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