Operations of Captain Howell.

Chastisement of the Indians.

Arrival of Wayne.

Skirmish near Savannah.

During the spring of 1781, Captain Howell, the Hyler of the Georgia Inlets, captured

verely. Every village and settlement eastward of the mountains was laid in ashes, and nothing but a heavy fall of snow prevented his crossing the great hills and spreading desolation over a wide extent of country.

General Wayne arrived early in February,b and established his head-quarters at b 1782. Ebenezer. His force was inferior to that of the British in Savannah, then com

manded by Brigadier-general Alured Clarke,' and he was obliged to content himself with petty warfare upon outposts and foraging parties, while watchFearing this, Clarke summoned his detachments to the city, to man the extensive fortifications. They came with provisions plundered from the inhabitants, and applying the torch on the way, left a broad track of desolation behind them.

Hlured Clarke

ing an opportunity to attack Savannah at night.

General Clarke, perceiving the gathering strength of the Republicans, and that he was likely to be shut up within the narrow limits of his lines, sent for the Creeks and Cherokees to come in a body to his relief. They were yet smarting under the chastisement of Pickens, and hesitated. A party sent out to keep a way open to the city were attacked by Major Jackson. Colonel Brown was sent to their aid. He was attacked and defeated by Wayne, after a severe skirmish, but he retreated by by-paths in safety to Savannah.

c 1782.

d Jan. 23.

On the night of the twenty-second of June,c three hundred Creek Indians, led by Guristersigo, a powerful warrior, approached Wayne's encampment. He intended to fall upon the American pickets, but ignorantly attacked the main body at three o'clock in the morning. The infantry seized their arms; the artillery hastened to their guns. Wayne was at a house a short distance from camp, when intelligence came that the whole British force from Savannah was upon him. He leaped into his saddle, rode to the aroused camp, and shouting, "Death or Victory!" ordered a bayonet charge. At that moment his horse was shot dead under him, and he saw his cannons seized by the savages. With sword in hand, at the head of Parker's infantry, he led to the recapture of his field-pieces. A terrible struggle ensued. Tomahawk and rifle were powerless against bayonets, and Guristersigo and seventeen of his chief warriors and white guides were slain. The Indians fled when they saw their leader fall, leaving behind them one hundred and seven

1 General Clarke was governor of Canada in 1807.

Treaty with the Indians.

Cessation of Hostilities.

Evacuation of Savannah.

Peace.

teen pack-horses loaded with peltry. Wayne pursued the fugitives far into the forest, captured twelve of them, and at sunrise they were shot. The Americans lost only four killed and eight wounded.

a 1782.

In September, a Pickens and Clarke again chastised the Indians, and completely subdued them. Tired of the conflict, and fearful of the scourge which Pickens still held in his hand, they gladly made a treaty by which all the lands claimed by the Indian south of the Savannah River and east of the Chattahoochie were surrendered to the State of Georgia, as the price of peace. This established the boundary line between the State of Georgia and the Indian domain.

b 1782.

Early in 1782, the British Parliament, perceiving the futility of attempts hitherto to subdue the Americans, now began to listen to the voice of reason and of humanity, and steps were taken toward the establishment of peace, between the United States and Great Britain, upon the basis of the independence of the former. On the fourth of March,b the House of Commons passed a resolution in favor of peace, and active hostilities ceased. Preparations were now made for the evacuation of Savannah, and on the eleventh of July the British army evacuated it, after an occupation of three years and a half. Wayne, in consideration of the services of Colonel James Jackson, appointed him to "receive the keys of Savannah from a committee of British officers." He performed the service with dignity, and on the same day the American army entered Savannah, when royal power ceased in Georgia forever.' A few days afterward, Colonel Posey, with the main body of the Americans, marched to join Greene in South Carolina. Wayne soon followed with the remainder; hostilities ceased, and the beams of peace shed their mild radiance over the desolated state, and gave promise of that glorious day of prosperity and repose which speedily followed.

