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 Indians south of the Savannah Rivcr and east of the Chattahoochie were surrendered to the Slate of Georgia, as the price of peace. This established the boundary line between the State of Georgia and the Indian domain.
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,1782 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.
Governor Martin called a special meeting of the Legislature in Savannah,Aug. 1782 about three weeks after 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.
** Colonel Jackson had a skirmish with some forces on Skidaway Island, below Savannah, on the twenty-fifth of July, and this was the last fought battle for independence, in Georgia.
*** This house is the third eastward from Drayton Street, and is said to be the oldest brick house in Savannah. Broad Street, upon whieh it stands, is a noble avenue, shaded by four rows of Pride-of-India-Trees.
**** 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.