Macon, Georgia - Historical Record of Macon and Central Georgia : Containing Many Inter (part 3 of 8)

the mildness of the temperature ever recorded. Vegetables and flowers were abundant during the Christmas holidays, and in January following. A detailed account of this winter will be found in the chapter of meteorological changes.

On the nth of April the first hanging took place. William Fields was hung for the murder of James O. Abbott, pursuant to his sentence, and within less than ten days after the crime for which he suffered was perpetrated.

I'he last sale of lots took place in October, together with all of the reserve lands, in accordance with an Act of the Legislature of the previous year. A survey had been made of the reserve in Newtown, lots were laid off and sold ; the highest oneacre lots bringing from ^700.00 to $1000.00. The Fort Hawkins property, comprising one hundred acres of poor land, was purchased byThomas Woolfolk for^2,i5o.oo. The highest halfacre lot on the West side brought $305.00, and no business lot remained unsold.

The Methodist Church was sufficiently prepared for meetings in July, and completed in the fall. That church has ever retained its original site on Mulberry street. The Presbyterians were building a church on Fourth street, between Plum and Poplar, which was completed the following year.

The most prominent act of the town commissioners this year was to secure the right to purchase the bridge. It cost the State $9,200.00, and the Legislature sold it to the town early in 1829, for $25,000.00, to be paid in ten installments, within ten years. Corn and cotton were exempt from toll.

In 1829, the election for town commissioners, in January, resulted in the choice of Joseph Washburn, William J. Dannelly, Isaac B. Rowland and David Ralston, who elected Mr. Washburn Intendant. The day of this election was signalized by the arrival of the Steamboat North Carolina, which was the first boat propelled by steam that had navigated the waters of Ocmulgee. The boat was commanded by Captain Salter, and was from Cape Fear river. The arrival was hailed as a new era in the navigation of the Ocmulgee and the trade of Macon. There were, at this time, between thirty and forty flat-bottomed boats, propelled with poles, by muscular power, owned in Macon, for the trade in Darien. These boats could transport from four to seven hundred bags of cotton, and would return with from seventy to eighty tons of freight. Freights from Savannah were three to four weeks on the pole boats to Macon. Steamers could make the trip in a less number of days, so a new field was opened for capital and enterprise.

On the ist of February the population of the town numbered nearly two thousand. There were over one hundred wholesale and retail stores. Newtown was incorporated into Macon and there were two hundred inhabited houses, four banks, two weekly newspapers with job printing offices, three public schools ; the branch of the State Bank, had just been established in the second brick house erected in the place, on Walnut, between Second and Third streets; John T. Rowland was President and Jacob Wilcox, Cashier ; also the branch of the Marine and Fire Insurance Bank, Harrison Smith, President, and Joseph Washburn, Cashier, which was located corner of Walnut and Fourth streets ; both of these houses are still standing and occupied ; also four religious denominations, with one church already built and two others nearly finished. There were several drug stores, eight doctors, twelve lawyers, mechanics of all kinds, four hotels and several private boarding houses. Walnut street was being rapidly built upon by gentlemen with families. The offices of the three banks on this street were in the residences of the presidents. All of the warehouses in West Macon, were located on Wharf street and those intersecting Walnut, on account of the convenience afforded by their proximity to the wharves on the river, for the reception and shipment of freights. A neat hotel had been erected on the corner of Walnut and Third streets as early as April, 1827, which was patronized by the elite of the town. It was afterwards designated as the Yellow House. The firm and level ground, shaded by an abundant foliage of choice trees, gave to Walnut street an additional attraction, and it remained for many years a favorite promenade for both citizens and visitors to the beautiful grove in Academy Square, from which point a fine view of the river was presented. All of the other streets were being improved, furnishing mechanics and lumber men an abundance of work. There was in the county fourteen saw-mills and nine grist mills in successful operation.

In the spring, the notorious authoress, Miss Anne Royal, of Tennessee, during her tour through the Southern States, visited Macon. She was feted by the literati, politicians and others of the town. She acquired considerable notoriety by the publication of the 'Black Book," and her many contributions to the press in several States. She was delighted with her visit and hospitable reception, and in a subsequent communication referred to Macon as being the " Pink of the South, and the Rosebud of all little cities."

The town was now expanding its dimensions beyond the original survey. Land upon the commons had been bought up and the streets were being extended. A road had been cut about a mile above the town from the Forsyth road leading into the Federal road beyond the head of Cotton Avenue, which name was given that section of the road, because small stores and houses had been erected along its sides to catch the cotton and other trade that was brought from Crawford and Monroe counties. It was determined to make a street on that portion of the road. As the road had already been partially settled upon, its course could not be changed, hence followed the diagonal line of that street, which was the first diversion from the uniform plan of squares and parallel streets of the city, which was after the symmetrical plat of ancient Babylon. Cherry street was advancing as a business center, and its property holders, with a view to the Cotton Avenue, or Federal road trade, made strong remonstrances against the road being converted into a street which would intersect and terminate at Mulberry, though it seemed to be the natural line for a street, it being the nearest route t® the wharves and warehouses on the river end of Second and Third streets. An excited rivalry was begun between the Cherry and Mulberry street capitalists for the control of the Avenue trade in the determination of its route. Both parties began to bid high for lots along the Avenue, very greatly to the complaisance of the third party, who owned them and who volunteered no other intervention than to dispose of the lots to the highest purchaser and realize a handsome speculation. Both parties commenced building stores; others came in, built along the Avenue, when Cherry street put forth its energies and extended up above Second and made an intersection with the much coveted Avenue.

The new court-house was built in 1828 and 1829, on the handsome square laid off for that purpose. The contractors were Elam Alexander, George Smith and Joseph Davidson. The cost of the building was ^12,750. It was three stories high, ninety-three by forty-seven feet, with handsome porticos on two sides, and surmounted by a fine cupola. In the basement were offices of various descriptions ; in the second story was a large room for the Superior Court, and rooms for other county purposes ; in the third were offices for clerks. The elegant court-room was used as a hall, many years, for public meetings. The building was regarded, for a long period, the handsomest county edifice in the State.

In' December, the first agricultural fair was held ; the courthouse grounds were appropriated for the occasion. A liberal list of prizes were awarded. The first premium was decided in favor of Mrs. Penelope Bryan, of Twiggs county, for the best lot of cotton, eight bales ; the prize was a silver tankard, worth one hundred dollars.

In 1831, at the election for the commissioners in January, Isaac B. Rowland, J. T. Lamar, R. Turner, T. G. Bates and A. Darragh were elected, who chose 1. B. Rowland Intendant, Simmons, Secretary, and Gumming, Marshal.

The first Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Georgia, was held in Macon, and closed its session on the 13th of January. Under its auspices a paper, called the Georgia Christian Repertory, was started on the 21st of January, by Rev. G. Capers.

On the 15th of February, M. J. Slade issued a semi-weekly newspaper, under the name of Macon Advertiser, Mercantile and Co7twiercial Ritelligencer.

The subject of building rajlroads in Georgia had been discussed for eight years, and up to this time there had been no action further than discussion. The first appointment of delegates to a railroad convention occurred this year. From a manuscript of the late Stephen F. Miller, prepared January ist, 1870, of his reminiscences, we extract the following :

" Among the topics discussed in the Macon Advertiser^ in 1831, was the disadvantage to Macon of railroad communication with Savannah, the river being preferable in a commercial aspect. On the 30th of August, 1831, a public meeting was held at the court-house to appoint delegates to the general convention to assemble at Eatonton during the next month. O. H. Prince was chairman, and W. P. Hunter, secretary. The subject was freely and ably discussed by Messrs. H. G. Lamar, W. Poe, C. J. McDonald, O. H. Prince and J. G. Polhill; after which O. H. Prince, Esq., and Dr. W. B. Rodgers were appointed delegates.

''At that time not a mile of railroad had been constructed in Georgia. This step, in several counties, was the initial. In fact, public opinion had not decided what mode was preferable in a system of public improvement, whether railroads, turnpikes or canals. I was present at Eatonton as a delegate from Twiggs, and distinctly remember that the Secretary was directed, in making up his journal, to avoid committing the convention, by any formal style in the caption, to either place, which accounts for the official preliminary :

"A considerable number of the delegates appointed to take into consideration the practicability and expediency of promoting internal improvements in this State, convened in the Church in the town of Etonton, on Monday, September 26th, 1831."

The committee of nine, of which Col. William Camming, of Richmond, was chairman, charged with the main business of the convention, made a report, which, being amended, was agreed to as follows :

"2d. The convention recommends that the Legislature authorize the Governor to employ a competent engineer or engineers to make a minute and careful survey of the principal lines of commercial communication in this State, with reference to their fitness for railroads, turnpikes or canals, and to diffuse among our fellow-citizens generally, the topographical information thus obtained.

"4th. The line from Augusta to Athens, and thence in the most advisable direction toward the North-western boundary of the State ; together with any other line or lines which may afford the prospect of important commercial advantage.

"4th. If the State is disinclined to undertake, with her own resources, these improvements, the convention recommends that subscription for stock, loans, or other pecuniary aid, she co-operate with such companies as may be chartered for improving the whole or a part of the routes above mentioned."

The whole number of counties in the State was seventy-eight, of which thirty-two were represented by seventy-seven delegates in the convention.

