The memorial of Denys Rolle, M. P. and others, London, read Nov. 24, 1763, C.O. 5/648, E. 74, relative to their design of settling a colony between the Apalachee and Altamaha Rivers and enclosing a copy of a memorial presented to Lord Shelburne on the subject.

Whereas a Memorial (of which the inclosed is an exact Copy) was some Months ago presented to Lord Shelburn in Order to be laid before this Right Honorable Board, but by some Accident or Oversight (they are informed) his Lordship has not yet done it. Your Petitioners therefore beg Leave to offer to the Wisdom & Candour of your Lordships the Consideration of this Publick & (as they apprehend) most useful Undertaking: And as they have Reason to believe that had your Lordships been earlier acquainted with it they would have received all due Encouragement from the Board, it is therefore referred to the Consideration of your Lordships how far the Request of your Petitioners is capable of being received without Prejudice to the Steps that have been already taken by the Right Honorable Board.

ENCLOSURE

Humbly Sheweth that

Whereas the Settlement of Colonies in that part of the British Empire called North America has been attended with the most beneficial Consequences to these Kingdoms, has added much to the Honour of the Crown, has been a Source of the most profitable Commerce, & has also provided the means of Subsistence for very many persons otherwise destitute.

Under these Considerations the Petitioner with several other Gentlemen whose Names are inserted at the foot of this Memorial beg Leave to offer to your Lordships their Designs of settling a Colony in the Southern part of the N. American Continent; which they purpose to do in such a Manner as may do Honour to the Government, & effectually to answer the Good Ends of such an Undertaking.

The Plot which they ask for this purpose they would propose to extend from the Georgian Line on the North to another Line Southward, to be drawn Parallel to the Equator from 2 Miles below the Forks of the River Apalachicola to the River Alatamaha; to be bounded on the West by the First & on the East by the last of those Rivers.

On the South Side of the last mentioned River a Town will be immediately laid out & settled as fast as may be, & from thence a larger Town which is intended for the Capital is purposed to be extended on the Apalachicola; & such other Measures will be taken as may be most likely to insure the Success of this Undertaking.

And Whereas the Establishment of a Regular & Just Administration of Government is of the greatest Consequence to the Success of this Design, as by this Inducement Industrious Persons of various Countries & Employments may be encouraged to come & settle under the agreeable Prospect of being secured in their Rights & Possessions & the ready Administration of Justice.

And whereas our Natural & Near Connexion with the Indians of those Parts is unavoidable in itself so Natural, Justice & indeed Humanity require from us a Treatment suited to the Equity of their Pretensions as the true & Original Owners of the Soil. And as in this unavoidable Connexion with them many Disputes & Causes of Complaint will arise (in which our People will not seldom be the Aggressors) which by being speedily redress’d would prevent greater & heavier Inconveniencies & sometimes the most pressing Calamities.

For these & other Reasons which might be offered to the Wisdom of your Lordships the Petitioner & the Gentlemen concerned with him beg Leave to request that Considerations which appear to them so Important may be effectually provided for, either by the Appointment of a Governour at the Expence of the Crown, at least during the Infancy of this Expensive Undertaking; or by vesting the Powers of Government in Your Petitioner (in the same Manner as in Pennsylvania & Maryland) who are willing to establish a Government at their own Expence; in which they will endeavour to honour their Mother County, by diffusing & as much as possible extending that Liberty which is so great a Blessing to all Countries.

The Articles which are chiefly proposed for Commodities are; Silk in particular, which it is proposed to make a Staple, & which will be of the greatest Service to this Kingdom, where that Article is much wanted. Besides this Indigo & several other Commodities; & they have some Hopes of Wine & Oil which will be attempted.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Sept. 7, 1763, Savannah, read Dec. 1, 1763, C.O. 5/648, E. 75, informing the Board of the receipt of papers relative to governor’s correspondence, to the peace proclamation, to Mr. Grover’s removal, and containing an account of the present state of affairs in the province.

My Lords

Last week I had the Honor to receive your Lordships letter of the 29th of April Notifying to me that His Majesty had appointed your Lordships His Commissioners for Promoting the Trade of Great Britain and for inspecting & improving His Majesties Foreign Colonies and Plantations, and inclosing me a Copy of His late Majesties Order in Council, by which the Correspondence between your lordships Board and the Governors of the Colonies is regulated & ascertained, together with Copys of the Secretary of State’s letters to the Board, and to the said Governors, explaining the said Order, and the additional Instruction given to the Governors in Consequence thereof. Which several Orders & Matters your Lordships may depend shall be very carefully Observed & Complied with by me.

I also received your Lordships’ other letter of the same date, and agreeable to His Majesties Commands signified to me by your Lordships, I did immediately on the receipt thereof appoint an Early day of Thanksgiving to be observed by all His Majesties Subjects in this Province, in such manner & with such Forms of Prayer as have been usual on like Occasions.

I also had the honor to receive your Lordships letter of the 10th of May, with a Copy of an order of His Majesty in Council signifying His Majesties Pleasure for the Removal of Mr. Grover, which had Anticipated and Prevented your Lordships Consideration of my Reasons for suspending Mr. Grover from the Office of Chief Justice of this Province.

I can with great Pleasure confirm & assure your Lordships of the Prosperous state of this Province, altho’ the Running out of the Southern Lands, and the Cessions made by France & Spain, Occasioned great discontent amongst the Indians. I have lately received an Account that three men have been killed in the Upper Creeks, by a Party who have always been in the French interest & have Continually Laboured to involve us in a War with the Indians. This Account my Lords I believe may be True, tho’ not absolutely Confirmed yet. But if it should prove true, I have great Reason to Expect that no further mischief will be done, and am very hopefull that at the Congress which is Proposed to be held the 15th of next Month, all Matters will be Explained, Cleared up, & settled amongst us.

It affords great Satisfaction & happiness to the People to be informed of your Lordships disposition to contribute to the benefit & advantage of this Colony in particular, and for which assurance I beg leave to return your Lordships my most hearty Thanks.

