Travels Through North America Part 17

Upon the following day I was accompanied by Mr. Bacott and his brother-in-law, to St. Michael's episcopal church, to see the building, and particularly the steeple, one hundred and eighty-six feet high. We mounted two hundred and thirty-six steps, and enjoyed a very handsome prospect over the regular built city, the bay, and adjacent country. The bay, with its protecting forts, showed to great advantage; the surrounding district not so agreeably, it being very level and overgrown with wood. In the city several buildings reared their heads, among others, the churches, and there are here twenty-two churches belonging to various sects, then the orphan-house and custom-house. St. Michael's church contains in itself nothing worthy of remark, if you except some simple funeral tablets. The churches, moreover, stand in the centre of burial grounds, and the custom still prevails, so injurious to health, of entombing the dead in the city.

On the same day, the last of my stay in Charleston, I was present at a dinner which the German Friendly Society gave in compliment to me, having invited me by a deputation. The party met at half past three o'clock. The company was composed, with the exception of the mayor, Dr.

Johnson, of more than sixty persons, for the most part Germans or of German origin. It was a.s.sembled in a house belonging to the society, in which, besides the large a.s.sembly room, was also a school for the children of the members, and the dwellings of the preceptors. The society was inst.i.tuted in the year 1766, the princ.i.p.al founder was Captain Kalteisen, a native Wirtemburger, who had raised a volunteer corps of fusileers from the Germans then living there, with which he not only distinguished himself in the defence of Fort Moultrie against the English, but also personally, during the whole war, rendered the most important services as adjutant quarter-master-general in the staff of the southern army. The company of fusileers always preserved their connection with the German Society. Kalteisen himself died in the year 1807, as commandant of Fort Johnson; he was so attached to this German a.s.sociation, that he had himself buried in the yard of the building, the bricks of the pavement mark the form of his coffin over it, and a tablet of marble in the hall contains an inscription to the memory of the deceased. In the great hall, his portrait hangs next to that of Colonel Sa.s.s, who after him commanded the company, and of a Wormser, named Strobel, who was a joint founder of the society, and whose sons and nephew appeared at table. Two brothers, Messrs. Horlbeck, presided at the dinner, which was very well arranged. They had the politeness to nominate me an honorary member of the society, and to present me their laws for my signature; under them were here and there crosses only.

Several of the usual toasts were given out; my health being drank, I returned my thanks in the German language. There was also singing. The melody was guided by an old Mr. Eckhardt, a Hessian that had come to America with the Hessian troops, as a musician, and remained here. He is now organist of one of the churches, and three of his sons occupy the same station in other churches. The German society possesses, moreover, a library, which owes its origin to donations. In the school-room there was a planetarium, very neatly finished, set in motion by clock-work.

CHAPTER XVI.

_Journey from Charleston, through Augusta, Milledgeville, Macon, and the country of the Creek Indians, to Montgomery, in the State of Alabama._

My design had been to travel from Charleston to Savannah. I understood, however, that the stage to Savannah was very bad; that the steam-boat went very irregularly; that Savannah had lost its importance as a place of trade, and on the whole, contained nothing worthy of observation. As this tour would cost me many days, and a circuitous route, I resolved to relinquish the visit to Savannah, and betake myself the nearest way to Augusta, one hundred and twenty-nine miles distant; thence by Milledgeville through the Creek Indians, to go into the state of Alabama. Colonel Wool liked my plan, as also did Mr. Temple Bowdoin, an Anglo-American, a very polished man, who had travelled, and who in his younger days served in the British army. We had engaged the mail stage for ourselves alone, and in it left Charleston on the 20th of December.

We pa.s.sed Ashley river at the same place, and in the same team-boat, as I did eight days back. It was at low ebb, and many oyster banks were exposed dry. This was a novel spectacle to me. The oysters stood straight up, close together, and had somewhat the appearance of a brush.

Several negroes were employed in taking them out of the mud, in baskets.

Even on the piers of the bridge, many oysters were sticking fast. On the opposite sh.o.r.e the road ran through a country generally woody, but partly ornamented with plantations. Several of these plantations are pretty, commonly an avenue of ancient, well preserved live oaks, leads up to the mansion-house, at the entrance of which a grated gate is placed. Maize and cotton are planted here, and in some places also rice, which is the staple of the lower part of South Carolina. The rice fields must stand several months of the year under water. On this account they are situated in swampy districts, and surrounded by ditches of water.

