Memorial history of Augusta, Georgia : from its settlement in 1735 to the close of the eighteenth century / by Charles C. Jones, jr. LL.D. From the close of the eighteenth century to the present time / by Salem Dutcher

Preface

THIS is the first time that the history of that old and soHd city — Augusta, Ga. — has ever been written. It has been said that Americans have been too busy making history to write it, and the observation is true. The formative period always precedes the preservative period ; first comes the pioneer, and long afterward the annalist. Romulus lived many centuries before Livy. Accordingly it is that American history has been late in writing. The annals of the States and of the general government have, it is true, been fairly well recorded — though this is largely due to the fact that the historian had the archives of older nations, connected by discovery and conquest with the New World to resort to, but the story of American cities has been, until of recent years, almost a blank. Even the great metropolis of the country, New York, is better known, as to its early days, by the sweetly-flowing Knickerbocker history of Washington Irving than by any actual and prosaic account. New Amsterdam and its old Dutch burghers in bulbous hose and long stemmed pipe ; the choleric Governor Stuyvesant and his placid excellency Wouter Von Twiller, all rise before us at the very mention of the early history of the great American city, and yet all this is mere fancy, not fact.

Municipal history was, until of late years, an untrodden field. The harvest was plenteous, but the laborers few, if any. Into this field the publishing house of D. Mason & Co. entered not so many years since, and of the many local histories since then published by them, it may well be doubted if any have excelled, or, perhaps equalled in scope, completeness and interest the work it is the office of this preface to introduce.

Various causes have conspired somewhat to delay the production of this history, and yet there has been less a delay than a growth. In the additional time afforded them, the publishers have been enabled to amplify and enrich their theme. Opportunity has been afforded to explore new treasure-houses and thence extract fresh riches. The work has been amplified, adorned, and polished until it is confidently presented as a model municipal history. The whole career of an American city one hundred and fifty years old — older than the old French War, older than the rising of the Jacobites under Bonnie Prince

History of Augusta.

Charlie in the '45 ; older than Blackstone's famous Commentaries — has been thoroughly and carefully explored.

In early days Georgia was but a strip of population on the west bank of the Savannah River, with one city, Savannah, at the southern, and another, Augusta, at its northern extremity. The growth of the commonwealth being for several generations in a northerly and northwesterly direction, made the upper metropolis a great center; and hence it is that for years the history of Augusta epitomizes that of the State. Here were held the great councils with the chieftains of the forest in the days of Indian supremacy ; here was the State capital during the next great Epoch, that of the Revolution ; and here the Constitution of the United States was ratified when American government. State and Federal, assumed permanent form.

He who reads this history will, therefore, read more than the annals of a mere municipality. He can see, traced from its first foundation, the legal, educational, financial, and industrial history of the State itself Rising from the perusal of the work, the reader will have acquired information for which he will in vain consult all the histories of Georgia that have heretofore been written. True, the magnificent work of Colonel C. C. Jones on the colonial period of the State, leaves little, if anything, to be desired as to that special epoch, but from that time forward the history of Georgia may be best seen in all matters nonpolitical, in these pages. The history of the judicial establishment of the State has never been written as it is here written. To instance its completeness, it may be remarked that even so well informed a jurist as Mr. Justice Story in his great work on Equity Jurisprudence says: "In America Equity Jurisprudence had its origin at a far later period than the jurisdiction properly pertaining to the Courts of Common Law. In many of the colonies, during their connection with Great Britain, it had cither no existence at all, or a very imperfect and irregular administration." The reader interested in this particular subject, may therefore be surprised to find in this work a complete account of the Colonial Court of Chancery in Georgia, showing that Equity Jurisprudence existed here in full vigor years before the Revolution. The very details of the then practice are set out and even the forms of precedents and items of the chancery fee bills are preserved and reproduced.

In the all-important field of railroading will be found the history of two of the oldest railroads in the United States, the South Carolina and Georgia, centering in Augusta. The progress of the latter, in particular, is given year by year from the time the first meeting to organize a company was held, and in all the varying phases of railroad development, from the first passenger car, then called "coach," looking much like an old-fashioned stage coach, and propelled by sails, down to the steel track, parlor car, and ponderous "Mogul" engine of the present day.

