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CIVIL GOVERNMENT 1779 - 1782

PROVINCIAL government was restored in Georgia in March, 1779, and Governor Wright and other officials returned from England in the summer to assume their old jobs. During the siege of Savannah in 1779 Wright and his council secured slaves to work on the defenses and encouraged civilians to cooperate with the military. After the siege, the civil government checked the conduct of all residents of Savannah who had taken the oath of loyalty to the King but had not helped with the defense of the city. Any whose loyalty was suspect were required to post a £100 bond for good behavior for the next year and to take the oath of loyalty again.¹

At the first session of the general court after the siege, probably the first session since the return of the British to Georgia, the civil government tried to show its real strength. Chief Justice Stokes charged the grand jury to investigate, for the purpose of indicting for treason any questionable conduct during the siege, and at least seven people were indicted. Three of these were found guilty of treasonable misdemeanors. Two were fined £300 and £200 each, but no punishment for the third is recorded. Two confessed their indictments and were fined £100 and £20 each. One was tried for high treason and acquitted. The last was held over for trial by the next court, and no further record of the case has been discovered. Wright hoped that this action would convince others that treason would not go unpunished by the provincial government.²

The British government suggested that Wright call an assembly soon after his return to Georgia, but he had delayed because the entire province had not been regained and because he feared that an assembly might be controlled by those who had taken the oath of loyalty to the King for reasons of expediency and not because of real loyalty. Early in 1780 Wright and his council planned to hold an assembly election when the British troops moved out of Georgia to help Clinton at Charleston. The plan was to send the troops up to Augusta before they crossed into South Carolina, and thus impress the back country with the strength of the royal government, in the hope that this show of power would secure a more loyal assembly than might be elected otherwise. But the troops crossed the Savannah River at Savannah, and the election was not held.³ On March 3, Clinton issued from his headquarters before Charleston a proclamation offering pardon for past treasonable offenses to all who speedily returned to their allegiance to the King.⁴ Wright objected to this proclamation as being too broad and including many former inhabitants of Georgia who had been active in the rebellion. To prevent such people from getting control of the provincial government, writs for an assembly election were issued at once.⁵ The election was held in April in every parish except St. Paul (Augusta), where the deputy provost marshal said an attempt to hold an election would be dangerous.⁶

When the assembly met, four parishes (St. Paul, St. David, St. Matthew, and St. Mary) were not represented, and only fifteen of the twenty-six elected members qualified. Eighteen had been the quorum of the Commons House in former assemblies. However, Wright and his council decided to treat the Commons House as a legal one, and it lowered its quorum to eleven early in the session.⁷ In his opening address, Wright said that Britain had given up levying taxes on its colonies except the duties for the regulation of commerce, the net proceeds of which were to go to the colonies. All arrears of quit rents were remitted, and future collections of quit rents and fines and forfeitures were to accrue to the colony. The replies of both houses expressed appreciation for the return of British government to Georgia and for Britain’s giving up colonial taxation, which the Commons House thought “ought to remove every discontent and doubt of the most bigotted Zealots for American Independence.” Both houses voted a joint address thanking the King for re-establishing civil government, for returning Wright to Georgia, and for doing other good things for the colony.⁸

The assembly remained in session from May 9 through July 10, with a two-week adjournment in mid-June. It worked hard to restore Georgia to its pre-revolutionary status by renewing expired laws and passing needed ones. Of the nine acts passed, only three can be traced directly to the rebellion. One of these set up a method of proving property ownership when records had been carried out of Georgia by the Whigs. Another took all political rights away from 151 prominent rebels and anyone else who had occupied any official position under the rebel state government. The third declared all actions of the Whig governments illegal and void.⁹

Wright seemed well pleased with this assembly session. He said that there were several other matters he would have liked done, but since the weather was hot and the assemblyman seemed tired he judged it best to let them go home.¹⁰ By the time the assembly was prorogued, Charleston was in British hands and there was hope that peace would return to the Southern colonies with all of Georgia and South Carolina under British control. Augusta and the great majority of Georgia except the Indian cession of 1773 (Wilkes County to the Whigs) were in British hands.

Throughout the summer of 1780 the provincial government gained strength and control of more Georgia territory. But despite a better position than it had enjoyed since its return early in 1779, there was still opposition—active on the frontiers, passive nearer Savannah where the British army was in control. The June grand jury complained that many notorious rebels were allowed to pass freely through the province and recommended that all old paper currency be called in and that the colony’s currency be given a general overhaul.¹¹ In Savannah at least, it was government as usual, rebellion or not.

