Levi J. Knight’s Independent Militia Company, 1836

July 15, 2023 at 1:24 am (Indian Wars, Knight Family, Uncategorized)
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In the summer of 1836, Captain Levi J. Knight led a company of local militia in the last military action against Native Americans to be fought in Berrien County, GA, then being a part of old Lowndes County, GA.

Most of the militia companies in Lowndes County were organized into the 81st Regiment, Georgia Militia. Identification of the 81st Regiment officers is found on returns of the 1836 Lowndes County, GA militia companies of Captain Osteen and Captain William G. Hall:

Colonel Henry Blair, Commanding 81st Regiment, Georgia Militia
Lt. Colonel Enoch Hall Com. Battalion, 81st Reg.
Regimental Surgeon Henry Briggs, 81st Reg., G.M.
Quartermaster Lt. D. H. Howell
Paymaster Lt. John Pike
Adjutant Lt. I. S. Burnett

Captain Knight commanded an independent company and frequently wrote directly to the Governor, rather than reporting through the command of the 81st Regiment in Lowndes County. Captain Knight paid many expenses for these independent operations out of his own pocket. In the 1836 legislative session the Georgia Assembly passed An Act to Provide for Payment of Volunteers in the Creek and Seminole Campaigns, providing compensation for these operational expenses. In the 1850s, veterans of these campaigns became eligible to receive “bounty lands” as a military benefit for military service.

Over a three day period from July 10 to July 12, 1836 Levi J. Knight led his militia company in  pursuit of a party of about 25 Indians that had committed a raid on the homestead of William Parker near the Alapaha River.  Knight’s Company skirmished with the Indians on July 12, 1836 on the banks of the river about 10 miles above Gaskin’s Ferry.  According to Knight, only six Indians escaped, the rest being killed in the skirmish. Knight vividly describes how one Native American woman was shot in the back with buckshot as she fled across the river.  Knight’s Company suffered one casualty, William Peters, who received two wounds in the encounter. This skirmish was a prelude to the Battle of Brushy Creek, which occurred some days later in the western part of old Lowndes county.

Gordon Smith, author of “History of the Georgia Militia 1783 – 1861”, observed that the companies of Captain Levi J. Knight and Captain Hamilton W. Sharp were among the militia called out by the Governor during the Creek War of 1836, but rosters of these companies are not known to have been preserved.

In a July 13, 1836 letter to Governor Schley, Levi J. Knight reported that about 80 men participated the action he commanded from f July 10-12, 1836. The names of the following soldiers have been gleaned from published accounts of the skirmish near William Parker’s place and the Battle of Brushy Creek, and from Bounty-Land Warrant applications:

Reconstructed MUSTER ROLL OF CAPT. LEVI J. KNIGHT’S Independent Company from Lowndes county, from 10th day of July, 1836 to August 1836.

Captain Levi J. Knight, Dist. Georgia Militia;
Sergeant William Peters

  1. David Bell, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-42152
  2. John Box, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-120-74666
  3. William B Bryan, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-120-83556
  4. James H Burnett, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-120-71839
  5. Jesse Carter
  6. Isaac B. Carlton, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-5656
  7. Henry K Chitty, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 50-29580
  8. David Clements
  9. John Cribb, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-38066
  10. John Dougherty, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-37527
  11. James Edmondson, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-120-54665
  12. Harmon Gaskins, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-42760
  13. John Gaskins
  14. William Gaskins
  15. Frederick Giddens, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-120-43514
  16. Isben Giddens
  17. Jacob Giddens, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-120-87951
  18. Moses Giddens
  19. Thomas Giddens
  20. William Giddens, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 50-160-25446
  21. Joel Griffis, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-38068
  22. George Harnage
  23. Henry J Holliday, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 50-44692 Rejected
  24. Jno Holton, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 1850-35741 Rejected
  25. David G Hutchinson, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-28492
  26. James R Johnson, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-13800
  27. Aaron Knight
  28. John Knight
  29. Jonathan Knight
  30. William A. Knight
  31. William C. Knight
  32. John Lee, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-73622
  33. Moses Lee
  34. Sam Lee
  35. Zachariah Lee, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-160-113822
  36. Ashley Lindsey, Bounty-Land Warrant Number 55-120-60444
  37. David Mathis
  38. Thomas Mathis
  39. Archie McCranie
  40. Daniel McCranie
  41. Malcom McCranie
  42. John McDermid
  43. John McMillain
  44. James Parrish
  45. Robert Parrish
  46. Zeke Parrish
  47. James Patten
  48. Alexander Patterson
  49. Solomon Peters
  50. William Peters
  51. Elbert Peterson
  52. Guilford Register
  53. Bryan J. Roberts
  54. John Roberts
  55. Nathan Roberts
  56. William J. Roberts
  57. Levi Shaw
  58. Martin Shaw
  59. Jeremiah Shaw
  60. Ivey Simmons
  61. Daniel Sloan
  62. Brazelias Staten
  63. John Studstill,
  64. Jonathan Studstill

