



Produced by Paul Clark and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)









    Transcriber’s Note:

    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as
    possible, including some inconsistent hyphenation. Some changes have
    been made. They are listed at the end of the text.

    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.




                               GEORGIA:

                        ITS HISTORY, CONDITION,
                             AND RESOURCES

                                  BY
                            SAMUEL A. DRAKE

                              _WITH MAP_

                               NEW YORK
                        CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
                                 1879




                          COPYRIGHT, 1879, BY
                        CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS

                                TROW’S
                   PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY,
                    _205-213 East Twelfth Street_,
                               NEW YORK.




GEORGIA.


Georgia, one of the thirteen original States of the American Union,
has Tennessee and North Carolina on the N., South Carolina and the
Atlantic Ocean on the E., Florida S., and Alabama W. The Savannah river
separates the State on the E. from South Carolina; the St. Mary’s, on
the S., divides it in part from Florida; the Chattahoochee, on the W.,
flows between Georgia and Alabama for nearly half its course. Georgia
lies between 30° 21′ 39″ and 35° N. lat., and between 81° and 85° 53′
38″ W. long. It is 320 miles long from N. to S., and 256 miles in its
greatest breadth from E. to W., with an area of 58,000 square miles.

_Surface._--Georgia has three distinctly marked zones, varying in
soil, climate, and productions. Her sea-coast is similar to that of
the Carolinas, being skirted by fertile islands, separated from the
mainland by narrow lagoons or by sounds. This section is essentially
tropical. Beginning at the sea-coast, a gradually ascending sandy
plain extends northward and westward as far as the head of navigation
on the Savannah, Ogeechee, Oconee, and Ocmulgee rivers, where it
meets a Primary formation. Augusta, Milledgeville, and Macon indicate
the northern limit of this tract. Here begins the hilly and finally
mountainous region, the most extensive, fertile, and salubrious of
the State. A second plateau, 60 or 70 miles broad, stretches above
the falls of the rivers until it meets the southernmost ranges of the
great Appalachian chain of mountains which traverses Virginia, North
Carolina, and northern Georgia under the name of the Blue Ridge, and is
finally lost in Alabama. This picturesque district extends in Georgia
from Rabun county in the north-east corner of the State to Dade in the
extreme north-west, where the summit of Lookout Mountain dominates the
valley of the Tennessee. Here are the sources of the two principal
rivers of the State; here is the gold-producing region; and here is
also the theatre of some of the most sanguinary battles of the civil
war. The elevations of the Blue Ridge vary from 1,200 to 4,000 feet. In
the south-east of the State is the extensive Okefinokee swamp, which
has an estimated circumference of 180 miles, is filled with pools and
islands, and is the congenial home of alligators, lizards, and other
reptiles.

_Rivers and Harbors._--There are many fine rivers in Georgia. A north
and south line passing through Macon would nearly divide the streams
flowing into the Atlantic from those discharging into the Gulf of
Mexico. The Savannah, Ogeechee, Altamaha, Santilla, and St. Mary’s fall
into the Atlantic, and the Chattahoochee, Flint, and tributaries of the
Suwanee flow to the Gulf coast. The rivers are generally navigable for
steamboats to the falls which occur on the great central plateau of the
State--that is to say, the Savannah to Augusta, the Oconee and Ocmulgee
(confluents of the Altamaha) to Milledgeville and Macon, and the
Chattahoochee to Columbus. Besides their ordinary purposes as avenues
of travel and commerce, her rivers have given to Georgia the character
of a manufacturing State, and she is developing and increasing their
abundant water-powers with energy and success.

    The Savannah is formed of two small streams which rise near the
    North Carolina line, and unite on the boundary between S. Carolina
    and Georgia in Hart county. Flowing thence in a nearly S.S.E.
    direction for 450 miles, it enters the Atlantic near 32° N. lat.
    The Savannah is navigable from November to June. Ships ascend
    it 18 miles to the city of Savannah, steamboats to Augusta, 230
    miles, and by means of a canal around the falls there, constructed
    in 1845, light draught vessels navigate it 150 miles higher. This
    canal, 9 miles long, furnishes the water-power of Augusta. The
    river is here about 300 yards wide. From Augusta the traveller
    descends the Savannah through the cotton-fields of the table-lands,
    and the long reaches of semi-tropical vegetation dominated by
    groves of live oak, to the rich rice plantations of the seaboard.

