Macon, Georgia - Historical Record of Macon and Central Georgia : Containing Many Inter (part 2 of 8)

After describing other skulls, Mr. Jones continues ; " Among the relics found in the vicinity of this old, artificially compressed skull was a total absence of European ornaments. Here we have an interesting demonstration of the fact that these ancient tumuli were, in turn, used by tribes who perhaps had no knowledge of the one of the other. The flattened and distorted skull belongs to the mound-building people to whose industry the erection of these tumuli is to be referred. It was in perpetuation and in honor of such primal sepulture that this mound was heaped up. In the course of time these sepulchral and temple structures, abandoned by their own own owners, passed into the hands of other and later red races who buried their dead upon the superior surface and along the slopes of the ancient tumuli, having at the time, perchance, no personal acquaintance with, and frequently not even a distinct tradition of the peoples to whose exertions these evidences of early construction were attributable. * * q'he Creeks did not claim that these tumuli were erected by them. They declared that they were here when their ancestors first possessed themselves of the region. Who these flat-head mound -builders were, is matter for conjecture. It may be that they were a colony of the Natchez, journeying hither from their old habitat on the banks of the Mississippi. Certain it is that these tumuli antedate the traditions of the Creeks who were native here at the period of the English colonization."

The most remarkable eminence of which we have any record is Brown's Mount (not mound,) near the Ocmulgee river about seven miles below Macon. It is a very high hill, and upon one side is nearly precipitous. Upon this mount, named after Mr. George A. Brown, who first owned it, are many curiosities, among which are now slight traces of ancient fortifications.

Forty to fifty years ago the stone walls, ditches and lines of the ancient works presented sufficient remains to identify the exact plan of the fortifications which had been located there, similar to those DeSoto found in Florida, North Georgia, Alabama and elsewhere. DeSoto never built any fortification. His business was to search for gold. He passed through Georgia without any resistance from the Indians. He stopped on the Ocmulgee only a few days. He was in less than thirty days marching from the present Tallahassee, Florida, to Silver Blufif, below Augusta, on the Savannah river, therefore, he had no time to erect forts.

Of Brown's Mount, Mr. Jones says : "Following the natural conformation of the summit boundaries, and at some points retired a distance of twenty yards or more from the edge of the hill, are the remains of an old wall - constructed of boulders of rock and earth - which encircled and fortified the entire top of the mount. About sixty acres, I am informed, are thus enclosed. Attendant upon the wall are traces of both an outside and inside ditch, the former being originally about ten feet wide and four feet deep, and the latter some three feet wide and between two and three feet deep. The earth removed in the construction of these ditches was used in conjunction with the stone boulders in building this wall. Within the recollections of persons still living, this wall was four feet high and between four and five feet in thickness. It will be perceived that the height of the wall was practically increased by the depth of the ditch; so that the defenders standing in the ditch would be completely protected from the shafts of their assailants." * * * a Upon the wall trees are growing more than three feet in diameter. This was, without doubt, the work of the red men, and in ancient times constituted a fortified retreat. Similar structures exist within the limits of Georgia and in many portions of the United States. It will be remembered that, in the absence of any speedier mode of transmitting intelligence, the Indians signalled by means of fires kindled upon prominent points. Through their intervention the approach of danger was heralded, and the lurid warning quickly repeated until the members of tribe, through all their abodes, were rapidly put on the alert. Such is the location of Brown's Mount, and so abrupt and commanding its exposure on the west, that signal fires kindled there could be readily seen and interpreted even by the primitive dwellers upon the banks of Flint river. From the side which looks toward Macon, kindred warnings - cloudy pillars of smoke by day and bright flames by night - would quickly summon the warriors of the upper Ocmulgee, and put those who there inhabited, upon notice. Doubtless, during the forgotten past, this fortified hill answered important military uses in the conduct of the ever-recurring strifes which existed among the redmen.

Col. Jones describes very accurately the great curiosity on the mount, which will be at once recognized by many of the older citizens of Macon, who in times past had so often spent the day in picnic excursions at this favorite sylvan retreat : "Within the enclosure are the traces of two small earth-mounds, and near the northeastern side is a pond or basin, eliptical in form, covering about a quarter of an acre. Of late years it has been drained, and at the time of my visit it contained no water. The statement was made that this was an artificial basin and that its bottom had been plastered with clay at some remote period, so as to more effectually retain the rain-water, which would from time to time accumulate in it. I had no means at command for making an examination and testing the truth of this assertion. The pond was overgrown with trees and filled with decayed leaves and loam. To all appearances it seemed a natural resovoir, although it may be that the natives originally made this excavation with a view to supplying themselves with water in the event of a seige. The natural supply of this fluid, upon ordinary occasions, was probably derived from four springs issuing from the northern, eastern, southern and western faces of the hill, in each instance, not more than fifty yards of the wall. Indications still exist tending to establish the fact that the paths leading to at least some of these springs were protected by stone walls, or partially covered ways. The summit of this hill is well adapted to cultivation, and in one locality I observed a circular depression, about forty feet in diameter, which suggested the belief that it might be the former site of one of those semisunken granaries in use among the Southern Indians, of which the early historians have given us substantial discriptions."

The several tribes of Indians had different modes of burial, and their custom, in this respect, changed in different ages. With the eaily Choctaws, their custom was to place their dead upon scaffolds, where the body remained until the flesh decayed ; regular undertakers would then strip the bones of the putrid flesh and deposit the skeleton in the bone-house. When these houses became full of bones they were taken to a plain and a mound raised over them. When the bone-house became filled again another layer of bones was placed on the surface of the mound, earth thrown over them and the mound increased in size. The same process was continued for a long number of years, until the mound attained inconvenient proportions, when a new one was built near it in the same order. This no doubt accounts for the different appearances of decay in the various strata of bones found in one mound. In Alabama, Mr. Pickett says the small mounds which have been excavated contain different stratas. Beginning to dig at the top, the operators first pass through a strata of earth about two feet thick, then they come to a bed of ashes and charcoal, and then a bed of human bones mixed with pieces of pottery, pipes, arrow-heads and various Indian ornaments. Mussel shells are also mixed with these. Continuing to dig downwards, the excavators pass through a strata of earth which is succeeded by a strata of bones, charcoal, pottery, Indian ornaments and arrow points," etc.

The larger mounds, the same author says, were sites for the dwellings of the chiefs, for council-halls and for the temples, which fancy and conceit have constructed into various shapes and variously situated, one to the other. The same opinion is expressed by Dr. McCulloch, 1829, in his volume entitled Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian."

Another distinguished American philosopher as well as statesman, Mr. Thomas Jefferson, who in the course of his varied public life, had just about fifty years or more of personal knowledge of Indian history, had a mound torn away for examination, wrote : As to Indian antiquities, I would not honor with that name, arrow points, stone hatchets, stone pipes and half shapen images. Of labor on the large scale, I think there is no remains as respectable as would be a common ditch for the draining of lands, unless, indeed, it would be the Barrows, of which many are to be found all over the country. These are of different sizes, some of them constructed of earth and some of loose stones. That they were repositories of the dead has been ob' vious to all ; but on what particular occasion constructed was a matter of doubt." After giving a description of the various modes of burial, he describes the mound he had opened for examination and says, he found an abundance of human hones, which, from their position, it was evident had been thrown or piled promiscuously there together ; bones of the head and feet being in contact, ''some vertical, some oblique, some horizontal and directed to every point of the compass." It was evident from these bones that they had been deposited at different periods of time and were made up of persons of all ages. The bones were found in stratas. Mr. Jefferson said the mound was about twelve feet in altitude, forty feet diameter at the base, around which was an excavation of five feet deep and width from whence the earth had been taken of which the hillock was formed, and that it was covered with trees twelve inches in diameter.

The mounds around Macon were also covered with large oaks. They were cut away for timber about 1846 or 1847. I here was up to that time fine walks on one of them and many roses and other flowers which had been planted there by the officers stationed at Fort Hawkins.

In former years, before the establishment of the Park and other places of resort, the mounds were the favorite places for excursions by the gay society of the villagers and afterwards citizens of Macon.

Brown's Mount, though not visited now, still retains its many attractions, as described by Col. Jones, who was there only a few years ago. It, too, was once a favorite resort for the belles and the beaux of the city, while in the spring and summer melody and perfume filled its groves, dancing, singing and music of instruments, enlivened its lofty summit, interspersed with many a joke, as well as a decanter, which was cracked around the magic basin of its crystal fountains.

The Ocmulgee River

The name Ocmulgee was said by Col. Benjamin Hawkins, to be of Muscogee origin and derived from the Indian Oc or Och which signifies water, and inulgee^ boiling or bubbling. The streams in Georgia were all clear water until the country began to be thickly settled, the forest cleared and the land plowed. The name was applied from the many springs that were found along its course and whose pure waters flowed into its channel.

Tobesofke creek, comes from Sofskee, an Indian dish, pre- | pared of meal or corn, and Tobe, I have lost. An Indian was i crossing the creek in his canoe and lost his provisions ; hence I the name.

Icho-con-naugh (though now spelt Echaconna and was once also called Little Tobesofke) signifies a deer trap. At some places the banks of the creek were very steep and as the deer would go in at the fording places in summer to eat the moss from the rocks, the Indians would post themselves, some above and some below the ford, while others would wade in, attack and kill the deer.

intense heat ; they encamped on the river, and dried the scalps over a fire, hence Tow-allagee, roksted scalps. Such are the derivations of Indian names to streams in this vicinity.

