History of Georgia

Preface

In the preparation of this text I have followed the newer tendencies in historial writing. Many uninteresting details which serve only to confuse the pupil have been omitted. Among such details are the minor events of the successive gubernatorial administrations, the careers of men of slight importance, and descriptions of military campaigns. The space, gained by these omissions I have given to matters of fundamental importance in the social and economic development of the state. The economic motive behind the settlement of North Georgia ; the development of the cotton industry; the growth and effects of slavery; the history- of education and of transportation, are some of the matters treated in detail. Other new features are the unusual amount of space given to the post-bellum period ; the large number of maps ; and the appendix on the civil government of Georgia.

I have kept constantly in view the necessity of writing a usable book. The manuscript was read and criticised by a number of public school and normal school teachers of the state, and I am led to hope from their opinions that a text constructed along the above lines will prove acceptable to teachers and pupils.

Where the book is used for very young people, I suggest the omission of Chapters V, XI, XIV, XIX, XXV.

I am under deep and lasting obligations to the many friends who placed at my disposal historical materials and photographs, and especially to those who read the manuscript in whole or In part. I wish to acknowledge particularly the assistance of Pro-

iii fessor Willis H. Bocock, whose friendly criticisms and suggestions made while reading the proof greatly improved the form and content of the volume. I am also glad of the opportunity to express my appreciation of the many courtesies extended me by Mr. W. J. DeRenne, who has rendered a valuable public service in collecting the sources of our state history.

R. P. Brooks.

University of Georgia, Athens, Ga.

October, 191 3.

IV

Contents

Page

Preface iii

Maps and Illustrations xii

Chapter I Georgia: The Land

The Importance of Geography

The history of a country properly begins with a study of its geography, for without such a study it is impossible to understand the life of the people. The ways in which Georgians make their living, their political opinions and social and educational conditions are largely the results of the situation and climate of the state. An illustration of the powerful influence of physical conditions is afforded by the early experience of our people on the seacoast. The founders of the colony prohibited the holding of slaves, because it was intended that the settlers should produce wine and silk, and in these light employments slaves would not be needed. But climatic conditions were such that these industries did not succeed. Georgians turned their attention to rice growing, and as the coast was swampy and malarious, it seemed necessary to allow the introduction of slaves. The whole subsequent history of Georgia was affected by this change from a free labor system to the use of slaves. Instances could be mutiplied, but this illustration is sufficient to show the student how necessary it is to know something of the climate and soils of a state, if he would rightly understand her history.

Area and Boundaries

With an area of 59,475 square miles, Georgia ranks twentieth in size among the states of the Union. No other state east of the Mississippi has so great an area. Georgia is one of the South Atlantic States, lying between 30° 31' 39'' and 35° North latitude, the length of the state being about 320 miles; and 81° and 85° 53' 38'' longitude, west from Greenwich, the greatest width of the state being about 254 miles. Georgia was once very much larger than she now is, but, because of circumstances later to be mentioned, part of her territory was lost. The present boundaries are North Carolina and Tennessee on the north ; the Savannah River and the Ocean on the east; Florida on the south; the Chattahoochee River and Alabama on the west.

The Mountains of North Georgia

If the entire state could be viewed from some outside point, say from a ship off Tybee, it would present the appearance of a vast inclined plane, with the highest points on the North Carolina-Tennessee border and the lowest at the seaboard. The northern part of the state is crossed by the Appalachian sys-

LEGEND Mountains

Piedmont Plateau Coastal Plain

FALL LINE

Physical Map of Georgia.

Reprod. from Merrill, F. A., "Geography of the Soils of Georgia."

tern of mountains, extending from New Hampshire to Alabama. In Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, the Appalachians appear as two chains with a wide valley between. The western chain is known as the Alleghenies. This chain crosses the extreme northwestern corner of Georgia. The mountains are broad-topped and are not of great height, Lookout Mountain being the highest, about 2400 feet above sea level. The coal mines of Georgia are here located, in Dade and Walker Counties. The Appalachian Valley separates the Alleghenies from the Blue Ridge, which covers northeast Georgia. The

Waterfall in North Georgia.

