above the level of the Great Ogeechee, and is distant some two miles
from Genesis’ Point, to which Fort McAllister gave such heroic memories
during the Confederate struggle for independence. In front, stretching to
the north, is a point of land or peninsula. On the west the fresh waters
of the Great Ogeechee river lave the Hardwick bluff, and then treading
northward, and at right angles to the general course of the stream, by a
graceful bend to the east embrace the northern extremity of the peninsula.
Again turning to the south, the river reaches the eastern bluff of the
town, where, curving gently, it pursues its course, emptying through
Ossabaw sound into the Atlantic Ocean. This peninsula in front of the
town constitutes a dividing line between the fresh and brackish waters of
the river. At the point where it springs from the bluff it is less than a
quarter of a mile wide, although a journey of several miles is requisite
to complete its circuit by water.
From the bluff, backward toward the south, extends a high and dry plain
adapted for the location of a town. The surroundings, however, were
unhealthy during the Summer and Fall months, and there was nothing to
encourage population, or ensure the continuance and prosperity of the
settlement.
In 1866 a feeble effort was made to revive the town of Hardwick; and the
Georgia Legislature on the 21st of March of that year passed an act the
leading provisions of which are as follows:
After reciting the fact that the Commissioners of Hardwick had long
ago departed this life, that the site of the town and its common had
been regranted by the State to private individuals, and suggesting
the advisability that Hardwick should be reëstablished for the better
advancement of the industrial resources of the State, the Act appointed
Jacob M. Middleton, Thomas C. Arnold, William Patterson, Henry E. Smith,
and John W. Magill, Commissioners, and authorized them to acquire by
cession or purchase the town of Hardwick and its common “not to exceed
one hundred and fifty acres in extent.” Having obtained proper titles to
the land, these Commissioners, or a majority of them, were directed to
have the town of Hardwick surveyed and laid out into lots of such form and
dimensions as they should deem fit. Plans of the town were to be by them
filed in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Bryan County,
and in the office of the Surveyor General of the State.
Full power was vested in them to sell the town lots, except such as they
might determine to reserve for public uses. Upon completion of the survey,
and upon filing plans of the town in accordance with the requirements of
the Act, the Commissioners were authorized to select one of their number
as an Intendant. Thereupon they were declared incorporated by the name
and style of the “Intendant and Commissioners of the town of Hardwicke,”
with power to make such by-laws and regulations for its good order and
government as were not repugnant to the constitution and laws of Georgia,
and of the United States.
Although fortified by this legislation, no action was taken by the
Commissioners, three of whom are now dead.
Hardwick exists only in name, and will probably never be vitalized into a
municipal entity.
VI.
PETERSBURG, JACKSONBOROUGH, FRANCISVILLE, &C., &C.
Near the close of a spring day in 1776 Mr. William Bartram, who, at the
request of Dr. Fothergill, of London, had been for some time carefully
studying the flora of Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, forded Broad river
just above its confluence with the Savannah, and became the guest of the
commanding officer at Fort James. This fort,—which he describes as “a
four-square stockade with saliant bastions at each angle, mounted with
a block-house, where are some swivel guns, one story higher than the
curtains which are pierced with loop-holes, breast-high, and defended by
small arms,”—was situated on an eminence in the forks of the Savannah and
Broad, equidistant from those rivers and from the extreme point of land
formed by their union.
Fort Charlotta was located about a mile below on the left bank of the
Savannah.
The stockade of Fort James was an acre in extent. Within this enclosure
were a substantial house for the commandant, officers’ quarters, and
barracks for the garrison, consisting of fifty rangers well mounted, and
armed each with a rifle, two dragoon pistols, a hanger, a powder horn, a
shot pouch, and a tomahawk.[252]
For a distance of two miles the peninsula above the fort was laid out
for a town called _Dartmouth_ in honor of the Earl who had exerted his
influence in procuring from the King a grant and special privileges in
favor of the _Indian Trading Company of Georgia_. For the defense of the
territory known as the _New Purchase_, had this fort been erected and
maintained.
Dartmouth never realized the expectations which, in its infancy, had
been formed for it. After a short and feeble existence it gave place to
Petersburg which, during the tobacco culture in Georgia, attracted to
itself a considerable population and was regarded as a place of no little
commercial importance.