A full contingent of provincial officials had been appointed with the return of Wright to Georgia. Throughout the summer of 1780 justices of the peace, commissioners of roads and ferries, commissioners of the loan office, and commissioners of pilotage at Savannah were appointed. In August the appointment of officials for St. Paul’s Parish and the 1773 Indian cession was evidence that effective control of these areas was hoped for in the near future if not already achieved. Militia officers were appointed for the entire province in September.¹²

During the attack on Augusta in 1780, Wright called the assembly into session to consider defense. After a two-week session, in which little business was transacted by the Commons House, the assembly requested adjournment because of the meeting of the general court. The bill for reorganization of the militia had not been passed, but Wright adjourned the assembly as requested.¹³

By this time, the pattern of assembly action for the rest of the colonial period was evident. It was hard to get assemblymen to remain in session long enough to do the necessary business, and they showed little desire to carry out Wright’s suggestions. The attitude was one of passive resistance rather than active objection to Wright’s program. By the end of 1780 Wright was doubtful of the cooperation he could expect from the assembly. He reported that assemblymen did not attend sessions, that some resigned, and that many elected since the original election were hard to get along with.¹⁴ As long as the British remained in Georgia there were frequent short sessions. Three acts were approved in the fall of 1780, nineteen during the first six months of 1781, and four on August 2, 1781. No record of acts approved after August 2 has been found, but it seems that acts were passed and approved later than this.¹⁵

The provincial assembly tried to ignore, for legal purposes, the years during which there had been no provincial government. It removed legal disabilities created by the lapse of time or lack of positive action on the part of the Whig governments and cancelled all Whig political action. All abandoned property was ordered taken over and managed for the benefit of the province. Several laws had to do with the defense of the province. There were two acts concerned with rebel treason and its punishment. The rest of the legislation of the assembly consisted of ordinary peace-time measures, a type that might have been passed had there been no rebellion. Wright reported that thirty-three acts were passed between July, 1780, and August, 1781.¹⁶

Of the ordinary legislative business, the most noteworthy item was the attempt to take care of the physical growth of Georgia. The lands of the Indian cession of 1773 had not been organized into parishes when royal government ended in Georgia in 1776 but had been made into Wilkes County by the state constitution of 1777. In the spring of 1781 these lands and the western part of St. Paul’s Parish were divided into two new parishes, St. Peter and St. Mark. The same act also created a western circuit court for the parishes of St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. Mark. This court, equal in power to that at Savannah and conducted by the same judges and officials, was to meet twice a year at Wrightsborough. The governor and council were given power to establish other circuit courts if they were needed.¹⁷ This act was passed about a month before the beginning of Whig operations that resulted in the capture of Augusta, and it is doubtful if the new parishes ever attempted to operate. Certainly the western circuit court did not.

Throughout the period when there was no provincial government in Georgia, 1776-1778, Parliament continued the yearly appropriations to pay Georgia officials who were in England. The temporary officials appointed by the military in 1779 were paid half the salary plus emoluments of office, the amount usually paid to temporary officials in the absence of the appointee.¹⁸ Because of the destruction in Georgia, the necessity for giving relief to many loyalists, and the inability of loyal Georgians to pay taxes, the British government furnished an extra £5,000 contingent fund for Georgia for 1780 and 1781.¹⁹

Georgia’s restored colonial government was willing to live off the bounty of the British government, and no record of the introduction or discussion of a tax bill in the assembly has been found. Provincial taxes before 1776 had brought in about £3,000 a year, and the extra £5,000 for 1780 and 1781 made taxes unnecessary. By the time of the 1782 assembly sessions, too little of Georgia was under British control for the assembly to make a tax bill of any value. Besides the funds granted in England for the support of Georgia, the provincial government used the funds collected from British customs duties in Georgia.²⁰ The only records of taxes actually levied and collected in provincial Georgia between 1779 and 1782 are the parish levies for Christ Church Parish.²¹ There were probably similar levies in other parishes.

Although not interested in provincial tax bills, the British government did urge Wright to get the assembly to vote a permanent sum as Georgia’s share of imperial expenses to replace the colonial taxation given up by Parliament.²² In 1781 the assembly complied by granting a 2½% duty on all exports produced in the colony.²³ Chief Justice Anthony Stokes said that he drafted the original bill but that it was so changed in the Commons House that he was not responsible for its final form.²⁴ The Board of Trade did not approve certain parts of the bill; but, instead of recommending disapproval on technicalities, it recommended approval. It complimented Wright and Georgia for setting an example for other American colonies and for suggesting that certain points of the bill be changed by future legislation.²⁵ This bill was approved by Wright on March 6 and by the Privy Council on June 24, something of a record for speed in approving bills in England. No record has been found of what amounts, if any, were collected under this act.

