The 1830's were troubled years in Murray. This decade saw the Moravian Mission close, a Cherokee Land Lottery, the Trail of Tears, military rule in Spring Place, a hanging in Murray County, innocent people arrested, bloodshed at local elections, and the beginnings of white rule in an Indian land. This era's story is not easy to record.
As the decade began the Moravian brethren found themselves in a precarious position. In early 1831 Georgia passed a law saying that al! white males living within the Cherokee Nation without a license or permit from the governor or Indian agent must take an oath to the State of Georgia or they would be imprisoned at hard labor for 4 years. However, Moravians did not take oaths or take part in political affairs, but "went about the Master's business." The Oothcaloga mission closed. Reminger left, and then the Clauders and Sister Gambold were ordered out of Georgia. The news of the death of Joseph Gambold in Friedland, NC, caused even more sadness. Gambold had labored at Spring Place for almost 20 years.
Many white men were thus forced out of the Cherokee Nation. Only those who chose to obey the Georgia law and Brother Byhan who was the Federally appointed postmaster were allowed to stay. Other missionaries went to McNair's just inside Tennessee while some returned to North Carolina. The Spring Place congregation then numbered 71. The Moravian diarist of 1831 noted that the mission's guest facility "was more like a public inn" and by December even other religious groups called Spring Place "Pilgrim's Rest."
A Colonel Nelson was sent to Sumach town where "Bean" and others were arrested. Fort Gilmer was also mentioned and in the fall a Lieutenant Brooks arrived in Spring Place with a company of soldiers. Several mixed-blood Cherokees from the area signed to go to Arkansas, but some stayed and even dared to try to mine gold. This angered the white men even more.
The new year began ominously with a 6-inch snow on January 29; 1832 would be a hard one for both Indians and whites. Byhan left Spring Place and Henry Clauder was allowed to return as postmaster. His wife, the former Sophia Dorothea Ruede, was in charge of the school when classes resumed. In April, surveyors for the State of Georgia appeared and even though the Georgia Guard was at Sumach the missionaries saw conditions worsen. Laws were lax and there was much theft. "Georgia abrogated Indian law, but doesn't bring in anything else." wrote the brethren. Then, in December, men appeared at Spring Place and told the devoted Moravians about the land lottery and that they now lived in Murray County, Georgia.
The Georgia Laws of 1832 said:.... And be it further enacted, That such parts of the twenty-seventh, twenty-sixth, twenty-fifth and twenty-fourth districts of the second section, as lie west of the lines here-in-before designated, and the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, and twenty-eighth districts of the third section, and the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, eighteenth and nineteenth districts of the fourth section, shall form and become one county, to be called Murray . ..
And be it farther enacted by the authority aforesaid, That on the first Monday in Much next, the persons who may be resident in said counties, entitled to vote for members of the Legislature, may meet together at the several places herein-after designated in their respective counties, and under the superin ten dance of three suitable and capable persons, elect five justices of the Inferior Court, a clerk of the Superior and Inferior courts, a Sheriff, a Tax Collector, a Tax Receiver and a county Surveyor, and Coroner for each county-who shall hold their respective offices, for and during the time hereinafter prescribed in the seventeenth section of this act.
And be it further enacted, That the placed of holding elections for said counties, shall be as follows: ...
In the county of Murray, at New Echota ...
And be it further enacted. That the Justices of the Inferior courts in their respective counties or a majority of them, shall designate the site for the necessary county buildings as they may think most conducive to the public good, and they shall have power of erecting all necessary county buildings.
And be it further enacted, That the said Justices shall, as soon as practicable lay off their respective counties into Captain's districts, and when said districts may be defined, they shall advertise, and one or more of said Justices shall superintend the election for two Justices of the peace in each Captain's district, giving fifteen days notice of said election at two or more public places in said district, which said justices of the peace when elected, shall be commissioned by the Governor • ..
And be it further enacted, That an election shall be held on the first monday in January eighteen hundred and thirty-four, at the various places for holding elections in the said counties for all county officers in said counties in terms of the law now in force in this State, and the persons elected are to be commissioned, and hold their several offices so as to end at the same time that the commissions of the county officers of the old counties of this State will end, according to the laws now in force, so that all the county officers in this State may be hereafter elected at the same time . . .
And be it further enacted. That so soon as the militia officers of the said several districts in their respective counties shall be elected and commissioned, it shah1 be the duty of the justices of the inferior courts to advertise the election of field officers for each county, giving fifteen days notice thereof in one or more public places in each captains district-and it shall be the duty of two or more justices of the peace to superintend said elections and certify the same as required by the militia laws now in force.
