The Cradle of the Confederacy; or, the times of Troup, Quitman and Yancey. A sketch of Southwestern political history from the formation of the Federal Government to A.D. 1861

Front matter

THE CRADLE OF THE CONFEDERACY; OR, THE TIMES OF TROUP, QUITMAN Al VANCEV. A Sketch of Southwestern Political History from the Formation of the Federal Government to A. D. 1861. By JOSEPH HODGSON,^ OF MOBILE. MALIM inquietam libertatem, quam quietum servitium. WXMlt: PRINTED AT THE REGISTER PUBLISHING OFFICE. 1876. Entered, according to Act os Congress, in the year 1876, by Joseph Hodgson, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Alabama. TO Hon, John Forsyth, of mobile. LATE ESTOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY TO THE REPUBLIC OP MEXICO, I DEDICATE % THIS HISTORICAL SKETCH, IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THE PATRIOTIC SERVICES OF HIMSELF AND OF HIS DISTINGUISHED FATHER, WHOSE LIVES HAVE ILLUSTRATED THE PATRIOTISM OF SOUTHERN STATESMANSHIP, AND THE DIGNITY OF SOUTHERN MANHOOD.

Preface

. Time has borne us so far from the men and events of the period which ushered in the fratricidal war of 1861-'5 that it is well for a new genera tion to be taught the truth of Southern History. It is not amiss to review the causes which produced the late war, and by examining the more humble and minute incidents of local discussion and action, to arrive at a correct conclusion as to the motives of those who engaged in the for mation ofthe Southern Confederacy. It will be seen from the following imperfect sketch that a majority of the people of the South were opposed to secession in 1850, and even in 1860 ; that the Unionists of the South were driven from their position after a protracted struggle, not so much by the advocates of disunion at the South as by the advocates of disunion at the North ; and that the great mass of Southern people were led into acceptance of the Ordinance of Secession under the belief that the remedy they thus souglit against grievances, would be acquiesced in by the people of the Northern States and by the Federal Government.

The author will not have had hislabor in vain, if he succeeds in saving from the wreck of time, and in preserving in the more durable form of a book, many facts which throw light upon our local history, and which , after a few years, might otherwise be lost to memory. Aud if the facts i here presented should aid in convincing the people of this Republic that the South-Western States were driven by Northern enemies, rather than by Southern leaders, into the act of secession, the author will rest satisfied that he has contributed one important aid towards an obliteration of sectional misunderstanding, and towards a return of that fraternal seeling which should exist between peoples bound together by common language, laws, kindred, and commerce. CONTENTS

Chapter I

The City of Montgomery, Alabama— The Birthplace of the Confederacy— Extent and Situation os the Original Confederacy— Her Resources and Population— Independent Spirit of the Slave- Owner— Testimony of Edmund Burke— The Non-Slave-Owners— Traditions Inherited from Patriok Henry— Jealousy of States-Rights— The Immigration from Virginia— Displacement of the Muscogees— Growth in Population and Wealth— The Study of Oratory— Political Customs, Social Habits— General Quitman's Description of a Southern Home— Etc, Etc,

Chapter II

Discovery and Settlement of the Southwest— Hernando DeSoto— Marquette, Joliet. and De8alle— Iberville. Bienville, and Sauvolle — The French in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana— The English Successors in Alabama and Mississippi — The Spaniards in the Gulf States— Oglethorpe and his Settlement of Georgia— Condition ofthe Gulf Country at the Outbreak ofthe Revolution— Strength and Position ofthe Indian Tribes— Etc, Etc.

Chapter III

— Growth of the Idea of Secession— Jealousy of the Commercial Against the Agricultural States— Navigation of the Mississippi—The Whiskey Rebellion— The Jay Treaty— Views of Distinguished men— Frequent Threats and Hopes of Disunion— The Louisiana Purchase— The East Fears the South and West— The Hartford Convention— The Resolutions of '98— Randolph's Reply to Patrick Henry— Etc, Etc

Chapter IV

Jurisdiction ofthe United States Over Indian Tribes —The Fee Simple of Lands Occupied by the Tribes— The Yazoo Frauds— The Decision in the Case of Fletcher vs. Peck— Indignation of the People of Georgia— Constitutional Questions Growing Out of that Decision— Etc, Etc.