    The Chattahoochee is one of the largest and most interesting
    rivers of Georgia. It rises on the declivity of the Blue Ridge, in
    Habersham county, in the N.E. of the State, pursues a devious S.W.
    course through the gold region of upper Georgia until it reaches
    West Point, on the Alabama frontier. It then flows nearly south
    to the Florida State line, where it is joined by the Flint, when
    the two streams flow on through Florida to the Gulf under the name
    of the Appalachicola. Large steamboats ascend the Chattahoochee
    in the season of navigation to Columbus, 350 miles from the Gulf.
    The whole estimated length of the river is 550 miles. The falls
    at Columbus create a valuable water-power, constituting that city
    one of the three important manufacturing centres of the State.
    Just above Columbus the Chattahoochee is broken in picturesque
    rapids, overlooked by a rocky cliff called the “Lover’s Leap,”
    which is the subject of an interesting legend. Besides Columbus,
    the towns of West Point and Fort Gaines are the most important on
    the Chattahoochee in Georgia; Appalachicola at its embouchure on
    the Gulf is its shipping and distributing port, but is decreasing
    in importance since the railway system of the State has assumed a
    large share of the traffic once confined to the navigable streams.

    The Oconee and Ocmulgee rise near each other, in the N. of the
    State, flow through its centre to within 100 miles of the sea,
    when their united streams pass on S. E. to the Atlantic under
    the name of the Altamaha. Milledgeville, the former capital of
    Georgia, is on the Oconee, and Macon on the Ocmulgee. Darien on
    the Altamaha is reached by vessels drawing 11 to 14 feet of water.
    The Ogeechee, rising also in the north, is about 200 miles long.
    It drains the country between the Savannah and Altamaha, entering
    the Atlantic a few miles south of the Savannah. The Ogeechee is
    navigable for light vessels 30 or 40 miles, and for keel-boats to
    Louisville. The Santilla and St. Mary’s drain the south-eastern
    counties, and are each navigable 30 or 40 miles for sloops. The
    Flint, Ockloconee, and Suwanee drain the south-western counties;
    the Flint is navigable to Albany, 250 miles from the Gulf, for
    steamboats. The Tallapoosa and Coosa, head-waters of the Alabama,
    and the Hiawassee, one of the sources of the Tennessee, rise in the
    mountains of Georgia--the last, however, finding its way to the
    Gulf of Mexico by the Ohio and Mississippi valleys.

Georgia has about 128 miles of sea-coast, but has few good harbors,
except within the rivers emptying upon it. St. Mary’s, Brunswick,
Darien, and Savannah are the principal. The chain of islands lying
off the mainland produces the celebrated Sea-island cotton, but owing
to the changes brought about by the secession war it is now little
cultivated. These islands are flat, and generally little elevated above
the sea. Cumberland island, one of the most attractive, is nearly 30
miles long. It is covered with magnificent forests of oak, and its
shores are skirted with palms, palmettos, and tropical shrubbery.
Other islands from S. to N. are Jykill, St. Simon’s, Sapello, St.
Catharine’s, Ossabaw, and Cabbage. The Sea Islands, with the main
shore, constitute a coast of 480 miles. St. Andrew’s, St. Simon’s,
Altamaha, Doboy, Sapello, St. Catharine’s, and Ossabaw are the
principal sounds.

_Climate, Soil, and Productions._--The central and southern portions
of Georgia, including the seaboard, are subject to excessive heats
in summer. At Savannah, observations show the mean temperature for
July to have sometimes reached 99° Fahr. In the northern district of
the State the same season is cooler and less enervating. Indeed, the
mountain region is becoming noted for its genial and healthful climate,
and is attracting invalids and pleasure-seekers from all parts of the
Union. In the low marshy lands lying contiguous to or upon the coast,
malarious fevers prevail in spring and summer. The belt of country
stretching from Augusta across the State to Columbus, having a width of
from 30 to 60 miles, is pronounced a very healthy district. At Augusta
the mean summer temperature is about 79°, the winter 47°. At Atlanta
careful observations give the average of summer heat as 75°, and winter
45°. Diseases of the respiratory organs are rare among natives of
northern and central Georgia. The interior is comparatively free from
the dreaded epidemics cholera and yellow fever, but Savannah and the
coast are periodically scourged by them.

There is in Georgia as great diversity of soil as of climate.
Beginning with the Sea Islands, which are composed of a sandy alluvium,
intermixed with decomposed coral, we pass from the rich alluvions near
the coast, in which the great rice plantations are, to the thinner
soil of the Pine Belt, sometimes inaptly denominated Pine Barrens.
These are at present valuable for their timber and naval stores, but
are susceptible of cultivation. The middle region consists of a red
loam, once productive, but from long cultivation impoverished. With
the aid of fertilizers it produces cotton, tobacco, and the cereals.
We now reach the so-called Cherokee country of the north, containing
lands among the most fertile in the State, lands which, notwithstanding
their tillage from an unknown period by the aboriginal inhabitants,
grow wheat, corn, Irish potatoes, peas, beans, etc., abundantly. Cotton
may also be successfully cultivated, but with less advantage than in
other districts of the State. This fibre is chiefly produced along the
fertile bottom lands or contiguous uplands of the rivers. The same
lands yield rice, Indian corn, and sugar. Middle and southwest Georgia
are the most productive cotton areas. In the south-west the soil,
though light and sandy, produces cotton. In southern Georgia there are
millions of acres of magnificent yellow pine forests of great value for
house or ship-building, and in these forests turpentine plantations
have been opened. The live-oak, also valuable for ship-building
purposes, abounds in the south-east of the State. The swamps afford
cedar and cypress, the central region oak and hickory. Walnut,
chestnut, ash, gum, magnolia, poplar, sycamore, beech, elm, maple, fir,
and spruce trees are found in different localities; but in the older
settled districts the original forests have disappeared.