I find my Lord by the Receiver Generals Accounts that there will be great Occasion for a quit rent Law to enforce the Payment of His Majesties Rents, and whenever I have the honor to receive the Bill with your Lordships directions upon it, I shall take the first Opportunity of Endeavouring to get it passed into a Law. I observe what your Lordships are Pleased to Mention with respect to the Money arising by the Sale of the Forfeited Lots, which Sume will always be ready to be applied in such manner as His Majesty shall be graciously pleased to direct.

I have also received the Copy of Mr. Ottolenghes Memorial and your Lordships directions thereupon, and shall maturely weigh all the Circumstances attending that affair, and put it on such a Footing, as I think may most Conduce to the support & good management of that Valuable Article. The Produce of this years Silk is now ready to ship and will be put on Board a Vessel that will sail for London by the End of this Month. The whole Quantity of Pure Silk is 953 lb. weight so that your Lordships will see that altho’ we received 298 lb. more Cocoons than the year before yet they have produced 87 lb. weight of Silk less than last year. Mr. Ottolenghe tells me that altho’ the Cocoons first brought to the Filature were equally good with last years, yet the late Cocoons were not near so good, Occasioned by some very cold rains the latter end of April, which made the Worms turn Sickly, and the Cocoons were weak & did not yield so much Silk as those before that weather happened.

Memorial of Denys Rolle to the Board of Trade, London, read Jan. 23, 1764, C.O. 5/648, E. 76, praying that Cumberland Island may be granted to a group he represents.

Humbly Sheweth that

Whereas the Settlement of Colonies in North America has been attended with the most beneficial Consequences to these Kingdoms; Your Petitioner with several other Gentlemen whose Names are inserted at the foot of this Memorial beg Leave to offer to your Lordships their Design of making a Settlement in that Part of the World; which they purpose to do in such a Manner as may do Honour to the Government & effectually to answer the Good Ends of such an Undertaking.

The Plot which they would ask of your Lordships for this Purpose is a small Isle on the Coast of Georgia which they are informed is undisposed of & is known by the Name of Cumberland Isle.

And Whereas the Cultivation of Silk & Cotton would be of great Advantage to this Nation, as being at present extremely wanted; & Large Sums are Annually paid for them to other Countries: Your Petitioners have determined to direct their Attention in a particular Manner to the Growth & Propagation of those Valuable Materials of Commerce. Nor will their Attention be confined only to the above Articles. Several others will be attempted, particularly Wine, Oil & such Commodities as may be hoped for in a Warm Climate.

And as your Lordships have been pleased to honour us with Your Commands on this Occasion we beg Leave to refer entirely to Your Lordships the Manner of disposing or laying down the Terms of the Grant in a Way the Most agreeable to the Welfare of your Petitioners:

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Nov. 23, 1763, Savannah, received Feb., 1764, C.O. 5/648, E. 82, informing the Board that the Creeks at the Augusta congress ceded a large westward tract to the province.

My Lords

I did myself the Honour of writing to your lordships on the 7th of September the Contents of which I beg leave to confirm & refer your Lordships to.

By a letter which I had the Honor to receive from your lordships Board, Dated the 27th of February 1761, the then Lords of Trade were Pleased to Recommend it to me to Endeavour in all my Negotiations with the Indians to Obtain a Release from the Condition or Engagement in the Original Compact with them, by which we are bound not to Settle further up into the Country than the Flowing of the Tides. Since which my Lords things have been so critically Circumstanced, between us, and the Indians, that no Favourable Opportunity has offered for even Mentioning that Affair to them, till the late Congress at Augusta, from whence I returned hither on the 15 instant, and have the Pleasure to Acquaint your Lordships that the Creek Indians then made a Voluntary Cession to His Majesty, of a Considerable Tract of Land to the Westward, which I believe Includes all our Settlements, and other Contiguous Lands claimed by the Indians, and gives Room for a great Number of new Settlements. This my Lords the Indians declared they did as a gratefull Acknowledgement of His Majesties great Clemency and beneficence towards them, in the general Forgiveness of all their Past Crimes & Offences. This Point my Lords I look on as a very Favourable Circumstance for the Province, and a Considerable Acquisition, and fully answers the Purposes intended by their Lordships in February 1761. No man can answer for the Fidelity of Indians, but my Lords they give the strongest assurances of their good intentions and every Appearance seems Favourable. In short if they behave amiss after this nothing will do but force. The Treaty settled at the Congress, and all Proceedings relative thereto, will be Transmitted to the Secretary of States Office as soon as they are fairly transcribed, from whence I Presume your Lordships will be Apprized of the Whole. I forbear to say more lest I should Transgress the mode prescribed for my Correspondence. ⁸⁹ The Silk is ship’t on board this Vessel for the Amount of which I have drawn on Mr. Martyn agreeable to your Lordships directions & his request.

James Wright to the Board of Trade, Dec. 23, 1763, Savannah, received in March, read July 9, 1764, C.O. 5/648, E. 83, recounting the advantages from the Creek land cession, explaining the best methods of peopling the colony, and acknowledging receipt of four of the Board’s letters.

My Lords

My last was of the 23d of November Informing your Lordships of the Cession of Lands made by the Creek Indians, and now do myself the Honor to Transmit to your Lordships a Copy of the Treaty, and a Map of Part of the Province of Georgia, shewing what Lands were formerly Ceded by the Indians to the Trustees, and what Part was Ceded at the late Congress. I have been much indebted to the Surveyors General for their assistance in Furnishing me with this Map which was in a great Measure taken from Private draughts & Materials Collected by Mr. De Brahm. This Cession my Lords cost me some Pains as I saw it was absolutely necessary to Obtain it, which will Appear from a View of the Map shewing our confined Limits and Part of the Lands having been granted & actually Settled before my Arrival here, tho’ never Ceded by the Indians, which Acquisition my Lords together with the Extension of our South Boundary gives Room for a great Number of Inhabitants. If our Indian affairs Continue quiet I doubt not but I shall soon see the Province in a most flourishing Condition, Especially if due care is taken in the granting & disposal of the Lands.