For the convenience of the early settlers of Eastern-Middle Georgia,
Dionysius Oliver was, on the 3rd of February, 1786, authorized by the
Legislature[253] to erect a warehouse on his land, lying in the fork
between the Savannah and Broad rivers, for the inspection and storage of
tobacco. With the location of this warehouse dates the commencement of the
town of PETERSBURG.
The cultivation of tobacco was then enlisting the attention of many
planters. In the lower counties of the State the production of silk had
ceased to be remunerative, and the tillage and manipulation of indigo had
not yielded the profits anticipated.
Cotton was little grown. Many of the early inhabitants of the present
counties of Elbert, Lincoln, Wilkes, and Oglethorpe, came from Virginia
and brought with them not only a love for the weed, but a high
appreciation of tobacco as an article of prime commercial value. The
virgin lands of this region were found well adapted to its cultivation:
and, as a consequence, this plant grew rapidly into general favor and
proved the staple commodity or market crop of the farmers. As the existing
laws of the State forbade its exportation without previous inspection and
the payment of specified fees, it became necessary to establish public
warehouses at convenient points where the inspection and storage of this
article could be had. No hogshead or cask of tobacco could be shipped
which did not bear the stamp of some “lawful inspector.”[254] These
inspectors were required to give bond for the faithful performance of
their duties, and it was made obligatory upon them to attend continuously
at their respective warehouses from the first of October to the first
of August in each year. It was their duty carefully to inspect, weigh,
receipt for, and stamp each hogshead delivered at the warehouse. The
hogshead or cask was “not to exceed forty-nine inches in length, and
thirty-one inches in the raising head.” Its weight, when packed, was to be
not less than nine hundred and fifty pounds nett. It was not customary in
those primitive days to transport these hogsheads upon wagons. Vehicles of
all sorts were scarce. The hogshead or cask being made strong and tight,
and having been stoutly coopered, was furnished with a temporary axle and
shaft, to which a horse was attached. By this means was it trundled to
market or to the public warehouse. Water courses also were freely taken
advantage of for the conveyance of tobacco. The location of this public
warehouse at the confluence of the Broad and Savannah rivers proved most
acceptable to the tillers of the soil in this rich region, and speedily
attracted merchants who, there fixing their homes, became purchasers
of the tobacco when inspected, and in return sold to the planters such
supplies as they needed.
Petersburg soon assumed the proportions of a respectable village. It was
regularly laid off in town lots, with convenient streets intersecting
each other at right angles. The tobacco warehouses and shops were located
as near the point formed by the confluence of the rivers as the nature of
the ground and the liability to overflow would permit. The residences were
situated above, and occupied lots, each about three quarters of an acre in
extent.
In 1797 William Watkins secured from the Legislature[255] the right
to establish upon his lots,—35 and 37,—in the town of Petersburg, an
extensive warehouse for the inspection and storage of tobacco.
By an act[256] of the General Assembly assented to November 26th, 1802,
eighteen of the principal citizens of the town were incorporated into a
society “under the name and style of the Petersburg Union Society.” The
avowed objects of this association were the diffusion of knowledge and the
alleviation of want. It maintained an active existence for some years and
exerted a marked influence for good.
On the first of December, 1802,[257] Robert Thompson, Leroy Pope, Richard
Easter, Samuel Watkins, and John Ragland were appointed Commissioners
of the town of Petersburg, and were charged with its “better regulation
and government.” They were to hold office until the first Monday in
January, 1804. Then, and on the first Monday in every January thereafter,
the citizens entitled to vote for members of the General Assembly were
required to choose by ballot five persons to act as Commissioners of the
town. These Commissioners were invested “with full power and authority to
make such by-laws and regulations, and to inflict or impose such pains,
penalties, and forfeitures as in their judgment should be conducive to
the good order and government of the said town of Petersburg:” provided
such by-laws and regulations were not repugnant to the constitution and
laws of Georgia, and that the pains and penalties contemplated did not
extend to life or member.
Two years afterwards[258] the powers of these Commissioners were
materially enlarged, and they were directed to have a correct plan of the
town and commons made by the County Surveyor and recorded in the office of
the Clerk of the Superior Court of Elbert County.
