F 
 
 THE MAKING OF GEORGIA 
 
 OGLETHORPE 
 
 Two Addresses delivered by 
 
 HON, WALTER GLASCO CHARLTON 
 
 of Savannah, Georgia 
 
Class ^Z^ 
 
 Book ^-^ 
 
aKN\' OGLETHORPE. 
 
THE 
 M A K I N G OF GEORGIA 
 
 OGLETHORPE 
 
 ® ® 
 
 51®]'©!®) 
 
 Two Addresses by 
 
 Hon. Walter Gi.asco Charlton 
 
 of Savamiah, Georgia 
 
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THE 
 MAKING OF GEORGIA 
 
 Ladies of the Georgia Society of the Colonial Dames of 
 America: Ladies and Gentlemen— "There is hardly any 
 century in history," wrote Bolingbroke, "which began by 
 opening so great a scene as the century in which we live." 
 Had he lived to its close he might have added, nor any 
 ended with such tremendous consequences to mankind. 
 The vast empire which Louis XIV had toiled so long to 
 construct was shattered by Marlborough at Blenheim in 
 1704, and the Revolution of the French, consummated in 
 1799, when Napoleon became the first consul, fixed for- 
 ever in the popular mind the power and individuality of 
 the people. It was the age of Frederick the Great, of 
 Charles of Sweden, of Peter of Russia. It heard the death 
 knell of the republic of Venice, and it presided over the 
 partition of Poland; and on every hill-top in America it 
 saw the beacon fires of freedom and democracy blaze in 
 triumph through the throbbing night. It was the age of 
 Dryden and of Pope; of Johnson and Goldsmith; of Addi- 
 son and Steele; of Fielding and Defoe; of Burke and Pitt 
 and Sheridan, and Fox and Wilkes. Until it neared its end, 
 it was the Englishman's century, and wherever civiliza- 
 tion had set its mark his speech was heard and his arms 
 respected. It was pre-eminently a century of action. There 
 was never a time when politics were more bitter and scur- 
 rilous, and there was never a time when literature was 
 more polished and urbane. Gay found it acceptable to his 
 
 (1) 
 
The MaMmj of Geonjia 
 
 audiences to caricature, in the "Beggar's Opera," the lead- 
 ers of his day as highwaymen, whilst Pope tickled the deli- 
 cate sensibilities of his readers with a rhapsody on a lock 
 of Belinda's raven tresses. This was the century in which 
 Georgia was born. In that day colonization was a familiar 
 expedient to the great powers of Europe. There had been 
 colonies military and colonies mercantile; colonies preda- 
 tory and colonies penal; colonies for gain, for power, for 
 fame — but it was reserved for the reign of George the Sec- 
 ond to formulate the grandest theory of a colony which 
 had ever stirred the human heart or enthused the human 
 soul — a colony for charity. Whence did the idea come? 
 It may be from the tortured conscience of some Grub 
 street pamphleteer, who himself had known the grinding 
 agony of English poverty. It may be that it sprang from 
 the active brain of some polished wit sitting at the cozy 
 fireside of a London club and speculating on the ways and 
 foibles and distresses of man. Or still again, it may be 
 that across the sunny life which had come to the English 
 people with the glory of their arms, fell the dark shadow 
 of that German emigration, toiling its slow way through 
 Europe, its ranks full of the homeless and the poor, sanc- 
 tified by piety and character and courage. It may be this 
 that caused the people of England, moved to a profound 
 pity for those wandering Salzburgers, to turn toward the 
 sufferers in their own midst whose misfortunes the law 
 had made crimes and who in noisome prisons and still 
 fouler companionship were wasting their manhood and 
 womanhood and childhood in the agony of a perpetual 
 horror. We know it was James Edward Oglethorpe who, 
 in 1729, moved in the parliament a resolution of inquiry 
 into the condition of prisons with a view to the relief of 
 those who were imprisoned for debt. By whomsoever the 
 note was struck it sent a thrill throughout the length and 
 breadth of England. Politician and poet; merchant and 
 peer; king and peasant — it sounded in all ears and quick- 
 
The Making of Georgia. 3 
 
 ened all hearts. Whilst the political reason assigned was 
 the protection of the province of Carolina, the fact re- 
 mains that the immediate and noble object of the coloniza- 
 tion of Georgia is to be found in the words of the charter, 
 where it recites that "His majesty, having taken into con- 
 sideration the miserable circumstances of many of his own 
 poor subjects, ready to perish for want, as likewise the 
 distress of many poor foreigners who would take refuge 
 here from the persecution * * * hath, out of his fath- 
 erly compassion towards his subjects, been graciously 
 pleased to grant a charter for incorporating a number of 
 gentlemen by the name of 'The Trustees for establishing 
 a colony of Georgia in America.' " Surely, much will be 
 forgiven the Georges because of the noble language of that 
 charter. Nor was the nobility of the sentiment which 
 moved the trustees to accept the trust less apparent. At 
 their instance it was declared that no trustee should ever 
 receive fee or perquisite or reward, however arduous his 
 labors might be. They were to hold the lands "in trust 
 for the poor"; and it was commanded that throughout the 
 extent of Georgia there should always be "liberty of con- 
 science to all who shall settle there." On what would now 
 be August 2, 1732, the Lord Viscount Percival (afterward 
 Earl Egmont), qualified as president of the board of trus- 
 tees — each trustee as he qualified making a handsome do- 
 nation to the cause — and on November 28 of that year, the 
 good ship Anne, 200 tons burthen, whereof John Thomas 
 was master, being 130 persons, sailed from the port of 
 Gravesend, a modern Argo, bearing in her fragile sides, 
 across the tempestuous seas, the Golden Fleece of Geor- 
 gia's hopes and Georgia's future. Arriving off the bar of 
 Charleston, on the 24th of January, 1733, the commis- 
 sioner and his followers were received with the charac- 
 teristic hospitality of that historic town, and the King's 
 pilot having subsequently carried the Anne into Port 
 Royal, Oglethorpe departed for what is now Georgia to 
 
The Mal-'utf/ of (lco)-(/ia 
 
 select a site for his first settlement, and to treat with the 
 Indians in possession — leaving the colonists to refresh 
 themselves in the neighborhood. Arriving in Georgia, and 
 securing the services of Mary Musgrove as interpreter, 
 Oglethorpe visited the town of the Yaraacraws, where, 
 overcoming the objections of the Indians, he obtained their 
 consent to the settling of Savannah. It was at this inter- 
 view that he first met Tomochichi, the Mico of the tribe, 
 and there began a friendship founded upon mutual respect 
 and esteem which was to continue with increasing tender- 
 ness until the old warrior, full of years, was laid to rest 
 in Georgia soil. As Tomochichi was to be the help and 
 stay of the colony, so in the time to come Mary Musgrove 
 was destined, under the title of "Queen of Georgia," to 
 bring woes innumerable upon the people of Savannah. The 
 Sunday after Oglethorpe's return was made a day of 
 thanksgiving, and many of the gentlemen of the neighbor- 
 hood, with their families, resorted to the encampment. The 
 sermon was preached by Rev. Lewis Jones, of Beaufort — 
 the Rev. Mr. Herbert, chaplain to the colonists, filling his 
 pulpit. After being thus edified, the colonists "were re- 
 galed with four fat hogs, eight turkeys, besides fowls, 
 English beef, and other provisions, a hogshead of punch, 
 a hogshead of beer, and a large quantity of wine." It is 
 gratifying to learn from the old chronicle that "all was 
 disposed in so regular a manner that no person was drunk 
 nor any disorder happened." 
 
 Embarking on the 10th of February in a schooner of 
 seventy tons and five periaugers, and encountering on the 
 way storm and venison, they landed in the afternoon of the 
 12th at what is now Savannah, and as the red rays of the 
 setting sun shone upon their eager faces and God's peace 
 fell upon their tried and weary souls, to the music of her 
 rustling pines and the murmuring of her noble streams. 
 Georgia was started upon her glorious career. 
 