The Ocmulgee rises in Fulton and Gwinnett counties. One head spring was traced, at an early date, where now a large and thriving city, the Capital of Georgia, has been built up around it, and the National Hotel, in Atlanta, marks the spot of that spring. The other two streams head in Gwinnett ; the three unite northwest of Monticello, about fifty miles above Macon. The course of the river is south for one hundred and fifty miles, when it heads almost into a semi-circle and unites with the Oconee in Montgomery county, about thirty-two degrees of latitude. The distance by water from Macon to the sea is estimated by all of the old navigators, at not less than four hundred miles.

In 1540, DeSoto and his army journeyed ten days along the banks of the Ocmulgee. They tarried in the neighborhood of the mounds on the Ocmulgee Fields, several days. The first ordsnance of baptism recorded in the history of America was administered on its banks in March, 1540. Eight thousand Indians escorted DeSoto from the Ocmulgee to the Savannah river, which was the largest body of American natives ever assembled in one army. The first permanent settlement of the powerful Creeks, with fortified towns, is recorded to have been made on the Ocmulgee Fields, upon which Fort Hawkins was built by order of President Jefferson.

DeSoto had brought with him thus far, a piece of ordnance, but finding it exceedingly buthensome and of little use, he determined to leave it with the cazique until his return. That the natives might have some idea of its use, he ordered it to be loaded and pointed at a huge oak without the village. In two shots the tree was laid prostrate, to the infinite amusement of the cazique and his subjects."

Oglethorpe crossed and recrossed the river, through those fields, in 1739. Mr. William Bartram, the celebrated English botanist and historian, gathered rare plants from its banks which he sent to his father, who was President of the Royal Academy of Sciences in London, and wrote of the antiquities on the Ocmulgee river in 1774, and again in 1775.

At the Old Fields, in September, 1789, the accomplished intriguer, Alexander McGillivray, and the famous Indian warrior, Weatherford, met and interviewed the Commissioners of President Washington, and rejected the Shoulderbone and Galphinton treaty made at Augusta. It was the place of meeting between the United Slates Commissioners and the chief of the Creeks for many years.

^ In March, 1807, Aaron Burr, while under guard, crossed the river near Fort Hawkins, which had just been built and garrisoned. Burr and his guards were drenched and chilled by the freezing rains when they reached the river. He was captured below the Tombigby river in Alabama, and was required to ride horseback at the rate of forty miles per day. The guards with -their prisoner crossed all of the rivers in canoes, in which their camp equipage was placed and by the sides of which their horses swam, until they reached the Oconee, where, at Fort Wilkinson, they crossed in the first ferry boat they had seen on the whole route, and a few miles beyond that river they were sheltered by the first roof - a house of entertainment kept by Mr. Bivins. Generals Jackson, Blackshear and Floyd were at Fort Hawkins during the war of 1812 to 1814. The last large assemblage of Indians at Fort Hawkins occurred in 1819, when they met to receive their annuity from the United States.

In 1818 and 1819 Roger McCall and Harrison Smith were the first white settlers in the neighborhood of Fort Hawkins. At the lower part of the Ocmulgee Fields they built a flat and loaded it with three hundred bales of cotton from Jones county; it was the first merchantable boat that floated down the river.

On the 1 8th day of January, 1829, the first steamboat, named the North Carolina, Captain Salter, commanding, arrived in Macon, which was hailed as a new era in the navigation of the Ocrnulgee, Many of the young ladies and gentlemen of tne young town made their first river excursion, with delight, on this steamboat.

the smoke and noise. Some mistook the noise for a roaring lion ; others for the sneeze of an elephant. Some protested it was the hissing of the sea-serpent, or the groaning of an earthquake; others thought it was ' war, pestilence and famine,' but the most general opinion was, that it was the Tariff coming in propria persona to eat up our cotton and corn, and to drink up our rivers, and that was an infringement upon State rights. There was a climbing of trees, and a picking of flints, and had not the boat made its escape, it would have been hard to tell what the consequences might have been."

The North Carolina made but one trip. The next boat was the "Pioneer," which was built in Macon, by Messrs. Charles Day and James R. Butts. It was a stern-wheel boat, drawing twenty-four inches of water. The celerity with which this boat was built and furnished was highly creditable to the owners. It was scarcely four months before her arrival that the timber was standing in the forest. In two months afterwards she was landed ; since which she carried a load of cotton to Darien, received her machinery, and returned with a valuable cargo. One of the enterprising owners, Mr. Charles Day, is now living in Brunswick, and frequently visits his friends in Macon, by whom he has ever been held in the highest esteem. Mr. Butts died on July 20th, 1869. He was one of the earliest pioneers in the navigation of the Ocrnulgee by steam power, and was regarded as an active and enterprising citizen. Shortly before his death he prepared an excellent model, with drawings, for an iron-keel stern-wheel steamer, drawing only twenty inches water, capable of bearing five hundred bales of cotton. The wheel is so located in the stern of the keel as to be protected from snags, or from being otherwise crushed. Several improvements have been made on the original design by Mr. Albert G. Butts, a brother of the projector ; and it is earnestly hoped by the citizens that the Ocmulgee will again be open to navigation, and that many "Pioneers" with "valuable cargoes," will glide over its classic waters, from near Covington, Georgia, to the seaboard, connecting with ocean steamers at all of the Georgia ports.

The commerce of a large portion of the State was, before the establishment of the Railroad system, transported by this river. From one hundred to one hundred and thirty-nine thousand bags of cotton were shipped from Macon to Darien and Savannah. For several years eight first class steamboats, and sixty tow-boats were engaged in carrying cotton below, and returning with cargoes of merchandise. The lumber business, on the river has so increased that its navigation by steamboats has become a commercial necessity.

Chapter Iii

Indian Treaties - Col. Hawkins and President Jefferson - Origin OF Fort Hawkins - The Old Ocmulgee Fields - Description of Fort Hawkins - Report of Secretary of War - Encampment at Fort Hawkins and Camp Hope in the War of 1812 and 1814 - The Origin Of the War - Tecumseh - Grand Council of Indians - Battle OF Autosse - General W^eatherford - Christopher B. Strong Generals Blackshear, McIntosh, Floyd and Andrew Jackson - Governor Early - Jackson's victorx at New Orleans announced at Fort HawKiNS - Reception of the news at Savannah - Jackson at Fort Hawkins - Seminole Waw - Ambrister and Arbuthnot - Sketch of Col. Hawkins - Ex. Gov. David B. Mitchell - Treaty OF 1821 - The "Ocmulgee Field's" Reserve acquired - John Crowell - Death OF McIntosh - First Colony of Settlers around Fort Hawkins, 1818 and 1819 -The first Hotel - Sale of the Fort Property - The last of the Ocmulgee Indians.

lands between the Savannah and Altamaha rivers were granted on trust; and, in 1736, the lands between the last river and St. Mary's. In 1739 General Oglethorpe held a treaty of friendship with the Creeks, at an Indian town on the west bank of the Chattahoochee, called Coweta, three miles above the site of Columbus, Georgia. Until 1828 the site where Columbus stands was called the settlement of " Chattahoochee Falls."

By a treaty held at Augusta, in 1773, and again at the same place in 1793, additional territory was acquired to the Oconee and Altamaha. At Galphinton, in 1785? a treaty was made, acquiring more land from the fork of the Ocmulgee and Oconee, to the South stream of St. Mary's. A treaty was made at Shoulderbone in 1786, which ratified and permanently established all existing treaties, and provided for the punishment of all offenders ; the object was not to acquire more land. In 1802, by a treaty held at Fort Wilkinson, on the Oconee, part of the land bec tween the Ocmulgee and the Oconee was obtained. The United States was represented at the council assembled by James Wilkinson, Brigadier General, U. S. A., Benjamin Hawkins, of North Carolina, and Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina, commissioners plenipotentiary of the United States; and the Creek Nation by their Kings, Chiefs, head men, and warriors, d'he treaty was preliminary to the one of 1805, which secured the lands between the Ocmulgee and Oconee, except a portion of the Old Ocmulgee Fields, to be used as a trading post between the whites and the Indians. The ceremonies which took place at this meeting. of the council were reported to Hon. Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, as follows:

May 25th, 1802. The Chiefs sent to inform the commissioners that on the next day they wished to receive them, according to the ancient customs of their country, at the public square ; and they requested the commissioners to be ready to move from their encampment early in the morning, and as soon as the runners arrived, to inform them that everything was ready for their reception.

May 24th. The commissioners went to the square, and were seated, with all their attendants. The Chiefs of the upper and lower towns, having met at some distance from them, moved on in a body ; two men in front, dancing the eagle tail dance, to music, accompanied by the voices of all the men and women. As soon as they arrived at the square, the commissioners moved tD a place prepared for them, when they were touched by the wings in the hands of the dancers; behind General Wilkinson was a small pit, and a white staff standing by it ; they brought a bow and arrows, painted red, showed them to the commissioners, then broke them, put them into the pit, covered them with earth, and with a white deer skin ; these great Chiefs, representing the upper and lower towns, wiped the faces of the commissioners with white deer skin, spread the skins on a log, and then sat them down. With the other skins they covered the commissioners, and, after the embrace of friendship, addressed them :

Efau Haujo - for the Upper Creeks - "We, this day, a fine one for the occasion, a clear sun and sky, meet our friends, brothers and fathers to take them by the hand, according to the custom of our fore-fathers, as old as time itself. We have, at the foot of the General, buried the sharp weapons of war, which were in use in old times, and such as we have ; our white deer ! skins are placed on the seat af our friends, and cover them with I the same; we add one more emblem, a pipe."

