the policy of the
whole people. The States and the United States have made treaties
with the Indians, only to break them. Having personal knowledge of the
Indians, and having been made the victim of some of their raids, he had
no respect for them or for their rights. To this view the whole country
afterwards came, and the red men disappeared before it.

It will be well to bear in mind, that, whatever failings he may have
had, there was not a more heroic figure in the Revolution than General
Elijah Clarke.

A WAR OF EXTERMINATION.

[Illustration: A War of Extermination 104]

Some of the barbarous features of the Revolutionary War in Georgia have
been briefly noted.

History has turned her eyes away from the more horrible details; but
by reading between the lines, and taking advantage of the hints and
suggestions, it is not hard to get a tolerably fair idea of the methods
that were pursued on both sides. Even Colonel Charles C. Jones, jun.,
whose "History of Georgia" is thus far the most complete that has been
written, touches lightly on the cruelties practiced in the efforts of
the British and Tories to wrest Upper Georgia from the control of the
Americans. There are matters that History cannot deal with and maintain
her dignity.

There can be no doubt that the British and the Tories began their
cruelties without considering the results to which their acts would
lead. It is an easy matter at this late day to see how naturally the
war, in the region tributary to Augusta, degenerated into a series of
crimes and barbarities foul enough to cause History to hold her hands
before her eyes. When Colonel Campbell, assisted by Colonel Brown,
advanced to attack Augusta, it was the only American post that had
not surrendered to the King's men, and its capture would complete the
subjugation of Georgia from a military point of view. The city fell
without a struggle, and the American forces retreated across the river.
It was natural that the British, and the Tories who were acting with
them, should take advantage of this victory to bring the whole region
above and around Augusta to terms. The sooner this was done, the sooner
would all Georgia be restored to her relations with his Majesty George
III. No time was to be lost. Therefore Colonel Campbell, the British
commander, tarried in Augusta but a few days. He left Colonel Brown
in charge, and marched in the direction of Wilkes County. Those of the
inhabitants who had To