And be it further enacted. That the justices of the inferior courts of the respective counties shall, as soon as practicable proceed to the selection of grand and petit jurors in the manner pointed out by the laws now in force . , .
And be it further enacted. That the several counties hereinbefore organized, shall form and become a judicial circuit to be called Cherokee-and that so soon as may convenient after the passage of this act there shall be elected for said circuit a Judge of the superior courts, and a Solicitor General.
And be it further enacted, That the times of holding the superior courts in the Cherokee circuit shall be as follows:
In the county of Murray, on the first Monday in March and September in each and every year. ...on the third Monday in May and November in each and every year.
And be it further enacted. That the places of holding the superior and inferior in the several counties of Cherokee Circuit, shall be the places designated in this act for the elections of county officers until the inferior courts of the respective counties shall otherwise order and direct ...
ASBURY HULL,
Speaker of the House of Representativs. j
THOMAS STOCKS,
President of the Senate. : ,
Assented to, Dec. 3, 1832.
WILSON LUMPK1N, Governor.
With the stroke of his pen Governor Lumpkin brought a Nation of Indians to an end and changed the course of North Georgia history forever. In the process of surveying land, conducting a lottery, and organizing a county, Cherokees as well as whiles were displaced. The original land surveys list some 200 "improvements" owned by natives or whites. Improvements included houses, fields, cabins, farm buildings, streams, roads, and trails. Not all surveyors listed the improvements but among the names mentioned were Joseph Vann and John Martin, of course, but also George Harlin, Mill Creek, Will Orwell, Roach, Sanders, Vann's Quarters. Belle, Downley, Will Arnel, William May, Darnelly, Whitton's Creek, Mrs. Berry, Mr. Bean, Johnson, Sol Perry, Barnett, Wacaser Road, Burgess. Murphy, Bullfrog's, Sumac Creek, Wilson, Cromwell ("plantation"), Denton. Charly's, Berrien. Fishing Hawk, Goose, Spring Place Road, Federal Road. Coosawattee, and Vann's Stand. These were scattered over present-day Murray County, particularly near streams.
An interesting account of how the lottery affected white families has been recorded by Mildred Bryant Brackett, a descendant of one of Murray's original families.
Soon after the 1830 Census, John and Mary Hill came across the Conasauga River from McMinn County, Tennessee . . . Their first claim on the land now owned by their great-great-grandson, Robert Fariss Hill and his wife ... was by trade with an Indian Chief who lived there. This acquisition was invalidated by the Georgia Legislature before the ... lottery of 1832 ... The Hills were priviledged to buy the land lots they were developing from those who drew them (LL No. 13, 10th District, 3rd Section and others totalling about 750
Apparently it did not matter who was occupying the land in the newly created
Nine other counties besides Murray were formed out of "old" Cherokee me which had been on the maps less than a year itself. The divisions included Gilmer, Union, Lumpkin, Cherokee. Forsyth, Cobb, Cass (now Bartow), Paulding, and Floyd. Murray, with the fewest white inhabitants and the poorest gold prospects, was the largest of the ten.
Murray, the eighty-sixth Georgia County formed, was named for Thomas' Murray, a Georgia statesman from Lincoln County. Probate Judge Alex Ferguson of Lincolnton provided this information about Mr. Murray:
Thomas Walton Murray, legislator, was bom in what is now Lincoln County, Georgia, in 1790, and he was the son of David Murray, who came from Prince Edward County, Virginia, and settled in what was then Wilkes County immediately after the Revolutionary War. His education was received at Dr. Moses Waddell's School, at Willington, Abbeville County, South Carolina, a school noted for its number of students who became famous, including John C. Calhoun, George Mc-Duffie, Hugh Swinton Lagare and others. He studied law in the office of George Cook, in Elberton, Georgia. On August 8, 1819, he married Miss Elizabeth Harper, of Lincoln County, and of the issue of this marriage were three children, one son, John Dooly, and Iwo daughters.
At the age of twenty-eight, he entered public life and gained distinction, not so much for his brilliant talents, as for his industry, his independence and his unquestionable honesty. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives from Lincoln, from 1818 through 1822, from 1824 through 1826, and from 1830 through 1831.
In 1825 he was Speaker of the House and presided with great dignity and impartiality. In politics he was affiliated with the Clarke party, though he did not always support it. He formed his own opinions after careful deliberation and adhered to them regardless of party. His fine send of honor lifted him above the petty schemes of designing politicians, and he lent no encouragement to questionable methods f oolitical success. He recognized that integrity could be found among enemies, d he treated them with fairness. In the early forties, he was an unopposed candidate for Congress, but he died before the election.