It is frequently said that there is nothing grown in any of the States
except Florida that Georgia cannot profitably produce. A few of the
tropical fruits of Florida cannot be raised in Georgia, but all those
of the temperate zone succeed well. Tobacco may be grown in any part
of the State, although it is not extensively cultivated for export.
Cotton is the great crop of Georgia. She ranks third among the eight
cotton States, having exported or consumed in her own manufactures, for
the year ending September, 1878, 604,676 bales, worth at the point of
export $30,000,000. Of this crop 3,608 bales is classed as Sea-island.
Her crop for 1877 was 491,800 bales. The counties of Burke, Dougherty,
Lee, Monroe, Stewart, Sumter, and Washington yield 25 per cent. of the
whole product of the State.

The emancipation of the slaves in the Southern States has naturally
produced great and important changes in the labor system of that
section. The planter must now purchase the labor he formerly
owned. The black is free to dispose of his labor to the best
advantage. The contracts for labor are of three kinds,--for money
wages by the month or year, for a share of the crop, or for specific
rent in money or products. The first has been practised to a
limited extent by the best and most prosperous planters. The share
system has been the one generally adopted, because the blacks
greatly affected quasi-proprietorship of the soil, and because the
owners were inexperienced in the management of free labor, and not
inclined to come personally in contact with it. The share varies
in different localities, but usually one-third to half the crop
goes to the laborers, the landlords furnishing the necessary tools.
The readjustment of labor in the South is watched with the keenest
interest in other sections of the Union as one of the difficult
problems growing out of the suddenly changed relation between white
and black; and though some traces of his original servitude remain a
cause of irritation between North and South, the agreement between the
enfranchised black and his late master is likely to be harmonious,
where each is so dependent on the other as is the case in the
cotton-growing States of the Union.

    _Statistics._--A carefully tabulated statement shows that, in
    addition to her cotton crop, Georgia produced, in 1876, 23,629,000
    bushels of Indian corn, valued at $14,172,000; 2,840,000 bushels
    of wheat, worth $3,805,600; 5,700,000 bushels of oats, worth
    $3,876,000; and 23,600 tons of hay, worth $347,628. To these
    principal crops should be added the timber and naval stores
    exported from Atlantic outports. In January, 1877, there were in
    Georgia 118,300 horses, 404,900 oxen and other cattle, 96,200
    mules, 270,400 milch cows, 378,600 sheep, and 1,483,100 swine,
    having a total valuation of $30,815,117. The State is admirably
    adapted for stock-raising, but, as cotton culture offers the
    quickest returns, it has hitherto engrossed the attention of
    planters and farmers. The grain and root crops are largely
    cultivated for the support of the agricultural population.

    The rice crop of Georgia in 1870 was 22,277,380 ℔; tobacco, 288,596
    ℔; molasses, 553,192 gals.; wine, 21,927 gals.; sugar, 644 hhds;
    sweet potatoes, 2,621,562 bush.; Irish potatoes, 197,101 bush.;
    butter, 4,499,572 ℔; honey, 610,877 ℔; wool, 846,947 ℔, increased
    in 1878 to about 1,000,000 ℔. The latest official census shows that
    6,831,856 acres, valued at $94,559,468, are improved in farms;
    value of farm implements and machinery, $4,614,701; estimated value
    of all farm products, $80,390,228; estimated value of manufactured
    products, $31,196,115. The total valuation of the State in 1870
    was $268,169,207, against $645,895,237, in 1860. The decrease is
    owing to the emancipation of the slaves; but the State is steadily
    gaining ground in increased acreage cultivated, increased number
    and value of manufactories, and increased productive capacity
    everywhere.

    _Mineral Products._--Georgia was perhaps the El Dorado of which
    the Spaniards who invaded Florida were in search. Before the gold
    discovery in California, the “placers” of Northern Georgia were
    profitably worked for many years; but since 1852 their produce has
    almost wholly ceased. The gold-bearing region is comprised in the
    counties of Lumpkin, Habersham, Forsyth, and Hall,--the precious
    metal being found in the alluvial deposits of the streams, and
    also intermixed with the quartz rock of the hills. A branch mint
    was established by the Government at Dahlonega, the shire town
    of Lumpkin county. In 1853 it coined gold bullion of nearly half
    a million dollars’ value; but, as in California, the placers, or
    surface deposits, have become exhausted. Besides this precious
    metal, Georgia contains, mainly in N. E. or Cherokee Georgia, coal
    and fossiliferous iron ore distributed along the ridges between the
    Tennessee and Alabama border. The Cohutta mountains contain copper,
    and also silver and lead ores. Iron ore, manganese, slate, baryta,
    and brown hæmatite are found on the western declivity of this
    range. Between the Cohutta mountains and the Blue Ridge is a vein
    of marble, and adjacent to it are the gold-bearing schists, which
    reappear on the south side of the Blue Ridge. Other minerals are
    granite, gypsum, limestone, sienite, marl, burrstone, soapstone,
    asbestos, shales, tripoli, fluor-spar, kaolin, porcelain clay,
    arragonite, tourmaline, emerald, carnelian, ruby, opal, calcedony,
    agate, amethyst, jasper, garnets, schorl, zircon, rose-quartz,
    beryl, and even diamonds.