TJw Making of Georgia 
 
 Here was a scene lacking none of the elements of his- 
 toric dignity, and the imagination declines to forego the 
 opportunity to dwell upon it for a moment. The first sug- 
 gestions of spring were in the air — that light, caressing 
 air we know so well, which tempts nature to look abroad 
 in expectancy of the time, so near at hand, when tree and 
 flower will fill all the world with the glory of their res- 
 urrection. The centuries had looked down upon the stately 
 pines which filled the view at every hand, and here at last 
 was one whose mission was to carve through their ancient 
 ranks a path for man's development. How great must have 
 been his thoughts! A soldier of recognized distinction; a 
 courtier skilled in all the graces of polite society; at ease 
 in tent and ball room ; the companion of the witty and the 
 learned; taking hardships as a gentleman might, not from 
 necessity, but from choice and duty — as he stood on the 
 banks of the Savannah and sent his keen glance into the 
 west, did he see the light-hearted warrior standing at Eu- 
 gene's side and holding at bay with his Christian following 
 the ancient enemy of the Christian world, until the Danube 
 ran red with Turkish blood? Did he see the palaces he 
 had left, and hear the merry laugh of comfort and the keen 
 words of wit? Or from the midst of these children of want 
 and children of nature which surrounded him, did his 
 fancy soar over forest and stream and mountain until at 
 length it caught the sparkle of the far Pacific — the limit 
 of the State he had come to build? Or did it farther go in 
 time and from prophetic heights see oak and pine pass like 
 a thought and in their stead the stately structures of a 
 busy mart, along whose ways in constant stream poured 
 the rich treasures of the field and mine and forest, and on 
 whose placid waters moved the craft of all the powers of 
 earth? When he lay down to rest that night beneath the 
 shelter of the solemn pines, he must have known that men 
 would hold that day in everlasting memory. 
 
The MakiiKj of (U'orijia 
 
 The whole story of the colonization of Georgia reads 
 like a special providence of God. To the most friendless 
 of all people — the forgotten debtors of England — had sud- 
 denly come a veritable sunburst of benevolence. They had 
 reached America in safety, and now in their new home the 
 Indian — against whose depredations upon the colony of 
 Carolina they were expected to be the guard — received 
 them with a friendship and generosity unparalleled in the 
 history of the two races. We cannot too strongly insist 
 upon the gratitude we owe to Tomochichi for the part he 
 played in this and every other crisis of the colony. After 
 that of Oglethorpe, his is easily the noblest figure in our 
 early history. He was a broad, liberal-minded gentleman; 
 true to every promise, brave in every emergency, and with 
 a dignity of speech and bearing and look which made him 
 fit to be the historic companion of the founder. His sense 
 of right and duty had made him an exile from his people, 
 and yet, even as Mico of the Yamacraws, who had cast their 
 fortunes with him, he commanded the respect of the tribe 
 which had banished him. At the conference held between 
 Oglethorpe and the chiefs of the Lower Creek Indians for 
 the purpose of settling by treaty the boundaries of the 
 colony, the king of the Oconas, which had been Tomochi- 
 chi's tribe, said of him that he was a good man and had 
 been a great warrior, and that it was for his wisdom and 
 courage that the banished men had chosen him to be their 
 king. It was his influence which brought about the treaty, 
 and his constant, cheerful courage never wavered in the 
 most perilous moments. There is but scant material for 
 romance in the early days of the colony. The outlook was 
 eminently practical and embraced such prosaic occupation 
 as the building of houses, the tilling of the soil and the 
 construction of the machinery of government. The town 
 was divided into wards, in each ward four tythings, and 
 in each tything ten houses. A freeholder of a tything had 
 his town lot 60x90 feet, a garden lot of five acres, and a 
 
The MuJciiiff of Georgia 
 
 farm lot of forty-four acres and a fraction. The land de- 
 scended in what was known to the common law as tail- 
 male, that is, in default of male issue it reverted to the 
 trustees. Beyond the town four villages made a ward, 
 which depended upon a ward in the town. The squares, 
 which we are accustomed to regard as pleasure grounds, 
 were designed as places of refuge in time of war for the 
 families and cattle of the inhabitants of these villages, in 
 which they were at liberty to encamp — the villagers resort- 
 ing to the square upon which their ward depended. They 
 were further designed for public structures — the market 
 is now in Ellis square; and within the memory of many 
 of us the engine houses of the fire companies — negro as 
 well as white — were located in the squares. It is interest- 
 ing to note that it was upon the historic fact of their orig- 
 inal use that the Supreme Court based its decision permit- 
 ting the street car line to be built through them. 
 
 The political system was simplicity itself. Over all 
 were the trustees, with Oglethorpe as their commissioner. 
 There were three bailiffs, having judicial powers, a re 
 corder and a registrar. A term court, with civil and crim- 
 inal jurisdiction, and grand and petit juries, presided over 
 by the bailiffs, sat every six weeks. Each ward had its 
 constable under whom were four tything men, and there 
 was a public storekeeper. As the wards and tythings bore, 
 and still bear, the names of the trustees, so the streets 
 were for the most part named for the generous Carolin- 
 ians who gave freely of provisions and manual assistance 
 in the infancy of the colony. I find in a semi-official docu- 
 ment the town referred to in a rather undignified manner 
 as "New Windsor, alias Savannah." This latter designa- 
 tion, in all probability, was taken from the English name 
 of the river, which in turn was, conjecturally, from Savan- 
 nah Town, a trading post established in 1716, on the Caro- 
 lina shore, about four miles north of Hamburg, and which 
 
8 The Malcing of Georgia 
 
 took its name directly from the tribe of Sewannos Indians. 
 There was nothing in the thicl^ forest of oalvs and pines 
 which covered the site of Savannah to suggest the natural 
 appearance with which the name is usually associated. 
 From the brow of the bluff to Bay street, an open space 
 was reserved, known as the Strand, which still exists. 
 Through this it was designed to cut ways leading to the 
 foot of the bluff, up to which the river washed, in order 
 to avoid the labor of hoisting goods by the crane which 
 did service about the foot of Bull street. To the south- 
 east of what we know as Irish Green was the trus- 
 tee's garden, in which all manner of experiments were 
 made in the cultivation of fruits and valuable plants, 
 including coffee and tea. The idea seems to have pre- 
 vailed that anything might grow in Georgia. But the 
 chief hope was in the silk culture. For the nourish- 
 ment of the silk worms numbers of mulberry trees were 
 grown. It is pathetic to note with what persistency the 
 trustees and colonists clung to the idea that Georgia would 
 finally rival Italy and China in this commodity. Thousands 
 of pounds, and years of labor were expended upon this ex- 
 periment, and it was finally abandoned only when the Revo- 
 lution took away all hope of a market. In Johnson square, 
 on the spot now occupied by the Greene monument, stood 
 the first town clock — a sun dial; and somewhere in the 
 same square was a wooden hut twenty by forty feet, 
 wherein were held both the sessions of court and divine 
 service. Later the church edifice was erected on the Christ 
 Church lot. The habitation of Oglethorpe was a tent, 
 which was spread beneath four pine trees a little to the 
 east of Bull street on Bay. 
 
 From time to time slight accessions were made to the 
 colony — among them certain Italians skilled in the silk 
 culture. They came in the ship James, which was the 
 first vessel from England to ascend the Savannah river. 
 
The Makhi'j of Georgia 
 
 In the meanwhile the work of construction was pressed 
 forward. A battery of cannon and a magazine were built; 
 Fort Argyle, on the Great Ogeechee, and defensive struc- 
 tures on Skidaway, at Thunderbolt, and at Wormsloe, 
 erected; High-Gate, Hampstead, Abercorn and Joseph's 
 Town laid out, and a lighthouse to be ninety feet high on 
 Tybee Island projected. 
 
 Returning from Charleston, whither he had gone to 
 express his acknowledgments for the kindnesses shown 
 the colony, on May 18, 1733, Oglethorpe met with the chiefs 
 of the Lower Creek Indians, brought together by Tomo- 
 chichi, and with them, on the 21st, entered into a treaty 
 by which the trustees were granted all lands between the 
 Savannah and the Alatamaha, from the ocean to the head 
 of tidewater, with the islands from Tybee to St. Simons, 
 inclusive, save Ossabaw, Sapelo and St. Catherine's. In 
 one way and another, by treaties and by charter, Georgia 
 became a vast empire in extent — her possessions extend- 
 ing along the Savannah and Alatamaha to their headwaters, 
 thence due west to the South Sea — a claim which was so 
 far good as to cover after the Revolution the territory of 
 Alabama and Mississippi. By this time the colony had 
 begun to attract the attention of the outside world. To- 
 ward the end of 1733 came about forty Hebrews, over the 
 protest of the trustees — but proving to be orderly and use- 
 ful citizens, Oglethorpe permitted them to remain. In the 
 spring of 1734 occurred an incident of historic moment. 
 From 1729 to 1732 had been going on in Europe a move- 
 ment which deeply interested the people of England. A 
 frenzy of religious persecution directed against the Luther- 
 ans had taken possession of the ecclesiastical powers of 
 Salzburg. It raged with especial fury in the beautiful 
 valley of Salsa, until at length overborne by the helpless- 
 ness of their situation the inhabitants of that unhappy spot 
 determined to forsake the homes of their fathers and seek 
 