Chapter V

— Relation ofthe Union to the Indian Tribes— Relation of the State to the Tribes Within its Limits— The Georgia Act of Cession— Non-Observance of the Contract on the Part of the United States— The Treaty- Making and Commerce-Regulating Power— Conflicting Views as to Indian Rights— Practice of the Northern and Eastern States— The New Theory of Equality of Races— Etc, Etc.

Chapter VI

The Treaty of Indian Springs— Murder of McTntosb— General Gaines and Governor Troup— Threatened Collision of State and Federal Forces— The State Sustains Her Position— The Cherokee Nation— An Appeal to the Supreme Court— Its Writ of Error Disregarded—The Question of Coercion— Etc, Etc.

Chapter VII

— South Carolina and the Tariff— Continued Contest Between the Agricultural and Commercial States— Calhoun and Nullification— The Force Bill and the Right of Coercion— Inconsistency of President Jackson— Calhoun's Victory— Webster Retires from the Battle— Real Causes for the Proclamation— Etc, Etc.

Chapter VIII

— Controversy Between Alabama and the United States— Intrusion on the Creek Lands— Killing of Owens— Message of Governor Gayle— Threats of Resistance to the Military— Resolutions of a Legislative Committee— Mission of Key to the State— Adjustment of the Difficulty —The Federal Government Compromises the Question— Etc, Etc.

Chapter IX

— The Federal Party Reorganize upon the Slavery Question— Continued War upon the Agricultural States— Opinionsof the Southern People as to Slavery— The Missouri Compromise— The Slade Agitation— The Abolitionist, George Thompson— Views of England— Opinions of Jackson, Marcy, Clay, Everett and others- Drawing ofthe Geographical Line— Etc, Etc

Chapter X

— Position of the South During the Van Buren and Harrison Administration— Relation and Tenets of Parties from 1810 to 1850— More Territory for the South— New Threats of Division at the North— The Mexican War— Quitman and the Palmettoes— Offer ofthe Mexican Crown to General Scott^Condition of a Mongrel Population— Etc, Etc.

Chapter XI

Wm. L. Yancey and the Montgomery District^-The Alabama Democratic Resolutions of 1848— General Cass and the States-Rights Party— The Nashville Convention and Defeat of Secessionists—The Compromise Measures of Clay— Triumph of the Union Party all Over the South— Defeat of Governors Seabrook and Quitman— The Georgia Resolutions— Union Leaders and Sentiment in Alabama— Etc. , Etc.

Chapter XII

— The Montgomery District— Contest of States-Rights and Union Men over Yancey— The Georgia Platform— Yancey Retires and Cochran Takes His Place— Report ofthe Southern Rights Association— Defeat of the Yancey Party— Scheme to Acquire Cuba — Lopez and Quitman— Federal Arrest of a Governor— Reorganization of Parties—The Southern Whigs— The Whig Convention at Baltimore- Reply ofScott and Pierce to the States-Rights Associations— Etc, Etc.

Chapter XIII

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill— Preparing for Battle over the Outpost— Sharpe Rifles — Emigrant Societies — Rise of the American Party— Fillmore and Buchanan in the Southwest — Political Elements of the Elections of 1856— Etc, Etc.

Chapter XIV

The Dred Scott Decision— Condition of Parties in 1858— The Irrepressible Conflict— The John Brown Raid— Leagues of United Southerners— The Southern Commercial Convention— Debate Between Yancey and Pryor— Precipitating the Cotton States into Revolution— Etc, Etc

Chapter XV

Instructions to Alabama Delegates— Action of the Alabama Legislature— Views of Forsyth, White and others— Meeting of the Charleston Convention— Yancey's Great Address— Withdrawal of Southern Delegates— Position of Political Parties— Yancey at Baltimore—He is offered the Vice-Presidency— Nomination of Breckinridge— Etc, Etc.

Chapter XVI

— The Canvass in Alabama— Assaults upon Yancey —Position of the Three Contestants— Yancey's Canvass of the West and North— His Arrival at Memphis— Reception atKnoxviile— Speech at Washington— Attempted Fusion in New York— Yancey at New York— His Speech in Faneuil Hall, at Lexington, and at New Orleans—Return of Yancey and Visit of Douglas to Montgomery— Etc.