I have been thus minute in order to refresh our memories with incidents which had a material bearing on the prosperity of Georgia, Macon included, which is now the most convenient and useful railroad center in the State, with every claim to still higher advancement. This consummation, with its " Empire" significance, has been attained since the Eatonton Convention was held thirty-eight years ago. A new generation surrounds me, in which I can appear only as an humble chronicler of that which preceded it, etc.

On the 3d, 4th, and 5th of October, there was a wild excitement in Bibb and the adjoining counties. A traveler on horseback from Jones county had circulated the rumor that the negroes were in a state of insurrection, in Jones and Baldwin counties and that it was extending into Bibb. Some vague rumors of a disturbance in Laurens had previously been received, and everybody seemed prepared to credit the highly exaggerated story of the "solitary horseman" who came over the hill. Families from the country came into town for protection. The Macon Volunteers were placed as sentinels around the town ; a temporary cavalry company was organized with Dr. Baber as commander ; every citizen that had a weapon was required to fall into line; every gunsmith or other establishment having pistols, shot guns, rifles, or bowie knives, was required to deliver them to citizens who might be without arms. Many an old revolutionary relic, in the form of a sword, that had hung on the wall for years, was now taken from its resting place and by the application of oil or tallow, was made to unsheath its rusty blade which was instantly whetted to be used in defence of home and fireside ; and every old pistol was resurrected from its long inaction, its lock filed and greased, pan scraped and brightened, and flint renewed to give vitality to the spark. Scouts were sent out to investigate the status on plantations, crossroads, or wherever the blacks were accustomed to meet in small numbers. They reported to headquarters that they had never seen the darkies so orderly, and that they were actually ignorant of the meaning of the word "insurrection." This information but added fuel to the flame of excitement. It was believed that this ignorance was only assumed, and that the plan of the negroes was to conceal their motives in order that, at a preconcerted time, they might " insurrect " simultaneously. Upon the prin- ciple to be forwarned was to be forearmed, Mr. George Lunsford was dispatched as courier, on the night of the 2d, to the residence of General Elias Beall, at Forsyth, that he might proclaim the counties in his military division in an insurrectionary state and order the whites to arms.

After riding at John Gilpin speed the courier reached Forsyth in two hours and a quarter, aroused the sleeping town at midnight, and after finding the lodgings of the Major General, declared to him the object of his hasty mission. The Commanding General instantly proceeded to write orders to all of the subordinate officers in his division to assemble the militia in their respective districts. The usual number of chivalrous gentlemen offered their swords (wherever one could be borrowed) as "staff officers." The military orders, both general and special, were soon disseminated throughout General Beall's division of Georgia militia, and each county was placed in a state of defense, while details were being made to march to the front at Macon.

While the people of Monroe apprehended no danger at home they prepared to reinforce the first bivouac of the citizen soldiery of Macon. On the evening of the 3d, a " reliable gentleman " arrived with authentic advices from Jones, stating that six negroes had been engaged in an affray which was confined exclusively to themselves, and that there had been no other disturbance. The scouts returned from all surrounding counties, and reported a peaceful state of affairs. Some disturbances had occurred at South-hampton, in Virginia, near the North Carolina line, which were greatly exaggerated, and near about the same time a slight encounter took place between some Indian slaves and white traders, near Fort Mitchell, on the Chattahoochee, which, together with the little affray in Jones county, gave rise to the wildest rumors in Georgia. The excitement was now subsided, and the army of M icon militiamen discharged without pay or rations, the borrowed weapons returned, the sabres of '76 replaced upon the staples in the walls, and once more " quiet reigned in Warsaw." The surviving citizens who were under arms three days and two nights during that memorable excitement are Messrs. David Flanders, Joseph E. Wells, A. R. Mc- Laughlin, J. Madison Jones, E. E. Brown, E. C. Bulkley and George Lunsford, and they about complete the list of the oldest male inhabitants of the city now living.

There had been in Virginia, near the North Carolina line, a great excitement from an actual servile insurrection. Nat Turner, a famous negro preacher, had been instigated by abolition emissaries, to incite the negroes in those States to assert their emancipation and rise in rebellion against the whites. About ninety white people, mostly women and children, were slain by the negroes before the insurrection was quelled. The rumors of this insurrection spread throughout the South, and a general uprising of the negroes was apprehended by many. The people, therefore, in October, were easily excited by the least disturbance occurring among the slaves.

While Nat Turner was quietly disseminating his pernicious doctrines among the negroes, a solar, or rather atmospheric phenomenon occurred. About twelve o'clock, m., on the 13th of August, the sun was covered with a dark blue tint, and for seven hours, until it sunk below the horizon, it appeared blue. Turner seized upon this strange appearance of the Blue Sun," as it was called throughout the country, to delude his race. He told them it was a sign made in the heavens for them to make a simultaneous strike for their freedom. Those in his neighborhood did rise, and they committed the murders mentioned, until they were overpowered by the whites, their leaders caught and hung. The Macon Advertiser, of August i6th, 1831, gives the following account of the phenomenon :

" We had a constant series of cloudy weather during the last week. The sun was continually struggling and wading through huge masses of deep blue vapour, which rolled around -his solar majesty in fantastic shapes, dimming him of his lustre, and shearing him of his glory. Sometimes partially obscured, and anon peering through a fleecy volume of cerulean hue, his disk would catch the tinge of the cloud, and then apparently staggering through the overloaded atmosphere, his face would look as blue as a midnight reveller returning from a festive carousal. This singular appearance soon attracted the attention of our wonder-loving Maconites, and in a moment our streets and windows were crowded with men, women, and children. All the smoked glass, telescopes, and almanacs in town were immediately put in requisition - and then began a war of speculation among the agitated crowd, highly creditable to the astronomical genius of the age. A sage old gentleman from the country declared as his firm belief that the phenomenon could be accounted for in no other way than by supposing the sun had been traversing some immense plantation of indigo, and by its powerful attraction had extracted its colors, and thereby smooted his face ! This very reasonable conclusion quieted for a time the fears of the assembly, when they were aroused again by an elderly lady, who had cracked sixteen pair of specs, which she had been smoking for the purpose of assisting her visual organs. 'Indigo, indeed,' said she, raising her prophetic eyes, 'whoever heerd of the blessed Sun being dyed with indigo - no, no, it is the sea-sarpent's back, as I live. Don't you see 'tis fleeted upon it ! and haven't you heerd of the devil's being in our waters ! and who knows but he's now in the 'Oakmulgy ! ' Here an unusual consternation prevailed ; but it was happily dissipated by the timely arrival of an eminent physician, who tranquilized the mob by convincing them their fears were idle, and that the sun was merely laboring under a temporary fit of the blue devils. Thus assured they calmly and peaceably retired to their homes."

The learned men of the day were originating various theories upon the Solar phenomenon until a publication from Benjamin Hollowell, a famous mathematician, of Virginia, appeared, stating, in substance, that during the total eclipse of the sun, the moon had just passed its perigee, on that point in its orbit near- est the earth, and consequently the combined action of the sun and moon upon the atmosphere produced a great tide in the equatorial regions and diminished the pressure of the air upon the whole of the surface of the earth. This diminution of pressure upon the surface of the water would occasion a great increase of evaporation, particularly when united with the high temperature that accompanied it. The blue color of the sun depended upon the red /ays being reflected by the intervening body of vapor, while the other six passed to the eye and produced the observed appearance. As the sun descended below the body of vapor, which was about twenty minutes before its setting, the vapor reflected an intensely red light, the light that passed through it was therefore separate from the red, and would have produced the opposite or greenish blue appearance.

The first servile insurrection of which we have any record occurred in the slave-holding city of New York in iTqi, creating at the time an alarming though very unnecessary excitement. A number of negroes were hung after an informal trial. After their execution it was discovered that the trial, in the excitement of the moment, had been too hastily conducted, and that the negroes were innocent of the alleged crime for which they had been condemned to die.

Of this cruel treatment to the New York negroes Miss Lamb, in her late History of the City of New York, says - " Ever since the terrible affair of 1712 the citizens of New York have been more or less afraid of the negro slaves who comprised so large a part of the population of the city. Stringent measures had been adopted from time to time to keep them under surveillance , if three negroes were at any time seen together the penalty was forty lashes on the bare back, and if a negro was seen walking with a club in his hand outside of his master's grounds he was sure to receive a like number of lashes. Things grew worse instead of better until the negro plot made the year 1741 memorable in history." four negroes had been imprisoned, of whom fourteen, were burned at the stake, eighteen hanged, two gibbeted, seventy-one transported and the rest pardoned or discharged for want of proof. Twenty-four white persons were tried and imprisoned, four of whom were among the executed."

Mary Benton, a young girl, was the chief witness against the accused parties. She certainly remembered that the Catholic priest, John Ury, a school teacher, was one . of the conspirators, etc. He was arrested, tried and condemned to the gallows, and on the 29th of August, 1741, was hung, denying his guilt to the last.

The first great revival in the Methodist Church commenced on the 28th of June, and continued until July. The Rev. Mr. Campbell, of the Baptist Church, and other clergymen assisted with great zeal. The meeting was characterized by many instances of fine pulpit oratory. One hundred and thirty converts became members of the Church.

In October, a new road was opened above the Methodist Church to connect with the Forsyth road. There was no street above that Church up to this time.