10 The MakitKj of Geonjla 
 
 peace and freedom in other lands. To the number of 
 twenty-five or thirty thousand they marched through Eu- 
 rope on their way to Holland and England. These were no 
 imprisoned debtors freed by the impulsive benevolence of 
 a remorseful people. They were martyrs who preferred 
 death or exile to apostacy. With a gentleness and piety 
 which affected those to whom they came — the convictions 
 upon which they acted were as unbending as the oak. 
 Misfortune and oppression had not crushed their spirits, 
 and they heard through the night of their sorrow the voice 
 of God leading them onward as He had in the olden time 
 led the Israelites out of the bondage of Egypt into the 
 Land of Promise. Late in 1733, seventy-eight of these peo- 
 ple, under invitation from the trustees, set out from Berch- 
 tolsgaden for Rotterdam, and being there joined by the 
 Rev. John Martin Bolzius and Rev. Israel Christian Gronau 
 sailed for Dover, where the oath of allegiance to the British 
 crown was administered to them by the trustees. On 
 December 28 they sailed in the ship Purisburg, stopping 
 at Charleston, where they were met by Oglethorpe. Re- 
 suming their journey, on the 10th of March, 1734, after a 
 stormy passage, they entered the Savannah river, and on 
 the 17th pitched their tents at the chosen site which they 
 gratefully called Ebenezer. With characteristic industry 
 they at once set to work to build their homes. In those 
 days the great consideration was, of necessity, access to 
 navigable streams. Otherwise it would be difficult to con- 
 jecture why in a belt of country which had then, as now, 
 some of the healthiest localities in Georgia, the site of 
 Ebenezer should have been selected as a habitation for 
 foreigners. The soil was barren, the surrounding country 
 full of swamps — and, despite the earnest efforts of the 
 Salzburgers, Ebenezer was doomed from the first. The 
 town was far advanced when it was determined to change 
 the site. Over the remonstrances of Oglethorpe, the entire 
 settlement forsook their new home and began anew the 
 
The Making of Georgia 11 
 
 work of colonization at Red Bluff, on the Savannah, which 
 they renamed New Ebenezer. From time to time they 
 received accessions from Europe and Pennsylvania and 
 established a reputation for industry and honesty which 
 clings to their descendants to this day. Savannah had 
 boasted that it had no lawyers, but Ebenezer could claim 
 that it had neither lawyers, courts or rum. All of their 
 differences were referred to their pastors and by them, 
 aided by the elders, reconciled. It was amongst these 
 people that the silk culture received its highest develop- 
 ment. They succeeded in producing an article which was 
 recognized by experts in England as equal to the best 
 Piedmontese silk. The output increased year by year, until 
 it was stopped for all time by the Revolution. There, too, 
 the first cotton was raised. 
 
 In the summer of 1733, Oglethorpe sailed for England 
 with Tomochichi and other Indians, and we find but scant 
 record of the colony until his return. However, whilst 
 he was abroad an event of the first import to the colony 
 took place in Great Britain. There gathered at Inverness, 
 in Scotland, a baud of Highlanders, numbering about one 
 hundred and eighty, whose destination was Georgia. Em- 
 barking on October 20, 1735, in the Prince of Wales, and 
 encountering favoring winds, they reached Georgia early 
 in January, and at once proceeded to the spot on which 
 Darien stands. This was the settlement of New Inverness. 
 They came with their plaids and shields and claymores. 
 Among them, says the Chronicle, were some who were un- 
 accustomed to work, and these were attended by their 
 servants. It would seem that the extremes of the world 
 had met — the Highlander and the Indian. But no people 
 ever came to Georgia who took so quickly to the conditions 
 under which they were to live or remained more loyal to 
 her interests. By this time our friends across the river 
 had begun to interest themselves in Georgia affairs. Their 
 
12 The Making of Georgia 
 
 traders were giving trouble by undertaking to deal with 
 the Indians without a Georgia license, and they were con- 
 stantly smuggling rum into the colony — a commodity which 
 with slavery had been inhibited. They also began to assert 
 that the river belonged to Carolina. The colonists resent- 
 ing this invasion of their territory — actual and by claim — 
 the pleasant relations formerly existing became strained. 
 So, upon the arrival of the Highlanders, it was suggested 
 to them by citizens of Carolina that they courted death in 
 the attempt to settle New Inverness; that the Spaniards, 
 who were near at hand, would shoot them down from the 
 houses in their fort. "Why, then," said the Highlanders, 
 "we will beat them out of their fort and so have houses 
 ready built to live in." They were a sturdy, brave and 
 self-reliant race — holding one of the outposts of the colony 
 with unflinching courage. None of the race elements which 
 went to make up Georgia have in name and characteristics 
 preserved so thoroughly their identity — and are yet so 
 thoroughly Georgian — as the Scot and the Salzburger. 
 
 After many efforts and much buffeting by contrary 
 winds, the Symond and the London Merchant sailed from 
 England for Georgia, on December 21, 1735, having on 
 board English and foreigners, two hundred and twenty- 
 seven persons. These were the colonists for Frederica. 
 With them sailed Oglethorpe and his secretary of Indian 
 affairs, Charles Wesley, John Wesley, and a number of 
 gentlemen, friends of Oglethorpe, with their servants. For 
 Charles Wesley, fresh from the academic shades of Ox- 
 ford, the rough life of Georgia was scarcely fitted. Of a 
 sweet and gentle nature, trusting and unsuspicious, it was 
 almost inevitable that he should come to be misunderstood. 
 Serious differences arose between him and his chief at 
 Frederica, so thoroughly healed at length, it is pleasant 
 to note, that they parted at last with affection. His brother 
 was made of sterner stuff. He was one of the great men 
 
The Making of Georgia 13 
 
 of his day, strong of will and tenacious of purpose. A cen- 
 tury after his death the historian Green said of him that 
 he had "'an indefatigable industry; a cool judgment, a com- 
 mand over others; a faculty of organization, a singular 
 union of patience and moderation, with an imperious ambi- 
 tion which marked him as a ruler of men." 
 
 The struggle between him and the people of Savannah 
 was of long duration. Upon his part it was not unmarked 
 by indiscretion — never by lack of courage or principle; 
 upon their part, it at last took the form of persecution — and 
 judging that his usefulness was gone, he shook the dust of 
 Georgia from his feet and went upon his way, to become 
 in time the head of one of the greatest religious move- 
 ments of the ages. 
 
 The trip of the Symond and London Merchant was un- 
 eventful. They had prayers twice a day, "and the Dissent- 
 ers, particularly the Germans, sung psalms, and served 
 God in their own way." The ships were kept wondrously 
 clean, and constables were appointed to prevent disorder. 
 The men were exercised with small arms and the women 
 were furnished with knitting needles, thread and worsted, 
 and employed their leisure time in making stockings and 
 caps for their families or in mending their clothes and 
 linen. These, I believe are lost arts. On February 16, 1736, 
 they made Tybee. The design had been to transport the 
 colonists to Frederica by the ships, but the captains not 
 having that sublime confidence in the Jekyl bar now en- 
 joyed, and sometimes expressed by our neighbors in 
 Brunswick, declined to make the venture. They were 
 thereupon carried to St. Simons in periaugers, the precau- 
 tion being taken to put the liquor in the fastest boat that 
 the others might have an incentive to keep in company 
 with it. Passing through the beautiful inland route with 
 its dreamy isles and overhanging oaks and infinite stretch 
 
14 The Mal'uuj of (Scorgia 
 
 of golden marsh, they reached St. Simon's and at once be- 
 gan to construct and fortify Frederica. The failure of the 
 ships to cross the Jekyl bar confronted the colonists with 
 a grave peril. They were on the picket line. Only a short 
 distance to the south flowed the St. John's, the boundary 
 of the Spanish domain, and near to that was the fortified 
 town of St. Augustine. Oglethorpe frankly explained to 
 them the peril of their situation — one hundred and thirty 
 miles from Savannah, which was accessible only by open 
 boats. With great determination they elected to stay and 
 build their town. Whilst the work of construction pro- 
 gressed, Oglethorpe, with Tomochichi and other Indians, 
 made frequent reconnoisances to the south, extending as 
 far as the St. John's. In the midst of preparations for de- 
 fense came the information that Spain had renewed her 
 claim to all territory south of the Savannah river. Uncer- 
 tain of the friendship of Carolina and persuaded by the 
 inadequacy of his own forces to meet and overcome the 
 resources of Spain, Oglethorpe, toward the close of 1736, 
 sailed for England to lay before the King the gravity of 
 the situation and the necessity for disciplined soldiers if 
 the colony was to be held. 
 