A problem that worried loyalist Georgians more than the support of their government was the treatment of rebels. Soon after the return of the British to Savannah, Colonel Campbell appointed a police board to have charge of deserted and rebel plantations. In March a permanent board of five commissioners of claims was created to manage, in the interest of the province, all such property, including wandering Negroes.²⁶ In the summer of 1779 Georgia and South Carolina loyalists in England were ordered to Georgia with the suggestion that those qualified be used as managers of vacant estates until their own property was freed from rebel control. Income from vacant estates was to be used to support needy loyalists.²⁷ Considerable income was expected, and an elaborate organization for estate management was created. However, by the end of 1780 Wright reported that little had been received and nothing more could be expected. The fact that many Negroes were carried into South Carolina by the rebels rendered the plantations useless. After the destruction of the barracks at Savannah during the siege of 1779, rebel houses in the town were occupied by the British troops stationed there. Vacant estates were plundered by partisans of both sides, and much that was movable was carried off. Many loyalists returned and took over their own estates. Nothing of any value was left.²⁸

Besides temporary management of vacant estates, there was the question of permanent disposition of both rebels and their estates. At the first session of the restored royal assembly, bills were passed by both houses to attaint 112 prominent rebels for high treason and to confiscate all their property. But since the two houses were unable to agree to a single bill no law on the subject was enacted.²⁹ The assembly did pass an act that disqualified politically 151 prominent rebels listed in the act and all others who had held official position under the state government. Most of the people named in the proposed act of attainder were in this disqualification act. The governor and council could remove the disqualifications imposed when the people concerned showed the proper loyalty to the King. Any who had given up their loyalty after November 1, 1779, must take an oath of allegiance to the King, renounce any allegiance to the state government, and give bond for twelve months’ good behavior. Any person in the province who refused to fulfill these conditions must join the British army or be impressed into the navy. This act was Wright’s answer to Clinton’s proclamation of amnesty issued upon the reduction of Charleston. But by 1781 Wright thought the act did not go far enough and should be strengthened because there were still rebels going at large in Georgia, even in Savannah.³⁰

In April, 1781, the assembly attainted for high treason twenty-four individuals and all others who had held civil or military office under the state government except those who had conformed under the disqualifying act. All their property was forfeited, subject to debts due to loyal subjects and a one-third reserve for any wives or children who were loyalists. The people attainted could stand trial for treason before October 9 if they preferred, in which case the provisions of the act would not apply to them. This act was not to go into effect until it received royal approval, and there is no indication that such approval was ever received or that the act was put into effect.³¹ The rebel property advertised for sale in the Royal Georgia Gazette was usually on attachment for debt or was to settle suits that had gone by default because the defendants did not appear in court.

The provincial government had difficulties with the British military authorities in enforcing its disqualifying act. A number of Georgia Whigs, captured when Charleston fell to the British in 1780, returned to Savannah as military prisoners on parole with the permission of the British commander in Charleston. When arrested by the civil authorities under the disqualifying act, such people always claimed that these arrests were illegal and got the backing of the military and the British commissioners for restoring peace. The only two such cases that can be traced to a conclusion are those of John Glen, the first state chief justice, and Dr. James Houstoun, a surgeon in the Continental Army. Glen took the oath of allegiance to the King and Houstoun submitted to trial for treason, the outcome of which has not been discovered.³² The British government allowed the Georgia civil government, rather than the military, to decide the status of the people arrested. Wright and his council were consistent in disregarding paroles, maintaining that a parole given by the Whigs was illegal and did not excuse British subjects in Georgia from doing militia duty.³³ Most of the people arrested under the disqualifying act apparently took the oath of allegiance to the King and were released.

Ten days after the disqualifying act was passed in July, 1780, Sir Patrick Houstoun and Andrew McLean, both named in it, attended council to explain their conduct during the rebellion and to have their disqualifications removed. McLean had his disqualifications removed on July 24, but it was November 13 before Sir Patrick’s case was completed.³⁴ Records of five other removals have been found,³⁵ and it is supposed that there were more of which no record has been discovered. Six other people³⁶ on the provincial disqualifying act were included in the state act of confiscation and banishment of 1782, apparently because they had their disqualifications removed and resumed their loyalty to the King. Records are too fragmentary to give complete information about the operation of the disqualifying act.

To understand the operation of the provincial government from 1779 through 1782, the influence and actions of Governor Wright must be considered. When Wright returned to Georgia in 1779 he hoped to restore the province to its old place in the British Empire. His first disappointment was in finding only part of Georgia under British control. But with the work of re-establishing royal government and the siege of Savannah and its aftermath, Wright had sufficient activity to keep him busy. Things became worse when the province was stripped of troops to help capture Charleston, but the situation improved after Charleston was taken and the British occupied much of South Carolina and most of Georgia in late 1780 and early 1781.

Wright never thought that there were enough troops in Georgia to control all of it and to protect all loyalists against the rebels who refused to accept the blessings of restored colonial status. If Georgia were to be an example in showing the other revolted colonies the errors of their ways, then the loyalists must be protected from rebels who continued to cause so much damage. Wright expressed himself clearly on this matter to the military and to the authorities in London. The military operated in a bigger field and never agreed with Wright on the importance of controlling all of Georgia. The British government agreed with the military. Wright developed a feud with the military that must have caused both to disregard the viewpoint of the other, regardless of the merits of individual cases.³⁷ By the end of 1780 Wright’s letters lost their old force and reason and became increasingly the futile objections of a man in an impossible position who knew he could do little about it but wanted to get his position on the record. The caliber of Wright’s work and leadership did not measure up to his earlier competency. Several times he requested leave to return to London, saying that he was of little use in Georgia.³⁸

