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from the Indians, and laid off into districts, were formed into eight parishes-Christ Church, St. Matthew's, St. George's, St. Paul's, St. Philip's, St. John's, St. Andrew's, and St. James's. After the rice swamps were opened and cultivated in Medway settlement, in the parish of St. John's, it was soon ascertained that a residence on the sea-shore proved more healthy than on the inland swamps, particularly during the summer and autumnal months. Mark Carr owned a tract of land which was high, sandy and dry, situated on Medway river; this he laid off into a town, dividing it into lots, streets, lanes, and commons: propo sals were made to him to make a deed of trust for this tract of land, to which he consented, and accordingly executed a deed on the 19th of June 1758, to James Maxwell, Kenith Baillie, John Elliot, Gray Elliot, and John Stevens, who were appointed trustees. This town is bounded on the east by Medway river and St. Catharine's sound, which communicates with the sea, and on the other side by pine lands, which are generally lower than that on which the town was laid off, and a rising neck of land communicating with the country to the west: the town was called Sunbury, the etymology of which is probably, the residence of the sun, from the entire exposure of this place to his beams while he is above the horizon. Soon after its settlement and organization as a town, it rose into considerable commercial importance: emigrants came from differ

ent quarters to this healthy maritime port, particularly from Bermuda: about seventy came from that island, but unfortunately for them and the reputation of the town, a mortal epidemic broke out, and carried off about fifty of their number the first year it is highly probable they brought the seeds of the disease with them. Of the remainder, as many as were able, returned to their native country. This circumstance however, did not very much retard the growing state of this eligible spot a lucrative trade was carried on with various parts of the West Indies, in lumber, rice, indigo, corn, &c. Seven square rigged vessels have been known to enter the port of Sunbury in one day, and about the years 1769 and 1770, it was thought by many, in point of commercial consequence, to rival Savannah. In this prosperous state it continued with very little interruption, until the war commenced between GreatBritain and America, when it was taken by the British troops under the command of general Provost. After the revolutionary war, trade took a different channel, and Savannah became the receptacle for the exports and imports of that portion of the province, which had formerly passed through Sunbury. Farther notice will be taken of this town in its proper place.

CHAPTER VI.

WHEN general Abercrombie succeeded lord Loudon, as commander in chief of the British forces in America, it was contemplated to take possession of the French strong holds on the Ohio, westward of Virginia; and the Cherokees were invited to join their allies in the capture of fort Duquesne: the French finding a superior force coming against them, burned the houses, destroyed the works, abandoned the place, and fell down the river in small boats to establish other works west of the Cherokee mountains. The flight of the French garrison to the south, prognosticated the visitation of greater evils to Georgia and the Carolinas: the scene of action was only changed to positions more accessible, and the baleful influence of those active and enterprising enemies, soon appeared among the upper tribes of the Cherokees. An unfortunate quarrel between the savages and Virginians, helped to forward the designs of the French, by opening to them an easier access to the towns of those Indians. In the different expeditions against the French, the Cherokees, agreeably to treaty, had sent considerable parties of warriors to the assistance of the British army. As the horses in those parts ran wild in the woods, it was customary

both among the Indians and white people on the frontiers, to catch them and appropriate them to their own purposes: while the savages were returning home through the back parts of Virginia, many of them having lost their horses, caught such as came in their way, never imagining that they belonged to any individual in the province. The Virginians resented the injury by force of arms, and killed twelve or fourteen of the unsuspecting savages, and took several prisoners: the Cherokees were highly provoked at such ungrateful usage from their allies, whose frontiers they had helped to change from a field of blood to peaceful habitations, and when they returned home, told what had happened, to their nation: the flame soon spread through the upper towns, and those who had lost their friends and relations were implacable, breathing indiscriminate fury and vengeance against the white people. In vain did the chiefs interpose their authority; nothing would restrain the furious spirit of their young men, who were determined to take satisfaction for the loss of their relations: the emissaries of France added fuel to the flame, by telling them that the English intended to kill all their men, and make slaves of their wives and children; they instigated them to bloodshed, and furnished them with arms and ammunition. The scattered families on the frontiers of Georgia, lay much exposed to the tomahawk and scalping knife of these savages, who commonly make no distinc

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tion of age or sex, but pour an indiscriminate vengeance upon the innocent and guilty. Fort Loudon, on the south bank of Tenessee river, opposite to the place where Tellico block-house was afterwards built, and garrisoned by two hundred men under the command of captains Demere and Steuart, first felt the direful effects of the Cherokee's vengeance. The soldiers as usual making excursions into the woods, to hunt for fresh provisions, were attacked and some of them killed: from this time such dangers threatened the garrison, that every one was confined within the small boundaries of the fort; all communication with the distant settlement, from which they received supplies being cut off, and the garrison being but poorly provisioned, had no other prospects but those of famine or death. Parties of Indians took the field, rushed down among the settlements, and murdered and scalped a number of people on the frontiers. Fort Prince George had been erected in 1755, on the bank of Savannah river, near a town of the Cherokee's, called Keowee the commanding officer of this garrison communicated to the governors of South-Carolina and Georgia, the dangers with which they were threatened; upon which governor Lyttleton ordered out a body of militia, and repaired to the fort, where he formed a treaty with six of the chiefs, on the 26th of December 1759; one of the articles required that thirty-two Indian warriors were to be given as hostages to fulfil other condi

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