 In the meanwhile. Savannah was in trouble, and the 
 situation may be described without reference to chronology. 
 There had been much sacrifice and nobility in the history of 
 the colony. If the first settlers came from the debtors' pris- 
 ons, the Purisburg, the Prince of Wales, the Symond and 
 the London Merchant had brought as strong and independ- 
 ent contingents as ever landed in any colony, and the 
 emergencies which had arisen had been met, under the 
 wise direction of Oglethorpe, with firmness and success. 
 
 But to many hearts had come disappointment, and the 
 discontent which sprang from the ruins of false and un- 
 reasoning hopes began to find voice. One of those very 
 
The Mal-'uifj of Geonjia 15 
 
 sanguine spirits, who, with the best intentions, go through 
 life making trouble for other people, had written of Geor- 
 gia: "I think it is the pleasantest climate in the world; 
 for it is neither too w^arm in summer, nor too cold in the 
 winter. They have certainly the finest water in the world, 
 and the land is extraordinarily good; this may certainly 
 be called the land of Canaan." I have no particular knowl- 
 edge of the land of Canaan, and I am not disposed to take 
 issue with the statement if applied to Savannah at the 
 present time, but I am not without sympathy with the col- 
 onists who, setting out to find this paradise, found heat 
 and cold and storms and malaria, and mosquitoes and pro- 
 hibition. Doubtless they considered that the world owed 
 them some reparation for the injustices it had heaped upon 
 them, but they never seemed to have realized that then 
 as now the kindly soil of Georgia gives of its treasures 
 to the industrious and takes but scant account of the 
 philosopher who sits in the sun with his back against a 
 rugged pine, speculating on the curse of labor. Oglethorpe 
 had inhibited negro slavery as repugnant to all economic 
 theories connected with a pioneer colony, and being a bold 
 man, he had likewise prohibited rum. They clamored for 
 slaves and they clamored for rum. They seemed somehow 
 to have evolved the conclusion that it was the duty of the 
 government to furnish them with both. These discontents 
 among the colonists were the most grasping pensioners 
 Georgia has ever known. All around them were men in 
 reasonable prosperity, the result of devoted toil — but these 
 examples had no effect upon their leisurely methods. 
 Think of a man complaining of the want of luxuries with 
 Thunderbolt and the Wilmington river within four miles 
 of him, and the Savannah, abounding in succulent cat, flow- 
 ing at his very feet. Added to his own innate cussedness, 
 the discontented colonists had some real grievances. The 
 chief bailiff and store keeper was a man of arbitrary meth- 
 ods and gave of justice and provisions by rules which grat- 
 
16 The Making of Geonjia 
 
 ified his whims rather than met the moral requirements of 
 the situation. The trouble at last, however, came from 
 those whose absence, as the Journal suggested, the colony 
 would be the better for. But if they would not work, they 
 talked with a breadth and picturesqueness which excite 
 the admiration. They discoursed of their neighbors and 
 of their town. They laughed at the Brunswick bar, and 
 cast aspersions upon the fortifications at Frederica. Dear 
 old Dr. Bolzius had somewhere written that the Salzburgers 
 were content and the country fertile, in illustration of 
 which he grew eloquent over a plateful of fox-grapes and 
 bullaces which was before him at the moment. This drew 
 down the wrath of the pine-stump politician on Ebenezer, 
 and he bitterly denied that anybody was or could be con- 
 tented, and he gloated with inexpressible glee over the 
 swamps which surrounded that devoted spot. The Salz- 
 burger contented himself with observing that Savannah 
 was suffering with a complicated complaint, into which 
 largely entered the disturbing element of rum. Augusta, 
 having, with the boastfulness of extreme youth, remarked 
 that it was destined to become a great trade center, since 
 a given number of horses passed that post each year — the 
 citizen on the coast hastened to suggest that the total was 
 reached by counting the same animals going and return- 
 ing, and that if she would make her garrison of twelve men 
 revolve in a circle all day and count each man every time 
 he passed a given point, she would likewise have a large 
 population. They embraced in the scope of their vitupera- 
 tion the river, the filature, the court house and Hutchinson 
 Island. They characterized Tomochichi as a vagrant, and 
 because John Wesley asked them concerning their sins, 
 they maintained that a separate nightly session was found 
 at his house, "which made a communion of saints, and 
 were distinguished by the name of Faithful; but which 
 were indeed such members as neither contributed to the 
 credit of religion nor society," and "that they observed 
 
The Maldng of Oeorgia 17 
 
 particular forms of worship and duties, such as publick 
 confession, penance, absolution, etc.," and that "many be- 
 lieved that an avenue was herein opening to Popery." They 
 fairly danced around Bailiff Causton like Indians about a 
 prisoner at the stake — and enjoyed the pastime all the 
 more because of the vulnerability of the victim. If there 
 was any offense they did not ascribe to him, it was because 
 it was then unknown to the English tongue. Life is too 
 short to recite all of the iniquities they connected with the 
 administration of this official, from the issuance of sola 
 bills to the abstraction of public stores. One of his doings, 
 however, stands out in bold relief. Mr. Watson having, 
 as it was alleged, so filled one Skee with rum that he died, 
 was put on trial. The jury, being glared at by the bailiff, 
 with delightful inconsequence returned a verdict of "using 
 unguarded expressions." This remarkable return the 
 bailiff construed to mean lunacy, but failing to make the 
 proper discrimination between the jury and the defendant, 
 put the latter in jail, and, later, bailed him out — which last 
 act brought about his ears both trustees and people. A 
 most temperate and conservative statement having been 
 prepared, chiefly geographical and philosophical, designed 
 to give the trustees a clear view of the colony, the opposi- 
 tion at once attacked it with vehemence, analyzing with 
 great freedom the character and future of the signers, and 
 finally, disposing of them as a crowd of time-serving office- 
 holders. The freshet of abuse rose rapidly and soon 
 reached the highest mark. A young preacher, who had 
 started for Georgia with the munificent endowment of 
 twenty pounds, found himself in a short while at the end 
 of his fortune and applied to Oglethorpe for aid. That 
 great man was charged with replying that unless the eccle- 
 siast "would depend solely on Him who feeds the ravens, 
 etc., he (Oglethorpe) neither could or might with security 
 give him credit there." Mr. Watson, happening to ask Mr. 
 Oglethorpe what laws he intended for the colony, the latter, 
 
18 The Making of Georgia 
 
 being for the moment indisposed to deliver a lecture on 
 jurisprudence, replied: "Such q,s the trustees thought 
 proper, what business had poor people to do with laws." 
 Mr. Perkins concluded that because he had accumulated 
 eighteen tame hogs, a general order had been issued for 
 the slaying of swine. Mr. Coram was quite certain that 
 unless Oglethorpe was promptly taken in hand the colony 
 would speedily become a Jewish settlement; and Mr. 
 Roberson was convinced that such had been the conduct of 
 affairs his property had become valueless, and he sadly 
 remarked that it made no difference anyhow, for even if 
 the general or the trustees did not sieze it, it had already 
 become worthless by the course of events; and he implored 
 the King, speaking from this disinterested standpoint, to be 
 graciously pleased "to save his subjects from the severities 
 of the said Oglethorpe." In the pamphlet entitled "A Brief 
 Account of the Causes Which Have Retarded the Progress 
 of the Colony," it is observed that since his (Oglethorpe's) 
 appointm_ent there is scarcely any species of oppression, 
 short of life and limb, which may not be unanswerably 
 proved to have been arbitrarily exerted by this gentleman 
 who has publicly appeared an invader of the natural rights 
 of mankind, and the particular privileges of his fellow-sub- 
 jects." But the climax was reached when the subject of 
 drink was touched. Each of the disaffected felt at liberty 
 to fire in any direction he pleased on ordinary occasion, 
 but around this topic all rallied and fired by volley. Avail- 
 ing themselves of the Englishman's right of petition, they 
 sent up a prayer loud and earnest. This man, they said, 
 has ruined the colony. He has forbidden slavery — and 
 white men may not toil here. But worse than this, he has 
 prohibited rum. As your majesty knows, the trade of the 
 colony consists in indigo and lumber which we sell to New 
 England in exchange for rum to be sold at large profit to 
 the Indians. This he has taken from us. In addition to 
 this loss, as your majesty well knows, the waters of all the 
 
The MciMny of Geor<jia 19 
 
 colonies are bad, but particularly do the waters of Georgia 
 and Carolina need qualification. A practice which seems 
 to have survived the introduction of artesian. Such is the 
 vitality of colonial traditions. And so it goes, page after 
 page of the Journal covered with complaints and abuse, 
 until the Earl, in sheer weariness of spirit after forgiving 
 the Salzburgers a small debt for reason that they were 
 the only colonists who had ever repaid their loans, in- 
 scribed it as his opinion that the rest were given over to 
 drunkenness and laziness — a view in which, in the main, 
 Whitfield coincided. How small it appears at this interval 
 of time. But light began to break at last. The discon- 
 tented gradually found their way to Carolina, where they 
 kept up fire at long range — and the colony thus purified 
 began to prepare itself for the crisis which was upon it. 
 