The growth of manufactures is also traced from the time Whitney op-

Preface. 5

erated his first cotton-gin on a mill pond near the city to the present huge factories which line a canal inferior only in length to the great Erie Canal. In connection with the rise of the cotton industry is told the story of the old indigo field and tobacco plantations.

In the educational world the reader begins with an ancient institution of learning, only excelled in its antiquity by Yale and Harvard; and is thence brought up to the systems of the present day. Statistics never before gathered and grouped together on this subject in Georgia are to be found in this work.

The physician, the divine, the banker, will find the history of medicine, religion, and finance in this city exhaustively treated. Particularly in the latter field will the work be found of more than local interest, since the theme has broadened into a sketch of banking in Georgia from the earliest days.

The history proper of the city as a municipal organization, has, of course, received special attention. The original limits of the city are for the first time definitely located and described, and from that day up the extension of the corporate limits is carefully and accurately traced. Biographical sketches of the chief magistrates of the city from the earliest days are given, as also a complete list of their names and terms of office. Beside these sketches there are also numerous biographies of eminent judges, lawyers, physicians, divines, bankers, and citizens generally of the past. Still furtlier there are sketches of many of the living leaders of the city, this part of the work being embellished with steel engravings of the highest order of artistic elegance.

In one word, this work is, as we have stated, a model municipal history. It has been prepared with care, diligence, research and skill, and while valuable now, will, as the years go on, become a priceless repository of information on the topics of which it treats. All the first portion of the work, up to the beginning of the municipal history proper, is from the pen of Colonel C. C. Jones, jr., a distinguished citizen of Augusta, author of many elaborate and valuable works on Georgia history, and beyond all question, the leading antiquarian and archaeologist of the State, if not indeed of the entire South, or of this country. The residue of the work is from the pen of Salem Dutcher, esq., a member of the Augusta bar. The biographical sketches are by various hands.

The mechanical execution of the volume speaks for itself The skill of the typographer and binder has been successfully laid under tribute, and with a just pride in their work in all its parts, this History of Augusta is confidently submitted to the popular judgment by

The Publishers.

Chapter I

Physical and Social Characteristics, Customs, Manufactures, Occupations and Monuments

of the Georgia Tribe of Indians. 17

CHAPTER n.

Savannah Town — Settlement of Augusta — Earliest Descriptions of the Place — A Trading Post — Names of the First Traders 24

CHAPTER in.

General Oglethorpe's Visit to Augusta — His Conference with the Creeks at Coweta Town — Colonel Stephens's Account of the Progress of the Plantation — Oglethorpe's Fairness in Dealing with the Indians — Introduction of Slave Labor — Rev. Jonathan Copp — Distribution of Presents for the Indians — Fort at Augusta — Early Legislation — Governor Reynolds's "Representation" — Parishes Established — Representation and Petition from Augusta 31

CHAPTER IV.

Condition of the Colony of Georgia in 1760 — Congress at Augusta in November, 1763 — Treaty with the Indians then Solemnized — Instructions to Indian Traders — Strength of Adjacent Indian Nations in 1768 — Augusta's Representation in the Provincial Congress — Congress at Augusta in June, 1773 — The Ceded Lands — Adjustment of the Claims of the Indian Traders — Trouble with the Indians — Silver Bluff 43

CHAPTER V.

Bartram's Description of Augusta in 1773 — Convention of 1774 — Protest from the Parish of Saint Paul — Division of Sentiment — Conduct of Governor Wright — Dr. Lyman Hall — Action of St. John's Parish — Progress of the Revolution 56

CHAPTER VI.

Revolutionary Movements in Savannah — Thomas Brown Tarred and Feathered in Augusta — Provincial Congress of July 4, 1775 — Articles of Association — Organization of the Militia and of the Courts — Independence of Georgia Proclaimed — Military Operations 65

History of Augusta.

CHAPTER VH.

Colonel Campbell's Advance upon and Capture of Augusta — Republican Operations in

Upper Georgia — Battle of Kettle Creek — Augusta Evacuated by the King's Forces, 72

CHAPTER VHI.

Military Operations — Affair near Fulsom's Fort — Augusta Designated as the Seat of Government — An Oligarchical Form of Government Inagurated — Political History of the Period Communication to General Lincoln — Governor Wright's Report on the Situation 81

CHAPTER IX.

