Biographical Memorials of James Oglethorpe Part 25

SOUTHEY'S _Life of Wesley_, Vol. I. p. 98, note.

XVI.

With reference to these persecuted exiles, are the following lines of Thomson.

"Lo! swarming southward on rejoicing suns New colonies extend'. the calm retreat Of undeserved distress, the better home Of those whom bigots chase from foreign lands; Such as of late an Oglethorpe has formed, And crowding round, the pleased Savannah sees."

[Liberty, _Part V_.]

I give, also, an extract from the _London Journal_ of the day.

"As the Trustees for settling Georgia are giving all proper encouragement for the Saltzburg emigrants to go over and settle there, some of the managers for those poor people have sent over to the Trustees from Holland, a curious medal or device, enchased on silver, representing the emigration of the poor Saltzburgers from their native country, which opens like a box, and in the inside contains a map of their country, divided into seventeen districts, with seventeen little pieces of historical painting, representing the seventeen persecutions of the primitive Christians; the whole being folded up in a very small compa.s.s, and is a most ingenious piece of workmanship."

XVII.

SETTLEMENT OF THE MORAVIANS IN GEORGIA.

"In consequence of the oppression which they suffered in Bohemia, the United Brethren, or, as they are more commonly called, the Moravians, resolved to emigrate to the new Colony of Georgia in America, whither the Saltzburgers had recently gone. With this purpose they applied to Count Zinzendorf, their spiritual guide, for his concurrence and a.s.sistance. Accordingly, he made interest with the Trustees on their behalf, which, being favorably received, and a free pa.s.sage offered, a small company of them set out from Herrnfurt in November, 1734. They proceeded to London, where they found Mr. Spangenberg, who had nearly concluded every thing relative to their embarkation, with the Trustees, and to their accommodation and settlement, with General Oglethorpe. A number of Saltzburgers were also about to emigrate; and three zealous ministers of the Church of England, Mr. John Wesley, together with his brother Charles, and Mr. Benjamin Ingham, went with them in the same ship.

"They arrived at Savannah in the spring of 1735; and, in the following summer received a considerable increase of brethren, conducted by David Nitchmann, senior.

"The Saltzburgers went further up the river, and selected a place of settlement, which they called Ebenezer, but the Brethren began immediately their settlement near to Savannah; and G.o.d so blessed their industry, that they were not only soon in a capacity of maintaining themselves, but, also, of being serviceable to their neighbors. Having had a.s.sistance in the erection of a school-house for the children of the Indians, Tomo Tschatschi, their King, came to see it, and was glad that they might have a place where, as he expressed it, _they could hear the good word_. Consequently the Colony of the Brethren presented a fair prospect, both with respect to the settlement itself, and the instruction and conversion of the Heathen.

But, being among the rest summoned to take up arms in defence of the country, and to march against the Spaniards, they refused it, as being no freeholders, and, of consequence, not obliged to it according to the laws of the Colony; nay, before coming over, they had expressly stated that they were not willing to perform any military service.

Count Zinzendorf, on his visit to London, in January, 1737, took occasion to become acquainted with General Oglethorpe and the Trustees of Georgia, with whom he entered into a conference relative to the situation of the Moravian Brethren there. He remonstrated against their being called on to enlist as soldiers; and the Trustees readily exempted them from such a liability. But as this exemption embittered the minds of the people against them, some of the Brethren in 1738 left all their flourishing plantations, having repaid all the money which had been advanced towards their pa.s.sage and settlement, and went to Pennsylvania. The rest were left undisturbed for awhile; but in 1739, when the troubles of war broke out afresh, being again molested on account of military service, they followed their brethren in the spring of 1740, and afterwards began the colonies of Bethlehem and Nazareth." CRANZ'S _History of the United Brethren_, p. 193, 213 and 229.

XVIII.

SCOUT-BOAT.

1. This was a strong built ten-oared boat, bearing three swivel guns, kept for exploring the river pa.s.sages, visiting the islands, and for preventing the incursions of enemies, and repelling the predatory attempts of runaway slaves who sometimes lurked round and infested the coast. The crew was composed of bold and hardy South Carolinians, who lie out in the woods or in the open boat, for months together. Most of them are good hunters and fishers; and by killing deer and other game, subsist themselves, when the packed stores fail.

2. "_Channels_," as they are called, are water courses between the main-land and the islands; in some places above a mile wide, in others, not above two hundred yards. These sometimes open into what are called "_sounds_," which are gulfs of the sea, that extend into the land and entrances of rivers.