Despite Wright’s disgust during the last part of his stay in Georgia, he continued to be the real leader of the provincial government. He generally got the complete backing of his council, more and more made up of officeholders, and he had no fights with the assembly. The British government backed him in all but military matters. He was given especially high praise after the passage of the duty act granting a permanent income to the British government.³⁹ But this praise was small consolation in Wright’s argument with the military and for his constantly shrinking province. When the order to evacuate Georgia came in the summer of 1782 he objected strenuously, and insisted that a few more troops would return the province to its old loyalty.⁴⁰ He must have left the scene of his greatest successes and failures with a deep feeling of frustration and disappointment and “gone home” to England a tired and embittered old man. He spent the last three years of his life fighting for some measure of financial compensation from the British government for the services and losses of himself and of other loyalists who had been forced to leave their positions, homes, and property to the victorious Americans.

Besides the provincial government, there was also a state government in the Whig part of Georgia after the return of the British. After the minutes of the state executive council for December 26, 1778, is the following notation, “The Town of Savannah being taken by the British Troops, on the twenty eighth of December put a final end to public business of a civil nature.”⁴¹ This statement came very near being literally true. A new assembly had been elected on the first Tuesday in December, 1778, but the capture of Savannah came before it met. An attempt was made to convene this assembly in Augusta on the first Tuesday in January, 1779, but representatives appeared from only Wilkes, Richmond, and Burke counties—approximately half the state. The area overrun by the British was not represented. When it became apparent that only three counties would be represented, the meeting adopted the name convention instead of assembly; it did not try to act as an ordinary assembly but merely sought to keep a state government in existence.⁴² There are no minutes of this convention and little is known of its actions. It did not elect a governor but by January 8 chose a committee, which organized itself as the executive council of the state on January 21 and elected William Glascock as its president.⁴³ Governor John Houstoun, who had been present at the capture of Savannah, apparently considered this council the new state executive, for he made no attempt to act as governor in 1779.

What happened to the executive council and any other state government that existed when the British occupied Augusta for the first part of February is not recorded. With the British raiding the back country, it could have done little. The state government returned to Augusta when the British withdrew to Hudson’s Ferry. One interesting item of business of the council in July was to order an election to be held at Spirit Creek on July 2, apparently by the voters, to choose a delegate to the Continental Congress. No hint is given as to why the council did not itself elect the delegate, and apparently no delegate was elected by the people on July 2.⁴⁴

In April and May Georgia refugees in South Carolina took steps to reconstitute a Georgia government, but it is impossible to determine just what they accomplished.⁴⁵ On July 24 a body calling itself “the Representatives of the Counties of Wilkes, Richmond, Burke, Effingham, Chatham, Liberty, Glynn and Camden and other free men of the State,” but never using the term assembly, met in Augusta, to consider “the present disturbed situation of this State; and applying as far as in our power some remedy thereto.” Considering itself inadequate to act as an assembly and never claiming any legal authority for itself, this body appointed a supreme executive council of nine men (John Wereat, Joseph Clay, Joseph Habersham, Humphry Wells, William Few, John Dooly, Seth John Cuthbert, William Gibbons, Sr., and Myrick Davies) to serve until the first Tuesday in January, the day when the assembly should meet under the constitution, “unless sooner revoked by a majority of the freemen of this State.” This body gave the supreme executive council full governmental powers, subject to the approval of the citizens of the state, and directed the council to follow the constitution as closely as possible.⁴⁶ Some 500 citizens of the three northern counties signed statements approving the creation and powers of the supreme executive council.⁴⁷ The council announced that it claimed only executive powers and intended to uphold the constitution as best it could.⁴⁸ The supreme executive council did not claim a better legal base than the executive council it replaced, although apparently it was selected by representatives of a larger number of counties.

On July 24, the day of its election, the supreme executive council organized, with Seth John Cuthbert as president pro tempore; it selected John Wereat as permanent president on August 6. Courts were ordered opened in Wilkes and Richmond counties and were actually operated. Sentences of civil and military courts were approved, and pardons were issued—even for notorious Tories—by the council. Commissioners for these two counties were appointed to receive plunder, to return that belonging to Whigs, and to keep that belonging to Tories. The state treasurers were ordered to return to Georgia with their money and accounts, and North Carolina was requested to give Georgia militia officers help in returning the treasurers if they refused to return of their own accord.⁴⁹ The supreme executive council was willing and able to act as Georgia’s executive over the part of the state subject to its authority, but it was weak and at times had to content itself with requests rather than with orders.