Little is known of the personal appearance of Mr. Murray, It is recorded that he was five feet eleven inches in stature, and that he had remarkably large features, but beyond that the record in silent.
In recognition of his popularity and high character. Murray County was named for him while he was still living, a signal honor that has come to few men.
Sadly there was much which was less than honorable about the way Mr. Murray's namesake came into existence.
In a letter written afterward. Missionary Clauder told what happened after the 1832 laws were passed: After mentioning how the mission had grown (to around 130), Clauder wrote:
Early in the Fall, the survey before mentioned was completed, & one of the first acts of the Legislature, . . . was an Act to commence the drawing. We felt ourselves quite secure In our domicile & entertained little anxiety about the probable issue of the aggressions of the State of Georgia upon this Territory, firmly believing thai the so called l-'ortunate drawers would not forth with seize their prizes. The Laws, moreover, were of such a nature at this time, that the occupant Claims of the Cherokees were respected &. all lots upon which any Indian held an improvement, were to remain untouched. Our Spring Place possessions were altogether embraced in the claims of Joseph Vann, a Cherokee, & more than two thirds of the Lot upon which the Mission buildings stood were owned and cultivated by him. The greater therefore was my astonishment, when on the 24th of December several men rode up & announced the fact that our lot had been granted to the "Fortunate Drawer" who was willing out of peculiar favour to us to rent our premises to us at tile moderate sum of S150 per annum. ~
This man was General Hardin of Milledgeville who sent this message by his agents: "I ask the kindness of you to take the usual care of the houses, fences, orchards, gates, etc. and to consider yourself at home upon these conditions." The condition was that a work which had been financed through gifts, societies, the church, and even government grants was now to pay rent for use of its own buildings! Clauder continued:
My efforts to convince these visitors, of the illegality of this proceedings, were utterly vain, & in vain did I point out to them that the exact position of the lines landmarks & how our possessions were entirely involved with the claim of Mr. Vann. I refused renting, upon which possession was demanded, and denied. Here negotiations ended for the present. 1 had however many reasons to apprehend another attack, and in order to satisfy myself of the fact of the issue of the Grant, I addressed a line to his Excellency the Governor, in which I represented the claims of Mr. Vann, solicited if possible a withdrawal of the Grant, if indeed one had been issued for our possesions. Thus we lived in suspense until Monday evening, Dec. 31, 1832, when a loaded waggon drove up- and asked leave to unload-as the effects belonged to several families who would be there next day, & who had rented our possessions. In consequence of my refusal ... the waggoner was compelled to wait until next day, when at a late hour the company consisting of 18 persons arrived. My protestations against their intrusion availed nothing-* by force & fraud they obtained possession of all our buildings, leaving 2 small rooms for my family .... On the 4 of January, a suspicious looking personage arrived & spent the greater part of the day in the company of my new housemates & held long consultations with them- This person 1 was told was a certain Col. Bishop, of Gainesville-& "moreover the Governor's aid-de-camp," On Sabbath the 6th this same person again made his appearance & now a transfer of the claim of one of my housemates to our possessions, took place & was transferred to Bishop. Now he sought my acquaintance-& notwithstanding his profession of kindness & great politeness-1 could very readily discern what his character and disposition was; indeed before I had conversed many minutes with him he began to urge my speedy removal from the place & took great pains to make me feel the support he had "in high places" . . . Next day the remaining two claimants sold their right to said Bishop-& now he was sole Lord & claimant of the far known "Spring place station." On this day 1 commenced my retreat-to Mr. McNairs on the Connessauga. And 6 days all our effects, including stock of every description were beyond the limits of the state of Georgia.
Bishop gave Clauder the conflicting reason that only improvements made by Indians were protected but yet the missionaries could have no title to their property because it was on Indian land. The man finally gave Bishop the post office and abandoned Spring Place. Ironically. Rev. Steiner, who had founded the mission more than three decades earlier, died the same year as the mission closed.
However, the Moravian work continued from Tennessee at McNair's. A small school was built there and Clauder commuted to Spring Place and Oothcaloga at various times for services. Within days of his departure the "once sacred ground" had become "a hotbed of vice and every manner of wickedness" under the name Camp Benton. In September, 1833 Clauder wrote in the mission diary:
Joseph Vann has taken legal action through the Federal Agent for the recovery of our land at Spring Place, at present occupied by Col. Bishop. I received notice to appear as a witness at the Murray Co. court on September 3. The matter had not reached a final stage and from all indications it seemed as though Vann would regain the land. It seemed that Col. Bishop had taken the land in an illegal manner. By inciting family hostility toward Vann, Bishop was able to delay action against him until the law under which land could be confiscated had been amended . . . Vann's loss to all claim to Spring Place shattered all our hopes ever to return ....
