Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

486 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
During the administration of Governor Rabun there arose quite a
heated controversy between himself and Gen. Andrew Jackson, then in
command of United States forces against the Florida Seminoles. An
Indian village called Chehaw, in what is now the County of Lee, had been
destroyed by Captain "Wright, a Georgia officer, in violation of orders
from Governor Rabun; and, since the village had been promised protec
tion by General Jackson on the ground of friendship for the whites, the
latter wrote an offensive letter to Governor Rabun holding him to
account for the affair; but Governor Rabun, who was in no wise to
blame for the unfortunate blunder of Captain Wright, scathingly replied
to General Jackson, giving him a dose of the King's English, which he
vividly recalled thirty years later when an old man. Autograph letters
containing the whole correspondence are today in the possession of Mrs.
Governor AVilliam J. Northen, a relative. Before completing his term of
office, Governor Rabun. was seized with a malady which terminated
his life while an occupant of the executive mansion.
Near the present Town of Leesburg may be found what time has
spared of this once populous Indian community, reckoned at one time
among the six most important towns of the powerful confederacy of
Creeks. It was called by the Indians Chc-haw or Che-raw, while an
other name for it was Au-muc-cul-la. The site of this old Indian town
was formerly marked by an immense live-oak, which is said to have been
nine feet in diameter and to have measured 120 feet from tip to tip.
The tree fell to the ground years ago but the spot on which it grew is
still clearly defined by a circle of oaks which have sprung from the
acorns. Under it the Indians held council-meetings.
There is also a tradition to the effect that the first session of the
Superior Court in the newly created County of Lee was held under
this forest giant.
Forty Indian warriors from Cheraw were in Andrew Jackson's army,
and when the great soldier was en route to jFlorida during the Seminole
war he stopped at this Indian village. Cheraw supplied the army with
provisions. It also cared for the sick and wounded. Consequently when
the town was wantonly and cruelly destroyed by a force of Georgia troops,
under Captain Wright, on April 23, 1818, there followed a great revul
sion of public sentiment. The enormity of the offense was pronounced
at the time to be without a parallel in the annals of war. It also gave
rise to a spirited controversy between Gen. Andrew Jackson and Gover
nor AVilliam Rabun.
But the old Indian settlement has not- been forgotten. The fidelity
of the loyal tribe of red men who perished here has been memorialized
by a handsome granite boulder, erected on the site of the old Indian
village.*
On September 23, 1818, George M. Troup, whose health had been
none too good since assuming the toga, relinquished his seat in the
United States Senate, and was succeeded by Hon. John Forsyth, of
Augusta, then a member of Congress. Mr. Forsyth was succeeded by
Hon. Robert Raymond Reid, a fellow-townsman.
* The plot of ground on which the boulder stands was donated by the owner,
Mrs. 0. M. Heath. On June 14, 1912, with impressive ceremonies, the boulder was
unveiled by the Council of Safety Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution,
of Arnericus, Georgia.