CHAPTER VI

EARLY CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH

RADICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ITS DEVELOPMENT AND THAT OF THE NORTH

THE LIMITED MOVEMENT OF EARLY DAYS

- ORIGIN AND EFFECT OF THE PLANTATION SYSTEM SOCIAL CLEAVAGE WASHINGTON AS A TYPE OF ONE CLASS THE TASK OF THE PEOPLE AND THE MANNER IN WHICH THEY FOUND STRENGTH TO PERFORM IT

URING the early years of their history1 the growth

of the southern colonies, with the exception of Virginia, did not proceed nearly so rapidly as that of the regions which have already claimed attention. Nor did important movements of the population develop so promptly. As a whole the general settlement of the future southern states along the Atlantic seaboard took place at a decidedly later date than did the rise of the New England and middle colonies. Other elements that helped to bring about the condition stated were the nature of the southern region itself, and the character, traditions, habits and necessities of the first white men who permanently occupied it. That part of the South extending from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and from the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico had not been so favored as the North with a profusion of natural highways of travel in the shape of lakes and rivers. It had, to be sure, the Chesapeake Bay and

The period before 1770.

Potomac River as a gateway into the interior, the Cherokee and Cumberland Rivers flowing northward into the Ohio, and a few coastal streams against whose currents slow progress could be made by small boats or log canoes for goodly distances into the wilderness. In an almost literal sense the South of that early day was a solid block of primeval woods that, apart from the actual coast itself, demanded travel on land or none at all. It was further

24. A very fine private coach of the late eighteenth century. Probably built about 1790 by David Clark of Philadelphia, for Samuel Powell of that city. Exhibited during the Civil War period, in museums and public fairs, as a coach that had belonged to Washington.

true that rough and mountainous country made up a larger proportion of the territory than was the case in the early settled parts of New England and the middle sections. Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, the two Carolinas and Georgia were notable for the obstacles they presented to early and primitive land travel. Yet it was precisely those difficulties that inspired their early inhabitants with

the indomitable spirit from which victory is born, and made the southern wilderness a scene of memorable deeds. That part of the continent was to witness the first westward march of a white population through the forest; the first organized display of the new travel impulse that afterward continued without interruption by flatboat, steamboat, canal-boat, stage-coach, prairie schooner and railway until there was no more land to cross, and the Pacific Ocean halted the long migration.

Among all phases of the varied history that deals with the occupation and economic conquest of the continent by the white race, that which relates to the South from the time of its first settlements until the War for Independence is perhaps least known. We possess the dates and stories of certain important events, and a few human figures stand out with the prominence of silhouettes against a background of mystery, legend and conjecture. But mere dates are no longer esteemed the chief elements of history. They are not even the skeleton of it, for chronological records alone do not enable us to reconstruct the whole symmetrical substance of a period. They do not portray its features, analyze its qualities of strength and weakness or transform its vanished people and activities into a living drama that can be exhibited like moving pictures thrown upon a screen. The southern generations of that early time lived afar off. They had a hard time of it at first - even harder in many ways than those to the north of them. They tried to be sufficient unto themselves as far as possible; were very busy in the struggle to establish themselves securely in a new country, and — doubtless because of their surroundings, isolation and labors developed less of the recording instinct than appeared among other white pioneers of the country.

During the early years of the white invasion of Virginia and the shores of Chesapeake Bay practically all travel was carried on between the various little settlements and plantations by means of big log canoes and heavy, broad-beamed sailing boats. And because of their fear of the Indians it was the habit of the people to build shields along the sides of the craft as a protection against arrows, and to fasten small poles in the boats, with hats on top of them just high enough to be seen above the shields, in order to make the natives think the moving parties were stronger than they really were. No effort was made for a long time to extend white activity more than a few miles back from the coast, and from the very first the character of development in the South showed a marked divergence from the tendency that manifested itself in the northern colonies. In the North the people at once began to gather into compact little communities which speedily became towns and served as central points from which radiated the white influence. In the South this was not so. The main impulse that directed the method and progress of southern settlement in its earliest days lay in the control of men who, before coming to the new continent, had been accustomed to traditions and methods of life handed down from the feudal period of large landed estates which produced all that was needful for owner and retainer alike. Hence the establishment of the plantation system of the South, and the creation of conditions that profoundly affected its future history not only with regard to travel movement, but in respect of all those other social and economic conditions that are always based on the accessibility of population units to one another. It must not be understood there were no towns whatever in the South during its first century and a half, for there were such

communities, but they were very few in number, very small, and exerted practically no influence in the life of the inhabitants.

By the year 1689 Virginia had some 50,000 or 60,000 people scattered in obedience to the plantation system, but keeping close to water. The few points where population was at all concentrated were little settlements called Henrico, Bermuda and West Shirley. Rude paths through the forest were increasing, and a few rough roads. were in existence, but no travel by vehicle was yet possible. All land journeys of consequence were made on horseback, and three years before the date named the Burgesses had recognized the importance of quicker travel by passing a law for improving the breed of horses in the colony. The landed proprietors met this appeal of the government with enthusiasm and the result was the evolution of a splendid type of animal that, together with an equally famous breed developed about the same time in Rhode Island,1 served through all the English colonies, for a long time, as the best means of getting from place to place.

The early conditions in Maryland were similar to those in Virginia. Plantations were established all along the bays and rivers, each with a water frontage, and boats were the standard vehicle for such little travel as took place. Until the time of the Revolution the colony

aside from plantation clearings on the waterways was one unbroken forest. The old Baltimore was a trivial settlement that appeared on Bush River about 1683, but the new and present city was established on the Patapsco in 1730. Even as late as the year 1752 the town had but twenty-five houses. Twenty years after the founding of

1 The Rhode Island horses were called the Narragansett breed. It is believed to have died out soon after 1800. Horses were expensive, and good animals for horseback riding were worth from £25 to £40.