Eventually the Moravians received $2,878 for the loss at Spring Place. The Clauders left mission work in 1837, but Brethren Miles Vogler, Herman Ruede, and Schmidt followed the Cherokees to the west where they founded New Springplace Mission in Oklahoma. (In 1975 the Moravians returned to Georgia and founded a church at Stone Mountain.)
The court session mentioned above was the first held in Spring Place. Under the terms of the original act creating Murray County the March 1833 elections were to be held at New Echota. Thereafter the Justices of the Inferior Court could '"otherwise order and direct" that court be held in other places. They were authorized to choose the location for county buildings. According to early Murray County historian Charles Shriner the first court session was held in what is now Walker County between Ringgold and Lafayette. This was in 1832 or 1833 and David Irwin was judge. Shriner continued:
The first volume of the Superior Court Record . . . opened with the following
-As a Superior Court began and holden in and for the county of Murray on the first Monday in September in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-three, pursuant to the law. Present his honor, John W. Hooper."
The First Grand Jury was sworn in as follows: Benjamin Clark, foreman, Asa May Eli Bouling, Daniel Anderson, Samuel Johnson, James McGhee, John R. Smedley Samuel Miller, Roger Markins, John Gillian, Ambler Casey, John W.Cain, Thomas Bryant, Robert C. Cain, John B. Marstin, Wilson R. Young, Robert Smith, Benjamine Wheeler.
The First True Bill recorded is against George Tooke, charged with murder.
W.J.. Cotter, then a young resident of Murray County, described Tooke's offense (although he gives the date as 1835) as follows:
We suffered more from the bad Indians and white outlaws; for instance, the killing of the Bowman family, which consisted of Bowman, his wife and little girl, and an old blind aunt. Having a grudge against him, George Tooke, a bad Indian, and five or six more went to the house. Bowman fought them bravely, wounding one of them. Overpowering him, they split his head open with an ax, then did the same to his wife. They left the old aunt in the house to be burned. The Indians set the house on fire and stood around to see it burn. The little girl ran out. They saw the little girl, and Tooke snatched her up in his arms. She clinched his shirt sleeves in her hands. He then threw her into the flames, she with part of his shirt still in her hands. The whole family suffered death in the burning house. Tooke and his men remained in the neighborhood for some days. Creek Ben, the one whom Bowman had wounded, was thrown in a deep creek and drowned. Tooke fled to Cherokee County. Upon being arrested, he was severely wounded by a gunshot. He lay in jail at Canton until he was able to be carried to Cassville, where he was hanged.
Charles Shriner wrote in 1911 that "several old citizens . . . informed me that the lawless element defied the courts for some time and that the next Judge, O.H. Kenan was the first who succeeded in holding court and enforcing respect for the law." Cotter agreed saying that
The same conditions entered into the courts. This rougher element violated their oaths without a qualm of conscience, especially where the rights of the better classes involved. My father was deeply interested in public affairs and did what he could to have good men elected to office. He himself was a judicial offer. He suffered dearly for his effort in behalf of the general welfare and the office he held, on one occasion barely escaping with his life. One evening he was sitting quietly in his house when one of the outlaws forced his way through the door. He was a large man, and before we were hardly aware of his intentions he had given my father some heavy blows with a club. Father sprang from his seat and grappled with the the club. My brave little mother seized the assailant around the waist and cried to me: "William get the ax." This 1 did and began to use the blade with all my might on the man's legs. When I began this attack, the man hastily retreated.
Allen Lumpkin Henson. in a book entitled Confessions of a Criminal Lawyer praised Judge Hooper, however and recounted this story about the judge and his "coterie of lawyers" who "rode circuit" with him in Cherokee country:
It was uncertain . , . whether the Georgia courts would be accepted by the people or recognized by Federal authority .. .