 In England, Georgia's fate had long hung in the balance. 
 In the Parliament and in court circles, it had well-nigh 
 been determined to give over the struggle and yield to 
 Spain's contention, but pride saved the day at last. So, 
 on July 5, 1738, Oglethorpe having received his commis- 
 sion from the King as general and commander-in-chief of 
 the forces in Carolina and Georgia, set sail from Ports- 
 mouth, with most of his regiment, arriving in Jekyl sound 
 on September 18, a detachment of his troops having pre- 
 viously sailed on May 7. With these latter came George 
 Whitfield, an earnest and brilliant man, the successor of 
 John Wesley, whose lasting memorial still exists in the 
 Bethesda Orphans' Home. Fixing his headquarters at 
 Fort St. Andrews on Cumberland, Oglethorpe at once pro- 
 ceeded to establish communications between Frederica 
 and the fort at the south end of St. Simons; and beset with 
 many anxieties and under the necessity of increasing vig- 
 ilance to detect and frustrate the designs of the Spaniards, 
 he was suddenly confronted with a mutiny in his regiment, 
 which came near being fatal to him. For a few months 
 
20 The Mal'Uuf of Oeorgia 
 
 after their arrival, extra provisions had been issued to the 
 troops. This, some of them came to regard as a part of 
 their pay, and upon the discontinuance of the allowance 
 a conspiracy was formed to kill the general. He was inso- 
 lently approached by a soldier, who, upon being rebuked, 
 ran to his quarters, and arming himself, returned with some 
 four or five associates. Approaching Oglethorpe, he fired 
 at point blank range, the powder scorching the general's 
 face and clothes and the bullet narrowly missing his head. 
 The musket of the second conspirator missed fire, where- 
 upon a third drew his hanger and endeavored to stab his 
 chief, who, having drawn his sword, parried the blow, and 
 before it could be repeated, the soldier had been run 
 through by an officer who had hastened to the spot. The 
 remaining conspirators were seized, court-martialed and 
 executed, and the affair was ended. The general situation 
 was becoming each day more ominous. Fomented by the 
 Spaniards, a slave insurrection had broken out in Carolina, 
 and a large company of negroes were making their way 
 toward Florida, murdering and plundering as they went. 
 Fortunately, this was suppressed before the Georgia line 
 was reached. But the frequency of these attempts to 
 arouse the Indians and negroes against the English per- 
 suaded Oglethorpe of the necessity of immediate action 
 toward securing the friendship and alliance of the great 
 Creek nation. Setting out in July, 1739, with a retinue of 
 three or four officers, he pushed his way for three hundred 
 miles through the wilderness and swamps of Georgia, 
 probably to the neighborhood of where Columbus now 
 stands. There he found the Creeks assembled and con- 
 sidering the expediency of war upon the whites. Such was 
 the impression made upon them by Oglethorpe — particu- 
 larly his boldness in coming among them with so few fol- 
 lowers — that they renewed their relations with the English, 
 
The Making of Geonjia 21 
 
 and pledged their co-operation in the approaching hostili- 
 ties with Spain. This secured neutrality, at least, of seven 
 thousand warriors and was a magnificent illustration of 
 the fortitude, skill and powers of endurance of the general. 
 On his return he learned that war had been declared 
 between England and Spain. In the midst of these mili- 
 tary preparations and anxieties, death took from him one 
 of his truest friends and most loyal allies. On the 16th 
 of October, 1739, died in his own town, at the age of 92 
 years, Tomochichi, the king of the Yamacraws. As his 
 end drew near, he summoned his followers about him and 
 urged upon them that they persevere in their friendship for 
 the English. He expressed the greatest tenderness for 
 Oglethorpe, and was troubled that death came at a time 
 when he might have been of service against the Spaniards. 
 As he had induced the Creeks to sign the treaty and thus 
 assisted in the founding of the town, he desired that he 
 might be buried in Savannah, among the English. And 
 so when life departed, they bore the old warrior, as he had 
 wished, to Savannah, her prominent men being his pall- 
 bearers, followed by the Indians, the magistrates and the 
 people. And reverently and in honor, to the martial sound 
 of minute guns, they laid him to rest in the heart of the 
 town. And over his grave, by order of Oglethorpe, they 
 erected a pyramid of stones, in testimony of their gratitude. 
 We pass the spot each day— for it is in the court house 
 square— but in our harder times we have thrown down the 
 simple monument they raised, and there he lies, with our 
 busy life above him, forgotten. So it is with your greater 
 friend, old warrior. Upon our streets rise other monu- 
 ments to brave and goodly men, and even the brutal Span- 
 ish chief who cut his murderous, plundering way from 
 south to north through Georgia's length, has his memorial 
 
The Makiiuj of Gconjia 
 
 in our midst. But you who toiled and fought and gave and 
 suffered for her good — rest, you forgotten. Such is your 
 fate. 
 
 "To the rescue, spirits bold! 
 To the rescue, gallant men; 
 Let the marble page unfold 
 All his daring deeds again." 
 
 On the 15th of November, 1739, the Spaniards began 
 hostilities by shooting two Highlanders on Amelia Island. 
 Oglethorpe at once gave pursuit, and, failing to overtake 
 the assailants, pushed on to the St. John's, landed on the 
 main and burnt three outposts. Marching in the direction 
 of St. Augustine, and attacking and defeating a detachment 
 of Spanish horse, negroes and Indians, he attempted to 
 take Forts St. Francis and Picolata, but failed for want of 
 artillery. Returning on January 1, 1740, he surprised and 
 burnt Fort Picolata and captured Fort St. Francis. This 
 placed him within twenty miles of St. Augustine. In all of 
 these expeditions he was accompanied by the Indians from 
 the Yamacraws. By this time the home government began 
 to interest itself in Georgia affairs and Admiral Vernon 
 was dispatched to make a demonstration against the Span- 
 ish West Indies, whilst Oglethorpe was to invade Florida. 
 It was agreed that a regiment of 500 Carolinians should 
 meet the Georgia force at the mouth of the St. John's, and 
 runners were sent to the Indian allies. The naval force, 
 after the West Indian service, was to rendezvous off the 
 St. John's bar and blockade the north channel and the 
 Mantanzas pass, whilst a detachment of sailors erected 
 batteries on Anastasia Island. St. Augustine, thus men- 
 aced from the sea, was to be invested on the land side by 
 the army under Oglethorpe. About the middle of May, 1740, 
 the army, 2,000 strong, consisting of regulars, militia and 
 Indians, moved on St. Augustine. Capturing Fort Moosa, 
 which was two miles from the town, preparations were 
 
The Makuiff of Georgia 23 
 
 made for the attack. The signal for the assault was given 
 the fleet, which did not respond. Given a second time 
 without result, the unsupported attack from the land be- 
 came impracticable. This lack of co-operation compelled 
 Oglethorpe to convert the plan of assault into a seige, 
 which continued for three weeks without result. The fleet 
 finally weighed anchor and sailed away, and the garrison, 
 having been provisioned and reinforced, Oglethorpe raised 
 the seige and, ill of fever, began his homeward march. At 
 this juncture the Carolinaians, forgetful of the traditions 
 of their brave state, behaved badly. They had not lost a 
 man during the expedition, but as the troops began to 
 withdraw such was their perturbation of spirit that they 
 broke into a disorderly retreat, leaving the remainder of 
 the force, thus depleted, exposed to an attack which was 
 promptly delivered, and as promptly repulsed. As they 
 hurried along they invited an Indian chief to go with them. 
 He replied: "No, I will not stir a foot until I see every 
 man belonging to me marched off before me." The army 
 reached Frederica in safety on July 10. With the experi- 
 ence which came to many of us in the tremendous con- 
 flicts of the late war in America, the military operations 
 in which the colony of Georgia engaged, however momen- 
 tous and serious to those of that day, are apt to seem tri- 
 fling affairs to our broader observation. But however con- 
 tracted the scope of his opportunity, one cannot but be 
 impressed with the military genius of Oglethorpe. He had 
 been reared in a stern and capable school and knew war 
 as it was understood by the ablest generals in Europe. His 
 strategy was perfect, and his soldiers recognized in him 
 that high quality of a commander which carries him 
 wherever he is willing to order his men to go. Indeed, 
 it was only on rare occasions when his presence was else- 
 where demanded that he did not actually move, on land 
 and on sea, at the head of his command. Intrepid to the 
 last degree, the instant an expedition or seige became futile 
 
24 The Making of Oenrfna 
 
 lie turned toward his base. His energy was enormous. 
 Delivering a blow today, all the chances were that, irrespec- 
 tive of success, he would be back on the morrow. The 
 Spaniard became worn through loss of rest, and his fleets 
 hastened to put the ocean between them and Oglethorpe's 
 scout boat with its swivel gun. He invaded Florida before 
 and after the battle of Frederica, and he contemptously 
 patrolled the St. John's a dozen times. His movements 
 sometimes bordered on recklessness, but he was never in- 
 different to the safety of his command, and fighter as he 
 was, never risked the lives of those under him when the 
 object in view could be attained by stratagem. The stage 
 was small, but it was the same great actor who had won 
 the applause of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. 
 