The first destructive fire occurred on the night of December 27th, and destroyed two blocks on Mulberry, between Third and Fourth streets, with the exception of the law office of Tracy & Butler. The buildings were all of wood, and as there were no fire engines to control the fire, the conflagration only subsided when the material for consumption was exhausted. The builcF ings, though small, were all new ; for but two years before, the site where they stood was a fish pond which had been drained and filled up. Upon this site the first brick hotel was afterwards reared, and named the Central Hotel. While much of the property was insured, the loss sustained was about ^50,0000.00.

On May the 8th, the Georgia Guards, of Milledgeville, and Monroe Musketeers arrived, and, with the Macon Volunteers, went into camp a mile below the city. This was the first encampment, and the place was named " Camp Newcomb."

In July, the failure of the Macon Bank was publicly announced, with many hundred thousand dollars of its bills in circulation, and nothing in the bank to redeem them with. The loss fell mostly upon the country people, among whom the bills had been circulated. The failure of this bank created as great an excitement as the preceding insurrection report, except that it was far more wide-spread, and lasted longer. The bills had been circulated throughout the State, and to some extent in contiguous States. The bank had changed hands by selling out to a new party of stockholders, who were ignorant of its insolvency, a short time before the failure was made public. So intense was the excitement, and unaccountable the failure, that the Legislature, on its first session after the closing of the bank, appointed a joint committee from both Houses to investigate its affairs and report accordingly. The investigation occupied several days, as many witnesses were examined. Unfortunately and lamentably, the principal witness, Thomas M. Ellis, the late president, who was an innocent man, through the exasperation of some of the parties, lost his life. This tragic event increased the heat of the excitement. The committee made a majority and minority report ; but both agreed that the bank had been carelessly and improperly managed.

An alarming state of lawlessness pervaded the town about this time. There was a large class of stragglers and adventurers who were headed by several noted desperadoes that bid defiance to the law and behaved as they pleased. In fact, many of the officers of the town and county were suborned to them through fear.

In all newly settled frontier towns there has ever been a class of adventurers who depended more upon lawlessness than industry for a support, and for about five years in the early history of

Macon the town was inflicted with a due proportion of this class. The Macon Telegraph, of that date, comments as follows on the morals of the community :

^^The Superior Court of Bibb county is now in session, his Honor Judge Strong, on the bench. As usual, there are many prosecutions before the court for assault and battery with intent to kill, and such will be the case at every session, until public opinion have undergone a change.

Good citizens must unite and frown down that class of persons, the pirates of society, who occasion the necessity for such prosecutions. The law is a dead letter, and Grand Jury presentments a mere nullity, while public opinion upholds and tolerates the perpetration and perpetrators of crime. Lynch law, in years back, did what the civil law could not effect, in ridding society of useless vermin, and the Slicks" have done more than all the courts in the world in relieving the frontiers from the terrors of the Pony Club. But it is in aid of the law that good citizens should combine. When bad men combine to trample on its neces-" sary restraints and treat the courts with contempt, it is time for the good to unite in their defence and support."

The patriot and statesman, in honor of whom the city is named, was the Hon. Nathaniel Macon, who was born in Warren county, North Carolina, in 1757. He was a student at Princeton, N. J., at the commencement of the revolutionary war, but joined the army as a volunteer and served throughout the war as a private, refusing any pay or promotion, and declined to receive a pension. He served in the North Carolina Senate five years, and though quite a young man,. he was appointed to the most important committees in that body. He was a member of Congress from 1791 to 1815, and Speaker of the House from 1801 to 1806, when he declined a renomination. He was promoted to the Senate in 1816, where he served until 1828, being president pro tern, in 1825 and 1827. He twice declined the office of Postmaster-General under Mr. Jefferson's administration. At the general election in 1824, Virginia cast for him her twentyfour electoral votes for Vice President. In 1828, he resigned his seat in the Senate, and other offices, having been a member of Congress thirty-seven years. He presided over the Convention called to revise the Constitution^of North Carolina, in 1835, and was a member of the Electoral College of that State in 1836. He was a member of the Baptist Church. Just before his death he gave directions to be buried in a plain coffin, to be paid for before his interment. Selecting for his burial place a barren ridge that would be undisturbed by the plow, he requested that a heap of stones from the field near by should be the only monument over his grave. He died June 29th, 1837, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. Mr. Jefferson called him 'Hhe last of the Romans," and Mr. Randolph declared him ''the wisest man he ever knew."

Meeting - New Academy - Sale of Lots - First Turf Sport Military Encampment - Building on the Hill - City Officers - Business Prosperity - Female College - Subscriptions to the Central, AND TO the Monroe Rairoads - Insurrection - Mails - Seminole War - Campaign of Macon Volunteers in Major Cooper's Battalion - Interestirg War Incidents - Creek War - The Texan War

The Lone Star Banner - Tribute of Texas to a Georgia Lady- Massacre OF Ward's Battalion and Fannin's Command - City Subscription TO Railroads - Central Railroad Bank - Knoxville Railroad Convention - Macon Convention - Masterly Report of

Awful Panic of 1837 - Bank Suspension - Frightful Losses - Speculations - Policy OF Jackson and Van Buren - The United States Bank - Ice - Political Excitement - Grand Jury - Political Temperance Meeting - Completion of the Railroad to Forsyth - The Jubilee - Rise in Cotton - White Hall - Atlanta.

By authority of an Act of the Legislature in December, 1832, an election was held on the 17th of January, 1833, for five Aldermen, whereupon Isaac B. Rowland, Isaac G. Seymour, David Flanders, Jeremiah Smith and David F. Wilson were elected a Board of Aldermen. Isaac G. Seymour was, by the Board, chosen Mayor, William Gumming, Marshal, John H. Offut, Clerk of Council, H. A. Candler, Clerk of Market, and Thomas G. Bates, Sexton.

By authority of the same Act that incorporated the city, its jurisdiction of limits were defined to extend on the east side of the river from a line drawn parallel with First street, northward, as far as the then authorized jurisdictional limits, thence on a line eastwardly until it intersected a line running parallel with Seventh street.

On January 30th, 1833, the steamboat Pioneer arrived from Darien, being the second boat that rode the Ocmulgee propelled by steam. The boat was built in Macon out of timber supplied by the forest on the river in the vicinity of Macon. She had taken a load of cotton to Darien, received her machinery there, and returned home with a large and valuable cargo, having drawn along with her two heavily laden barges, the Bonnets O'Blue and Lalla Rookh, consigned to her owners, Messrs. Day & Butts. It was the first steamboat confined to the trade of Macon on the Ocmulgee. Its successful trips soon induced other steamers to run to Macon, and within three years there were seven other steamers engaged in prosperous business, arriving at and departing from the wharves.

On March 21st, during a freshet, a serious accident occurred to the bridge, which destroyed it. A large boat broke loose from its fastenings, struck the center arch of the bridge with great force, carrying it away, together with an adjoining one, leaving the bridge a perfect wreck.

In March, the Central Hotel, a handsome brick building, was finished, on the corner of Mulberry and Third streets. It was opened by John Carter, of Clinton.

In the summer and early fall, the subject of railroad communication was receiving warm support. Augusta was moving in the matter with the assistance of Charleston. On October 26th, a railroad meeting of the citizens of Macon was held at the courthouse, over which Hon. C. B. Strong presided. A preamble, with forcible resolutions, prepared by Dr. Baber, was read and adopted. A committee was appointed to meet a like committee from Savannah, at Milledgeville, on the next session of the Legislature, for the purpose of adopting some measures towards the construction of a road between Macon and Savannah. In December, the citizens of Forsyth held a meeting and prepared to unite with Macon in the building of a road to that place.

The old Bibb County Academy having been destroyed by fire, a new one of brick, two stories high, with porticos and cupola, was erected, and opened for exercises in December, under the control of Mr. and Mrs. Darby. The number of pupils was enlarged so that male and female departments were separately organized. The building was destroyed by fire in 1879.

In March, 1834, at a sale of residence lots on the north common of the city, consisting of half-acre lots, forty sold for the sum of ^20,377.00, and twenty-three of less desirable situation sold for ^7,165.42. The entire proceeds went into the treasury of the city.

The first turf sport commenced over the Central Course, in April, and lasted five days. The racing was splendid, and concluded with sweepstakes purse best two in three.

A new military company was organized, and the second encampment was formed in May by the Georgia Guards, Captain Cuthbert, the Washington Guards, Captain Schley, and the Macon Volunteers, Captain Newcomb. The two visiting corps were escorted into the city by the new company - the Bibb County Cavalry, Captain Goddard. The tents were pitched on the lofty eminence - Encampment Hill '' - which commanded a view of the whole city and surrounding country for many miles, and presented, with the tents spread among the trees, a beautiful and imposing spectacle. The encampment lasted four days, and on the last day a splendid medal was contended for, which was won by Mr. Juhan, of the Georgia Guards.

The new Forsyth road above the Methodist Church was now widened and made a continuation of Mulberry street, up to the hill. The only frame house on the hill was a small one-story house built by Dr. Robert Collins, and opposite to it was a dou- I

1836. This property was sold to Judge E. A. Nisbet, who settled in Macon in 1837, and built the present homestead upon it. Another old landmark in the same neighborhood which attained considerable notoriety on account of the eccentric character of its owner, was the cabin of Jacob I. Todd, on the lot now owned by Captain A. O. Bacon. The place presented a very rural aspect for many years. In the rear of the lot was an excavation on the side of the hill, which contained a fine spring of cold

The salary of city officials this year was fixed at ^300.00 for the Mayor, ^600.00 for City Marshal, 1 150. 00 for City Attorney, ;^3oo.oo for Clerk of Council, and $500.00 for Bridge-keeper.