But in consequence of this, these places are so unhealthy, that hardly a white planter can remain during the summer on his plantation; he is obliged to resort to Charleston, or the northern states. The climate of Charleston is such, that whoever is there in the beginning of the hot season, dares not to sleep a single night during the continuance of it, upon a plantation, without exposing his life to imminent danger. The blacks are the only human beings on whom this deadly climate has no bad effect, and they are, therefore, indispensable for the cultivation of this district. The vegetation was again extremely beautiful, n.o.ble live oaks, laurel trees, magnolias, cabbage and macaw trees. The road ran upon light bridges over small rivers, on the banks of which negroes were busied in angling. We saw the family of a planter in an elegant boat, manned by six black oarsmen, rowing to their plantation. In a large inn, which was itself the mansion-house of a plantation, we found a particularly good dinner. In the evening we crossed the Edisto river in a narrow ferry-boat, for the arrival of which we were obliged to delay a long time. The soil was mostly very sandy, partly also marshy, and the jolting log causeways made us tired of our lives. On this side of the river we arrived at the village of Edisto. We travelled through the whole night, and I suffered much from the cold in my airy seat.

Otherwise, it was a clear moonlight, and if it had been a little warmer would deserve the appellation of a fine night. We changed our stage during the night, but gained nothing.

The succeeding morning exhibited all the ponds of water covered with a crust of ice. We pa.s.sed the Salkechee and Cambahee rivers upon bridges, and noticed nothing worthy of observation. The vegetation was less beautiful than on the preceding day; the plantations were also less considerable. At a new plantation, at which we arrived about break of day, I spoke to the overseer of the negroes. The man's employment I recognised from his whip, and from the use he made of it, in rousing up the negroes to make a fire. He told us that in the district, where the plantation was situated, and where maize and cotton were planted, but a little time before there was nothing but forest; his employer had commenced in 1816, with two negroes, and now he possessed one hundred and four, who were kept at work in clearing the wood, and extending the plantation. The cotton crop was finished in most of the fields, and cattle were driven in, to consume the weeds and tops of the bushes.

We pa.s.sed several mill-ponds, and saw some saw-mills. Only pine trees appeared to flourish in this part of the country; upon the whole, it was hilly, and the progress was tedious through the deep sand. We pa.s.sed 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; during the whole day it was very clear, but cold weather, in the evening it froze hard. The old remark is a very just one, that one suffers no where so much from cold as in a warm climate, since the dwellings are well calculated to resist heat, but in nowise suited to repel cold.

We were compelled to remain in Augusta during the 22d of December, as the mail stage for the first time went to Milledgeville on the following day, and Colonel Wool had to inspect the United States' a.r.s.enal here, which contained about six thousand stand of arms for infantry. We understood that Mr. Crawford, formerly emba.s.sador of the United States, in Paris, afterwards secretary of state, and lastly, candidate for the office of president, was here at a friend's house. We therefore paid him a visit. Mr. Crawford is a man of gigantic stature, and dignified appearance; he had a stroke of apoplexy about a year since, so that he was crippled on one side, and could not speak without difficulty. To my astonishment, he did not speak French, though he had been several years an envoy in Paris. They say, that Mr. Crawford's predecessor in Paris, was chancellor Livingston, this gentleman was deaf; both Livingston and Crawford were introduced to the Emperor Napoleon at the same time; the emperor, who could carry on no conversation with either of them, expressed his surprise, that the United States had sent him a deaf and dumb emba.s.sy. I likewise reaped very little profit from Mr. Crawford's conversation. As he was an old friend of Mr. Bowdoin, almost all the benefit of it fell to his share, and I addressed myself chiefly to his daughter, and one of her female friends, who were present. Much indeed was to be antic.i.p.ated as the result of a conversation with the daughter of such a statesman. She had been educated in a school of the southern states. My conclusion was, the farther south I advanced, so much the firmer am I convinced that the inhabitants of these states suffer in comparing their education with those of the north. To conclude, Mr.

Crawford was the hero of the democratic party, and would, in all probability, have been chosen president in the spring of 1825, had not his apoplectic attack supervened. On account of his indisposition, General Jackson was pushed before him; and so much was brought forward against the individual character of this person in opposition, that the present inc.u.mbent, Adams, on that account, succeeded.