Chapter XVII

— Election of Lincoln— Reception of the News- Mass Meeting at Montgomery— Yancey Declares for Secession— The People Taught that Secession will be Peaceable— Co-operationists and Secessionists— The Crittenden Compromise— Its Rejection and Defeat— Etc, Etc

Chapter XVIII

—Effect of Seward's Speech— The Vote for Delegates to the Secession Convention — Meeting of the Alabama Convention- Caucus at Washington— Excitement in the Convention— Parties Nearly Equally Divided— Refusal to Submit the Ordinance to the People— Yancey's Threatening Speech— Counter-Threats— Etc, Etc.

Chapter XIX

— Adoption of the Ordinance of Secession— Popular Enthusiasm— Union of all Classes of the People— Assembling of the Southern Congress at Montgomery— Arrival of President Davis- Ratification by the Alabama Convention of the Confederate Constitution—Conclusion.

Chapter I

The City of Montgomery, Alabama — The Birthplace of the Confederacy — F.rtent and Situation of the Oriqinal Confederacy — Her Resources and Population — Independent Spirit of the Slave-Owner — Testimony of Edmund. Burke — The Non Slave-Owners — Traditions Inherited from Patrick Henry — Tealousy of State Rights — The Immigration from Virginia — Displacement of the Mnscogees — Growth in Population and Wealth — The Study of Oratory — Political Customs — Social Hahits — General QuitmarSs Description of a Southern Home—Etcf Etc, Etc. " Is slavery was an evil, It bred the best race of men and women the world ever saw." Horatio Seymour. '* For this much is certain : That if institutions are to be judged by their results in the composition of the councils of the Union, the slave holders are much more ably represented than the simple freemen." * * * "In the progress of this affair, the distinctive character of the inhabitants of the several great divisions of the Union have been shown more in relief than perhaps in any national transaction since the establishment of the Constitution.

It is perhaps accidental that the combi nation of talent and influence has been the greatest on the slave side." John Quincy Adams. " He is a gentleman of the South ; they have no property but land ; and I am told his territory was immense. * * * It is not unlikely he may have lost his estates now; but that makes no difference to me. I shall treat him, and all Southern gentlemen, as our fathers treated the emigrant nobility of France." Disraeli, in Lothair. It was on the eventful evening of Saturday, February 16th, 1861, that an immense crowd of human beings, of all classes, sexes and colors, thronged the streets of the little city of Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, and congregated in front of the Exchange Hotel, which overlooks the broad mart. The occasion for this im mense assemblage, whose shouts of exultation rent the air, was the arrival in that city of the President elect of the Confederate States— Jefferson Davis.

In obedience to the call of the people who had assem bled to greet him, Mr. Davis appeared upon the balcony of the hotel, accompanied by many distinguished men, whose names had long been eminent in the annals of the Union, and who were yet to become even more distinguished in the history of the ill-fated Confederacy. Prominent among them was William Lowndes Yancey. Introducing Mr. Davis to the assembled multitude, the voice of the greatest orator ever produced by the South rung out like the notes of a clarion — "The hour and the man have met !" The place of this remarkable meeting, Montgomery, was then a small city of twelve thousand inhabitants, standing at the navigable head of the Alabama river, and in the heart of that fertile band of rolling and wooded prairies which stretches itself, averaging a width of seventy-five miles, from the waters of the Savannah to those of the Mississippi.

Here is the great cotton belt of the Gulf States. Here is grown the larger proportion of the cotton production of the United States. Here it was that broad plantations covered the fairest land under the sky; where great wealth accumulated, and where was developed that highest and best pride of humanity which accompanies the possession of vast landed estates. The beautiful city of Montgomery was the brightest of gems upon the belt of this fertile and happy region. Midway between the Gulf and the Tennessee, between the Savannah and the Mississippi, she held the key to the Gulf States. North of her, and extending to the Tennessee, was a rolling country, rich in metallic ores, with fertile valleys, salubrious climate, and health-giving waters. South of her, the broad cotton lands rolled down to meet the pine forests of the coast, whose wealth of timber was fringed by groves of magnolia and orange.

It was the habit of many who were proud of the extent of the Union to deride the Confederacy at its earliest organization, when it embraced only the first seven seceding States, because it was so small a fraction of the United States. There was no occasion for derision or contempt. The country of which Montgomery was the immediate centre, covered an area as large as England and France combined. The entire country of which she was then the capital, contained more than half a million square miles, or more than three hundred and thirty-six millions of acres. It embraced some of the most fertile and productive land to be found in either hemisphere, situated in a mild and healthful climate. It lay circling half around a vast inland sea, which covers a surface nearly as extensive as the Mediterranean, and draining river basins unparalleled in size and variety of products by any of those of the Eastern hemisphere.