Speaking of Petersburg in 1800, Mr. George Sibbald says:[259] “In point of
situation and commercial consequence it is second only to Augusta.... It
is a handsome, well built Town, and presents to the view of the astonished
traveller, a Town which has risen out of the Woods in a few years as if by
enchantment: It has two Warehouses for the Inspection of Tobacco.”
So long as the cultivation of tobacco engrossed the attention of the
planters in the circumjacent region, Petersburg continued to be a place
of considerable commercial importance. In the zenith of its prosperity
it contained a distributing post-office, a market place, a town-hall,
several churches, and not less than forty stores and warehouses. Its
population then has been estimated at between seven and eight hundred
souls. During the early part of the present century its trade was greater
than that of Augusta. It is claimed that goods of a superior quality
were then there sold, and in greater quantities, and at cheaper rates.
A large and lucrative business was transacted by the Petersburg boats,
which, along the line of the Savannah river, constituted the favorite
common carriers of passengers and goods. The existence of the town
was due to the concentration at this point of the tobacco crop of a
considerable area. The necessity for a rigid inspection of this product
forced the planters to bring it here. With Petersburg the presence of
this plant was emphatically the cause of population and the parent of
trade. After inspection, most of it was purchased on the spot by merchants
and speculators, who, from their full stores, supplied every need of
the producers. Thence was it shipped to Augusta and Savannah. So soon,
however, as the cotton plant began to assert its ascendency, the fortunes
of the town commenced to wane. Requiring no inspection, and capable of
easy shipment from any convenient point, the cotton bales were sent to
various bluffs along the river for transmission to the coast; and thus
it came to pass that with the discontinuance of the tobacco culture
Petersburg dwindled away and died. Sickness, and the attractions of new
and fertile fields in Alabama hastened its ruin:—and now sunken wells and
the mounds of fallen chimneys are all that attest the former existence of
the town. Its corporate limits are wholly included within the confines of
one well-ordered plantation; and extensive fields of corn and cotton have
obliterated all traces of warehouse, shop, town-hall, church, and dwelling.
Beneath the conserving shadows of tall trees which mark the outlines
of the old cemetery on the left bank of Broad river may still be seen
numerous graves, fresh and green when the town was replete with life, but
neglected and overgrown with brambles now that the village too is dead.
A few sleepy houses mark the spot where Lisbon,[260] with envious eye, in
former years viewed across Broad river the rising fortunes of Petersburg;
and, beyond the Savannah, narrowly scanned the efforts made by Vienna to
participate in the lucrative tobacco trade.
* * * * *
FEDERAL-TOWN, in Washington County, on the east bank of the Oconee, was
another of these Tobacco villages. It perished so soon as the cultivation
of cotton became general in the region, and its fort was no longer
required as a protection against the incursions of the Creeks.
* * * * *
Deprived of the vitalizing influence of the tobacco trade, Harrisburgh,
Edinborough, and other small towns designated as sites for the inspection
of this crop, speedily lapsed into disuse and decay.
Not infrequently a change in the location of public buildings dealt a
death-blow to villages of moderate size and feeble support. Take, for
example, the old town of JACKSONBOROUGH, confirmed as the county seat
of Screven county on the 15th of February, 1799.[261] As late as the
20th of December, 1823, an act[262] of the Legislature, passed for its
incorporation, designated the Court House as the centre of the town,
and extended the corporate limits a half mile in every direction. Five
years afterwards the “Jacksonborough Methodist Episcopal Church” was
incorporated.[263] The business of the county was, for some forty years
and more, mainly transacted at this place. Here, too, for some time,
resided Mr. John Abbot, whose work upon the Lepidopterous Insects of
Georgia is still highly prized by the students of Natural History. Upon
the removal of the public buildings to Sylvania in 1847, this place was
robbed of all importance. It was speedily abandoned; and now a few sherds
of common pottery scattered over the surface of the ground are all that is
left to remind the visitor that the tide of life was once here.
