PIONEER LIFE.
SETTLEMENT OF MIDDLE GEORGIA--PROWLING INDIANS--SCOUTS AND THEIR
DOGS--CLASSES OF SETTLERS--PROMINENCE OF VIRGINIANS--CAUSES OF
DISTINCTION--CLEARING--LOG-ROLLING--FROLICS--TEACHERS CUMMINGS AND
DUFFY--THE SCHOOLMASTER'S NOSE--FLOGGING--EMIGRATION TO ALABAMA.
The early settlement of Middle Georgia was principally by emigrants
from Virginia and North Carolina. These were a rough, poor, but honest
people, with little or no fortunes, and who were quite as limited in
education as in fortune. Their necessities made them industrious and
frugal. Lands were procured at the expense of surveying; the soil was
virgin and productive; rude cabins, built of poles, constituted not
only their dwellings but every necessary outbuilding. Those who first
ventured beyond the Ogeechee generally selected some spot where a good
spring of water was found, not overlooked by an elevation so close as
to afford an opportunity to the Indians, then very troublesome, to
fire into the little stockade forts erected around these springs for
their security against the secret attacks of the prowling and
merciless Creeks and Cherokees.
Usually several families united in building and living in these forts.
As soon as this protection was completed, the work of clearing away
the surrounding forest was commenced, that the land should afford a
field for cultivation. While thus employed, sentinels were stationed
at such points in the neighborhood as afforded the best opportunity
for descrying the approach of Indians, and the watch was most careful.
When those employed in hunting (for every community had its hunters)
discovered, or thought they had discovered signs of the presence of
the savages, scouts were immediately sent out to discover if they were
lurking anywhere in the neighborhood. This was the most arduous and
perilous duty of the pioneers, and not unfrequently the scout, or spy
as he was usually termed, went to return no more. When seed-time came,
corn, a small patch of cotton and another of flax were planted, and
cultivation continued under the same surveillance.
The dog, always the companion of man, was carefully trained to search
for the prowling Indians; and by daylight every morning the clearing,
as the open lands were universally termed; was passed around by a
cautious scout, always preceded by his dogs, who seemed as conscious
of their duty and as faithful in its discharge as was their master. If
he reported no Indians, the work of cultivation commenced, and the
sentinels repaired to their posts. These were usually changed whenever
the slightest sign of Indians anywhere in the country could be found,
lest their posts might have been found and marked, and ambushed at
night. Yet, despite this prudent caution, many a sentinel perished at
his post. The unerring arrow gave no alarm, and the sentinel slain,
opened an approach for the savages; and not unfrequently parties at
labor were thus surprised and shot in full view of those in the fort.
Occasionally an emigrant brought with him a slave or two: these were
rich, and invariably were the leading men in the communities. Those
from Virginia were more frequently possessed of this species of
property than those from the Carolinas, and, coming from an older
country, had generally enjoyed better opportunities and were more
cultivated. A common necessity harmonized all, and the state of
society was a pure democracy. These communities were usually from
twenty to fifty miles apart, and about them a nucleus was formed,
inviting those who sought the new country for a home to locate in the
immediate vicinity. Security and the enjoyment of social intercourse
were more frequently the incentives for these selections than the
fertility of the soil or other advantages. One peculiarity was
observable, which their descendants, in their emigration to the West,
continue to this day to practise: they usually came due west from
their former homes, and were sure to select, as nearly as possible, a
new one in the same parallel, and with surroundings as nearly like
those they had left as possible. With the North Carolinian, good
spring-water, and pine-knots for his fire, were the _sine qua
non_. These secured, he went to work with the assiduity and
perseverance of a beaver to build his house and open his fields. The
Virginians, less particular, but more ambitious, sought the best lands
for grain and tobacco; consequently they were more diffused, and their
improvements, from their superior wealth, were more imposing.