One of the major problems of the supreme executive council was to secure sufficient money to operate the government, to pay and feed militia on duty, and to feed the people who had fled from their homes or who were unable to cultivate crops because of the devastated condition of the state. The council was given all financial power and urged to get finances and currency in better shape, but it could do little. No tax bill had been passed since 1778, and few taxes could have been collected even had there been a tax bill on the books. The state’s credit was so low that no one would lend it money. General Lincoln and Joseph Clay, Continental Paymaster General for the Southern Department, refused to turn over money voted by the Continental Congress for Georgia to the supreme executive council because it was not a constitutional executive, but they did entertain applications from it for specific expenditures.⁵⁰

After additional unsuccessful attempts to convene an assembly, on November 4 the supreme executive council ordered the election of an assembly on the first Tuesday in December, the day specified by the constitution. The Whig inhabitants of the counties overrun by the British were asked to repair to some convenient place in the area under Whig control and vote, so that as full an assembly as possible might be elected.⁵¹

Late in November a group of people calling themselves an assembly, but in number apparently considerably short of a constitutional quorum, met in Augusta. How the members of this body were selected is not known, but it is possible that some of them were elected by their counties. The Richmond County Grand Jury in its March, 1780, presentments said that this body “assumed and exercised the legislative and executive powers of government, contrary to the express letter and spirit of the constitution,” and apparently met to further the “private purposes of some artful and designing individuals.”⁵² This “assembly” elected William Glascock speaker, George Walton governor, and an executive council with delegates from five counties (Liberty, Effingham, Burke, Richmond, and Wilkes).

Walton issued a proclamation declaring the laws of the state in full force and requiring all officers to enforce the same. He recommended to his “assembly” that it send representatives to Congress, restore the credit of the state’s paper money, raise a corps of horsemen to check British and Indian raids, and find some method of effectively dealing with the Tories who lived in Whig Georgia. Walton and his group called the supreme executive council the “Tory Council” although Walton’s group had no better claim to being a legal government. Evidently both Walton and his council and the supreme executive council claimed to be the legitimate Georgia executive until the new assembly met in January, 1780. Walton applied to the Continental Congress and its agents, General Lincoln and Joseph Clay, for the $500,000 voted for the use of Georgia, but the money was not paid to him.⁵³

During the meeting of the Walton “assembly” there were objections to Lachlan McIntosh’s presence in the state as a Continental officer. He had returned earlier in 1779. After the session ended, letters of Walton and Glascock were sent to Congress saying that there was a general aversion to McIntosh in Georgia and that it would be better for the war effort if he were used elsewhere. Congress removed McIntosh from his Southern command on February 14, 1780, without giving him a hearing.⁵⁴ When McIntosh asked Glascock about his letter, Glascock denied having written such a letter or having harbored such beliefs.⁵⁵

Glascock’s statement set off a Congressional investigation in the fall of 1780. Walton, who was then a member of Congress, said that during the session of his “assembly” a committee informed him that it had been appointed to draw a letter to Congress protesting McIntosh’s return to Georgia. The “assembly” adjourned suddenly before the letter was written, and Glascock, a member of the committee, authorized it to sign his name to the letter. When the letter was finished it was signed for Glascock and sent to Congress by Walton. Richard Howley and George Seegar, both members of the 1779 “assembly,” appeared before the Congressional committee and testified that the Glascock letter represented the general opinion of the 1779 “assembly.” The Congressional committee decided that this letter plus the one from “Governor” Walton were sufficient grounds for removing McIntosh from his command, and Congress agreed.⁵⁶ In 1781 Congress, at the instigation of James Mitchell Varnum, repealed its February 15, 1780, resolution against McIntosh. Walton and Howley, both in Congress, tried to insert an amendment to keep McIntosh from getting another command in Georgia, but their attempt failed.⁵⁷

The Georgia assembly considered the matter in 1783 and came to the conclusion that the executive objections to McIntosh were “unjust, illiberal, and a misrepresentation of the facts.” Glascock’s letter was declared a forgery “in Violation of law and truth and highly injurious to the interest of the State.” The attorney general was directed to investigate the matter and enter such prosecutions as appeared necessary.⁵⁸

Here the case ends so far as the record goes. Nobody ever questioned Walton’s story. The real answer to what happened is lost in the confused situation at the time. There was a political split between the radical or country group, led by Walton and Howley, and the more conservative group, led by Wereat and the supreme executive council. McIntosh apparently adhered to the conservative group, though he said he tried not to take sides. Walton had defended McIntosh in Congress at the time of his first removal from Georgia but had since broken with him.⁵⁹

The assembly elected at the call of the supreme executive council assembled in Augusta in January, 1780, and was controlled by the Walton faction. It elected Richard Howley, president of Walton’s executive council, as governor and Walton as one of the delegates to the Continental Congress. It elected a full slate of state officials and declared the acts of the supreme executive council illegal.⁶⁰ The fact that the state government was now back in the hands of one group and existed according to the constitution should have compensated for some of what conservative Whigs considered the shortcomings of the actual government. General Lincoln and Joseph Clay turned over to the new government $597,000 in Congressional funds voted for Georgia.⁶¹

Although the British seemed firmly entrenched in coastal Georgia, the 1780 state assembly formulated plans for the development of the upcountry. This, the first government body not dominated by the coast, struck out to fulfill Georgia’s destiny in the rich lands of the Piedmont. One of the two acts known to have been passed by this assembly stressed upcountry development. Augusta was made the seat of the government and public offices were to be opened there, but in times of danger the executive might move elsewhere. One-acre lots were to be laid out from the vacant lands at Augusta and sold at public auction for one-half cash and one-half to be paid within twelve months. Purchasers must build houses at least 20’ x 16’ or forfeit their lots. The streets were to be regularized and straightened; the jail and the courthouse were to be moved from Brownsborough to the public lot on Broad Street. Public lots were to be reserved for houses of worship, for schools, and for a burying ground.