Blue Ridge mountains, with their irregular, sharppointed peaks attain a much greater elevation than the Alleghenies. The highest peaks are Sitting Bull, 5,046 feet above sea level, and Enota, 4,798 feet. Both of these peaks are in Towns County. The Blue Ridge section is noted for its beautiful valleys, swift streams and picturesque waterfalls.

The Piedmont Plateau

Below the mountains comes a rolling, broken and hilly country known as the Piedmont Plateau. The word "Piedmont" means foothills. The mountains do not cease abruptly, but gradually shelve off as one approaches Middle Georgia. The Piedmont section extends to a line connecting Augusta and Columbus, and passing through Macon. The elevation varies from 1500 feet above sea level to 300 feet at the southern limit of the region. The soil is a mixture of sandy land and red clay. It is naturally very fertile, but on account of the rolling character of the country, it easily washes away. This part of Georgia is more densely settled than any other section; it has been the most important agricultural region; and is now leading the other sections in the development of manufacturing.

The Fall Line

The dominance or Piedmont Georgia in manufacturing is due to her abundant supply of water power. The presence of mountains in North Georgia and the shelving nature of the land south of the mountains determine the course of the rivers. Practically all the important streams of the state rise in the mountains or foothills and flow southward, seeking the Gulf of Mexico or the Ocean. So long as the rivers are running between mountain ridges or tumbling among the foothills, the streams are rapid and full of shoals and waterfalls. The power generated by the swiftly flowing streams is used to turn the machinery of cotton mills and other manufacturing plants. The rivers change their character, however, when they leave the Piedmont and break into the Coastal Plain.

Shipping Lumber at Savannah.

The line connecting the points on the several rivers at which they leave the Piedmont is known as the Fall Line. Below these points the streams are broad and deep, and flow slowly. Augusta, Milledgeville, Macon and Columbus are on the fall line. These towns were built where they are, not by accident, but by design. Going northward from the Atlantic or the Gulf, boats find smooth water to these towns, but beyond, travel and transportation must leave the rivers, because the rapids and falls make them impassable. Large towns, therefore, grew up at the limit of navigation. From them wagon roads radiated into the surrounding country; the farmers hauled their cotton and other products to the towns; flatboats, and, later, steamboats were used to convey the products to the ports and to carry supplies upstream to the market towns.

The Coastal Plain

Below the Piedmont section lies the great coastal plain of Georgia, covering some 35,000 square miles, more than half the total area of the state. While this region is on the whole level and fiat, it is not by any means so monotonous as many have supposed. The elevation varies from 100 to 350 feet above sea level, though hills occur as high as 700 feet. There is a wide variety of soils, but for the most part it is sandy with a clay foundation. This section was formerly covered with pine forests, though they are now rapidly disappearing, the soil being appropriated to agriculture. The forests are the basis of the lumber and turpentine industries of the State. A characteristic feature of the plain is the wiregrass which, carpets the earth in south central and southeast Georgia. The Coastal Plain was until recently sparsely populated, but now that improved methods of tillage and the use of commercial fertilizers are making the cultivation of the sandy soils profitable, a large population is being attracted, and South Georgia promises to rival the Piedmont as an agricultural region.

The Seacoast

Georgia has a sea frontage of 126 miles. The coast is not mountainous and rugged as is the case in New England, but is almost flat. The indentations of the coast at the mouths of the rivers and the sounds between the mainland and the islands that fringe the coast provide excellent harbors. Parts of the coast are swampy and malarious. The climate has not proved attractive to white people and the population is, therefore, small, except in Chatham County, containing the city of Savannah.^ Rice production was formerly the leading agricultural interest of the seaboard counties, but periodical freshets and storms, labor troubles, and the competition of the rice fields of the West, have crippled the industry.