At Spring Place, in Murray County, deep in the heart of a territory somewhat untamed compared to other sections, the sailing was not so smooth. A man named Bishop was indicted for murder. Bishop was the leader of a powerful faction in that area. An opposing faction sensed the advantage of his downfall and commenced pushing the case. Soon every family in the county became embroiled. A feud was imminent. So marked was the fear of violence that Colonel Lindsey, who commanded Federal troops based nearby in Tennessee (probably sent there initially to keep an eye on Governor Lumpkin's militia), sent a detachment to Spring Place, the scene of the trial. When the judge rode into town, he found this detachment bivouacked conveniently nearby. Not sure that their mission was a friendly one, he ordered the officer in command to get his "foreign troops" off Georgia soil. He thought it the part of prudence not to open court until they were gone. The sheriff was more afraid of the Bishop faction than of the Indians or the soldiers. Insisting that trouble was certain if a court were organized to interfere with the way things were being run, he was reluctant to attempt it at that time. The Judge took him by the arm and walked with him to the entrance of the borrowed church building where the court was to be held, and stood beside him while he falteringly intoned "O-yez-O-yez, the honorable Superior Court of the County of Murray, the State of Georgia, is now in session! Press forward all ye who have grievances and ye shall be heard!"
The court was organized and the Bishop case completed without incident. The sovereignty of Georgia has never again been challenged in the Cherokee Country . . . There was a good deal of rowdyism, as is invariably true in frontier settlements . . .
Evidently, Murray Countians were at their "rowdyist" during the first election in January, 1834. Shriner wrote that they "excited bitter feelings . . . Fraud was charged, and street fights were common ... assault, riot, and murder are some of the charges that show the intense animosity that existed ... opposing forces sometimes would fight battles... with sticks and stones."
Contested elections continued through the summer of 1834. In May an election was held at George W. Wacasser's to elect two justices of the peace for what was then Murray's "second district," probably the Pleasant Valley area. James Edmondson, a Justice of the Inferior Court, had trained Nathan Ward and Jesse Casey to manage the election. They questioned Edmondson's decision to allow George Wilson and Robert T. Banks to vote since they did not meet the residency requirement. Saying that he had "total control," Edmondson dismissed the men. He then hired Peter Fry and George Rollins. who were not even "freeholders" to hold a new election and voided the first balloting. Fry and Rollins allowed Robert T. Banks, another Banks, a Henry, Burton and Ambrose McGhee, Thomas J. Harper, and James Edmondson to vote—even though Edmondson was the only one who met the residency requirement, a1 least according to Nelson Dickerson who petitioned the Governor to call another election.
Other county J-P-'s Larkin Satterfield and John R. Smedley took depositions Asa Keith Dickerson, Ward and John Gillian. Others who signed the petition were candidates Carey M. Jackson and Martin Keith (who had lost to McGhee in the second balloting), Elijah King. H. Hartness, Warren and John F. Sams, Joseph Richardson, Michael Wacaser, James Ross, Littleberry Jackson, Benjamin C. Sams, George Wilson, Samuel H. Keith, Duncan Terry, James Brookshien and Samuel Miller.
The Governor must have ordered a new election because on August 16 the group met again at George Wacaser's to vote. This time, however, Edmondson allegedly did not advertise the election, failed to open the polls until "three or four o'clock" after many voters had left, and again allowed people to vote who had not lived in the district 6 months. Again some of the same men plus Moses Dunn petitioned the Governor. Records in the Georgia Department of Archives and History end with the second petition.
Since the whites in Murray County fought with one another, it is no surprise that they did not get along with the many Cherokees who remained in the area. The same Nelson Dickerson who contested the election earlier, became the foreman of the jury which found James Graves guilty of murder in September, 1834. Two months later, Graves, a Cherokee, became the only person in Murray County history to be hanged (legally).
Graves was accused of murdering a white man 4 years earlier. Elias Boudinot served as interpreter for the Indian while Cherokees James McDaniel, William Downing. John Martin, and David Bell testified that they had heard an intoxicated Graves boast that he had killed a man. Some of them had found a few scattered bones, considered by a few to be too small to be those of the supposed victim whose name was not known. Based on this weak, circumstantial evidence, Graves was hanged. The jury consisted of Dickerson (who was clerk). Sheriff James C. Bamett, Jesse Bookout. William Elland, Berry Jackson, William L. Dates. James Whittenburg, Thomas Simmons, Archibald Stone, Moses Dunn, William Holcomb, and William Gillehan.
Since Murray had no jail, Graves was held at the Cassville jail until November 21, 1834 when he was returned to Spring Place for this sentence to be carried out:
"between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. you will be taken by the Sheriff of said County of Murray with a rope around your neck, and by him conducted to a gallows to be for that purpose erected upon Lot No. two-hundred and forty-five in the ninth district of the third section of the Cherokee Territory, now situate in the said county of Murray and by the said Sheriff hung upon such gallows by the neck until you are dead. And may the Lord have mercy upon your soul."