XIX.

The Uchee Indians had a village not far from Ebenezer, at the time of the settlement of Georgia; but their princ.i.p.al town was at _Chota_, on the western branch of the _Chattahoochee_, or, as it was more properly spelt, _Chota-Uchee_ river. How long they had resided there we do not know. As their language is a dialect of the Shawanees, it has been supposed that they were descendants from that tribe. A jealousy existed between them and the Muscogees; but they were in amity with the Creeks, though they would not mix with them. How numerous they were at the time of their treaty with Oglethorpe, cannot now be ascertained.

In 1773 they lived on a beautiful plain of great extent, in a compact village. They had houses made of timbers framed together, lathed and plastered over with a kind of red clay, which gave them the appearance of having been built of brick. At that time they numbered 1500, of whom 300 were warriors. For many years they have not joined the Creeks in any of their games or dances; and have only been kept from open hostility with other tribes, by the influence of the white people.

[For this note I am indebted to my friend SAMUEL G. DRAKE; whose _Biography and History of the Indians of North America_ comprises much that can be known of the aborigines.]

XX.

OF THE MUTINY IN THE CAMP, AND ATTEMPT AT a.s.sa.s.sINATION.

From the journal of William Stephens, Esq. (Vol. II. pp. 76, 90, 473, 480, 499, and 505; and Vol. III. 4, 5, 27, and 32,) I collect the following particulars. One of the persons implicated in the insidious plot, was William Shannon, a Roman Catholic. "He was one of the new listed men in England, which the General brought over with him. By his seditious behavior he merited to be shot or hanged at Spithead before they left it, and afterwards, for the like practices at St. Simons.

Upon searching him there, he was found to have belonged to Berwick's regiment, and had a furlough from it in his pocket." Instead of suffering death for his treasonable conduct, in the last instance, he was whipped and drummed out of the regiment. "Hence he rambled up among the Indian nations, with an intent to make his way to some of the French settlements; but being discovered by the General when he made his progress to those parts, in the year 1739, and it being ascertained that he had been endeavoring to persuade the Indians into the interest of the French, he fled, but was afterwards taken and sent down to Savannah, and committed to prison there as a dangerous fellow." On the 14th of August, 1740, he and a Spaniard, named Joseph Anthony Mazzique, who professed to be a travelling doctor, but had been imprisoned upon strong presumption of being a spy, broke out of prison and fled. On the 18th of September, they murdered two persons at Fort Argyle, and rifled the fort. They were taken on the beginning of October at the Uchee town, and brought back to Savannah, tried and found guilty, condemned and executed on the 11th of November, having previously confessed their crime.

Since my account of _the traitorous plot_ was written, as also of the _attempt at a.s.sa.s.sination_, I have received from my friend Dr. W.B.

STEVENS, of Savannah, the following extracts from letters of General Oglethorpe. As they state some particulars explanatory and supplementary of the narrative which I had given, I place them here.

And this I do the rather because DR. HEWATT, (Vol. II. p. 70,) as also Major McCALL, (Vol. I. p. 124,) in the same words, and some others, incorporate the _treachery_ at St. Simons, and the _a.s.sault_ at St.

Andrews into a connected narrative, as one occurrence; whereas it is very evident that the circ.u.mstances detailed were distinct; one originating among the troops which sailed in the Hector and Blandford, in July 1738, from England, and the other in the two companies drawn from the garrison at Gibraltar, which came in the Whittaker in the preceding month of May.

In reference to the first, General Oglethorpe thus wrote in a letter to the trustees, dated, "on board the Blandford at Plymouth, July 3d, 1738."

"We have discovered that one of our soldiers has been in the Spanish service, and that he hath stroved to seduce several men to desert with him to them, on their arrival in Georgia. He designed also to murder the officers, or such persons as could have money, and carry off the plunder. Two of the gang have confessed, and accused him; but we cannot discover the rest. The fellow has plenty of money, and he said he was to have sixty or a hundred crowns, according to the number of men he carried. He is yet very obstinate, refusing to give any account of his correspondents. We shall not try him till we come to Georgia, because we hope we shall make more discoveries."

"They left Plymouth on the 5th of July, and arrived about the 16th of September, at Frederica."

On the 8th of October, 1738, occurs the following pa.s.sage in a letter from Frederica, to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle.

