[Reminiscences of a bank employee and his travels along the coast of Georgia]. (1826). In 1826 [Folder]. Valdosta State University Community Archives: Bennett Collection (CA-05), Box 1, Folder 2. Valdosta, Georgia. Retrieved from https://vtext.valdosta.edu/xmlui/handle/10428/7041.

Description:

Reminiscences (dated 1826) of an employee of the Bank of the State of Georgia in Savannah, about his business travels to Darien, Augusta, and Athens, with stops in Washington, Cherokee Corner, and Wassaw sound, by stage and by sea vessel. He recounts the people he met along the way and stories from his journeys, including an anxious trip by sea from Darien to Savannah while safeguarding $175,000 of the banks's money.

Subject Headings:

Savannah (Ga.); Darien (Ga.); Augusta (Ga.); Athens (Ga.); Georgia; Letters; Family histories; Genealogy;

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# Transcript:

1826.

The year after [removing?] the specie from the Darien to State Bank of [Savannah?] I was sent by the same Bank to Augusta with one hundred thousand dollars in new bills [assured?] by the Bank in that City, & its different banks (branches, through out the state, and to bring back all the [mutilated?] notes of that amount. I left [Sav - Savannah?] in stage [illegible] arriving at Ebenezer I found the bridge there had been swept away by a recent [?]. I was there detained for a week awaiting return of the stage & repairs of the road. Meanwhile I amused myself shooting at marks with the [gunmen?] there with my pistols they suspected me of being on my way to Augusta to fight a duel & I did not undeceive them.

I found there an old man quite ill & a little daughter of the landlord. I got their consent & administered some medicine to them & learned afterward of the recovery of the aged man and of the death of the child.

On my arrival at Augusta I was politely received by the director & invited to go into the room for an introduction to the officers but declined the [?] that I might go to the barber for a shave after which I returned, to the bank to ascertain that all was correct for which I took a receipt. Feeling relieved of my responsibility I went out & finding some old friends had a 
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jolly time. From Augusta I went to Washington from thence after spending a few days I went to Cherokee Corner where I had a sister at the Seminary [illegible?] board near by. I took her by surprise & so overjoyed upon seeing me burst into tears. I told her if I had anticipated her tears I would not have come. There were at the school two [friends?] Miss Connie Elliott & Miss [?] Jones whenever I visited they were allowed to leave their studies & we would sit together on the rocks at the Spring and talk about home. I passed my summer mostly between this place and Athens where I had a [brother?] at College. [illegible] I visited the family of [Mr. A.?] Crawford, my [?] friend. Also [Dr. Gordon's?] who had accompanied [my brother?] Mr. Crawford on a visit to my father's in Sav. I went to Madison Springs in carriage with [Mrs. J?] & her sister [Miss Bass?] who I told jokingly, was out of her element & ought to [?] the salt water after spending one week at the Springs. Where I made the acquaintance of Gen. Tootle who was in miserable health with [chill?] & fever, having [?] [every?] physician in Burke Co. without any benefit. I recommended him to depart from his [?] habits for once & [illegible] & [quinine?]. I met him at a hotel in Athens two weeks later he addressed me as Doctor & said I was the best doctor he ever [?]. I was in the habit of going with the landlord & a friend of his to see them shoot squirrels along the river branch. One day we stopped at [Rock-
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Spring. They put up a mark to shoot at 100 yds off & asked me to try my hand. I told them I had never shot a rifle in my life & prevailed upon me to try. & I beat them [?] they said it was a Chance Shot. I told them I was aware of it & did not wish to try again. I did try however - by [sheer persuasion?] & hit the mark. Some days after it was agreed we should shoot for a "[?] Supper," these two men their rifles 100 yds off. I with an old double gun loaded with [?] "duck shot" 75 yds off - the one that struck nearest to mark to win. shot at a mark the size of my hand, [pasted?] on a board fence on the [?] of a hill. I fired first & going on alone. I found I had not only missed the mark but even the fence. I punctured with my pencil about twenty holes [?] the paper - the lead leaving the impressions - on my return upon being asked what sort of a shot I had made I told them it was not for me to say. They then fired & all went to see the result. [Erwin?] said I had made the best shot he ever did see. That he would have given anyone the old gun if they wanted her but that now he would not take fifty dollars for her. I had the year before taken the [?] prize for making the best shot at a target a quarter mile off. (in the Old Chatham Artillery) - this the students from Savannah knew. & hearing of & having witnessed my shots up [here?] they wanted me to teach them [to] shoot their muskets as they were expecting soon to contend for a prize in a volunteer Co, commanded by their fellow student Chas. [Charles] Dupont of [F'la?]! I got my name up as a marksman.
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In my [rides?] to & from Athens I [fell?] in with his Honor, Judge Daniels - a half breed of the Cherokee Nation - 