Those my Lords that I humbly conceive will most effectually People, enrich & strengthen the Province at Present, are the Middling Sort of People, such as have Families, & a few negroes. According to the inclosed Specimen of an Application just made to me one Drury Dunn in behalf of himself and several of his Relations & others, for some of the Lands lately ceded by the Indians. Dunn himself at Present lives in So. Carolina, and all the rest are Settled in Virginia, and by this Method your Lordships see that 8550 acres of Land will Accommodate 16 Men, who with their Wives & Children make up 67 white Persons, and bring along with them 125 negroes. This my Lords will really be an Acquisition to the Province, and very different from granting 7500 acres to one Person, as was done last Summer to Mr. Stepehn Bull of So. Carolina whose grant was signed the 21st of May, a Man who has not a Shilling of Property in this Province, is settled in So. Carolina, and I may with the greatest Certainty say never will Remove to Georgia, but Possibly if forced to it, or afraid of losing his Lands for not complying with the Terms of his grant, may send an overseer & a few Negroes to make a show of Cultivation. But my Lords this I conceive is not Settling or Peopling a Colony. On the Contrary is Rather a Real Injury to it, and in this View and on this Consideration I grounded my assertions in my letter to your Lordships in April last Relative to the Carolina Proceedings to the Southward of the Alatamaha, and hope those Grants will yet be Set aside.

At the same time my Lords if Men of Substance such as Mr. Bull would remove into the Province and bring with them a Negro for every 50 Acres of Land, which I Presume is agreeable to the Royal intention undoubtedly such Inhabitants would be a great benefit to the Province, but I know, & see, so much of those things, that I am very Clear it will never be the Case of Mr. Bull, and many other of the Carolina Grantees who have large Tracts, unless a Law was to be made Obliging them to send a Negro into the Province for every 50 acres of Land granted them, or their grants to be Forfeited & Void. Something to this Purpose make them usefull to the Province, and I am Pretty Certain they will not Otherwise. My objections to those Grants my Lords are made with a True Zeal for His Majesties Service and the good of the Province over which I have the Honor to Preside.

P.S. 30 December. I have this day had the Honor to receive your Lordships letters of the 30th September & the 7th, 10th, & 11th of October which I shall Pay the greatest Attention to, and answer by the next Opportunity.

Copy of the Nov. 9, 1763, Augusta treaty of peace with the Creeks, Savannah, read July 9, 1764, C.O. 5/648, E. 84, enclosed with Wright’s Dec. 23, 1763, letter to the Board of Trade.

At a Congress held at Augusta in the Province of Georgia on the tenth day of November in the year of Our Lord One thousand seven hundred and Sixty three, By their Excellencies

A Treaty for the preservation and continuance of a firm and perfect peace and friendship Between His most Sacred Majesty George the Third by the grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland King defender of the faith and so forth, And the several Indian Chiefs herein named who are authorized by the Kings, Head Men, and Warriors of the Chickesaws, Upper and Lower Creeks, Chactaws, Cherokees, and Catawbas, for and in behalf of themselves and their several Nations and Tribes.

Article the 1st

That a perfect and perpetual Peace and sincere Friendship shall be continued Between His Majesty King George the Third and all his Subjects and the several Nations and Tribes of Indians herein mentioned, That is to say the Chickesaws, Upper and lower Creeks, Chactaws, Cherokees, and Catawbas, and each Nation of Indians hereby respectively engage to give the utmost attention to preserve and maintain Peace and Friendship between their People and the King of Great Britain and his Subjects, and shall not commit or permit any kind of Hostilities, injury or damage whatever against them from henceforth and for any Cause or under any pretence whatsoever.

And for laying the strongest and purest foundation for a perfect and perpetual Peace and Friendship, His Most Sacred Majesty has been graciously pleased to pardon and forgive all past Offences and Injuries And hereby declares there shall be a general Oblivion of all Crimes, Offences and Injuries that may have been heretofore committed or done by any of the said Indian Parties.

Article the 2d

The Subjects of the Great King George and the aforesaid Nations of Indians shall for ever hereafter be looked upon as one People and the several Governors and Superintendent engage that they will encourage persons to furnish and Supply the several nations and Tribes of Indians aforesaid with all sorts of Goods usually carried amongst them in the manner in which they now are and which will be sufficient to answer all their wants.

In consideration whereof the Indian Parties on their part severally engage in the most solemn manner that the Traders and others who may go amongst them shall be perfectly safe and secure in their several persons and effects and shall not on any account or pretence whatever be molested or disturbed whilst in any of the Indian Towns or Nations or on their Journey to or from the Nations.

Article the 3d

The English Governors and Superintendent engage for themselves and their Successors as far as they can that they will always give due attention to the Interest of the Indians, and will be ready on all occasions to do them full and ample Justice. And the several Indian parties do expressly promise and engage for themselves severally and for their several Nations and Tribes pursuant to the full right and power, which they have so to do, That they will in all cases and upon all Occasions do full and ample Justice to the English, and will use their utmost endeavours to prevent any of their People from giving any disturbance or doing any damage to them in their settlements or elsewhere as aforesaid either by stealing their Horses, killing their Cattle, or otherwise, or by doing them any Personal hurt or Injury. And that if any damage be done as aforesaid, satisfaction shall be made for the same, to the party injured, and that if any Indian or Indians whatever, shall hereafter murder or kill a white Man, the Offender or Offenders shall without any delay, excuse or pretence whatever be immediately put to Death in a public manner in the presence of at least Two of the English who may be in the Neighbourhood where the Offence is committed.

And if any white Man shall kill or Murder an Indian, such white Man shall be tried for the Offence in the same manner as if he had murdered a White Man and if found guilty shall be executed accordingly in the presence of some of the Relations of the Indians who may be murdered if they choose to be present.