Climate

Owing to the great length of the State and the fortunate physiographic variations, eight of the nine climate belts of the United States are represented in

^ Now that modern science has taught us how to conquer malaria, we may expect ere long a large white population on the coast.

Georgia, though it is only at the top of the mountains that the lowest of these temperature conditions occurs. The mean annual temperature of the Piedmont Plateau is between 60° and 65° Fahrenheit, while below the fall line the mean annual temperature is between 65° and 70°. For the whole State, the mean July temperature is 81.8°. With this unusual

Palmetto Grove on the Georgia Coast.

climate, varying from the temperate to the subtropical, and with soils of w^idely different characteristics, it is possible to produce in Georgia almost any sort of crop. Her agricultural interests are, therefore, quite varied, ranging from apples in the mountains to cotton and corn in the middle regions and sugar and rice in the southern section. Only three

States in the Union surpass Georgia in the total value of agricultural products.

Merrill, F. R., Geography of the Soils of Georgia. Published by the Georgia Club of the State Normal School, Athens, Ga. Copies may be had on application.

Chapter II The Aborigines Of Georgia

The Name "Indian"

The voyages which led to the discovery of America were undertaken for the purpose of finding a western route to the East Indies, and when the islands now known as the West Indies were reached, the discoverers thought they had succeeded in their endeavor. The native people, or aborigines, were, therefore, called ''Indians," and the name, oddly enough, became permanently attached to them. These natives were scattered over the entire continent of North America, from the frozen North to Florida and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The total population was very small, not more than half a million for the whole continent north of Mexico. East of the Mississippi it has been estimated that there were about 200,000 Indians at the time of the discovery of the New World. There are at the present time about 400,000 Indians in North America.

The Southeastern Indians

There were four principal nations or tribes of Indians in the southeastern part of what is now the

Original Lands of Cherokees and Creeks.

United States, namely, the Cherokees, Creeks, Chickasaws and Choctaws. Of these only the Cherokees and Creeks played an important part in the history of Georgia. The Cherokees were the most civilized and one of the most powerful of all the American Indian nations. Their original territories embraced all of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, the western parts of West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and the northern portions of Georgia and Alabama. Their southern boundary in Georgia was approximately a line drawn from Elberton to Cedartown.

The Creeks or Muscogees were a confederacy of numerous tribes, occupying all of Georgia south of the Cherokees, central and eastern Alabama and Florida. In Georgia they were known as Lower Creeks; in Alabama, Upper Creeks, while in Florida they were called Seminoles. In later chapters the story of the gradual acquisition of the Indian lands by Georgia will be told. We are at present concerned only with the life and customs of the natives in their primitive condition.

Indian Characteristics

The Indians were of a dark reddish color, strong, well proportioned, active, nimble footed, and capable of enduring great physical suffering. Their hair was lank, dark and coarse, and their eyes small, sharp and black. The accounts of white men who lived among them as traders and government agents differ as to their mental traits. By some they are pictured as cunning, deceitful, revengeful and dishonest; others thought them honest, hospitable to strangers, kind hearted and industrious. The last Royal Governor of Georgia, Sir James Wright, wrote of the Creeks as ^'a most base treacherous people and in whom you can have no confidence or dependence." The Cherokees he had found "much more civilized and better disposed."

Indian Dress

General Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, left a description of the Indian mode of dress, of which the following is an abridgment. The men wo^e a sort of trunks, covering the middle portion of t^e body, the women a short skirt, reaching to the knees. In winter both sexes wore a mantle about two yards square, ''which they wrap round their bodies as the Romans did their toga." These mantles were sometimes of European make, bought from traders; sometimes of native dressed skins. To complete the costume, the Indians wore sandals or moccasins made of leather. The aborigines were skillful in preparing skins for clothing and also knew how to w^eave blankets and rugs. They had a curious habit of painting their bodies. Oglethorpe mentions seeing Indians painted red, TdIuc, yellow, and black. Various sorts of ornaments were worn, such as feathers in the hair, necklaces of beads, and earrings.

