Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

436 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
There was constant apprehension of Indian forays and troops of soldiers
were kept under arms.
"In 1794 there was a troop of dragoons commanded by Captain
Jonas Fouche, of which we have a roster in White's collections."
Closely approximating the style of life found on the Georgia coast-
was the comparative ease, elegance, and luxury in which some of the
planters of Burke lived during this period. Governor Telfair owned
extensive plantations in this county. The Town of Waynesboro was an
aristocratic center, in one of the charming homes of which President
Washington had been entertained on his visit to Georgia in 1791. To
quote from this same authority on Georgia's early days:* "Nowhere
was old Virginia life of a century gone by so reproduced as in Burke
sixty years since. The large plantation was under the management of
the overseer. The factor in Augusta or Savannah cashed the drafts of
the planter and supplied his larder with such luxuries as he might desire
from the city. His carriages and his horses were of the best order, and
he supplied his library with the best books and periodicals. The wealth
he enjoyed he had inherited, and he was often dependent upon the
sagacity of others to keep it from leaving him. This was one kind, and
the number was not large, of Burke county planters, and there were a
few in all the neighboring counties of the same class. Then there were
others much more numerous who had made their fortunes by hard work,
and who, while they gave their children all that wealth could secure
in the way of luxury, were themselves hard-working, close-trading men,
who read no books and put on no style, but who knew how to manage
negroes and make cotton. Then there was a class of poor plain people
who lived in the pine woods, few of whom had any slaves. They lived
in log cabins on small bodies of land, and lived by their own labor. They
rafted ranging timber down the Savannah river,, made shingles in the
cypress swamps, and raised some cattle and sheep. They had little to
do with the wealthy people of the oak woods, and knew but little of them.
There was no county in the State before the war began in which there
was a worthier, more contented or more prosperous people than the
people of Burke county. The wonderful cotton-producing quality of
the land turned the county into one great plantation, except in the pine
woods. Negroes increased in numbers, and men who began life with a
few found themselves the owners of scores."
But to return to the upcountry. One of the great difficulties of this
early period was to secure competent instructors even in the rudi
mentary branches of an English education. Governor Gilmer's first
teacher was a vagabond sailor, "who used to whip the children on cold
days for exercise." He turned out to be a thief and fled the country
between two suns. If one desires to make a more intimate study of
social conditions in Georgia, at this time, he is referred to Judge Long-
street's delightful little volume entitled: "Georgia Scenes." Here he
will find portrayed "The Militia Drill," "The Gander Pulling," "The
Horse Swap," "The Shooting Match" and "The Village Fight" of a
century ago. To the charming contribution made by Judge Longstreet
to the literature of this period may be added the famous "Dukesboro
* '' Story of Georgia and the Georgia People,'' George G. Smith, p. 131.