercorn, New Ebenezer, Purisburg, and Palachocolas, have, within the recollection of more than one generation, been known simply as boat-landings on the water-highway between Savannah and Augusta.[166]

IV.

SUNBURY.

On the 23rd of January, 1734, Mr. Oglethorpe, accompanied by Captain Ferguson and sixteen attendants,—including two Indians,—set out from Savannah in an open row-boat, followed by a yawl carrying provisions and ammunition, upon an exploratory expedition to the Southern frontiers of Georgia.[167] His course lay through the inner passages, and was pursued as far as St. Simons island. For the protection of the Colony it was then determined to form a military station and settlement near the mouth of the Alatamaha; and,—as an outpost and barrier against Spanish invasion,—to erect a strong fort on the high bluff on the western side of St. Simons island. These sites were shortly afterwards occupied and fortified, and were respectively named New Inverness and Frederica. It was during this reconnoissance that the eyes of the Founder of Georgia first rested upon that bold and beautiful bluff which, overlooking the placid waters of Midway river and the intervening low-lying salt marshes, descries in the distance the green woods of Bermuda island, the dim outline of the southern point of Ossabaw, and, across the sound, the white shores of St. Catherine. Although formal session had been made by the Lower Creeks of all lands along the sea-coast from the Savannah to the Alatamaha river, extending westward as high as the tide flowed, and including all islands except a few which the Indians specially reserved for the purposes of hunting, fishing, and bathing, no English settlements had, at that early day, been formed south of the Great Ogeechee river. Fort Argyle,—garrisoned by Captain McPherson and his troop of Rangers, and commanding the passes by which the Indians during the late wars were accustomed to invade Carolina,—was then the only military post of any consequence in the direction of the Spaniards. From this nameless bluff the Aborigines had not then removed, and their canoes might be seen passing and repassing to and from Hussoope, [Ossabaw], and Cowleggee, [St. Catharine], islands and the main. To the quiet woods and waters of this semi-tropical region the English were strangers. The Bermuda grass which, at a later period, so completely covered Sunbury bluff, did not then appear, but magnificent live oaks, in full grown stature and solemn mien, crowned the high-ground even to the very verge where the tide kissed the shore. Cedars, festooned with vines, over-hung the waters. The magnolia grandiflora,—queen of the forest,—excited on every hand the admiration of the early visitor. The sweet-scented myrtle, the tall pine, the odoriferous bay, and other indigenous trees lent their charms to a spot whose primal beauty had encountered no change at the hand of man. The woods were resonant with the songs of birds, whose bright plumage vied in coloring with the native flowers which gladdened the eye and gave gentle odors to the ambient air. Fishes abounded in the waters, and game on the land. Cool sea-breezes tempered the heat of summer, and the rigor of cold was unknown in the depth of winter. It was a gentle, attractive place,—this bold bluff,—as it came from the hand of Nature. Some scene like this did the Poet Waller have in view as he sang:

“Heav’n sure has kept this spot at earth uncurst, To show how all things were created first.”

By a certain grant under the great seal of the Province of Georgia, bearing date the 4th of October, 1757, his Majesty George II conveyed to Mark Carr, his heirs and assigns forever, in free and common socage, “All that tract of land containing five hundred acres, situate and being in the District of Midway in the Province of Georgia, bounded on the east by the Midway river, on the west by land of Thomas Carr, on the south by vacant land, and on all other sides by marshes of the said river.”

The grantee of these lands, which embraced the site of the future town of Sunbury, had been for some twenty years a man of means and of mark in the Colony of Georgia. In 1741 he had been sent by General Oglethorpe to Virginia to raise recruits for the Colony.[168] In his last will and testament, dated June 8th, 1767, and proven before his Excellency Sir James Wright on the 4th of December of the same year, Captain Carr describes himself as being “of the Parish of St. Patrick in the Province of Georgia, Esquire.” He owned lots in the town of Frederica, an island on the north side of Midway river, a tract of land on the main fronting that island, which he had purchased from John Cubbage, and “a plantation on the main over against Jekyll island.” This was his favorite residence. Here, on the 18th of March, 1741,—despite the presence of a guard of soldiers there stationed by General Oglethorpe,—the Indians made an attack very early in the morning, killing several of the soldiers and servants, wounding others, “locking down the women and children in the cellar,” pillaging the house, and carrying away the booty in a large boat belonging to the plantation.[169]

The grant of this five hundred acre tract on Midway river to Mark Carr in fee simple, was made under the operation of the rules adopted by the Common Council in May, 1750, which essentially enlarged the tenures of grants already existing, and provided that future alienations should convey “an absolute inheritance to the grantees, their heirs and assigns.” It will be remembered that under the regulations at first prescribed by the Trustees, five hundred acre tracts were conveyed only to persons well approved by the Trust;—parties who should at their own expense, and within twelve months from the date of the grant, bring ten able-bodied men servants not younger than twenty years of age, and settle upon the lands.