Recollections of a Georgia loyalist

Front matter

\.4 v^

• % 1^* ♦>

Recollections

Chapter I

T WAS born May 28, 1764, in the reign of -"- George III., at a place called Little Ogeechee, about ten miles from Savannah, the capital of the then Province of Georgia. My father, John Lightenstone, was born at Cronstadt in Russia. His father, Gustavus Philip Lightenstone, was born in England, but descended from a family in Germany, who write their name *' Lichtenstein." I am uncertain whether his mother was English or Irish; her maiden name was Beatrice Elizabeth (if I mistake not) Lloyd^ and my grandfather was a Protestant minister at Cronstadt and had an academy for young gentlemen. He was a truly pious man, poor in this world's goods, but rich in the inheritance of the world to come. A letter to me from him, in answer to one I wrote him and my grandmother when I was not eight years of age, I delight to retain as a blessed relic of the good man's prayers and blessings for his little Betsey/

^ This letter is as follows :

' ' Sweet Tenderly Beloved Granddaughter :

' ' We embrace thee, we kiss thee, we give a thousand thanks, sweet creature, for thy charming, agreeable Letter, nothing can be more pleasing, nor make us so glad as thy Letter does.

' ' We see that thou art taking to thy Learning, and that thou art a promising dear, and we recommend to thee for a pretty companion and a true friend thy blessed Saviour ; Him who cloaketh thee in apparel of the best purple, who loves thee, and all little children, and says. Suffer little children to come unto me, who when himself a little Child increased in Wisdom and Stature and in favor with God and Man. Do thou the same, and be sure to trace every step of his. May his blessings be the living waters where he thy Shepherd leads thee. We pray for this, and so do also thy Uncles and Aunts. " Thy loving Grandfather,

G. Philip )

and loving Grandmother, V

Beatrice Elizabeth )

Lightenstone."

Mrs. Johnston also preserved the following letter from her grandfather to her mother :

" Peterhoff, June, 1769.

" My Dearest Sweet Daughter :

' ' Opportunities of sending a letter are so scarce as to force one to delay what one was inclined to do the next 38

I have often thought that in all my backslidings that dear saint's prayers have been heard and have been the means of my Almighty Father's mercy and forbearance with me, the vilest of sinners, who have been led by His grace and chastening to a knowledge of the truth of His Holy Word. My mother was Catherine Delegal. Her father, Philip Delegal, was of French descent, his ancestors having left France on account of being Protestants. His father was a major and died Com-

moment, and it was and is still a great grief to me to put off the answer to your charming Letter. Joy and inexpressible contentment did flow in our hearts at receiving it. This was increased as your kind and noble expressions opened to us your Christian-like sentiments, full of tenderness and affection for us. This obliges us in the highest manner, and we shall never fail to send our ardent prayers to the heavenly Throne for your everlasting happiness, and for all prosperity and health for you on this side Heaven. May God shed showers of blessings upon little Betsey, to make her grow in Wisdom and in favor with God and men ; may she be bred up in the fear and love of God and her Saviour, who orders that little children shall be brought to him. Your continuing, faithful remembrance of, and tender affection towards us, will be accepted as a thing of the greatest value, and we all with the tenderest embraces do give our love to you.

"lam, dearest daughter, your truly affectionate and loving Father,

" GusTAvus Philip Lightenstone."

mandant of the Island of Jersey. His son, my grandfather, went out with General Ogilthorpe, a lieutenant in his army, to Georgia upon its first settlement, took up large quantities of land there, left the army, and became one of the first settlers in that Province, where he was ultimately a man of large property. He married a Miss Daley from South Carolina. He was a man of great information, and extremely fond of reading.

When I was very young my father removed from Ogeechee to a place called Yamacraw, in the suburbs of Savannah. My father had an appointment under Government, which he held until the Revolutionary War obliged him to quit it; this was the command of a scout boat, with arms, well manned, having a large awning, and accommodation for taking the Governor or other public officers to Charleston or other adjacent places. His first duty, however, was to go to the relief of remote families who were in danger of attack from Indians, from which fact, I suppose, the boat took its name. He used also to be sent to lay quarantine at the Island of Cockspur, fifteen miles below Savannah. There was a gentleman residing on this little island with 40 ^ whom my father was a welcome visitor. While on duty there my father himself purchased a plantation on the Island of Skidaway, a very pleasant place upon the water, abounding in fruits of various kinds, figs, peaches, pomegranates, quinces, plums, mulberries, nectarines, and oranges ; though for provisions for his family and people, he chiefly cultivated indigo and raised Indian corn and sweet potatoes. Fish, also, was easily procured in plenty, and of the finest varieties, also oysters, crabs, prawn, and shrimps.