Posture of Affairs in the Fall of 1779 — Legislation of the Commons House of Assembly

— Proclamation of Governor Wereat, Governor Walton, General Mcintosh and Mr. Glascock — Political Affairs — Movements of the Executive Council — Unseemly Dissentions^ — Reorganization of the State Government at Augusta. . . 90

CHAPTER X. .

Augusta Evacuated by Williamson, and Occupied by Brown and Grierson — Barbarous Cruelties Perpetrated by Them — Colonel Clarke's Attempt to Retake Augusta — Narrative of the Incidents Connected with the Affair — Governor Wright's Dispatches

— Sad Plight of the Revolutionists — Colonel Brown loi

CHAPTER XI.

Colonel Williamson Invests Augusta — Arrival of Colonel Clarke — Pickens and Lee Ordered to Assist in the Reduction of Augusta — Capture of Fort Galpin — The Siege and Capitulation of Augusta — Lieutenant-Colonel James Jackson Assigned to the Command — Burnet's Rascality — Governor Wright Calls Lustily for Aid iii

CHAPTER XII.

Military Operations Culminating in the Surrender of Savannah — Plot to Murder Colonel Jackson — Celebration in Augusta upon the Acknowledgment of the Independence of the United States — Charge of Chief Justice Walton — Early Legislation Aftecting Augusta — The City of Augusta Incorporated in 1798 — Trustees, Intendants, and Mayors of Augusta 1 27

CHAPTER XIII.

Legislative Proceedings — Newspapers — Ratification in Augusta by the State of Georgia, of the Federal Constitution — Constitutional Convention of 1789 — Georgia Divided into Congressional Districts — President Washington's Visit to Augusta — Military Conven'ion of Augusta, 1793 137

Contents.

CHAPTER XIV.

Cultivation of the Tobacco Plant in Georgia — Rapid Improvement in the Trade and Prosperity of Augusta — Introduction of Cotton — Letter of Mr. Joseph Eve — William Longstreet and His Steamboat — Population of Richmond County upon the Close of the Last Century — Sibbald's Description of Augusta in 1799 — Concluding Remarks '44

CHAPTER XV.

Original Plan of the City — The Old Town — Limits Enlarged in 1780 — Government by Commissioners — Augusta's Loyal Element — The Captured Cannon — Augusta the State Capital — Trustees of Augusta — Limits Enlarged in 1786 — Charter of 1789

— Popular Discontent— Charter Withdrawn — The Yazoo Freshet M9

CHAPTER XVI.

Augusta Incorporated —Charter of 1798 — Thomas Gumming, First Intendant — City Limits — Rise of the Cotton Interest — Whitney and His Gin — Price Current of 1 802

— Intendant Murray— Intendant Hobby — Intendant Flournoy — Intendant Catlett

— Assize of Bread — The Steamboat of 1808 — Intendant Hutchinson— Intendants Walker and Jones— Governor Matthews — Beards President Adams — Intendant Leigh — Panic of 18 14 — Intendant Called Mayor — Mayor Freeman Walker Becomes United States Senator — Mayor Ware Becomes United States Senator — Mayors Reid and' Holt— La Fayette's Visit — Mayor Hale— Rise of the Railway System — Mayors Phinizy, Hook and Dye — The Algerine Law— Augusta Canal — Mexican War — Mayor Ford '6'

CHAPTER XVII.

Mayors Garvin, Miller and Dearing — Central Railroad Comes in — Mayor Conley — Mayor Blodgett — Augusta Water-works — The War Opens — Capture of Augusta Arsenal — Georgia's Wonderful Prosperity in i860— First Regiment — Augusta's Volunteers — Her Dead — Confederate Monuments — Ladies' Memorial Association

— The Salt Famine — Speculation — Gun-powder Works — Fury and Suffering of the War — Confederate Money — Lee's Surrender — Riot of 1865 — Mayor May — Military Rule — Mayor Gardiner— Military Mayor— Reconstruction — Mayor Russell—Mayor Allen — Mayor Estes — Enlargement of the Canal — Mayor Meyer - Mayor May — Vast Extension of Corporate Limits — Freshet of 1888 — Exposition

— Augusta's Double Tax — Retrospect — Proud Record of a Century and a Half. . 175

CHAPTER XVIII.

