The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-08-19
ERRORS IN STORY OF MISSION.
AIRY BUTLER CORRECTED.
SOME ANCIENT GEORGIA HISTORY
Bartow Sage Tells Of the Trouble Expe-
rienced In Getting Indians to
Leave the State.

Ter, and his wife. No doubt but that
it is founded on fact, and he probably
got his data from some very old man
who still lives near Coosaville, little
village twelve miles below Rome. I
was interested in the story. because
when I was a lad that same DR.. Butler
was imprisoned in the county jail at
Lawrenceville, where my father lived.
Another missionary, by the name OF
Worcester, was imprisoned with him,
and their offense was their refusal to
take the oath of allegiance to the state
of Georgia or otherwise to leave the
Cherokee nation. They were suspected
of using their influence to render the
Indians dissatisfied with the treaty
that required them to 60 west. John
Howard Payne, the author of 'Home,
Sweet Home" was also suspect, and
was arrested and taken to Milledge-
vile to be examined. Those were hot
times in Georgia, especially north
Georgia, for Gwinnett was border
county, and we children could almost
see Indians squatted among the chin
auapin bushes or behind the trees on
the road to the mill. We knew they
were just over the Chattahoochee river,
and that some white people over there
had been murdered by them. Indians
were as much terror to US as ghosts
and runaway negroes. The new gran
ite Jail had just been completed, and
nine Indians were the first prisoners.
They all escaped within week. They
took up stone in the floor and bur-
rowed out like moles or rabbits.
I never heard until Govan wrote it
that Butler was dragged to Milledge-
vile with rope around his neck, nor
am prepared to believe that much Of
the story. He and Worcester were
arrested at New Echota Tin Gordon
county, and brought mounted to Law
renceville and tried before Judge
Clayton, who was Mrs. Henry Grady's
/ grandfather, learned, humane and
incorruptible Judge. They had the
best of local counsel, Elisha Chester,
also native of Connecticut, and they
had the renowned William Writ as an
adviser, and they had the president,
John Quincy Adams, on their side.
John Marshal, the chief justice of the
supreme court, issued his mandamus
to compel Judge Clayton to release the
prisoners, but he refused, and collis-
ion seemed inevitable between the
United States and the state of Georgia.
I think that Mr.. Govan's informant is
mistaken, for Butler had lots Of friends
powerful friends-and John Ross,
the chief of the Cherokees, was back
ing him. Doubtless he was good
man, but he was stubborn and fanati-
cal, and declared he owed no alle-
glance except to the American board
Of foreign missions, and to God-that
it was his duty to teach Christianity
to the Indians, and he would continue
to do so.
Both these men were convicted and
sentenced to the penitentiary for four
years. When they arrived at Mil
ledgeville Governor Lumpkin kindly
advised them to take the oath or agree
to leave the state, and if they would
do either he would at once pardon
them. They refused and wrote to the
board of missions for advice. That
board commended their refusal and
again urged Writ and Sergeant to resort
to the supreme court. But these emf
nent lawyers advised an acceptance OF
Governor Lumpkin's offer. So they
accepted and were pardoned-and my
father always said they returned to
Connecticut. He knew them and had
many conversations with them, and
gave them good advice, for he, too,
was New England man. And hence
I am surprised to learn from Mr.. Go
van that Butler returned to his mis-
sionary work and died near Coosaville
and was buried by the side of his wife.
In fact, never knew before that he
had wife; but, of course, the inscrip.
ton on her tombstone settles that.
Mr.. Govan gives Butler the Christian
name of Elonez, but the records in the
state archives show his name as he
himself signed it to be Elizur.
It is, however, an interesting and
pathetic story and very great men
figured in it, both state and national.
The conflicts between the state and
the Cherokees and the United States
continued for II years and ended only
with the exodus of 1888. Several
treaties were made-made only to be
broken. Ross and Ridge, the two
chiefs, could never agree upon terms,
and they had their followers. When
Georgia ceded Alabama and Missis-
sippi to the United States in 1902, the
consideration was that the United
States should extinguish the Indians
title and remove them beyond the
Mississippi river. The federal gov
ernment was so slow in trying to do
this that after waiting and urging and
entreating for 20 years, the state got
impatient and demanded action. The
Ross party declared they would not 60
at all, but finally agreed to cede their
lands for 100000 and 100000
acres of land. This price was consid-
l1~4