“BRANTLEY CO. - NO MAN’S LAND”

“Coveted by Indians, British, Spanish, & Run-A-Gates”

Dr. John H. Christian, Director of the Byran Lang Historical Library, and speaker at our luncheon meeting in February, 1998, reminded us that all land between the Altamaha River and St. Marys’ River was identified as “no man’s land” in the 1700’s. A land so “furiously coveted“ by both the British and Spanish that ownership was “debatable”. Both nations were claiming an area, which included the interior land area of the Satilla River, and westward through the entire area now known as Brantley County.

Eventually the threat of the Spanish from Florida resulted in a declaration of war by the English in 1739 and instantaneous skirmishes between the two nations. Ultimately, the “Battle of The Bloody Marsh” provided James Oglethorpe a victory that won him accolades of praise, and a “boat ride” back to England. A relatively minor battle according to current standards, but a victory which assured English language, customs, and traditions in the territory that would become the state of Georgia.

Retreating back to Florida, south of the St. Marys River after that battle, the Spanish no longer presented the English colonies with an “aggressive threat from an organized army force”. Their presence, however, and the ever-present danger of the Indians, continued to be felt in the “once debatable land” for many years.

The Indians were a formidable force in south Georgia up through 1838, and had their way with the early settlers until after the revolutionary war period. It has been said that they overran the country side from the Altamaha to the St. Marys River, forcing many people to evacuate from the main lands to the islands. Evidence of their presence has been traced to “Indian mounds” and other various artifacts found along the Satilla. It has been said that such “mounds” were found to exist near Atkinson. The “trail of tears in 1838” opened the land for the Georgia lottery system.

A new problem entered south Georgia in April, 1755, after the departure of Oglethorpe. Not necessarily a threat to either the British, the Spanish, or the Indians, but a “thorn-in-the-side” to all parties, was the arrival of the Edmund Gray gang. He was identified as unscrupulous, ambitious, shrewd, and called a “run-a-gate” by his contemporaries. Gray led his “gang”, totaling approximately 300 debtors and outlaws across the Altamaha River into south Georgia to a place called New Hanover. It was said to be located 30 miles from the mouth of the “great Satilla River”, on the north side of the river, and identified as “Williams Bluff”. In recent days, it has been speculated that this place may have been “Burnt Fort”, west of Woodbine.

Regardless, Edmund Gray began building houses at new Hanover, tilling the ground, and setting up a local government for themselves. The problem was, the Gray Gang had established a colony in south Georgia “without license from His Majesty, King George”, with no official title to the land they inhabited. The real fear was from the British government that Gray’s gang would antagonize the Spanish, but his settlement was more obnoxious to the British than to the Spanish authorities. The Governor complained that the Gray settlement was used as “an Asylum by Persons who fly thither, to shelter themselves from Justice”. Gray’s influence with the Creeks had been regarded as a menace, but in 1759 when the French succeeded in turning the Cherokees against the British, the Governor outfitted a Creek war party and put Gray in command. This did nothing to solidify Gray’s settlement in the debatable lands of Georgia, and Gray was ordered out of Georgia when he threatened to join forces with the Spanish in Florida. A later decision permitted him to remain on Cumberland Island.

SOURCE: This is Your Georgia by Bernice McCullar, and Vol. XIII, No. One, March, 1929, The Georgia Historical Quarterly.

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