The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-06
GE0RGIA'S BIGGEST COUNTY.
COFFEE THE LARGEST IN THE
STATE WITH AN AREA OF LIB
MILES.

Was Named After Gen. John e. COT
fee. a Patriot of the Last Century
and the Right Hand Man of 'Old
Hickory in His Campaign Against
the Creek Indians-Its Productive
Lands Offer Great Inducements to
Home Seekers Its Population
About 10000.
Douglas is the county seat of Coffee
county. The name is familiar as that
of a noble family of Scotland, many
of whom had the honor of being killed in
battle. or the misfortune of losing
their hard heads on the block The
town was not named, however, after
those distinguished Scotchmen, but in
honor of Stephen A. Douglas, of Hi
nois, who would have been the Demo-
cratic nominee for President at the
Charleston convention in 1850, and
probably President, mad it not been
for the withdrawal of the delegations
from six of the Southern states, and
a part of the Georgia delegation. 1t
was that split in the Democratic party
that made the election of Lincoln pos
sfble. and brought on the war between
the Northern and Southern states.
Two democratic tickets were placed
in the field Breckenridge and Lane,
and Douglas and Johnson (Herscnal
V. Johnson of Georgia.. The latter
ticket received only IL votes in the
electoral college. "The Little Giant"
as Douglas was called, was spared
the painful scenes that followed the
election OF Lincoln, and died in June,
1851. Foste1ity will place his name
in the temple of great Americans.
In my sketch of Blakely the county
seat of Early county, 1 intended to
write something about the gallant
naval hero in whose honor the town
was named. l have read somewhere
that the first intention of the founders
of the county was to name its Court
House town Earlyton, but it seems
that they changed their minds and
called it Blakely, after Capt. Johnston
Blakely of the United States navy,
who, with his vessel and crew, dis
appeared forever in the waters of the
Atlantic
In May, 1918, the sloop-of-war
Wasp, of eighteen guns, commanded
by Capt. Blakely. sailed from Ports
mouth on her first cruise. After cap
turing seven merchant vessels she en-
, countered on June 2S the British sloop
of-war Reindeer, of nineteen guns and
lis men. The battle lasted two hours,
when the crew of the Wasp boarded
the Reindeer, under brave Blakely's
lead, and hauled down the British
flag. The battle was severe, the
Wasp losing five killed and twenty
one wounded. while the Renders loss
was twenty-five killed Qncluding Capt.
Manners) and forty-two wounded. The
Reindeer was so badly battered that
the captors burned her. Several mer-
chant vessels were captured by the
Wasp, and early in September she
fought and sank the British sloop-of-
war, Avon, twenty guns, and was
herself somewhat damaged. On Sept.
% she captured the British brig At
lantic and sent her to the United
States as a prize. This was the last
heard of the Wasp, or her brave COM
mander, Blakely, and his heroic men.
She may have been lost in severe
storm, or sunk in a battle with some
larger British war vessel, and all on
board persisted. The latter SUPPOSE
ton is not improbable, namely, that
the Wasp went down under the fire
of the guns of an enemy, as a British
frigate reported that it was attacked
at night by an unknown war vessel,
which soon after disappeared. Doubt
less the heavy broadsides of the frig-
ate sent the little brig-of-war to the
bottom and no man was left to tell
the tale.
Coffee county was laid off in 1854,
and is the largest in the state, having
an area of 1,123 miles, and a popula-
ton, according to the census of 1900,
of whites 1858, and colored 6611, MAX
ing a total of 16,169, an increase in
population of nearly IS per cent. in
ten years. The local census claims
an increase of 1900 on these figures,
which will make the present population
about 10000.
The county was named in memory
of Gen. Coffee. My information con-
corning this distinguished soldier was
limited to the fact that he was
fighter of British and Indians in the
early years of the last century, and
that when l was a boy there was a
steamboat named after him. Recog-
nizing my deficiency, 1 called upon MY
friend, Maj. Sidney Herbert, of Matt
land, Fla, and he kindly furnished me
with the following interesting sketch:
Gen. John E. Coffee was born in
Virginia in 1880, but his father came to
Hancock county while John was a
small boy. His first appearance in
military history is as a colonel of a
regiment of Tennessee volunteer cav
airy and mounted rifiemen raised near
Nashville, with Gen. Andrew Jack
son in 1872 going to the scene
of the Fort Mimms massacre in
Tensaw settlement of the then Mis-
sissippi territory, now Alabama. His
valuable services and soldierly quail
ties soon promoted him to brigadier
general and his first important fight
was at Tallushat chee on the Southside
of the Coosa river. From that time on
he was one of Jacksons braVest and
best generals, and often won high
praise from "Old Hickory" for his he
roism and good generalship. He was
Jackson's right hand man at the great
battle of Tehopeka, or Horse Shoe
Bend, March o. 1914, which resulted in
breaking up the warlike Creeks. and
the surrender of their territory to the
United States. After the war Gen. COT
fee moved to Telfair county. and in
1883 to 80 was in Congress with A. S.
Clayton, G.. r. Gilmer, ]. NJ Wayne,
r. H. Wilde VIM. Schley and Sea-
born Jones, and in 1895 to 81 with Sea-