“I recollect, the first time I saw Quashy at work in the field, I was struck by the lazy, listless manner in which he raised his hoe. It reminded me of the working-beam of the engine on the steam-boat that I had just landed from—fifteen strokes a minute; but there was this difference: that, whereas the working-beam kept steadily at it, Quashy, on the contrary, would stop about every five strokes and lean upon his hoe, and look around, apparently congratulating himself upon the amount of work he had accomplished.
“Mrs. Stowe may well call Quashy ‘shiftless.’ One of my father’s hired men—who was with him seven years—did more work in that time than an average negro would do in his whole life. Nay, I myself have done more work in a day,—and followed it up, too—than I ever saw a negro do, and I was considered remarkably lazy with the plough or hoe.”—P. 142.
APPENDIX (D.)
STATISTICS OF THE GEORGIA SEABOARD.
The notes here following are derived from a volume entitled “White’s Statistics of Georgia,” a large octavo of seven hundred pages, compiled and published in the State. A special section of the book is devoted to the condition of the trade of each county, while a comparison is also attempted to be given, from the personal observation of the compiler, of the comparative social, moral, and religious properties of the people. Thus, so far as the plan has been thoroughly executed, an estimate is presented, not only of the ordinary commercial demand of the citizens, but, so to speak, of the state of their intellectual and moral market.
The counties referred to by Mr. Gregg are in the second tier from the sea in South Carolina. I shall give statistics from Mr. White, and other authorities named in the note,[77] with regard to all the second tier counties of Georgia. What of good soil to be brought into cultivation, without a heavy expenditure at starting, there was originally in these counties begun to be first occupied by whites about 1740. It was not till nearly twenty years after this that slavery obtained the slightest footing in them, and it was not till about thirty years ago that they had begun to seriously deteriorate in production. There is yet some rich land upon the alluvial bottoms of the numerous rivers, which, rising above, pass through these counties toward the ocean; and here many wealthy planters still remain, owning a large number of slaves, and there has been recently a considerable increase of production of some parts owing to the employment of capital in draining marshes, the riches of which have previously been considered impregnable.[78] In general, however, this whole range of country is now quite barren, and most of the land at present cultivated will not probably yield one third as large a crop for the same expenditure of labour as would fair Mississippi cotton land. The slaves formerly owned here have therefore been very largely transferred westward, and the land they have worn out is left for the non-slaveholding whites to make the best of.
As an instructive contrast, I place in an adjoining column with the statistics of these counties those of the counties which bound each of them on the east. In these there is a much larger proportion of rich alluvial soil, and they contain the famous “sea island” cotton plantations, as well as the Georgian rice plantations. The valuable soil is still entirely possessed, as will be evident, by large planters and slave owners, the usual monopolizing effect of slavery being in this instance increased by the peculiar local insalubrity of the coast.
| SECOND TIER COUNTIES. | COAST COUNTIES. |
| Bullock County.—(The Central Railroad, the best conducted road in all the South, passes either through this county or close beside its northern boundary, for a distance of fifty miles. It is watered by the Ogeechee and Connauchee and a number of smaller rivers. On the larger rivers there is yet a considerable amount of productive land.) | Bryan County, adjoining Bullock county, on the coast. |
| Population.—Whites, 2,000; slaves, 1,000. Average amount of property to each white family, $1,570. State tax for each white family, $2.95. Mr. White omits his usual statistics of trade. Both in this and the adjoining coast county of Bryan, the poor people, as well as the planters, are in the habit of dealing directly with Savannah, as described in “Seaboard Slave States,” p. 414, and there are probably no established tradesmen in either. | Population.—Whites, 1,000; slaves, 2,400. Average amount of property to each white family, $5,302 (fourfold what it is in Bullock county). State tax to each white family, $7. No statistics of trade, again. |
| The soil is described by Mr. White as generally poor, with some productive “hummock” and river tracts. | Soil.—“The soil, under the present system of culture, cannot, without rest and manure, be made to produce more than one half as much as when new.” This appears to refer particularly to the rice plantations. |
