Ware - Charlton County  Georgia Indian Wars - 1838 William Smith

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Barbara Walker Winge
barbarawinge@yahoo.com, courtesy of Robert L. Hurst.

Table of Contents page: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/ware.htm
Georgia Table of Contents: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm


SOURCE:  “Early Settler of Racepond Left Teaching Post To
Fight Indians,” by Robert L Hurst, as appeared in the
WAYCROSS JOURNAL-HERALD,  Waycross, Ware County, GA.

William Smith felt it his duty to join the other men from
Coffee County, Georgia, in volunteering to help repel the
Indian invasions.

Smith had heard that the encampment was near the “Great
Swamp.” So the schoolteacher left his books in 1838 and
traveled to the cypress wasteland, supposedly infested with
cornered red savages making a fierce last stand.  His
assignment was clear, “Capture as many Seminoles as you can
for transfer to the Western Reservation.”

But the volunteer probably did not know the many factors
behind the Seminoles’ resistance in being driven from the
Okefenokee and north Florida.  Nor  did he know at this
time, that he would be one of the settlers of the community
that would become Racepond, a small military encampment.

The Indian revolt, which officially opened in 1817 with the
First Seminole War, began with the tribe’s refusal to give
up their lands.  The “wild” ones, as the Creek name for
Seminole is interpreted, occupied the former Apalachee and
Timucua territories in north Florida.  These people could
not understand why they must be removed to Indian Territory
beyond the Mississippi River.

By 1818, General Andrew Jackson, who believed the major
Indian disturbances were caused by Spanish intervention, re-
captured Pensacola, headquarters for Spain’s West Florida.
As one can imagine, hard feeling existed not only because of
this affair, but also because of Spain’s sympathy with the
Indians’ cause…

As the white population increased, a new demand to have the
Indians dislodged was heard.  And in 1832 and 1833, the
treaty of Payne’s Landing and Ft. Gibson received the
chiefs’ agreement to exchange their Florida lands for equal
territory in the western United States…

When the U. S. attempted to enforce the removal treaties,
the Second Seminole War, which became the most costly of the
three conflicts, flared forth in 1835.  The renown warrior
Osceola, who once lived in Ware County, is credited with
adding fuel to this already smoldering flame.  He and a band
of rebellious braves murdered Chief Charley Emathla, who was
preparing his people for emigration, and General Wiley
Thompson, the U. S. Indian agent at Ft. King.

For the next two years, American troops tried to crush
Seminole opposition.  Withdrawing into the Okefenokee and
finally the Everglades, the Indians began using guerrilla
tactics to harass the U. S. troops.  It was during this time
that such men as William Smith were assigned patrol duty on
wilderness borders…

The few men stationed just south of the present Ware-
Charlton line, constructed a race course around the cypress
pond to entertain themselves.  Packed sand created a good
track, and good horsemen on excellent mounts provided
exciting racing.  Hence the “race pond” in later years would
become Racepond, [Charlton County, 1920] Georgia, and
William Smith’s daughter, Mrs. Lydia Stone, would inherit
the land her father had guarded and felt could be
productive.

The Indians, in the meantime, were being driven out of the
“Trembling Earth” by General Charles Floyd, who penetrated
the vast marsh.  The army camp was maintained until all the
primitive people were gone either to the Everglades or to
the Western Reservation…

Races are still held in Racepond.  But instead of Seminoles
escaping the army troops in a swamp or soldiers dashing
around a cypress pond, these races are run in vehicles by
tourists leaving the North for Florida’s sunny shores. 

[Racepond is located between Waycross and Folkston, Georgia,
on Highway U. S. No. 1.]

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