The city of Augusta is very regularly built. The main street is about one hundred feet wide, it contains many brick houses, and good-looking stores. None of the streets are paved, but all have brick foot-paths.

A wooden bridge, three hundred and fifty yards long, and thirty feet wide, crosses from the neighbourhood of the city, to the left bank of Savannah river, the city lies on the right bank. Along the bank is erected a quay in the manner of a terrace, which is one of the most suitable that I have seen; for it is accommodated to the swell of the river, which often rises above twenty feet. It has three terraces. The lower one has a margin of beams, mostly of cypress timber, at which, in the present uncommon low stage of the water, the vessels are loaded.

From the second terrace, (which as well as the upper one, has a brick facing,) are wooden landings reaching to the edge of the under terrace, by which, at higher stages, the vessels may land there. The upper terrace is paved with large stones, which are quarried above the city.

The quay, as well as the landings, belong to the State Bank of Georgia: the landings produce fifteen per cent. annually.

Augusta is the depot for the cotton, which is conveyed from the upper part of Georgia by land carriage, and here s.h.i.+pped either to Savannah or Charleston. We noticed a couple of vessels of a peculiar structure, employed in this trade. They are flat underneath, and look like large ferry-boats. Each vessel can carry a load of three hundred tons. The bales of cotton, each of which weighs about three hundred pounds, were piled upon one another to the height of eleven feet. Steam-boats are provided to tow these vessels up and down the stream, but on account of the present low state of the water, they cannot come up to Augusta.

I was a.s.sured that year by year between fifteen and twenty thousand bales of cotton were sent down the river. The state of South Carolina, to which the left bank of the river belongs, was formerly compelled to make Augusta its depot. To prevent this, Mr. Schulz, a man of enterprise, originally from Holstein, has founded a new town, called Hamburg, upon the left bank of the river, close by the bridge, supported, as is said, by the legislature of South Carolina with an advance of fifty thousand dollars. This town was commenced in the year 1821, and numbers about four hundred inhabitants, who are collectively maintained by the forwarding business. It consists of one single row of wooden houses, streaked with white, which appear very well upon the dark back ground, formed by the high forest close behind the houses. Nearly every house contains a store, a single one, which comprised two stores, was rented for one thousand dollars. Several new houses were building, and population and comfort appear fast increasing. The row of houses which form the town, runs parallel with the river, and is removed back from it about one hundred and fifty paces. Upon this s.p.a.ce stands a large warehouse, and a little wooden hut, looking quite snug, upon the whole, with the superscription "Bank." A Hamburg bank in such a booth, was so tempting an object for me, that I could not refrain from gratifying my curiosity. I went in, and made acquaintance with Mr.

Schulz, who was there. He appears to me to be a very public-spirited man, having been one of the most prominent undertakers of the landings and quay of Augusta. It is said, however, that he only accomplishes good objects for other people, and realizes nothing for himself. He has already several times possessed a respectable fortune, which he has always sunk again by too daring speculations. This Hamburg bank, moreover, has suspended its payments, and will not resume business till the first of next month. On this account, it was not possible for me to obtain its notes, which, for the curiosity of the thing, I would gladly have taken back with me to Germany.

On the 23d December we left Augusta, about four o'clock, by moonlight, and the weather pretty cold, in the miserable mail stage, which we had engaged for ourselves. It went for Milledgeville, eighty-six miles distant from Augusta. The road was one of the most tedious that I had hitherto met with in the United States; hilly, nothing but sand, at times solitary pieces of rock, and eternal pine woods with very little foliage; none of the evergreen trees and the southern plants seen elsewhere, which, new as they were to my eye, had so pleasantly broke the monotony of the tiresome forests through which I had travelled from the beginning of December; even the houses were clap-board cabins. Every thing contributed to give me an unfavourable impression. The inhabitants of Georgia are regarded in the United States under the character of great barbarians, and this reputation appears really not unjustly conferred. We see unpleasant countenances even in Italy: but here all the faces are haggard, and bear the stamp of the sickly climate.