| Education.—“No newspapers are taken, and few books read. The school fund was once sufficient to educate many poor children, but owing to bad management it has become exhausted.” Thus says Mr. White. The census returns show, however, a public school expenditure of $150 per annum, and a private expenditure of $3,000, divided among fifteen schools, which is one for eighty square miles. This is so much better than usual, that, with Mr. White’s remarks, I am inclined to think it an error. | Education.—There is no academy, and there are no schools, except those supported by the “Poor School Fund” (a State provision for the children of indigent parents). “The children of the wealthy are either educated by private teachers or sent to school in the more favoured portions of the country; [the vicinity of Savannah, where there is a celebrated and well endowed academy, and of Liberty, where there are others, accounts for this;] the population is too sparse to furnish pupils enough to sustain a regular school” (large tracts of land being held by the planters, though wholly unproductive, to prevent the settlement of poor whites near their negroes, as one in this county informed me). According to the census returns, there were eight schools (one to twenty-five square miles) of all kinds, with an average of twelve pupils each. Total expenditure for each school, $38 per annum. |
| Character of the people.—“By industry and economy, they manage to supply their wants, which, however, are few. Many rely a great deal on game. * * * As far as temperance is concerned, they are behind the times. Whiskey has its votaries. Those who have attempted to show the citizens the folly and ill consequences of intemperance have been insulted and threatened. Even ministers of our holy religion have publicly denounced the motives and efforts of those who have attempted to form temperance societies.” | Character of the people.—No remarks. |
| Religion.—“The most numerous [sects] are the Anti-Missionary [hard shell?] Baptists.” Ten church edifices; average value, $145. No Sunday school or other public libraries. | Religion.—The county contains eleven church edifices; average value, $500. No Sunday school or other public libraries. |
| Tatnall County. | Liberty County. |
| Population.—Whites, 2,000; slaves, 600. Average amount of property to each white family, $901. | Population.—Whites, 2,000; slaves, 6,000. Average amount of property to each white family, $6,330. State tax to each white family, $10. |
| Capital invested in trade, 4,200. | Capital invested in trade, $3,850. |
| Soil.—“Light and sandy, except on the streams, which is stiff.” | Soil.—“The practice has been to wear out the virgin soils, and clear new lands. * * * Much waste land.” |
| Education.—“Education is neglected.” Eight public schools (1 to 148 square miles), with sixteen pupils each. Annual cost of maintenance of each school, $150. No other schools; no Sunday school or other libraries. | Education.—“Excellent schools are found. * * * And it is believed that a greater number of young men from Liberty county graduate from our colleges than from any other section of Georgia.” There are five “academies,” with an average of nineteen pupils each. Five public schools (1 to 160 square miles), maintained at an average expenditure of $15.40 per annum each. No libraries found in the census canvass of 1849. Mr. White states that the Medway and Newport Library Society had, in 1845, “about seven hundred volumes, in a very bad state of preservation.” This library was established by some New England immigrants before the prohibition of slavery was annulled in the province. The early settlers of the county were chiefly from Massachusetts. |
| Character of the people.—“Sober, industrious and hospitable” (phrases applied to every county not specially noted as conspicuous for some vice or virtue of its inhabitants.) | Character of the people.—“Generally upright and virtuous, and they are unsurpassed for the great attention paid to the duties of religion.” |
| Religion.—Sixteen church edifices, valued at 938 each. According to Mr. White, however, there are “about thirty churches” in the county. | Religion.—Ten church edifices; average value, $1,200. |
| Wayne County. | McIntosh County, broadest on the sea. |
| Population.—Whites, 930; slaves, 350. Average amount of property for each white family, $898. | Population.—Whites, 1,300; slaves, 4,400. Average amount of property for each white family, $7,287, or eight times as much as in Wayne. |
| State tax, $1.23. | State tax, $2.77. |
| Capital invested in trade, $4,200. | Capital invested in trade, $1,200. |
| Soil.—“Generally poor, barren pine land; when manured, will produce about twenty bushels of corn per acre.” | Soil.—Poor turpentine pine land in the rear; on the Altamaha, “of inexhaustible fertility.” |