    _Population._--The latest official census of Georgia (1870) gives
    a population of 1,184,709 souls, 638,926 being white and 545,142,
    or nearly one-half, black. This population is distributed among
    136 counties, which include 8 cities and 134 incorporated towns.
    Georgia, which ranks tenth in area, is the twelfth of the Union
    in respect to population. Though showing an increase of 127,423
    persons in the previous decade, which embraced the period of the
    war with the North, she has fallen behind one in her rank; but
    indications of prosperity in her agricultural and manufacturing
    interests warrant the belief that Georgia will show a marked gain
    in 1880. A large proportion of this anticipated increase may be
    confidently assigned to the northern section of the State, though
    the middle section is at present most thickly settled.

    _Counties._--There are 136 counties in the State, viz.: Appling,
    Baker, Baldwin, Banks, Bartow, Berrien, Bibb, Brooks, Bryan,
    Bullock, Burke, Butts, Calhoun, Campbell, Camden, Carroll, Cass,
    Catoosa, Charlton, Chatham, Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Cherokee,
    Clarke, Clay, Clayton, Clinch, Cobb, Coffee, Colquitt, Columbia,
    Cowetta, Crawford, Dade, Dawson, Decatur, De Kalb, Dodge, Dooly,
    Dougherty, Douglas, Early, Echols, Effingham, Elbert, Emmanuel,
    Fannin, Fayette, Floyd, Forsyth, Franklin, Fulton, Gilmer,
    Glasscock, Glynn, Gordon, Greene, Gwinnett, Habersham, Hall,
    Hancock, Haralson, Harris, Hart, Heard, Henry, Houston, Irwin,
    Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Jones, Laurens, Lee, Liberty,
    Lincoln, Lowndes, Lumpkin, Macon, Madison, Marion, M’Duffie,
    M’Intosh, Meriwether, Miller, Milton, Mitchell, Monroe, Montgomery,
    Morgan, Murray, Muscogee, Newton, Oglethorpe, Paulding, Pickens,
    Pierce, Pike, Polk, Pulaski, Putnam, Quitman, Rabun, Randolph,
    Richmond, Rockdale, Schley, Scriven, Spalding, Stewart, Sumter,
    Talbot, Taliafero, Tatnall, Taylor, Telfair, Terrell, Thomas,
    Towns, Troup, Twiggs, Union, Upson, Walker, Walton, Ware, Warren,
    Washington, Wayne, Webster, White, Whitfield, Wilcox, Wilkes,
    Wilkinson, and Worth.

    _Cities and Towns._--Georgia has no large cities. Savannah, the
    chief seaport, has a population of about 30,000; Atlanta, the
    capital, 35,000; Augusta, 23,768; Macon, 10,810; Columbus, 7,401;
    Athens, 4,251; Milledgeville, 2,750; and Rome, 2,748. The important
    towns are Albany, Americus, Bainbridge, Brunswick, Cartersville,
    Covington, Cuthbert, Dalton, Dawson, Eatonton, Fort Valley,
    Griffin, La Grange, Marietta, Newnan, Thomasville, Valdosta,
    Washington, and West Point. Columbus, Americus, Atlanta, and
    Rome, as well as Savannah, are considerable shipping points, for
    cotton; Athens is the seat of the University of Georgia; Augusta
    and Columbus are manufacturing centres; Macon has three religious
    colleges; Darien, Brunswick, and St. Mary’s manufacture and
    export lumber. Andersonville, in Sumter county, acquired terrible
    celebrity during the civil war as the site of the chief military
    prison of the Southern Confederacy. Atlanta is by far the best
    example of rapid growth the State affords. From a population of
    21,189 exhibited by the census of 1870, the city advanced to 35,000
    in 1876. It is a railway and manufacturing centre. In the vicinity
    and for its possession were conducted some of the most important
    military operations of the secession war.

    _Manufactures._--Georgia is the foremost Southern State in her
    railway and manufacturing enterprises. Both have been chiefly
    developed since the war, from which everything in the south of the
    Union dates. Her rivers and railways afford abundant facilities
    for the movement of merchandise as well as crops. Her streams also
    provide excellent and unfailing water-power. In the development
    of her industries a great future is predicted for Georgia. Indeed
    some of the more sanguine claim that she is already becoming a
    formidable rival of New England in the manufacture of cotton and
    woollen fabrics.