The Mayor had been elected, for the two first years of the city government, by the Board of Aldermen. By a change in the Act of Incorporation the Mayor, City Marshal and Clerk of Council, were, after the Act of 1834, to be elected by the people. Accordingly, in 1835, Hon. Robert Augustas Beall was elected Mayor, Alexander McGregor, Marshal, and W. D. Pitts, Clerk. The Aldermen elected were David Ralston and T. L. Smith, First Ward ; Henry G. Ross and David B. Butler, Second Ward ; Isaac G. Seymour and George Vigal, Third Ward, and Thomas A. Brown, East Macon or Fourth Ward.

We are now approaching the most important era in the history of Macon and Central Georgia.- Great enterprises were being inaugurated, in the development of which the bold and progressive young city was destined to act so prominent a part. Cotton had been selling in this market during the greater part of the year at from twelve to sixteen and a half cents per pound. The receipts in 1834 were over sixty-nine thousand bags. Four steamboats were running regularly up the river ; others from Darien and Savannah were making occasional trips, and between forty and fifty pole boats were doing a lively business at the wharves. The population had increased to over three thousand, whites and slaves ; three new banks were in operation, with a capital of about $1,000,000.00. The estimated value of merchandise in store at one time was fully $1,000,000.00. The business of the place was rapidly increasing ; the back country was being settled up with thrifty farmers, who, for more than sixty miles around, in various counties, came to Macon as the center of trade. Money was plentiful ; the city debt at this time was small, and flush times generally were dawning. The advantages of Macon in a commercial point of view and its location in the center of a thickly settled, healthy and fertile country were be- coming generally known and appreciated. A large number of intelligent and respectable families from other portions of the State from less progressive towns were coming here to settle. Planters of wealth were establishing homes for their families. Many industrious and enterprising men from the North and "Down East," were also am.ong the mercantile portion of the inhabitants. Some, who were among the most substantial citizens remained, but others, to increase their fortunes, returned to enjoy its fruits in their native, more congenial and more frigid clime.

The citizens began to look to the educational interests of the rising generation. The Trustees of the Bibb County Academy had constructed a new two-story brick edifice for educational purposes, which was presided over by competent preceptors in both the male and female departments, and though there were other schools, it was discovered that the accommodations for the large number of pupils, and the facilities for instruction were inadequate to a thorough and accomplished system of education. The opinion in the old world which had been settled for ages that the education of woman should be confined to the mere rudiments of learning, and to domestic application, had obtained in America. For fifteen years the subject of a more liberal system of female education had been discussed and proclaimed by a number of the wisest and most honored fathers in the State. Many of the mothers were aroused in behalf of the interest of their daughters, and evinced to the world the power of the female mind by the splendid communications and essays they published in the gazettes throughout the State. The most irresistible argument was made by the lovely and blooming daughters themselves, and when they both "put in an appearance," the citadel of opposition was demolished and the girls triumphantly " held the fort."

The citizens were contemplating building a seminary for females, independent of the male academy, with grades of classes similar to a college course, when the Georgia Methodist Conference assembled in Macon, and it was ascertained that the Conference had under consideration the establishment of a perma- nent and thoroughly organized institution for the education of females. The citizens of Milledgeville had raised a subscription of three thousand dollars for the same purpose, which they tendered, together with a lot of land, as a site for the seminary, if the Conference would locate it at that place.

A meeting of the citizens of Macon was held early in June of this year, 1835, at which it was resolved that Messrs. R. A. Beall, Jerry Cowles, Robert Collins and Henry G. Lamar, be appointed a committee to secure the influence of Revs. John Howard, Sinclair and Tally, resident ministers at this place, and members of the Conference, to represent to that body the intention of the citizens of Macon to establish a female college. They presented the following communication :

In the ardent desire of many of our most respectable fellowcitizens, that there should be established in our city an amply endowed institution for the education of females ; and as it is believed your Church possesses facilities for carrying through so favorite a scheme beyond that of any other in the State, we take the liberty of proposing that you will name some suitable persons of the Georgia Conference who shall be associated with a suitable number of our citizens, to act as trustees to such an institution. This will enable us to ascertain at once to what extent this benevolent object will be patronized by our fellowtownsmen and the public.

Robert Collins Henry G. Lamar

The Conference having adjourned before all the members could be communicated with. Bishop Andrew, Lovick Pierce, I. A. Few, Wm. J* Parks, Charles Hardy, William Arnold and Benjamin Pope were appointed to fill the place of trustees to communicate with the citizens' committee, until the subject could be brought fully before the next Conference in January, 1836.

The first prominent action taken upon this subject was during the session of the Legislature in November, 1825, when, accompanying the Report of the Committee on Public Education and Free Schools, Hon. Duncan G. Campbell offered the following :

It is the distinguishing happiness of the present generation to live in an age of improvement, and enjoy the means of ameliorating the condition of all classes of society. In a review of the progress of literature throughout the country in which we live, we are furnished with the fact that in no part of this vast Confederation has the education of females been the object of public munificence. To this class of society is entrusted the early instruction of both sexes, and our feelings and our principles are of maternal origin. How necessary, then, that a department so high and charged with duties so delicate and important should early be placed under the regenerating hand of science and religion. These are the strongest safeguards, under Providence, of political security and of individual excellence. To direct them in their appropriate destinies is the grateful duty of those who wish well to the national prosperity. For the acquirement of solid and useful female education our sister States will afford but incompetent reliance. And if we were but satisfied of their sufficiency, the resort would be too humiliating for the generous ambition of Georgia and her means of indulging it. For the purpose, therefore, of rescuing from comparative obscurity the fairest portion of our community, and of enabling them to contribute to the valuable store of literature, philosophy and religion,

^^Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia^ in General Assembly *met, audit is hereby enacted by the authority of the same^ That the general superintendence and regulation of female education throughout this State, and particularly of the public seat of learning hereby es- tablished for that purpose, shall be committed and entrusted to one board of trustees to be denominated 'The Board of Trustees of the Female Seminary of Georgia.' Said Board shall consist of fifteen males and fifteen females, and that the seminary may be carried into effect as speedily as possible, the following persons are hereby appointed trustees ;

There were seven other sections to the bill defining the authority of the board, and making all the necessary provisions for the permanent establishment of the institution. The bill passed the House by a large majority, but contrary to expectation, met with strong opposition by the Patres Conscripti in the Senate. Mr. Campbell was properly called the father of female education in Georgia. Five years prior to the introduction of this bill he had labored in his district of the State, and before the Legislature, in the interests of female education. His object was the establishment of an institution wherein females could enjoy the same educational advantages as were afforded in male colleges. Upon his death, in July, 1828, the bar and the press, and the State University, at Athens, rendered the highest eulogies upon his public services, and in no instance did they omit his efforts in behalf of female education.

"That spot so sacred, so instructive, commands from all a solemn reverence. When presented to the vision of the most thoughtless, it is heeded ; and he who disregards the high and holy principle of our religion will ' approach with awe ' this consecrated ground.

"The recent death of our lamented citizen, Hon. Duncan G. Campbell, of Washington, Wilkes county, while it has exhibited the brilliant meridian setting sun of a Christian, has spread a gloom which will extend far beyond the sphere of his intimate friends.

" What he was as a husband and parent, the agonized hearts of his family circle will long feel. The Christian community mourn a support, while one star will ever shed its mild and tranquil light on his memory. It was that which was lighted, when, amidst the prejudices of the age, he called on his country to elevate the standard of female education, and by ' an enlightened female community to add strength to the State and perpetuate the blessings of a free government.'

"Female gratitude would record this philanthropic, though unsuccessful effort, in indellible characters; and many a tearful eye will attest how those whom he would have servedj sorrow that his sun has descended ; that a ^good man has fallen.' "

After the death of Col. Campbell, the interest which he had aroused in a higher standard of the education of females, began to decline, until 1834, when, at the Annual Commencement of the State University, at Athens, Daniel Chandler, Esq., delivered his memorable address upon female education before one of the largest and most refined audiences that had ever convened in those classic halls. The address was a most eloquent and brilliant effort in behalf of the intellectual capabilities of the female mind. Upon its conclusion, Hon. John M. Berrien offered a resolution of thanks to the speaker, in behalf of the trustees, which was unanimously adopted, together with a request fora copy of the address, that the board might circulate five thousand printed copies throughout the State. The address was accordingly publish- ed in pamphlet form and distributed throughout the State. It produced a wonderful change in the minds of the people who had ever been opposed to a college for females, and the production of "an equality in the intellectual culture of the two sexes."

When the lots were laid off two years before on the common, for the purpose of sale, the five acres on Encampment Hill were reserved for a college or some public building. The citizens now made an application to the City Council for a grant to the reserve for the Macon Female College. Council agreed to dispose of it for that purpose for ^2,500.00. At a called meeting on the 8th of July, in a few hours, $9,000.00 were subscribed towards the college, which amount was afterwards increased.

The Conference reassembled in Macon in January, 1836, and by a unanimous vote accepted the tender of the people of Macon, and took the Female College under its fostering care.

This year Augusta and Savannah were putting forth their energies in the construction of railroads for the trade of interior Georgia, and were looking for a divergence of roads from some point to reach the Chattahoochee and Tennessee rivers. Augusta had a powerful ally in the capitalists of Charleston who were ambitious to draw the Georgia trade to their own port. A temporary survey of the route from Savannah to Macon had been made at the expense of the City Council of Savannah, and books of subscriptions were opened at both places. On the first three days in June seven hundred shares were taken by the citizens of Macon in the stock of the Savannah and Macon Road, and up to this time over a million dollars had been subscribed in Savannah.