To the cold weather which we had for several days, warm temperature succeeded to-day. We were considerably annoyed by dust. Besides several solitary houses and plantations, we encountered two little hamlets here, called towns, Warrenton and Powelton, this last lies upon Great Ogechee river, over which pa.s.ses a wooden bridge. We stopped at Warrenton. The court of justice is in the only brick house of the place: close by it stands the prison, or county gaol, a building composed of strong planks and beams nailed together. Between Warrenton and Powelton, we had a drunken Irishman for our driver, who placed us more than once in great danger. This race of beings, who have spread themselves like a pestilence over the United States, are here also, and despised even by the Georgians. We travelled again all night; it was, however, not so cold as the nights previous. Towards midnight, we reached a trifling place called Sparta. We were obliged to stop here some time, as the stage and horses were to be changed. We seated ourselves at the fire-place in the tavern. All of a sudden there stood betwixt us, like an evil genius, a stout fellow, with an abominable visage, who appeared to be intoxicated, and crowded himself in behind Mr. Bowdoin.

I addressed this gentleman to be on guard for his pockets. The ruffian made a movement, and a dirk fell from his sleeve, which he clutched up, and made off. They told me that he was an Irishman, who, abandoned to liquor, as most of his countrymen were, had no means of subsistence, and often slunk about at night to sleep in houses that happened to be open.

Most probably he had intended to steal. We then obtained another driver, whom, from his half drunkenness and imprecations, I judged to be a son of Hibernia, and was not deceived.

On the 24th December, we left this unlucky Sparta at one o'clock in the morning. The driver wished very much to put a pa.s.senger in the stage with us, which we prevented. Vexed by this, he drove us so tediously, that we spent full eight hours going twenty-two miles to Milledgeville, and did not therefore reach there until nine in the morning. Immediately after leaving Norfolk, and travelling in the woods where there was little accommodation for travellers, we had every night seen bivouacs of wagoners or emigrants, moving to the western states--the backwoods. The horses of such a caravan are tied to the side of the wagon, and stand feeding at their trough; near the wagon is a large fire lighted up, of fallen or cut timber. At this fire the people sleep in good weather, in bad, they lay themselves in or under the wagon. After leaving Augusta we encountered several of these bivouacs, which consist partly of numerous families with harnessed wagons. They intended to go to Alabama, the district of country lately sold by the United States, and there to set themselves down and fall to hewing and building. I saw three families sitting on a long fallen tree, to which they had set fire in three places. These groups placed themselves in a very picturesque manner; but their way of acting is very dangerous. The night before we saw the woods on fire in three different directions, and the fire was without doubt occasioned by such emigrants as these. The lofty pine trees look very handsome while burning, when they are insulated, but the owner of the forest has all the trouble attending it to himself.

The country which we pa.s.sed through towards morning was hilly, the bottom constantly sandy, towards the last, mixed with clay and rock. The trees were nothing but long-leafed pines. Close by Milledgeville, we crossed the Oconee river on a bridge that had been finished but a few days, and which rested on wooden piles. Until now the river was pa.s.sed by a ferry-boat. Both sh.o.r.es are very high and steep, so that going in and coming out were attended with great difficulty.

Milledgeville lies upon elevated ground, the town is very regularly built, its broad streets are right-angled, they are, however, unpaved.

It numbers about three thousand inhabitants of both complexions. It was established about twenty years ago, and increased very rapidly from its commencement, as it is the capital of the state of Georgia, and the seat of the legislature. Its increase is now calculated to be checked, since the story goes that the seat of government will be changed to the newly-founded town of Macon, or when the state has conquered congress in the cause yet depending before that body, and part of the Creek Indians territory is obtained, then it will be placed at Athens, where the university of the state is situated. We took up our residence at La Fayette Hall, a large tavern.

Soon after our arrival, I took a walk through the town. It contains mostly wooden houses, but they were good and even elegantly built, good stores, also a bookseller's shop, and several printing presses. There are published here four gazettes, which a little while since were exceedingly active on the sides of the two parties who oppose each other in the state. One party is that of Governor Troup, who, from his discussions with the United States concerning the Creek territory, and on account of his warmth in his official correspondence, has become noted; the other is the party of the former governor, General Clark, who is, in all appearance, a very mild man, and very much respected by sensible and well-disposed persons. At the last election of the governor, it was believed and hoped that General Clark would be chosen.

He had the majority of the legislature in his favour, yet, as the governor in this state is chosen for two years by the people, and every man that pays half a dollar tax has a vote, it so happened that Governor Troup succeeded, by his popularity, in bearing off the palm.