    There are in the State 38 cotton factories, with 123,233 spindles
    and 2,125 looms. There are 14 woollen factories, with 4,200
    spindles and 135 looms. Augusta and Columbus take the lead in the
    number and capacity of these works, for which certain important
    advantages are claimed. The water-power is so ample that the
    mills are run by it alone. The streams do not freeze in winter.
    The cotton and wool are grown at the factory door, saving to
    the mill-owner the cost of transporting his raw material from a
    great distance. Labor is cheaper. Finally, the State, in order
    to encourage the investment of foreign capital in manufactures,
    has by law exempted such capital from taxation for ten years. The
    product of the Georgia mills finds a ready market in the Southern
    and Western States. It is asserted on good authority that during
    the years 1875, 1876, and 1877--years of unparalleled depression
    to the manufacturing interests of the United States--the mills
    of Georgia, especially those of Augusta and Columbus, were never
    idle, and paid a handsome return on their invested capital.
    Besides the 52 factories which convert so large a share of her
    raw product into cloths, there are 1,375 grain mills, having
    1,453 run of stones for corn and 556 for wheat. There are 734
    saw-mills, 77 wagon and carriage factories, 6 iron furnaces, 7 iron
    foundries, 11 lime-kilns, 4 potteries, 68 tanneries, 6 turpentine
    distilleries, 2 rolling mills, 5 paper-mills, 12 furniture
    manufactories, 3 rice-mills, &c. The manufacture of rope, bagging,
    twine, tobacco, ice, sashes and blinds, agricultural implements,
    boilers and machinery, fertilizers, &c., is carried on more or
    less extensively. Besides Augusta and Columbus, the largest
    manufacturing city of the State, there are cotton factories at
    Athens, Macon, West Point, Decatur, and Atlanta. The latter city
    also has large iron works. Thomasville, Dalton, Albany, Marietta,
    and Rome are also manufacturing points.

    _Commerce._--Large vessels can enter only four harbors, viz.,
    Savannah, Darien, Brunswick, and St. Mary’s. The inlets or sounds
    which divide the coast islands from each other or from the mainland
    are generally only navigable for small craft. At mean low tides the
    bar of the Savannah (Tybee entrance) has 19, the Altamaha 14, that
    of St. Simon’s sound (entrance to Brunswick) 17, and that of St.
    Mary’s river 14 feet of water. Savannah, Brunswick, and St. Mary’s
    are ports of entry. Cotton and lumber are the principal exports. Of
    the former 610,419 bales of Upland, and 11,309 of Sea-island were
    exported during the year ending September 2, 1878. The shipment of
    wool for the same time was 988,389 ℔. These figures should not be
    taken to represent the crop of the State. The ship-timber, boards,
    deals, clapboards, &c., are chiefly shipped from the other ports.
    About 100 vessels, of 22,000 tons burden, are employed in the
    foreign and coastwise trade. For the year ending December 31, 1878,
    the total tonnage of the port of Savannah was--entered, 280,995
    tons foreign and 385,532 coastwise; cleared, 223,885 foreign and
    418,958 coastwise; value of imports $505,596, and of exports
    $24,014,535. In the district of Brunswick and Darien the entries
    were 124,711 and the clearances 32,579 tons; value of exports
    $1,030,943. The St. Mary’s entries were 16,052 tons foreign and
    20,065 coastwise; value of exports $120,186, and of imports $1,421.

    _Railways._--Atlanta, Columbus, Macon, Albany, and Augusta are
    railway centres. In 1860 there were in Georgia 1,404 miles of
    completed railway; in 1878 there were 2,340 miles. The Atlantic
    and Gulf Railway crosses the State from Savannah to Bainbridge, in
    the extreme south-west, on the Flint river. It is 236 miles long,
    passing through Blackshear, Valdosta, and Thomasville (from which
    there is a branch line to Albany--58 miles--and Macon), while from
    Dupont there is a junction with the Florida lines. The Brunswick
    and Albany also extends from the coast at Brunswick to Albany, 172
    miles, whence it is to be continued in a westerly direction to the
    Chattahoochee, in Early county. A third line connects Brunswick
    with Macon (187 miles); and another, the Central Georgia, unites
    Savannah with Macon and Atlanta (294 miles). The Central Georgia
    works a branch-line from Millen to Augusta; the Milledgeville and
    Eatonton from Gordon to Eatonton (22 miles); the South-Western from
    Macon to Eufaula, Ala. (144 miles), with branches from Fort Valley
    to Columbus (72 miles), Smithville to Albany (23½ miles), Cuthbert
    to Fort Gaines (20 miles), Fort Valley to Perry (13 miles), and
    Albany to Arlington (36 miles); the Macon and Western from Macon to
    Atlanta; and the Upson County line from Barnesville to Thomaston
    (16 miles).