We had a house in Savannah, where I was early put to school, and from being an only child my intellect was probably developed more quickly, I being thrown very much upon my own resources. When in the country I found in the trees, the river, the animals, much to amuse and occupy my leisure hours, and my parents conversed with me and stimulated my taste for reading, by making me read good authors to them. Having a good memory and uncommon love for reading, I found pleasure in books that would perhaps in this present age be too dry for a child of seven or eight years of age. For instance, I once read a book the title of which in after life I had no recollection of, except from its mentioning that part of the twentieth chapter of St. John where that most touching and interesting passage was of Mary Magdalene's going to the tomb to discover her Lord. Not seeing the body she turned with a heavy and disappointed heart to make inquiry of her blessed Lord Himself, whom she took to be the gardener. His '* Mary ! " her answer, and no doubt Mary's look, soon made Him known to His faithful, sorrowing disciple. Such was the effect of this book on my infant mind that forty years after, when I had the book with some others sent me to read, as soon as I looked into it I remembered the passage that had struck me and exclaimed to my children, "This is the book!" The title was " Gilbert West on the Resurrection," and I have now the copy, which the lady politely requested my acceptance of, she having another copy besides.

My mother, not being in good health, was once recommended to pass a summer in Philadelphia, and to relieve her of all care I was to remain with my father. The vessel in which the passengers were to embark lay fifteen miles below Savannah, and the evening 42 before she sailed I went down with some ladies who were going, expecting to return with my father next day when he took my mother down. When they arrived I showed so much grief at parting from her, that my poor mother was much distressed, and my father would have returned for my clothes. The wind, however, being fair, put this out of the question, and he consented to my going with only one suit, the ladies offering to assist in cutting over some of my mother's clothes for me. In this way little Betsey, then about seven years of age, made her debut on the wide ocean, which it has since so often been her lot to traverse.

On our return from Philadelphia we resided between town and country, and when at the former I attended school. My mother died when I was turned ten years of age, and I felt her loss keenly. Shortly after, my father at the request of an aunt of my mother's, Mrs. Richard, sent me to reside with her in Savannah, where I attended the best schools in the place. My aunt did me every justice in bringing me up, and endeavored to make me a notable needlewoman, in which art she herself excelled, but my love for reading was so much greater than for sewing that I often had a book under my work to look into as opportunity offered. The good old lady not being able to make me perfect in sewing, declared at last that I should never be anything but a botcher at it, yet I did not think I really deserved the charge.

In 1774 the Revolutionary War commenced at Boston and began to spread to the southward. In '^6 the people in Georgia were inflamed against the Government of Great Britain, and were raising a ragged corps of all sorts. Some had guns with firelocks and some without, and all, gentle and simple, were made to declare whether they were on the side of the King or for the people whom we Loyalists, then termed Tories, called rebels. If a Tory refused to join the people, he was imprisoned, and tarred and feathered. This was a terrible indignity, the poor creature being stripped naked, tarred all over, and then rolled in feathers. I might once, if I would have gone to the window, have seen a poor man carried all over the town with the mob around him, in such a plight, but the idea was too dreadful. He was an inoffensive man, a British pilot.

Our teachers became officers in the rebel 44 army, and everywhere the scum rose to the top. All the public officers under Government remained loyal and quit the country, their estates being confiscated and afterward sold. My father, at the barking of a dog while he was shaving and preparing to dress that he might escape in his boat, looked up and saw an armed party near the house. He had just time to go through a door that opened into the garden, leap the fence, and lay himself down at a little distance in some tall grass which concealed him. He could hear the soldiers talking loudly to his servants and saying that he could not be far off, for his clothes and watch were in the room. If he was above ground, they said, they would surely have him. My father had a sensible, plausible black man, who had been brought up as a pet in my grandfather's house, and who was greatly attached to the family. He contrived to amuse the soldiers in different ways, while he got down his sails and oars to take them to a back landing-place, where the boat lay. The leader of the party was a fine young man, a Mr. John Milledge, whom my father had known from his infancy, and who some years afterward was at Augusta with the rank of colonel. He was an amiable man, and his turning against my father served to show the spirit of the times and the violence with which civil wars are entered upon.