Article the 4th

Whereas doubt and disputes have frequently happen’d on account of Encroachments or supposed Encroachments committed by the English Inhabitants of Georgia on the Lands or Hunting Grounds reserved and claimed by the Creek Indians for their own use. Wherefore to prevent any mistakes, doubts or disputes for the future and in consideration of the great Marks of Clemency and Friendship extended to Us the said Creek Indians, We the Kings Head Men and Warriors of the several Nations and Towns of both upper and lower Creeks by Virtue and in Pursuance of the full right and powers which We now have and are possessed of Have consented and agreed that for the future the Boundary between the English settlement and Our Lands and Hunting Grounds shall be known and settled by a Line extending up Savannah River to Little River and back to the Fork of little River and from the fork of Little River to the ends of the South Branch of Bryar Creek and down that Branch to the lower Creek Path and along the lower Creek Path to the main Stream of Ogechee River, and down the main stream of that River just below the Path leading from Mount Pleasant and from thence in a straight Line cross to santa Sevilla on the Alatamaha River and from thence to the Southward as far as Georgia extends or may be extended to remain to be regulated agreeable to former Treaties and His Majesties Royal Instructions a Copy of which was lately sent to Us.

And We the Catawba Head Men and Warriors in Confirmation of an agreement heretofore entered, into with the White people declare that We will remain satisfied with the Tract of Land Fifteen Miles Square a survey of which by our Consent and at our request has been already begun and the respective Governors and Superintendent on their parts promises and engage that the aforesaid Survey shall be compleated and that the Catawbas shall not in any respect be molested by any of the Kings Subjects, within the said Lines, but shall be indulged in the Usual manner of Hunting elsewhere.

And We do by these presents give grant and Confirm unto His Most Sacred Majesty King George the Third all such Lands whatsoever as we the said Creek Indians have at any time heretofore been possessed of, or Claimed as our hunting Grounds, which lye between the Sea, the River Savannah and the Lines hereinbefore mentioned and described. To hold the same unto the Great King George and his Successors for ever. And we do fully and Absolutely agree that from Henceforth the above Lines and boundary shall be the mark of division of Lands between the English and Us the Creek Indians notwithstanding any former agreement or Boundary to the Contrary. And that We will not disturb the English in their settlements or otherwise within the Lines aforesaid.

In Consideration whereof it is agreed on the part of his Majesty King George that none of his Subjects shall settle upon or disturb the Indians in the Grounds or Lands to the Westward of the Lines herein before described, and that if any shall presume to do so then on Complaint made by the Indians the party shall be proceeded against for the same and punished according to the Laws of the English.

In Testimony whereof We the underwritten have signed this present Treaty and put to it the Seals of Our Arms the day and Year above written and the several Kings and Chiefs of the several Nations and Tribes of Indians have also set their Hands and Seals to the same at the time and place aforesaid.

Fort Augusta, 10th November 1763.

This is to certifie that the above written is an exact and faithfull Copy of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship concluded with the several Governors Assembled and Chief Indians for that purpose.

Fenwicke Bull, Secretary.      

Names of persons applying to settle on lands lately ceded by the Creek Indians, received with Wright’s Dec. 23, 1763, letter to the Board of Trade, read July 9, 1764, C.O. 5/648, E. 89.

1. Ellis and Governor William Henry Lyttleton of South Carolina seem to have gotten along very well during Ellis’ stay in Georgia. His letters to Lyttleton are in the Lyttleton Papers, Clements Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. See also Lewis M. Wiggin, The Faction of Cousins: A Political Account of the Grenvilles, 1733-1763 (New Haven, 1958), especially 163-166; and M. Eugene Sirmans, Colonial South Carolina: A Political History, 1663-1763 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1966), 308-335.

2. The reference is to William Little, private secretary to John Reynolds, Ellis’ predecessor as Governor of Georgia, and to the political intrigues centering around Little’s conduct. Relying upon Little for advice and support, Governor Reynolds appointed him to seven offices. Little’s arrogant personality coupled with his many official functions served to alienate most of Savannah’s leading figures and even many of Reynolds’ own supporters. Ellis had been forewarned of the situation and he moved cautiously on his arrival in Georgia. Much of this story is told in other volumes of this series. See Allen D. Candler and Lucian L. Knight, eds., The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia, 26 vols. (Atlanta, 1904-1916). Vols. 20, 27-39, now being printed for the first time, are presently in manuscript at the Georgia Department of Archives and History, VII, 253; XIII, 111-126, 152; XXVIII, MS, 16-17, 46-48, 95, 187-213; South Carolina Gazette, Feb. 17, 1757; and W. W. Abbot, The Royal Governors of Georgia, 1754-1775 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1959), 43-54, 56, 60-65.

3. Henry Ellis inherited the “Bosomworth Claims” from former Governor John Reynolds. Stemming from the assertion of Thomas and Mary Bosomworth of title to the islands of Ossabaw, Sapelo, and St. Catherines and to compensation for Mary’s services to the colony under James Oglethorpe, the affair had not been settled by 1757. Unlike his predecessor, Ellis did not sympathize with the Bosomworths in their claims against Georgia and he passively sought to prevent the pair from prosecuting their case in London. Never settled until 1760, the “Bosomworth Claims” clouded Ellis’ administration, effectively preventing an Indian cession to the colony and alienating Savannah from Lower Creek leadership. See E. Merton Coulter, “Mary Musgrove: ‘Queen of the Creeks’: A Chapter of Early Georgia Troubles,” Georgia Historical Quarterly, XI (March, 1927), 1-31; David Corkran, The Creek Frontier: 1540-1783 (Norman, Okla., 1967), 114-115, 131-161, 170-171, 188-191. A great deal of material is found in later pages of this volume.

4. As Georgia’s first royal governor, John Reynolds was ordered to straighten out the confusion in land titles created by the Trustees’ irregular and frequently conflicting land policy. After identifying holders of Trust grants, Reynolds was to see to it that new patents were issued. Accordingly Reynolds issued two proclamations to that effect, the first on January 1, 1754/5, and another in May, 1755. Both were ignored widely and Trust grants continued to trouble royal government. See Reynolds’ Instructions, Aug. 6, 1754, CRG, MS, XXXIV, 5 7-59; reprinted in Albert Saye, ed., “Commission and Instructions of Governor John Reynolds, Aug. 6, 1754,” Georgia Historical Quarterly, XXX (June, 1964), 149-152; and CRG, MS, XXVIII, 224-226, 228-231, 257.

