Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsGeneral Willcox Sees A Sky Of Many Colors
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
The General (Mark Willcox) never thought he would see the day that he and "Old Fuss and Feathers" (General Winfield Scott) would become kinfolks. But they did - in a way. In-law kinship, that is. Miriam Coffee, a descendant of Peter Coffee, Sr. (General John Coffee's grandfather), married John Scott, a nephew of General Winfield Scott. They named a son Coffee Scott. Miriam and John married in 1847 in Alabama but the marriage would be one of those with an asterisk beside it (because this was about the time Winfield became famous in the Mexican War). The Coffees and the Willcoxes were probably notified because they have always done an excellent job of keeping up with the family tree. That's for sure. They sure didn't want to miss out on a man-child with the name Coffee Scott who had an ancestor who was the Conqueror of Vera Cruz. Not to remember the occasion when the old rascal diverted supplies from General Mark Willcox at Hawkinsville during the Indian troubles.
But that marriage had not quite taken place at this time and The General (Mark Willcox) was presently more concerned with what was going to transpire in 1837 and 1838. 1836 had not been one of his best years.
And speaking of marriages, 1837 was issued in to the toll of the bells of matrimony for Dr. William Hunneywell of Jacksonville, Georgia, and Miss Mary Louisa Cray, daughter of Captain Benjamin G. Cray, of Montgomery County. There are several things about this marriage that catch the eye of someone interested in history. First off, it is reassuring to know that Jacksonville had a physician (assuming this doctor was of the medical variety) at this time in history. The couple actually wed on Christmas Day of 1836 but it didn't get in the paper until 1837. The doctor probably had a lot of business with all the mayhem going on. Same with the newspaper.
The second item is the fact that the family of the bride is named Cray. A Cray fellow carried the news of General Coffee's death to Milledgeville but the person commenting said that it must have been a Cravey or a McRae because nothing could be found of a "Cray." It looks as if we have hit the jackpot in finding this one. He (the father) was probably off fighting Indians when the census taker came around. But, with something as big as a wedding going on, it is somewhat of a wonder that the Crays had not been noticed by someone.
Another thing of note about the wedding is that it was performed by a character who was really a character and we'll tell more of him later. His name was the Reverend Wilson Conner (sometimes spelled Connor). It seems Elder Conner was one of those legends who appeared in many places, many times, on many occasions. He even performed the marriage ceremony of General John Coffee and Ann Penelope Bryan. Elder Wilson Conner also had a daughter named Louisa. She married John Willcox III, brother of The General.
General Willcox probably liked to see these lapses of peace where people got married, where there were public gatherings, church and school meetings, and the such, taking place along the Ocmulgee. He was also glad to hear that in addition to Wesleyan, at Macon, and the female college at Milledgeville, that Emory College had been launched. The Methodists were not going to be content with the salvation of a soul - they wanted an educated one, to boot. Economically, it is said, education is a bargain when compared to the price of ignorance.
But the divisions of the Indians, among themselves, and with the white man, bothered The General. The focus had moved to North Georgia and from what he had heard from his father-in-law, General John Coffee, at one time the overseer of that domain, there was trouble there waiting to happen. The word was out - "Thar's gold in them thar hills!"
Way back the Cherokees had fought the Creeks and expelled them from their lands. Their inflictions convinced them so much they got themselves back down below the Chattahoochee (south of Atlanta, as we would say today). That was another example of the "two Georgias." One for the Cherokees and one for the Creeks.
But now the Cherokees were being expelled from their beautiful lands of North Georgia. And who would be in charge of this ugly deportation program but "Old Fuss and Feathers." Kinfolk or not, the following words from General Winfield Scott leads one to believe he was serious about what he thought he was supposed to be doing up there:
"Chiefs, head-men and warriors! Will you then, by resistance, compel us to resort to arms? God forbid! Or will you, by flight, seek to hid(e) yourselves in mountains and forests, and thus oblige us to hunt you down? Remember that, in pursuit, it may be impossible to avoid conflicts. The blood of the white man or the blood of the red man may be spilt, and, if spilt, however accidentally, it may be impossible for the discreet and humane among you, or among us, to prevent a general war and carnage. Think of this, my Cherokee brethren! I am an old warrior, and have been present at many a scene of slaughter, but spare me, I beseech you, the horror of witnessing the destruction of the Cherokees."
General Mark didn't know how all this would go because he had witnessed first hand the pride of the red man. He had surveyed battlefields where upon those grounds were the bodies of dead Indians. Not scenes of warriors who had died agonizing deaths because during the night the others had crept back in and arranged the bodies for commitment to the Great Spirit. Their legs were straightened and their arms folded across their chests. They were not in disarray. They had been accorded that last solemn and ceremonial rite of passage. They lay upon the threshold to the everlasting with dignity in death. It was their way. Later, dying Confederate soldiers would ask for the same - "fix me."
And that is not all The General had seen. He had watched proud women of the Creek and Seminole world fight alongside their men, with their children in tow, and when the last stand had withered, the final hope gone, the pride wounded, they stuffed the mouths and nostrils of the little ones with mud rather than surrender to the forces that opposed them.
And The General thought of Chief McIntosh, another victim of two worlds. His father was a Scot, his mother, a Creek. He had been trained in the ways of his mother's people but he had obtained education at the white man's school. He was a general in the army of Andrew Jackson and a recipient, as were others, of the "promise" of Old Hickory that as "long as the waters run and the grass grows," the red people will remain on their lands. Poppycock. That hackneyed phrase was used back in the 1700's. Treaties were made to be broken.
And even if Old Hickory had made good on his pledge it was for sure that Governor Troup had no intention of doing the same. He wanted the Indians gone from Georgia. He wanted them gone before they learned too much of the white man's way. He wanted them gone before they became "too settled" in the ways of their new civilization. And he had a first cousin who would help him achieve this. His name was Chief William McIntosh. But it cost - the Chief's life. He had been the recipient of the Indian "death sentence." The Indians had declared that it was "curtains" for any Indian selling or giving away their property. Real estate to them was sacred.
General Willcox thought upon these things. What would tomorrow bring? He looked at the sky - more calm or more storm? It had many colors. He put up his horse and walked back to the house. It was getting dark.
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.