I examined the state-house, which is a simple, but well-finished brick building of two stories. In the ground floor are the offices, in the upper story two halls, one is for the senate, the other for the representatives. In each there is a seat, with a canopy, for the speaker. The senators have each a desk before them, in the hall of the representatives one desk serves two persons. All places are numbered, to prevent awkward encounters. In each hall there is a gallery for the public. The state-house is placed alone on a little eminence. In its neighbourhood stands the state a.r.s.enal. Another house belonging to the state, is appointed for the residence of the governor. Mr. Troup, notwithstanding, does not inhabit it; he has no family establishment, and has domesticated himself in a plain boarding-house. We intended to pay him our respects, he could not, however, receive us, as he lay dangerously ill of a pleurisy. Through two friends, Colonel Hamilton and Mr. Ringold, he tendered us his apologies, and these gentlemen, in his name, proffered us their services.

We were then carried to the state prison, a large brick edifice, under the superintendence of Mr. Williams, and contained seventy-six prisoners. All these were white persons, for the black were punished by the whip, and not with imprisonment. No idleness was suffered among the prisoners. If one understood no mechanical trade, he was obliged to learn one. I found most of them employed in wagon and saddle-making; others laboured in a smithy; others as shoemakers or tailors. The greatest quiet and silence prevailed among the prisoners. Their dress is blue, with broad white stripes upon all the seams. The interior of the lodging-house did not please me as much as the workshops. Cleanliness, so indispensable to such an establishment, was wanting here; it was neither swept nor scrubbed, and in the cells of the prisoners, in which four or five slept upon the floor, the woollen coverlets and pillows lay confusedly together. There were also cells for solitary confinement, this was, however, used only as a means of house discipline. The eating room was equally disagreeable to me. A piece of cooked meat was laid on the table for each prisoner, without knives, forks, or plates. Bread did not appear to be furnished every day; at least the day we were there, none was to be seen. The prison is surrounded by a high wall, at each of its four corners stands a sentry-box for the watch, which they ascend from without, and from which the whole yard can be overlooked. This establishment is so well conducted, that it occasions no expense to the state, on the contrary, it produces a profit. Upon the princ.i.p.al building stands a turret, which commands an extensive view over the town and circ.u.mjacent country. The district around appears uneven and covered with wood, the monotony of the view is relieved by nothing. The woods begin at the edge of the town.

Colonel Hamilton and Dr. Rogers accompanied us on Christmas day to the state-house. A travelling Unitarian clergyman from the northern states held divine service in the hall of representatives. The generality of people here are either Methodists or Baptists. As the Unitarian had found the churches here shut on this day, he had opened his temple in the state-house. His audience was composed of the beau monde, as a Unitarian was something new. He delivered a good discourse, in which he set forth pure morality, and received general approbation. After dinner he proposed to give a second service, for the purpose of expounding the doctrines of his belief, as founded on common sense.

Colonel Hamilton, a particular friend of Governor Troup, was formerly secretary of state of Georgia. The appointment to this office belongs to the legislature. This was the cause that though Troup is again chosen governor by the people, Mr. Hamilton and all the friends of the governor have lost their places, which are occupied by persons attached to the Clark party. Dr. Rodgers was secretary of the state treasury, and has been deprived of his office from the same cause. We saw here several Indians of both s.e.xes, from the Creek nation, who sold bows, arrows, and very neatly made baskets. These Indians had a much better appearance than those I saw in the western part of the state of New York and Canada. Afterwards several of the grandees of the country were presented to me by Colonel Hamilton. All these gentlemen had their own peculiar character. It was evident that they lived in a state separated from the civilized world.

We were constrained to remain in Milledgeville on the day after Christmas, how unpleasant soever it might be. No stage goes from this place through the Indian territory to Montgomery on the Alabama river, whither we intended to bend our way. We therefore hired for this journey of one hundred and ninety-eight miles, a four-horse extra stage, for the price of two hundred and twenty-five dollars; this stage was at present under repair in the state prison, and could not be placed at our disposal before the 27th of December. It was necessary for us to have patience, and pa.s.s the time as well as possible, and the few gentlemen with whom we had formed acquaintance exerted themselves to amuse us.