Bench and Bar — Judicial Establishment of Georgia under the Trustees - Judicature Court — The Rum Law — Law Against Fine Clothes — Free Labor Law — Tenure by Tail Mail — Surrender of the Charter — Judicial Establishment under the King's Colonial Government -The Royal Governor, the Chancellor -Court of Chancery Fee Bill — " Thirteen Chancellors " '92 lo History of Augusta.

CHAPTER XIX.

Bench and Bar Continued — Common Law Courts — The Chief Justice of Georgia — Grover, Simpson and Stokes, Chief Justices — Commission — Fees — The General Court — Origin of Superior Court — Judges — Attorney-General — Provost-Marshal — Clerk of the Crown — Court of Ordinary — Court of Conscience — Justices of the Peace — Early J. P.'s in Augusta — Oyer and Terminer — Court of Admiralty — Appeals — Court of Errors — Writ of Error — Appeal lo the King — The Colonial Bar

— Pomp, Form and Circumstances — Robes, Seals and Precedence 200

CHAPTER XX.

Bench and Bar Continued — The Judicial Establishment of 1776 — Constitution of 1777

— The Superior Court — Judiciary Act of 1778 — Reopening of the Courts in 1782 — Judiciary Act of 1789 — Two Circuits — Chief Justice Glen — Judge Few — Chief Justices Glen, Stephens and Wereat — Chief Justice George Walton — Chief Justice Osborne — Richmond Superior Court in 1787 — Benefit of Clergy — Branding and

the Pillory — Grand Jury Presentments — Chief Justice Pendleton 213

CHAPTER XXI.

Bench and Bar Continued — Augusta's Early Bar — Abraham Baldwin — Governor John Milledge — Governor Telfair — William H. Crawford — Robert Watkins — T. P. and P. J. Carnes — Silken Robes — Robert Raymond Reid — Pathos and Humor — His Bar Dinner — Freeman Walker^ John P. King — Nicholas Ware — John Forsyth. . 224

CHAPTER XXII.

Bench and Bar Concluded— Eminent Lawyers of Augusta Continued — Richard Henry Wilde — " My Life is Like the Summer Rose" — George W. Crawford — Charles J. Jenkins — Ebenezer Starnes — Andrew J. Miller — William T. Gould — Henry H. Gumming — Governor William Schley — Judge John Shly — Judge Holt — Herschel V. Johnson — Court Roll of Judges from 1776 — Solicitors-General from 1796 — City Court of Augusta — Origin and History — Court Roll 237

CHAPTER XXIII.

The Medical Profession — Augusta Physicians of 1760-1785 — First Sanitation Act — Medical Association of 1808 — Medical Society of Augusta Incorporated in 1822 — Medical Academy of Georgia — Bachelor of Medicine Degree — State Board of Physicians — Medical Institute of Georgia — Doctor of Medicine Degree —The Medical College Organized — Roll of Graduates — Yellow Fever of 1839 — Celebrated Report Thereon — Non-contagiousness Demonstrated 251

CHAPTER XXIV.

The Medical Profession Concluded — The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1854 — Portability of Fever Germ — Dr. Campbell's Theory of Quarantine — Board of Health — The Sewer System — Decrease in Death Rate — Southern Medical and Surgical Journal — Eminent Physicians — Milton Antony — Fendall — Cunningham — Watkins — Carter — Garvin — Newton — Dugas — Ford — Eve — Augusta's Present Faculty 262

Contents. h

CHAPTER XXV.

