RICHMOND COUNTY. 515 



In 1782, the grand jury presented as a grievance the want 

 of a house of worship in the town of Augusta, and other places 

 in the county. 



is presented by the same jury for hanging E 



L , without any authority. 



In 1794 the grand jury "present the indiscreet observance 

 of pubHc worship," as having held the peaceably minded in ter- 

 ror of divine vengeance. 



In 1790, " the number of negroes calling themselves par- 

 sons, going about the country," is presented as a nuisance. 



The same jury recommend the imposition of a fine " upon 

 all persons erecting wooden chimneys in Augusta." 



The following is from Sherwood's Gazetteer. 



In the fall of 1776 there were not more than 40 to 50 

 houses — most of them log. The river was then crossed by aferry 

 boat, owned by Mr. Hicks, just where the bridge now crosses. 

 Families remembered to be there residing were, Messrs. Bugg, 

 Glascock, Walton, McLean, &c. Harrisburg was then a 

 plantation, but houses were raised there about 1794. Soon 

 after the termination of the Revolution, people flocked here in 

 scores. Messrs. Ennis, Jack, J. Wilson, Connell, Bush, Fox, 

 &c., were merchants. Messrs. Creswell, Dearmond, and Leigh, 

 were mechanics. Soon Messrs. Brown, Gardner, Tubmans, 

 Longstreet, Wallace, &c., were settled in this place. 



In 1805, there were no buildings west of Bennoch's corner, 

 on Campbell and Broad streets ; all west, where the Planters' 

 Hotel was situated, was a cornfield. Around the site of the new 

 market, was a cluster of houses called Springfield, and a house 

 of worship for the blacks. Here was Grierson's fort* during 

 the war. There were some houses in Harrisburg, and an old 

 tobacco warehouse near the river ; this was used in the late 

 war as barracks for the soldiers. The lower part of the town 

 below the bridge, was then the most populous and fashionable. 

 Ashton's Retreat, lower part of Broad-street, was the resort for 

 the fashionables of the day. The public houses then were Ea- 

 gle Tavern, on Reynold-street, and City Hotel, where the Ea- 



* Named after Col. Grierson, a Colonel of militia, who was killed in an 

 encasement with Col. Brown. 