In October the books of subscription were also opened for the road from Macon to Forsyth, and $200,000.00 were taken here in a few days, which was about the full amount of the capital stock. In December, Monroe Railroad stock sold in Macon at ten per cent, premium. On the same day (December loth,) intelligence was received of the passage of the Central Railroad bill by the Legislature, and the first grand demonstrations in general illumination of the public buildings, private houses, bon- fires, ringing of all the church and steamboat bells, firing of cannon, etc., took place on the night following. The new market house, a very neat and handsome building, had just been erected in the center of the intersection of Mulberry and Fourth streets. This building, together with the court-house, just below it, were brilliantly illuminated. On the Court-house Square a large banner was floated, bearing the inscription, " the Central Railroad - the salvation ofGeorgia," and on either end the names of "Baber, of Bibb, and McAllister, of Chatham," the two Senators who so ably struggled for the passage of the bill. There was no State aid in the bill, for none was asked ; though it was liberal in its provisions, granting banking privileges and the right to issue bills. The same privileges were at the same time granted to other railroad companies.

During the summer, plans for another servile insurrection were discovered. Young men were called upon to enlist in the ranks of the Bibb County Cavalry, or Macon Volunteers, and to be ready for any emergency. Vigilance committees were necessarily organized. After strict investigation, it was learned that incendiary publications from the abolitionists at the North were being disseminated by emissaries in the State, and that much of this matter was conveyed through the mails. Efficient remedies were adopted, and the evil suppressed without any violence being committed.

In chronicling the instances of the progressive spirit of Young America, the papers boastingly make mention of the fact that, at the close of the year, the New York Journal of Commerce had been received in Macon in five and a half days after its issue, and steamers' accounts, bringing the Liverpool cotton market, came through in twenty-six days !

The year of 1835 closed with exciting news of an Indian war upon the borders of the State. The hostile Seminoles were massing in large numbers in Florida, headed by Osceola, alias Powell, their chief, who was a half-breed of the Creek Indians and Red Stick tribe. His father, Powell, was an Englishman, and settled among the Indians between the Flint and Chattahoo- chee rivers, where Osceola was said to have been born. In person Osceola was slight, well proportioned and active, complexion rather light ; he had deep, restless eyes, and a voice remarkably clear and shrill. Possessing a love for daring, he obtained notice, and raised himself to his position by his superior talents, courage and ambition, not having inherited any title or command.

Major Wiley Thompson, who had been a distinguished member of Congress from Georgia, was deputized by the Federal Government as an agent to treat with the Indians in Florida. After an interview with Osceola and other chiefs, his terms were rejected. On the day following, while at dinner, Osceola, with over a hundred warriors, surrounded his house, poured a volley upon the party, which pierced the body of Major Thompson and his comrades, except one who escaped, with fifty bullets.

On the morning of December 28th, the horrible massacre of Major Dade's command took place. A detachment of one hundred and twelve men, under Major Dade, Captain Gardner, Lieutenants, Mudge, Henderson, Bassinger and Kean, were despatched on the 23d to join General Clinch, at Fort King. At eight o'clock, a. m., on the 28th, they were attacked by an overwhelming number of Indians. Major Dade was immediately shot. Capt. Fraser rode forward and was also cut down ; the remainder maintained the contest for an hour, until they were .reduced to thirty in number. The Indians then retired, and the survivors, almost all wounded, threw up a slight breastwork. The Indians returned to the attack at eleven o'clock, and completed the slaughter of the whole corps, except three men who were wounded and concealed in the grass. The three survivors reached Tampa Bay after traveling sixty miles through the woods, and reported that the fugitive negroes who had joined the Indians, rushed in and butchered the wounded. They described the conduct of the noble men who perished in the fight, in the highest degree gallant ; they obeyed every order and held their ground to the last. The contest was so close that the Indians ctit them down with knives.

Further intelligence "that the merciless Indians were ravaging, in bloody triumph, the whole country east of the Suwanee river," was received at the Executive Department in Milledgeville. Governor Schley, in anticipation of a requsition from the War Department, at Washington, issued the following order :

" The hostile conduct of the Indians on our western frontier, and the actual state of war now existing in Florida between our fellow-citizens of that territory and the Seminole Indians, render it proper that Georgia should place herself in a state of defense to meet any emergency that may grow out of this state of things.

"You will, therefore, immediately proceed to cause the volunteer company under your command to be prepared to serve their country if they should be required, and to hold themselves in readiness at a moment's warning.

"You will also, without delay, make report to Headquarters, of the effective force under your command, with the names of the officers and privates, and of the number, nature and condition of their arms and accoutrements.

At the same time it become known at the Executive Department that the Creeks were preparing for hostilities in Alabama, and along the Chattahoochee river. It was apprehended that a combination would be formed by the hostile Creeks in Alabama and the Seminoles in Florida. While some depredations had been committed by the Creeks in Alabama, a general war was not commenced by them until May ; hence, the first Georgia troops were ordered to Florida. The Macon Volunteers, under Captain Isaac G. Seymour, were among the first to respond to the call of Georgia for service.

The companies of infantry ordered into service from the interior of the State by the Governor were five in number, viz. : The Monroe Musketeers, Captain Cureton, sixty-seven men; the j Hancock Blues, Captain Brown, sixty-three men ; the Morgan ' Guards, Captain Foster, sixty-one men ; the State Fencibles, of Putnam, Captain Meriwether, seventy-six men, and the Macon Volunteers, Captain Seymour, ninety-two men.

The five companies were formed into a battalion at Macon on February 4th by the election of Mark A. Cooper as Major. On that day the hospitalities of the city were extended to them in a splendid entertainment. On the 5th, the battalion was reviewed and addressed on the field by Governor Schley. On Sunday, the 7th, at ten o'clock a. m., all the boats were ready, and they departed in the presence of a large concourse of citizens.

I would not thou should see the tears That cease not secretly to flow ; would not thoii should'st feel the fears That fill my anxious breast with woe.

The battalion reached Picolata, East Florida, on the i8th of February, and were mustered into service by Lieutenant- Colonel Bankhead. General Scott arrived at Picolata on the 2 2d instant, and on the following day his first orders were read to the army; also, the articles of war. On the loth of March, the battalion received an accession of strength by the arrival of three companies of cavalry from Hancock, Washington and Jefferson counties, Georgia. They were ordered to Fort Drane on the 19th, and joined the army of Generals Scott and Clinch, which numbered two thousand men. On the 26th, they moved to Tampa Bay, and had a battle at the Ouithlacoochee, in crossing that stream. The battalion was in advance, and the Macon Volunteers acted as the advance guard. The river was crossed under fire from the Indians, and after a sharp battle they were put to flight. Three of the Volunteers, privates Dannelly, Williams and Flewellen, were wounded.

After proceeding about thirty miles General Scott proceeded to Tampa Bay with the army, leaving Major Cooper's battalion to build a fort and remain in charge until further orders. They built a two-story block-house, with a stockade around it, in three weeks ; during which time they were under constant fire from the Indians, and had several engagements with them. The fort acquired considerable celebrity during the short campaign. It was named Fort Cooper, and was further known as the ''Post of Honor." The rations became exhausted and the battalion were using their last tallow candles for food, when Major Cooper ordered his horse to be killed to supply food for the sick. At this time a courier arrived announcing that General Scott was returning from Tampa with a supply of commissary stores. On the same day, stores were received, when there was joy at the "Post of Honor" once more. The battalion had experienced many hardships and successfully resisted the attacks of the Indians, for which it was highly complimented by Generals Scott and Clinch.

Before reaching the Ouithlacoochee the camp of the battalion was aroused at midnight by the arrival of an express from Picolata. It was at first thought from the signals of the sentinels that there was to be a midnight attack, and preparations were made for action. To their surprise it was discovered that the foe was but one man, and that he was a member of the Volunteers, who had been left at the Picolata hospital, with several others, on account of sickness. The invalid was Corporal E. E. Brown, who, learning that important dispatches had been received at Picolata for General Scott, which required immediate delivery, volunteered to perform the perilous duty of riding ninety miles through the enemy's country to deliver them. The young corporal was, on reaching the camp, conducted to the marque of General Scott. After reading the "dispatches the General interrogated the bearer upon the particulars of his perilous expedition. He then gave him a draught of Old Holland from his private flask, and announced him the bravest man in the army."

On the 27th of April the battalion joined the army and evacuated the Post of Honor. They were then assigned to duty at Fort Drane, to guard trains and improve the fortifications, until they were relieved by United States Regulars, in the month of May.

On the morning of May 25th a salute from the old gun " on the banks of the Ocmulgee, at Macon, announced the return of the Macon Volunteers and Monroe Musketeers, who, on their arrival, were met by the Macon Guards, Captain Poe, and a committee of citizens. On the following day a complimentary dinner was given them, at which thirteen regular and seventy volunteer toasts were delivered - mostly in honor of the returned heroes of Ouithlacoochee, and to the memory of the massacred Georgia Battalion in the Texan Army.

