Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsGeneral Willcox Lost Much in 1836, Including General Coffee
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
No, 1836 was not over by a long shot. As General Mark Willcox looked out over the great expanse of the beautiful hazy blueness of the cavernous Ocmulgee River Valley, he could well appreciate the efforts of his neighbors from Irwin County to reach him for help.
From their side, represented by the rising horizon "way over yonder," they had crossed the river in the bottom of the valley to seek him out. Tragedy had struck again. Suddenly the "blueness" took on a melancholic hue and stood for more trouble with the men who were here before we got here - the Indians. It just seemed that 1836 was a losing proposition!
Everyone was needing help from the threat of the Indians these days it seemed. As he shifted his piercing eyes, trained from many a day of intense looking and observing, he could almost think he could see as far across that valley as present-day Douglas, Georgia. He knew from his scouting and Indian hunting that the people there had prepared as best they could for an Indian attack. They, like many of his neighbors in outlying areas, had built a "stand."
Fussell M. Chalker, a former educator in Coffee County, and author of "Pioneer Days Along The Ocmulgee" gives us this vivid description of the plight of these people around that area south of Jacksonville, Georgia, some twenty miles south of the river:
"Some of the early settlers erected their cabins at a considerable distance from the Ocmulgee, on neighboring creeks or in the open wilderness. Being too far from the river to gain the security of its sheltering waters, these pioneers were forced to devise other means of protecting themselves from the Indians. In their desolation, the whites found it prudent to unite their efforts by erecting a simple type of refuge known as a "stand." A stand was a squared-off stockade enclosing two or three acres of land. The stockade was constructed of large poles placed side by side in an upright position and firmly braced to give strength to the walls. Within the enclosure, several log cabins were built to provide emergency living quarters in time of need.
When an Indian alarm was sounded, the neighboring settlers would flee from their exposed cabins and assemble inside the stockade. Here, behind its protecting walls, the refugees could live for days in reasonable comfort and safety. In case of attack, the occupants could put forth a united defense, and during anxious days and nights of waiting, they could provide companionship for each other.
One known stand was erected on the south side of the Big Bend about twenty miles below Jacksonville and near the Blackshear Road leading to Trader's Hill on the St. Mary's River. The stockade was designed to provide a haven for the people dwelling within the area of modern Douglas in Coffee County. Among these pioneers were the families of John Peterson and Redding Metts.
On one occasion, a party of hostile Indians was reported moving toward the settlement. Riders were sent out instantly among the scattered inhabitants, urging them to flee to the stand. The response was instantaneous, and within a short time, the area inside the stockade was teeming with frightened refugees.
In their haste to reach the stronghold, some of the people had not gathered sufficient supplies of food and clothing for a long stay. The Metts family was lacking in clothing. Their home stood two miles from the stand on an eminence overlooking Seventeen Mile Creek. Seeking to procure the needed wearing apparel, the wife of Redding Metts dispatched a black woman to the house with instructions to gather the clothing and hasten back to the fort.
Upon the departure of the Negro, the occupants anxiously awaited the completion of her mission and her safe return. But the woman did not come back. As soon as it was deemed prudent, a scouting party was sent out to investigate.
Reaching the Metts house, the horsemen found that the place had been ravaged by the marauders, and the faithful servant savagely slaughtered."
To say The General (Mark Willcox) was sickened and frustrated with all this would be putting it mildly. Here were his friends and neighbors, scattered to lands know where, suffering injury and death, and he could not even get enough horses and guns for his men (the militia) to go after the Indians in an effective style.
Like he had done the year before, The General fired off a letter to the Governor emphasizing the fact of what he was up against. The General could well understand why a pioneer would not want to give up his rifle to the militia. He might have to shoot to protect his own lonely home when the militia was not around. Certainly he did not want to give up his horse. He might have to make a run for it. "The old soldier lamented (to the Governor) that the redskins were 'sufficiently strong to bid defiance to the few persons so thinly settled in that country.'" (South of the river)
Part of his letter to the Governor showed that he did not appreciate regular army General Scott commandeering his much needed guns, food, and equipment. We see his ill tone in the following:
"I think I have some grounds to complain. I accepted the command below with the distinct understanding that I should have the command of all the forces sent in that direction. I am not disposed however to throw any obstacles in the way of our friends. I understood Genl Scott issued an order to take any public arms or stores the agent at Hawkinsville might have delivered to me or my orders."
But The General was not only losing friends, guns, food, and equipment in 1836. He lost his father-in-law, that great and venerable man, General John Coffee. General Coffee had gone as far as he could go with "inflammation of the brain." It finally killed him.
We find this announcement of his death in the Milledgeville Federal Union, dated October 11, 1836:
"DIED: At his residence in Telfair County, General John Coffee, a Representative from Georgia, in the Congress of the United States. He was a man of mild and affable temper, calm, deliberate, and prudent. In the decease of this virtuous man, the State has sustained a severe bereavement."
Just after his death, General Coffee had been elected to another term of Congress. Back then news traveled slowly and the election officials and the voters did not know of his decease. This resulted in General Coffee being the only dead man ever elected to the United States Congress.
But the influence and contributions of the old statesman and Indian fighter would live on. The same year, 1836, his son, Peter H. Coffee, was appointed Colonel, Aide-de-Camp, Staff of Commander-In-Chief, State of Georgia. General Coffee had left more than one road.
But nevertheless, The General (Mark Willcox) thought, gazing out across the wild blue yonder of the Ocmulgee River Valley, the trouble is still out there and tomorrow we go after them again.
Credits:
Ann Carswell for letters of and notes on Gen. Mark Willcox;
Willcox Family History by Martha Albertson;
Pioneer Days Along the Ocmulgee by Fussell Chalker;
Telfair Newspaper Clippings (1810-1892) by Tad Evans;
History of Telfair County (1807-1987);
info furnished by Chris Trowell;
info furnished by Gertrude Wilcox Williams and Diane Williams Rogers and others.