Wealth in all communities is comparative, and he who has only a few
thousand dollars, where no one else has so much, is the rich man, and
ever assumes the rich man's prerogatives and bearing. All experience
has proved that as a man estimates himself, so in time will the
community esteem him; and he who assumes to lead or dictate will soon
be permitted to do so, and will become the first in prominence and
influence in his neighborhood, county, or State. Greatness commences
humbly and progresses by assumption. The humble ruler of a
neighborhood, like a pebble thrown into a pond, will continue to
increase the circle of his influence until it reaches the limits of
his county. The fathers speak of him, the children hear of him, his
name is a household word; if he but assumes enough, in time he becomes
the great man of the county; and if with impudence he unites a modicum
of talent, well larded with a cunning deceit, it will not be long
before he is Governor or member of Congress. It is not surprising,
then, that in nearly every one of these communities the great man was
a Virginian. It has been assumed by the Virginians that they have
descended from a superior race, and this may be true as regards many
families whose ancestors were of Norman descent; but it is not true of
the mass of her population; and for one descendant from the nobility
and gentry of the mother country, there are thousands of pure
Anglo-Saxon blood. It was certainly true, from the character and
abilities of her public men, in her colonial condition and in the
earlier days of the republic, she had a right to assume a superiority;
but this, I fancy, was more the result of her peculiar institutions
than of any superiority of race or greater purity of blood. I am far,
however, from underrating the influence of blood. That there are
species of the same race superior in mental as well as in physical
formation is certainly true. The peculiar organization of the brain,
its fineness of texture in some, distinguish them as mentally superior
to others, as the greater development of bone and muscle marks the
superiority of physical power. Very frequently this difference is seen
in brothers, and sometimes in families of the same parents--the males
in some usurping all the mental acumen, and in others the females. Why
this is so, I cannot stop to speculate.
Virginia, in her many divisions of territory, was granted to the
younger sons of the nobility and gentry of England. They came with the
peculiar habits of their class, and located upon these grants,
bringing with them as colonists their dependants in England, and
retaining here all the peculiarities of caste. The former were the
governing class at home, and asserted the privilege here; the latter
were content that it should be so. In the formation of the first
constitution for Virginia, the great feature of a landed aristocracy
was fully recognized in the organic law. The suffragist was the landed
proprietor, and in every county where his possessions were this right
attached. They recognized landed property as the basis of government,
and demanded the right for it of choosing the lawmakers and the
executors of the law. All power, and very nearly all of the wealth of
the State, was in the hands of the landlords, and these selected from
their own class or caste the men who were to conduct the government.
To this class, too, were confined most of the education and learning
in the new State; and in choosing for the Legislature or for Congress,
State pride and the love of power prompted the selection of their
brightest and best men.
Oratory was esteemed the first attribute of superior minds, and was
assiduously cultivated. There were few newspapers, and the press had
not attained the controlling power over the public mind as now.
Political information was disseminated chiefly by public speaking, and
every one aspiring to lead in the land was expected to be a fine
speaker. This method, and the manner of voting, forced an open avowal
of political opinion. Each candidate, upon the day of election, took
his seat upon the bench of the judge in the county court-house, and
the suffragist appeared at the bar, demanding to exercise his
privilege in the choice of his representative. This was done by
declaring the names of those he voted for. These peculiar institutions
cultivated open and manly bearing, pride, and independence. There was
little opportunity for the arts of the demagogue; and the elevation of
sentiment in the suffragist made him despise the man, however superior
his talents, who would attempt them. The voter's pride was to sustain
the power of his State in the national councils, to have a great man
for his Governor; they were the representatives of his class, and he
felt his own importance in the greatness of his representative. It is
not to be wondered at, under these circumstances, that Virginia held
for many years the control of the Government, furnishing Presidents of
transcendent abilities to the nation, and filling her councils with
men whose talents and eloquence and proud and independent bearing won
for them, not only the respect of the nation's representatives, but
the power to control the nation's destinies, and to be looked upon as
belonging to a superior race.