5. Four hundred Acadians from Nova Scotia were sent to the Savannah area by the British in December, 1755. Resented by the local populace, they settled a small village west of Savannah and were given only low-paying, menial jobs. The last Acadians, forty-four in all, left Savannah on Jan. 9, 1764, aboard the brig Polly and Betsy bound for Cape François. See E. Merton Coulter, “The Acadians in Georgia,” Georgia Historical Quarterly, XLVII (March, 1963), 68-76; Georgia Gazette, Dec. 22, 1763, Jan. 12, 1764.

6. A reference to the fourth Earl of Loudoun, John Campbell (1705-1782), commander-in-chief of British Forces in America, 1756-1757.

7. William John Gerar DeBrahm came to Savannah in March, 1751, as a surveyor for the British government. By 1763, he had become Surveyor-General for the Southern District. An excellent cartographer and engineer, DeBrahm designed several British fortifications, including the ill-fated Fort Loudoun. For DeBrahm’s defense plans for Georgia, see Louis DeVorsey, ed., DeBrahm’s Report of the General Survey in the Southern District of North America (Columbia, S. C., 1971).

8. Governor John Reynolds first had advocated moving the capitol from Savannah to Hardwick, twelve miles to the south at the mouth of the Ogeechee River. Ellis subsequently adopted the idea but no move ever was made. Georgia’s last colonial governor, James Wright, finally abandoned the plan altogether in 1760. See Wright’s letter to the Board of Trade, Oct. 23, 1760, below in this volume.

9. Called by William Stephens, then President of the colony, “an obstinate little convert from Judaism,” Joseph Ottolenghe came to Georgia in March, 1752. Sent by the Trustees to oversee the operation of the filiature and to teach the art of winding silk to young women, especially Salzburger girls, Ottolenghe remained in Georgia after interest in sericulture waned. Well regarded by his superiors in Savannah, he eventually was granted a yearly pension of £50 sterling. See CRG, XXIV, 319, 344; XXVII, MS, 307; E. Merton Coulter, ed., The Journal of William Stephens, 2 vols., (Athens, 1958-1959), II, 88.

10. “Cartes,” or maps, long ago were detached from letters in the British Public Record Office and filed separately.

11. Oglethorpe’s 1733 and 1739 treaties with the Creeks ceded to Georgia only the lands as far inland “as the tides flowed.” See “Oglethorpe’s Treaty With the Lower Creek Indians,” Georgia Historical Quarterly, IV (March, 1920), 3-16.

12. A Quaker, Edmund Gray (Grey) came to Georgia in 1750, establishing a shadow government in the back country around Augusta. Expelled by the Assembly on January 27, 1755, for seditious activities, Gray and a group of his “Virginians” moved south across the Altamaha River where no government could reach them. Ellis tolerated Gray’s settlement at New Hanover and further encouraged the dissidents to move to Cumberland Island, perhaps in the belief that his affiliation with Gray would prevent the outcasts from associating themselves with either the Spanish or Creek Indians. See Charles C. Jones, The History of Georgia, 2 vols., (Boston, 1883), II, 27; Abbot, Royal Governors of Georgia, 38-43, 45-63, 72; CRG, VII, 94-97, 252; XIII, 18-39, 68; XXVII.

13. Probably a reference to Ephriam Alexander, “one of Gray’s principal Adherents,” who moved to Cumberland Island and established a small trade with the Lower Creek Indians. Alexander still lived on the Island at the end of the French and Indian War.

14. St. Augustine.

15. Alonso Fernandez de Heredia.

16. The “Moor” mentioned here likely is the son of James Moore, a famed South Carolina Indian fighter who, in 1704, with fifty Carolinians, went to the Lower Towns and raised one thousand Creek warriors to attack the Apalachee missions. The elder Moore was known for his Indian diplomacy and his open hostility toward the Spanish and French. See W. S. Jenkins, ed., “South Carolina Journals of the Commons House of Assembly, 1692-1779,” 20 reels, microfilm, in South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, S. C., VII, 422.

17. Edmund Atkin served as Indian Superintendent for the Southern District of North America from 1756 to 1761. Before his arrival in Charleston, Atkin had spent most of the previous year preoccupied with Indian concerns in Virginia. Henry Ellis thought that he understood the Creeks better than Atkin, and accordingly he resented the Superintendent’s attempts to assert control over trade and Indian affairs in Georgia.

18. A Lowland Scot, Patrick MacKay came to Georgia in 1735. Receiving a grant of five hundred acres at Joseph’s Town on the Savannah River, MacKay abandoned it in 1738 when the Trustees refused to let him use slave labor and moved across the Savannah River to South Carolina. From that strategic location, MacKay engaged in the coasting trade, principally with the Montaiguts of Charleston, dealt illicit rum to the Indians for deerskins, purchased the two sloops owned by Bethesdea orphanage for his expanding trade, and accumulated rice plantations on both sides of the river. A wealthy man by 1756, he was appointed member of the King’s Council by Reynolds and in 1757 a judge of the General Court. Ellis disapproved MacKay’s “clandestine activities.” See CRG, II, 112, 120-121, 124, 166; IV, 108, 115-116, 160; IV, Supplement, 74-75; V, 17, 40; VIII, 44; IX, 51; XXI, 272; XXII, Pt. I, 72; XXIII, 280.

19. Only a “Schedule of Publick Papers,” and not the papers themselves, was sent. The “Schedule” was not found with this letter.

20. Henry Ellis to the Board of Trade, May 5, 1757, above, p. 16.

21. Located at the 1735 Highland Scot settlement on the Altamaha ha River, the Darien fort presumably would guard the southern part of the colony. In similar fashion, the Augusta, Midway, and the Ogeechee stockades were placed in strategic locations on Georgia’s principal rivers.

22. On September 3, 1756, Tuckabatchee Creeks stole several horses from a group of English settlers illegally invading the Creek country on the Ogeechee River. In retaliation, settlers pursued the Creeks and killed three of them. Known as “the Ogeechee incident,” the affair almost caused an open Creek break with the English. As it was, Creek resentment against the British smoldered for years. See W. S. Jenkins, ed., “South Carolina Book of Indian Affairs, 1710-1760,” microfilm, South Carolina Archives Department, Columbia, S.C., V, 176, 207.

