Civil War Articles by Julian WilliamsSage Of Dead River Turns To Politicking And Preaching
This article was compiled by Julian Williams.
"There was a man named Wilson Conner,
Full of vigor and measured honor.
Whether war or peace or in-between
Ole Wilson Conner was on the scene.
Here and there - and then a goner."
The sage of Dead River, Wilson Conner, thinking of crawfishing politicians who had led him down a rather deceitful and dangerous path, didn't enjoy his chicken supper that night because that, too, reminded him that Madison and Monroe had "chickened out" and caused him no little amount of consternation. As he discreetly licked his fingers, he decided to forget those people; but the consternation was still there.
But Wilson Conner's life had been filled with consternations of one kind or another and he was not about to let this round with M & M get him down. Madison and Monroe would just have to make their own adjustments to the situation and he would make his.
Part of that adjustment involved getting out of Florida alive and with his head intact. He accomplished both aims and that was a heap more than his leader, Buckner Harris, could say. In fact, Buckner was not able to say anything. Poor Buckner, out surveying for the establishment of a permanent American colony in East Florida, was attacked and killed by Indians who lifted his scalp. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Indian responsible then walked into the Spanish governor's office with the scalp in one hand and the survey book in the other. A prominent Spanish family, who just happened to be in the office at the time, received a lion's share of the land Harris had surveyed. They were in the right place at the right time. Who says life is fair?
But Wilson Conner would not be deterred by the details of fate and fatalities and pondering on the fairness of life. He was determined to do the best he could under the circumstances. Just like his kinfolks-to-be, the Willcoxes, would do.
Wilson Conner, in quest of the Holy Grail, knew, to him, this meant seeking out lost men whose souls were in need of the Divine touch. He would also need to start many churches. But like a lot of things in life, Elder Conner was to put his utmost ideal on the back burner for just a while. This was because he was lured himself into an abyss which deterred him from his quest. It was, and still is, called "politics."
He had hung around courthouses and polling places even before he faithfully offered his magnanimous services to the cause of "the Patriots" who went to Florida to take it from the Spaniards. He had served as a Justice of the Inferior Court and as a Tax Collector. This is ironic because it is said some of the patriots going down into Florida with him were wanted for tax evasion. Now, while that does nothing to build up their reputation, they were intent on building up their resources. For, it was also said, they would receive land grants if they succeeded in settling the Spanish- dominated East Florida.
So, somehow here, we get the feeling that this band of soldiers might have a few smudges on them. In fact, Wilson Conner might have been nearer the Holy Grail than he realized. One writer titled a story - "Fiasco in Florida, Rampant Rebels from Georgia, 1810-1815." One gets to thinking there might be a ring of truth in there somewhere.
But, talk about his soldiers or not, Wilson Conner was convinced that the thieving pirates (not his soldiers) needed running out of Fernandina. Amelia Island had become a haven for these lawless vagabonds smuggling goods from England into Georgia with no import taxes. All profit. Seems taxes had a lot to do with what was going on then. Same now.
But, things did not work out. The Spanish hung on to Florida for a little while longer, accompanied by numerous hostile Indians, runaway slaves, and assorted others. But, Wilson Conner, although escaping by the breadth of a hair, could not say that he had lost nothing in Florida and cared not to return. Return he did, in 1819, and started the very first Baptist church in Florida, at Pigeon Creek. Entering Florida from Folkston it'll be on your right as you cross the St. Marys River. He never forgot his commitment to the quest for the Holy Grail.
In Sid Johnson's book, "Longpondium," we see where Wilson Conner, now back in Georgia, is writing to Governor Peter Early, who was once a superior court judge at Jacksonville, Georgia, "complaining of inactivity and grousing about the redrawing of the county line which, in his opinion, was done for the express purpose of cutting him out of Tattnall County and the company he commanded."
But, Wilson Conner might have also thought, forty-six years old is right old for a soldier but not for a statesman. So that is the route he took. In 1819, he was a busy man. While the church in Florida was getting underway he was also being elected as Montgomery County's representative to the legislature. Not only was 1819 an important year for Wilson Conner. It was an important year for two men who fought bitter political contests in Georgia at this time - John Clark and George Troup.
Crusty old John Clark, who had a plantation at Jacksonville, Georgia, and when not running it, was trying to keep his younger brother, Gibson, from shooting somebody, or himself, had won the governorship for 1819. He was for backwoods people of the frontier like Wilson Conner. Conner was sure to relate to John Clark. They were peas which fell out of the same hull.
John and Gibson even dropped the "e" from the end of "Clarke" because to them it smacked of elitism and aristocracy. The sons of Gen. Elijah Clarke were also changing more than their last name. While Gibson, first valedictorian at the University of Georgia in 1804, was being his rowdy self, shooting at people, both at the Jacksonville courthouse and Parramore's River Tavern, the more serious John, even though intoxicated from time to time, was claiming the governorship of the State of Georgia. It is said when he went to Milledgeville to be governor he never came back to his river plantation at Jacksonville to reside.
Clark claimed the governorship of Georgia by a vote of the legislature - by a single vote. Was it the vote of Wilson Conner? Sid Johnson puts it this way:
"Was Conner's vote the single vote that determined who would be Governor of Georgia in 1819? Was he actually the swing man of Georgia politics? House Journals of the early days of the State are scarce, and none has been found for the 1819 session. Therefore, it has not been established whether Conner voted for Clark or Troup. There would be good reason for him to vote for either of these antagonists."
Sid goes on to tell us that Clark and Conner would be drawn to each other because both "identified with Clark's base support group, the rural citizen essentially bound to the land."
"On the other hand, Troup was a neighbor, having plantations in both Montgomery and Laurens Counties. Later on, Troup was something of a sponsor of Patrick Hues Mell (prominent Baptist leader), who married not one, but two, of Conner's granddaughters.
Confusing the matter is that the 1819 General Assembly authorized the appointment of a commission to explore and determine the nature and extent of the Okefenokee Swamp. Newly elected Governor Clark appointed Wilson Conner a member of the commission! Was that appointment an "inducement" to the adventurous Conner to vote for Clark? Or did Conner obtain the appointment notwithstanding his vote for Troup? Answers to the questions are, at least as of this writing, shrouded in mystery."
But ole Wilson wasn't going to be a mystery for long. He didn't get lost, killed by an Indian or eaten by an alligator in the Okefenokee Swamp and he was getting out of politics. The Quest for the Holy Grail was uppermost and utmost in his being. Upon that Quest he would now set himself.
Credits:
Albert Sidney Johnson for "Longpondium";
Peg Conner Corliss for notes on Wilson Conner;
Gene Barber for The Way It Was;
Thomas A. Bailey for A Diplomatic History of the American People;
parallels and incongruities of history and legend.