"We have discovered some men who listed themselves as spies. We took upon one of them his furlough from Berwick's regiment in the Irish troops. They strove to persuade some of our men to betray a post to the Spaniards; who, instead of complying, discovered their intentions.

I have ordered a general Court Martial, for the trying of them, who have not yet made their report. One of them owns himself a Roman Catholic, and denies the King having any authority over him."

"I conceive," says Dr. Stevens, "that these two letters refer to one and the same thing, viz.: that there were _spies_, which came over with the troops who arrived in September; that they designed to betray the English posts; that they were to murder the officers; and defeat the object for which the regiment was sent to Georgia. But this plot was crushed by the fact of its being discovered, the ring-leaders seized, and a Court Martial ordered."

Writing again to the Duke of Newcastle from Frederica, November 20, 1738, Oglethorpe says,--"Those soldiers who came from Gibraltar, have mutinied. The King gave them provisions and pay at Gibraltar. He gave them but six months provision here; after which they were to live upon their pay. On the expiration of their provisions, they demanded a continuance of them, and not being able to comply with their demands, they took to arms. One of them fired upon me. After a short skirmish we got the better of them. One of the officers was slightly, and one of the mutineers dangerously wounded, and five are secured prisoners, to be tried by a Court Martial. We have strong reason to suspect that our neighbors have tampered with these men. Many of them speak Spanish, and some of their boats,[1] under various pretences, came up hither before my arrival."

[Footnote 1: He refers here to boats from St. Augustine.]

Upon this Dr. Stevens remarks--"In this case the cause of mutiny had no reference to the Spaniards. While in Gibraltar the troops had received provisions in addition to their pay. These were continued six months after their arrival in America; but when these were withdrawn, and nothing but their bare pay left, they became dissatisfied; demanded additional supplies; and, on refusal by General Oglethorpe, took to their arms. Here was a simple cause _originating among themselves_; in the other affair, the soldiers who created the difficulty were acting as _agents of a foreign power_; the bribed and acknowledged traitors to their own country. In the one case it was the sudden outbreaking of discontent, owing to the retrenchment of their wages; in the other, it was a premeditated and well-concerted plan, framed by Spanish emissaries on the other side of the water, to be executed on this."

Referring to the remark of General Oglethorpe at the close of the last letter, as also to some suggestions in the letter of mine, to which the foregoing was the reply, Dr. Stevens adds--"That the Spaniards tampered with the English, and endeavored to seduce them from their allegiance, is not to be doubted; because it was of the utmost importance to them to create divisions in the regiment; but the one to whom Hewatt refers, as having been 'in the Spanish service, and had so much of a Roman Catholic spirit,' is doubtless the same spoken of by Oglethorpe in July, upon whom a Court Martial sat in September; and who could not, therefore, have been connected with the mutiny at Fort St. Andrews, in November."

XXI.

FURTHER PARTICULARS OF TOMO CHICHI.

In the preceding pages are several references to Tomo Chichi, which show how strongly he became attached to Oglethorpe; how liberal he was in the grant of territory; how considerate in furnishing to the new settlers venison, wild turkeys, and other articles, as opportunity offered, and the occasion made particularly acceptable; how serviceable he was in procuring such interviews with the Chiefs of the Upper and Lower Creeks as led to amicable treaties; and how ready to a.s.sist, not only with his own little tribe, but by his influence with others, in the contests with the Spaniards. Some other notices of him, which bring out his excellent character more prominently, but could not be inserted in the body of this work, I have deemed to be sufficiently interesting to be inserted here.

"There were no Indians near the Georgians, before the arrival of Oglethorpe, except Tomo Chichi, and a small tribe of about thirty or forty men who accompanied him. They were partly Lower Creeks, and partly Yamasees, who had disobliged their countrymen, and, for fear of falling sacrifices to their resentment, had wandered in the woods till about the year 1731, when they begged leave of the Government of Carolina to sit down at Yamacraw, on the south side of Savannah river."[1]

[Footnote 1: Report of the Committee of the South Carolina a.s.sembly, on the Indian trade, 4to, 1736, p. 11.]

"Tomo Chichi had in his youth been a great warrior. He had an excellent judgment, and a very ready wit, which showed itself in his answers upon all occasions. He was very generous in giving away all the rich presents he received, remaining himself in a willing poverty, being more pleased in giving to others, than possessing himself; and he was very mild and good natured."[1]

[Footnote 1: _Gentleman's Magazine_, 1740, Vol. X. p. 129.]