23. In truth, Savannah’s harbor was “more intricate and shallow” than Charleston’s, a fact earlier admitted by Ellis.

24. The address is given in CRG, XVI, 236-238.

25. Sunbury officially was declared Georgia’s second port of entry in 1763.

26. Lower Creeks from the town of Swaglaw who, upset by the movement of white settlers into their area, displaced to the Tuckabatchees near the French-held Fort Toulouse in 1756. The Swaglices reputedly were nativist, anti-English in their sentiments.

27. Given in CRG, XIII, 146-151.

28. Ibid., 152.

29. Captain Dan Pepper, former commander of Fort Moore, was sent by Governor Lyttleton to reside among the Creeks for an extended period of time in order to push the English point of view and to counter a growing Creek-Cherokee nativist coalition. Using Lyttleton’s peace message and trade concessions as tact, Pepper successfully calmed the restive Creeks, urging them to forget the “Ogeechee incident.” Only the traders, especially the ones at Augusta, objected to Pepper’s mission, and they expressed their strong disapproval to Governor Ellis. See Jenkins, “Book of Indian Affairs,” V, 176, 207, 215-218, 229, 284-285, 336-337; VI, 12, 36, 29, 30, 45-47, 56, 228-229.

30. See CRG, VII, 643-644, 657.

31. Ibid., 665.

32. The treaty is given in ibid., 665-667

33. Oglethorpe’s expenses, incurred from 1738 to 1743 and amounting to £34, 749.10. sterling, are included in Records of the British Public Records Office, Treasury Papers, T.1/306 to T.1/312. Additionally, in 1752, the Trustees paid Oglethorpe £583.0.4½ sterling for his military services to the colony. See ibid., T. 1/350, and Amos Aschbach Ettinger, James Edward Oglethorpe: Imperial Idealist (1936, Clarendon Press, reprinted 1968), 273-274, for a description of Oglethorpe’s finances in 1750 and in 1752. He did not begin to collect meaningful sums from the Crown until after 1752.

34. Writing in 1743, William Stephens thought he had discovered the reason skilled instructors such as Mary Camuse refused to teach others the art of winding silk. “If I am rightly informed,” Stephens maintained,” ‘tis Death for any Piedmontors. . .who shall divulge the Art (of winding silk) in another country.” Like Mary Camuse, a Piedmontose from northwestern Italy, Ottolenghe also was a covetous and zealous guardian of his expertise, teaching only enough to maintain his position as a sericulturist. See Coulter, ed., The Journal of William Stephens, II, 83, 88; and CRG, XXIII, 227, 344, 468.

35. The editors are grateful to Professor Marcel Andrade of the Department of Spanish at the University of North Carolina at Asheville for this translation. The incorrect Spanish is undoubtedly due to the copy available being made by a clerk in Savannah who knew no Spanish.

36. A bilander was a small, two-masted ship used on the canals and along the coast of the Netherlands and Europe. In America, bilanders were of the same genre as periaguas, small boats of all sorts plying the coasting trade.

37. Worried over the “Declining State” of Georgia under Reynolds’ administration, the Board of Trade sought reasons for the colony’s lack of progress. In the spring of 1756, Alexander Kellett, provost marshal and councilor, left for England at the request of “most of the Councillors, Representatives, Public Officers, Planters of Substance and Character” in Georgia to present a memorial to the Board. Extremely detailed, the memorial constituted a severe indictment of Reynold’s activities as governor. It was to these charges that Reynold’s replied in his April 17, 1758, letter to the Board of Trade. See CRG, XXVII.

38. James Abercromby commanded British forces in America at the attack on the French at Fort Ticonderoga in 1758. Defeated in that battle, Abercromby was recalled to England that same year.

39. These Orders are placed in the original volume according to the date read; in this case, July 8, 1760.

40. By this time, Edmund Gray’s settlement at New Hanover had become a pawn in the diplomatic game between England and Spain. Ellis’ official correspondence reflects a stronger position than he actually took. With a lingering claim to the region, South Carolina also objected to Gray’s presence and, together with Georgia and in compliance with Pitt’s instructions, sent a commissioner to New Hanover to deliver official instructions to evacuate the settlement.

41. Ellis’ reference is to the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle which ended the War of Jenkins’ Ear and preserved the status quo in the region. The story is best told in Herbert E. Bolton and Mary Ross, The Debatable Land (Berkeley, Calif., 1925), 77-97.

42. The report follows the next letter.

43. Given in CRG, XIII, 408-410.

44. No such bill was passed in Georgia until June 9, 1761. See CRG, XVIII, 464-472.

45. Sir Patrick Houstoun, Bart., was the senior councillor and the man referred to by Ellis.

46. The treaty is given in South Carolina Gazette, Jan. 12, 1760. A thorough disaster, the agreement humiliated and angered the Middle Settlements of the Cherokees and strengthened the anti-English faction; by the time Ellis penned this letter, resentful Cherokees had begun to move against the South Carolina-Georgia back settlements.

47. The Cherokee assault on the Georgia frontier failed to materialize. On Jan. 29, 1760, John Downing, Bernard Hughes, and other escaping Middle Settlement traders passed through John Vann’s place on the Broad River, warning the settlers of the impending attack. Alerting the militia, Vann successfully withstood the oncoming Cherokees. Checked at Vann’s place, the Cherokees also faced large and hostile Creek hunting parties in the Georgia forests. Afraid of disrupting their lucrative trade with Augusta and Savannah and unwilling to ally themselves with whites, the Creeks instead screened the Cherokee attack on Georgia’s frontier. Thus, only half a dozen Georgians were killed by the marauding Indians and the colony was spared the long war which followed.

In this instance, Ellis’ policy of bribes, threats, and setting the two nations against one another worked, and it is largely to its successful outcome in 1760 that Ellis’ considerable reputation as an Indian diplomatist rests. See South Carolina Gazette, Feb. 9, March 22, 1760; Maryland Gazette, March 13, March 20, 1760; Abbot, The Royal Governors of Georgia, 79-82.

