misfortune and ill success at home, were little fitted to encounter the toils and privations of a new country; the very sort of persons needed as pioneers, such as husbandmen, artificers, and laborers, were the ones excluded from the benefit of the charity. But this error was not of long continuance.
Oglethorpe offered to endure the fatigue of planting the colony himself. Accordingly, with thirty-five families—about a hundred and thirty-five persons—a clergyman, having with him Bibles, Prayer Books, and Catechisms, a person to instruct in cultivation of silk, and several officers of justice, Oglethorpe set sail from Deptford, November 17th, 1732, reached Charleston early in 1733, where he and his company were hospitably entertained, and soon after landed on the shores of the new province. On ascending the Savannah River, a pine covered hill, somewhat elevated above its level shores, the Yamacraw Bluff, was fixed upon as the seat of the capital, which was laid out in broad avenues and open squares, and named Savannah, after the Indian name of the river. During these operations, Oglethorpe pitched his tent under a canopy of lofty pine trees. He found the spot, on his arrival, occupied by a small body of the Creek Indians, who were easily induced to surrender it and to yield to the settlers an ample extent of territory. [1] Immediate steps were taken for setting forward the work of colonization and settlement. A small battery commanded the river; a palisade was erected; an experimental garden was laid out for vines, mulberry trees, etc.; and a storehouse was built.
Soon after, a body of German Lutherans, from the valleys of the Western Alps, within the archbishopric of Salzburg, who had been exposed to persecution at home, obtained the sympathy and assistance of the English parliament, who furnished the means for enabling them to emigrate. Headed by their ministers, they left the home of their fathers on foot, and walked to Rotterdam, their place of embarkation, chanting as they went hymns of thanksgiving for their deliverance. They touched at Dover, where they had an interview with their English patrons; and on reaching Georgia, in March, 1734, formed, at a distance above Savannah, a settlement, piously called Ebenezer, where they were shortly after joined by other members of their community. To these, early in 1735, were added several Moravians, the disciples of Count Zinzendorf. A company of about forty destitute Jews had also been furnished by some of their wealthier brethren with the means of emigrating to Georgia, where, though not encouraged by the trustees, they were allowed to establish themselves in peace.
Oglethorpe returned to England in April, 1734, and carried with him several Creek chiefs, and some specimens of Georgia silk. The Indians were treated with great attention, and, deeply impressed with the power and wealth of the English, were ready to
- ↑ For the interesting history of Mary Musgrove, who acted as interpreter, and the Rev. Mr. Bosomworth, her husband subsequently, see Mr. White's "Historical Collections of Georgia," pp. 21-31.
