Augusta, Georgia

“ We passed the river Savannah three miles from Augusta, in a little ferry-boat. The left bank appeared here and there to be rocky, and pretty high; the right is sandy. When we crossed the river, we left the state of South Carolina, and entered that of Georgia, the most southern of the old thirteen United States, which in fifty years have grown to twenty-four in number. We reached Augusta in the evening at nine o’clock, on a very good road, a scattered built town of four thousand six hundred inhabitants, of both complexions. We took up our quarters in the Globe Hotel, a tolerable inn ”

“ Gray-bearded men vied with the hot blood of youth, and a venerable citizen of Augusta, illuminating his residence from dome to cellar, blazoned with candles this device upon his gateway—"Georgia, right or wrong—Georgia!" ”

“ The principal buildings are the city hall, a masonic hall, an oddfellows hall, the Richmond academy, the Georgia medical college, the opera-house, and an orphan asylum. Besides these, the city possesses an arsenal, water-works, a number of banks, newspaper offices, extensive cotton factories and flour mills, several foundries, two tobacco factories, &c. Water-power is abundantly supplied from the river by the Augusta canal, which was constructed in 1845. Augusta was an important place during the revolutionary war, and continued to flourish amazingly till the opening of the Georgia railway. ”

“ The more interesting part of the work is found in chapter V devoted to a discussion of his call to the Central Baptist Church of Augusta, Georgia. Here we read of a busy life devoted to the settlement of church troubles, the raising of funds for a new edifice, and the expansion of the work under more favorable conditions. Some of the most interesting efforts mentioned here are the management of the Augusta Sentinel and the establishment of the Walker Baptist Institute. His work was immediately productive of great good and his influence became a force throughout the State. ”

“ Water-power for factories is secured by a system of “water-power canals” from a large dam across the Savannah, built in 1847 and enlarged in 1871; the principal canal, owned by the city, is so valuable as nearly to pay the interest on the municipal debt. In 1905 the value of the city’s total factory product was $8,829,305, of which $3,832,009, or 43·4%, was the value of the cotton goods. The principal newspaper is the Augusta Chronicle, founded in 1785.
Augusta was established in 1735–1736 by James Edward Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia, and was named in honour of the princess of Wales. ”

“ There can be no doubt that the British and the Tories began their cruelties without considering the results to which their acts would lead. It is an easy matter at this late day to see how naturally the war, in the region tributary to Augusta, degenerated into a series of crimes and barbarities foul enough to cause History to hold her hands before her eyes. When Colonel Campbell, assisted by Colonel Brown, advanced to attack Augusta, it was the only American post that had not surrendered to the King's men, and its capture would complete the subjugation of Georgia from a military point of view. ”

“ Many anecdotes have come down to us bearing testimony to the mercy and kindness and loyal service of this "Highest Lady of the Southern Land." The following is typical: During the height of the war a minister passing through the streets of Augusta, Georgia, on his round of duty to the sick, called at the hospitals, and encountered a stranger who accosted him thus: "My friend, can you tell me if Mrs. Jeff Davis is in the city of Augusta?" ”

“ Indeed, Augusta was the only considerable place in the State that escaped serious harm. The people in northwestern Georgia were in the utmost destitution, large families being frequently for whole days without food; venerable persons of both sexes, sinking under the weight of years and infirmities, often walked fifteen and even twenty miles to procure food enough to prevent starvation. ”

“ As was natural, the political development of Georgia was much more rapid than its industrial progress. In January, 1783, Lyman Hall was elected governor. He was distinguished for the patriotic stand he took at the very beginning of the controversy between the Colony and the King. The Legislature met in Savannah after the evacuation of the town by the British; but it was so far from the central and upper portions of the State, and there was so much dissatisfaction among the people on this account, that in May Augusta was made the capital. In that town the General Assembly met July 8, 1783. ”

“ Georgia.—In 1760 Georgia contained about six thousand whites and thirty-five hundred negroes. Industry was diversified, as is shown by a report of Governor Wright of 1766 which says: "Our whole time and strength ... is applied in planting rice, corn, peas, and a small quantity of wheat and rye, and in making pitch, tar, and turpentine, and in making shingles and staves, and sawing lumber and scantling, and boards of every kind, and in raising stocks of cattle, mules and hogs...." In addition there was considerable fur trade, for which Augusta was the center. ”

“ In support of the first point, the treaties with the Indians, and the construction given to them by the legislature of Georgia, were relied upon. The treaty of Augusta in 1783, Marbury & Crawford's Digest, 604, 605, calls for 'the most southern branch of the Oconee river;' and the act of the legislature of Georgia, in defining the line of the state, adopts the same language. ”

“ The fall of Augusta was received with rejoicings by the patriots everywhere, and the British and the Tories were correspondingly depressed. Men who had been overawed by the cruelty of the Tories, now came out boldly for the cause of independence, and the forces of the Americans were rapidly strengthened. Preparations were made for an aggressive campaign in Georgia by the Liberty Boys; and in this purpose they had the active aid and sympathy of General Greene, whose skill and ability as a commander were not greater than the wisdom he displayed in dealing with the people. ”

“ During the engagement the Americans lost one man from sunstroke. The enemy lost only three or four men. The rest, together with the valuable stores in the stockade, fell into the hands of the patriots.
Following this successful affair, which was of more importance than it seems now to be, Lee formed a junction with General Pickens; and these two then joined their forces with those of Clarke, who commanded the Georgia militia, and the siege of Augusta began. The first movement was the capture of Fort Grierson, so called in honor of the man who commanded its garrison. ”