* * * * *
For more than a quarter of a century HARTFORD was a thriving town and the
capital of Pulaski county.[264] When in 1837[265] the Court House and jail
were transferred to Hawkinsville, ruin and decay overtook the place, and
at present there is little else save silence, desolation, and seashells on
the abandoned Ocmulgee bluff.
* * * * *
Alarmed at the murders committed by the Cherokees, the Friends forsook
their neat abodes above Augusta; and, for quite a century, no memory of
that primal settlement has been perpetuated in the neighborhood except by
the “QUAKER-SPRING.”
* * * * *
Military posts, maintained for temporary purposes, eventually fall
into disuse and live only in history. We have already seen how the
fortifications, erected for the protection of the southern frontier of
the Colony, when the Spanish war-cloud had vanished returned to the dust
from which they sprang. Rendered unnecessary by the overleaping tide of
population some were transferred to the outer verge, and these in turn
were abandoned upon the assured occupancy of the disputed territory.
_Fort Barrington_,—its mission ended,—long ago crumbled into nothingness
beside the yellow waters of the Alatamaha. By DeBrahm’s plan and
local memories is it preserved from utter oblivion. _Forts Early_,
_Gaines_, _Hawkins_, _James_, _Lawrence_, _Perry_, _Scott_, _Wayne_, and
_Wilkinson_,—and others, once potent for protection, and important in the
military operations of the State,—deserted alike by soldier and Indian
have utterly perished, and the tillers of the soil run their peaceful
furrows over areas once swept by their guns.
* * * * *
What subsequently became the site of the little town of FRANCISVILLE,
in Crawford County, was at first selected and used by Colonel Benjamin
Hawkins as a convenient locality for the transaction of the important
duties confided to him by Mr. Jefferson. Here, upon the left bank of the
Flint river, and on the line of what was afterwards the established route
between Macon and Columbus, he resided for a number of years: devoting his
energies to the execution of the trust devolved upon him as United States
Agent to the Creek Indians, striving to ameliorate their condition, and
by his judicious influence and management perpetuating amicable relations
between them and the whites. During his occupancy of the _Old Agency_,
as it came to be known, this place gave manifest indications of thrift
and activity. A considerable plantation was formed, with residence,
mills, work-shops, store-houses, and appurtenances requisite for comfort,
security, and the conduct of the business connected with this advanced
post. Hither the Indians repaired for supplies at stated intervals. With
them an extensive traffic was maintained. Aside from the performance of
his official duties, Colonel Hawkins devoted much attention to rearing
cattle and hogs. So extensive became his herd that at one time he is
said to have possessed not less than five hundred calves. The care of
these animals, and the details of the agency furnished employment for
many subordinates. The Flint river was utilized as a convenient dividing
line to separate the grown kine from their young. Across this stream
a substantial bridge was constructed, with a gate at either end. This
large stock of cattle and swine enabled him to entertain the Indians,—who
constantly visited him,—with abundant although primitive hospitality, and
materially assisted in perpetuating the kindly and wide-spread influence
which he exerted over them. While he lived, his cattle brand was rigidly
respected by the Red men; although, soon after his death, if report be
true, the Creeks,—oblivious of former obligations,—stole numbers of these
cows and hogs. Colonel Hawkins was a man of decided mark. To him does the
State of Georgia owe a debt of special gratitude. His Sketch of the Creek
Country[266] is a most valuable and interesting contribution. The French
General Moreau who, while in exile, was for some time his guest, was so
much impressed with his character and labors that he pronounced him one
of the most remarkable men he had met in America. “Under the faithful
proconsular sway of Col. Hawkins,” says Mr. Chappell,[267] “the Creek
Indians enjoyed for sixteen years, unbroken peace among themselves and
with their neighbors, and also whatsoever other blessings were possible to
the savage state, which it was his study gradually to ameliorate. To this
end he spared no pains. Much was done to initiate, instruct, and encourage
them in the lower and most indispensable parts of civilization. Pasturage
was brought into use, agriculture also, to some extent; both together
supplanting considerably among them their previous entire reliance for
food on hunting, fishing, and wild fruits. To the better and more secure
modes of obtaining a livelihood which civilization offers, he sought to
win them by example as well as by precept. He brought his slaves from
North Carolina, and, under the right conceded to his office, he opened
and cultivated a large plantation at the Agency on Flint river, making
immense crops of corn and other provisions. He also reared great herds
of cattle and swine, and having thus always abundance of meat and bread,
he was enabled to practice habitually towards the Indians a profuse,
though coarse hospitality and benevolence which gained their hearts and
bound them to him by ties as loyal and touching as those of old feudal
allegiance and devotion.”
