* For an account of the capture of Fort Galphin or Dreadnought, at Silver Bluff, see page 690.
** This village was projected by a German named Schultz, who called it Hamburg, in honor of the "free city" of that name in his native land. He also built the noble bridge across the Savannah at that place,' delineated on page 715.
Local History of Augusta.—Growth of Democratic Principles.—Republican Legislature and Governor.
Augusta has a history anterior to the Revolution. Her local historians have preserved but little of it which is of general interest, and its records do not bear date back to that period. It was founded in 1735, under the auspices of Oglethorpe; and in 1736, a small garrison was stationed there, in a stockade fort, as a protection for the settlers against any enemy that might appear. Warehouses were built, and quite an extensive trade was opened with the friendly Indians upon the Savannah and its tributaries. Fort Augusta became a general resort for the Indian traders; and there, and at Fort Moore, on the bluff near Sand-bar Ferry, all the Indian treaties were held, down to the year 1750. In 1751, several Quaker families settled there and at a place called Quaker Springs. When French emissaries, about 1754, stirred up the Indian tribes against the English, the fort was strengthened, its magazine was well supplied, and the men were "mustered and drilled for service." Nothing of importance occurred to disturb the quiet of the people, and the settlement flourished. Living in almost unrestrained freedom, far away from the sea-board and its varieties, the agitations wrought throughout the colonies by the Stamp Act and kindred measures, scarcely elicited a thought from the quiet people of this region; but when, month after month, intelligence arrived that chains were forging to fetter their free spirits, they were aroused, and all through the region between the Alatamaha and Savannah Rivers, and especially in the vicinity of Augusta, the Tree of Liberty budded and blossomed, green, vigorous, and beautiful as the native magnolia. Although Georgia was not represented in the first Continental Congress, yet her children were not less alive to the teachings of the spirit of liberty; and the American Association was early approved, and its operations efficiently established. The lines between Whigs and Tories were distinctly drawn, and the requirements of the association were promptly enforced. *
When the British attacked Savannah, in March, 1776, the Legislature, a majority of which was inimical to the royal government, adjourned to Augusta, where the people were generally friendly. On the fall of Savannah, in 1779, the Legislature was dispersed. John Wereat, then president of the executive council, issued a proclamation, ordering an election of legislators, who were to assemble at Augusta. That town now became the center of Republican power in Georgia, and thither the most active friends of the patriot cause at Savannah fled. George Walton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was chosen governor under the Constitution (adopted in 1777), ** notwithstanding Sir James Wright had now1779 re-established royal rule in the province. William Glascock was chosen speaker, and the Legislature transacted business without reference to the existence of any other power in the state. ***
For the encouragement and support of the Loyalists in the interior, and to awe the Republicans in that quarter after the fall of Savannah, Colonel Campbell, who commanded at
* At about mid-summer in 1775, Thomas Brown and William Thompson having openly reviled the cause of the Whigs, and at a dinner-party gave toasts in which the friends of that cause were ridiculed, the Parish Committee of Safety ordered their arrest. Thompson escaped into South Carolina, but Brown, who attempted to flee with him, was captured and brought back. He was tried, and sentenced to be tarred and feathered, and publicly exposed in a cart, to be drawn three miles, or until he was willing to confess his error, and take his oath that he would espouse the cause of the Republicans. He chose the latter course; but he was not a very warm Republican long. His course illustrated the fact that
"He who's convinced against his will,
Remains to be convinced still."
for he joined the British army, was made lieutenant colonel, and afterward, while commandant of Augusta, fiercely retaliated upon the Whigs.
** John Adam Trueitlen was chosen the first governor under the new Constitution. He was succeeded in 1778, by John Houstoun; and after the fall of Savannah, Sir James Wright, the last of the royal governors, re-established British rule in the state.