This territory, of which Montgomery was the capital, is more extensive than the combined areas of France, Great Britain, Prussia, Bavaria, Belgium, and the Neth erlands — countries which contain more than one hundred and five millions of inhabitants. It produces every commodity which is adapted to the soil and climate of these populous European nations; and yields, besides, the valuable staples — cotton, sugar and rice. Its mountains are rich with coal and iron, which lie close to the sea, and are easy of manipulation. At a lower price, than elsewhere it is able to grow all the cotton needed for the world. Its production of rice and sugar is limited only by the amount of labor. Its timber for ship and house building is the most valuable in the world. It has every variety of climate, from the Appalachian range of mountains to the semi-tropical groves of Mobile and New Orleans.

The health of this vast imperial domain stands as well in the medical reports as that of any other section of the Union. Such was the site of the city in which was established the government of the Confederate States. The people who joined on the evening of February 16, 1861, in joyful greetings to the President elect were no less distinguished than the soil which gave them birth. They were of the highest type of the Anglo-Saxon. Here and there throughout this broad dominion remain undiluted remnants of the French and Spanish families who first colonized the Gulf Coast, and other Franco-Latin vestiges of that great wave of adventurists which the empire of Charles V sent forth to the Indies and to the Gulf of Mexico; but these feeble off-shoots of South Europe were long since overshadowed by the great Anglo-Saxon immigration which planted the banner of King George, under Oglethorpe, upon the banks ofthe Savannah; which swept down from south western Virginia along the waters of the Tennessee; and which followed the course of the Ohio and the Mississippi to the bluffs of Vicksburg; and Natchez.

It has been remarked that the American descendants of the English Saxons have acquired, as a race, a variety of their own : that in complexion, expression and physique they now differ perceptibly from the parent stock. Although this may be true of the people of the more northern States, it cannot be held true of the people of the South. In the latter region, and especially in those sections where were large landed estates, the race of men has always preserved the highest characteristics of their English ancestry. Whether or not the institution of African slavery aided in the development of this highest order of Saxon manhood, has been a disputed question ; but we have on record that philosophic testimony of Edmund Burke, which, during the civil war in America, arrested general attention. That great statesman, seeking to dissipate tbe hope that less resistance to the encroachments of Great Britain would be found in the Southern colonies than in the Northern, uttered this language : " There is, however, a circumstance attending the " [Southern] colonies, which, in my opinion, counterbal " ances this difference, and makes the spirit of liberty "still more high and haughty than in those to the " Northward.

It is, that in Virginia and the Carolinas " they have a vast multitude of slaves. Where this is " the case in any part of the world, those who are free " are by far the most proud and jealous of their freedom. " Freedom is to them not only an enjoyment, but a kind " of rank and privilege. Not seeing there that freedom, " as in countries where it is a common blessing, and as " broad and genial as the air, may be united with much " abject toil, with great misery, with all the exterior of " servitude, liberty looks among them like something " that is more noble and liberal. I do not mean, sir, to " commend the peculiar morality of this sentiment, which " has at least as much pride as virtue in it ; but I cannot " alter the nature of man. The fact is so; and these " people of the Southern colonies are much more strongly, " and with a higher and more stubborn spirit, attached to " liberty than those to the Northward.

Such were all " the ancient commonwealths ; such were our Gothic " ancestors ; such in our days were the Poles ; and such " will be all masters of slaves, who are not slaves them " selves. In such a people the haughtiness of domination " combines with the spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and " renders it invincible." Throughout the cotton belt, where, at the blast of a horn, the master could be surrounded by a regiment of slaves, the spirit of freedom and domination in the descendants of the Cavaliers and Huguenots was such as to develop the frame, and inflame and intensify the pride of the individual to the highest extent known to the human race. Such Herculean deeds of valor as were drawn forth in the terrible conflict which shook the North American continent testified to the sagacity of the English philosopher, and to -the manhood of the Southern Saxons.