On the 27th of December we left Milledgeville at nine o'clock in the morning. It was a pretty cold day, and there was ice half an inch thick.

We rode only thirty miles to Macon. In spite of the large sum of money which our carriage had cost us, it broke twice; the repairs consumed much time, and we left it several miles behind. The day was very clear, and towards midday moderately warm, in the evening there was again a strong frost. I was pleased with the dark blue of the sky, such as we hardly have in Germany in a midsummer's day. We met with several families, emigrating with their property to Macon and the State of Alabama. One of these families, who had paid their wagoners beforehand, had been left by them under frivolous pretext in the middle of the woods, two miles from Milledgeville: we found these unfortunate persons, who had made a bivouac, after they had waited several days in vain for their runaway wagoner and his horses. Several lonely houses which we pa.s.sed were grog-shops, in which the neighbours were celebrating the third day of the Christmas holy-days. Every thing as at home, thought I, and fancied that I was in a European country. We noticed a gentleman and lady on horseback, the horses were not loaded completely, a barefooted negro wench was obliged to run with a heavy sack of corn on her shoulders to feed the horses! Then I was convinced, and with pleasure, that I was not in Europe! The road was sandy, uneven, and pa.s.sed through pine woods. This wood was here and there cleared, and a patch of cotton and Indian corn planted. Close by Macon we crossed the Oakmulgee river in a ferry-boat, and reached the town after sunset. We found tolerable accommodation in a new tavern.

The country in which Macon is situated, was first purchased from the Creek Indians, in the year 1822, and the town began about two years ago.

In the last war, the Indians had collected a number of their people here, and the United States built Fort Hawkins, on the left bank of the river, at present deserted.

In Macon we received a visit from a Colonel Danah, who formerly served in the army, and was now settled here. He introduced to me several of the distinguished people of the place, who had come to see me. The town has only three streets, which crossed at right angles. At the point of intersection is a large square, there are houses only on three sides of it; on the fourth side it is contemplated to erect the capitol, if, as it has been proposed, the government should be removed here from Milledgeville. One street runs perpendicular to the line of the river, over which a bridge is intended to be built: the mason work for its support has been completed on both sides. The streets are about one hundred feet wide, the roots of the felled trees are visible in them, of which trees the houses are constructed throughout. The place contains about sixteen hundred inhabitants, white and black. The population are partly young people from Georgia, partly emigrants from the two Carolinas and the northern states, who have fixed themselves here from motives of speculation. Although the site of the new town is represented as extremely healthy, yet they have suffered during the preceding summer from bilious fever. The country around is little built upon, and the woods begin not far behind the houses.

About nine o'clock in the morning, on the 28th December, we left Macon and rode thirty-one miles distance to the Indian agency, on the left bank of Flint river, called by the Indians, Thlo-no-teas-kah. The road was partly sandy, partly rocky, but extremely uneven. It was kept in very bad order. No pains had been taken to carry away or saw through trees, which had fallen more than a year back crosswise over the road; the carriage was obliged to make a considerable deviation through the woods to pa.s.s these fallen trees. The plantations by which we pa.s.sed, are all new; the houses were completely log huts. The tiresome uniformity of the pine woods were, in the low and marshy places into which we often came, very pleasantly interrupted by evergreen cane, as well as by thorn oaks and laurel trees, we also saw several green-leaved trees, chiefly oaks, as formerly.

Towards four o'clock in the afternoon we reached the agency, a group of twenty log houses, and some negro huts. It is appointed for the residence of the agent of the United States with the Creek Indians, (he, however, was absent at this time,) and is situated in a very handsome tract of land on the left side of the Flint river, which rushes over a rocky bed between pretty steep banks. The right bank belongs to the Creek nation, of about twenty-one thousand souls, and is inhabited by them. The contest between the state of Georgia and the United States is caused by this territory. The state of Georgia had concluded a treaty with one of the Creek chiefs, M'Intosh, concerning the surrender of this district of land; the nation, discontented with the treaty, and is nowise willing to evacuate their country, insisted that they had been deceived, and killed M'Intosh. The United States espoused the side of the Indians, and blamed the Georgia commissioners for scandalous impositions upon the Indians. Congress is now about to decide upon this matter. In one of the log-houses, with a Mr. Crowell, we took up our night's lodging, and enjoyed some very well cooked venison. In a neighbouring grog-shop we found a collection of drunken Indians, and some negroes, who were frolicing during the Christmas holy-days. Several of them were well dressed; they wore moca.s.sins and leggings of leather; broad knee-bands ornamented with white gla.s.s beads, a sort of coat of striped cotton, and upon the head a striped cotton cloth, almost like a turban. Several of them were very large. For a treat of whiskey, which I gave them, eight of them performed the war dance. They skipped here and there in a circle, moved themselves right and left, sprung against each other, raised their hands on high, let them fall again, and bellowed horribly through the whole scene. Some old men who stood near, took it in dudgeon, that the young men should dance in such a way before white people. They called to them to stop. Mr. Crowell, however, brought them to silence easily, by whiskey.

