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GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 141
He therefore resolved to attend the next great annual conclave or
council-fire of the Muscogee Indians, on the Chattahoochee River, at
Coweta Town.
In pursuance of this purpose, he accordingly left Savannah, on July
17, 1739, accompanied on the perilous expedition by a few chosen com
panions, among them, Lieutenant Dunbar, Ensign Leman, and Cadet
Eyre, besides a small retinue of servants. The journey from Savannah
to Coweta Town lay through a trackless forest, 300 miles in ex
tent; and, taken in the heat of midsummer, there was added to the
likelihood of attack from savage Indians the risk of exposure to the pesti
lential air of the swamps. We can thus form some idea of the sturdy
mold of character in which this stalwart and heroic Englishman was
cast. The wonderful influence of his strong personality upon the savage
tribes of the wilderness again bore fruit in the success of his mission
to Coweta Town, where, in due time, a treaty of alliance was concluded
with the Creeks by virtue of which he obtained the good-will of
20,000 warriors and sealed the future welfare and happiness of the
Colony of Georgia.
En route back to Savannah, on the return trip, the splendid con
stitution of Oglethorpe gave way, and, for weeks, at Augusta, he lin
gered in the uncertain balances of fate, equipoised between life and
death—the victim of a malignant fever. But at length he came success
fully through the severe ordeal of illness. His great work, under divine
providence, was still unfinished for, besides thwarting the designs of
Prance, there was still reserved for him the supreme and final task of
sounding the death-knell of the power of Spain in the decisive battle of
Bloody Marsh.
Tomo-chi-chi's health had been slowly failing for some time. It
will be remembered that while the old Indian mico had been present in
Savannah to welcome Oglethorpe on his second return from England,
he had risen from a sick bed in order to extend his personal greetings
to the founder. His sands of life were running low. Nor was it long-
after Oglethorpe's return before there occurred an event which steeped
the whole colony in profoundest gloom. This was the aged mico's
death. To the end of his days, this noble savage, this sage philosopher
of the forest, had been a true friend to the colonists; nor 'did he ever
tire of recalling his wonderful visit to England. Tomo-chi-chi was
ninety years of age, according to tradition, when Oglethorpe landed
upon the bluff: at Savannah; and was close upon the century mark when
he died. It was the last wish of the aged chief to be buried among
the whites. His remains were, therefore, brought to Savannah, where
they were interred in Percival, now Court House, Square, with impress
ive ceremonies. Six of the most prominent citizens of Savannah acted
as pall-bearers, Oglethorpe himself among the number. Minute guns
were fired from the battery as he was lowered to rest, and every respect
was paid to the memory of the aged chief. His death occurred on
October 15, 1739. An appropriate monument was planned by Ogle
thorpe, but for some reason it was not erected. However, the belated
tribute has been paid at last. On the reputed spot of the old Indian's
burial, a rough boulder .of granite has been placed by the Georgia