Scottish Highlanders in Colonial Georgia

Conclusion

CONCLUSION THE COLONY OF GEoRGIA owed a debt of gratitude to this determined group of Highlanders. They had been recruited as a community to secure the southern frontier of Georgia against her enemies and had performed that duty with distinction. After 1748 the unique trustee period of Georgia's infancy came to an end and Georgia became a royal colony The significant contributions of the Highland community gave way to the individual efforts of the Highland Scots themselves. The Highlanders at Darien could set aside their broadswords and turn their energies to cattle farming, the timber industry, Indian trade, mercantilism, rice plantations, and politics. In all of these areas they made a vital impact on Georgia's growth and stability. The Trustees for Establishing the Colony of Georgia in America sought a particular type of people who were rugged and would loyally serve as the front line of defense in the New World. For their colony to survive, it had to be protected and secure. After the dismal experiences with the first group of settlers, English and Lowland Scots, the Trustees reasoned that they must look for colonists made of sterner stuff. The hardy Highlanders seemed the ideal choice. To entice the Scots to leave their homes in the Highlands and venture to the wilds of Georgia, the Trustees offered free land and provisions for the first year. For Scots who were barely surviving on leased lands and subsistence farming, this was an offer too good to refuse. For a few emigrants such as John Mohr Mackintosh, who had lost his inheritance due to forfeitures following the Rising of 1715, this was an opportunity to regain lost fortunes. Some young gentlemen of the clans came just for the adventure while others, after their initial fears and reluctance had been allayed, came to find a new home on the frontier of the new province. The Highland Scots traditionally lived in a society that was in a constant state of military preparedness. Benjamin Martyn correctly echoed the Trustees' choice when he proclaimed that "Highlanders were sent to the Colony: these, being accustomed to hardship, and labor, were not afraid of it in Georgia, and they live by it very comfortably."1 Conclusion 95 Could these people hold the frontier against the Spanish in Florida, the French in Mississippi, and the Indians in the backcountry? The answer is a resounding yes. Although at times there were discontent and conflict among the ranks of the Scots, they never shied away from their responsibility as soldiers and protectors of the colony. Life was hard on the frontier in the pine barrens of Georgia and some Highlanders found it too much to endure. These people moved to Carolina, which seemed out of harm's way. At the time they could also own slaves in Carolina to do the manual labor for them, which was not the case during the Georgia colony's first two decades. The idea of slavery did not fit into the Trustees' design for a yeoman colony where men and women lived by the products of their own labors and did not rely on the work of others. The constant threat of Spanish invasion and complicity in slave revolt also served to keep slavery from entering Georgia until 1750, after the War of Jenkins' Ear. Those Highlanders who remained in Georgia did not shirk their duty but adapted to the rigors of colonial frontier life. Obviously,they knew the benefit of hard labor and did not fit the stereotypical picture of Celtic peoples as lazy and averse to farming. Time and time again James Oglethorpe, the Earl of Egmont, William Stephens, and others in authority praised the labor and industry of these sturdy frontiersmenand women. Whether or not they lived comfortably is another question. There is no record that the town of Darien suffered any epidemic or widespread sickness during its colonial days. During the Trustee period the settlement persevered, survived, and eventually obtained a measure of prosperity in spite of the hardships. The fact that the land surrounding Darien was not viable for effective cultivation of staple crops did not deter the Highlanders from making a success of their experience in America. The Scots turned initiallyto the familiar life patterns to which they were accustomed in the Highlands.Their societywas structured around clan leaders, in this case John Mohr Mackintosh and Captain Hugh Mackay, who acted traditionally as decision makers and adjudicators . An early Savannah newspaper said of John Mohr Mackintosh during...