The Convention met on May 23d, continued until June ist, adjourned until June 8th, when it reassembled and continued until June 30th. Another Convention was held at the Agency, near Flint River, on November 3d, 1804, represented by Benjamen Hawkins and the chief men of the Creek Nation, which made other provisions, and all of which were signed, and more territory acquired, in December, 1805, at Washington City, and ratified in June, 1806, the chiefs representing the Indians, and Mr. Dearborn, Secretary of War, the United States, in presence of President Jefferson. This treaty reserved the track of land, five milesalong the river, and three miles in breadth, on a portion of the Old Ocmulgee Fields, to the creeks, while granting the United States Government the right to establish thereon, and continue a military post, and a factory, or trading house. It was also provided, " that the navigation and fishery of the Ocmulgee, from its junction with the Oconee to the Ulcofauhatche, should be free to the white people ; provided they use no traps for taking fish ; but nets and seins may be used, which should be drawn on the eastern shore only."

Fort Hawkins

Upon the recommendation of Col. Hawkins to the war department, in 1802, Mr. Jefferson insisted, in all the treaties, upon the privilege of establishing a fort and trading post on the Old Ocmulgee Fields. The right being now obtained, instructions were issued to the Commissioners to erect the necessary fortifications and buldings for the factory, or trading house, as it was commonly called.

Col. Benjamin Hawkins, who had been so long engaged as commissioner on the part of the United States, selected the site on the commanding eminence near the river, where but a solitary block house now remains. One hundred acres of ground were, for many years, reserved for the uses of the fort. The fortifications consisted of two large block houses, surrounded by a strong stockade. The stockade was built of posts of hewn timber, fourteen feet long, and fourteen inches thick ; they were sunk in the ground four feet, with port holds for a musket in every alternate post. The area within the stockade was fourteen acres.

The block house which now remains, occupied the south-eastern corner of the stockade, and the other one, the last relics of of which was blown down several years ago, was located diagonally from the other, at the north-western corner. The blockhouses were similarly constructed - about twenty-eight feet square, two stories and a basement ; thirty-four feet high, surmounted with watch-towers. The basement was built of blocks of stone eighteen inches thick, ten feet high ; the first story was of hewn logs, twelve inches thick, with port holds for cannon and musketry, and twelve feet high. Over the first story the second projected, on all sides three feet, with holes in the floors of the part projecting, so that if the Indians reached the house and attempted to scale the stone basement, in order to set fire to the wooden work, they could be shot down from the projecting floors. The second story was also twelve feet high, and the towers about eight feet. There were four long houses, one in the centre of each side of the stockade, their fronts forming part of the stockade to the width of each house, about twenty feet. These houses were used for soldiers' quarters, provisions, and for the factory goods to be sold to the Indians, and peltries received in return. In the centre, surrounded by oaks, were the officers' quarters. The ninety-six acres surrounding the stockade were pretty much cleared of undergrowth and large trees,except a few trees near the Fort, which were left for a shade to the soldiers when not on duty. The object of clearing the

The Fort was, in Indian warfare, a very formidable one. The Indians had no artillery. Bows and arrows, the tomahawk, battle-axe, with the rifle, were their most formidable weapons. The Fort was built in 1806, and garrisoned by the removal of the troops at Fort Wilkinson, who occupied it in 1807.

In 1812, Hon Wm. Eustis, Secretary of War, transmitted to Hon. Henry Clay, Speaker of the House of Representatives, a statement of the capital employed in the Indian trade, showing the state of the trade at each of the trading posts, or factories for four years, and through his report, he heads " Fort Hawkins, No. I," out of the twelve factories then in the United States, though the trade there was not so large as at other factories. In his report, the Secretary said : "It will be found that, generally, the Southern factories have lost, while the Northern factories have gained. The reason is obvious. At the first, peltries (deer skins) are in most part received from the Indians. The quantity of the article supplied in the country, greatly exceeds the home consumption. The market is on the continent of Europe. Since the obstruction to our commerce in that quarter peltries have not only received a depression in price, in common with other of our produce consumed in that part of Europe, but are subject to a considerable loss by being kept over, because of the difficulty and expense of preserving from damage by vermin.

At the latter, (the Northern factories) hatters, furs are generally taken ; these not exceeding the home demand, are of good sale. Another consideration is, that at some of the Northern factories, the Indians of their respective vicinities have been encouraged to employ a portion of labor on objects that are not attainable near the Southern factories, such as preparing buffalo tallow and candles ; in making maple sugar ; in digging the ore and melting down lead. The Secretary also speaks of Fort Hawkins being remote from the white settlements. The amount of business at the factory for four years, to September

During the Creek war of 1812 and 1814, Fort Hawkins was a prominent port for the rendezvous and disposition of troops. At that time Capt. Phil. Cook, afterwards Major, was in command. Major Generals McIntosh, Floyd, and Brigadier General Blackshear, were frequently at the Fort during the war, in consultation with Col. Hawkins, whose . quarters were at the old Creek Agency on the Flint river, near Knoxville. About two miles beyond the fort, on the Milledgeville road Camp Hope was located, where Floyd's army of nine hundred and fifty men and four hundred friendly Indians encamped in the summer of 1812. Several skirmishes with the Indians occurred in this vicinity during the war, and a battle was fought on the opposite side of the river, when the Indians retreated beyond Singer's hill, northwest of Macon.

The origin of this war, in which the Indians were induced to take part against the Americans, is attributable to the action of the British government, who in 1806 and 1807, issued a series of paper blockades, by which French ports were laid under embargo, and American vessels bearing French products were declared lawful prizes. The government of France retaliated by the famous Berlin decrees, which declared the British Islands in a state of blockade and all neutral vessels trading with them lawful prizes. Both of these decrees were ruinous to American commerce. One thousand American vessels, richly laden fell a prize to the British navy, which was followed by continued oppressment of American seamen. Endurance having become exhausted, the American Congress declared war on the i8th of June, 1812,

The British sought and obtained a powerful ally in the influential and renowned Indian warrior, Tecumseh, the Shawnee Chief, who with the eloquence and power of his brother, the prophet, exhorted all the Indian tribes throughout the United States, from Canada to Florida, to unite in one grand confederacy and seize the opportunity, while the Americans were at war with Great Britain, to reclaim the original lands. Tecumseh's appearance among the Southern Indians was the precurser of the terrible war which was to follow. He harranged the Indians through the West, down to the Seminoles in Florida, and succeeded in uniting them with the Creeks to join his standard. He succeeded in obtaining the services of Josiah Francis, a half breed, whom he ordained as prophet of the whole Creek Nation and whose word was to be regarded as infallible. Tecumseh brought thirty chosen warriors with him, whom he sent throughout Georgia, Alabama and Florida, to disseminate his doctrines and to consolidate all tribes of Indians. Returning from Florida he entered the Creek country in October, 1812. Hearing that Col. Hawkins had assembled five thousand Indian warriors at Tookabatchka, Alabama, and was about to hold a grand council, Tecumseh, with his thirty select warriors, hideously painted and adorned, boldly marched into the square. Col. Hawkins had made favorable terms with the council. Tecumseh kept quiet while Hawkins was present, but no sooner had Hawkins departed for his Agency on the Flint river, than another grand council was summoned at the great round-house. Tecumseh addressed the Indians in a most passionate and soul-stirring appeal. He was followed by his brother, the prophet, who poured forth a strain of eloquence that was received with the highest veneration. The animosity of the Indians was aroused against the Americans, d'hey were induced to abandon agriculture, throw aside the implements and clothing obtained from the whites and return to their primitive condition as warriors and hunters. The prophet assured them of the aid and support of the King of England, their old friend and ally, whose power he represented. Another prophet spoke, who endorsed the others and declared if the tribes would unite with the war party the Great Spirit would protect them even in battle, and that every Georgian would be driven to the Savannah river.

It has been stated by many writers that to impose upon the ignorance of the Creeks, Tecumseh declared to them he would jend his bow of fire across the sky which would be a sign for their outburst upon the whites, and until the sign appeared, they should secretly make their preparations for a combined attack. Abdnt the time for the predicted sign in the sky, a comet appeared across the heavens, and the wild war shout rent the air through the province of every tribe. Tecumseh had read in the Eastern newspapers that a comet would appear at a stated time and used the information to delude the Indians.

In the fall of 1812, the Indian war commenced in Georgia and Alabama, the territory of the latter being the principal battle ground. Tecumseh was slain in the battle of the Thames in the West, fought by General Harrison, but his death was unknown to the Southern tribes. A terrible massacre occurred at at Fort Mims, Alabama, in which nearly three hundred whites, men, women and children, were killed. Shortly afterwards General Jackson, at the head of a body of Tennessee militia, marched against the Indians, and with General Coffee, fought two successful battles. General Floyd, with nine hundred and fifty Georgia militia, including a regiment which had been stationed at Fort Hawkins, and four hundred friendly Indians, encountered the hostiles at Autosse, which place was regarded by them as the holy ground. They fought nobly in its defense, but were overcome. Their loss, in killed, was two hundred of their bravest warriors, including the kings of Autosse and Tallasee ; four hundred of their houses were burned. Several other battles occurred in which the Indians were defeated. Their last stand was made at the great bend of the Tallapoosa, called by the whites, " the Great Horse Shoe Bend." Here were more than one thousand warriors, who, with their women and children, had assembled in a strongly fortified fort. The Indians were surrounded, and reiusing to surrender, fought with desperation until nearly all were slain. Five hundred and fifty were killed at the fort, and many were drowned, or shot while attempting to cross the river. The loss of the Americans were fifty-four killed and one hundred and fifty-six wounded. The remaining chiefs of the Creeks seeing their power destroyed, afterwards surrendered. Among

He approached the camp of General Jackson, unescorted, introduced himself and said : " I am in your power, do with me what you please. I have done the white people all the harm I could. I have fought them and fought them bravely. There was a time when I had a choice. I have none now, every hope is ended. Once I could animate my warriors to battle ; but I cannot animate the dead. They can no longer hear my voice. Their bones are at Tallasehatchee, Talledega, Emucfaw and the Great Bend. While there was a chance for success, I never supplicated peace ; but my people are gone, and I now ask it for my nation ; for the helpless women and children, who never did any harm to you ; if the white people want my life you can kill me, but spare them."