The colour of these Indians is a dusky brown. They have black straight hair. Several of them possess negroes, to whom it is very acceptable to live with them, since they are treated with more equality than by the whites. Some of these negroes were very well clothed in the Indian manner, they drank and jumped about with the Indians. One of them was of colossal stature, and appeared to be in great request among the Indians, to whom he served as interpreter. The const.i.tution of these Indians is a mixture of aristocratical and republican form of government. The chiefs are chosen for life, and the dignity is not hereditary; for improper conduct they can be deposed. They cannot write their language. Their laws are of course very simple, and founded on traditionary usage.

It had rained hard in the night, between the 28th and 29th of December, it rained also in the day, almost incessantly, yet this rain was mild and warm, nearly like a spring rain in Germany. There was a consultation, whether we should remain or go farther on, I determined on the latter. About nine o'clock we left our night quarters. In the vicinity thereof, the governor of the state of Georgia had built Fort Lawrence, which was evacuated, and given up at the peace. The houses, which belonged to the agency, were then built as magazines and hospitals for the troops, and arranged for a post of defence. Near the chimney, and the doors and windows, (the last without gla.s.s sashes,) were loop-holes pierced. Behind this post we pa.s.sed the Flint river in an Indian ferry-boat, and found ourselves landed upon their territory. We rode twenty-eight miles farther to a lonely plantation, called Currel's.

The road ran through the worst part of the Indian lands, the woods consisted as before, of the long-leaved pine, and it was only in damp places we observed green leaves. In particular, there grew high and beautiful cane. The soil is for the most part dry sand, in strata, and particularly in the bottoms it is mixed with clay, and of a full yellow colour. The Indians have thrown bridges over two brooks with marshy sh.o.r.es, at each of them we paid, with great pleasure, half a dollar toll-money. The bridges are indeed not remarkably good, yet better than several in the christian state of Georgia, and even in many of the more northern states. We met but few of the Indian inhabitants; these were all wrapt up in woollen blankets. We only saw three wigwams, Indian houses, chiefly toll-houses of the bridges. They resemble the log-houses, neither are they so open as those which I saw last summer in the state of New York. The day was exceedingly uninteresting. Mr.

Currel, with whom we pa.s.sed the night, is a Virginian, who has settled here for the opportunity of speculating among the Indians, from whom he purchased his land at a rather cheap rate: to judge from his habits of intoxication, he has already adapted himself too much to their mode of life. His plantation buildings are, as all the rest, log huts: the wind blew to our heart's content through the room; no lamp could burn, and we were forced to use a great hearth fire to give us light. There was no ceiling to our room, but a transparent roof of clap-boards directly over us. I was surprised to discover Shakspeare's works in this place. In one of the out-houses there was a very good supper set before us, at which, especially, we had excellent venison.

Upon the 30th of December, after we had pa.s.sed a cold night in our clap-board hut, which allowed the storm free admission, and locked our few articles of property in our chamber, from fear of the Indians sneaking about, we started before break of day, and rode a distance of thirty-three miles to Fort Mitchel. The weather was cold the whole day through, and threatened rain. The country again very uninteresting, mostly pines, a sandy soil, here and there mingled with clay: at length wood with green leaves. Only in low situations, along the rivulets, of which we pa.s.sed three, was the vegetation to be admired. The laurel bushes particularly looked well. It gave me real pleasure to be able to walk in a green thicket along a brook, which I could have accomplished with difficulty in summer, since these bushes are the favourite resort of a great number of rattlesnakes. In a solitary plantation we took our breakfast; it belonged to a Mr. Colfrey, a worthy old Virginian, who had lost a considerable property, and to better his circ.u.mstances, had determined on the hard alternative of settling among the Indians. We found his plantation in a very uncommon state of order and neatness, and we were delighted by an unexpected and most excellent breakfast. Mr.