A note in an old county record book reveals the "gallows and other expense or hanging James Graves cost $14.00." Even though, the U.S. Supreme Court questioned the trial and the sentence, Georgia Governor Wilson Lumpkin ignored e questions and allowed the execution to take place.
The infamous murder trial was not the only important case to come before Murray's Superior Court that fall. On October 1, 1834 Joseph Vann secured an injunction against William N. Bishop, James Edmondson, James T. Gary, John J. Humphreys, James Donohoo, James Kincannon, Barney West, Harris Bradin, Johile Hilton, Matthew and George Kincannon, John Irvin, Wesley Raines Daniel Comwell(?), Jonathan Bailey, Nathaniel Connally, John Taylor, Paten Wade, and William Smith to keep them from "trespassing on the improvements upon lots of land numbers 116-137, 152-153, 163, 244, 245,243,262 189, 188, 190, 192, 154, 155.134.156,133,187,194, 224-225 in the ninth District of the third section of originally Cherokee now Murray County . . ." Judge Hooper granted the injunction, much to the dismay of Governor Lumpkin who wanted the whites to be able to get the land. However the Federal government had promised the Cherokees protection until the removal which was still years away. Georgia then passed the infamous "Law of 1834," under which any Indian with improvements could hold as much as two lots of land until he forfeited this right by violating Georgia laws in some way. Of course the legislators^ immediately added more laws to the books which were designed for the Indians! to break so to speak. The laws barred Cherokee witnesses in any court (a littlel late to save James Graves), banned Cherokee assemblies, voided all contracts! made by or with them, prohibited them from hiring whites as employees, and I referred to the Indians in degrading terms. (Not until the early 1960s were these laws removed from the Georgia code. Then Representative Charles A. Pannell, Sr. of Murray County led the effort to repeal these laws.)
William Harden of Cassville, son of General Edward Harden who had purchased the Moravian lot in 1833, recommended none other than William N. Bishop to Governor Lumpkin as a suitable person to enforce the law of 1834. Bishop, already living in the county, was "energetic and zealous in his work to pursue the state's policy in the area." The appointment became official in January, 1835. By that time, however, Bishop was also Representative, Clerk of Court, and Commissioner for the new "county site"—Spring Place.
According to Georgia historian Lucian Lamar Knight, white families from the Carolinas and lower Georgia settled near what became Spring Place in the latter part of the 18th century. The area was then called Vann's Town or Vann's Station and several whites are mentioned in the early Moravian diaries. Prior to this time the Indians had often stopped at the "Place of Many Springs" on hunting trips. The Moravians then named their mission Springplace. When the mission was confiscated. Bishop renamed it Camp Benton.
Since the county officials had the power to move the site for court and elections and Spring Place had worked out well in 1833, by the next year Spring Place (now two words) was on its way to becoming the permanent county seat. On September 19. 1834 Abner E. Holliday and Matthew Jones jointly deeded 40 acres and a spring for the "county site."
For a time the residents had considered calling the town Poinsett, but when the act passed the legislature December 20, 1834 it said that "the public site in the county of Murray shall be called Spring Place." Bishop, John J. Humphries, John S. Bell, Seaborn Lenter, and Burton McGhee were appointed the first commissioners. The name Poinsett probably came from Joel Roberts Poin-sett (1779-1851), a South Carolinian who had served as U.S. minister to Mexico and was an ardent Jacksonian Democrat on his way to the head of the War Department. He is also the person for whom that famous Christmas flower, the poinsettia, is named. The people of Murray County, however, disliked the name and the town remained Spring Place.
Originally the town proper was the northeast corner of land lot 245. The mission was in the northwest corner of lot 244. Today these two lots join No. 225 and No. 224 (where the Vann House is located) for form the present town.
Colonel Bishop wasted little time in asserting his new authority. Soon many Indians had violated the law in some way. By March, 1835 the Moravian diarist, though safely in Tennessee wrote: "Indians of all classes are being severely pressed by whites. They are being put out of their houses and driven from their Property by force, particularly at ... Spring Place and Sumach Creek." Even the wealthiest Cherokee, Joseph Vann, was suddenly told that it was illegal for him to keep his miller, a white man, for another year. He must vacate his home, too.
Although some say that the event occurred in 1834, Spencer Riley, one of the principal characters in the drama, penned this letter clearly dated March 1 ] 1835.
To the Public: There being many erroneous reports concerning the transaction detailed in the following statement, I have deemed it necessary to present ... the facts.