General Jackson remarked, that any man who would kill so brave a chieftain would rob the dead." Jackson invited Weatherford to take a seat, and they took a glass of brandy together. Before Weatherford reached the camp he had shot a deer ; he brought it on his horse with him, and, after drinking with Jack- ' son, presented it to him as a token of future peace. Colonel Hawkins and the Big Warrior were present at Weatherford's surrender.

Here, in 1814, after having conquered the Creeks, General Jackson made a treaty with them, by which the lands between the Chattahoochee and the Altamaha were acquired.

Peace was restored between the Creeks and the whites. Colonel Hawkins, who had so great an influence among all of the Indian tribes, again performed an important part in the execution of this importaat treaty.

As a national mark of gratitude, the friendly Creeks bestowed upon General Jackson and his associate in the treaty. Colonel Hawkins, three square miles of land to each, with a request that the United States government would ratify the gift ; but

Major Christopher B. Strong, afterwards an eminent lawyer and Judge of the former old Flint Circuit, and one of the early settlers of Macon and Vineville, won military renown in the army of General Floyd, and was highly complimented by him for skill and bravery in two sanguinary battles. Judge Strong was greatly attached to his old roan horse which was once wounded while bearing him in battle against the Indians. Shortly after young Hiram Warner was admitted to the bar Judge Strong was engaged against him in an intricate case at Monticello. The Judge complimented Mr. Warner before the court and jury unon his learning in the law, and predicted his future eminence'in the profession, to which Mr. Warner replied with thanks, and said the compliment was the more appreciable, as it came from a distinguished soldier who had received the special compliment of his commanding officer for bravery in battle, and that he hoped the Judge and his war-horse, Roaney, would long survive the distinction predicted. Both horse and rider lived to good old ages. They were inseparable in life. Under any tree the roan was tied to, it was accepted that his master was near by ; and if the horse was not standing near the court-house, or his master's office, it was settled that the Judge was absent on the circuit, or had not come from Vineville - After the treaty of peace was concluded with the Creeks, General Jackson was appointed to succeed General Wilkinson in cdmmand of the forces at New Orleans, and on August 4th, fixed his headquarters at Mobile. Here he learned that three British ships had entered the harbor of Pensacola, had landed a small army, together with a large quantity of guns and ammunition to arm the Indians. Advices were also received by Governor Early, of Georgia, through Colonel Hawkins, that a --ber of British Vessels had arrived at Apalachicola, and that the British were using every stratagem in their power to induce the Indians to join them, and were training them and runaway n^roes in military tactics, and that their purpose was to overrun Georgia.

General Floyd, who was still disabled from his wounds, was; stationed with an army at Savannah to defend the coast. Governor Early tendered the command of the State frontier to Brigadier General David Blackshear, who had been engaged in building a line of forts on the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers, and subduing the Indians in that portion of the State.

In October, orders were received from the Secretary of War by the Governor of Georgia, to organize, arm and equip twen- ' ty-five hundred militia to join General Jackson at Mobile. Gov- | ernor Early ordered General Blackshear to assemble at Fort < Hawkins, by the 21st of November, the regiment detached from Major General Daniel's division, commanded by Colonel David ( S. Booth, and the regiment commanded by Col. Ezekiel Wim- ! berley, including two companies from Brigadier General Lee's f brigade, in Jones county, also a company, of artillery command- j ed by Capt. James Saffold, in Clinton, Jones county. J

At Fort Hawkins they were furnished with arms and accou- \ trements ; and also with provisions by the United States army f contractor, Farish Carter. Major General John McIntosh, and Brigadier General David Blackshear were apjiointed in com- ! mand of this detachment of militia, which was inspected and mustered in by Major Phil. Cook. The rendezvous of the troops I was at Camp Hope, near Fort Hawkins.

On November 23d, Gen. McIntosh, whose headquarters were now at Fort Hawkins, issued orders to Gen. Blackshear to or- ' ganize the detachment into two regiments and a battalion; but news having been received that the Seminoles were rising west of the Flint river, Gen. Blackshear was ordered to march with Wimberley's regiment of infantry to Hartford, on the Ocmulgee, and proceed from there to the Flint river and scour the country.

The.call from General Jackson being imperative for reinforcements from Georgia, Gen. McIntosh left Fort Hawkins with the -remainder of his command for Mobile, sending orders to Gen. Blackshear to join him there with his forces as soon as he had quieted the Seminoles west of the Flint river. After considera- l^le delay, Gen. Blackshear reached the junction of the Flint and Chattahoochee, and discovered that Major Blue had destroyed and captured an army of hostile Red Stripes, and that Col. Hawkins had one thousand friendly Indian warriors at Fort Mitchell, and that the Seminoles had become quieted, and the British vessels had sa,iled towards New Orleans.

On the 19th of January, 1815, Governor Early wrote to Gen. Blackshear stating that a great crisis in our State had occurred. It was actually invaded by the British in large force, in its most vulnerable point. Two of their ships-of-the-line, seven frigates and a number of smaller vessels had landed on the coast. Gen. Blackshear was ordered to retrace his march to Hartford and proceed to join Gen. Floyd ; additional supplies would be sent him from Fort Hawkins. General Blackshear's forces reached Hartford on January 21st, and continued their march towards Savannah, having received information that the whole country below the Altamaha, was overrun by British. Fort Hawkins, at this time, was the principal depository for army supplies, and was distributing rations for the army of Indians under Colonel Hawkins at Fort Mitchell ; General Blackshear near the Altamaha, and General Floyd's army below that point.

On January 31st, General Blackshear was one hundred and thirty-two miles below Hartford and in communication with Gen. Floyd. The latter informed the former that the British were two thousand strong on land ; that they had pillaged St. Mary's and withdrawn to Cumberland Island.

On Monday, the 26th of January, the news was brought through a line of runners from Mobile to Fort Hawkins, of the brilliant victory of Jackson over the British on the 8th instant. Kytu-de joie of nineteen guns was fired in celebration of the great event, and it was the first salutation in its honor on Georgia soil. General Blackshear received the news on February 4th, and sent it by courier to Gen. Floyd, concluding his letter, "nineteen guns were fired at Fort Hawkins on Monday last in celebration of the signal victory gained over the British, by Gen. Jackson, at New Orleans. The report is that General

Jackson killed one thousand dead, and took five hundred ]»risoners with only the loss of twenty men. Too good to be entirely true, I fear. Gloria Dei I Gloria Jacksoni

On February 14th, James Monroe, Secretary of War, announced that a treaty of peace was concluded between the United States and Great Britain, at Ghent, on the 24th of December last. The accounts were received in Savannah on the evening of the day which the Mayor had proclaimed should be celebrated by illumination, music, etc., in commemoration of the birthday of Washington. The coincidence of circumstances afforded an opportunity for the expression of redoubled joy by the troops and citizens.

. In 1817, by a treaty at the Cherokee Agency, and by another at Fort Laurens, on the Flint, in 1818, further lands were acquired. In 1819, at Washington, more lands were acquired east of the Chestatee.

There was peace between the whites and Indians after the treaty of 1814, until 1817, when the Seminoles and a few Creeks, at the instigation of Ambrister and Arbuthnot, who claimed to hold Florida in the name of Spain, commenced depredations on the frontiers of Georgia and Alabama. General Gaines was sent to suppress the Indians, but his force being insufficient General Jackson again took the field, leading one thousand patriots from Tennessee. The Governor of Georgia reinforced him with nine hundred militia and a number of friendly Creeks. On the loth of February, General Jackson arrived at Fort Hawkins with his Tennessee army, and received the Georgia troops here and at Fort Early, where he made the plan for his Seminole campaign. He marched through Florida, capturing all of the Indian towns, taking many prisoners, among them the Scotchman and Englishman, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, whom he ordered tried by court-martial. Ambrister was sentenced to be shot, and Arbuthnot to be hung. Subsequently, the sentence in respect to Ambrister was reconsidered, and he was sentenced to be whipped and confined at hard labor. This sentence Jackson reversed and ordered both to be executed according to the first sentence of the court. Previous to the court-martial, Jackson arrested two Indian chiefs whom he found engaged in insurrectionary acts among the Seminoles and Creeks. He ordered them hung without trial. The conduct of Jackson in constituting himself a high court was extensively discussed in the Congress of i8i8 and 1819. The Military Committee of the House presented a report censuring his conduct, which, however, was voted down ; a similar result followed a report of like nature in the Senate.

Name

Fort Hawkins was named in honor of Hon. Benjamin Hawkins, a United States Senator from the State of North Carolina. He had been an officer in the Revolutionary war, and enjoyed the esteem of General Washington. In 1785 his name appears as joint commissioner with Andrew Pickens, Joseph Martin and Lachlan McIntosh, to negotiate with the Creek Indians. They made the treaty of Galphinton, and of Hopewell the same year.