Some of these men would serve again under Captain Knight in 1838.

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Sawmill Money

July 3, 2023 at 12:37 am (Clements Family, DeVane Family, Historic Businesses)
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Clements Lumber Company Tokens – coins made specifically for trade in the company store

THE SAWMILL AT RAY CITY, GA

1920 Census

Connie Cleveland Devane was employed as a "commissary salesman" at the Clements Lumber Company, Ray City, GA
Connie Cleveland Devane was employed as a “commissary salesman” at the Clements Lumber Company, Ray City, GA. Image source: Avosicka76

By 1920, the Clements Lumber Company sawmill at Ray City had grown to a large industrial operation with its own railroad stop. A ‘sawmill town’ had grown up to house the sawmill workers and their families. The enumerator for 1920 US Census annotated six pages of census sheets indicating the residents of the company town. This “sawmill census” shows that there were 78 households with 313 residents living in rented homes at the sawmill. Many men and sometimes boys were employed as “sawmill laborers”, others worked as sawyers, teamsters, firemen, foremen, wheelwrights, commissary clerks, or marketmen. Many of the women worked out of their homes, in the occupation of “laundress.”

While residents of the ‘sawmill town’ had access to all of the goods and services in Ray City just a mile south on the tracks of the Georgia and Florida Railroad, the sawmill company also operated a commissary where workers could shop.  Joe Quinton Clements was enumerated as Commissary Salesman, as were Connie Cleveland Devane and James Patrick Devane.

Early in the 20th century, sawmill workers were typically paid in script or tokens. These could be redeemed at full value in the company commissary but were discounted 10 to 20 percent if used in town or city stores beyond the company’s control. Eventually, the practice of paying employees with tokens was outlawed, and paying in cash became widely accepted by companies. – Sawmill Towns Image source: Tokencatalog.com

In sawmill camps it was not unusual for everything to be owned and operated by the lumber company. Workers had very little choice but to purchase food and other goods at a company store or commissary. When workers ran short of money between paydays, the company would provide “payday loans” in the form of company tokens. This provided the workers with credit when their wages had been depleted. In this way, the company could charge enormous markups on goods, making workers completely dependent on the company, thus enforcing a form of loyalty to the company. Additionally, while employees could exchange scrip for cash, this was rarely done at face value. The company tokens were only valid only within the company town where it was issued. While store owners in neighboring communities might accept the tokens as money, they rarely did so at face value. In the U.S., payment of wages in scrip became illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Clements Lumber Company tokens, 10 cent value, Ray City, GA. Image source: Tokencatalog.com
Image source: Tokencatalog.com

Token use in lumber camps and at sawmills was extensive and formed a small microeconomy of its own. Often the lumber mill was the primary employer in town, with the other local businesses in place purely to support the mill. In many sawmill communities, the commissary became a hub of activity; a place for employees to gather, get their groceries and supplies, collect paychecks, or simply to socialize. Some lumber mills provided recreational activities for their employees, such as pool halls or arcades, many of which were designed to keep restive staff from hitting the local saloons in otherwise entertainment-starved camps. The heyday for token use by lumber companies was in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

clements-lumber-company-token
Image source: Tokencatalog.com

Other area lumber companies that issued trade tokens:

  • Jackson Brothers Lumber Company, Ray City, Ga
  • Nix Lumber Company, Ray City, Ga
  • Studstill & Clements Lumber Company, Ray City, Ga
  • Swindle & Nix Lumber Company, Ray City, Ga
  • Berrien Lumber Company, Nashville, GA
  • Milltown Lumber Company, Milltown, GA
  • Massee & Felton Lumber Company, Bannockburn, GA

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