This story is hilarious. The Wesleys arrived as a bona fide headache for the governor and managed to completely blow it to the point of even been chased out of town. They were clearly young asses who did not take advice gladly.
Enjoy the tale and see it through.. What comes through though is the seriousness of the settled creek tribes in the area.
It ia also a reminder just how settlers arrived in penny packets to establish themselves. There were a mere 40 or so Moravians...
How the Creek Migration Legend led to formation of the Methodist Church – Part Three
The 19th century engraving above memorializes John Wesley
giving a sermon at Palachicola. It was one of the very few occasions
that he ever actually had contact with groups of Native peoples.
Although comical in its portrayal of the Creek Indians (They are wearing Western Plains headdresses)
the engraving above is one of the few examples of religious art that
accurately portrayed Creek Indians as being much taller and more robust
than Europeans.
Note that in the male chauvinist climate of the times, the
Creek women were portrayed on the fringes in submissive postures. That
certainly would not have been the case in the early 1700s. In fact, Mary
Musgrove (1700-1763) his translator, would have been standing beside
him. By the way, the sermon was a total failure.
The Creek Migration Legends Series
Superficially, the period of time that John and Charles Wesley spent
in Georgia could be viewed as gross failures by both young men. However,
it was necessary that their false pride be broken before they would
grow into a higher level of wisdom and spirituality.
Act VI: John and Charles Wesley depart England on
October 16, 1735. On board the same ship are 41 Moravians from what is
now part of the Czech Republic. The Moravians are descendants of one of
the oldest Protestant movements, dating back to the 1400s. They have
been invited to settle in Georgia.
Midway across the Atlantic, the ship encounters a late season
hurricane that almost sinks it. The mast is broken off. While the
British crew and passengers were distraught, shouting that they were
about to drown, the Moravians calmly prayed and sang songs. Apparently,
the Wesley brothers at least internally, were also shouting that they
were about to die. They feel pangs of guilt that their faith appears so
weak when compared to that of the Moravians.
The ship miraculously does not sink. After arrival in the New World,
the Wesley brothers did some sight-seeing in the colonies before
arriving in Savannah. They do not report for work until early February
of 1736.
James Oglethorpe assigns the young men chores associated with the
physical development of the colony and improvements in the local church.
Tamachichi repeatedly asks them to begin teaching the people in his
village English, European culture and the Christian faith. Each time,
John Wesley equivocates, giving excuses why the services for which he
was officially hired must be delayed. The Wesley brothers would not have
stalled such an important leader as Tamachichi unless they had been
specifically instructed by Oglethorpe to do so. Despite Tamachichi’s
stated desire to become a Christian, John Wesley inexplicably avoids
contact with him throughout his time in Georgia. Is it guilt?
Complications caused by imperial politics
This is when history gets very murky. Oglethorpe apparently liked the
Wesley brothers, but also realized that their youth would make them
totally inappropriate for having direct contacts with the leaders of the
Creek Confederacy. They were a disaster waiting to happen. However, he
also knew that Thomas Christie was the eyes and ears of Archbishop
Wake. Oglethorpe had to create the appearance of supporting Wake’s
missionaries, while keeping the young men out of trouble.
Creek culture valued the wisdom of elders. Men and women, the age of
John and Charles, were seldom allowed to have significant roles in
political meetings. Furthermore, because of their youth, they would be
ill-equipped to deal with the equality of Creek women and men. Creek
women owned all the domestic real estate, plus could vote and hold
political offices. During warm months, they went topless and didn’t
hesitate to state their opinions on all issues in public. They were not
the docile, mindless, “squaws” pictured in the engraving above.
There was another problem. The High King Chikili was a joani,
a priest of the Master of Life. Undoubtedly he also functioned as the
“archbishop” of his tribe. If the brash, young Wesley brothers
challenged Chikili’s version of monotheism publicly, it would be a grave
insult, which could cause the alliance between Georgia and the Creek
Confederacy to collapse.
At this time, Georgia was totally dependent on the alliance with the
Koweta Creeks for its survival. There were approximately 1200 Europeans
living in the colony in 1735. The total population of all branches of
the Creeks, including those allied with France or not members of the
confederacy was about 50,000. There were at least 3,000 Creeks living in
the Ocmulgee Bottoms region, where Koweta was then located.
France claimed all of North America west of the Blue Ridge
Mountains. It had had established a marine garrison at the confluence
of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers in what is now Alabama. Spain
initially claimed all of the Southeast, but by 1735, still claimed all
of the Chattahoochee River Valley up to its source in the Georgia
Mountains, plus all the land south of the Altamaha River in Georgia. In
1734, Oglethorpe built a fortified town, Frederica, on land that was
claimed by Spain.
Even the relationship between South Carolina and Georgia was
complicated by issues related to the Native American tribes. Until 1785,
South Carolina claimed all of Georgia, north of a line running below
Atlanta, Augusta and Macon. Georgia always claimed the lands extending
to the North Carolina line. Its charter conflicted with South Carolina’s
charter.
Once assured of Creek support, Oglethorpe built Fort Augusta on land
claimed by South Carolina and simultaneously issued a law requiring all
Indian traders passing through Georgia’s territory to have a Georgia
license or see their possessions seized. Almost immediately, Georgia
captured most of the Indian trade in the Southeast, with South Carolina
only being left the trade with the Cherokees. South Carolina then begins
encouraging the Cherokees to attack the Creek towns and villages that
occupied most of present day northern Georgia.