The Press — The Augusta C/irom'cle — Established in 1785 — Its Editors for a Century — Smith (1785) — Driscoll (1807) — Bevan (1821) — A Semi-Weekly— Harmon (1822)

— A Tn-Weekly — Hobby (1824) — Pemberton (1825) — Jones (1837) — A Daily — Colonel James M. Smythe (1846) — Dr. Jones (1847J — Morse (1861) — General A. R. Wright and Hon. Patrick Walsh (i866j — H. Gregg Wright (1877) — James R. Randall (1883) — Pleasant A. Stovall (1887) — The Chronicle of 1790 — Its Appearance, News, Advertisements, Etc. — Chronicles Centennial — Honorable Record — The Augusta Herald — The Cotisiitiitionalist — Colonel Gardner — Southern Field and Fireside — State's Rights Sentinal — The Mirror — The Republic — The Evening News — The Progress — The Free Press — The Baiiner of the South — The Pacificator — The Souther 7i Medical and Surgical Joicrnal — Veteran Newspaper Attaches 278

CHAPTER XXVL

Social, Secret, Literary and Benevolent Societies — The Drama — Commercial Club — St. Valentine Club — Scheutzen — Gun Club — Irish Organizations — Jockey Club — Tournaments — Bicycle Club — Athletic Association — Poultry and Pet Stock Associations — Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Origin and Good Work

— Widow's Home — Women's Christian Temperance Union — Ministerial Association — Orphan Asylum — Library — Sheltering Arms — Hayne Circle — Confederate Survivors — Drummers — Grand Army of the Republic — Catholic Knights — Masons

— Odd Fellows — Knights of Pythias — Good Templars — Miscellaneous Organizations — Colored Organizations 291

CHAPTER XXVII.

Educational — Early Educational System of Georgia — The University — The Academy

— The Poor School — Early Appropriations — School Population — Academies and Schools of 1828 — Course of Instruction — The Educational Commission of 1836 — Common School System of 1837 — School Fund from 1823 to 1838 — Common School System Abolished in 1840 — Poor School Fund of 1843 --Large Increase of Fund in 1852 and 1858 — The Perfected Poor School System —Outbreak of War Prevents Fair Trial — The Academies — Their Number and Curious Names — "The Turn Out" — Codification of the Laws in i860 — Educational Benefactions in Augusta — Old Schools — The Houghton Institute — Augusta Free School — Richmond Academy — Educational Clauses in State Constitutions of 1861 and 1865 — Education During the War — Constitutional Provisions of 1868 — System of 1870 — The Richmond County System 301

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Banks and Banking — Two Eras, 18 10 to 1865, and 1865 to Date — The Old Bank of Augusta — Its Incorporators — Voting on a Sliding Scale — Old Bank Rules — Death to Counterfeit its Notes — Germs of Bank Examinations — The Old Bank's Good Showings — A Surplus Fund a Novelty — Balance Sheet of 1835 — List of Stockholders — Other Old Banks — First Savings Bank in 1827 — Its Expenses $4.55 per

Annum — The Old Augusta Savings Institution — Augusta Insurance and Banking Company — Almost Ruined by the Fire of 1829 — President Bennoch's Tart Report to the Governor — Report of 1833 — List of Stockholders — Merchants' and Planters' Bank — Its Failure in 1833 — Legislative Report Thereon — The Mechanics' Bank

— Report of 1833 — List of Stockholders — The Union Bank — The City Bank — The Georgia Railroad Given Banking Franchise — Its Capital Stock and Dividends from 1836 to 1847 — Its Banking Business from 1847 ta 1864 — Discounts, Deposits and Circulation for. Same Period — Early Banking — Banking at Will — Prohibition of Change Bills — Suppression of Private Banks — Severe Penalties — No Notes under Five Dollars — Forfeiture of Charter on Suspension of Specie Payments — Free Banking Law of 1838 — Analagous to National Bank Act — Land and Negroes a Basis of Issue — Panic of (837— Panic of 1857 — "The War of the Banks" — Banking Capital in 1835, in 1838, in i860 — Dividends, 1829 to 1838 — Great Prosperity Just Before the War — Increase of $133,000,000 in Two Years — Wealth of Richmond County in i860 — Outside of Slaves $20,000,000 — War Bonds, Specie Suspension — The Banks Exhaust Themselves Helping the Confederacy — Banking During the War — Demise of the Old Banks — Banks Since the War — National Bank — National Exchange Bank — The State Banks — Renewal of Banking Franchise to the Georgia Railroad — Dividends from 1836 to 1861, under First Franchise

— Dividends, 1861 to 1881 — The Commercial Bank — The Augusta Savings Institution — Planters' Loan and Savings Bank — Banks Chartered Since the War, but not Organized — City Loan Association and Savings Bank — Mechanics' Savings Bank — City Loan and Savings Bank — Manufacturers' Bank — Citizens' Bank — City Bank — Savings Bank of Augusta — Name Changed to Bank of Augusta —

Its Failure 328

CHAPTER XXIX.