I became a boarder of Joseph Vann, a Cherokee residing near Spring Place, in Murray County, in October last, and continued to board with him up to the 2d March inst., when the outrage hereinafter stated look place.
On the 23d of February last, Mrs. Vann, in the absence of her husband, received a written notice to quit the possession of the lot, from Wm. N. Bishop, one of the agents of the State of Georgia, appointed by the Governor under the law of 1834. This was done without the request of the drawer or any person holding or claiming under him. It was known that one Kinchin W. Hargrove, brother to Z.B. Hargrove, had obtained a certificate from Wm. N. Bishop with the view of obtaining the grant from Milledgeville, in consequence of which the grant issued some time in February upon his application. This lot on which Joseph Vann lived is an Indian improvement and his right of occupancy is not forfeited by any provision of the laws of Georgia. It is known as Lot No. 224, 9th district and 3d section, and was drawn by a Mr. Turley of Warren; it contains a spacious two-story brick house and many outhouses and is very valuable, particularly as a public stand. It had been returned as a fraudulent draw by Major Bulloch, whose stive facias had obtained preference by being first filed. It was also returned by Z.B. Hargrove as informer in a second seive facias.
Such was the situation of the lot on the 2d of March, when W.N. Bishop, as agent and acting under the state's authority, summoned some 20 men and placed in their hands the muskets confided to him by the Governor for another purpose, and furnished them with ammunition, came over to Mr. Vann's at the head of his guard, resolved to clear the house and put his brother. Absalom Bishop, in possession, who afterwards opened a public house. Some articles of Mr. Vann were allowed to remain in the house and he was permitted to occupy at sufferance a small room. 1 occupied a room on the second floor at the head of the stairs. This armed force was accompanied by one Kinchin W. Hargrove, a sort of deputy to Bishop. When they approached the house, I inquired of W.N. Bishop what all of this meant, and stated to him that he had given Mrs. Vann until Saturday, the 7th, in which to move. He replied that Joshua Holden was the agent. This man Holden is notorious in the upper part of the state for his vices and subservience to Bishop. Upon receiving this reply from W.N. Bishop, I inquired of Holden if he was the agent for the drawer. He replied, "No, I am agent for Mr. Hargrove, and have a power of attorney from him." Mr. Hargrove did not claim to have any right or title to the lot as derived from or through the drawer. Convinced as I was that this was all a trick to get Vann out of the house, and to put him out unlawfully and fraudulently, in order to get possession for Absalom Bishop, 1 demanded of W.N. Bishop to see the plat and grant and his authority for thus acting. He stated that Holden was seeking possession, but exhibited no authority, and there was no agent of the drawer or person claiming under him seeking possession.
W.N. Bishop rushed into the house with his guard and commanded them to present arms. Having some things in the room I occupied, I went up to take care of them. 1 heard Bishop demand possession of Vann, who answered that he considered himself out of possession from the Monday previous. "Where is that damned rascal Riley?" inquired Bishop. The reply was, "He is in his room." By this time 1 had got to the head of the stairs and called out to Bishop that there was no use for any violent measures or for bloodshed, for if he would acknowledge he had taken forcible possession from me, he could throw my things out of doors. His reply was, "Hear P°Tdamned rascal; present arms and match upstairs, and the first man that gets a ' •* se of him, shoot him down." Upon hearing these orders given to his guard, I ^ eht it high'time to defend myself as best I could, and exclaimed, "The first man that advances to obey Bishop's orders 1 will kill!"
One man named Winters, an itinerant carpenter, advanced upstairs with a loaded musket and his valiant commander behind him. As soon as they saw me they fired m° n me and fell back; 1 then fired, too. Their shot slightly wounded me in my hand arms, and immediately after, ten or twelve muskets were fired at me, but being protected by the stairs, the shots did not take effect. I being out of sight, they aimed at the spot where they supposed I was and shot the banisters to pieces. I then presented a gun in sight to deter their further approach, and prevent if possible the accomplishment of their murderous design. Then a rifle was fired by Absalom Bishop; the ball struck my gun and split, one part of it striking me glancingly on my forehead iust above my right eye, and fragments of it wounding me on several other places on my face. I desired them to bear witness to who shot that rifle, for I had been severely wounded. Wrn. N. Bishop called out tauntingly, "The State of Georgia shot the guns!" After 1 was thus wounded and bleeding freely, 1 opened the door of the room and called out to them that 1 was severely wounded, and they could come and take my arms. As soon as I showed myself, several more muskets were fired on me. One shot struck me on the left cheek, another wounded me severely on the head and one went through the door over my head.
