Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 307
ley, Edward Langworthy, John Walton, Nathan Brownson, and Joseph
Wood.
Five of the executive heads of Georgia were not so fortunate as to
live until the conclusion of the historic struggle, and to enjoy its well-
earned fruits. These were Hon. Archibald Bulloch, who died unex
pectedly at his home; Hon. Button Gwinnett and Governor Wells, who
fell, at different times, in duels; and Governors Treutlen and Myrick
Davies, who were inhumanly murdered by the Tories.
On the bank of the Savannah River, just behind St. Paul's Church,
is a Celtic Cross memorial, marking the site of Fort Augusta, around
which the little town was built in 1735. This was, probably, the exact
location of Fort Cornwallis in the Revolution, and one of its identical
cannon is mounted at the base of the above-mentioned monument. The
very sight of this gun calls up martial memories, '' in the brave days of
old,'' when the sturdy Georgia partisans heroically fought for home and
country, and took as their inspiring motto, in the words of our sweet
singer, Paul H. Hayne:
"What strength to feel, beyond our steel, burns the Great Captain's
eye."
THE STORY OF AUSTIN DABNEY.—One of the finest examples of loyalty displayed
during the period of the American Kevolution was furnished by Austin Dabney, a
negro patriot. He came to Pike with the Harris family within a very short while
after the new county was opened to settlement, and here he lies buried near the
friends to whom in life he was devotedly attached. The story of how he came to
enlist in the patriot army runs thus: When a certain pioneer settler by the name
of Aycoek migrated from North Carolina to Georgia, he brought with him a mulatto
boy whom he called Austin. The boy passed for a slave and was treated as such; but
when the struggle for independence began, Ayeock, who was not cast in heroic
molds, found in this negro youth a substitute, who was eager to enlist, despite the
humble sphere of service in which he moved. The records show that for a few weeks
perhaps the master himself bore arms in a camp of instruction, but he proved to be
such an indifferent soldier that the captain readily agreed to exchange him for the
mulatto boy, then a youth of 18, upon Aycoek's acknowledgement that the boy was
of white parentage, on the mother's side, and therefore free. This happened in the
County of Wilkes. "When the time came for enrollment, the captain gave Austin the
sirname of Dabney, and for the remainder of his life Austin Dabney was the name
by which he was everywhere known. He proved to be a good soldier. In numerous
conflicts with the Tories in Upper Georgia, he was conspicuous for valor; and at the
battle of Kettle Creek, while serving under the famous Elijah Clarke, a rifle ball
passed through his thigh, by reason of which he ever afterwards limped. Found in
a desperate condition by a man named Harris, he was taken to the latter's house,
where kind treatment was bestowed upon him, and here he remained until the wound
healed. Austin's gratitude to his benefactor was so great that for the rest of his
life he considered himself in the latter's debt, and in many ways he befriended
Harris, when reverses overtook him. He appears to have been a man of sound sense
and to have acquired property, at the close of the Eevolution. He removed from
Wilkes to Madison, taking the family of his benefactor with him. Dabney was fond
of horse racing, and whenever there was a trial of speed anywhere near he was usually
found upon the grounds, and he was himself the owner of thoroughbreds. He drew
a pension from the United States Government, on account of his broken thigh, and
the Legislature of Georgia, in the distribution of public lands by lottery, awarded
him a tract in the County of Walton. The noted Stephen Upson, then a representa
tive from Oglethorpe, introduced the measure, and, in terms of the highest praise,
he eulogized Dabney's patriotism. There was some dissention among the white
people of Madison over this handsome treatment accorded to one of an inferior race.
It doubtless arose,' through envy, among the poorer classes. But Austin took no
offense, and when an opportune moment came, he quietly shifted his residence to