Churches — -Early Religious Discrimination in Georgia — Establishment of Religious Freedom — The Colony Divided into Parishes — Church of England Established — Parish of St. Paul — Augusta's First Clergyman — Rectors of St. Paul's Church — Worshipers Required to Carry Fire-arms to Church — St. Paul's Burned in the Revolution — A New Church Built — The Protestant Episcopal Society Incorporated — St. Paul's Rebuilt — St. Paul's Ancient Tombs— Church of the Atonement — The Presbyterian Churches — History of the First Presbyterian Church — Originally Called Christ Church — Incorporated in 1808 — List of Pastors — The Telfair Building — A Model Sunday School- - Changes in Charter — The Pew Law — Who is a Worshiper — Baptist Churches — The Old Kioka Church — Daniel Marshall's Grave

— First Baptist Church Incorporated in 1809 — Reincorporated in 1817 — Building Completed in 1819 — List of Pastors — Second Baptist Church Incorporated in i860

— The Baptist Convention — Methodist Church — Early Difficulties — "The Weeping Prophet " — St. John's Established in iSoi — Rev. John Garvin, its First Pastor — His Distinguished Successors — St. James' Built in 1855 — Other Methodist Churches

— Early Catholics — Catholic Society Incorporated in 1811 — The First Church — Diocese of Georgia Created in 1850 — List of Bishops — St. Mary's Convent Established in 1833 — Consecration of St. Patrick's Chnrch in 1862 — Father Duggan and Other Pastors — Sacred Heart Church Built in 1874 — Sacred Heart Academy in 1876

— The Franciscan Sisters — The Christian Church — The Lutheran Church — The Synagogue — The Unitarian Society — Colored Churches — Quaint Observances — Young Men's Christian Association — Ministerial Association — Liberal Religious Sentiment 367

Contents. U

CHAPTER XXX.

Manufactures — Eli Whitney and His Cotton Gin — Cotton Forthwith Becomes a Staple The Inventor's Troubles — Law Suits. Infringements and Hostile Legislation — Protest Against Extension of the Patent — Whitney's Later Invention — His Death in 1825 — Rapid Increase in Cotton Exports— Price Current in 1802 — The Embargo Blunder — British Cotton — Heavy Customs Duties — Georgia Long Staple — Total Cotton Export in 1810— A Cotton Factory Chartered in 1798 — Europe and the North Manufacture, while the South only Produces — Deterrent Causes - Another Factory Chartered in 1810 — The Pioneer Southern Mill — Judge Shly's Factory — "The Live Spindle "—Bagging and Yarn the First Products— " The Dead Spindle"

— Osnaburgs — The Mill Removed to Richmond County and Named Bellville — "Georgia Plains "—Checks and Denims Made-- Bellville Factory Twice Burned — Impetus's Given Southern Manufactures — Richmond Factory - Profuse and Omnipresent Water Power of Richmond County --Early Factories, Mills and Gms — McBean Factory— The Georgia Silk Manufacturing Company— The Augusta Sugar Manufacturing Company -The Savannah River Utilized- Augusta Canal Projected

— Early History of this Great Work — The Original Ordinance— The Origmal Route Named -Ratifying Act of the Legislature - How the Money was Raised - The Engineer's Report- Anti-Canal Litigation - The Canal Wins - The Enlargement in 1872-5- Dimensions and Cost - Relative Cotton Manufacturing Advantages of North and South — Expert Testimony -The Augusta Manufacturmg Company -The McBean Factory Charter -The Augusta Factory -Its Phenomenal Success- The Enterprise Factory — The Sibley Manufacturing Company — The John P King Manufacturing Company -The Riverside Mills -The Warwick Mills The Algernon Mills -The Globe Mills — Work of the Augusta Factory from 1873 to 1878 — The Adjacent South Carolina Mills at Graniteville and Vancluse — The Southern and Western Manufacturers Association - The Lock Out of 1886- Other Manufacturing Interests- Georgia Chemical Works -The Guano Interests -The Augusta Ice Company of 1832-The Jackson Street Ice Company of 1837-The Ice Factory of 1864-The Augusta Ice Company-The Polar Ice Company -The Augusta Machine Works -Pendleton Machine Works- Augusta Flounng Mills - Excelsior Flouring Mills -The Lumber Interest -Brick Yards - Augusta as a Cotton Town -The Best Inland Center in the United States -Cotton Futures.. . . 3«7

CHAPTER XXXI.