During this extraordinary outrage, W.N. Bishop was heard frequently exclaiming, "Kill the damned rascal; we've got no use for nullifiers in this country!" and K.W. Hargrove also often exclaimed I should come down dead or alive. W.N. Bishop procured a flaming firebrand and threw it upon the platform of the stairs, exclaiming that he would bum him out or bum him up. After the fire had made some progress, and probably recollecting that if the house was destroyed, Absalom Bishop would have no house to occupy, Vann was requested to go up and extinguish the fire. Being much debilitated by the loss of blood, I laid down on the bed. They soon after entered my room and seized my desk and papers as if 1 had been a malefactor. I desired them to permit me to put up my papers in my secretary and to lock it. Hargrove replied, "Let him put what he pleases in the desk, but don't let him take anything out." I had $10 in money in the desk. After 1 had locked it, they took the keys from me and the desk also, under the pretext that they would secure the costs. The money I never saw afterwards.
Just before the close of the conflict, Hargrove called out to me and asked if I did not know that there was an officer who had a warrant against me. I answered, no, but if such were the case I would submit to the laws of my country and surrender to the sheriff. Bishop then abused the sheriff and cursed him. In a short time the sheriff, Col. Humphreys, came, and I was asked to show myself, which I no sooner did than several muskets were levelled and fired at me, but happily without much injury.
It afterward appeared that in order to give their conduct the semblance of law, they had procured this tool of Bishop, Holden, to make an affidavit to procure a warrant for the forcible entry and detainer. Both affidavit and warrant, upon being produced, proved to be in the handwriting of Z.B. Hargrove, and dated first in February, but that month was stricken and 2nd March inserted. It is believed that this notable proceeding was planned in Cassville, 45 miles off, and given to Kinchin W. Hargrove when he went to Spring Place.
After my surrender to the sheriff, I was taken out of his custody, conveyed before a magistrate, also under the control of Bishop, charged with an assault with intent to murder, and immediately ordered off in my wounded condition, 45 miles, in a severe snow storm under a strong guard, my wounds undressed, and filched of the little change 1 had in my pockets, and lodged in the Cassville jail in the dungeon. The guard received their orders from Bishop and Hargrove not to allow me to have any intercourse with my friends, and so rigidly were these orders observed that when I arrived at Major Howard's in the neighborhood of my family and desired him to inform them of my situation, and not to be alarmed, the guard threatened to use their bayonets if I did not proceed. Bishop even designated the houses at which we were to stop on our way, I was placed in a dungeon until my friends at Cassville, hearing of my situation, relieved me on bail.
The foregoing statement can be attested by many respectable witnesses, and is substantially correct. The transaction has created a greet sensation in Murray County, and must have received the unqualified condemnation of every law-abiding citizen.
SPENCER RILEY.
The Riley-Bishop incident did indeed create a sensation and there are several versions in which details vary—according to which group the recorder happened to interview. W.J. Cotter added that "another battle was fought after this at Milledgeville. When Berry Bishop and Riley met, they commenced to fire. Bishop knocked Riley down and placed the muzzle of his pistol at his ear, but the gun flashed and did not fire. This ended the fighting ... at that time."
Various Cherokee leaders were kept prisoner at Spring Place, often by Col. Bishop or his subordinate, Sgt. Young. In May, 1835 Walter S. Adair, Thomas F. Taylor, Johnson Rogers, Brice Martin, and Methodist missionary James I. Trott were arrested. One witness gave this account of the affair:
These gentlemen were conducted to the headquarters of the guard, Spring Place, Murray County, where they found Mr. Thomas Fox also under guard . . . Through some of their friends, the case was communicated to Major Hansel ... As counsellor for the nation, he immediately appeared at the guard's Headquarters and was refused admittance ... It was known that the Sheriff was absent, and preparations were forthwith made to remove the prisoners. They were taken out about Vi mile upon the main road, the guard then struck into woods, & dodged about among unfrequented hills & deep swamps, thus hiding them for three or four days & nights from the relief of the law . . . After Major Hansel had departed, the prisoners were noiselessly marched back to Headquarters . . . [Later, after bond was posted, the prisoners were set free.]
In June, Governor Lumpkin authorized Bishop to raise a company of forty men "to protect the people of the Cherokee territory and the friendly Indians." Housed at the mission, the company was not part of the regular militia and was to exist only until December. Before the group disbanded, however, they succeeded in drawing national attention to Spring Place when they arrested, in Tennessee, Principal Chief John Ross and famed writer, John Howard Payne.
Murray County Heritage