|
Bryan County
Churches
Medway
Church –
On March
20, 1630, a number of Congregationalists set sail from Plymouth,
England, for
America, in order to enjoy civil and religious liberty. After many
tribulations
they reached Charlestown and finally settled at
a place called by the Indians Mattapan, but to which they gave the name
of
Dorchester, after the town in England
from which several of their number emigrated. In 1695 others came over
from
Dorchester and on Feb. 2, 1696, the sacrament of the Lord’s supper was
celebrated for the first time in South Carolina. The congregation
continued in South Carolina until the spring of 1752, when, because of
the unhealthy surroundings and the quantity of lands becoming too small
for the
number of inhabitants, they decided to remove to Georgia. The following
statement
regarding this removal is taken from an old record-book of the church:
“On
Monday, ye 11th of May, anno 1752, three persons of our
Society set
off from Beach Hill for Georgia,
to view the lands there; and on Thursday, the 16th, arrived
at
Medway, the place proposed. After a few days’ stay, having viewed
Medway Swamp,
and approving of it, and heard of large Quantitys of good Lands
adjoining, they
returned home, with an account of what they had heard and seen. Upon
which a
Disposition to remove seemed to increase among us, tho’ opposed by
several, and
a Further Search was determined. A Petition was also drawn up, and
signed by
many, to be presented to the Council of Georgia, for a Reserve of a
Quantity of
Land for us, if approved of by the Searchers and on Monday, ye 15th
of June, 1752, five of the said Society set off for Medway, where they
arrived
on Thursday, the 25th, and continued their searches till the
third
of July, and got as good a satisfaction for the Time as could be
expected, and
returned from thence to Savanna with their Petition, and got a Grant of
22,400
acres of land, to be reserved for us eighteen months.”
The
settlement was commenced at Medway on May 16, 1752, some of the
petitioners not
caring to wait for the action of the entire congregation. Regarding
this
settlement James Habersham says in a letter to Benjamin Martyn,
secretary of
the board of trustees: “In 1752, five persons, deputed by forty-three
families,
part of a congregation of Protestant dissenters, with their minister,
in the
neighboring province, had applied for lands to settle here, which was
granted
an that it was expected that several more of their brethren would want
to join
them. Accordingly twenty-eight persons by their deputies petitioned the
Board
yesterday for lands, and received a satisfactory answer. * * * I really
look
upon these people moving here to be one of the most favourable
circumstances
that could befall the new colony. They are all inured to the climate,
know how
to begin new settlements, and will be an immediate benefit by
increasing her
products.”
Such was
the character of the men who founded the settlement at Medway, which
was
afterward known as Medway Church. It was located on
the south side of the Medway river, in Liberty
county, and about twenty-two miles south of Savannah. The first house
of worship was
built on Medway Neck. It was a temporary affair and was replaced by a
new
structure in 1754 at the Cross Paths, on the north side of the north
branch of Newport Swamp
– now called the North Newport river. This
house was destroyed by fire in 1778 by a body of British soldiers under
the
command of Colonel Prevost. Another house was erected in 1790 and this
remained
standing for more than half a century.
Several
times during the Revolution Medway Church
was the scene of warfare. A large majority of the people in that
section were
intensely loyal to the American cause and were therefore fit objects
for Tory
hatred and persecution. In November, 1778, an expedition, made up of
British
regulars under Colonel Prevost and about 300 Indians and Tory refugees
under
the notorious McGirth, began to raid the settlements, leaving ruin and
desolation in their wake. Col. John White, with about 100 men and two
pieces of
artillery, took a position at Medway Church, hoping to hold the
invaders in check until he
could be reinforced by Colonel Elbert, at Savannah.
He took possession of a causeway, over which the British must pass, and
stationed his cannon so as to command the road. About the time his
arrangements
were completed he was joined by a small force under Gen. James Screven.
The
first encounter occurred on the morning of the 24th
about a mile and
a half south of the church, where each side was trying to lay an ambush
for the
other. Here General Screven received a wound, from the effects of which
he died
the following day. White retreated to the church, but the enemy being
five to
his one, he was again driven from his position and fell back toward the
Ogeechee river. On this retreat he wrote a letter,
apparently from Colonel Elbert, ordering him to fall back in such a way
as to
draw the British after him until a large force of cavalry already south
of the Ogeechee could gain the rear and capture the whole force.
This letter was dropped where it would be certain to find its way to
Colonel
Prevost and it had the effect of checking the pursuit. The British then
countered themselves with burning the church and looting the settlement
On June 27,
1779, Colonels Baker and Twiggs, of the Georgia militia, with a small
force
of volunteer cavalry, while marching toward Sunbury, fell in with a
detachment
of McGirth’s men at Medway meeting-house. A short but sharp skirmish
ensued in
which the Tories were defeated, a number of them being made prisoners.
(Source: Georgia
Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions,
and Persons, VOL II, by Candler & Evans,
Publ. 1906. Transcribed
by Kim Mohler)
|