An attempt to get more settlers for Georgia was embodied in the provision that anyone who would settle in the state and take an oath to support it would be granted 200 acres of land plus 50 acres for each additional member of his family. Settlers in Wilkes County would be exempt from militia duty for two years except for local defense. A town of 100 lots, named Washington, was to be laid out adjacent to the Wilkes County courthouse and its lots disposed of on the same terms as those in Augusta. The governor was requested to issue a proclamation inviting settlers to take up Georgia’s rich lands, and a land office was ordered opened at once.⁶²

When the state was stripped of troops to help fight Clinton at Charleston, the executive council resolved that it and the governor leave Augusta and, if necessary, carry on executive business outside the state. On February 5, 1780, the council resolved to adjourn to Heard’s Fort, some eight miles from Washington in Wilkes County, but it is not clear if it actually left Augusta.⁶³ Governor Howley called upon all Georgians to stand firm against the British and to exert themselves in the defense of the United States. The winter and spring of 1780 were so confused that at times the executive council felt it necessary to call on the militia to carry out ordinary civil orders.⁶⁴

Governor Howley had ignored the February 5 urging of his council to go to Congress for his personal safety; but on May 25 when he was again urged to do so, he decided to take advantage of the option allowed him by the assembly and go to Philadelphia. Stephen Heard, president of the council, now assumed the governor’s duties; and the government moved out of Augusta (if that was the location), probably to Heard’s Fort.⁶⁵ The British moved into the Georgia and Carolina upcountry and occupied Augusta.

From the end of May, 1780, until July, 1781, the whereabouts or existence of the Georgia state government is unknown. Augusta was in the hands of the British until June, 1781. Tradition has it that the government moved about in Wilkes County to keep out of British hands and possibly crossed into South Carolina. It seems certain that council president Stephen Heard went into South Carolina and was succeeded by Myrick Davies in August, 1780. No assembly was elected or met during this period. Militia that operated in Wilkes County and South Carolina did so because of the leadership of its commanders and not because there was any central direction from a state government. Truly, state government was in default and it was every man for himself in Whig Georgia. Wilkes County and perhaps part of Richmond were the only areas not subject to British control for most of this period, and they were subject to Tory and Indian raids. In June and July, 1781, General Greene tried to re-establish a state government where apparently there was none. He sent Joseph Clay to Augusta after its capture by the Whigs early in June, to form a temporary council to govern Georgia until constitutional government could be re-established. Clay said that he did this.⁶⁶ In August, Dr. Nathan Brownson, Continental Army hospital head in the South, went to Georgia to try to unite the various militia commanders under one head. General Greene said that the late governor of Georgia (otherwise unidentified) proposed to appoint Brownson brigadier general of Georgia, but Brownson’s status and just what he did in Georgia are not known.⁶⁷

After the capture of Augusta from the British in June and their withdrawal from Ninety Six early in July, the Georgia state government could operate again. An assembly was elected and met in Augusta on August 17 with representatives from every county except Camden. The assembly first elected Nathan Brownson its speaker but immediately thereafter elected him governor. An executive council, a full slate of state officers, county officers for every county except Glynn and Camden, and Congressional delegates were elected. All state laws, expiring or near expiring and not repealed or repugnant to the constitution, were extended.⁶⁸

Militia field officers for six counties were elected, and enlistment bounties and pay for a state legion of 200 men then enlisting at the recommendation of General Greene were authorized. Attempts were also made to procure needed supplies for militia and State troops. The militia act subjected people who refused to do militia duty to a fine of £15 sterling in specie for the first offense, confiscation of half their property for the second offense, and service as Continental soldiers for the duration of the war for the third offense.⁶⁹

Reclaiming Georgians who had taken the oath of loyalty to the King was begun by an act which allowed such people to remain in the area under state control if they had committed no crimes against Whigs and had joined the American army. Others who desired to reclaim their state citizenship could do so if they joined the army, gave security to stand trial for any crimes committed, and took an oath to the state and renounced their loyalty to the King. The loyalty of any suspected citizens was to be investigated, and the families of loyalists within the British lines were ordered to move within the British lines themselves. Commissioners were appointed to search out and take into their possession Tory property so that it could be rented or sold for the benefit of the state.⁷⁰

At the request of the assembly, the governor issued a proclamation requiring citizens who had fled northward from the state to return and help fight the British. People in South Carolina were to have thirty days to return, those in North Carolina sixty days, those in Virginia ninety days, and those farther north four months. Any who did not return were to have treble taxes assessed against all real estate they owned in Georgia.⁷¹