DWELLING OF GENERAL MINTOSH.3

Governor Martin called a special meeting of the Legislature in Savannah,c about three weeks aftc Aug., 1782. er the evacuation. They assembled in the house of General M'Intosh, which is yet (1852) standing on South Broad Street, between Drayton and Abercorn Streets. The session was short, but marked by decision and energy. On the first Monday in January following, the constitutional session commenced at the same place. Every branch of the new government was speedily organized, and the free and independent State of Georgia began its career.'

Between the twelfth and the twenty-fifth of July, seven thousand persons, according to British accounts, left Savannah, consisting of twelve hundred British regulars and Loyalists, five hundred women and children, three hundred Indians, and five thousand negroes. Governor Wright, and some of the civil and military officers, went to Charleston; General Clarke and part of the British regulars to New York; Colonel Brown's rangers and the Indians to St. Augustine; and the remainder, under convoy of the Zebra frigate, the Vulture sloop of war, and other armed vessels, to the West Indies. It is estimated that nearly seven eighths of the slaves in Georgia were carried off now, and on previous occasions, by the British.

2 Colonel Jackson had a skirmish with some forces on Skidaway Island, below Savannah, on the twentyfifth of July, and this was the last fought battle for independence, in Georgia.

3 This house is the third eastward from Drayton Street, and is said to be the oldest brick house in Savannah. Broad Street, upon which it stands, is a noble avenue, shaded by four rows of Pride-of-IndiaTrees.

4 Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was chosen governor in January, 1784; George Walton, chief justice; Samuel Stirk, attorney general; John Milton, secretary of state; John Martin, treasurer; and Richard Call, surveyor general.

Revolutionary Remains.

Visit to Jasper's Spring.

its historical Associations.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

HERE are but few remains of Revolutionary localities about Savannah. The city has spread out over all the British works; and where their batteries, redoubts, ramparts, and ditches were constructed, public squares are laid out and adorned with trees, or houses and stores cover the earth. Not so with the works constructed by the French engineers during the siege in the autumn of 1779. Although the regular forms are effaced, yet the mounds and ditches may be traced many rods near the margin of the swamp southeast of the city. These I visited early on the morning of my arrival in Savannah, after an instructive interview with the Honorable J. C. Nicoll, to whom I am indebted for a knowledge of the several historical localities in and near the city. Their present appearance and description are delineated on page 737. After sketching General M Intosh's house, printed on the preceding page, I procured a saddle-horse and rode out to Jasper's Spring," a place famous as the scene of a bold exploit, which has been the theme of history and song.' two and a half miles day was very warm.

It is near the Augusta road, westward of the city. The The gardens were garnished

with flowers; the orange-trees were blooming; blossoms covered the peach-trees, and insects were sporting in the sunbeams.

Jasper's Spring is just within the edge of a forest of oaks and gums, and is remarkable only on account of its historical associations. It is in the midst of a marshy spot partially covered with underwood, on the northern side of the road, and its area is marked by the circumference of a sunken barrel. Being the only fountain of pure water in the vicinity, it is resorted to daily by travelers upon the road. One

We have already met Sergeant William Jasper while securing the Carolina flags upon the parapet of the Spring Hill redoubt at Savannah (see page 738), and there sealing his patriotism with his life's blood. Jasper was one of the bravest of the brave. After his exploits at Fort Moultrie, which we shall consider hereafter, his commander, General Moultrie, gave him a sort of roving commission, certain that he would always be usefully employed. Jasper belonged to the second South Carolina regiment, and was privileged to select from his corps such men as he pleased to accompany him in his enterprises. Bravery and humanity were his chief characteristics, and while he was active in the cause of his country, he never njured an enemy unnecessarily. While out upon one of his excursions, when the British had a camp at Ebenezer, all the sympathies of his heart were aroused by the distress of a Mrs. Jones, whose husband, an American by birth, was confined in irons for deserting the royal cause after taking a protection. She felt certain that he would be hanged, for, with others, he was to be taken to Savannah for that purpose the next morning. Jasper and his only companion (Sergeant Newton) resolved to rescue Jones and his fellow-prisoners. Concealing themselves in the thick bushes near the spring (at which they doubted not the guard of eight men would halt), they awaited their approach. As expected, the guard halted to drink. Only two of them remained with the prisoners, while the others, leaning their muskets against a tree, went to the spring. Jasper and his companion then leaped from their concealment, seized two of the guns, shot the two sentinels, and took possession of the remainder of the muskets. The guards, unarmed, were powerless, and surrendered. The irons were knocked off the wrists of the prisoners, muskets were placed in their hands, and the custodians of Jones and his fellow-patriots were taken to the American camp at Purysburg the next morning, themselves prisoners of war. Jones was restored to his wife, child, and country, and for that noble deed posterity blesses the name of Sergeant Jasper. That name is indelibly written on the page of history, and the people of Savannah have perpetuated it by bestowing it upon one of the beautiful squares of their city.

