er of his country referred to him as "my
friend," and deplored his taking off. Courageous and adventurous
himself, McGillivray was no doubt attracted by the attitude and
personality of the fearless Virginian. He became the warm friend of
Raleigh Clopton, and marked that friendship by deeding to the first
white settler two thousand acres of land lying between the Little River
hills on one side, and the meadows of Murder Creek on the other.
Moreover, he named the estate Shady Dale, and aided Raleigh Clopton to
establish a trading-post where the court-house of the town now stands;
and on a pine near by, he caused to be made the semblance of a broken
arrow, a token that between the Creeks and the Master of Shady Dale a
lasting peace had been established.

This was the beginning. When the multifarious and long-disputed treaties
between the United States and the Creek Nation had been signed, and a
general peace was assured, Raleigh Clopton communicated with his friends
in Wilkes, Burke, Columbia and Richmond counties--the choice spirits who
had fought by his side in the bloodiest battles of the War for
Independence--informed them of his good fortune, and invited them to
share it. The response was all that he could have desired. His old
friends and comrades lost no time in joining him--the Dorringtons, the
Tomlins, the Gaithers, the Awtrys, the Terrells, the Odoms, the
Lumsdens, and, later, the friends and relatives of these. For the most
part they were men of substance and character.

Well, perhaps not all. There are black sheep in every flock, and
wherever the nature of Adam survives, there we may behold wisdom and
folly dancing to the same tune, and sin and repentance occupying the
same couch. So it has been from the first, and so it will be to the end.
But, take them all in all, making due allowance for the tendencies of
human nature, the men and women who responded to the invitation of
Raleigh Clopton may be described as the salt of the earth. They had all,
women and men, been subjected to the trials and hardships of a war in
which no quarter was asked or given; and their experiences had given
them a strength of character, and a versatility in dealing with
unexpected events, that could hardly be matched elsewhere. To each of
those who responded to his invitation, Raleigh Clopton gave a part of
his domain, and laid out their settlement for them.

This was the origin of Shady Dale. But to set forth its origin is not to
d