[illegible] learning that I was from Sav. he inquired [illegible] after [Mr. Garrison?] - a young lawyer whose mother was a half breed Cherokee Indian. I told him but for [intemperance?] he would do well in his profession, that I knew him well, and that some of the first men in the city were his staunch friends. He said that he had been up in the Cherokee Nation and staid [sic] some time with him, he then invited me to come up and see him tell me that I might suppose that they were all savages, but that he lived about one days ride from Athens in a two story brick house with marble facings to his doors and windows that the marble quarry belonged to him (there is a [slab?] in [Midway?] Cemetery from this quarry, over Mrs Stevens grave) to crown all, he informed me, that he had two daughters that had recently graduated at Sparta Georgia. The judge was just from Washington City with the Treaty for the removal of the Cherokees West, he said that he would have some spare horses along with his own to meet him in Athens, and that I could ride one (my time was nearly out from my absence from the Bank and I had to decline) that he was going to call a meeting of all the Chiefs in [?] and that I could take a seat on the bench with him, and hear all of their speeches. I never regretted anything more in all my life, than not being able to attend. [Mag'r?] Porter on my return to Savannah said that I could have remained a month longer as there was no business doing in the Bank and he would have given one hundred dollars to have had me gone, and heard my description of it. When the time came for me to leave Athens for my home in Savannah, I stopped at ("Cherokee Corner") and took my sister along with me in the stage. We proceeded on to Augusta, and remained a few days among friends, then started again, for home. We had to travel day and night, we had a crazy [female?] along who took quite a [liking?] to me and as my sister would give her candy and kisses to eat, she would pass the kiss papers to me, she would [read?] her [testament?] that she had along, and play on a Jew's harp, the music was very disagreeable to some of the passengers ([one?] (continued)
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A Reminiscence. In my long life of three score & thirteen - 73 yrs, it is but natural that scenes must transpire that have somewhat of romance in them. I will relate one or two from memory. When twenty five (25) yrs of age I was one of the Book-keepers in the "Bank of the State of Georgia," located in Savannah - the Bank having [?] some eighty thousand (80,000) dollars of the Darien Bank - then in a failing condition - with the promise that it would repay it with the silver, then in its vault, I was deputized to select another officer from the bank and go after it with him. The [Directors?] allowed me to select from the numerous coasting vessels then in port, any Captain that I felt confidence in - they to pay him [200?] dollars with the privilege to bring any freight back that he wished. I selected to accompany me Mr. [?] Davis the [Porter?] of the Bank  as he was accustomed to counting the silver as a part of his duty. I then called on my old friend Capt. Sullowich an honest old seaman whom I had known all my life and offered him the job. He declined on account of a previous engagement but recommended me to Capt. [Howland?] of the [?] three brothers, as a reliable man and I secured his services right away. The next morning bright & early my companion & I took passage on the old Darien Stage. On arriving at the 17 mile post, the house then kept by [Mr. Lamb?] we encountered at the breakfast table the ["Sav Bar"?], just from Coast. Knowing Davis & [?] to be Bank officers, they said jokingly, they knew what 