After their unsuccessful pursuit, the party returned, and my father got to his boat without delay and arrived at Tybee, where the British man-of-war, the ScarboroiigJiy lay. Then he embarked, as did my future husband, who had also been fortunate enough to effect his escape to Tybee, and they sailed for Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1776. At that time I was twelve years of age, and being with my aunt on the mainland, at her plantation, did not take leave of my father or know what was going on at Skidaway until some time after I heard he was gone. Commissioners were appointed to confiscate the Loyalists' property and dispose of it as being forfeited because of their not joining the rebels, and my grandfather had a petition drawn up which he made me take, accompanied by a lady (sorely against my will, for I felt so indignant at their treatment of my father), to the Board of Commissioners, which set forth the orphan condition I was left in, and petitioned that my 46 father's property might be given to me. This request I have every reason to think was acceded to, as our property was not sold as was that of many other Loyalists. One or two cases besides mine show that they did give the property to wives and children whose husbands and fathers had been forced away as mine had been.

My father and Mr. Johnston left Halifax for New York, the former there entering the Quartermaster- General's department, the latter joining a Provincial Corps (the New York Volunteers) composed of Loyalists, which was actively engaged during the war, never being kept in garrison duty. This regiment was twice new officered, its first officers, with a few exceptions, falling on the field of battle. Major Grant, who had taken Mr. Johnston under his care and was like a father to him, was killed in storming Fort Montgomery, and my husband felt his loss severely. At the close of 1778, Colonel Campbell, who was afterward knighted and made governor of Madras, in India, was sent with three thousand men to take Georgia. The New York Volunteers was one of the regiments, and Col. C, knowing that my father had resided a great part of his life in that Province, took him into his service as an adviser and guide where best to effect a landing. The town was taken without loss, though the Americans as they retreated wantonly fired on the 71st Regiment of Highlanders, without attempting a regular stand. This exposed the inhabitants to the fury of the British soldiers, who then felt as though they were taking the place by storm. In consequence, before the officers could have time to stop them they committed much outrage, ripped open feather beds, destroyed the public papers and records, and scattered everything about the streets. Numbers of the enemy were taken in a swamp a few miles from Savannah. While Mr. Johnston was with his company in the pursuit he saw his father at his own door, and had only time to go up to Colonel Maitland and request that he would put a guard at his father's house to secure his safety from the enraged troops, who knew not friend from foe. Colonel Maitland had been the early friend and college companion of my father-in-law, Dr. Johnston, in Edinburgh, and meeting with his son at New York was like a father to him and did all he 48 could to serve him. He, of course, placed a guard there.

My father in a few days sent a passport for myself and my aunt to come to town. I was then in my fifteenth year, and new to scenes of the kind, and having to stop within a mile of Savannah that the Hessian officer on duty there should examine our pass, I was dreadfully frightened. He soon allowed us to go on ; and what a sight did the streets present of feathers and papers !

The meeting with my father I scarce need add was joyful. I was there made acquainted with my father's bosom friend, Mr. McCulloch. He was a widower, a very handsome man for his time of life, and had two daughters in England, one of whom is now Mrs. Roupell. He was very fond of me, and I suppose looked on me as a child, but I felt an affection for him for a short time that I can hardly define. He was very amiable; if I wanted any money he would, if my father gave me a guinea, always say, " Give her another," or if my foolish young head fancied, as it did at times, some article of dress, he was always ready to second my wish. Yet my father idolized me too much to need that any should ask for me. I loved him, yet I always from a child had an awe of him. My dear, indulgent mother was perhaps too yielding to her only child, and but for his strictness to me, for which I am now grateful, she might have spoilt me. She was too good a woman to have overlooked faults of the heart and mind, yet this I am sensible of, that I could take advantage of her, when a word from my father was enough. On one occasion when the cat ate my bird I was so angry that I went to beat her. My mother tried to prevent me, and finding me obstinate and persistent, was going to correct me as I deserved, but I ran away and got up into a big tree out of reach, and perhaps she had no great wish to use violence in getting- me down. In a short time I saw my father coming along the road, when I was soon out of the tree and seated in the parlor.

