Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS 501
.ognized leaders of the Georgia bar. He was a member of the Yazoo
Legislature of 1795 and a supporter of the bill for the sale of Georgia's
western lands, regarding this measure purely in the light of a real
estate transaction. With his brother, George, he compiled the earliest
Digest of Georgia Laws.
But, most unfortunately, when the volume appeared, in 1800, it
contained the obnoxious Yazoo Act, rescinded by the Legislature of
1796; and Governor Jackson, who was then occupying the executive
chair, refused to draw his warrant upon the treasury and in other ways
put the seal of his official condemnation upon this earliest Digest of
Georgia Laws. In vain Watkins expostulated. He showed that while
his digest carried the obnoxious measure, it also carried the Repealing
Act, the one counter-balancing the other. But the old governor was
obdurate. He regarded the Yazoo Act as a usurpation and he did not
wish to see it monumentalized upon the statute books.*
Thus the issue was joined. On both sides there was much bitterness
of feeling. At least three separate duels were fought between Governor
Jackson and Robert Watkins. In the last of these encounters, the old
governor was severely wounded in the right hip. He was lifted from the
ground and, finding that he could still stand alone, insisted upon another
exchange of shots. But the surgeon urged an examination. He pried
into the wound and, fearing that the bullet might have entered the
cavity, ordered a cessation of hostilities. With great civility, so it is
said, Mr. Watkins helped to bear the wounded man from the field;
whereupon, the old governor, who remained perfectly rational through
out and who was not to be outdone in courtesy by his antagonist, was
heard to observe:
"Hang it, Watkins, I thought I could give you another shot." t
Though a small appropriation was secured for the "AVatkins Digest,"
the book was never authorized. Capt. Horatio Marbury, then secretary
of state, with two commissioners, was subsequently appointed to make a
digest. William H. Crawford and George Watkins were chosen to
assist him; but the latter, on account of his aggrieved feelings, declined
to serve. Marbury and Crawford prosecuted the task alone and, in
due time, completed the undertaking. It is known to this day as "Mar-
bury and Crawford's Digest of Georgia Laws."
Besides the formal encounters which took place between Jackson and
Watkins, they met somewhat unceremoniously on certain occasions and
engaged in fisticuff fights. One of these occurred soon after the Yazoo
Act was rescinded, showing that the enmity between the two men ran
back to the famous land speculation in which some of the most influential
men of Georgia were involved. The difficulty occurred in Louisville, at
the close of the legislative session. We quote this paragraph from a
letter describing the affair.- '' This was done to bring on dispute. Flesh
and blood of such texture as mine would not bear it (i. e., the provoca
tion offered by Watkins), and the lie and stick involuntarily flew on
* Shipp: '' Life of Crawford,'' pp. 38-39.
t Butcher: '' History of Augusta,'' p. 227.