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we were after. & would way-lay us on our return. I thought nothing of it at the time. We reached Darien that night & put up at "Streets Hotel." The next morning after breakfast I went to the Bank and delivered [Mr. A Porters?] letter to [Mr. E. B. Reese?] cashier - in which as Cashier of the Bank at Sav. he required me to count & weight the specie and give receipt for the same. Mr. Reese said "there was no use for that as he intended to [illegible] all the silver and we would continue to [return?] their bills with all that was over and above." In that case I told him I could not [receive?] it on his word. He said there was one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars (175,000) in the different kegs & boxes. That he had brought it from Charleston when the Bank was first started & that [none?] of it had been used. & would [bet?] me a full suit of clothes that it would not fall short of fifty (50) dollars or [overrun?] that amount. I told him I would give him the following receipt or count the money - [Rec'd?] from E. S. Reese 20 kegs & 10 boxes said to contain 100 thousand & 75 dollars subject to be counted by "Bank of the State of Georgia" and if it overrun the 80 thousand I came for the balance to be placed on credit to the Bank of Darien - if it fell short, said had to make it good. To this he agreed. After remaining one week or more awaiting the arrival of the vessel visiting my relatives, dining only once at the Hotel by special invitation of the landlord who said he would
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Have some nice soft shell turtle soup. The vessel having arrived the Capt. discharged her cargo. Then got on a [?] and I had to have him [conveyed?] aboard & put in the bank. I then ordered the mate to [hoist?] sail - the tide leaving us, we had to remain at anchor that night on the river. The sailors on pushing the kegs & boxes aboard were anxious to know what it was that so rattled within we passed it off for nails which they stowed in the cabin. I remained on deck all night, armed with dirk & pistol. Mr. Davis was also like armed but was confined to the cabin by sickness all the time. I remaining on deck never entered the cabin. About 10 o'clock next day when off Blackbeard the Capt came on deck & took command. On coming opposite to Mr. Waldburgs wharf on that island the Capt was hailed by Mr. Jacob Waldburg & requested to take his wife & family also his Brother to Savannah. He was told that the cabin belonged to me & if I was willing, he had no objection. I heartily complied & was glad of their company. I went up & took a drink with the two brothers and Mr. Chas [Charles] [Dunham?] who was managing their plantation at that time. Nothing occurred until we came to [Romerly?] marsh when I mentioned to Mr. George Waldburg my having a large amount of money aboard & requested him to keep a sharp lookout whilst I took a good sleep with my head on his lap. We proceeded until we [anchored?] again on Wassaw Sound when the Capt. observed to me that 
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there was a boat approaching with armed men in it.

I asked if he had a gun aboard, he said no. I then called Davis from the cabin and asked him if he remembered what it was [promised?] Mr. [Bullock?] the President of the Bank. It was that I would lose my life before I would one dollar of the money. He replied "all right & if they proved to be robbers we would give them a shot or two. I thought of what the lawyers had said and that it got out that we were after money. I nearing Wilmington Island I [perceived?] a young lady on the bank of the river [?], dressed all in white (here is the romantic part) she had been looking daily for one week for the vessel to pass. I recognized her & we exchanged salutations, she waving her handkerchief & [I] by putting off my hat & bowing. That night we came to anchor in Savannah River & the next day at 10' o clock we were moored at the wharf of the city I [illegible] & wagons to convey the money to the Bank. It took us nearly a [?] to weigh & count it out. & great was my relief to ascertain that it [exceeded?] the amount states by three thousand dollars.

[illegible] men in the boat proved to be old acquaintances - a [illegible] set who called themselves "Real-times." They had been hunting on Wassaw island, owned by one of the party,  - were entirely out of liquor & boarded the [?] for the purpose of getting some. I requested the Capt. if he had any, to fill their bottles which he did [?] giving each a drink. I told them they did not deserve it for frightening me so.
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