Here Colonel Hawkins died in 1816, and was buried on the wooded bluff
overlooking the Flint river, a few hundred yards below the point of the
present crossing. No stone marks his grave. Among the scattered and
almost obliterated mounds in this lonely and forsaken cemetery is one
more prominent than the rest. It may designate the precise place of his
sepulture.
For several years after the death of this prominent man, who gave impulse
and direction to all about him, neglect and decay supervened. New life was
infused into the settlement, however, by Francis Bacon, of Massachusetts,
who, having married Jeffersonia,—the youngest daughter of Col.
Hawkins,—established himself upon the site of the _Old Agency_, about
1825, and founded the town of Francisville. Traffic with the surrounding
country was freely invited. Being a man of means, of intelligence, and of
enterprise, matters prospered. Other settlers, attracted by the prospect
for gain, purchased lots of about an acre in extent and located themselves
on both sides of the public road. Several dry goods and grocery stores,
a wagon manufactory, a blacksmith shop, a drug store, a church, a public
school, a tavern, and a post-office were in time built. From 1830 to 1850
the town had an average population of about one hundred whites. Much
business was here transacted.
Upon the completion of the railway running from Macon to Columbus the
resident merchants sought other and more convenient localities. Trade
languished, was then wholly diverted, and the town speedily disappeared.
Cotton fields now usurp the domain formerly occupied by the village.
The traveler from the south as he crosses the Flint river, ascends a long
rocky hill, and passes through a narrow lane on the top, discerns no
traces of this dead town. The _Old Agency_,—once so important in the early
days of this section,—exists only in tradition. _Francisville_, which
was builded upon its ruins, has fallen into nothingness. Tall trees and
a tangled undergrowth hide the graves of the dead, and there is little
else save silence and forgetfulness. Even the earth-mound which covers
the bones of the famous Colonel Benjamin Hawkins is incapable of positive
recognition, and rests under the common oblivion which has overtaken all.
VII.
MISCELLANEOUS TOWNS, PLANTATIONS, &C.
DeBrahm in his History of the Province of Georgia[268] furnishes us with
the following classification of the Towns in the Province:
“Besides the Metropolis of Savannah upon Savannah Stream, 17 miles from
the Sea,
Are 4 Sea Port Towns,
Hardwick upon Great Ogetchee Stream
Sunbury upon Midway Stream
Darian } upon Alatamaha Stream
Frederica }
4 Towns upon navigable fresh water streams
Brandon(a) upon little River, is navigable only to the Cataract
above Augusta, 200 miles from the Sea.
Augusta upon Savannah Stream 150 miles from the Sea.
Queensbury in the Fork of Lambert’s River and Great Ogetchee
Stream, 120 miles from the Sea.(b)
Ebenezer upon Savannah Stream 57 miles from the Sea.
(a) Since Gov. Wright’s Administration this Place (being
deserted in Gov’r Reynolds’ time by Edmond Grey) revived
again under the name of Wrightsborough inhabited by above 60
Families, and its Township contains about 200 Families all
Quakers; they are indulged by the Gov’r; that no Person, but
such as they approve, shall be permitted to settle among them.
(b) Queensbury is inhabited by about 70, and its Environs by
above 200 Families mostly Irish, from which it is generally
called the Irish Settlement.
4 Villages of which two are upon a navigable River,
Acton } upon Vernon River
Vernonburg }
Hampstead } upon the Head of Vernon River.”
Highgate }
The enumeration contained in “Histoire et Commerce des Colonies Angloises
dans l’Amerique Septentrionale,”[269] is essentially similar: “On partage
la Georgie en doux divisions. La Septentrionale comprend;
Savannah } Old-Ebenezer }
New-Ebenezer } Villes. Hampstead. }
Augusta } High-Gate. } Villages.
Abercorn. }
Skindwe }