48. On May 16, 1760, in the Upper Creek town of Sugatspoges, young Abeika warriors under Handsome Fellow attacked John Ross’ trading post and murdered him and his two Negro servants. Before the day ended, eleven traders at Sugatspoges, Okfuskee, Okchai, and Calailegies had been killed and their stores sacked. Led by Handsome Fellow and Red-Coat King, the Indians hoped to force the Creeks from their traditional neutrality into a conspiracy with the French against the English. Still, the scheme failed. Coupled with reassurances from responsible Creek headmen, Ellis responded with restraint, as his letter indicated. Once again, Ellis made the right moves and peace was preserved on the Georgia frontier. See CRG, VIII, 310, 316, 327, 349, 421; South Carolina Gazette, April 7, May 10, 17, 24, June 21, 1760; James Adair, The History of the American Indians (London, 1775), 278-283.

49. This portion of Mary Bosomworth’s narrative historically is well-founded. In 1717, Brims, Creek emperor of Coweta, gave his niece, Coosaponakessa, in marriage to Johnny Musgrove, the half-breed son of Colonel John Musgrove of South Carolina. Rumored to be the daughter of the explorer Henry Woodward by Brims’ sister, Coosaponakessa had been educated as a Christian at Pon Pon in South Carolina. Thus Mary early became a regal pledge between Brims and the English to cement peace after the disastrous Yamasee War. The Musgroves then moved into the debatable land across the Savannah River to Pipemaker’s Creek a mile west of present-day Yamacraw Bluff. By January, 1733, the Musgroves ran one of Carolina’s most prosperous trading establishments. When Oglethorpe landed at Yamacraw, Mary was almost forty-six years old.

50. This refers to the 1745 invasion of Scotland by Charles Stuart, son of the Old Pretender. See Ettinger, Oglethorpe: Imperial Idealist, 275-276, for Oglethorpe’s part in the rebellion.

51. In 1746 Oglethorpe was courtmartialed “for having disobeyed or neglected his orders and suffered the Rear of the Rebells near Shap to escape” in the northern campaign against the Jacobites. See Ettinger, Oglethorpe: Imperial Idealist, 264-270.

52. An allusion to the President and Assistants in Savannah and to the Bosomworth’s Charleston creditors.

53. From 1735 to 1740 the Georgia Trustees sent sola bills to the colony to circulate as money. By the end of 1755 all sola bills had been recalled and paid. See Eric P. Newman, The Early Paper Money of America (Racine, Wis., 1967), 88; and Harley L. Freeman, “Bills of Credit of Georgia, 1732-1786,” Numismatist (July, 1931), 3-12.

54. Pickering Robinson came to Georgia in 1750 as an expert in sericulture to replace Mary Camuse, the quarrelsome “Worm Woman” of Savannah. The most popular of the instructors sent by the Trustees, Robinson quickly confessed that he did not understand the art of winding silk, and in 1752 Joseph Ottolenghe was sent to aid him. By 1758 Robinson had returned to England. See Amy C. Chambliss, “Silk Days in Georgia,” Georgia Magazine, April-May, 1959, 20; Pauline Tyson Williams, “The Silk Industry in Georgia,” Georgia Review, VII (1953), 39-49; and Marguerite Hamer, “The Foundation and the Failure of the Silk Industry in Provincial Georgia.” North Carolina History Review, XII, (1935), 125-148.

55. On February 24, 1760, Lord Jeffrey Amherst, Commanderin-chief of the British forces in North America, assigned Colonel Archibald Montgomery of the Seventy-seventh Regiment together with twelve companies of Highlanders, nearly 1,320 officers and men in all, to undertake a punitive expedition against the Cherokees. Joined by South Carolina rangers, provincials, and guides at Ninety-Six in late May, Montgomery’s force numbered 1,670 men when he entered Cherokee country in June, 1760.

56. This is the same as Ellis’ preceding letter of July 10, 1760, to the Board of Trade but with a postscript.

57. Sir Matthew Lamb, an adviser to Georgia Trustee Lord Egmont and legal counsel to the Board of Trade, deemed himself the caretaker of the colony’s fortunes before the Board of Trade during the royal period. Lamb usually reviewed Georgia laws sent to the Board. See DNB, XVI, 432.

58. On Aug. 9, 1760, the British garrison at Fort Loudoun surrendered to the Cherokee Chief Oconostota and, as part of the capitulation agreement, prepared to march to Fort Prince George in South Carolina or to Virginia. Captain Raymond Demeré, a former officer in Oglethorpe’s regiment then commander of the Fort Loudoun garrison, dispatched a renegade named McLamore to Governor Bull of South Carolina with the news. The next day, Aug. 10, the departing troops were ambushed and captured by angry Cherokees. Thus it is likely that when Ellis wrote this letter he knew of the surrender but not the ultimate fate of the garrison. Coupled with Montgomery’s retreat from Etchoe on June 28, the Fort Loudoun tragedy checked British policy toward the Indians. See R. S. Cotterrill, The Southern Indians: The Story of the Civilized Tribes before Removal (Norman, Okla., 1966), 31-32; David Corkran, The Cherokee Frontier: Conflict and Survival, 1740-1762 (Norman, Okla., 1966); Governor William Bull of South Carolina to Lord Amherst, Oct. 19, 1760, Amherst Papers; B.P.R.O., W. O. 34/35; South Carolina Gazette, Aug. 23, Oct. 18, 1760.

59. Fort Tombigbee lay on the river of the same name some two hundred miles north of Mobile. It was the principal French fort in Choctaw country in 1760.

60. Fascines were bundles of sticks bound together and used to fill ditches and to strengthen the sides of trenches. For a discussion of this type of fortification used in eighteenth-century Georgia, see William A. Hunter, Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier, 1753-1758, (Harrisburg, Pa., 1960).

61. The minutes of the House, Nov. 20, 1760, given in CRG, XIII, 453, do not print this address but refer to its passage.