The Indian Village

The Indians usually lived in village communities. Their houses were often framed structures and were sometimes whitewashed inside and out. In addition to his dwelling, each head of a family had a corn house, a poultry house and a hot house. The hot house was built of heavy timber and was plastered with mud. There were no openings, except a low door. When this was closed, the structure was practically air tight and cold proof. Here the Indians slept in winter, lying around a fire which was kept constantly burning. How they endured the smoke is a mystery.

Near the center of the village was a public square, in which were located the ^^Great House" and the "Council House." The former consisted of four single-storied houses enclosing a court. Public meetings, feasts and dances occurred there. The Council House was erected at a corner of the square. It was conical in shape and from twenty-five to thirty feet in diameter. This building was the meeting place of the "mico" and his council.

Political Arrangements

The small number of Indians belonging to any one tribe or nation and the fact that their settlements were scattered over a wide territory made any sort of government over the whole tribe impossible, even if the Indians had felt the need of organized government. While the aborigines scattered over many thousands of square miles might call themselves Cherokees or Creeks, there was only a very slight bond between the villages. Each village was in fact a little nation in itself. If the Creeks desired to go to war, each town decided independently whether or not it would take the war path. There were at the close of the eighteenth century thirty-eight Creek towns. A government agent who lived among them at that time wrote that they were never unanimously in favor of any war, so that the nation might be at war with the Cherokees or Chickasaws and half of the villages send no warriors. The government of each village was vested in a chief, known as the mico, a war chief, and a council. The mico was chosen by the warriors of the village from a certain clan or family, and held his office for life. His opinion was of great weight in determining the policy of the town. Society was, however, democratic. Outside the council room, the mico was in no way set apart from his fellow citizens. The war-chief owed his position to his renown in battle. He led in all military excursions and presided over the council in the absence of the mico. The council was composed of the older warriors of the village.

Tribal Wars

The various tribes of Indians were seldom at peace with one another for long periods. Quarrels over hunting grounds appear to have been a fruitful cause of war. The Indian method of warfare was quite unlike that of civilized peoples. There was no formal declaration of war, no marching forth in battle array. Usually a small party of from twenty to forty would steal cautiously upon the enemy and attack them by night or lie in ambush for returning hunting parties. They often resorted to tricks to conceal their presence and to disguise their numbers, such as wearing the hoofs of buffaloes or marching in single file, each man stepping in the track made by the warrior just ahead. When lying in ambush, they would communicate with one another by imitating the calls of wild birds or beasts. The slain in battle were always scalped and often dismembered. A warrior's standing in his tribe depended on the number of scalps he took. Captives were treated with the utmost cruelty, burning at the stake being the usual form of torture. In this sport the women and children joined with great zest. The victim stoically bore the torment, pride preventing his showing any sign of suffering.

Religion

The Indians believed in the immortality of the soul and in future rewards or punishments for their lives on earth. They worshipped the sun as the giver of life, light and heat. They were very superstitious, believing in evil spirits, which they were accustomed to appease by incantations and charms of one sort and another. The Southern Indians did not worship idols. The High-Priest was an important personage in each village. He was believed to hold personal communion with the invisible spirits and was regarded as a mediator between them and the red men. The warrior's idea of heaven was a limitless hunting ground, and he was invariably buried with bow, arrows and spear, that he might not be without weapons in the other world.

Agriculture

The earliest account we have of the Southern Indians is found in the notes kept by one of de Soto's companions, in 1539, during his noted exploration of this region.^ At that time the Georgia Indians were living in villages, had wooden houses, and while depending principally on the chase for food, had

^ Hernando de Soto, the Spanish explorer, came to Florida in 1539- Marching northward, the adventurer led his army into what is now Georgia. The Spaniards crossed the Ocmulgee, Oconee and Ogeechee Rivers and reached the bank of the Savannah. They followed the Savannah as far north as the mountains, where they turned sharply to the west. Skirting the mountains, de Soto's party reached the Coosa River and followed its valley into Alabama. The explorers finally reached the Mississippi River in 1541. De Soto died shortly afterward and was buried in the great river.