Nor was this spirit of personal dignity and inde pendence confined to the actual slave-owners. The non slave-owners, who had been crowded by superior wealth or energy from the rich cretaceous lands of the interior, and from the equally rich alluvium of the rivers, and who had taken up more humble abodes among the hills of north Alabama, or in the pine forests of the coast, felt an equal pride in that distinction of race which made the Saxon a master. With such jealousy did they cherish the spirit of personal liberty and local independence, that the policy which looked to the extremest license of State-rights always found among them the most enthusiastic, the most 'numerous, and the most persistent supporters. They received no pecuniary advantage from African slavery, and were so careless as to its continuance that at no time were they willing to enter into a war for separation of the States to secure its firmer establishment ; but they perceived with that subtle instinct which belongs to the average Saxon, that the overthrow of African slavery would leave in the heart of their State a host of citizens foreign to their ideas, antagonistic to their labor, and cherishing under the influence of designing leaders the fretful jealousy of race — a jealousy which the history of mankind had shown to be the precursor of violent and constant hostility.

These non slave-holders were not, as has been sup posed, the dupes or the deluded followers of the slave owner. They were so numerous as to control the politics of the State. They gave political leaders to the slave owners. From their midst sprung men like Patrick Henry, Andrew Jackson, Calhoun and Clay. They gave warriors of renown, at whose head stands Stonewall Jackson. They furnished the rank and file of armies, and concluded with glorious honor a contest entered into with unanimity, and prosecuted it with unparalleled devotion, gallantry and endurance. The ancestors of these men had served in the Revo lutionary war, and had won the independence of the colonies: an independence which they were so careful not to surrender to a new, overshadowing, government that their fears of the proposed Constitution of the United States could only be allayed by the then clearly defined and clearly understood reservations of the annexed amendments.

Patrick Henry, the eloquent commoner who infused this spirit into the masses of Southern people, perceived the doubtful constructions which ambitious men might place upon the Federal powers. He opposed the adoption of the Constitution. Believing that in a national government the liberties of the people would be gradu ally lost, he saw that the only hope of the multitude of Anglo-Saxon people who were destined to fill this conti nent was in a confederated republic of independent States. Hence, he asked in the Virginia convention, " Why is it that the preamble of the Constitution is "made to read 'we, the people.' instead of 'we, the " States V " " If," he declared, " the States be not the " agents of this compact, it must be one great, consoli " dated, national government of the' people of all the " States."

He protested against the language of the preamble as containing the germ of absolutism. Begin ning with this solemn protest, the wisdom of which has been justified by the events of the succeeding eighty years, the Virginia patriot raised a warning voice which appears to us of to-day the inspiration of prophecy. The checks and balances of the three co-ordinate departments of the Federal Government appeared to him as specious, imaginary balances — " rope-dancing, **' chain-rattling, ridiculous ideal checks and contriv " ances," which could be annulled by the power of Con gress to throttle the judiciary, or by the power of the President at the head ot' a standing army to throttle States, Congress and Courts, "Can he not at the head " his army beat down every opposition ? Away with " your President, we shall have a king : the army will " salute him monarch ; your militia will leave you, and " assist in making him king, and fight against you ; "and what have you to oppose this force?"

The State legislatures would be shorn of their consequence, being forbidden to legislate upon any but the most trivial affairs. They are not to touch private contracts, and " cannot be trusted with dealing out justice between " man and man." A stamp act was authorized. Federal collectors could seize the papers and property of citizens, and call in the army to enforce the most dangerous and alarming practices. The Federal judiciary could over shadow the States, oppress tihe citizen by onerous costs, summon juries from a great distance, and, in the hands of bad men, sustained by the Federal Executive, could destroy the last vestige of popular government. The State was at the mercy of a Federal judge — the creature of the Federal Executive. The fears of Patrick Henry were those of the people.

They were only quieted by those amendments which were supposed to studiously guard against the dangers which he had portrayed so eloquently. From this orator of the Revolution the people of the South inherited a deadly opposition to a national con solidated government, a fear of concentrated Federal power, and an earnest resolve to resist to the last the abrogation of State-rights. The slave-holder and the non slave-holder alike were inflamed by this traditionary antagonism ; and when Lincoln declared after his election to the presidency that the relation of a State to the Federal Government was simply the relation of a county to a State ; and when Seward, a little later, declared that old things had passed away and all things had become new, the Anglo-Saxons of the Gulf, with no special reference to African slavery, except as an incident in the impending conflict, arose as one man, from the mountains to the sea, and, in the language of the last battle-order of General Gordon, lowered at Appamattox the Cross of St. Andrews only amid the huzzas of victory and before a routed foe.