62. As part of the funeral ceremony for George II, in Savannah guns were fired at an interval of one a minute.

63. The “Wolfe King” was the Wolf of the Muccolassus, an Upper Creek town near Fort Toulouse on the Coosa River and a strong supporter of English policies. In Charleston, the Wolf King was entertained by Lieutenant Governor William Bull and duly impressed by a review of regular troops and Mohawk Indians preparing to march against the Cherokees in the spring. Returning to the nation, Wolf King vigorously supported the English position and, as a result, Ishenpoaphe and Escochahen, both Upper Creek supporters of the Cherokees, sent firm talks of friendship to Wright. See CRG, VIII, 470, 512, 514.

64. This address is given in CRG, VIII, 495.

65. “Sinking money” from the general appropriations meant to pay up the amount, thus reducing it, in this case by a tax on tavern licenses. See William E. Heath, “The Early Colonial Money System of Georgia,” Georgia Historical Quarterly, XIX (June, 1935), 145-160; M. L. Burstein, “Colonial Currency and Contemporary Monetary Theory: A Review Article,” Explorations in Entrepreneurial History, III (1966), 220-233; and E. James Ferguson, “Currency Finance: An Interpretation of Colonial Monetary Practices,” William and Mary Quarterly, X (1953), 153-180.

66. The address is not given here. It may be found in the Journal of the Upper House of the Assembly, April 13, 1761, CRG, XVI, 550.

67. On December 15, 1760, Lord Jeffrey Amherst, angered by the Fort Loudoun massacre, ordered Colonel James Grant, former commander of the Seventy-seventh Royal Scots battalion in Montgomery’s expedition, “to chastise the Cherokees (and) reduce them to the absolute necessity of suing for pardon.” Organizing a punitive expedition, Grant set out from Charleston with an army “2600 strong” for the Cherokee country on March 20, 1761. Backed by a war faction in Charleston which thought the expedition would “bring money into the province” and protect their frontier plantations, the campaign was popular in South Carolina. In all this, Georgia’s interests seldom received consideration either from Amherst in New York or from officials in Charleston. Wright’s letter is a reaction to that neglect.

68. For years, Indians and Scotch-Irish settlers had clashed in western Pennsylvania, prompting Benjamin Franklin to call for a congress at Albany, New York, for June and July, 1754, to discuss Indian Affairs. Wright also believed that southern governors should agree on a common policy toward Indians. Thus “Congresses” between Indian and governor became a popular device for treating with Indians.

69. Benjamin Martyn, former secretary to the Georgia Trustees, was currently Board of Trade agent for Georgia.

70. In law, a feme covert was a married woman.

71. All these acts except No. 13 are printed in CRG, XVIII, 372-464.

72. The reference is to the instructions issued to Wright when he became Georgia’s royal governor. Wright’s thirty-third instruction is the same as that given in Albert B. Saye, ed., “Commission and Instructions of Governor John Reynolds, Aug. 6, 1754,” Georgia Historical Quarterly, XXX, 142.

73. Given in CRG, XVI, 608-609.

74. The Report is in ibid., 599-607.

75. In law, non compos referred to a person not of sound mind, mentally incapable of handling his own affairs. It often is written non compos mentis.

76. Acts No. 3 and 6 are in CRG, XVIII, 464-472, 479-481

77. Despite Wright’s statement about the necessity of the quitrent law, it seems to have become lost in the bureaucratic mill at Whitehall and never to have been approved by the Privy Council.

78. Wright fixed the white population at 6,100 in his letter of April 15, 1761, p. 306, above.

79. The Governor and the Council constituted the highest count in the colony, reviewing decisions made by provincial courts. In the case of the petition of George Leonard and others, the Governor and Council determined to notify the prosecution by a nole prosequi that prosecution in the case would be ended. This and other material on the suspension of Chief Justice Grover is in CRG, VIII.

80. This address is printed in CRG, XIII, 753-754.

81. These minutes are printed in CRG, VIII, 735-751.

82. Thomas Boone was governor of South Carolina 1761-1764

83. Referred to as the “Rule of 1758,” in which William Pitt forbade any settlements south of the Altamaha without crown approval.

84. With the cession of Florida to Britain by the Treaty of Paris on February 10, 1763, the question of which colony owned the territory south of the Altamaha became an important one. This area had been used sparingly by Spanish from Florida, South Carolinians, and Georgians throughout the eighteenth century. Now it would be eagerly sought by British colonials for the first time. Technically the land belonged to South Carolina, having been included in her Charters of 1663 and 1665. Georgia had been given the land between the Savannah and Altamaha Rivers but no more, but with the exit of the Spanish from Florida it made sense to give this land to Georgia or to include it within a new colony. Boone was undoubtedly swayed by such a consideration in his rush to grant these lands to South Carolinians before that colony lost them. Wright was just as logical in wanting the grants stopped for he hoped that Georgia would secure additional lands here, as she did by the royal proclamation of Oct. 7, 1763.

85. For almost a quarter century, James Wright had served South Carolina as attorney general and as provincial agent in London; now as Georgia’s governor he used his knowledge of South Carolina’s land policies against his former employer. Wright chose not to argue Georgia’s case based upon Oglethorpe’s settlements and military activity in the area from 1735 to 1742, but, rather, upon Carolina’s well-known abuses of its land granting system. In this way Wright avoided the legal tangle inherent in Charleston’s case while he played upon the Board’s bias against land engrossment. Legally Wright appealed to the Crown’s authority in the matter while he ignored Charleston’s historical case. Briefly Wright argued that the 1758 ruling had not been withdrawn, and that without consulting its neighbor or its sovereign South Carolina prematurely granted lands in the area. Besides, Wright reasoned, these all were Crown lands now, especially since London had taken over the South Carolina charter in 1728. Moreover, he pointed out, Charleston had issued warrants in general terms, without definite boundaries, in large acreage to only a few families, thus violating the Board of Trade’s land granting procedures worked out since 1730.

86. This protest and caveat is printed in CRG, IX, 40-44

87. This memorial was refused by the Board of Trade.

88. This memorial was refused by the Board of Trade.

89. Additional information on the Congress of Augusta may be found in John Richard Alden, John Stuart and the Southern Colonial Frontier (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1944), 176-191. The minutes of the Congress are in CRG, XXXIX, and in the Colonial Records of North Carolina, 10 vols. (Raleigh, 1886-1890), X, 156-207.