 While he was representing to the home government the 
 urgency of naval support, the storm was gathering fast. 
 No vessels arriving, and the lieutenant governor of Caro- 
 lina having declined assistance, Oglethorpe made his prep- 
 arations to meet its fury alone. It burst upon him in the 
 summer of 1742. A Spanish fleet of fifty-one sails ap- 
 peared in June. In one way and another the vessels of 
 this fleet were separated, and so badly used in detail that 
 it finally disappeared, to be replaced on June 28 by another 
 fleet of thirty-six sails, which together made the Cuba and 
 St. Augustine squadrons. This Oglethorpe succeeded in 
 retarding until July 5, when, after a hot engagement, last- 
 ing four hours, it passed the batteries and got out of range 
 toward Frederica. Whereupon Oglethorpe, getting off some 
 of his craft to Charleston in the face of the fleet and de- 
 stroying the rest, fell back upon Frederica, the enemy 
 landing at the south end. On July 7 the Spaniards moved 
 on Frederica, and Oglethorpe advanced to meet them. As 
 they came in view he charged at the head of his Indians, 
 Highlanders and Rangers, and utterly routed them, driving 
 them back to an open meadow, at the edge of which he 
 
The Making of Georgia 25 
 
 posted three platoons of the regiment and the company of 
 Highlanders. Against these the Spaniards again advanced 
 with negroes and Indians. In the encounter some of the 
 platoons retired in disorder, but the firing continuing, Ogle- 
 thorpe concluded that his force had not been dispersed. 
 Advancing to its support, he arrived in time to see the 
 enemy routed. The Spaniards retired into the ruins of the 
 old fort, where they entrenched under the shelter of the 
 guns of the fleet. For want of artillery, Oglethorpe fell 
 back on Frederica. A Frenchman of Oglethorpe's com- 
 mand having deserted to the enemy, the general conceived 
 a bold scheme to turn the desertion to account. Surmising 
 that the deserter would give information of the weakness 
 of his forces, he composed a letter in French and induced 
 a prisoner to carry it into the Spanish lines. When found 
 upon him he was to acknowledge that it was intended for 
 the deserter. In it the latter was urged to persist in rep- 
 resenting the inferiority of the Georgia army, and it was 
 confided to him that if he would so thoroughly impress the 
 Spanish commander with this fact as to induce him to 
 engage in battle that not only would the English arms pre- 
 vail, but the deserter would be given a large sum of money 
 in addition to what he had already received. The scheme 
 worked like a charm. The emissary was arrested and 
 searched, and reluctantly admitted that the letter was for 
 the Frenchman. In vain did the latter protest his inno- 
 cence. He was court-martialed and found to be a double 
 spy. Confining all the French, the Spaniards hastily em- 
 barked and evacuated St. Simons with such precipitancy 
 that they left their cannon and their dead. Bringing up 
 under Jekyl, the Cuba squadron finally stood out to sea 
 and that of St. Augustine returned to Cumberland sound, 
 from which, upon Oglethorpe's pursuit, they put to sea. 
 And this was the last time that any force not speaking 
 the English tongue ever set foot on Georgia soil with hos- 
 tile intent. In the terse and reverent language of the gen- 
 
26 llie Makinf/ of Georgia 
 
 eral: "The Spanish invasion, which had a long time threat- 
 ened the colony, Carolina and all North America, has at 
 last fallen upon us, and God hath been our deliverance." 
 And the good Whitfield added: "The deliverance of Geor- 
 gia from the Spaniards is such as cannot be paralleled but 
 by some instances out of the Old Testament." In March, 
 1743, Oglethorpe conducted another expedition against St. 
 Augustine. Driving the enemy into his fortifications, and 
 the English being too weak to attack, the expedition re- 
 turned to Frederica. This was practically the last of the 
 war. The fortifications on St. Simons were kept up until 
 the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, when the troops 
 having been withdrawn, they fell into decay. 
 
 And now, his work accomplished, the great soldier be- 
 gan to think of the rest he had earned and of the home 
 across the seas from which he had been so long an exile 
 for the good of mankind and the glory of England. On 
 July 23, 1743, after ten years of arduous toil and constant, 
 pressing responsibilities, he set sail for England, leaving 
 behind him, where he had found at his coming a wilder- 
 ness, the sure foundations of a free and enlightened com- 
 monwealth, and bearing with him the affection of the dis- 
 cerning and the applauding recognition of the English 
 speaking world. In a long and honored life he never forgot 
 the people for whom he had labored. When in the great 
 crisis of their existence he was offered the command of 
 the British army, he declined it, and insisted that justice 
 and not arms would retain the American colonies. Sur- 
 rounded by the cultured and the great — the friend of 
 Johnson and Burke, and Reynolds and Goldsmith; sung 
 of the poets and applauded by mankind, he passed to his 
 rest on the 1st of July, 1785, at the great age of 96 years. 
 No marble shaft uprears its graceful lines to remind us of 
 his deeds and virtues. But so it is, that whenever Geor- 
 gia's name is called that of Oglethorpe springs instant to 
 
The Making of Georgia 27 
 
 the memory. He who has Georgia as a monument may 
 well forego the cold and speechless marble. 
 
 And so Georgia was made. To English, and Scot, and 
 German, in time were added the Virginian and the New 
 Englander, and from them all have sprung a race as brave 
 and self-reliant as ever stood in the line of battle or con- 
 quered in the fierce struggles of peace. 
 
 And what of the State which has been made! From 
 weakness unto strength; from storm to peace, her steps 
 have led. Where, in the olden days, the minstrels of her 
 tangled wilds poured out their hymns at nature's shrines 
 the harsh discordant cries of trade from iron throats now 
 sound across the ripening corn and echo through the 
 snowy acres of her fruitful fields. No more the restless 
 waves beat lonely on her shining sands, but as they break 
 and clamoring pass away, the answering ripples of her sea- 
 ward craft call to her ancient shores their prophecies of 
 hope and gain. Her rushing streams are voiceless in the 
 constant roar of wheel and rod, and all her blue and 
 rounded hills bleed from the wounds of furrowing plow 
 and delving spade. And as she moves resistless through 
 the contending ranks, with wreaths of commerce round 
 her imperial brows, in her triumphant train come memories 
 which know not trade nor steam nor greed: Memories 
 of names which reaching up aspiring hands toward the 
 very heights of fame, yet kept their loving touch upon her 
 heart: Memories of simple folk who died on honored fields 
 with Georgia's name upon their lips and Georgia's glory 
 in their hearts: Memories of empty sleeves and broken 
 hearts; and memories which like heralds speak unto a 
 listening world that never yet within her bounds hath free- 
 dom called in vain, or sought the courage which she did 
 not find. Pass on, old State, with all thy glorious mem- 
 ories, to better things — if any be! About thy honored form 
 
The Making of Georyia 
 
 clin£? all our hopes and aims, and round thy sacred head 
 — a saintly halo shining through the years — glows soft and 
 bright thy children's love! Pass on in splendor to the un- 
 tried times, a conquering spirit in our earthly days, thy 
 greatness moving through the lesser shades like sunlight 
 through the summer clouds! 
 
 Make way for our sovereign State! 
 
 As she passes along the years. 
 
 Her eyes are soft with remembered tears, 
 
 And her heart with the thoughts of her great; 
 
 Of her sons who fell where the battle raved 
 
 Like the demon of storms elate, 
 
 Of the daughters whose cheering courage waved 
 
 Their faith in the face of Fate. 
 