In 1795, President Washington appointed Mr. Hawkins, then a United States Senator, George Clymer, of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina, as commissioners to treat with the Creek Confederacy. This appointment was brought about in consequence of the inconsistency between the two treaties : the one at New York in 1790 placed the Creeks under the control of the Federal Government ; while the one of Galphinton made them members of Georgia and under the State jurisdiction.

In 1801, Mr. Hawkins was appointed principal Agent of Indian Affairs, South of the Ohio, and together with General Wilkinson and Andrew Pickens, he made treaties with the Chickasaws. Choctaws and Natchez. He was the principal actor in all of the other treaties that have been mentioned, and in 1812 was the sole commissioner in Georgia. In 1816 he resigned his positions after thirty years' service among the Indians, and retired upon his farm at the Agency on Flint river, which was his residence and headquarters during his life in Georgia. While he had charge of all Indian Affairs, he was not a military command- er nor did he reside at the Fort which bore his name. He was a frequent visitor there, and negotiated much of Ms official business at that place.

During his long service of thirty years among the Creeks he accumulated a large amount of manuscripts, giving very valuable information of the history and customs of the Indians. His house at the Creek Agency was destroyed by fire, and many of IS papers were consumed. Many of his letters to the Governors of Georgia, during his term of service, and to the Presidents and Secretaries of War, and other officials, are still extant. His remaining papers were collected by Mr. I. K. Tefft of Savannah, and published in the collections of the Georgii Historical Society. He died on June i6th, r8i6, at his home,

Ex^,overnor David B. Mitchell was appointed to succeed o . awkins, and in July, 1717, there assembled at Fort Hawkins over fourteen hundred Indians to receive their pay from the United States, through the newly appointed agent, and to transact other business. The Indians remained at the Fort several days, the Chiefs dining with General Mitchell every day During a frolic among them one of their warriors, the next in rank to McIntosh, became intoxicated and killed his own nephew. According to the custom of the Indians the murderer was instantly arrested and executed within an hour after the crime was committed.

In 1821, the lands between the Flint and Ocmulgee, and the reserve on which Fort Hawkins stands, the remainder of tlie Old Ocmulgee Fields, was acquired by a treaty which was made at the Indian Springs, on January 8th,- 1821, and ratified on the 2d of March, Uie same year. The commissioners, on the part of the United States were David M. Forney, of North Carolina mid David Meriwether, of Georgia; and on the part of the Creeks, twenty-six of their Chiefs signed the treaty.

treaty made at the Indian Springs, on the 12th of P'ebruary, 1825, between Duncan G. Campbell and James Meriwetlier, on the part of the United States, and a number of warriors and their Chief, General William McIntosh. Crowell was a descendant of the famous Cromwell family ftf England. After settling in America they dropped the le^t'er:5^m" in their name and assumed that of Crowell. It was believed by Governor Troup, the United States Commissioners, and a vast number of Georgians, that Crowell influenced a portion of the Indians to reject the treaty made at the Indian Springs, and created the dissensions that led to the atrocious murder of General AVilliam McIntosh, one of the purest, noblest and bravest of Chiefs.

The earliest white settlers upon the Old Ocmulgee Fields, in the neighborhood of Fort Hawkins, was the party under Roger McCall, in 1819. In 1818, Roger McCall and Harrison Smith settled upon Swift Creek. McCall sent to the North for his brother, Eleazar, to engage with him in the building of boats for the navigation of the Ocmulgee river.

In 1819, E. McCall, David Flanders, Joseph Willett, John Minor, Seymour Murray, George Clark, James Minor, and a Mr. Beckwith, came to Swift Creek and built three cotton boats ; one went to Darien, under Roger McCall ; the other two were poled to the ferry, at the site of the present Fair Grounds, and loaded with cotton from Jones and Baldwin counties, and sent down the river.

Messrs. Flanders and Willett cut down the bluff and established the first ferry where the city bridge has since stood for more than fifty years.

The first house erected outside of the Fort was a wooden structure by Mr. Lyman, from Milledgeville, and used as a store where trade was carried on with the Indians. From this time, forward, other settlers began to come in and lease the lands around the Fort, and those which were contiguous to the river, until the treaty of 1821, when the Indians, except from fifty to one hundred, removed to the West. The settlement was called Fort Hawkins until about 1821, when the name of Newtown was adopt-

In 1820, a double-log house was built a few hundred yards beyond the Fort, and was the first hotel in the limits of the section which was susequently part of Bibb county. The hotel was kept by Messrs. Charles Bullcrc^tJ^nd Nicholas Wells, who were also engaged in merchandising,'and in 1822, they issued the first change bills in this section of the country. Several of the bills are now kept in the hands of our oldest citizens as relics of primitive banking.

In 1828, the Fort Hawkins property, embracing the original one hundred acres, was sold with the last of the reserved lands. Mr. Thomas Woolfolk was the purchaser ; and by an act of the Legislature the whole reserve was surveyed, laid off into lots, and Newtown incorporated into the town of Macon in 1829.

The Ocmulgee Indians dissipated among the Creeks, and amalgamated with other tribes until their history became extinct. During the Seminole wars of 1836 and 1837, according to the statistics of Indian tribes in the United States, the Ocmulgees numbered but two hundred souls.

Chapter Iv

1773 TO 1833 - Bibb County Laid Off - The First Inferior and Superior Courts - Name - Macon - Plan of the Town - Tigertown - Sale of Lots - The first Frame House - The First County Election - Macon Incorporated a Town - The First Academy - Macon Lodge F. A. M. - Georgia Messenger - First Death - House of Worship and Burial Ground - The Elections - The Visit of LaFayette The First Fourth of July Celebration - Macon Volunteers - The First Court House Built - First Bank - Boats - Elections - Troup AND Clarke - First Railroad - Survey - Cotton Receipts First Bridge over the Ocmulgee - Macon Bank - Exten-

--sioN OF the Town - Capt. Basil Hall - A Brig of War - Religious Denominations - Remarkable Winter of 1828 and 1829 - Lasr Sale OF Lots - Fort Hawkins, etc. - First Steamboat - Statistics - Distinguished Authors - Cotton Avenue - New Court House - The First Agricultural Fair - Census - Christian Repertory - The Macon Advertiser - Eatonton Railroad Convention - Servile Insurrection - A Blue Sun - Religious Revival - Great Fire - Military Encampment - Macon Bank - Adventurers - Name.

By an Act of the Legislature, December 9th, 1822, four new counties from the counties of. Houston, Twiggs, Monroe, Jones, Henry, Fayette and Gwinnett, were laid out and the new counties attached to the Flint Circuit. The new counties were named DeKalb, Pike, Crawford and Bibb, and on the 2 2d day of the same month an act was passed to organize the new counties, and to define the places of holding courts, and to authorize the commissioners to lay off the town of Macon and to lay off four acres in said town for the public buildings in the county of Bibb ; and to add the county of Newton to the Flint Circuit. - Until a Court-house was built, the house of John Keener was appointed the place of holding the Superior and Inferior Courts.

On February 15th, 1823, at a called court, held at the house of John Keener, Esq., being by appointment of the Justices of the Inferior Court, and being the first Inferior Court held for Bibb county, there were present their Honors, John Davis, Tarp-

The first acts of the Court were to lay out the county in six districts, the establishment of boundary lines, and the appointment of commissioners to superintend the few old roads and to contract for the construction of new roads.

On March 20th, 1823, the Honorable Superior Court of Bibb county met for the first time. Present, his Honor Eli S. Shorter, Judge. The sheriff returned his venire and the following persons were sworn as Grand Jurors :

The county was named in memory of Dr. William Wyatt Bibb, who was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, in 1780. He settled as a physician at Petersburg, Elbert county, Georgia, and ably represented that county in the Legislature several terms. Afterwards he removed io Wilkes county. At the age of twenty-five he was elected to Congress under the general ticket system, by a large majority. He was a prominent leader in the House of Representatives, and an able advocate of the war of 1812, and a supporter of the administration of Mr. Madison. His contemporaries at his first election were Bolling Hall, George M. Troup and Howell Cobb. From his popularity he came within a few votes of being elected Speaker of the House. He was afterwards elected to the United States Senate. He served in Congress from 1806 until 1816, when he was appointed Governor of the Territory of Alabama, and was elected by the people, in 1819, the first Governor of that State. Huntsville was then the capital. In Alabama he sustained the high reputation he had won in Georgia, and in all the stations which he filled he was eminently successful. While riding in the woods, the horse of Governor Bibb fell with him to the ground, the rider receiving an injury from which he never recovered. The State of Alabama had just been organized and was afflicted with the loss of their first Governor, who died at his residence in Autauga county, in July, 1820, age about forty years. After the death of Governor Bibb, his brother, Thomas Bibb, who was President of the Senate, became the acting Governor.