We may see in almost every event that befalls us the hand of our merciful Heavenly Father directing the various events of our lives for our good. Perhaps had my beloved and tender mother lived she might not have kept as strict a hand over me as my volatile nature required. My aunt was kind, but was 50 at the same time decided in her conduct toward me, and I was made industrious at my needle. Other parts of education I required no stimulus in, as I liked them better ; indeed I was always ambitious to be at the head of my class at school.

Chapter II

A FTER Savannah was taken I remained -^^ with my aunt the greater part of the time, but at last my father was requested by Mrs. Johnston to bring me to town to pass a few weeks with her daughter. This he did, and I appeared, a young unsophisticated girl, quite new to the world, its customs and usages. On my arrival Mrs. Johnston's son came hastily into the room, which he had left a little before to seek for his watch. When he entered he merely glanced round the room and retreated. I, a little rustic, in my simple dress, which my fond aunt and I had made at her place called "Mount Piety" (a name she took from the " Pilgrim's Progress " when she purchased her plantation), must have looked strange to the gay Captain Johnston, who had lately been among the dashing fashionables of New York, then remarkable (during Sir H. Clinton's rule) for its elegance and dissipation. No wonder, I sometimes think, that I should 52 at once have caught his eye. At the steps he met my father coming in, and asked him what girl that was in the parlor. My father said, " Your sister, and Miss Stewart, our former teacher." "No," was the reply, "there was another." My father said, " No one but my Betsey," and my husband has often spoken since of the meeting, and said that the thought at once came to him that I would be his Betsey, although an hour before had any one talked to him of marrying he would have assured him it was a thing out of the question. He had resisted all the beauty and fashion he had left, and found something in a simple child of nature to make him not many weeks after change his sentiments. Such was the romance of the olden times !

I remained with Mrs. Johnston some weeks, and it was some time before I could get over my bashful timidity. Every day there were several officers dining at Dr. Johnston's ; having two sons in the army and being loyal he thought they could not show too much attention to those who had rescued us from rebel power. I was glad to get into the drawing-room before they arrived; and to take wine at dinner with one of these gay soldiers called a deep blush into my cheeks, it was all so unlike the ways at Mount Piety. My father perceived rather more attention to me than he wished from Captain Johnston, for being intimately acquainted with him and knowing his sentiments on that head, he did not suspect him of any thoughts of marriage. Accordingly, unwilling that I should be trifled with, he told me one evening, on my returning from a drive to see a lady, that I must be prepared to go back in the morning to my aunt's. This was rather a damper to my youthful heart, and no less so to the companion of my drive, and he contrived to find opportunity that evening to say what has been said so often to other silly girls, I suppose. By silence only I told him what I felt, then I got upstairs into my own room in the dark, and wept most abundantly, not at the thought of parting from him, but to think I should have listened to such a thing without my father's knowledge. I was obliged to dry my tears and go down to supper, but I went with a heavy heart. Next morning I left Savannah and did not enjoy my home as formerly.

A few days after, a circumstance occurred

William Martin Johnston, M.D.

that might have had serious consequences to the honour of my husband, had not my aunt's stiff notions of female decorum prevented. He had ridden out a few miles to visit a lady with whom we were acquainted, and had prevailed on her to drive to my aunt's plantation and request her to allow me to accompany her back to remain a day or two. My aunt was inexorable and declined my going, and after their departure she very properly pointed out her reasons for refusing, saying that it would look as if I wished to go because of Captain Johnston's being there. In her opinion such a thing would not be delicate. Whether she convinced me then I will not say, but this I now know, she was right and had proper ideas of female reserve. Captain Johnston being disappointed of my company rose early the next morning and left his kind friends sooner than he would have done had I been there, and returned to Savannah. But what was his mortification and dismay when he got there, to find that by a sudden order his regiment with some other troops had embarked at daylight for Carolina on an expedition. He never stopped at his father's, but rode down to a wharf to try to get a boat to follow and if possible join them before their landing. A ship's boat was there with two seamen who were to return without delay to their captain, but the earnestness with which he and our friend Mr. McCulloch urged them, and the Captain's offer of the only two guineas he had about him, and his watch, softened Jack's heart. One said to the other, " We won't take the gentleman's watch, only the money," and went at all risks with him.