| Education.—“Few schools;” two academies (one Baptist, and the other Methodist, probably), with thirteen pupils between them. Four public schools (1 to 148 square miles), averaging ten pupils each; expense of maintenance not returned. | Education.—One academy, with thirty-eight scholars; four public schools, twelve and a half miles apart, averaging twenty pupils each. Expense of maintaining each school, $78 per annum. “The wealthier classes are highly educated; but, generally, little interest is felt in the subject of education.” |
| Character of the people.—“High for morality and hospitality;” “poor, but honest.” At the seat of justice “are many beautiful pine hills, affording delightful summer residences to the wealthy planters of Glynn” (hence the academical advantages). | Character of the people.—“Like all parts of Lower Georgia, the citizens of McIntosh are generally intelligent and hospitable.” |
| Religion.—Eight church edifices; average value, $240. | Religion.—Twelve church edifices; average value, $1,041. |
| Ware County.—(About one fifth of this county is occupied by the Okefenokee Swamp.) | Camden County.—Much the largest part of this county, which is L shaped, with but one arm on the sea, is inland, and unfertile. |
| Population.—Whites, 2,000; slaves, 300. Average amount of personal property for each white family, $480. | Population.—Whites, 3,000; slaves, 4,000. Average amount of personal property for each white family, $4,428. |
| State tax, $4.05. Stock in trade, $2,200. | State tax, $13. “Amount of business done at St. Mary’s is about $30,000 per annum,” nearly all in lumber, and done by New Englanders. No other trade statistics. |
| Soil.—“Light and tolerably productive.” | Soil.—“Of celebrated fertility.” |
| Education.—“Very little interest is taken in the subject of education.” No academies; six public schools (1 to 485 square miles), sixteen pupils each. Wages of teachers, etc., yearly, $41 each school. No Sunday school or other libraries. | Education.—No remarks on education or character by Mr. White. Four public schools (1 to 280 square miles), with seventeen pupils each, maintained at an average expenditure of $290 per annum. Two academies, with forty-five pupils. Five Sunday school libraries, with one hundred and ten volumes each. |
| Character of the people.—“The citizens are said to be hardy, industrious, and honest.” “Much good might be done by the organization of temperance societies.” | Character of the people.—No remarks. |
| Religion.—Fifteen church edifices, fourteen miles apart, each accommodating one hundred sitters, and valued at $56 each. | Religion.—Ten churches (five of which are in the town of St. Mary’s, a beautiful and healthy village, resorted to by consumptives); average value, $850. |
I have purposely omitted Effingham county in the above arrangement, because the adjoining coast county of Chatham contains the city of Savannah, an aggregate agency of northern and foreign merchants, through which is effected the commercial exchanges of a great extent of back country, the population of which can therefore afford no indication as to the point under consideration. Effingham, the county above Chatham, and one of the second tier, is worthy of notice, from some other important exceptional features of its constitution. Owing to the amount of rich soil in the county, along the Savannah river, there is a larger proportion of slaves to the whole population than is usual in the second tier, their number being sixteen hundred against only eighteen hundred whites; the non-slaveholders, however, appear to possess unusual privileges. There is an academy, with fifty pupils, which Mr. White describes as “a fine school.” The public schools, eight in number, are less than eight miles apart, with an average attendance of sixteen pupils. Each school costs one hundred and twelve dollars a year. There are twenty-one churches, less than five miles apart, and valued at over twelve hundred dollars a-piece. Mr. White says that honesty and industry are leading characteristics of the people, who, notwithstanding the poverty of the soil, are generally in comfortable circumstances.
The reason of this is partially the close vicinity of Savannah, affording a cash market for a variety of productions and household manufactures, among which, as distinguishing the county from any other in the State, are mentioned fruits, silk, fishing lines, and cow-bells, “the latter,” Mr. White is told, “superior to any manufactured in the North or in Europe.” But an equally important reason for the better character and condition of the people is to be found in the fact that a majority of them[79] are descendants and heirs of the land of those very early settlers who most strenuously and to the last resisted the introduction of slaves into the colony, being convinced that, if permitted, it would, as they said in their memorials, “prove a scourge” to the poor people who were persuaded to petition for it.[80] It is most gratifying to perceive that all traces of the habits of industry, honesty, and manly self-reliance, in which they thus educated their children, are not wholly lost in the lapse of a century.