This session of the assembly lasted only five days and was concerned almost entirely with the restoration of constitutional government. It took up no involved or controversial legislation and did not even suggest a tax bill. It passed only four laws, copies of only two of which have been located.⁷²

Although constitutional government had been restored, it was very weak during the four and a half months that Brownson was governor.⁷³ There were almost continual drafts of militia and less frequent requests to General Greene for troops to protect Georgia against Tories and Indians. In September a group of Tories tried unsuccessfully to capture Governor Brownson and his council. Myrick Davies, president of the executive council, was captured and murdered in December. Another unsuccessful attempt was made to capture Governor Martin in March, 1782.⁷⁴ The financial condition of the state was desperate. Military supplies and food for troops were bought on four-months credit if anyone could be found who would sell on such terms; supplies were taken off loyalists’ estates, were begged from anyone who had anything needed, were impressed, and probably were taken without any formalities by hungry troops. Cattle from the lower part of the state were collected to feed troops and civilians and to be traded for other needed supplies. Purchase of horses for state troops at the exorbitant price of £45 sterling each was authorized. Much of the time of the governor and council was taken up in ordering rations and salt issued to families of militiamen and to others who were in need.⁷⁵ Dr. Brownson must have been glad when his term as governor ended in January and he could return to the relative quiet of his position as head of the military hospitals under General Greene.

When the 1781 elections were announced, people from the counties still in alarm were urged to meet in Augusta and vote for representatives from their counties, so that the new assembly would have a full representation. Every county was represented in the assembly which met on January 1, 1782, in Augusta.⁷⁶ By then the majority of the state was in Whig hands; and after the arrival of General Wayne in Georgia early in January, the British were confined to the Savannah area.

After electing William Gibbons speaker and John Martin governor “by a large majority,”⁷⁷ the assembly went on to consider the state’s financial condition. All state salaries were reduced, and the assemblymen voted to serve gratis.⁷⁸ Many salaries were past due; some militiamen had not been paid since 1778. In the first real attempt to audit state accounts since the British invasion, an auditor general was appointed and all who had received state funds since 1778 were ordered to make an accounting of them at once.⁷⁹ Certificates to the amount of £22,100 specie, were ordered issued to pay current expenses, and military officials were empowered to issue similar certificates to purchase needed supplies. All certificates issued were to be redeemed by November from funds derived from the sale of confiscated estates. Prices for purchases were to be the same as those paid in 1774-1775 except that corn was to be bought at 2s6d per bushel.⁸⁰ Other payments by the state were made in kind, especially in Negroes from confiscated estates. To get a jail built in Augusta subscriptions for Negro labor were to be requested; and if there should not be sufficient voluntary labor, Negroes were to be impressed “from such Persons as Can best spare them.”⁸¹ The assembly considered no tax bill but instructed its delegates to inform Congress of its deplorable situation and to endeavor to secure funds for military use at least.⁸²

Although several matters of importance that deserved consideration had been received from Congress, the assembly ordered a letter to Congress saying that the deplorable conditions in Georgia made their consideration impossible at present. Two superintendents of Indian affairs, James Rae and Daniel McMurphy, were appointed and recommended to Congress as suitable Continental Indian Commissioners.⁸³ On January 12, after a twelve-day session, the assembly adjourned.⁸⁴

Throughout the first six months of 1782, there was no material change in the status of the state government. The British were confined closely to Savannah except for occasional raids to the south and along the Ogeechee. Food was scarce, and many people, including the governor and council, were fed from public stores. When grain ran short in the spring, the executive secured rice from South Carolina but had difficulty arranging transportation into Georgia and finally had to agree to give one-third of the rice to get the rest transported to Augusta.⁸⁵ The low salaries and prices set by the assembly made it impossible to procure many needed items or for the governor to hire a clerk to do his executive work. The executive spent much time trying to keep militia or state troops in the field to cooperate with the few Continentals in Georgia. Both Wayne and Greene urged the state government not to be too severe with people who had taken the oath to the King but to reclaim them as state citizens if possible. Things were still so confused that in January the council members voted themselves half a dozen cartridges apiece for personal protection.⁸⁶

Despite the meager results from the previous two sessions, the executive called an assembly session in April. This session sat from April 20 until May 4 and spent much of its time in hearing individual petitions about the ownership of property, especially Negroes, and in arriving at decisions on them. Individuals were ordered to turn in their accounts and to pay any funds due to the state. Many people presented their accounts against the state and asked for payment. The main work of this session was the passing of a new confiscation and banishment act against Tories.⁸⁷

Joseph Clay and Ex-Governor Richard Howley were the leaders of this session and served on every important committee. If committee membership is an indication, Clay and Howley must have done two-thirds of the work at this session. The day before adjournment, the assembly recommended that the executive remove to Ebenezer or some part of the state that it thought most convenient. It seems that the executive did move to Ebenezer, where Wayne had long had his headquarters, but definite confirmation is lacking.