After the acquirement of full possession of the Fort Hawkins reserve, the United States Agent was authorized to lease the land to settlers. From its central locality, and advantages of water transportation to the sea by the navigation of the Ocmulgee, it was destined to become a prominent mercantile point in the State; hence a number of immigrants, desirous of settling in this vicinity, began to move upon the reserve. Others followed, but were prevented from settling immediately upon the river, as those who preceded had attained an exclusive right to the most desirable lots, through their leases, for a term of years. Against this, complaint was made which induced the Legislalature to set apart a reserve of like extent to that of Fort Hawkins and opposite to it, on the western side of the river. This was accomplished by an Act of the Legislature, May 12th, 1821. The new reserve was tb be disposed of by a future Legislature. Accompanying the same act. Governor Clarke sent to the House of Representatives a letter from Hon. John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, notifying him of the leases on the Fort Hawkins reserve which now reverted to the State. A resolution was immediately passed authorizing the Governor to appoint an agent, under bond, to take charge of the leases and to protect both the old and new reserves. The Legislature, in December, 1822, in connection with the act to establish the county of Bibb, authorized the commissioners to lay off the plan for a town to be called

Macon

On the west reserve on the Ocmulgee river. The survey was made in the early part of 1823, by James Webb, the appointed surveyor, in the form of a rectangle, with wide streets, running nearly north and south in parallels, and those in an opposite direction 'running nearly east and west. The first row of streets were named numerically one to eleven inclusive, and the opposite row were named Wharf, Walnut, Mulberry, Cherry, Poplar and Pine. Both rows were made to alternate in width, first one hundred and eighty, then one hundred twenty feet. Between the two rows of streets, squares were laid off with two alleys in opposite directions and parallel with the streets, dividing the squares into four equal blocks. The alleys running north and south were ten feet in width, and those running east and west were twenty feet wide. The area of the square was four hundred and thirty-seven by four hundred and twenty-seven feet ;

At the time that this survey was made there was not a single frame building within its limits. Thomas Tatum, in 1822, built a log cabin, containing several small rooms, which was weatherboarded and used that year and in the early part of 1823 as an inn. At the upper ferry, just above First street, there was a single cabin where Mr. E. C. Beard lived ; he had been in charge of the old ferry since 1821. -The Federal road crossed at this place.

In 1822 and 1823, a number of immigrants came upon the reserve, on the west side of the Ocmulgee. They were known as squatters, who, without authority, and before the lots were sold, began the construction of what were called "board camps," which they inhabited. After the lots were sold they removed to the South-western commons, established an independent settlement, and became the first suburban neighbors of Macon. They named the suburb " Tigertown," after their ferocious leader. Tiger Jenkins, and well did he deserve the name. He is represented as having been a very rough and muscular man, with a visage as ugly as it was frightful. Like Attila, the leader of the Huns, he could direct his followers to action by his grimaces, and without uttering a word in command. He was toothless, but was compensated therefor with an extraordinary strength in his paws. He lustily boasted of the length and thickness of his nails, and woe unto the innocent wayfarer that chanced to fall within reach of his claws. There was considerable rivalry between the inhabitants of Newtown and their new neighbors in Macon, and in dirision of the new settlers, the former called the settlement of the latter, "Tigertown."

On the 7th and 8th of March, 1823, the sale of the lots, which had been freely posted and advertised, took place. The bidding was spirited, and those situated nearest the river brought the highest prices. Mr. Thomas Flewellen was the auctioneer. The axes of the pioneers were vigorously applied, and the forest which had so long been the haunt of the Indian was now soon cleared of its growth. The " first tree felled" for the construction of a frame house was cut by Joseph Willet, one of six men who first came as settlers upon this portion of the Ocmulgee.

The'first frame house was located on the corner of Fifth, commonly called Bridge street, and Wharf street. It was built by Messrs. Henry G. Rqss and Dr. S. M. Ingersoll ; the first story was occupied for a store, and the upper story for a dwelling. The house was neatly built, and, as it was painted white, it for several years, attracted the visits and attention of the surrounding country, as the most ornamental building in the several counties. Fifth street was the first one opened and built upon, and its western extremity was, for a number of years,, the ^'west end" of the aspiring denizens of the rising town. During the two first years that portion of Sixth street nearest the river, and the cross-streets squares above, on Wharf, Walnut, Mulberry and Cherry, between Fourth and Fifth streets, was next built upon.

"The first election for members from Bibb county to the Legislature was held in October, 1823, and resulted in the choice of Charles Bullock to the Senate, and Dr. Stephen M. Ingersoll to the House of Representatives. On the 8th of December following an Act for the incorporation of the town of Macon passed both Houses of the Legislature, and Oliver H. Prince, David S. Booth, Samuel Wood, Charles J. McDonald, and Seth Ward were appointed commissioners, to remain in office until the first Monday in January, 1825. The Act further provided that "on the first Monday in January, 1825, and on the first Monday in January, in every year thereafter, the citizens of the town who were entitled to vote for members to the General Assembly shall assemble at the Court-house of the town, and by ballot, elect five commissioners, who shall continue in office for one year, and that the said commissioners have full power and authority to make any by-laws, ordinances, or regulation, with power to enforce the same that they may deem best calculated to promote the general good of the citizens of said town."

In January, 1824, the commissioners appointed by the Legislature were duly installed into office, and in less than one year after the first tree was cut in the wilderness, the village of nine months ago became an incorporated town. During this year the Macon Academy was started under the Rectorship of Rev. Oliver Dan forth, who was the first school teacher in Macon. The Academy was founded under the auspices of the commissioners of the trustees of the Bibb County Academy, who had been appointed by the Legislature in 1823. The first society in the town was Macon Lodge, No. 84, F. A. M., which commenced work under dispensation July 28th, 1824. Dr. Ambrose Baber was chosen Worshipful Master, Eleazar McCall, the Senior, and Edward D. Tracy, the Junior Warden thereof. During the same year, the Macon Hotel was built, and rented the following year to George Stovall. The hotel is now standing below Fourth street, on Mulberry ; it was used during the late war as a hospital for disabled soldiers, under the charge of a benevolent and noble society of women, who called it the Wayside Home. In the rear of this hotel, with its front on Mulberry street, was erected a two story building twenty by forty feet. The first story was used as a store, and its second story supplied the first hall for the Masonic Lodge. In this year the Georgia Messenger, which had been established by Major Matthew Robinson and Simri Rose, in Newtown, now East Macon, on the northeast corner of the lot which twenty years afterwards became the Central Railroad depot, was removed to Macon, and its office established just below the residence, then, of Major Robinson, on Fifth street, between Cherry and Poplar; the residence is still standing and is known as the Candler house.

The first death among the citizens occurred in November, 1824, which was that of Mr. John Clark, a painter; his burial was the first interment in the Cherry street burial ground. The commissioners had appropriated the four acres between Sixth and Seventh and Cherry and Poplar streets, to lots for houses of worship, or meeting houses, as they were then most commonly called, with burial ground attached. The Legislature of 1826 donated

On the first Monday in October the annual election for members of the Legislature was held. Oliver H. Prince was elected to the Senate and Dr. S. M. Ingersoll returned to the House.

On the first Monday in January, 1825, the citizens of the town assembled, for the first time, to elect their commissioners. The records containing the names of the commissioners elected, have been misplaced. It was the custom during the period of the township of Macon for the commissioners to elect the Intendent. Secretary and other officers. The elected commissioners selected for the year 1825, Mr. James H. Rogers, Intendant, and Thomas G. Bates, Secretary. The first ordinance passed by the board and published under the names of the Intendant and Secretary, was the prohibition of the sale of spirituous liquors, in quantities less than a quart, without a license, for which nine dollars were charged. This year was pregnant with exciting events in the State and throughout the twenty-four States in the Union, in which the young town of Macon participated at home and through their delegates in the Legislature. The first prominent event was the arrival of General LaFayette. He visited Georgia on his tour through the United States, in acceptance of an invitation by the Legislature. He was met in Savannah by Governor Troup, the city authorities, the military and all of the citizens. In response to the eloquent reception address by the Governor, after being introduced to the citizens - some of whom had fought under him in the days of the revolution - he was conducted to his lodgings, and addressed by the Mayor. In his reply he said :

While I rejoice in the honorable and affectionate reception from the citizens of Savannah, in the prosperity and happiness which this city presents to a patriotic eye, I, for the first time, approach the spot where the blood of two nations has been shed in a common cause - where Pulaski fell, and I.aurens planted the American standard. It is to me a cherished thought, that although the wounds of d'Estang, the gallant devotion of Lin- coin, were not rewarded with success, the remembrance of that day must be one of the bonds of a mutual friendship and good wishes. There also is the tomb of my dear companion and friend, the great and good Greene. Amidst those sentiments, I am highly sensible of the kindness of the people of Savannah, in my behalf, and beg them and you, Mr. Mayor, to accept my respectful, affectionate acknowledgements."

On the next day - Sunday - he attended divine service, with the Governor and their suites, at the Episcopal Church, and on Monday laid the corner-stone of monuments to Generals Pulaski and Greene.

After visiting Augusta, where grand demonstrations were made, he proceeded to Milledgeville, and was received by the Governor and given the grandest ovation ever accorded in the State.

Wherever a hoary-headed veteran of the Revolution was found, however long he had remained in obscurity, he was once more brought from his solitude and grasped the hand of the friend of Washington, and partook of the brilliant triumph accorded him by the people and the authorities of Georgia.

When Lafayette left America, Milledgeville was unknown to the map of Georgia. Its site was in the wilderness and among the haunts of the Indians. Since that period a town has been built and settled by a population, combining both wealth and intelligence, which made it the capital of the State. But not far from Milledgeville, on the Western bank of the Ocmulgee> was another infant town, where, two and a half years before, there had not been a single white settlement. Within that short space of time it numbered seven hundred and fifty souls, and had established, from the very commencement of its existence, a newspaper called the Georgia Messenger, which continues until this day, and from which the following is compiled :

On March the 30th, at 12 o'clock, m., a signal gun announced his approach to Macon, when the ladies and gentlemen proceeded to form in lines on Bridge street, near the ferry. He dismounted from his carriage and crossed the river, when he was received by the committee appointed for that purpose, and the commissioners of the town. On ascending the bluff, he was welcomed to the town, in behalf of the citizens, by James S. Frierson, Esq., to whom the General replied in substance: "That he was thankful for the manner in which the citizens of Macon were pleased to receive him ; that he perfectly accorded in the opinion that a Representative Democracy was the best calculated to secure the liberties of the people, and requested that the people of Macon would receive his thanks for the manner in which they had been pleased to receive him."