 Let her pines bend low as she passes along, 
 
 And the sprites that crooning sway 
 
 In their tops, and whisper of wave and spray, 
 
 Pour into her ears their song; 
 
 And her gold-eyed thrush with the witching lay, 
 
 And her streams and her blue hills strong, 
 
 And her winter skies and her fragrant May — 
 
 Let them join in the praising throng. 
 
 Let her dead and her living attend her feet — 
 
 Her son from over the wave — 
 
 The dusky shade of her Indian brave — 
 
 And her toilers from field and street; 
 
 And her statesmen wise and her bards who sing, 
 
 And her soldier lads who died. 
 
 And sinner and saint — 'till the whole world ring 
 
 With her children's loving pride! 
 
The MaMiKj of Georyia 29 
 
 Make way for the State we love! 
 
 Wherever her footsteps go 
 
 We'll follow them though the tempests blow, 
 
 Or her skies show fair above; 
 
 And whether we come from rounded hill, 
 
 Or dwell where her waters move. 
 
 We'll circle our hearts about her still — 
 
 Make way for the State we love! 
 
OGLETPIORPE 
 
 A county, a ward, a street here and there and a dilapi- 
 dated and abandoned fort on the banks of the Savannah, 
 which in the fullness of its strength could not have with- 
 stood the least dangerous of modern ordnance for ten min- 
 utes — these are the memorials in Georgia to the English- 
 man who made the state possible. 
 
 The county and ward seem to have been conferred with 
 something of generous appreciation; one of the streets 
 at least, was yielded reluctantly after a struggle of years, 
 and the fortification having served for upward of half a 
 century as an imperishable monument to the glory of 
 Andrew Jackson was abruptly withdrawn from that hon- 
 orable employment and appropriated to the fame of James 
 Edward Oglethorpe, which has and does deserve a better 
 fate at the hands of a people who, in their strong history, 
 still feel the impulses which he imparted in the days of 
 their weakness and their youth. 
 
 With the rapid and weedy growth of heroes, which has 
 come upon us, such expedients are doubtless necessary. 
 Fifty years is a long time for any one man to continue to 
 be a hero in America, and the shades of the fighter who 
 held his raw troops steady behind the cotton bales at New 
 Orleans and sent the best infantry of Europe in panic from 
 the field of battle, should remember, if it is given to shades 
 to reflect, that since his day we have had more heroes 
 than counties and forts and monuments— Cuban heroes — 
 South Sea heroes — China heroes, and even as we meditate 
 
 (31) 
 
32 Oglethorpe 
 
 upon the possibilities, a threatened eruption of Bulgarian 
 and Macedonian heroes, to say nothing of heroines. 
 
 But for the occasional mistake in putting the label on 
 the wrong man, the memory would sink under the burden 
 of remembering those who have filed their claims to im- 
 mortality — and pensions. 
 
 Peace was never so blessed as in our day. For whilst 
 it is sad to reflect that peace also has its heroes, they are 
 not so lurid and clamorous and claiming as the bestriped 
 and bespangled specimens who climb over the Alps with 
 Tartarin and live to tell us how it was done. 
 
 The times called for men, and there was born in Surrey, 
 England, on December 21, 1688, James Edward Oglethorpe. 
 
 Gentle by birth and college bred, at the age of 22 he 
 entered the military service as ensign, and with some inter- 
 val devoted to diplomacy, found himself in 1714 a captain- 
 lieutenant attracting the attention of the great Marlbor- 
 ough, and by him passed on to the Prince Eugene to become 
 a marked participant in the Danubian campaigns, which, 
 in 1717, resulted in the rout of the Turk. 
 
 Leaving the army when peace was concluded, he was 
 returned to parliament, where he sat as a burgess for 
 Haslemere for thirty-two years, having succeeded to the 
 inheritance of Godalming in 1722. 
 
 A chance visit to a distressed acquaintance detained in 
 the Fleet prison, aroused his sympathy with the sufferings 
 of the imprisoned debtors, and his indignation at the treat- 
 ment to which they were subjected. This led to a parlia- 
 mentary inquiry in 1728, resulting in the amelioration of 
 the sad conditions which surrounded these unfortunate 
 people. 
 
Oglethorpe 33 
 
 The one wrong suggested others, and in 1731 we find 
 him concerning himself with the oppression of the Prot- 
 estants of Germany. 
 
 It is to be learned from his speeches in 1732 that he 
 was a friend of the colonies, and that about this time he 
 had become interested in the possibilities of silk culture. 
 Thus became grouped at the historical moment a great 
 man, great wrongs and a great industry. The righting of 
 the wrong under new conditions followed naturally, and 
 Georgia was the logical conclusion. 
 
 Men had struggled to better their kind and failed, and 
 were destined to other struggles and other failures. 
 
 The glory of this man is not so much that he succeeded, 
 but that the elements of greatness in him assured success 
 and enabled him to discern in what would have been to 
 others the indicia of failure simply the danger signals along 
 a practicable route, as the skilled mariner reads deep 
 water in rocks and favorable winds in storms. It would 
 be idle, speaking to an audience instructed as is this in the 
 facts which make the history of Georgia, to trace in detail 
 the work that fell to the brain and hands of Oglethorpe. 
 It was putting the race horse to the plough and the field- 
 marshal in the sutler's tent, but the work was done and 
 done so thoroughly that it is not impossible in some parts 
 of the state to point to the tangible facts which come from 
 his wisdom and care. The broad statesmanship which in 
 a day made of the Indians devoted allies, could not have 
 overlooked the weaknesses and shortcomings of the pas- 
 sengers who sailed with him in the good craft Anne, de- 
 scribed by Dr. Tailfer as "the first forty." He could but 
 know that the simple processes of fresh air and ample food 
 would not transform at once the freed debtors into the 
 stubborn material wherewith great states are constructed. 
 
34 Oglethorpe 
 
 Had this been all in the scheme he had in view, it would 
 have been better for humanity doubtless to let the experi- 
 ment end before it had well begun. 
 
 It is scarcely probable that the depressive and unwhole- 
 some influences of prison life ever wholly departed from 
 this advance guard which never altogether got rid of the 
 idea that they were escaping and might be recaptured and 
 that it was, therefore, expedient to enjoy life on the theory 
 that each day was the last. When they had debarked at 
 Yamacraw Bluff with the five tuns of wine from the Island 
 of Madeira and found that this was a land teeming with 
 the toothsome and unsuspecting terrapin, little dreaming of 
 the combination fate had in store for him — the end was 
 well in sight. • 
 
 They neither worked nor fought in a working and a 
 fighting community; but they talked and wrote until they 
 had covered everybody with abuse from Oglethorpe and 
 the trustees down to the lighthouse keeper on distant 
 Tybee. Considering the many things they said about 
 Savannah, it gives me pleasure to remind you that they 
 scoffed at the pretensions of Augusta to be known as a 
 great trade center and openly declared that you caused 
 the garrison here, consisting of twelve men, to move around 
 in a circle from the rising to the setting of the sun, count- 
 ing each man every time he passed a given point and with 
 a truculent disregard of the moral responsibilities inherent 
 in the taking of a census, announced the result as popu- 
 lation. 
 
 In time, a short time, they degenerated from Madeira 
 to New England rum and having, like Frankenstein, con- 
 structed a monster who called himself Causton, between 
 them they contrived to make the stocks and calaboose of 
 Georgia the best known institutions in America. They 
 
Oglethorpe ^5 
 
 finally crossed the river and whilst the colony continued 
 to hear the distant rumblings of their wrath it was only 
 far off thunder and did no damage. It was of the wisdom 
 of Oglethorpe that the philanthropic feature of the colony 
 was neither its main nor its strongest support. 
 
 Whilst the preamble to the charter recites that "many 
 of his majesty's poor subjects were, through misfortunes 
 and want of employment, reduced to great necessities and 
 would be glad to be settled in any of his provinces of 
 America," it sounded the very highest and bravest notes 
 when it also declared that the colony was designed to be 
 the military frontier of Carolina and a home for the op- 
 pressed and persecuted Protestants of Europe. 
 
 The Anne was yet on her way when began that exodus 
 of stout hearts and strong arms from the beautiful hills 
 of Salzburg, toiling its slow length along the ancient high- 
 ways of Europe; whilst from England and Scotland began 
 to rally to the post of danger the free subjects who had 
 never known the prison bars of London. Here was the 
 material out of which states are builded and history made, 
 and this was the end Oglethorpe foresaw. These built the 
 towns and manned the earthworks of Georgia, as ready 
 with the axe as with the rifle. And as commerce sought 
 her streams and from her fruitful soil sprung in their 
 seasons the varying fruits, there grew under her genial 
 skies a self-reliant, brave and tolerant spirit — loving lib- 
 erty, reverencing the law, and capable when the day did 
 come to work out the highest ideals of free and enlight- 
 ened government. 
 