The survivors of the Macon Volunteers in the Florida campaign are - E. L. Shelton, E. E. Brown, B. F. Ross, William Holmes, J. C. F. Clark, E. C. Bulkley, Joseph E. Wells, Richard Bassett, Thomas H. Blount, James E. Cain, Horace Fitch, James M. Field, D. R. Rodgers, James L. Saulsbury, and A. R. McLaughlin.

The Creek War

At various times during this year, 1836, the Indians were committing many depredations in Alabama, and along the Chattahoochee river, until about the last of April that part of the State was in an alarming condition, and an open war was made upon the whites. There were a very large number of fanjilies arriving daily in Columbus, seeking protection from the torches, rifles and tomahawks of the Indians, who had slain more than one hundred persons, plundered plantations, destroyed settlements, seized the stages, robbed the mails, and murdered the passengers. Governors Clay, of Alabama, and Schley, of Georgia, called out the militia of their respective States. The Georgia companies, forty-four in all, and numbering near twelve hundred men, quickly rendezvoused at Columbus.

The Bibb County Cavalry, under Captain Eleazar McCall, left Macon on the 27th of May for the scene of action. Governor Schley passed through Macon on the 29th for Columbus, accompanied by Generals Scott and Jesup.

After disposing of the troops at Columbus, General Jesup selected the Bibb and Talbot cavalry as an escort for a reconnoisance of the Indian camps between that place and Tuskegee, Alabama. They passed within three miles of Neah Micco's camp, which contained seven hundred Indian warriors, and came upon a large body of them. The two companies were formed for action and fired, killing two Indians and wounding several others. After riding sixty miles they reached Tuskegee that night, and the next day proceeded to within twenty five miles of Montgomery, Alabama. Upon their return the following order was issued, which is copied from the original manuscript in the possession of the family of Capt. McCall, of Bibb county :

Major General Jesup returns his thanks to Captain McCall and Captain Bush, and the officers and soldiers of their commands, for their good conduct and soldierly deportment on their march from Columbus to this place ; and particularly for the promptness with which they formed for action, and the firmness they evinced when the enemy were reported to be in their front.

This gallant bearing on that occasion is sufficient evidence of their determination to do their duty; and that should occasion offer they will do honor to themselves and their country.

The two companies made a perilous circuit of one hundred and sixty miles, and found but two white families, and they were under the protection of the forts. On the loth of May they reached Columbus, where over two thousand soldiers were encamped. On the 15th, the Bibb Cavalry were detailed as a guard to the Governor to Fort Mitchell. Returning, they encamped three days at Camp Starvation, which was given that name in the absence of rations for two days. On the 20th, they struck tents and joined the expedition to Roanoke ; meeting General Scott at Fort Mitchell, they gave him a salute. On the 25th, they arrived at Roanoke and found that place had been reduced to ashes by the Indians. Orders were given to pursue the body of hostiles that had crossed the Chattahoochee, and were committing great outrages in Georgia. On the 27th, they reached Concord, twenty-five miles from Cuthbert, and near the place where thirteen persons, including women and children, had been massacred, and a large number badly wounded. On the 29th, they arrived at Chickasawhatchee swamp, where the Indians were secreted. The cavalry dismounted, and leaving their animals under a guard, formed as infantry, and went into the swamp. On the 30th, they were reinforced by two companies from Thomas and Decatur counties. On July 2d, the trail of the hostiles was found. A battalion was formed of the companies, under Col. Beall, and orders given to march through the swamp. After wading water several miles, the Indians fired upon them, killing one and wounding seven. The battalion gave a simultaneous yell and war-whoop, and fired. An order was given to charge, when the Indians fled, leaving everything in their camp upon a hammock except their women and children. Fifteen bodies of their dead were left in their flight.

companies celebrated the birthday of liberty in ancient style, and prepared a sumptuous dinner, which Sergeant M. E. Rylander tells the writer consisted of three fine hogs, one mutton, the fattest ram ever slaughtered, and the best corn-bread a soldier ever ate.

On the 1 2th, the battalion was stationed outside of the swamp, while Paddy Carr, with his friendly Indians, and four companies, drove the swamp. The camp of the hostiles was again found, but they had fled. On the 17th, the battalion returned to Columbus where they remained until discharged on the 2 2d. General Scott was ordered to Washington City early in July, and the whole command fell upon General Jesup, who succeeded in conquering the Indians in Alabama. Most of them surrendered.

The Bibb Cavalry returned to Macon on July 25th, and were welcomed by the citizens in the warmest manner. A salute was fired, and a collation given them by the Macon Volunteers. Captain Seymour welcomed the heroes of Chickasawhatchee " to the festive board in a stirring speech, alluding to the hardships they had undergone, and the glory they had acquired in theri brief, but successful campaign. They had lost none of their members by war or disease.

The sympathies of many of the Southern cities were much aroused in behalf of Texas in her struggle against Mexico for independence as a separate Republic.

A public meeting of the citizens of Macon was held on November 1 2th, and was addressed by Hons. Robert Augustus Beall, John Rutherford, Samuel M. Strong, and others, in advocacy of the claims of Texas upon the people of the United States for aid in their struggle for independence. Lieutenant Hugh Mc- Leod, recently from the Military Academy at West Point, 'ad- I dressed the meeting in a spirit-stirring appeal, pledging himself to resign his commission and embark as a volunteer, saying -

" The struggle of Texas needed soldiers and not resolutions ; that we should tender her our persons and our arms on the contested field, and that these would best express our sympathies in | her behalf."

Captain Levi Eckley, of the Bibb Cavalry, presided over the meeting, with Simri Rose, Esq., of the Macon Volunteers, as Secretary. Colonel William Ward, of Macon, proposed to form a company of infantry to enlist in the army of Texas, whereupon thirty-two gentlemen came forward and enrolled their names as volunteers.

On motion, the chair appointed Gen. Robert A. Beall, Col. Henry G. Lamar, Col. T. G. Holt, James A. Nisbet, Esq., and Dr. Robert Collins, a committee to solicit subscriptions, and before the meeting adjourned ^3,150.00 was handed in to the committee. Dr. Robert Collins paying in cash the greater portion of the amount.

As the company passed through Knoxville and Columbus, Georgia, more recruits were added. At Knoxville, Miss Joanna E. Troutman (late Mrs. Vinson, of Crawford county, and daughter of the venerable Hiram B. Troutman, of Bibb county, made and sent a beautiful banner of white silk, with a blue lone star upon it, to Lieutenant McLeod to present to the company at Columbus. The following is a copy of the letter acknowledging the receipt of the flag :

Colonel Ward brought your handsome and appropriate flag as a present to the Georgia Volunteers in the cause of 'Texas and Liberty.' I was fearful from the shortness of the time that you would not be able to finish it as tastefully as you would wish; but I assure you, without an emotion of flattery, that it is beau-

''I thank you for the honor of being made the medium of presentation to the company, and if they are what every true Georgian ought to be, your flag shall yet wave over fields of Victory in defiance of Despotism. I hope the proud day may soon arrive, and while your star presides none can doubt of success.

This patriotic standard was the first banner ever made in Crawford county, and was renowned in the history of the gallant "Young Republic" as being the First Flag of the Lone Star State that was unfurled upon its soil.

Colonel Ward proceeded with his followers to Texas, where they were organized according to regulations, as they were not permitted to organize in the limits of the United States. He gathered about one hundred and twenty men, who formed into three companies, and then organized a battalion. The officers of the battalion were Wm. A. Ward, Major; Wm. J. Mitchell, Surgeon ; David I. Holt, Q. M. ; Henderson Cojart, A. Q. M. The Captains were W. A. O. Wadsworth, James C. Wynn and Uriah J. Bullock.

After several successful engagements with the Mexicans the battalion joined the command of Col. Fannin, and formed a regiment by electing Fannin, Colonel, and Ward, Lieutenant-Colonel. The regiment numbered five hundred and were stationed at Fort Goliad.

On March 13th, 1836, the original battalion, under Ward, was sent thirty miles to the relief of Captain King, who had thirty men protecting a number of families in the neighborhood of a church at the Mission of Refugio. On the arrival of the battalion, they found Captain King surrounded by a large force of Mexicans, who disappeared on discovering that he was reinforced. Afterwards, on leaving the Mission, King and his command were captured and killed.

The Mexicans were reinforced to the extent of fourteen hundred men, and intercepted Ward, who retired to the church. Breastworks were made by the battalion of pews, gravestones, fences, etc., and the fire of the Mexicans resisted for two days, with a loss of six Americans and one hundred and fifty of the enemy. The ammunition of the battalion was exhausted on the third day of the battle, when Colonel Ward was reluctantly forced to capitulate, signing the regular articles according to the rules of war. It was stipulated that the battalion would be returned to the United States in eight days. In the meantime, Colonel Fannin had sent four different couriers to ascertain the cause of Ward's delay, each of whom were captured and shot by the Mexicans.

The Mexicans were again heavily reinforced and advanced upon Fort Goliad. Colonel Fannin had become near about exhausted in provisions and ammunition, when, discovering the advance of the Mexicans, he determined to destroy the fort and cut his way through to General Houston's army, one hundred and thirty miles distant on the Colorado river. After advancing about eight miles from the fort he met the enemy, and a sanguinary battle took place in which he was severely wounded. The next day he was compelled to capitulate, the terms being made according to the usual forms of honorable warfare. He was to lay down his arms, return to Fort Goliad, where he and his command were to remain prisoners of war eight days, and then be shipped to New Orleans from Copano. Ward's battalion was now brought in as prisoners on the same conditions.