Indian Implements.

I Piecing Instrument Made of a Deer's Tibia.

2 and 4 Arrow Heads. 3 Mortar for Crushing Corn. 5 Axe.

Reproduced by permission from Jones, C. C, "Antiquities of the Southern

Indians" (Appleton).

passed the nomadic stage and looked to agriculture for part of their sustenance. DeSoto's diarist records that the savages grew corn, beans and pumpkins, preserved plums by drying them, made oil from bear's fat and from walnuts, and, of course, used the native fruits, such as the strawberry. Most of the accounts of Indian life were written in the eighteenth century. Agriculture had by that time become the principal means of livelihood of the Cherokees and Creeks, game having become scarce. Their towns were commonly located on streams, because there the land was most fertile. Each dwelling had a garden, in which were planted peas, beans and early ripeningcorn. The larger fields were devoted exclusively to corn production. When the proper season arrived, certain days were set apart for planting, and all the able-bodied inhabitants of the town turned out and worked on the cooperative plan. In some towns the women did all this work; in others, the men assisted. The implement in ordinary use was a hoe, consisting of a fish bone or flat stone fixed upon a wooden handle. Though the planting and cultivating were done cooperatively, hedges divided the fields into indi- ^^dual holdings and each warrior gathered the crop from his own part of the field.

Manufacturing

The activity of English and French traders in supplying the Indians with cloth, beads, paint and a wide variety of articles of iron, tended to check the progress of the natives in manufacturing. They were, however, skillful workers in stone. No steel or iron implements were used until the white man came, but in spite of this hindrance the Indians made beautiful arrowheads, spearheads, stone pipes, trumpets and mortars for grinding corn. Another accomplishment was the art of making earthenware of many designs. Articles for personal adornment were made from shells. Spinning and weaving, the dressing of skins and the art of dyeing were in common use among Cherokees and Creeks.

Marriage Customs

The marriage customs of the aborigines varied from tribe to tribe. Among the Creeks the matches were always made by the female relatives of the interested persons. Having decided on a girl, the young buck sent his aunts, cousins and sisters to consult with the women of the girl's family. If the overtures met with favor, the prospective bridegroom built a cabin, planted and gathered a crop, went on the hunt and brought back meat, and then received the maiden into his hut. There was nothing sacred about the marriage, it was not sanctioned by a priest, and could be dissolved at the desire of either the man or the woman. If a separation occurred, the children became the property of the mother. The Cherokees practiced monogamy, but the Creeks had as many wives as they could support.

Funeral Customs

The Creeks buried their dead in a pit under the cabin of the deceased. The pit was about four feet square, and the body was placed in a sitting position. Gun, tomahawk and pipe were deposited with the corpse. Immediately on the death of a Cherokee his body was washed, anointed and placed in front of his lodge. After a period of mourning, the body was carried three times around the hut, and then buried in a pit under the floor. The Choctaws placed the dead body on a scaffold eighteen or twenty feet above the ground. When only the skeleton remained, it was taken down and placed in a bone house. After a considerable number of skeletons had accumulated, a funeral ceremony was performed and the bones interred together. Cremation was practiced among some tribes. Most of the tribes seem to have buried with the dead warrior his weapons and other highly prized possessions, and vessels containing food. This practice indicates the Indians' belief in a future existence. The food was intended to sustain him during the passage from this world to the next.

Feasts

The Cherokees and Creeks celebrated many feasts, of which the most important was the busk, or harvest feast. The feast was preceded by a period of purification. Houses and streets were thoroughly cleansed, and a great bonfire made of garbage, old clothes, cooking utensils and whatever food happened to be on hand. A three days' fast was decreed, and all criminals who had fled from justice might return and be forgiven, except murderers. On the morning of the first day after the period of fasting the high priest made a new fire by rubbing sticks together, new corn was brought from the fields and the feast began.

