RICHMOND COUNTY. 513 



according to the last Digest, is $1,562,213. The value of 

 stock in trade is $1,095,505. Amount of money at interest, 

 $1,409,593. 



Miscellaneous Remarks. — The town of Augusta was 

 laid out in 1735 by the trustees under the royal charter, and 

 garrisoned in 1736. Several warehouses were built and fur- 

 nished with goods suitable for the Indian trade. Boats were 

 used for transportation, which made four or five voyages 

 annually to Charleston. Roger de Lacey, an Indian agent, 

 was one of its first settlers ; and it soon became a great mart 

 for trade, superior to any in South Carolina or Georgia. The 

 annual fair of the Indian traders was held in spring, and to it 

 resorted many of the Indian tribes ; so that over two thousand 

 pack-horses and six hundred men were computed to annually 

 visit the place. In 1751, the fortifications, which had been 

 erected as a defence against the Indians, and which had been 

 allowed to tumble into ruins, were rebuilt, and the inhabitants 

 mustered and drilled for service — the savages again showing 

 signs of hostilities. In 1752, the trustees gave up their char- 

 ter, and Georgia was formed into a royal government. In 

 1761, this county, then called St. Paul's Parish, was represented 

 in the first Colonial Assembly by Edward Barnard, John Gra- 

 ham, and L. McGillvray. About 1775, Thomas Brown and 

 William Thompson, having expressed their enmity to the 

 American cause, were pursued by a party in South Carolina. 

 Thompson escaped, but Brown was brought back, and after a 

 trial, was ordered to be tarred and feathered and publicly 

 exposed in a cart." Brown became a Colonel in the British 

 army, and was particularly noted for his merciless conduct 

 towards the American prisoners who fell into his hands. 



In 1776, when Savannah was attacked by the British, the 

 Legislature adjourned to Augusta. In January, 1779, Augusta 

 was taken by the enemy, under Colonel Campbell, but evacu- 

 ated by him on the 28th of February. After Savannah had 

 fallen into the hands of the British, the Legislature had dis- 

 persed without electing a Governor for the succeeding year. 

 John Wereat, President of the Executive Council, continued 

 to exercise the functions of government. On the 4th of No- 

 vember he issued a proclamation at Augusta, requiring an 