Departure from Savannah.

Night Voyage.

Arrival at Charleston.

Early Settlement.

of them, a wagoner, came, knelt, and quaffed when I opened my port-folio, and, as he arose from the spring I sketched him, as seen in the preceding picture. He knew nothing of the event which makes it famous.

- After lingering for half an hour in the cool shade at the spring, I returned to SavannahA slight haziness began to overspread the sky, which deepened toward evening, and descended in gentle rain when I left the city at eight o'clock in a steam-packet for Charleston. We passed the lights at Fort Pulaski at half past eight, and an hour later glided by the beacons of Tybee and breasted the rising waves of the Atlantic. Like Yellow Plush, I soon discovered the "use of basins," and at an early hour turned into my berth to prevent a turning out of my supper. During the night we passed through Port Royal entrance, touched at Beaufort, stuck in the mud in the channel between Ladies' and St. Helena Islands, and at daylight emerged again into the Atlantic through St. Helena's Sound. breeze was hourly stiffening, and every "landlubber" on board preferred the berth to breakfast, until we approached Charleston bar, when the wind died away, the sun gleamed through the breaking clouds, and upon the bosom of long, heaving swells, we were wafted into Charleston harbor. We landed at one o'clock, dined at two, and at three I called upon the Reverend Samuel Smythe, D.D., with a letter of introduction, with whom I ed the remainder of the afternoon in visiting places of interest upon the banks of the Cooper River, above the city. To the kind courtesy of Dr. Smythe I am indebted for much of the interest, pleasure, and profit of my visit at Charleston and vicinity.

pass

Here, upon the spot where the first permanent English settlement in South Carolina was accomplished, let us glance at the record of history.

In the Introduction to this work (page xxxii.), I have referred to the first attempt at permanent settlement on South Carolina soil, and the result. As it was only an attempt, proved unsuccessful, and does not illustrate the growth of popular liberty, except so far as the principles of the Huguenots (those first emigrants) had influence in the political opinions of the people in after years, we will not stop to consider the details, but pass on to the period of permanent settlements.

For a hundred years after the first attempt at colonization in South Carolina was made, no settlements were undertaken, and no white man walked in her forests, except a few Spaniards, who penetrated the wilderness from St. Augustine in search of a fancied region of gold. At length the English, who had formed settlements on the Cape Fear and vicinity, turned their attention to more southerly regions.

In January, 1670, two ships, with materials for a permanent settlement, sailed from England, under the command of Sir William Sayle, who had previously visited and explored the South Carolina coast. He entered Port Royal, planted his colony upon Beaufort, and soon afterward died there. The jurisdiction of Sir John Yeamans, of the Northern colony, was then extended over this settlement, and in 1671 he was chosen their governor. The people were easily induced, "for the convenience of pasturage and tillage," to remove to the south bank of the Ashley River, further north, and there they laid the foundation of old Charlestown' (at present called Old Town, or the Landing); and there was planted the first fruitful seed of the commonwealth of South Carolina. a The colony, in honor of Sir George Carteret, one of the proprietors, was called the Carteret County Colony. tlers abandoned this spot, and upon Oyster Point, nearer the sea, at the confluence of the

a 1671.