There were wanting, however, two great elements in the nation's
institutions, to sustain in its pride and efficiency this peculiar
advantage, to wit, the entailment of estates, and the right of
primogeniture. Those landed estates soon began to be subdivided, and
in proportion as they dwindled into insignificance, so began to perish
the prestige of their proprietors. The institution of African slavery
served for a long time to aid in continuing the aristocratic features
of Virginia society, though it conferred no legal privileges. As
these, and the lands, found their way into many hands, the democratic
element began to aspire and to be felt. The struggle was long and
severe, but finally, in 1829 or 1830, the democratic element
triumphed, and a new constitution was formed, extending universal
suffrage to white men. This degraded the constituent and
representative alike, and all of Virginia's power was soon lost in the
councils of the nation. But the pride of her people did not perish
with her aristocracy; this continued, and permeated her entire people.
They preserved it at home, and carried it wherever they went. Those
whose consideration at home was at zero, became of the first families
abroad, until Virginia pride became a by-word of scorn in the western
and more southern States. Yet despite all this, there is greatness in
the Virginians: there is superiority in her people,--a loftiness of
soul, a generosity of hospitality, a dignified patience under
suffering, which command the respect and admiration of every
appreciative mind.
Very soon after the Revolution, the tide of emigration began to flow
toward Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia. Those from Virginia who
sought new homes went principally to Kentucky, as much because it was
a part of the Old Dominion, as on account of climate and soil. Those
from North Carolina and South Carolina preferred Tennessee, and what
was then known as Upper Georgia, but now as Middle Georgia; yet there
was a sprinkling here and there throughout Georgia from Virginia. Many
of these became leading men in the State, and their descendants still
boast of their origin, and in plenary pride point to such men as
William H. Crawford and Peter Early as shining evidences of the
superiority of Virginia's blood.
Most of these emigrants, however, were poor; but where all were poor,
this was no degradation. The concomitants of poverty in densely
populated communities--where great wealth confers social distinction
and frowns from its association the poor, making poverty humility,
however elevated its virtues--were unknown in these new countries. The
nobler virtues, combined with energy and intellect, alone conferred
distinction; and I doubt if the world, ever furnished a more honest,
virtuous, energetic, or democratic association of men and women than
was, at the period of which I write, to be found constituting the
population of these new States. From whatever cause arising, there
certainly was, in the days of my early memory, more scrupulous truth,
open frankness, and pure, blunt honesty pervading the whole land than
seem to characterize its present population. It was said by Nathaniel
Macon, of North Carolina, that bad roads and fist-fights made the best
militia on earth; and these may have been, in some degree, the means
of moulding into fearless honesty the character of these people. They
encountered all the hardships of opening and subduing the country,
creating highways, bridges, churches, and towns with their public
buildings. These they met cheerfully, and working with a will,
triumphed. After months of labor, a few acres were cleared and the
trees cut into convenient lengths for handling, and then the neighbors
were invited to assist in what was called a log-rolling. This aid was
cheerfully given, and an offer to pay for it would have been an
insult. It was returned in kind, however, when a neighbor's
necessities required. These log-rollings were generally accompanied
with a quilting, which brought together the youth of the neighborhood;
and the winding up of the day's work was a frolic, as the dance and
other amusements of the time were termed. Upon occasions like this,
feats of strength and activity universally constituted a part of the
programme. The youth who could pull down his man at the end of the
hand-stick, throw him in a wrestle, or outstrip him in a footrace, was
honored as the best man in the settlement, and was always greeted with
a cheer from the older men, a slap on the shoulder by the old ladies,
and the shy but approving smiles of the girls,--had his choice of
partners in the dance, and in triumph rode home on horseback with his
belle, the horse's consciousness of bearing away the championship
manifesting itself in an erect head and stately step.
The apparel of male and female was of home-spun, woven by the mothers
and sisters, and was fashioned, I was about to say, by the same fair
hands; but these were almost universally embrowned with exposure and
hardened by toil. Education was exceedingly limited: the settlements
were sparse, and school-houses were at long intervals, and in these
the mere rudiments of an English education were taught--spelling,
reading, and writing, with the four elementary rules of arithmetic;
and it was a great advance to grapple with the grammar of the
language. As population and prosperity increased, their almost
illiterate teachers gave place to a better class; and many of my
Georgia readers will remember as among these the old Irish preachers,
Cummings, and that remarkable brute, Daniel Duffee. He was an Irishman
of the Pat Freney stripe, and I fancy there are many, with gray heads
and wrinkled fronts, who can look upon the cicatrices resulting from
his merciless blows, and remember that Milesian malignity of face,
with its toad-like nose, with the same vividness with which it
presents itself to me to-day. Yes, I remember it, and have cause. When
scarcely ten years of age, in his little log school-house, the
aforesaid resemblance forced itself upon me with such _vim_ that
involuntarily I laughed. For this outbreak against the tyrant's rules
I was called to his frowning presence.