A procession was then formed, and he was conducted to his quarters at the Macon Hotel, (now the old Wayside Home at the foot of Mulberry street.) During the moving of the procession, a national salute was fired. Soon after his arrival, he was waited upon by the ladies, who were individually introduced to him ; after which every citizen who wished was introduced, to whom he gave a cordial grasp of the hand. He was then waited on at his quarters by the brethren of Macon Lodge, No. 24, and addressed by Worshipful Ambrose Baber, Master of the Lodge :

Brother and General Lafayette : In our humble capacity as brothers of the Mystic Union, we welcome you to our infant village. No triumphal arch, no tinsel show of earthly grandeur greeted your entry. We offer you a triumph more lasting and noble - the triumph of gratitude.

" Admonished by that resplendent luminary which rules and governs the day, and imparts an equal lustre on all mankind twice in every year, that we have all once been and must again be on a levels we have ventured to hail your arrival among us, and to offer you a welcome in unalloyed gratitude, the spontaneous effusions of our hearts.

Illustrious Benefactor of mankind ! What a splendid train of associations does thy wonderful life excite ! Companion and associate of our immortal Washington ! Thine efficient arm hath prostrated oppressive tyranny - succored and relieved distressed and agonized humanity, and established a nation in the full enjoyment of freedom. The glittering offering of Princes could not dissuade, nor the appalling frowns of Royalty deter you from a life of benevolent usefulness, the assassins of sanguinary demagogues, nor the loathsome cells of the dungeon mar or destroy your feelings of philanthropy. Unaltered and unchanged didst thou remain amidst the calamitous vicissitudes which harrassed thine own distracted country.

Behold thy compensation ! The gratitude of ten millions of freemen, the applause and admiration of the enlightened of every nation ; even the wilderness smiles with joy and the savage is gladdened at thy presence.

" Amidst this jubilee of feeling, permit me to offer you again the grateful rejoicings of my associates and brethren of the society of Free Masons in beholding you among us. Royal tyranny may condemn, ignorance may reproach and blaspheme the holy mysteries of our institution, yet with Lafayette for her support, the science of Masonry will continue to illumine and harmonize mankind to endless ages. Gratitude must have fled from the breast of man, humanity lose its seat ere the virtuous deeds of the generous, amiable, distinguished and exemplary Lafayette shall be forgotten."

The very grateful reception I have met among my brethren demands of me an expression of my most sincere and affectionate acknowledgments. Permit me to declare to you particularly and the brethren of your Lodge, an unfeigned obligation for the very flattering words you have been pleased to speak for me.

" The science of Free Masonry, to which I have for many years been an humble votary, is wonderfully calculated to alleviate the many distresses and calamities to which mankind are exposed in their variegated and manifold duties in society, and when I recur to those scenes to which y©u have pleased so delicately to allude I am constrained to acknowledge how much I have been cheered, sustained and animated in the various vicissitudes of my life by the holy precepts and examples of our institution. That you and your lodge may be blessed with prosperity and harmony, that the rising and improving town of Macon may continue in its successful advancement, that Masonry may flourish, and the citizens enjoy all the social and intellectual blessings it so eminently inculcates, I pray you, sir, to accept as my most sincere and ardent wish."

He remained about two hours and a half, during which time, he, in company with a large number of citizens, partook of an - excellent dinner prepared by Mr. Stovall. After dinner the following toast was given by Edward D. Tracy, Esq. :

To which the General replied and gave "The town of Macon : May its prosperity continue to be one of the strongest arguments in favor of republican institutions."

Very soon after dinner he bade an affectionate adieu to the ladies and gentlemen around him and resumed his carriage, at which time another salute was fired.

He was accompanied by the committee, commissioners of the town, and a number of our citizens, cn horseback, several miles on his way, and stopped for the night at the Creek Agency on Flint river. Having left Milledgeville early in the morning the whole distance traveled that day was sixty miles. There were relays of horses every ten miles throughout the country for the use of the Nation's guest and his movements were very rapid.

He arrived here unattended by any military escort ; the only persons with him were his son and secretary, and two of the Governor's aids - Cols. T. G. Holt and H. G. Lamar.

any individual. Macon, at that time, in comparison with those towns through which he had passed, was what the country had been when he came to her help in the days of the revolution.

The best arrangements were made for the reception that the village could afford, and what was wanting in style in honor to the accomplished French scholar, philanthropist and soldier, was supplied with patriotic ardor and genuine hospitality.

Lafayette visited Mobile and New Orleans, went up the Mississippi and visited the Middle States on his way to Boston, where, on the 17th of June, the semi-centennial anniversary of the battle where the first blood of the Revolution was spilt, he laid the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument. After visiting the Eastern States, he was ovated at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Returning to Washington, he was again made the

His tour through the twenty-four States occupied one year. Before his departure on the 7th of September he remarked that during his whole travels he had not met with a person who could say what he could, that he had visited every State in the Union.

On the 4th of July, 1823, the first celebration, in Bibb county, of the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence occurred. There being no hall or room for an assembly one of the old buildings at Fort Hawkins was appropriated for the ceremonies. The Declaration of Independence was read by John P. Booth, and the usual eulogium was pronounced upon the heroes of '76 in an oration delivered by the Solicitor General,

Charles J. McDonald. The company moved to the double-log house near the fort, known as the hotel of Messrs. Bullock & Wells, where, on the part of the juvenile assemblage, Richard T. Marks, a youth of thirteen years, and who was an apprentic^ ^ ' in the Georgia Messenger office, delivered a pathetk: address. The children were furnished a dinner by the proprietors of the hotel. The assembly then retired across the ferry to Macon, and were seated in a grove at the intersection of Fifth and Mulberry streets, which afterwards became the public square, and in which the first brick court-house was built, where, according to the phraseology of the day, ''they partook of an elegant repast prepared by Major John Loving," such as was not too hard to prepare then - or now. The principal staples were an abundance of roasting-ears, plenty of cucumbers and onions, some bacon and greens, and barbecued shote. Dr. Thompson Bird presided at the festal board, assisted by Robert Coleman as vicepresident. In due time, as there was no cloth to remove, thirteen toasts were drank in response to the "old gun " which fired a salute at every toast, and also bid them good night at sunset.

The old gun, a four-pounder, was left a waif upon the community by the breaking up of the garrison at Fort Hawkins, and which was the principal speaker of the day.

During the night previous there existed a very excited "border war," whether the gun should speak from Fort Hawkins or at Macon. The Macon boys, with some or more experience, had gotten possession of the prize, and having it well loaded, and with about forty muskets, left at the old fort, which they had captured without the effusion of blood, and with about as many lightwood torches, were prepared to defend it.

The other party having control of the " Navy Department," consisting of the ferry and one batteau, crossed the river, reconnoitered like prudent soldiers, went to Tigertown for recruits. The clan of Tiger Jenkins, having an eye to the dinner that was to be spread in the grove, had formed an alliance with the Macon party. They were then denounced as "rebels" by the Newtown party, who recrossed the river, returned home much

On the 23d of April, 1825, the Macon Volunteers, a military corps, was organized, and a one-room wooden court-house had been built. Extensive preparations were made for the celebration of the coming anniversary by the citizens, town and county officers and Captain Wright's military corps. The dawn of the 4th was announced by "a gun at daylight;" afterwards, a salute of twenty-four guns. A procession was formed at eleven A. M., and marched to the court-house. Prayer was offered by the Rev. Lot Jones, the Declaration read by Edward D. Tracy, with a speech, and an oration delivered by Benjamin C. Franklin. The military paraded and dined at the Mansion House, where Chirstopher B. Strong presided ; a number of toasts were given, which were responded to by the "old gun," and interspersed with martial music and a variety of patriotic songs by the guests.

Every 4th of July was celebrated in Macon from its earliest settlement until the late war. At the first celebration in which the military participated, Mr. Tracy, then a young man, read the Declaration and delivered a speech. He afterwards married and reared an interesting family in Macon, and died in January, 1849. It is a remarkable coincidence that his oldest son should have made the last address on a similar occasion in Macon in i860. That son fell at Sharpsburg in defence of the very principles, " a Union of equal rights," based upon the old Declaration his father had read and expounded thirty-seven years before.

During this year two academies, Lake and Washington, had been built, rectors employed and pupils admitted. The Episcopalians formed a congregation and emjfioyed the Rev. Lot Jones, rector. They also elected wardens and vestrymen. A temporary court-house was constructed on the first court-house square, fronting Mulberry, and between Second and Third streets. The Branch Bank of Darien was opened on October

30th, in the building on the corner of Cherry and Fifth streets. It was built for that purpose and was the first brick house in the town.. Mr. Samuel Wood was the first cashier.

Messrs. Roger and E, McCall, David Flanders and Joseph Willet were actively engaged in building boats for the river trade to Darien, with a capacity of loading three to seven hundred bags of round cotton. A dozen trips had been made by a class of small crafts called mountain boats, from Henry county, bringing from fifty to one hundred bags of cotton down the river and returning with groceries and farmers' supplies.

