African American Life in the Georgia Lowcountry: The Atlantic World and the Gullah Geechee

“The great cry of our people is land!” Black Settlement and Community Development on Ossabaw Island, Georgia, 1865–1900

Allison Dorsey “Thegreatcryofourpeopleisland!” Black Settlement and Community Development on Ossabaw Island, Georgia, 1865–1900 The great cry of our people is land. If they can be protected they will get on well enough. . . . They want to be free-holders, land holders and to hold office like white men. —Tunis Campbell, 1871 shaken AndrewWaterswrotetoJohnW.Magill,superintendent of the Freedmen’s Bureau for Ossabaw Island, informing him that, in the face of violent confrontation on December 3, 1866, he had been unsuccessful in arresting a defendant charged with “contempt of authority.” Less than pleased, Magill ordered Waters “to arrest Mustapha Shaw and bring him before me . . . and this you will not fail to execute at your peril!” The following day Waters, accompanied by John Mungin, reported to Magill’s office with a handful of witnesses to lend credence to his tale of woe. Louis, Benjamin, and Thomas Bond, as well as Benjamin Harris and George Savage, had all been pressed into service to help in the arrest of one Mustapha Shaw. According to their account, when the men arrived at the home of Robert Donegal (Delegal) they were met by Shaw, the brothers Robert and Lee Donegal (Delegal), and Pauldo Brown, who had “armed themselves with three guns.” The witnesses said, “Shaw also took a Bowie Knife and pistol, and with the parties above armed defied {said officers} and threatA “the great cry of our people is land!”  225 ened to kill said officers.” Waters and his deputies were driven back by threats of violence and showered in a hail of curses for all blacks on Ossabawwhoworkedforwhitemen ,whileShawandcompanymadegoodtheir escape.1 WhywereMustaphaShawandAndrewWaters,bothformermembers of the U.S. Colored Troops (usct), on opposing sides of the law on Ossabaw Island within a year of mustering out of the Union Army? Defiant and in possession of his service pistol, Shaw had served with the 33rd Infantry Regiment. Fellow soldier Andrew Waters had mustered out of the 103rd Infantry Regiment in April of that year. Waters, who lived in Savannah, had secured continued government employment by working on behalf of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (henceforth Freedmen’s Bureau), whereas Shaw, who resided on Ossabaw Island with Brown and the Delegal brothers, clearly rejected such government service. David Bond, “the Father of Louis, James, Benjamin William & Thomas Bond,”and“theElderoftheBaptistChurchonsaidIsland,”gavetestimony suggesting a standing feud, noting that Shaw and company had “repeatedly threatened to kill Louis Bond, Wm McKeever (McKiver), George Savage and other persons on said plantation on Ossabaw Island.”2 The plantation in question was Middle Place, owned by Alexander McDonald. Bond had a long history of association with the land, as he declared himself “the oldest colored man on the Macdonald [sic] place.” The present study seeks to re-create the historic outlines of the Ossabaw community by answering demographic, sociological, and economic questions about island life in the thirty-five years of occupation by black freedmen and women. My research is designed to analyze the process of settlement, community development, and institution building by the freedmen and women who lived on Ossabaw Island, Georgia, beginning in June 1865 through the end of the century. Part of the Golden Isles situated off the coast of Georgia, Ossabaw is roughlytwentymilessouthofSavannah.AcquiredbyJohnMorelsometime inthe1760s,thetwenty-six-thousand-acreislandwasbequeathedtoMorel’s sons upon his death in 1776 and divided into three plantations: North End, MiddlePlace,andSouthEnd.Asubsequentsubdivisionofthelatterplantation upon the death of John Morel Jr. resulted in the 1802 creation of Buckhead . At the beginning to the Civil War, Bryan McQueen Morel held title to North End, Alexander McDonald was in possession of Middle Place, and George Jones Kollock owned South End. Mary Ann Morel, daughter 226  allison dorsey of John Morel Jr., had inherited Buckhead, giving it to her daughter Mary Rutherford in 1806. William Skrine, who married Mary Rutherford in 1848, worked slaves on the island as did Mary’s second husband Joseph T. Simmons, who was in possession of the land during the war.3 Close to three hundred enslaved men and women called Ossabaw home in the decade before the war. Morel, McDonald, Kollock, and Simmons each held sixty-plus slaves on Ossabaw, the greatest number belonging to Kollock, who in 1860 held seventy slaves at South End.4 Sea island cotton and rice flourished in the rich soil of Ossabaw. Slaves also cultivated corn, potatoes, peas, and fruit trees. Hogs and beef cattle were raised on the island as...