"What are you laughing at, you whelp?" was the rude inquiry.
Tremblingly I replied: "You will whip me if I tell you."
"And you little devil, I will whip you if you don't," was his
rejoinder, as he reached for his well-trimmed hickory, one of many
conspicuously displayed upon his table. With truthful sincerity I
answered:
"Father Duffy, I was laughing to think how much your nose is like a
frog."
It was just after play-time, and I was compelled to stand by him and
at intervals of ten minutes receive a dozen lashes, laid on with
brawny Irish strength, until discharged with the school at night.
To-day I bear the marks of that whipping upon my shoulders and in my
heart. But Duffy was not alone in the strictness and severity of his
rules and his punishments. Children were taught to believe that there
could be no discipline in a school of boys and girls without the
savage brutality of the lash, and the teacher who met his pupils with
a caressing smile was considered unworthy his vocation. Learning must
be thrashed into the tender mind; nothing was such a stimulus to the
young memory as the lash and the vulgar, abusive reproof of the gentle
and meritorious teacher.
There was great eccentricity of character in all the conduct and
language of Duffy. He had his own method of prayer, and his own
peculiar style of preaching, frequently calling out the names of
persons in his audience whom it was his privilege to consider the
chiefest of sinners, and to implore mercy for them in language
offensive almost to decency. Sometimes, in the presence of persons
inimical to each other, he would ask the Lord to convert the sinners
and make the fools friends, first telling the Lord who they were by
name, to the no small amusement of his most Christian audience; many
of whom would in deep devotion respond with a sonorous "Amen."
From such a population sprang the present inhabitants of Georgia; and
by such men were they taught, in their budding boyhood, the rudiments
of an English education;--such, I mean, of the inhabitants who still
live and remember Duffy, Cummings, and McLean. They are few, but the
children of the departed remember traditionally these and their like,
in the schoolmasters of Georgia from 1790 to 1815.
At the close of the war of 1812-15, a new impetus was given to
everything throughout the South, and especially to education. The
ambition for wealth seized upon her people, the high price of cotton
favored its accumulation, and with it came new and more extravagant
wants, new and more luxurious habits. The plain homespun jean coat
gave way to the broad-cloth one; and the neat, Turkey-red striped
Sunday frock of the belle yielded to the gaudy red calico one, and
there was a sniff of aristocratic contempt in the upturned nose
towards those who, from choice or necessity, continued in the old
habits.
Material wealth augmented rapidly, and with it came all of its
assumptions. The rich lands of Alabama were open to settlement. The
formidable Indian had been humbled, and many of the wealthiest
cultivators of the soil were commencing to emigrate to a newer and
more fertile country, where smiling Fortune beckoned them.
The first to lead off in this exodus was the Bibb family, long
distinguished for wealth and influence in the State. The Watkinses,
the Sheroos, and Dearings followed: some to north, some to south
Alabama. W.W. Bibb was appointed, by Mr. Madison, Territorial Governor
of Alabama, and was followed to the new El Dorado by his brothers,
Thomas, John Dandridge, and Benajah, all men of substance and
character.
For a time this rage for a new country seemed to threaten Georgia and
South Carolina with the loss of their best population. This probably
would have been the result of the new acquisition, but, in its midst,
the territory between the Ocmulgee and Chattahoochee was ceded by the
Indians, and afforded a new field for settlement, which effectually
arrested this emigration at its flood. The new territory added to the
dominion of Georgia was acquired mainly through the energy and
pertinacity of George M. Troup, at the time Governor of Georgia.
I have much to record of my memories concerning this new acquisition,
but must reserve them for a new chapter.