Individual Creek provinces had been at war with the Cherokees since
1715, when a delegation of Creek leaders were murdered in their sleep at
the neutral Uchee village of Tugaloo, while attending a “friendly”
diplomatic conference. Between 1715 and 1721, while they had full access
to British munitions and the Muskogean tribes didn’t, the Cherokees
conquered a vast territory in North Carolina and Tennessee.
The formation of the new Koweta Creek Confederacy minimized further
Cherokee inroads to the extreme northeastern tip of Georgia. However,
the Koweta Creeks originated near Franklin, NC and Clayton, GA, which
are in that region. Therefore, they looked to the new Colony of Georgia
to supply them munitions to recapture those lost lands back from the
Cherokees . . . who were South Carolina’s pet Indians.
Back to our story
In March 1736, Charles Wesley is named Secretary of Indian Affairs
for the Province of Georgia and then is promptly sent 65 miles southward
to be the chaplain of Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island, where there are no Indians.
Charles Wesley’s time at Fort Frederica is a disaster. The Scottish
Highlander garrison is mostly Presbyterian and Roman Catholic.
Sub-tropical diseases are taking a toll on their ranks and there are
very few women. It is not a good time to tell these Highlanders that
their salvation will only come via the Church of England’s Book of
Common Prayer.
While Charles was at Frederica, John Wesley preaches one of his most
successful sermons under a massive Live Oak tree. Afterward, the tree
was known as the Wesley Oak. Its location is still noted by a historic
marker. In later years, he would remember the success of open-air
preaching and it would become his principal means of preaching the
gospel. Of course, there was the problem that by that time, most
Anglican priests wouldn’t allow him in their pulpit!
After a few weeks at Fort Frederica, Charles returns to Savannah,
where he has very little to do other than issue licenses to Indian
traders. In his boredom, he takes up song-writing. One of the hymns that
he composes is “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”, plus several carols, less
well known in the United States.
A century later, the choir director of the Unitarian Church in
Savannah would compose, “Jingle Bells.” Savannah is a most unlikely
place to be the Christmas Carol Capital of the World.
In July 1736, Oglethorpe designates Charles to be the bearer of
dispatches to England. This is obviously a way of saving face. Charles
sails for England in August 1736 and never returned to the Americas. He
goes on to become one of the greatest hymn writers of all time. Would he
have had the same destiny, if he had never been bored in Georgia and
instead become an Anglican parish priest in stodgy ole England? . . .
Probably not.
Rather than being dispatched to the hinterland to proselytize the
Creeks, John Wesley is assigned by Oglethorpe to be the assistant priest
at the Anglican Church in Savannah. Oglethorpe directs him to mingle
with the colonists in order to encourage them to be more active members
of the church. He is given very few specific tasks and so is free to
wander around the small colony making friends, ministering to their
needs and holding prayer meetings.
Wesley becomes close friends with the Moravian congregation. They
live in a commune just outside Savannah. They are essentially Christian
Marxists . . . or maybe “kibitzers” is a better word. Their
non-conventional life styles and non-liturgical form of worship
repeatedly brings them in conflict with the Anglicans and especially the
Lutherans in the Salzburger Colony, farther up the Savannah River.
However, John Wesley is able to repeatedly mediate conflicts between the
three factions.
A Moravian couple, Peter Rose and his wife, receive permission from
Oglethorpe to build a mission schoolhouse on top of the largest mound on
Irene Island. Other mission buildings are constructed elsewhere on the
island, which was once the location of the powerful town, Apalachicora,
which the Spaniards called Chicora.
The Moravian commune intends to relocate to Irene Island. Nearby,
Mary Musgrove builds a trading post. A Creek village is developing
around the mission-trading post compound. Thus, Oglethorpe can report
back to Archbishop Wake that a mission has been constructed. He makes a
point of mentioning that John Wesley visited the construction site often
– not mentioning that these visits were about the limit of his
involvement.
\
Oglethorpe eventually allows John Wesley to preach a sermon in the
Apalache-Creek town of Palachicola, which is safely on the South
Carolina side of the Savannah River, 65 miles upstream. The town’s
population is far more assimilated to British culture than the Creek
towns in the interior and also includes several mixed-bloods, who are
fluent in English. Although also given under a tree, Wesley’s sermon is
a disaster.
Wesley preaches to the residents of Palachicola as if they are
primitive savages, totally ignorant of spiritual concerns. The
condescending treatment of the town’s elders by this young man is
especially insulting to the listeners, but out of respect for James
Oglethorpe, they listen politely.
At the end, an elder, perhaps also a joani, asks Wesley:
“We worship the same God. We practice baptism before every worship
service. Before we enter a sacred space, we must publicly confess our
sins and forgive those who sinned against us. Englishman, why is your
way of worshiping God the only way? Why must we be in a building in
order to be close to God. We feel closest to God, while in the open air.”
Wesley was stunned. After saying several uhs . . . he jumped into
“High Church” theological explanations of Jesus’s crucifixion as a blood
sacrifice for the sins of all men. The mention of “blood sacrifice”
went over like a lead balloon. Apalache-Creek religion forbids the
letting of any form of blood, including the hunting of game, within two
miles of a temple or outdoor shrine. Continuing to be polite, the elders
thanked him for his words and wished him a safe trip back to Savannah.
They then walk away.
In Part Four, the climax of our play, John Wesley forswears any
further attempts to convert the Native peoples of Georgia – calling them
stubborn, ignorant savages. Meanwhile, the Uchee and Creeks on the
Savannah River respond whole-heartedly to the sincerity of the
Moravians.
Wesley then jumps into more worldly concerns and makes several
severe errors in judgment. His time in Savannah ends abruptly, when he
escapes in the dead of night from the angry townspeople. These dark
events set the stage for a radical change in the lives of himself,
Charles Wesley and George Whitefield.
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