On the 18th of June he went to the Horse-quarter, which lies six miles up the river Ogechee, and there took with him Captain McPherson, with a detachment of his rangers, on an excursion into the interior. After a march of forty miles westward, he chose a post, commanding the passages by which the Indians used to invade Carolina in the late wars. Here, upon an eminence which commands all the country round, he directed that a fortification should be built, to be called "Fort Argyle," in memory of his honored patron John Duke of Argyle.[1] It is on the west bank of the Ogechee river. Its design was to protect the settlers from invasions by the Spaniards. Captain McPherson and his troop were to be quartered there, and ten families from Savannah to be removed, as cultivators, to its immediate vicinity.
[Footnote 1: See Appendix, No. XIV.]
On the 7th of July, at day break, the inhabitants of Savannah were assembled on the strand for the purpose of designating the wards of the town, and assigning the lots. In a devotional service, they united in thanksgiving to God, that the lines had fallen to them in a pleasant place, and that they were about to have a goodly heritage. The wards and tithings were then named; each ward consisting of four tithings, and each tithing of ten houses; and a house lot was given to each freeholder. There being in Derby ward but twenty one houses built; and the other nineteen having no house erected on them, Mr. Milledge and Mr. Goddard, the two chief carpenters, offered, in the name of themselves and seventeen of their helpers, to take the unbuilt on lots, and give the built ones to those who were less able to help themselves.
The people then partook of a plentiful dinner, which their generous
Governor had provided.[1]
[Footnote 1: An account of this transaction in the South Carolina Gazette, under the date of August 8th, closes with this remark; "Some of the people having privately drunk too freely of rum, are dead; and that liquor, which was always discountenanced there, is now absolutely prohibited.">[
In the afternoon the grant of a Court of Record was read, and the officers were appointed. The session of the magistrates was then held, a jury impanneled, and a case tried.
These were necessary regulations for establishing a due regard to order, discipline, and government. And yet, with all the influence which their honored leader could give to sanction the measures and support the authority, there was much to be done to render the administration effective. The settlers had no common bond of attachment or accordance; of course, it was very difficult to dispose them to the reciprocal offices of a social state, much more so to the still higher obligations of a civil compact. Together with these aims of those who were put into places of authority, they were obliged daily to use their endeavors to bring the restive and quarrelsome into proper subordination; to keep the sluggish and lazy diligently employed, and to teach the thriftless to be economical and prudent.
"Tantae molis erat disjunctis condere Gentem!"
CHAPTER V.
Oglethorpe intended to visit Boston, in New England—Governor Belcher's Letter to him—Provincial Assembly appoint a Committee to receive him—Sets out on an exploratory Excursion—Names an Island, Jekyl—Visits Fort Argyle—Returns to Savannah—Saltzburgh emigrants, conducted by Baron Von Reck, come to settle in Georgia—Oglethorpe assists them in selecting a place—They call it Ebenezer—He then goes up the river to Palacholas—Returns—Goes to Charlestown, with Tomo Chichi and other Indians, in order to take passage to England.