“ After the Revolution, this tide of immigration increased very rapidly, and it was still further swelled by the profits that the Whitney gin enabled the planters of Georgia to make out of their cotton crops.
The settling of Georgia began with the charitable scheme of Oglethorpe. The making of Georgia began when the North Carolinians and Virginians began to open up the Broad River region to the north of Augusta. It was due to the desperate stand taken by these hardy pioneers that Georgia continued the struggle for American independence. ”

“ Jefferson and his political principles were extremely popular in Georgia, and though there were some distinguished Federalists in Augusta who were leaders in her society, their number in the State was too insignificant to hold out any prospect of preferment to a young, talented, and ambitious aspirant for political distinction. ”

“ The belt of country stretching from Augusta across the State to Columbus, having a width of from 30 to 60 miles, is pronounced a very healthy district. At Augusta the mean summer temperature is about 79°, the winter 47°. At Atlanta careful observations give the average of summer heat as 75°, and winter 45°. Diseases of the respiratory organs are rare among natives of northern and central Georgia. The interior is comparatively free from the dreaded epidemics cholera and yellow fever, but Savannah and the coast are periodically scourged by them. ”

“ In the development of her industries a great future is predicted for Georgia. Indeed some of the more sanguine claim that she is already becoming a formidable rival of New England in the manufacture of cotton and woollen fabrics.
There are in the State 38 cotton factories, with 123,233 spindles and 2125 looms. There are 14 woollen factories, with 4200 spindles and 135 looms. Augusta and Columbus take the lead in the number and capacity of these works, for which certain important advantages are claimed. The water-power is so ample that the mills are run by it alone. ”

“ There are several thriving industries, including, besides the various branches of the publishing trade, the manufacture of woollen and cotton goods, and of physical and mathematical instruments. The university, the famous Georgia Augusta, founded by George II. in 1734, and opened in 1737, rapidly attained a leading position, and in the year 1823 its students numbered 1547. ”

“ In 1778 the British seized Savannah, which they held until 1782, meanwhile reviving the British civil administration, and in 1779 they captured Augusta and Sunbury; but after 1780 the Revolutionary forces were generally successful. Civil affairs also fell into confusion. In 1777 a state constitution was adopted, but two factions soon appeared in the government, led by the governor and the executive council respectively, and harmony was not secured until 1781.
Georgia’s policy in the formation of the United States government was strongly national. ”

“ One is in Georgia, one in South Carolina, for the city is built on both sides of the Savannah River; and in these are given smart dinners and dances by the residents.
It is true they often refer to the guests of the hotels and to the Aiken cottagers as “the Yankee millionaires,” as though they belonged to another flag, and knew not the star-spangled banner. But if these people have anything to teach, Augusta wants to learn it. ”

“ Columbus, Americus, Atlanta, and Rome, as well as Savannah, are considerable shipping points, for cotton; Athens is the seat of the university of Georgia; Augusta and Columbus are manufacturing centres; Macon has three religious colleges; Darien, Brunswick, and St manufacture and export lumber. Andersonville, in Sumter county, acquired terrible celebrity during the civil war as the site of the chief military prison of the Southern Confederacy. Atlanta is by far the best example of rapid growth the State affords. ”

“ On the 17th of November the legislature passed an act directing the governor to order an election of delegates on the 2nd of January 1861 and their meeting in a convention on the 16th. On the 19th this body passed an ordinance of secession by a vote of 208 to 89. Already the first regiment of Georgia Volunteers, under Colonel Alexander Lawton (1818–1896) had seized Fort Pulaski at the mouth of the Savannah river and now Governor Brown proceeded to Augusta and seized the Federal arsenal there. ”

“ Oglethorpe also established settlements at Darien, at Augusta, and on St island. In 1736 the colony received considerable accessions of emigrants, with whom came John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism. In 1738 the Rev visited Georgia, founding the orphan-house at Bethseda, near Savannah, from funds chiefly collected on his tour in the northern colonies. ”

“ Savannah and Augusta still exist and are justly reckoned among the most opulent, beautiful, and attractive cities of the Empire State of the South. In their locations the judgment of the early Colonists has been sanctioned by the favorable experience of nearly a century and a half. New Inverness has given place to Darien which, amid shifting fortunes, is still supported by the lumber trade and the rice crop of the Alatamaha. Of the memories of Frederica, Sunbury, New and Old Ebenezer, Bethany, Hardwick, and Abercorn, we have already spoken ”

“ She then ordered him to take up the line of march for a fort not far distant. Not daring to disobey, the man marched before her, as many others had been compelled to do, and she turned him over to the commander of the fort.
When Augusta was in the hands of the British, and their raiding parties had been driven in by the Americans under Colonel Elijah Clarke, it became necessary for that commander to get some positive information in regard to the intentions of the British. At this juncture Aunt Nancy came to the rescue. She disguised herself as a man, and went boldly into the British camp. ”

“ The urban population (i.e. the population in places of 2500 inhabitants and over) was 15.6% of the total in 1900, and the number of incorporated cities, towns and villages was 372. Of these only forty had a population exceeding 2000, and thirteen exceeding 5000. The largest city in 1900 was Atlanta, the capital since 1868 (Louisville, Jefferson county, was the capital in 1795–1804, and Milledgeville in 1804–1868) , with 89,872 inhabitants. Savannah ranked second with 54,244, and Augusta third with 39,441. ”

“ Fort Halifax, within the town of Savannah, constructed in 1759 and 1760, and made of plank filled in with earth, with the exception of two of its caponieres, was totally down and unfit for use. Fort [181] Frederick, at Frederica, erected by General Oglethorpe when his regiment was stationed there, had been without a garrison for upwards of eight years, and although some of its tabby walls remained, the entire structure was fast passing into decay. Fort Augusta, in the town of Augusta, made of three-inch plank, had been neglected since 1767 and was rotten in every part. ”