In September, a large hotel, the Mansion House, on Mulberry street, opposite the Macon Hotel, was completed, and that month was opened for entertainment by William Bivins, who was succeeded by Messrs. Bullock & Wells.

On the first Monday in October, the regular election for members to the Legislature, and the first election by the people of Georgia for Governor, took place. George M. Troup was the Governor, and a candidate for re-election, while his old antagonist, General John Clarke, was again a candidate for the same office. The Troup candidates from Bibb were Benj^lmin J. Lamar for the Senate, and Samuel Gillespie for the House. The Clarke candidates were Timothy Matthews for the Senate, and Harrison Smith for the House. This was a noted day in Macon and at every voting precinct throughout the State. Never was party spirit so high and fierce. The excitement actually pervaded the family circle to an intensity that produced an estrangement between relatives that lasted for years ; in many instances even the clergyman- became unmindful of the obligations of his sacred office, and was infused with the zeal of the partizan. In every county there was more or less disturbance, resulting sometimes in the shedding of blood; but in Bibb it was confined to the pugilistic mode of warfare, and the greatest injury the combatants sustained was purpled eyes and dislocated noses.

The vote cast for Clarke was three hundred and eighty-four ; and for Troup two hundred and four. Matthews and Smith were elected to the Legislature. The vote of the State gave Troup seven hundred and fifty majority, and the enthusiastic popularity that he acquired during the last term of his administration, in the defence of the treaty made at the Indian Springs, in February, 1825, would have elected him by an overwhelming majority to any office in the gift of the State.

On October ist, a survey for a railroad between Macon and Milledgeville was completed, and the distance by the route was forty-nine miles. It was found necessary to lay out two inclined planes. This was the first railroad survey recorded in the State.

On 2d January, 1826, E. W. Wright, Wm. J. Dannelly, Robert Birdsong, Josiah Freeman and John Loving were elected Commissioners, and they elected Edward D. Tracy, Intendant, and Josiah Freeman, Secretary and Treasurer. The first acts of the new board were the renting of the stalls in the market, and the planting of shade trees along the sides and in the center of the streets. Many of the graceful elms aud majestic water-oaks that now adorn the city present a pleasing testimony of the taste and wisdom of the town authorities ; and in this connection it would be an unpardonable omission not to state that the suggestion and plan of setting out the trees emanated from that enterprising and most useful citizen, Simri Rose, who planted, at various times, many trees on his own responsibility, and urged the importance of this essential ornament to the consideration of nearly every Council during the long period of his life in Macon.

The receipts of cotton for the year 1825 were seventeen thousand bags, and as the commerce of the town increased the population also increased.

In January, 1826, the town contained seven hundred and fifty to eight hundred inhabitants, thirty-two stores, and was receiving cotton from sixteen counties, and trading with them. The Commissioners of Bibb County Academy had constructed a frame house for a school on the square assigned for that purpose, which was opened for pupils. The commissioners assumed control as trustees, and appointed Rev. Lot Jones rector of the academy. Mr. Jones instituted the first Sabbath-school in the town. Religious services were held at the court- house, academy, and occasionally at the Masonic Hall.

In November, the first bridge across the Ocmulgee was completed. It was built at the expense of the State, by Daniel Pratt and Alexander McGregor, and was a very creditable structure. The granite pillars upon which it stood still remain. Two bridges over them have been washed away, when they were raised several feet above the highest water mark.

At an election for Congressmen, General John Floyd received three hundred and fifty- five votes, and Angus M. D. King, three three hundred and twenty-nine ; for the Legislature, Timothy Matthews was re-elected to the Senate, and John S. Childers to the House.

On November 19th, the Macon Bank commenced operations under G. B. Lamar, president, and James Rea, cashier, in the basement of the building on the corner of Wfarf and Fourth streets.

1827, January ist, John T. Lamar, William J. Dannelly, Robert Birdsong, Washington Poe and N. W. Wells, were elected Commissioners, and they elected W. Poe, Intendant. Their administration was characterized, in the conduct of its Intendant, by a strict regard for the majesty of the law, and the same resolute spirit left its impress in every subsequent office that he so worthily filled.

By an Act of the Legislature in December, 1826, a further sale of lots was granted, and the limits of the town common extended half mile on the northwest and southeast boundary of the town plat. At the former sales of lots, those lying immediately upon the river were reserved ; but they were now directed to be sold. A sale took place in February, 1827. On the first day, ten half-acre lots on the river brought $9,880 ; the one nearest the bridge sold for $3,550. Nine others sold for $7,155, and seven quarter-acre lots in the court-house square, between Wal-' nut and Mulberry, and Second and Third streets, sold for ^4,590. The town was now being built on all the streets up to Second street. It will be observed that there had been no sale of lots below Seventh street, through the original survey had provided for lots and streets to be extended as far as Eleventh street. Below the line for Eleventh street, the land was low and subject to overflow, and being heavily timbered it made a continual swamp. Dr. Ambrose Baber, a learned physician and eminently enterprising citizen, having the hygenic interest of the location of the town in view, earnestly recommended the preservation of the forest below Seventh street as essential to the health of the people. The Legislature of 1826 adopted the salutary recommendation, and passed an act "to reserve the timber in the vicinity of the town for the preservation of the health of the inhabitants thereof, setting apart all the land within the plat below Seventh street, together with a space of six hundred yards below, and a space of three hundred yards on the southwestern or outer side thereof, to be vested in the corporate authority of the town ; provided^ that if any part of the land should be sold or leased it should then revert to the State." The forest was then, and ever has been, a beautiful growth of trees, and upon a portion of it stands that admired landscape and beautiful grounds, Central City Park.

In January, the bridge was rented for the year 1827, at $4,600. In February, a new hotel, the Washington Hall, corner of Mulberry and Second streets, was opened by Moreland & Townsend. At this time, the Forsyth road and the Federal road were intersected at Second and Mulberry streets. The Forsyth road was a continuation of Mulberry street, above Second ; the course of the road was up the hill in the direction of Lake Academy, three miles distant. In the rear of the hill, along its sides, the charming hamlet of Vineville was afterwards built. The course of the Federal road was from the Washington Hall towards Tattnall Square, thence towards the Old Agency, on Flint river, thence to Fort Mitchell and the Falls of the Chattahoochee ; the latter place was laid off the next year and named Columbus. r" Captain Basil Hall, of the British Navy, passed through Macon, March nth, 1827, on a tour through the United States. He was an eminent writer and voyager, and was highly praised and promoted for his services by the Lords of the Admiralty. He was the son of Joseph Hall, Baronet and President of the Royal Society of Edinburg. He wrote two volumes upon his travels in America, and referred to Macon and the Falls of the Chattahoochee. He called the latter place the " embryo city of the wilderness." Sir Walter Scott, in his Life of Napoleon, relates that Captain Hall visited the distinguished exile at St. Helena, and that he said to him: " Your father is the first Englishman I ever saw," and then explained the circumstances of their meeting.

Captain Hall was highly complimented by the press of Macon during his visit through Georgia. He had been in the service of the British Navy more than twenty-six years, and had traveled more extensively than any other navigator at that time. The papers relate a curious circumstance attached to his history : ''His mother. Lady Helen Hall, daughter of the Earl of Selkirk, was actually in the house at St. Mary's Isle, and sitting at the tea-table, when the place was surrounded by the crew of Paul Jones' ship, and she remembers the whole particulars, and the delicacy with which the ladies were treated by Paul's officers. It is well known that Paul Jones bought up, with his own money, the whole of the plate which was taken away, and sent it back to Selkirk. It was not, however, till upwards of twelve years afterwards the boxes reached the place, and, upon opening them a curious proof was afforded that they had never been touched, for at the bottom of the tea-pot, which had been on the table at that time, was found a hard mass of dry leaves, just as they had been at the moment the plate was carried away."

What a wonderful contrast with the conduct of the United States officers in the State of Georgia in 1864 ! A full account of these officers will be found at the close of this volume.

The 4th of July of this year was celebrated with much eclat. Benjamin C. Franklin was the reader, and John G. Polhill the orator. Among the incidents, the Telegraph of that date announced being -'highly gratified with an unusual exhibition in an inland town like ours. A brig of war, in miniature, the workmanship of Wm. R., Israel F., and Eliphalet E, Brown, sons of Wm. F. Brown, of this town, was exhibited as an object of much curiosity, and attracted the attention of every person present. It was represented as under full sail, and when it fired a broadside it perfectly electrified the whole company. It is an object of much curiosity, and the youthful architects are entitled to much credit for their mechanical skill. It is hoped that they will continue to cultivate their taste for Naval Architecture."

Two small schools were opened during the year. The Methodists had held two four-days' camp-meetings, and a four-days' union meeting was called in October, by Rev. Joseph Stiles, a Presbyterian licentiate, at Harvey's warehouse, corner of Wharf and Walnut streets, in which ministers of every denomination participated. Subscriptions were raised by the Methodists, and preparations made by them for the building of a Church. The Presbyterians were also making efforts towards the same purpose.

A treaty having been executed, by which the lands between the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers were ceded, the bridge over the Ocmulgee presented a stirring scene in the passage of large numbers of immigrants with wagons, stocks, and all their household effects, prospecting for a new settlement.

At the election in October, Ambrose Baber was elected to the Senate, and Henry G. Lamar to the House. The number of votes polled were seven hundred and fifty-four.

In 1828 the election of commissioners for the town resulted in the choice of John T. Lamar, Robert Birdsong, John Corbitt, Marmaduke J. Slade and John S. Childers, who elected Mr. Birdsong Intendant.