On the ninth day, on being assured that a vessel was ready to receive them at Copano, on which they were to embark for New Orleans, Colonel Fannin marched his men out in file, the Mexicans being stationed each side of them along the road. They had marched about five miles when the order was given for the Mexicans to fire upon the prisoners. At the first fire nearly every man fell ; but four men escaped who belonged to the battalion and only eight of the remainder. Among the former was Samuel G. Hardaway, a lad of sixteen years of age, of Macon,

Georgia. On his return home, the Creek war had commenced in AlaJjama, and he met with another perilous adventure. Taking the stage at Chehaw, Alabama, with five other passengers they were fired upon by a party of Indians. The horses were seized and three of the passengers were killed. Hardaway, with a fellow-passenger, again made his escape, though closely pursued and shot at by the hostiles. Mr. Hardaway was afterwards a prominent merchant in Montgomery, Alabama, and a gallant officer in the Confederate army.

An old copy of the Galveston contains the following interesting account of the origin of the name " Lone Star State," as applied to Texas, and will be read with a deep interest and a glow of pride by every Georgian :

" The Flag of the Lone Star " that was first unfurled in Texas was that borne by the Georgia Battalion, commanded by the late Lieutenant Colenel Ward, who, with almost his entire command, was massacred at Goliad in the Spring of 1836, in what is known as " Fannin's Massacre, he being next in command to the lamented Col. James W. Fannin.

"The flag was presented to Colonel Ward's command as they passed through Knoxville, Crawford county, Georgia, by the fairest daughter of the State - the beautiful, gifted and highly accomplished Miss Joanna E. Troutman.

" It was made of plain white silk, bearing an azure star of five points on either side. On one side was the inscription in rich, but chaste colors - ^ Liberty or Death ! ' and on the other the patriotic Latin motto - ^ Ubi Libertas habitat, ibi nostra patria estr

The flag was first unfurled at Velasco on the 8th of January, 1836, and proudly floated to the breeze from the same Libertypole with the first "Flag of Independence," which had just been brought from Goliad by the valorous Captain William Brown, who subsequently performed such daring and effective service in the Navy of Texas.

where it was first hoisted, just in time to be flung to the breeze from the same staff with the beautiful " Banner of the Single Star" on the occasion of its being first unfurled in Texas.

Proudly they floated together. The crimson-dyed sword, in fearful aspect, grasped in a sinewy hand, waved boldly over the placid star as it reposed on its broad field of virgin white, as if to emblematize the chivalric vow of a gallant knight-errant to his lady love, " Thee will I protect wherever thou goest !"

What became of the " Flag of Independence " we know not ; but the beautiful star of azure was borne by Colonel Fannin's regiment to Goliad, and there gracefully floated from the same tall staff which first bore the blood-red sword that waved over, as if to protect it at Velasco. On the 8th of March, 1836, an express arrived at Goliad from Washington, on the Brazos, officially announcing that the Convention then in session had formally made solemn declaration that Texas was no longer a Mexican province, but a free and independent Republic within itself. On the receipt of this thrilling, this glorious intelligence, the greatest demonstrations of joy were made in the fort - loud and spirit stirring strains of martial and patriotic music from ''trumpet, drum and fife" resounded through the "ancient confines of the fortress," and the shadowy aisles of the venerable chapel La Bahia. Amid the roar of artillery, the beautiful " Banner of the Lone Star " was hoisted to the top of the identical flag staff which first bore the broad ensign of that political independence, the glad tidings of the declaration of which, by a general convention of the people's representatives, there assembled, had just been been received. It proudly streamed over the hoary ramparts and time-shattered battlements of the antiquated fortress of La Bahia^ until the last rays of the setting sun were casting their " lessening light " against the gray turrets of the old chapel. Just as the "sunset gun" thundered forth its hoarse announcement of departing day, the usual attempt to "lower the colors" was being made, when, by some unlucky mishap, the beautiful silken banner entangled in the halyards and was torn into pieces. Only a small fragment remained ad- justed to the flag-staff ; and when Colonel Fannin evacuated Goliad to join General Houston, in accordance with received orders, the last remnant of the first " Flag of the Lone Star " was still fluttering at the top of the staff from which first floated the " Flag of Independence."

At the defeat and capture of Santa Anna at the battle of San Jacinto, the silver service of the wily commander was also captured, and some of the trophies of the victory, consisting of his massive spoons, forks, etc., were forwarded by General Rusk to Miss Troutman in token of the regard she had inspired in the hearts of the stern, scarred patriots of the revolution, as they gazed upon the virgin ground and lone blue star of the flag she had wrought, and which had led on many of their brave compatriots to death, themselves to victory."

On the meeting of the first Congress the ''Flag of the Lone Star " was adopted as the flag of the Republic, and the seals of office were required to be engraved with the " star " upon them. A public recognition of the maternity of the " Frst Flag of the Lone Star" as belonging to Georgia, was made by General Memucan Hunt, the first Minister from the Republic of Texas to the United States.

Notwithstanding the excitement from two wars upon the borders of the State in 1836, the growth of the city was increasing and its commercial prosperity exceeding that of the previous propitious year.

On January the 20th, at a meeting of the Council, the Mayor was instructed, by a unanimous vote, to subscribe to twenty-five hundred shares in the stock of the Central Railroad Company. The subscription was recommended by a previous meeting of the citizens, in which that enterprising citizen, Jerry Cowles, was the prominent advocate of the measure.

On the 2 2d, the Georgia Methodist Conference assumed charge of the Macon Female College, and accepted the beautiful and spacious grounds tendered them on Encampment Hill for the erection of the College building.

were again opened, and four thousand seven hundred and eighteen shares were subscribed in Macon. In April, a branch bank of the Company was established in Macon, and Isaac B. Rowland elected cashier. The presidency was tendered to Dr. Baber, who having declined the office, Jerry Cowles was then elected the first president. The Company erected, this year, the handsome building for bank purposes, on Mulberry street, recently converted into a Medical College. On September 15th, the survey of the road commenced from this place under L. O. Reynolds, assistant engineer, and R. W. Ellis. Virgil Powers, so long and prominently identified with railroads centering at Macon, commenced his first service on this survey.

The Monroe Railroad was now being pushed forward, and on October 31st, at a meeting of the stockholders. General L. L. Griffin was re-elected President of the Company. On December 31st, the House of Representatives, by a large majority, passed a bill extending the Monroe Road to the Chattahoochee, with banking privileges ; the principal bank to be established in Macon. A large building was erected for that purpose, which, on the failure of the Company, was sold to Jerry Cowles, and converted into the first fire-proof warehouse in the city. It is now the property of the town and used for Council offices and police barracks.

The cities of Georgia were now thoroughly enthused with the spirit of railroad enterprise. A number of Western and Middle States were seeking a line of transportation with the Southern Atlantic ports through Georgia and Carolina. The Georgia Road had been started in its construction from Augusta, but its terminal point had not been determined ; and as the Charleston and Augusta Road was about completed, these two cities were encouraging a route leading to Knoxville, Tennessee, turning the contemplated route of the Georgia Road through Athens to that place.

On the 4th of July, an important convention of delegates from seven States were called to meet at Knoxville, to determine the route from Cincinnati to a Southern port. A public meeting of the citizens of Macon was held, and Messrs. Chappell, Poe, Butts, Cowles, Tracy and Lamar, were appointed delegates to represent the interests of Central Georgia in the Knoxville Convention. The first four delegates went on horseback, making a survey through the wild and mountainous country.

On arriving at Knoxville they found a large body of delegates, representing the wealth, intelligence and enterprise of seven States. It was reported to be the largest and most influential meeting of capitalists that had assembled down to that time. But they were uninformed as to the topography, resources and enterprise of Georgia. Some of them had visited Savannah and Augusta, and, from the character of the lowlands around those cities, formed the opinion that the whole State was of a similar formation, and that the entire cotton crop was made on the low lands in the rice growing sections. The Macon delegation informed them that they had come from interior Georgia on horseback, and personally surveyed the country by different routes, passing through many fertile valleys, over lofty hills, crossing many rivers, and that there were actually many mountains in the upper part of the State; and, further, that the great cotton belt was in the middle and Southwestern portion of the State, where the richest lands were located. The convention recommended the building of roads to Knoxville by the Cincinnati and Western towns to connect with the two roads in course of construction, the one from Macon and Forsyth, and the other from Augusta.

On the return of the Macon delegates it was determined to call a convention of all the counties interested, in the State, to establish a uniform system for the routes of the projected roads, and to recommend the building, by the State, of a main trunk line between the Chattahoochee and Tennessee rivers. In November the convention assembled, with thirty-seven counties represented, by as able a body of delegates as ever were gathered for the public interest. A committee of thirty members were appointed to prepare business for the convention. A masterly report was made through their Chairman, Hon. A. H. Chappell, which received the unanimous endorsement of the convention, and was pronounced the ablest effort of his distinguished public career. ^ The Legislature, at their next session in December, adopted the recommendations in the report ; extended the charters of the several roads, and passed a bill to build the State Road as a main trunk between the Chattahoochee and Tennessee rivers.

To the action of the citizens of Macon in assembling the convention of delegates from all parts of the State to co-operate with them in their efforts to connect the Tennessee river with the seaboard by a line of railroad through the interior of the State, are we indebted for the present system of railroads. This system gave birth to the city of Atlanta, by making a place called White Hall, around which Atlanta was subsequently built, the connecting point of the three roads.