On July 3, the assembly was called to meet at Ebenezer to consider the British evacuation of Savannah, but no quorum assembled. The members who met elected Joseph Clay chairman and passed resolutions attempting to prevent the carrying away of the Negroes within the British lines and allowing Tory merchants to remain in Savannah and dispose of their goods after the evacuation.⁸⁸ The assembly met in Savannah on July 13 and the executive council on July 14.⁸⁹ The government had returned to the capital, from which it had been driven December 28, 1778. The British were evacuating the state, and Georgians were free to begin recovering from the ravages of seven years of war. Well might they be thankful and look forward to better days!

Throughout the war years, Georgia’s relations with the Continental Congress were rather limited and confined almost entirely to military matters. Having ratified the Articles of Confederation in 1778 and shown her belief in the place of Congress, Georgia continued her accustomed support of Congress until British occupation interfered. There were Georgia delegates in Congress most of the time except April, 1779, through May, 1780, when the assembly was unable to meet and elect any. The delegation usually consisted of two men, but there were long periods when only one delegate was present. From 1775 through 1782 seventeen Georgians were elected to Congress, some of them several times, but only fourteen actually attended.⁹⁰

Available evidence indicates that Georgia delegates took little part in debates and that none of them could be considered Congressional leaders. Perhaps the most active Georgia delegate was George Walton, who was not noted for hiding his light under a bushel. Walton would join debate on almost any subject, but was not responsible for any major accomplishment.⁹¹ Governor Richard Howley was also a delegate to make his presence known. He was well characterized by a fellow delegate:

Howley is given credit by one of his colleagues for demolishing the attempt to vote Washington dictatorial powers in the fall of 1780.⁹³ South Carolina’s Henry Laurens continued to be Georgia’s best delegate in Congress. Laurens got much of his information about conditions in Georgia from his friend, Joseph Clay, and usually did what Clay recommended. Georgia was usually considered along with South Carolina and the Southern Military Department, and Laurens was almost inevitably an important member of committees considering these subjects.

Georgia’s main need from Congress was military and financial help. From 1779 through 1782 Georgia could not support her delegates, and they had to get their actual living expenses from Congress. Congress voted $1,000,000 for the service of Georgia in August, 1777, $500,000 in the summer of 1779 and $1,000,000 on February 11, 1780.⁹⁴ Throughout this period Georgia requested more funds than she got from Congress and paid in nothing upon requisitions. Congress did not expect Georgia to make payments on her requisitions while she was occupied by the British, and she was not assigned a quota in 1780.⁹⁵ Georgia did furnish supplies for Continental troops early in the war, and she continued to do so whenever Continental troops operated in the state.

To replenish its chronically empty treasury, early in 1781 Congress proposed to the states that it be given authority to levy a five per cent duty upon all imports for the purpose of paying the principal and interest on the war debt. This recommendation had been approved by all the states except Georgia and Rhode Island by the fall of 1782. Rhode Island rejected this grant of power to Congress, but Georgia never considered it. The assembly that met in January, 1782, apologized to Congress for not taking up Continental matters and expressed the opinion that the next session would act. However, the matter never received consideration in any assembly.⁹⁶

When Congress was trying to get Spain as an ally against Britain, Americans assumed that Spain would want the Floridas in return for any help. In this debate Congress passed a resolution defining the southern boundary of the United States as the thirty-first degree of latitude from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee, down the Chattahoochee to the Flint, from this junction a straight line to the head of the St. Marys, and along the St. Marys to the Atlantic.⁹⁷ This was the boundary of Georgia as described in the proclamation of 1763 and included the area given to West Florida in 1764. After the capture of Mobile by the Spanish in March, 1780, Congress instructed John Jay in Madrid to see to it that the United States was allowed the use of rivers running out of Georgia through West Florida to the Gulf of Mexico if Spain captured West Florida. In return for this right, the United States was willing to guarantee the Floridas to Spain. Georgia’s delegates in Congress, Walton and Howley, were willing to have the United States give up any claim to the navigation of the Mississippi and even to a small amount of territory north of the thirty-first parallel if Spain agreed to a treaty of alliance and made grants and loans to the United States during the war.⁹⁸

There were rumors in Congress in the spring of 1780 that Britain would offer to make peace that acknowledged the independence of the United States, but she would retain Georgia and South Carolina for herself.⁹⁹ Early in January, 1781, Georgia’s delegates (George Walton, Richard Howley, and William Few) published a pamphlet, “Observations Upon the Effects of Certain Late Political Suggestions,” arguing that all the states had joined the war together and that none should be left under British control. However, the main argument emphasized Georgia’s advantages to the United States. Her agricultural products, ship timbers and naval stores, excellent harbors, and commerce were valuable to the other states and should not be left in British hands. Britain in control of both ends of the Atlantic coast could certainly cause trouble in the future. Georgia’s rapid physical and economic growth in the past twenty years was pointed out with a prediction of a bigger and better future.¹⁰⁰ Congress never seriously considered making peace without South Carolina and Georgia, and it is doubtful if she would have done so even without the objections of the Georgia delegates.