As an organization, they were conquered; as individuals, they were still freemen. This spirit of personal independence and pride of race could not be crushed by the most appalling catastrophe that ever befell a people. The central and most fertile lands of the Gulf States received at Augusta, Georgia, the tide of immigration from Virginia and the Carolinas, which followed swiftly upon the steps of the departing Muscogees. This noble tribe of Indians (better known as Creek Indians, from the abundance of water courses upon which they lived), in the year 17*21 occupied that entire country from the Savannah to the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which afterwards became the garden spots of Georgia and Alabama. In 1733 General Oglethorpe met the Muscogees on the bluff of Yamacraw, on the Savannah. They agreed in formal council to yield to the colonists all the lands below tide water between the Savannah and the Altamaha.

Six years later, Oglethorpe again visited them on the Chattahoochee, and by a new treaty they acknowledged themselves subjects of Great Britain; ceding to the English, with some reservations, the coast from the Savannah to the St. Johns as far into the interior as the tide flows. During the American Revo lution the Creeks adhered to the British. After the conclusion of peace the Georgians claimed, that by treaties concluded in 1783, 1785 and 1786, the Mus cogees had ceded to Georgia a considerable part of their lands south and west of the Oconee. The Creeks, under their able leader, McGillivray, whose father was a Scotchman, denied the validity of these treaties, and, although his people had always been allies of the English against the Spaniards, they now entered into close relation with the Spanish government of Florida.

They numbered 6000 warriors, and were well supplied with fire arms. In 1787 war broke out between them and the Georgians, and the colonists suffered severely. In 1789 they entered into negotiations with the United States, and acknowledged allegiance to the Federal Government; but soon after broke off negotiations, and renewed hostilities when they discovered that the commissioner did not propose to restore their lands. By the treaty of 1796 the Creeks admitted the eastern boundary, as defined by the treaty of Hopewell in 1756, "from Tugals river, thence a direct line to the " top of Currohe mountain ; thence to the head of the " south fork of the Oconee river." Between this eastern boundary, and the western boundary of Line creek in the county of Montgomery, Alabama, the Creeks cultivated their fertile lands in a rude way, and remained at peace eighteen years.

But at the outbreak of the war of 1812 with Great Britain, a large portion of the nation — incited it is said by Tecumseh, and probably receiving encouragement from other quarters — took arms without the slightest provo cation, and at first committed great ravages. They received a severe chastisement at the hands of General Jackson, and in August, 1814, surrendered a large part of their best territory. In 1818 they made another large cession of lands, and in February, 1825, they ceded all their lands in Georgia. On March 2, 1832, the Creeks ceded to the United States all then lands east of the Mississippi. It was thus that during the first quarter of the present century the immigration from Virginia and the Carolinas, crossing the Savannah at Augusta, pushed before it the fated Muscogees, until finally by treaty and by battle driving the savages beyond the Mississippi, they spread the broad wave of civilization and industry over the entire Gulf States.

This occupancy was not marked by the circumstances of frontier life. It met upon the west below and beyond Montgomery an old and refined society which had been planted by Iberville and Bienville, and which had received accessions from the fugitives of Waterloo. It brought with it the wealth, energy and enlightenment of half a century of industry upon the banks of the Savannah, the memories of the American Revolution, and the manly independence and honesty which had been engendered by the political education of middle Georgia. Thirty years' use of the cotton gin had raised to wealth and respectability persons who before the intro duction of Whitney's invention, had been depressed by poverty and sunk in idleness. Debts had been paid off Slaves had been imported in great numbers under the clause of the Federal Constitution which forbid the discontinuance of the African slave trade until 1 807.

Capital had increased. The sons of the planters had been liberally educated at Cambridge, New Haven, Litchfield, Princeton and Charlottesville. Lands had grown enormously in value, and railroads were even had in contemplation to convey to Savannah and Charleston the cotton bales of that broad belt which reached from the Savannah to the Mississippi. The parish of St. Paul, which wau afterwards known as the county os Richmond, and from which the county of Columbia was constructed, was one of the wealthiest in the State of Georgia. Its county seat, Augusta, was the centre of a very populous and prosperous com munity. Among its eminent sons it numbered such men as Edward Telfair, William H. Crawford, John Forsyth, Richard Henry Wilde, William Cumming, the Holts, Longstreets, Glasscocks, the two Generals Twiggs (father and son), Abram Baldwin, Nicholas Ware, George Walton, John Milledge, Freeman Walker and Thomas W. Cobb.