On the 1 8th of December, fourteen more of the lots were sold on the common in the vicinity of the Female College; five oneacre lots bringing ^13,925 ; three one-acre rear lots brought ^^3,270. The other six lots were of two acres each, at the west of the College, and brought ^17,950; total, ^35,145. The hill lots were in demand for residences. The first frame house was built upon the hill by Dr. Robert Collins ; it was removed, and an elegant mansion erected by him on its commanding site of four acres. The same property is now in the hands of the Ralston estate, and adjoining it was erected, at the same time, by Jerry Cowles, that equally elegant and conspicuous mansion, now owned by Samuel T. Coleman. The contractor who built these residences and the Female College was Elam Alexander.

The new brick market-house was completed this year ; dimensions, one hundred by forty feet, containing Council-room, clerk's and other offices in the second story. On the center of the building was a fine cupola, in which was the town-clock, with a bell weighing twelve hundred pounds. A contract was made for building a new jail below the court-house.

the summer of this year. The Hon. Augustus Beall expired on the i6th of June, and the Rev. John Howard, on the 226. of August. General Beall had been Mayor of Macon, a distinguished member of the Legislature, and had filled other offices with honor. He was an able leader in the organization of the State Rights party, and was one of its candidates for Congressional honors. At the bar, he was a peer of any of its members. No man in the State had earned so brilliant reputation at so early an age ; he was but thirty-two when he died. At the great Methodist revival of June, 1835, just a year previous to his death, he was one of the weeping penitents among the vast number that knelt around the altar. He joined the Methodist Church under the influence of Mr. Howard, and instantly rose to be one of its most active members. The name of Mr. Howard is inseparable from the history of Methodism in Georgia.

A very creditable and important enterprise was inaugurated on the terminal day of this remarkable year, with one hundred members; it was the organization of the Macon Lyceum and Library Society, which took place on the 31st of December, 1836, by the election of Dr. Ambrose Baber, president ; Washington Poe and Jerry Cowles, vice-presidents, and twelve substantial directors.

The year 1837 was the most memorable one in the history of American commerce. The great ''panic," that was so widespread and ruinous to all classes of trade and produce, came as unexpectedly upon the people, after a highly prosperous winter's business, as a thunderbolt from a serene sky. It was wholly unexpected here, as the prosperity of the community was never brighter.

On the 4th of February, another sale of city lots on the common, in the neighborhood of the hills, was made. One hundred and seventy lots were sold, amounting to ;^ii 0,000 more for the city treasury, relieving that department from debt, with a surplus of that great desideratum - "cash on hand."

The Ocmulgee Bank was organized on April loth by the election of Jerry Cowles, Henry G. Lamar, E. Hamilton, James Rea, Eugenius A, Nisbet, W. B. Johnston and Elijah Sin-

On April 19th, a list of the stockholders of the Monroe Railroad and Banking Company was published, one hundred and thirty in number, and shares, six thousand, amount, ^300,000. Most of the stockholders were planters.

There were now in Macon seven regular steamboats for the river trade, and two coming up to the juncture of the Ocmulgee and Oconee; sixty tow boats were entered at the wharves. There were fifteen lawyers, ten doctors, three dentists, one hundred merchants, seven blacksmith shops, seven master masons, ten master carpenters, and two to three hundred journeymen, nine cotton warehouses, eight banks and one agency with a capital of ^1,500,000, which was inadequate for the trade of the city. Five merchants this year had obtained $600,000 from abroad to meet the demands of the business offered. The estimated value of goods in store was over ^1,500,000. Goods were not sent to any towns from this place. No wholesale business was then carried on ; the sales were principally to farmers and country merchants, which system was regarded as favorable to the safety of business transactions. There were six daily stages, one every day, and three lines of hacks every other day; two weekly newspapers, three printing offices, two bookstores, and two book-binderies, ten confectionaries, three drug stores, | three jewelry stores, two auction houses, three livery stables, and | four hotels, also hardware, hat stores and several millinery establishments. The population of Macon within the incorporate | limits was four thousand ; of Vineville, five hundred, and the ' outer environs five hundred. The number of families west of j the river, two hundred and seventy-five; East Macon, thirty, j Vineville, forty, environs, forty. There were four church edifices, and the Presbyterians were erecting a new meeting house near the new market-house, of Philadelphia brick, built after the Northern style, at a cost of ^5,000, and capable of seating over eight hundred persons. There were also six schools, well patronized. There was also one furnace for casting and repairing steamboat machinery, and one lathe for turning iron, owned by that enterprising citizen, James Goddard, Esquire. In the months of January and February cotton was selling at fourteen to sixteen cents per pound, and advanced in March to fifteen to sixteen and a quarter. The entire country seemed on the high tide of prosperity, until the steamers' accounts from Europe early in April, announced heavy failures in England, a great stringency in the money market, and a heavy decline in cotton. The quotations fell in Macon, on April 6th to ten cents, and on May 6th to six cents. In May the market dropped to seven cents for the highest grades, and until the next crop, in the fall, was without quotations.

The country was now wrapped in clouds of gloom. The panic originated in England. The Bank of England had been compelled to contract its operations, which produced many heavy failures, depressed trade, and caused for a while almost a suspension of business. There was no money sent from England to pay for American products, and thus the panic commenced in this country. In the South, while all interests were affected, the shock fell heaviest upon the mercantile class of business. Banking business was a new institution in communities of recent settlement, and where cotton was the predominant product and its prices high, there was frequently a want of funds sufficient to remove it, how great soever might have been the demand for the staple. The money of capitalists was first in banks, it then went to the merchant, and through him to the planter. The consideration received was cotton, and the loss by its terrible depreciation fell in the main upon the middle man, the merchant, for whether he bought or advanced, he was the actual sufferer. The depressed condition of all financial affairs compelled the banks to be very close and extremely circumspect in making new engagements.

moderate resources and to what assistance he could get from his only friend, the planter. At this time the Georgia planter was master of the situation, so far as the comforts of life, and if the crisis continued, even life's necessities, were concerned. 'The ground was fresh and productive ; artificial stimulation of the soil, except the occasional application of the offals of the barnyard, was unknown, as was also the expense of the more recent commercial fertilizers. The planter had no heavy bills to meet for Western corn and bacon; he raised his own "hog and hominy;" his farm was a home-producing and self-sustaining institution, and whatever might be the depression in the world's trade, he could luxuriate upon the fruits of his own vine and fig tree. The planter, however, met with heavy losses, as all others, but he was better able to stand them.

The great bank excitement in this section commenced in May on the announcement of the stoppage of the Farmers' Bank of Chattahoochee. The farmers had not forgotten the failure of the Macon Bank, leaving hundreds of thousands of its valueless bills in their hands, and a general feeling of distrust in all paper money began to pervade among them. This excitement was intensified by the mails bringing in the news that a suspension of specie payments had taken place by banks in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and in many of the Western States; also in Charleston, Augusta, Savannah, Mobile and New Orleans. The act of suspension of specie payments by a bank was not understood by the greater portion of the people, who regarded it as an acfual failure of the bank. The news of so many suspensions spread like a prairie fire through the country, and every countryman who had a bank bill came to town and made a rush on the banks for specie redemption. To allay the excitement, protect the banks, and in order to diffuse more intelligent information of the condition of the country among the masses of the people, a public meeting was held ; speeches were made by the prominent men of the place, and resolutions adopted recommending that the banks all suspend the payment of their bills in specie for the present ; and as there was a great demand for gold in Europe, the banks were urged to hold on to their de- I posits and keep them from the hands of bill-shavers, who wanted j the gold for speculation, there being fourteen cents premium offered for it. Five of the banks in Macon accordingly suspended, without injury to the value of their circulation. Business was very dull until the fall, when the new crop came to market, and was sold during the remainder of the year at eight to nine and a quarter cents. A large crop was made this year, and trade was improving. In November the following consolidated statement was published:

The whole country was now in a terrible state of excitement. All of the banks had suspended and immense failures were occurring daily in commercial circles throughout all of the important cities. The capitalists and politicians attributed the crisis to the management of the National Treasury, and the removal of the deposits from the United States Bank as far back as 1833, by President Jackson, who had an old republican antagonism to paper money, and the corruption of a large monied corporation being attached to the government. He called the National Bank, 'Hhe scourge of the people." The effects of the panic lasted' about seven years.

An awful calamity occurred at sea on the 9th of October. The splendid steam-packet. Home, on her second voyage from New York to Charleston, in consequence of stress of weather, became in a leaky condition and was wrecked six miles north of Ocracock bar. North Carolina. A gale commenced on the 8th, and continued two days. The boat commenced leaking on the 9th ; all hands and the passengers were at work at the pumps and continued without intermission until she grounded. The water gained so fast that at eight o'clock, p. m., the fire was extinguished and the engines stopped. A sail was hoisted, but was immediately blown away. The ladies had been requested to go forward, as the place where they were most likely to reach the shore, being nearest the beach, but a heavy sea struck the packet there and swept nearly one-half into the sea, and they were drowned. A life-boat and another boat were put out, both loaded with passengers, mostly women and children, but the sea broke over the boats and but few escaped. There were ninety passengers and a crew of forty-three persons. Only twenty of the former were saved. There were thirty-five ladies among the passengers, only two of whom were saved. Among the lost was Major Prince, formerly of Macon, and his wife. The name of Major Prince has been frequently mentioned in this volume. He was one of the founders of Macon, and a brief sketch of his career is given :