    Atlanta is situated on the great iron highways from Boston,
    New York, and Philadelphia to Mobile and New Orleans, and from
    Chicago to Florida. The Western and Atlantic connects Atlanta and
    the Georgia system with the Tennessee lines at Chattanooga (138
    miles). Several great battles were fought for the possession of
    this railway during the secession war. The Atlanta and Charlotte
    Air Line extends to Charlotte, N. C. (269 miles). The Georgia
    railway connects Atlanta with Augusta (171 miles), with lateral
    lines from Carnak to Warrenton (4 miles), Union Point to Athens
    (40 miles), and Barnet to Washington (18 miles); it also works
    the Macon and Augusta line from Carnak to Augusta (70 miles). The
    Atlanta and West Point (80 miles) unites those places. The Alabama
    and Chattanooga crosses the N. W. corner of the State. The Cherokee
    extends from Cartersville on the Western and Atlantic to Rockmart
    (23 miles). The Columbus and Atlanta, projected between Columbus
    and Rome, the Memphis branch (Rome to Decatur, Ala.), and Savannah,
    Griffin, and N. Alabama, from Griffin to Newman, to be extended to
    Guntersville, Ala., are in progress. The Georgia Southern extends
    from Dalton to the Ala. State line (portion of Selma, Rome, and
    Dalton road); North-Eastern from Athens to Lulah (39 miles);
    Ocmulgee and Horse Creek (7 miles); Rome Railroad, Rome to Kingston
    (20 miles).

    _Government._--The executive power is vested in a governor
    elected for four years by a majority of the people. If there is
    no election by the people, the general assembly chooses one of
    the two receiving the highest number of votes. The legislative
    authority is conferred upon a senate, members of which are elected
    for four years, and a house of representatives elected for two
    years. The legislature holds annual sessions, beginning on the
    second Wednesday of January. The State judiciary consists of a
    supreme court of three judges, who hold office for twelve years,
    one retiring every four years, and of inferior courts, presided
    over by nineteen judges, appointed by the executive with the
    consent of the senate. Except in probate cases, these courts have
    original jurisdiction, civil and criminal, in law and equity.
    County courts are established in most of the counties. There is
    an ordinary for each county elected for four years, who holds a
    court of ordinary and probate. The organic law of the State now
    forbids slavery or involuntary servitude except for the punishment
    of crime. Imprisonment for debt, and legislation affecting the free
    exercise of that personal liberty guaranteed to the citizen by
    the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, are also
    prohibited. All male inhabitants between eighteen and forty-five
    are subject to military duty. There is a homestead exemption of
    $2,000 on real, and $1,000 on personal property, except for taxes,
    for money borrowed or expended on the homestead, or for labor or
    materials used upon it. The property held by a married woman at
    the time of marriage, or subsequently inherited or acquired by
    her, is not liable for the husband’s debts. A married woman may
    also sue and be sued in matters pertaining to her separate estate,
    and may carry on trade as if single. Georgia is entitled to seven
    representatives and two senators in Congress.

    _Education._--Previous to the war, there was no common school
    system in Georgia. Although a plan of public instruction was
    organized at an earlier date, it was not given effect to until
    1873. In that year the schools were put in working condition, and
    are now to be found in every county of the State. The attendance
    in 1876 was--whites 121,418,  57,987, showing a small
    but steady increase for the three years the schools had been in
    operation. It is computed by the school commission at 200,000 for
    1879. The higher branches of education are well represented. As
    early as 1801 steps for founding a university were taken at Athens.
    The first commencement took place in 1804. The college proper
    (Franklin College at Athens) annually admits free of charge “fifty
    meritorious young men of limited means,” and also such as may be
    studying for the ministry who need aid. There is also connected
    with the university a medical college, located at Augusta, and an
    agricultural college at Dahlonega, with nearly 250 students, whose
    tuition is free. The State college of agriculture and mechanic
    arts, also connected with the university, has a special endowment
    derived from the United States of $240,000; the whole endowment
    of the university is $376,500. The university, exclusive of its
    establishments at Augusta and Dahlonega, has five departments, 13
    professors, and 200 students, with a library of 14,000 volumes,
    and two literary societies. Besides the usual collegiate course,
    there are a preparatory school and a law school. Mercer College,
    at Macon, is a Baptist institution. It was founded in 1838; and
    until 1870 it was located at Penfield, in Greene county. It has an
    endowment of $160,000, a library of 12,000 volumes, and about 135
    students. Besides the regular academic course, there are schools
    of law and theology. The high schools at Penfield and Dalton are
    connected with this college. Emory College at Oxford, Newton
    county, was chartered in 1836. It is the property of the Georgia
    and Florida conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church (South).
    The present number of students is 156. Emory has a valuable college
    apparatus and a good working library, but lacks an endowment.
    The Wesleyan Female College at Macon was one of the first female
    colleges, if not the first, in the world, its charter having been
    granted in 1836. It has 200 students, and is the property of the
    Methodist denomination. Since 1840 degrees have been conferred upon
    1,080 graduates. The Southern Masonic Female College at Covington
    belongs to the Grand Lodge of Georgia, and is designed to educate
    female orphans of Freemasons. Pio Nono College at Macon is a
    recently established Catholic institution, chiefly founded by the
    efforts of the bishop of Savannah. The Atlanta University for the
    education of <DW64>s was established by the now extinct Freedmen’s
    Bureau and various charitable societies of the Northern States.
    It receives an annual appropriation from the Georgia legislature
    of $8,000. It accommodates 240 pupils. There are a number of
    institutions, in addition to those enumerated, that are entitled
    colleges, but come more properly within the designation of high
    schools. There are also institutions for the blind (at Macon), and
    for the deaf and dumb (near Rome).