He felt his honour at stake from being absent at the time, and especially as he knew his major was not on good terms with him and would gladly avail himself of such an opportunity to put him under arrest, a disgrace which his proud spirit could not have borne. Fortunately, he caught up with his regiment before they landed and went to Colonel Maitland and told his case, fearing greatly that the major would put him under arrest. Colonel Maitland did away with his apprehensions by giving him the forlorn hope, a post of danger and honour, and he was the first man to land. Had I gone to Mrs. Houston's he would have remained longer, and what misery it would have given him ! He was away three months in the interior of South Carolina, and the 56 troops returned to us, as was too much the case in that ill-fated war, without doing anything. Colonel Prevost, I think, commanded ; a different man from his brother, the General, In September, 1779, the French fleet, under the command of Count D'Estaing arrived at Tybee, and shortly after landed some miles from Savannah at a place called Buhlah. There they spent some time in gradual approaches and in throwing up battlements before the town, forming a regular siege, which gave Colonel Moncrief, our brave engineer, time also to throw up works. Though the lines were very extensive, and the British force very small, not above 1,800 men (Colonel Maitlandwas in Carolina with 500 men), such was Moncrief's ardor, skill, and industry that he made the town able to stand a siege of six weeks. The French and Americans were 10,000 strong, and they were opening their batteries, and constantly cannonading and throwing bomb shells. Fortunately, however, our men were encamped near the trenches, and these deadly shells went a distance over their heads. The streets being sandy and not paved, the shells fell and made great holes in the sand, which often put out the fuse and prevented explosion. Indeed, the colored children got so used to the shells that they would run and cover them with sand, and as we were rather scarce of ammunition they would often pick up the spent balls and get for them seven-pence apiece.

Soon almost every family was removed from the town to an island opposite, where they made use of barns, and taking their bedding and some furniture divided it by portions. In the barn where I was there were fifty-eight women and children, all intimate friends, and who had each one or more near relatives in the lines. My mother-in-law had two sons, I had my father and one very dear to me, my future husband. Only one male friend was with us. Dr. Johnston, too old to fight, though his whole heart was in the cause. Every other house and barn besides the one we occupied was full of females. The General sent a flag to Count D'Estaing to request that he would allow Mrs. Prevost and her children to go on board one of our ships to be in a safe place. The request was refused, and she remained in a cellar in Savannah, which was made bomb proof with feather beds. Fortunately, though their hope was by the incessant fire to burn the town and force a surrender, a merciful God protected us and defeated their intention. Only one house took fire, and that was opposite the one Mrs. Prevost and her children were in; I cannot now remember whether the flames were subdued or the house consumed. Wet blankets and other means were taken to guard the opposite house from taking fire; the streets were broad.

Our men, having few to relieve them, suffered from fatigue and want of rest, but in the height of our despondence Colonel Maitland effected a junction in a wonderful manner, crossed from the Carolina side, and with his 500 soldiers entered Savannah, thus giving new life and joy to the worn-out troops. Previous to the commencement of the siege, Dr. Johnston with all the females of his family went to the island. Mrs. Johnston, however, remained longer. She had two sons then in the lines, one a captain in the New York Volunteers the other a captain in Brown's Rangers, who were stationed at different parts of the lines. She had also two younger sons, one in his fifteenth the other in his tenth year, whom their brothers had wished to be allowed to take with them. This Mrs. Johnston would not hear of. She had two sons in posts of danger, and she could not bear to risk more. I chose to remain with her, for an obvious reason, I had thus an opportunity of often seeing her son William when he visited her.

One day he came in haste to say we must move from the town as quickly as possible, for the enemy were about to open their batteries on it. This we did immediately, but before we had got far they commenced a heavy cannonade, which was kept up for two hours. The shot was whistling about our ears and I was sadly frightened, ducking my head as if that could save me. My heroic mother-in-law stopped suddenly and addressed her boys : *' My sons, I was about to disgrace you; go join your brothers." Alex went to William, and John to Andrew, the older brothers being scarcely able to believe that their mother had sent them. Soon we got safely to the wharf, and then over to the island, the name of which was Hutchinson Island. It was all cultivated and settled; rice was the grain raised, and as the crop had to be for a certain time, during the proc- 60 ess of culture, kept under water, the town was most unhealthy, every one in autumn suffering from that dreadful disease fever and ague. Of late years, I am told, they have drained the island, given up the culture of rice, and planted cotton, corn, etc., instead, a change which has greatly improved the health of the people.