Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

474 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
often heard from the lips of many of his distinguished contemporaries,
that the practical order of his mind, the wisdom of his views, and the
peculiar music of his voice, contributed to render him one of the most
effective of speakers.''
The Legislature was in session when Doctor Bibb resigned his seat
in the United States Senate; and to succeed him in this high office,
George M. Troup, of Savannah, formerly a member of Congress, was
elected.
To the Fourteenth Congress (1815-1817) the following delegation
had been chosen in the fall of 1814: Alfred Cuthbert, John Forsyth,
Boiling Hall, Wilson Lumpkin, Thomas Telfair and Richard Henry
Wilde. Messrs. Cuthbert, Forsyth and Lumpkin afterwards became
United States senators. Richard Henry Wilde was a great literary
genius of whom we shall later speak more at length. Boiling Hall
removed to Alabama, after completing his term, and was not again
identified with Georgia. Mr. Cuthbert resigned in 1816 and was suc
ceeded by Zadoc Cook.*
To the Fifteenth Congress (1817-1819) the following representatives
were chosen in the fall of 1816: Joel Abbot, Thomas W. Cobb, Zadoc
Cook, Joel Crawford, John Forsyth and Dr. William Terrell.
Mr. Forsyth, before completing his term, was chosen to succeed
George M. Troup, in the United States Senate, the latter having resigned
the toga. Hon. Robert Raymond Read, of Augusta, was chosen to suc
ceed Mr. Forsyth.
On June 16, 1816, Georgia sustained a severe loss in the death of
Col. Benjamin Hawkins, who, as Indian agent for the Federal Govern
ment, had been a resident of Georgia for sixteen years, with head
quarters first at Fort Hawkins, on the Ocmulgee, and afterwards at Fort
Lawrence, on the Flint. Colonel Plawkins was a native of North Caro
lina and a man of rare accomplishments. As early as 1780 the Tar Heel
State commissioned him as general agent to obtain both at home and
abroad all kinds of supplies for her troops. Successful in this trust, she
sent him repeatedly to the Continental Congress; and, when North Caro
lina, after some hesitation, entered the Union, under the new Federal
Constitution, he became one of the state's first senators, serving from
1789 to 1795. Washington's friendship for Colonel Hawkins was born
amid the perilous days of the Revolution, when as a member of his staff
the cultured North Carolinian had made his acquaintance with the
French language of great help to Washington, in the latter's correspond
ence with the French officers. There were few men in the army with the
educational advantages of Colonel Hawkins. Reared in .affluence, he
received instruction from the best tutors. But it was not alone the
cultivated intellect but the robust character of Colonel Hawkins to which
Washington was attracted; and for few men did he entertain .a warmer
friendship or a more exalted admiration than he did for the gallant
North Carolinian.
It is somewhat anomalous that a man of such culture, equipped
*"Biog. Cong. Directory, 1774-1911," p. 81.