Transportation -Early Epoch -Pack Animals- Peltry Trade- Indigo -Tobacco- Inspection System -Tobacco Gives Way to Cotton -Wagon Trade-" The Georgie Cracker "-Chief Justice Stokes's Account- Wagon Yards -The River Trade- Hammond's Sketch of the Savannah -Neglect of this Great Waterway - Disputes as to Boundary -South Carolina vs. Georgia in the Continental Congress- A Federal Court Ordered -Convention of Beaufort -First Improvement Act m 1786- The Savannah Navigation Company Incorporated in 1799 -Concert with South Carolina Solicited -Navigation Act of 1802, 1809 and 1812 - Another Appeal for South Carolina Co-operation -River Commissioners- Appropriation oi $30,000 m 1818 -The River Improved -South Carolina Co-operation - The Convention of 182V2; -Congressional Assent not Obtained - Co-operation Fails -Operations from 1815 to ,826.-South Carolina Prefers to Relv on Railroad Transportation-

Collapse of the Inter-State Convention — Fisheries Acts — Sketch of South Carolina Legislation on Savannah River — Federal Appropriation from 1826 to 1838 — The Anti-Internal Improvement School of Politics — The Savannah Valley Convention — Its History, Personnel and Action — The Augusta Chronicle Suggests such a Convention — Memorial to Congress — Hammond's Topographical Sketch — A Trip Down the River — Picturesque Scenes — Danger Points on the River — Regulations of the Pole Boat Trade — The Steamboat — William Longstreet, its Inventor — The First Crude Model — Steamboat Act of 1814 — The Steamboat Company of Georgia Chartered in 181 7 — History of the Company — Complaint of its Monopoly — South Carolina Competition — Legislative Investigation and Report — Hamburg vs. Augusta — The Steamboat Company Given Canal and Railroad Franchises in 1833 — Charter Extended in 1834 — The Iron Steamboat Company — The Savannah and Augusta Steamboat Company — Union Steamboat Company — Augusta, Petersburg and Savannah Steam and Pole Boat Navigation Company — Augusta Steamboat Company of 1887 — Phases of Steamboat Navigation Development — Roll Call of Steamboats for Seventy Years — List of Casualities — Burnt, Blown Up and Sunk. . 436

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

Baker, Alfred Part i, facing 358

Calvin, Hon. Martin V Part i, facing 318

Campbell, Henry Fraser. . .Part 2, facing 4

Estes, Charles Part i, facing 414

Jones, Chas. C, Jr., LL.D.Part i, facing 148 King, John P Part i, facing 234

Page

McCoy, William E Part i, facing 422

Mitchell, Robert M Part i, facing 506

Phinizy, Charles H Part i, facing 500

Sibley. Josiah Part 2. facing 26

Thompson, Jesse Part i, facing 430

Walsh, Hon. Patrick Part i, facing 278

Young, William B Part 2, facing Page 40

BIOGRAPHIES

PART II. Page

Baker, Alfred

Calvin, Hon. Martin V

Campbell, Henry Fraser

Estes, Charles

Jones, Charles C, Jr., LL.D 19

King, John P 3^

Young, William B Page 40

3 16

4 I

Page

McCoy, William E 24

Mitchell, Robert M 46

Phinizy, Charles H 25

Sibley, Josiah 26

Thompson, Jesse 29

Walsh, Hon. Patrick 42

MEMORIAL HISTORY

OF

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA,

PART I.

CHAPTER T.

Physical and Social Characteristics, Customs. Manufactures, Occupations and Monuments ol the Georgia.Tribes of Indians.

BEFORE entering upon our contemplated sketch of the .settlement and early history of Augusta, a brief account of the physical and social characteristics, the customs, manufactures, monuments and occupations of the Indians resident in this region at the time of the advent of the European, may be deemed neither inappropriate nor uninteresting.