_Objects of Interest._--Perhaps the most beautiful scenery in Georgia
is to be found in the mountain region traversed by the Air Line
railway. About 2½ miles from the town of Toccoa the creek of that name
falls 185 feet over a precipice. Fifteen miles beyond Toccoa are the
cascades of Tallulah, where the river descends successive terraces
of broken rock between the walls of a chasm 800 feet deep. In this
vicinity are the charming valleys of Nacoochee and Mount Yonah. In
the extreme north-east is Rabun gap and the cascades of Eastatoia.
Connected with this region, once the hunting-grounds of the warlike
Cherokees, are many Indian legends. The country between Atlanta and
Chattanooga is deeply interesting from having been the battle-ground
of opposing armies in the civil war. Kenesaw mountain, itself the
scene of a bloody encounter, commands a view of the country which for
two months the Confederate commanders disputed foot by foot. Stone
mountain, 9 miles from Decatur, is much visited. The Chattahoochee,
in the neighborhood of Columbus, is picturesque; and Savannah is one
of the most attractive and idiosyncratic cities of the Union. There
are numerous mineral springs scattered over the State, which are much
resorted to by invalids.

_History._--Before the arrival of Europeans the country now embraced
in Georgia was inhabited by the Cherokee and Creek Indians. The
Cherokees possessed the north, the Creeks the south. Both were
very powerful and warlike, the Cherokees numbering 6,000 warriors,
and having 64 towns and villages. To be more precise, the Cherokee
country extended from the 34th parallel north to the country of the
Six Nations, and from the heads of the rivers emptying upon the South
Carolina coast westward to the Mississippi. The whole course of the
Tennessee was within this magnificent domain, now mostly embraced in
the four States of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. In
1729 this extensive territory was surrendered by treaty to the crown of
Great Britain. The following year the Cherokees made formal submission
to Sir A. Cuming, Bart.

Georgia was the only one of the original thirteen colonies that
received any aid in its settlement from the Government of England.
General James Oglethorpe conceived and executed the plan of founding
an English colony in that portion of the Carolina proprietaries’
grant between the Savannah and Altamaha. His purpose was to create an
asylum in the New World where insolvent debtors, and persons fleeing
from religious persecution, might begin life anew or enjoy religious
freedom. By royal letters-patent issued in June, 1732, the proposed
colony was called Georgia in honor of the reigning prince; and the
House of Commons granted £10,000, which was soon increased by private
subscription to £36,000. Under the charter the trustees had powers
of legislation, but could receive no reward for their services. Even
grants of land to themselves were forbidden.

With 116 emigrants Oglethorpe sailed from England in November, 1732,
arriving in the Savannah in February. He landed at the present site
of Savannah, where he was soon after hospitably received by delegates
from the Lower Creeks, who consented that the English might peaceably
inhabit among them. The next year a small number of Bavarians came
over, and were settled in what is now Effingham county. Oglethorpe
also established settlements at Darien, at Augusta, and on St.
Simon’s Island. In 1736 the colony received considerable accessions
of emigrants, with whom came John and Charles Wesley, the founders of
Methodism. In 1738 the Rev. George Whitefield visited Georgia, founding
the orphan-house at Bethesda, near Savannah, from funds chiefly
collected on his tour in the northern colonies.

Anticipating invasion by the Spaniards of Florida, who claimed
Georgia, Oglethorpe, on the renewal of war between England and Spain,
led an expedition to St. Augustine, Florida, which he besieged
without success at the head of 2,000 men. The Spaniards retaliated by
landing in 1742 a small force on St. Simon’s island, from which they
were expelled by Oglethorpe. They then abandoned further attempts.
Slavery was introduced into Georgia about 1750. In 1752 the trustees
surrendered their privileges to the crown. A royal governor and council
were appointed to administer, in conjunction with delegates of the
people, the government of the province. During the French and Indian
wars the remote settlements suffered somewhat from incursions of the
Cherokees. The treaties of 1763 with France and Spain extended the
boundaries of Georgia to the Mississippi on the W., and to St. Mary’s
on the S. After this the colony flourished greatly until the breaking
out of war with England, at which time the colony was estimated to have
a population of about 70,000 souls. In 1775 Sir James Wright, the crown
governor, left the province. Delegates were sent to represent Georgia
in the continental congress who signed the Declaration of Independence.
In 1778 a British land and naval force occupied Savannah and Augusta,
but were subsequently compelled to abandon the latter place. In
September of the same year a combined American and French force,
under Lincoln and D’Estaing, unsuccessfully attempted the recovery of
Savannah, losing nearly 1,000 men in an assault. Augusta was reoccupied
by the conquerors. Charleston being surrendered by General Lincoln
in 1780, the patriots of South Carolina and Georgia were only able
to maintain a partisan warfare, until the advance of General Greene
from the north, at the head of considerable forces, resulted in the
expulsion of the royal troops from those provinces. Georgia at the
conclusion of peace ratified the several Acts constituting her one
of the United States of America. She framed her first constitution
in 1777, a second in 1789, and a third (which has been several times
amended) in 1798.