Bowdoin said to the owner of the place, that he appeared as if he had not always lived thus among the savages, and never can I forget how the old man, with tears in his eyes, turned away without making an answer.

We met with several wigwams, and various temporary cabins of travelling Indians, also a number of bridges, at which we were obliged to pay the Indians toll. The country was very hilly till we came into a valley, a mile from our night quarters, through which the Chatahouchee flowed.

This river empties itself into the Mexican gulf. The district, even to the left bank of the river, is rather marshy, grown up with willows, laurel, and cane. Not far from the river we beheld several buildings appointed for the popular a.s.sembly of the Indians, called the big talk.

They are large and round, having a conical-formed roof, covered with tree-bark; they have walls of lime, and a covered low entrance also of lime. The Indians a.s.semble in these buildings only in bad weather, or at night, and then a fire kindled in the middle of the house, gives light.

In good weather they collect in a square place covered with sheds, under which the Indians sit down on planks protected from the sun's heat.

There is also another place for public games, and particularly for ball-playing. They appeared here also to have a species of masquerade, for we found some in a half gourd, cut through and made into a mask, with eyes and mouth cut in it, and the nose set on of a piece of wood.

From the neck of the gourd, which was cut at half its length, they had made a pair of horns, and fasted them on the mask, and under this a long white beard.

We pa.s.sed the river Chatahouchee at one of the ferries belonging to the Indians, and kept in order by them. The right bank is somewhat steep, of red earth, which, from the violent rain, had become slippery. Half a mile from the ferry brought us to Fort Mitchel. It stood upon a height, and was situated to the right of us. We dismounted not far from this, between Indian wigwams at Crowell's tavern. The host was a brother of the Indian agent. This house has also a plantation attached to it, as the one above-mentioned had. Colonel Wool and I were lodged in an airy out-house of clap-boards, without a ceiling, and windows without gla.s.s.

We were accommodated with freer circulation than would have fallen to our lot in a German barn. Four companies of the fourth regiment of infantry, the staff of which was fixed at Pensacola, lay in garrison at the fort. The commandant, Major Donoho, and his officers had taken board at Crowell's tavern; in the evening we made acquaintance with them. The most of these officers, pupils of the school at West Point, were men of information, and we pa.s.sed the remainder of the evening much pleased with their society.

We made the 31st of December a day of rest, as Colonel Wool had to inspect the garrison of the fort. The four companies here stationed form properly the garrison of Pensacola, and were only sent here last summer during the contest between Georgia and the United States, to protect the Creeks against the encroachments of that State. It openly wishes to take possession of the Indian territory to the Chatahouchee, to which river, agreeable to the charter, Georgia extends. The right bank of the river, on which we now found ourselves, is in the jurisdiction of the State of Alabama. The troops arriving, at first encamped here, but immediately commenced building a new but smaller fort, on the spot where Fort Mitch.e.l.l stands, so called in honour of the then governor of Georgia, which they now occupy. They hoped, however, that they should return to Pensacola as soon as the disagreements had been settled.

After the inspection, we took a walk to a plantation lying near, which belonged to an Indian named M'Intosh. He was absent at Was.h.i.+ngton as a delegate from his nation. He is the son of that M'Intosh, who obtained from the State of Georgia the t.i.tle of General, and who last spring, on account of the treaty with the state, had been shot by his countrymen and hewed in pieces. Polygamy prevails among the Indians. The young M'Intosh had indeed only two wives, a white woman and an Indian. They say he had several wives whom he wished to keep: the white woman however had driven them with scolding and disgrace out of the house, as she would only submit to one Indian rival. We did not see the Indian wife.

The white wife, however, received us quite politely. She is the daughter of a planter in Georgia, and tolerably pretty. She was attired in the European style, only according to the Indian fancy in dress, she carried a quant.i.ty of gla.s.s beads about her neck. She showed us her two children, completely white, and also the portrait of her father-in-law, as large as life, with the sword of honour given him by the United States. The family is in very good circ.u.mstances, and possesses seventy negroes.

In the afternoon we went to a Methodist mission, one short mile distant.