Indian Mounds or Tumuli

The valleys, river banks and islands of the coast of Georgia were once dotted with hundreds of Indian mounds. Numbers of them still stand, the only monuments we have of the former inhabitants of our land. These mounds vary in size from the large one in Bartow County, which is sixty-five feet high and two hundred and twenty-five feet in diameter at the top, to the small individual burial mound. Archaeologists believe that the mounds were erected by a people who lived in Georgia before the Indians came. There are several reasons for this opinion. The larger mounds were erected with the expenditure of enormous amounts of labor, more than the Indians of those days could possibly have supplied, as their number was too small. Students of the subject think that prior to the coming of the Indians a much more numerous race lived in our country. Another reason for this view is that the Indians had no idea when or why the tumuli were built. They used the mounds as towers to watch for expected enemies, and as burial grounds, and sometimes stockaded them for service as forts; but the form of some of the great mounds suggests that they were intended as

Indian Mound on Tumlin Plantation, Bartow County. Photograph furnislied by Mr. Robert Milan, Cartersville, Ga.

temples of worship, and it may be that some ancient people, of whom we have no knowledge, used the tumuli for the performance of religious rites. Still another point in favor of this view as to the ancient character of the mounds is that observers of the Indians agree that they were not idolatrous, whereas in the tumuli many idols have been found.

Use of Tobacco

The Indians originated the practice of tobacco smoking. Europeans at first thought tobacco was

Indian Pipes.

Reprod. from Jones, C. C, "Antiquities of the Southern Indians."

30 nUtory of Georgia

used for medicinal purposes, being unable to understand how pleasure could be derived from a practice which nauseated the white men who attempted it. The savages are said to have regarded tobacco as the special gift of the Great Spirit for their enjoyment. The pipe was the constant companion of the red man, his great solace and comfort. The habit of smoking seems to have been wellnigh universal among them.

In the manufacture of pipes the Indians were very skillful. Thousands of them have been dug out of mounds and are preserved in various museums. The bowl is often quite as smooth and as highly polished as any used by modern smokers. Antiquarians divide the pipes into three classes, idol pipes, calumets and individual pipes. The idol pipes are so named because they are cut in the shape of some animal or to represent the human figure. Such pipes are found only in the ancient tumuli, and are considered an indication of the extreme antiquity of the mounds, since the Indian was not an idolater.

The calumet was the peace pipe. This was large and heavy, with a bowl sometimes the size of a toacup. The calumet was the property of the whole tribe, and was smoked only on formal occasions, such as meetings to conclude alliances or to make treaties. Smoking the calumet was a ceremony of great dignity. The taking of a whiff of the calumet pledged the smoker's honor to abide by the treaty.

The third class of pipes includes all the varieties of pipes for individual use. The bowls were made of stone or clay, a reed serving as a stem. Some of the bowls are no larger than a thimble, others hold an ounce of tobacco.

The name ''Indian'^ was given to the aborigines of America by the Spanish explorers. The most important tribes that lived in Georgia were the Cherokees and Creeks, the former occupying North Georgia, the latter Middle and South Georgia. The Indians were not a roving, nomadic people, but lived in fixed homes, grouped in village communities. Their homes were often well constructed of wood. In each of these villages there were local rulers^ chosen for special qualities of wisdom or physical prowess. There was no central government over all the red men belonging to a tribe. The Indians were very cruel to enemies captured in war, usually burning them at the stake. They believed in a future existence after death and buried their dead with bow and arrow, or at a later time, with gun and ammunition. Corn, peas, beans and other foodstuffs were regularly planted and cultivated. The Indians were skillful in spinning, weaving and dyeing cloth, in pottery making, and in carving and polishing stones. It is thought that the tumuli, or mounds, were not built by the Indians who inhabited the land when the white men came, but that these structures were erected by some earlier and more numerous race, who were exterminated or driven away by the Indians. The most striking contributions of the Indians to modern civilization are the Indian maize, or corn, and the tobacco plant.