In 1803 Georgia ceded to the general government all her territory west
of the Chattahoochee, amounting to nearly 100,000 square miles, out of
which the States of Alabama and Mississippi were subsequently formed.
The cession of Louisiana to the United States was of great benefit to
Georgia in ending hostilities which the Spaniards were continually
inciting the Indians to commit upon the scattered settlements. By a
treaty with the Creeks, Georgia became possessed of a large tract in
the south-west of the State. The second war with England (1812-15)
involved Georgia in hostilities with the Indians on her western border,
who were finally subdued by General Andrew Jackson. In 1821 the cession
of Florida to the United States relieved Georgia from the long series
of Spanish aggressions beginning with her existence as a colony.

In 1825 a serious difficulty arose between the State and national
authorities in consequence of proceedings by the Georgia executive
to extinguish the title to lands in the State held by the Creeks and
Cherokees. The head chief of the Creeks, M‘Intosh, was assassinated by
his people for signing away these lands to the whites. By an Act of
Congress passed in 1830, these Indians were subsequently removed to the
Indian territory west of the Mississippi.

Georgia formally seceded from the Union in January, 1861. The
Government forts and arsenals were seized. The first military
operations were on the coast. In April, 1862, Fort Pulaski, one of the
defences of Savannah, was recaptured by the Federal forces under Com.
Du Pont. St. Mary’s, Brunswick, Darien, and St. Simon’s island were
also occupied.

In the beginning of 1863 the Federal forces were in possession of
middle and west Tennessee. In September they occupied Chattanooga in
strong force, the Confederates falling back by the Western and Atlantic
Railway to Lafayette, Ga. A further advance by General Rosecrans,
the Federal commander, brought on the severely contested battle of
Chickamauga, on the creek of that name (September 20). The Federals
retreated to Chattanooga, which was soon threatened by the Confederates
under Bragg. In November the Union army under General Grant drove
Bragg from all his positions. In the spring of 1864 the Southern army
was at Dalton, Ga., on the railway to Atlanta, which it covered. In
May, General Sherman moved forward against this force a numerous
and well-appointed Union army. Severe battles took place at Resaca,
Kingston, and Allatoona Pass. A series of strategical movements,
signalized by frequent bloody conflicts between the rival armies,
resulted in the possession of Atlanta by the Union forces, September 2.
From this point Sherman began in November his memorable march across
Georgia to the sea. On December 10th he arrived in the neighborhood of
Savannah, captured Fort M‘Allister by assault, and occupied the city
on the 21st. A cavalry force under General Wilson entered Georgia from
Alabama in April, 1865, capturing Columbus, West Point, and Macon,
and making Davis, the Confederate States president, prisoner. In
June, 1865, a provisional governor was appointed for the State by the
president of the United States. A convention assembled in October at
Milledgeville, which repealed the ordinance of secession, abolished
slavery, and declared the war debt void. A new constitution was framed
and ratified in 1868, and Rufus B. Bullock inaugurated as governor. The
restoration of civil government under the new forms was not effected
in Georgia without complications which retarded its re-establishment
on a solid foundation, but the amendments to the national constitution
were at length adopted, and her senators and representatives were
admitted to seats in Congress in December, 1870. During the war Georgia
furnished about 80,000 soldiers for the Confederate armies. She
emerged from it with her industries prostrated, her treasury empty,
her social and political system revolutionized, her most flourishing
cities in ruins. Her great natural resources are fast advancing her
to a commanding position among her sister States; and these resources
are developing in the hands of a free people with greater rapidity and
advantage than when half the population was enslaved. Texas possibly
excepted, no Southern State has a greater future than Georgia.

[Illustration: GEORGIA]




    Transcriber’s notes:

    On page 23, the spelling "Kenesaw" is used. This appears to be the
    original spelling of "Kennesaw," and has been retained.

    The following is a list of changes made to the original.
    The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.

    Page 15:

    Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Clarke, Cherokee, Clay, Clayton,
    Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Cherokee, Clarke, Clay, Clayton,

    Page 23:

    county now embraced in Georgia was inhabited
    country now embraced in Georgia was inhabited

    Page 25:

    Georgia, founding the orphan-house at Bethseda,
    Georgia, founding the orphan-house at Bethesda,





End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Georgia, by Samuel A. Drake

*** 