Nine years afterward, the set

1 There were about fifty families who went from the Port Royal settlement to the Ashley River, and about the same number from the Northern colony accompanied Governor Yeamans thither.

Governor Yeamans caused a number of African slaves to be brought from Barbadoes, and in the year 1672 the slave system in South Carolina was commenced

Founding of Charleston.

a 1680.

2

Difficulties with the Indians.

Ashley and Cooper Rivers' (so called in compliment to Ashley Cooper, the Earl of Shaftes bury), a place more eligible for commercial pursuits, they founded the present city of Charleston,a and in the course of the year built thirty houses. The city retained its original name of Charles Town until after the Revolution, when it was called Charleston. The general early history of South Carolina we have already considered in its connection with the North State; we have, therefore, only a few particular points to notice in its progress prior to the separation in 1729.

The beauty of the climate and the freedom which then prevailed made South Carolina a chosen refuge for the oppressed and the discontented of all lands. Several Dutch families of New York went to South Carolina when that city passed into the hands of the English, and settled on the southwest side of the Ashley, near the English colony, from whence they spread over the state, and were joined by many from fader-land." In 1679, Charles the Second sent quite a number of French Protestant refugees (Huguenots) thither; and when, in 1685, the Edict of Nantes (see page 386, volume i.) was revoked, large numbers of the Huguenots crossed the Atlantic, and sought refuge in South Carolina from the fires of persecution about to be relighted in France. Ten years later,b a colony of Congregationalists, from Dorchester, in Massachusetts, ascended the Ashley almost to its head, and founded the town of Dorchester, in the present parish of St. George, Dorchester. This was a village of considerable note during the Revolution, but it is now deserted, and little remains of the past but the primitive church and the graves around it.

b 1696.

Under various leaders, men of every creed and of various countries went to South Carolina; and the Santee, the Congaree, the Wateree, and the Edisto now listened to the strange voices of several nations, who in the Old World had scarcely known each other, except as foes. There, for a while, they mingled harmoniously with the natives. The French Huguenot and the German Palatine smoked their pipes in amity with the Westo and the Serattee; and the tastes and habits of the Seine and the Rhine became familiar to the wandering eyes of the fearless warriors along the Congaree. It was not long be fore a French violinist had opened a school for dancing among the Indians on the Santee River."

For some time the colonists were obliged to depend, in part, upon the bounty of the proprietors for subsistence, and the calls of this dependence being generally answered, idle and improvident habits were begotten, highly inimical to the prosperity of a new state. The proprietors perceived the bad tendency of such indulgence, and in a letter to the colonists. declared that they would "no longer continue to feed and clothe them, without expectation or demand of any return." This resolve, so unkind to the apprehension of the Carolinians, was of great benefit to the colonists. Ultimately the people, compelled to work or starve—to be provident or to be beggars-turned to their own resources, and their development began. Independence of action begat independence of thought and feeling, and in this first broken fallow, turned up to the vivifying influence of the sun and shower of free civil, political and religious life, the seed of Republican liberty, which subsequently bore such generous fruit in the Carolinas, was planted and took firm root.

In addition to the diseases incident to the climate, and the privations always attendant upon first settlement, the Carolinians were soon called upon to resist powerful foes-the Indian tribes upon whose hunting-grounds they were settling. These difficulties have been noticed in a preceding chapter. The red men were hardly quieted before internal troubles menaced the colony with a more terrible blow. Food had become scarce, discontents were 1 The Indian name for the Ashley was Ke-a-wah; for the Cooper, E-ti-wan. The city has a fine sheltered harbor, with the sea six miles distant.

The city of Charleston was laid out in 1680 by John Culpepper, who had been surveyor general of the Northern colony of the Carolinas, but was then a fugitive, on account of his participation in an insurrectionary movement there. The streets were laid out nearly at right angles, and the town site was com pletely inclosed with a line of fortifications. A plan of these fortifications, and of the city at that time, is published in Johnson's Traditions and Reminiscences of the Revolution, page 3.

Simm's History of South Carolina, page 64.