 It is safe to say that had Oglethorpe been other than 
 he was the colony would have been known in history as 
 another failure in the long list of Utopias. With infinite 
 patience he worked out the details of government, sword 
 
36 Oglethorpe 
 
 in hand. Keeping the Indian in checl^ by diplomacy, he 
 made the Spaniard marlv time before the points of his 
 bayonets. 
 
 There was no burning of witches nor scalpings by sav- 
 ages and whilst the musketry was rattling where the ma- 
 jestic Alatamaha pours its affluent waters into the deeps 
 of the Atlantic, on the Savannah the fields were growing 
 greener and the sounds of industry swelling stronger and 
 louder. 
 
 In ten years his work was accomplished, and when his 
 departing glance caught the last gleam of the beacon on 
 Tybee he could reflect that where he had found a wilder- 
 ness he had left a State; that where he had encountered 
 the distrusting Indian he had left friendship and peace, 
 and a lasting refuge for the oppressed of earth fixed for 
 all time, and that the military colony of America had not 
 only kept the firing line with gallantry, but that the Span- 
 iard had fled from the soil of Georgia forever in disastrous 
 retreat. 
 
 He could count it compensation for these precious years 
 of his manhood that he had been patient and just and brave 
 and honest and tolerant. One of the brightest intellects of 
 his day, he had given his thought to the aid and happiness 
 of others. One of the bravest soldiers of his time, he had 
 devoted the skill which had commanded the admiration 
 of Marlborough and Eugene to the obscure emergencies 
 of Bloody Marsh. 
 
 Years after the Revolution some of his heirs wrote to 
 Washington inquiring if Oglethorpe's estates in Georgia 
 had been confiscated. 
 
 The President replied that he could say, without seeking 
 the facts, that whatever belonged to that great man so far 
 
Oglethorpe 37 
 
 from having been destroyed would have been conserved 
 with loving care. Upon investigation it was ascertained 
 that there never had been such an estate — his priceless 
 work had no price and all that he asked of Georgia was 
 the opportunity to do good. 
 
 Nothing can be pleasanter than the contemplation of 
 his remaining years. His great services had attracted 
 the attention of the civilized world, and he moved through 
 life observed and honored. From his delightful country 
 home it was his habit to visit frequently the metropolis 
 and commune with the kindred spirits which then made 
 glorious the ancient seat of the race. 
 
 The picture most familiar to us represents him a tall, 
 sturdy figure, reading without spectacles a book from the 
 library of Dr. Johnson. 
 
 He was then upward of ninety, vigorous and active. 
 
 His comrades and friends were falling fast about him. 
 Boswell pauses to tell us that he "was as remarkable for 
 his learning and taste, as for his other eminent qualities, 
 and no man was more prompt, active, and generous in 
 encouraging merit." He had called on Boswell on the 
 occasion of the publication of the ''Account of Corsica," 
 and that delighted soul recalled with enthusiasm the verses 
 with which Pope had years before immortalized his visitor. 
 Dr. Johnson had a high regard for him and was so affected 
 by his praise of "London," then just published, that he 
 seriously considered writing his life. 
 
 It is pleasant to recall that Goldsmith was one of his 
 friends and that he talked politics with the great Burke. 
 Pope and Thomson sang of him, and no man was better 
 known or enjoyed more thoroughly the respect and admira- 
 tion of his fellows. Nor were his conquests confined to his 
 
38 Oglethoi'pe 
 
 own sex. He was a favorite visitor at the home of Mrs. 
 Montagu, she of the "Blue Stocking Club," where he met 
 Miss Hannah More, who in 1784 wrote: "I have got a new 
 admirer; it is the famous General Oglethorpe, perhaps 
 the most remarkable man of his time. He was foster- 
 l)rother to the pretender, and is much above 90 years old; 
 the finest figure you ever saw. He perfectly realizes all 
 my ideas of Nestor. His literature is great; his knowledge 
 of the world extensive; and his faculties as bright as ever. 
 He is quite a preux clicralicr — heroic, romantic and full of 
 the old gallantry." 
 
 What a vivid picture of a gentleman! Let me add that 
 he was also the friend and comrade of one of the greatest 
 Georgians who ever lived, Tomochichi, the Mico of the 
 Yamacraws, whose memory has been preserved to the State 
 and her people by the noble work of the Colonial Dames 
 of Georgia, who, carrying into effect the wishes of Ogle- 
 thorpe, have caused to be placed over the spot in the heart 
 of Savannah where he lies, a granite rock from the hills 
 of Georgia on which we read that he was 
 
 THE COMPANION OF OGLETHORPE, 
 AND THE FRIEND AND ALLY OF THE COLONY OF GEORGIA. 
 
 Oglethorpe had declined the command of the British 
 forces in the Revolution. He could not consent to draw 
 his sword against the people to whom he had given the 
 best years of his life. He urged upon the ministry that the 
 colonies would never be won back by force; that what 
 they were battling for was justice, and that justice alone 
 would reclaim their allegiance to the crown. When that 
 momentous struggle was at an end and the United States 
 had accredited John Adams as their minister to England, 
 Oglethorpe, who had done more than any other to implant 
 in America the seeds which were to expand into the growth 
 
Oglethorpe 39 
 
 and blossoms of liberty, was among the first to greet him 
 with generous words for the people he represented. With 
 faculties unimpaired, and full of years and honors, his work 
 accomplished, and mankind the better for his life, he died 
 at Cranham on the thirtieth day of June, 1785, in his 
 ninety-seventh year. Surely, our duty looks us in the face 
 and challenges our delays. 
 
 If on a summer day when the breeze flows free from 
 the southeast and there are just clouds enough to throw 
 occasional shadows across the long stretches of the bend- 
 ing marsh grass, of which Lanier loved to sing, you take 
 your way through the inland route of the Georgia coast, 
 there are things to see which will live in your memories 
 for years. 
 
 You will follow the classic way of Oglethorpe and his 
 soldiers as they toiled with oar and sail in their rude 
 periaugers bound for the historic site of Frederica. Your 
 journey lies through winding creeks and rivers and broad 
 expanse of sounds — here, the limitless marsh; there, the 
 hammocks with their sweeping oaks and singing pines. 
 
 The "silver-footed wind" touches lightly the responsive 
 tide, leaving the gleaming impress of its step, and song 
 of birds and whispering of trees are ever in your ears and 
 souls. On your left, the islands of the sea — Ossabaw, Was- 
 saw, Saint Catherine, Sapelo; on your right, Bonaventure, 
 the Ogeechee, McAllister of glorious memory, the Medway 
 flowing from the parish of Saint John, Sunbury, Darien, 
 the Alatamaha, scores of ancient homes of Georgia folk, 
 full of memories of a life that has gone forever, like the 
 bloom from the cheek of youth. 
 
 At last. Saint Simon's with its spreading oaks and lofty 
 pines and tangled undergrowth and vine: Far to the east, 
 the sand dunes and then the restless sea thundering its 
 
40 OgleiJiorpe 
 
 eternal summons to the land. Between woods and ocean, 
 a wide sweep of marsh and just where the trees end a 
 causeway — and he is a weak-hearted and a poverty-stricken 
 soul who can look down its narrow stretch and not thrill 
 with enthusiasm knowing that this is Bloody Marsh, and 
 here, at his feet, was fought to a finish the old quarrel be- 
 tween England and Spain, and that through the instrumen- 
 tality of Oglethorpe's brain on that day the Almighty had 
 willed that the civlization of Georgia should alway remain 
 Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 Landward, a shaded graveyard filled with the names of 
 English soldiers; a breastwork on which grow ancient 
 oaks; a tabby fort with time and tide and wind eating 
 its strength away inch by inch, its broken bastions eloquent 
 of military skill and fighting with silent courage the re- 
 lentless waters creeping closer and closer and tearing at 
 its base, as if it knew that it was the only monument in 
 Georgia to the great soldier who saved her when her des- 
 tiny hung upon the steadiness of his nerve and the sound- 
 ness of his heart, and brought her out of the struggle with 
 that pride and character which carried her in desperate 
 conflict through the darkest days of the Revolution and in 
 after times for four long years of war made her name a 
 word to cheer the bravest souls to highest deeds. 
 
 "To the rescue, spirits bold! 
 "To the rescue, gallant men! 
 "Let the marble page unfold 
 "All his daring deeds again!" 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 
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